dmreed

There's more to vegetable consumption than antioxidants. What about vitamins that may be broken down by the cooking process? Ideally we should eat a wide range of foods, cooked and/or raw. ← It's true that cooking some vegetables makes them nutritionally better for us, but we also lose some benefit due to the cooking process itself. This makes for a sound argument for consuming a variety of vegetables, cooked and uncooked. ← probably the various Chinese quick cooking techniques will minimize the lose of benefits?

Mapo Dofu with Fermented Bean Curd! I had recalled seeing such a recipe but I could not find it again. I asked on another forum for a recipe with no results. But I finally found a recipe at http://avenuefood.com/2007/10/03/mapo-dofu.aspx. I have not yet tried it but I may try it today! Also I have not found a restaurant here in San Diego which cooks dishes with do fu ru, they all say it stinks too much and would drive other customers away! If anyone can suggest a restaurant in San Diego which makes dishes using do fu ru, please let me know.

I was/am aware of this fact but the reasons given in the book had to do with the 5 elements, yin/yang, etc. and with the bodies difficulty in digesting the raw vegetables. not being an expert of any kind and especially not of Chinese medicine, I cannot and will not vouch for the accuracy or scientific validity of the statements in the book!

Strangely I was viewing this page earlier tonigt on a completely different mission. I was looking up transglutiminase or 'meat glue' -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surimi. Anyway, there might be info here that helps... "Pork surimi also is mixed with flour and water to make a type of dumpling wrapper called "yèn pí" (燕皮 or 肉燕皮) that has the similar firm and bouncy texture of cooked surimi" ← thanks...that is definitely what I am looking for but there were no links to instructions for making it but maybe I can find something with more searchs!

I used to work with a great deal of Chinese born from the south of China, old school, all retired now. Without exception they all hated dairy, totally skeeved it. One told me that they'd use an expression "butter smelling people" for westerners. She claimed she could smell the dairy coming out of my pores. It wasn't a compliment, either. LOL. ← Hahha love her expression (I would consider it a complement though as to me, butter is sexy, smooth and sensual LOL). Speaking of milk, does anyone know a reliable recipe for this? Chinese Steamed Egg with Milk http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilyana/2404054593/ It's a dessert, is it not? ← is this what you were looking for? http://www.beanspout.blogspot.com/2007/02/...ilk-recipe.html

did you ever find the recipe? here is one I found by a google search...many recipes found: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/shanghaicu...med_cabbage.htm

Hi Ce'nedra, The short answer is "yes", most Asians are indeed lactose intolerant. That could explain the lack of dairy in Asian cuisine. Check out the links below for further explanation. Hope this helps! (Edited to clean up urls) Identification of a variant associated with adult-type hypolactasia http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?c...l=pubmed_docsum A definition from U Cal Davis along with a chart depicting the percentage of the lactose intolerant grouped by Race, Ethnicity and/or Country of Origin http://nutrigenomics.ucdavis.edu/nutrigeno...C7007B71CC9959A ← are the Mongols (Northern China) lactose intolerant?

I've been reading "Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories - 15 Secrets from a 3,000-Year-Old Food Culture" by Lorraine Clissold and she states that there are Chinese medical reasons for not eating raw vegetables...she suggests, at least, a quick blanch, steam, or stir-fry of vegetables. I do like a green salad with Blue Cheese or Cesar(?) dressing or a good BLT but not too often! So cooking Chinese and other Asian dishes seems to be appropriate for me!

I also recall reading somewhere that a "special" lettuce is sometimes eaten raw but I don't recall where I read that or what region of China it was in

anyone have any favorite brands?

wow! and I have trouble finding space for my cookbooks...in bookcases, stacked on the floor and stacked on half my bed ← She's giving the running total for this discussion. ← whew thanks...I was really impressed

wow! and I have trouble finding space for my cookbooks...in bookcases, stacked on the floor and stacked on half my bed

recipe?

another ingredient question: In Jacqueline M. Newman's "Cooking From China's Fujian Province", there is a recipe which calls for "swallow-skin wrapper" (made from meat and flour). I cannot find any recipe for such a wrapper? Can someone provide me with such a recipe or a reference to such a recipe or maybe another name for the wrapper? 20090512@0127 I just found by a quite circuitous route another name for the skin "yanpi" made with mashed pork and flour...but I still cannot find instructions or a source for the skins

2009/05/11 I just found a recipe for mapo tofu which uses fermented bean curd! http://avenuefood.com/2007/10/03/mapo-dofu.aspx

Thanks! Both recipes are from Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, which I recommend highly. Chicken stir-fried with lemongrass and chile Napa cabbage and shrimp soup Enjoy! ← thanks, I have the book and I will look at it again!

the preparation link is broken, is there another link?

Susan, any luck identifying the herbs? And more to the point, what did you do with them? Chicken stir-fried with lemongrass and chile: I haven’t made this since the foodblog, but I love the technique of stir-frying with aromatics, spices, chiles, and a small amount of coconut milk until the liquid reduces to a glaze. Served with jasmine rice. Napa cabbage and fish soup. Both dishes from (or adapted from) Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. ← these dishes look appetizing, do you have or can you provide links to the recipes?

don't you filter and reuse the oil? did you tell her so?

I am under the impression that chilis were introduced to China (and Asia?) around 1500 C.E. from South America. If true, I find it interesting to specify any Asian country as a source of chilis! Although I do concede that various species/varities have been developed and were/are used in specific countries and regions of Asia. So Thai Bird Chilis, Sichuan Chilis, etc. may definitely be useful designations or names much like Anaheim, Serrano, Jalapeño, Fresno, Ancho, Poblano, etc. Again, have any of you tried the Ghost Chili from India (over a million Scoville Units)?

I don't know about the US, but in Canada most Filipino restaurants are frequented almost exclusively by Filipinos, so its (to me) much less "Canadianized" than other cuisines can be. ← it might be true here too...I don't frequent Filipino restaurants as much as I do Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese restaurants.

True. Although you've forgotten the mayonnaise and pâté! ← I did forget the mayo but I don't generally care much for Vietnamese paté so I don't order it!

I don't have a count but I can provide footage! About 50 feet (maybe more) of cookbooks not counting .pdf copies of older books, computer copies of recipes, and "computer books", and cooking videos. 2/3 to 3/4 of my collection consists of Asian cookbooks, mainly Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. Someday I hope to catalog my collection. I am curious, what is the oldest Asian cookbook anyone here has? I have a .pdf copy of a 1914 Chinese-Japanese Cookbook. oops, I just found an older .pdf copy of Oriental Cookbook c 1913!

Aha! That's exactly the kind of video I needed, thanks! Now the recipe... ← Andrea Nguyen's new dumpling book to be available August 2009 will probably have the recipe because she made the video for which I provided the link. "Florence Lin's Complete Book of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings and Breads" published in 1986 and now out of print and very expensive used contains a recipe. But I cannot post the recipe because it is copyrighted. Contact me directly and I will try to provide the recipe.

just an update: I just searched for and looked at several Eight Jewel Vegetable recipes and, except for the lack of bean sprouts, most of them could probably be called "chop suey"! I particularly appreciated the recipe(s) which included fermented black beans! I still suspect that, at home, many cooks end up with dishes much like chop suey!