junehl

Ah Leung, while you're there are you staying at family's place, hotel, or one of those small hole in the walls. Last time we went, we stayed at this place that was what I thought someone else's home. They were cheaper than a hotel, but all you got was one room and one bed, nothing else. It was a good deal for how long my parents stayed. I was planning on going there next year, so wondering if those hostels still existed? And after that let the food talk commence...

noooo, prawncrackers, i'm on a diet...those pictures make me want to go and try and make some now

There are as many street hawkers in Hong Kong?? OH MY !!! That's the one memory that sticks out in my mind from my trip to Hong Kong 15 years ago! All the street hawkers with the massive amounts of food at every turn. I still dream of the chestnuts cooked in sand and a big wok... I hope you have a great trip Ah Leung! Please find as many street hawkers as you can!

Hmm, if you can't get any dry lotus leave or banana leaves... What about cabbage leaves? Just parcook it slightly to get the leaves flexible? Not sure what that would do the to the taste. And I'm not sure Napa cabbage would work because it might leak too much water...you might have to use the other kinds of cabbage.

Soda? Baking soda? Eh?

Ah Leung, it works great with the tough fibers, although I do have to clean the blades a few times, to make sure the fibers aren't stuck right above the blade. And I love using the immersion hand blenders because i can break it out in 3 seconds and clean up is 2 seconds. It's my favorite tool in the kitchen.

With all the talk a couple weeks ago about salt baked chicken (I've been out of town for 2 weeks, so a little slow), I decided to make my own. I didn't have the ginger powder, so I improvised between a soy sauce baked chicken and a five spice powder chicken. I'm especially proud of this because I was able to cut the chicken with a cleaver! I've never been able to use the cleaver to hack at things, it always hurt my hands and I have wild aim, so i always end up with minced meat instead of nicely chopped pieces. Oh and this dinner was the first time I realized how easy it was to make ginger/onion sauce with an immersion blender. No more grating by hand. Immersion blender, 1 ginger, 10 seconds. Culinary delight.

Used the dark meat and whatever shreds was left from the boiled chicken for Gai cheow gai (?). Chicken marinated in oyster sauce layered with green mustard stem in brown sauce. Side View

Boiled a whole chicken for stock. Used the chicken breast for a Chicken salad. It's just shredded chicken breast with chili sauce, sesame oil, ginger sauce, and some green onions

Rona - you brought to mind another thing I didn't mention. I always mix the milk and the sugar together to dissolve it. Then I mix it into the flour mixture. That should solve some of the issues you had w/ the dough being dry. The other baos I like making are: pork, lap cheung, and egg a sweet one with an egg coconut custard called gai yea (this could be the Vietnamese name for it) minced chicken with shredded cabbage, carrot, black mushroom, and bean thread (fun see) - I love this b/c it keeps so well in the freezer.

Nice pictures evan. It looks good. Did it come out the way you wanted?

Congratulations Tepee, it looks great! I wish our markets around here are nice like that tepee, everything seems to be coming in more and more prepackaged, not as much self portioning at the stores. But I think I found a few butcher shops that I'm excited to try.

prasantrin - I'm not sure why your bao has brown specks on them, could be the flour is my best guess. I normally use all purpose flour. As for it being dense and not smooth, I have two guesses: 1) In my original recipe, I forgot to mention that after you mixed the dough together, I let it sit for about 20-30 minutes to relax the gluten. That could be one of the reasons why your baos are dense The bao not being smooth, could be related to the same thing, because when I first mix up the dough, the dough isn't really smooth it's after they've been relaxed and when you start shaping your baos, it should be smooth then. 2) The heat of the steamer is crucial here. When I made my last batch, the first few that I had steamed, I didn't turn the heat up high enough, and they came out dense and kind of flat. I had to turn the fire on high, to get a lot of maximum heat, that was when my baos really got really fluffy and white. And for the filling, I never use hoisin sauce, just oyster sauce, cornstarch slurry, soy sauce, and fresh green onions to finish it off. I love fresh green onions in it, it brings such a fresh flavor to the buns. MMM. Oh and I add some red food coloring to the sauce because I like the red color of the filling, it always makes it look so good.

Wow Dejah, your wolfberries are big! I had some berries grown on mine, but they were the size of baby peas!

I've seen egg foo young made in a lot of different styles. Some with a clear sauce, some with a white sauce, but the only one I like is Egg foo young with a simple brown sauce. My dad used to make it with peeled shrimp, beaten egg. He'd add some veggies like cabbage, shredded carrot, and bean sprout (although traditionally I don't think you put veggies it in). He'd mix up everything together. Heat up the wok with oil, and then pour a dollop of the shrimp/egg mixture into the oil, and fry it up like a patty. Drain, pat dry. He'd then just pour the brown sauce over that with some chopped scallion, and it's served. It was simple, but very tasty.

Your vinegared trotters look beautiful. The last time I had it, it was when my aunt was pregnant, unfortunately...the last time that happend was 15 years ago!!!!! The other favorite food that I my family always cook for the woman after labor is Ginger Stir fried chicken. Tons of Ginger stir fried until it's slightly dry, add the chicken, add some salt, sugar, soy sauce...Every bite is spicy, gingery, and sooo good on a bowl of hot rice. We'd make a ton of it, and whatever ginger is left at the bottom, my mom would stir fry that with egg. Oh soo good. Those are the only two things I remember that my family cooks for a pregnant woman after labor. What are the other types of food you would cook for a woman after labor to help them recover? Or just a pregnant woman?

Ce'nedra, it's the same as what tepee had called it..."ham yue"..literally translated from Cantonese as "salty fish"

teepee, that fruit from the other post looks very similar to a spondias, but larrylee's description doesn't really mention the spindly core.

I just talked to my daddy, and he had the same thing to say that everyone else is. Pour boiling water over the skin, prick it, let it dry, and use really high heat. He always cooked his over charcoal and said he could never get the oven as hot as he needed it. Oh and he said he only used maltose sugar for the sucklng pig, not the mature ones. Sorry I couldn't have been more help.

Your siu yook looks soo good. I'll ask my daddy tonight about siu yook, but when we were younger, he'd used to roast little suckling pigs in the back yard, and the skin was CRISPY and yummy. The only difference is that his skin was red, smooth, and incredibly skinny, not like the siu yook that you get out in the store where they are all bubbly. I think he said the difference was due to the age of the pig, and the cooking method. He did use a baste of maltose sugar and sugar. Which my mom tells me that they do that to make their duck skin so crispy. I'll ask him again tonight, and see if he remembers what he did.

Watercress is one of my favorites, but I think my most favorite has to be this veggie that has leaves that look very lacey I don't know the actual name for it it sounds like "hong ho"? I did use the side pork belly. I was in the store, and it was so lean (for pork belly), I couldn't pass it up. Although a big slab of cured bacon sounds good for breakfast.

Wow, those looks great teepee. You have some very lucky friends

Dinner last night Watercress soup Bacon two ways (marinated and then braised. then took half of it, and baked it again so the skin was crispy...couldn't get it as crispy as i wanted, but it looked ok!) Hope you don't mind the 3 photos... Bacon and Baby Bok choy sum Bacon and Baby Bok choy sum with sauce (the sauce was simple, but it went with the bacon marinade soooo well)! Close up so you can see the two textures, one's smooth and there is crackled.

I think some people use bean sprouts as a condiment, just for an extra crunch. The bean sprouts would have the top and bottom snipped off, so you would be left w/ the meaty stalk. Also, i always like an extra dash of white pepper to add to it right before i eat it. I know a lot of Chinese restaurants put crab in it, but I like it w/o, just makes the texture of the shark fin stand out so much more. OH, and there is this old Chinese variety show that had this skit that basically tells people, when you're at a party and they're dishing out the shark fin soup, you should ask for half a bowl, so you could be the first to be finished, and then you can fill up with all the shark fin that had been left at the bottom of the bowl!

It looks great, i think I have seen it where they also use white chopped chicken (bak chom gai)? and then pour the sauce on top. But I think i like this version better, less bones to mess with and quicker too!