Lunch! What'd ya have? (2012–2014)

[huiray]

"Yee Sang" [魚生] (Google images) for lunch on "Yun Yat" [人日; "Everyone's Birthday"], today, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year 15-day celebrations.

This is a salad of various shredded raw vegetables (& a few cooked) with raw fish & add-ins, tossed w/ a plum sauce. Today I used daikon, jicama, cucumber, deep-fried turnip (died green & red), carrot, all shredded; oroblanco segments, membranes removed & flesh broken into chunks; pickled ginger; sliced pickled scallion bulbs; cilantro leaves; sliced sushi-grade raw tuna & salmon; with crushed peanuts (two kinds), toasted sesame seeds, ground white pepper, five-spice powder, deep-fried wonton skin strips, and generous freshly squeezed lime juice as the add-ins. The dressing was plum sauce w/ sesame oil, fresh lime juice, and a bit of water.

The larger disks seen alongside the fried wonton skin strips in the photo were prawn crackers & crab crackers which were kept on the side and munched along with eating the tossed salad.

I've shown previous renditions of the dish on the salad thread and touched on the possible origins of it also.

Photos of the Yee Sang all laid out, and after putting everything together and tossing.

[huiray]

Lunch on Sunday:

Salmon & tuna soup; w/ chunks of Chinese fuzzy squash, julienned daikon & jicama, glass/cellophane noodles and chopped scallions & cilantro in a chicken broth.

[huiray]

Lunch on Monday:

• Wontons w/ a filling of a mixture of minced pork, chopped scallions & cilantro, chopped rehydrated thick-cap shiitake mushrooms ("far koo"), ground white pepper, dash of fish sauce & soy sauce, and some beaten egg. In a chicken stock soup w/ Taiwanese-type (Napa) cabbage [see pic - this is the long, more skinny, less green-leaf parts type of "Napa" cabbage ("Wong Nga Pak")].

• "Kon Lo Mein" using skinny wonton noodles, dressed w/ a sauce of [(minced pork marinated w/ Red Boat fish sauce, MRT ryori-shu, Honteri mirin, sesame oil, white pepper, thick dark soy sauce) sautéed w/ chopped garlic, chopped shallots & sliced long hot green chillies], garnished w/ cilantro.

Pics of the cabbage & the uncooked wontons:

[rotuts]

wow. stunning as usual!

[huiray]

Thanks, rotuts.

[rotuts]

re: ground pork.

Id never buy ground pork in the supermarket. way too much fat.

what cuts do you use if you make your own? Shoulder?

[huiray]

I usually just get the stuff from supermarkets or, more frequently, from the Chinese grocery I go to. I don't mind the fat in it (in fact, I rather like it that way*) and the stuff from my Chinese grocery is more "porky" than what I get from Marsh or Krogers (supermarket chains).

*ETA: Not for everything, of course. If it is visually too fatty that day for my purposes I pass it by.

Edited February 19, 2013 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

Late lunch Tuesday:

Beef & veggie "stew". Beef short ribs (meat sliced) browned in veggie oil w/ garlic tossed in at the end, then simmered w/ water, sea salt, bay leaves, some chopped shallots for ~ 1+ hr. Chunked ribeye^¶ then added, followed by carrot chunks (scrubbed, skin-on), Western celery [de-stringed] & halved small red potatoes (scrubbed, skin-on); then mainly-whole small shallots & Mexican oregano.** Simmered for a while more till done. Seasoning adjusted.

Eaten w/ white Basmati rice.

^¶Ribeye steak that had been left around in the fridge just a little too long for my taste to cook as a nice medium-rare steak.

**See here, here, and here.

Edited February 20, 2013 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

re: ground pork.

Id never buy ground pork in the supermarket. way too much fat.

what cuts do you use if you make your own? Shoulder?

BTW, the Chinese do have specific cuts of pork and beef, etc - they just don't correspond to Western/UK/USA standardized cuts. In my experience, many Chinese folks also like a fair bit of fat in their pork - it contributes to the deliciousness. Pork shoulder, for that matter, is a less-preferred cut of pork for many Chinese customers insofar as I know. It's tends to be on the lean side. It is also frequently up to the customer to tell the butcher what sort of cut he/she wants and the butcher chops out the requested part; or the customer just selects what he/she wants from pre-cut meat. Western-style "pork chops", for example, is not really a "Chinese cut". British Colonial Hainanese cooks, OTOH, would know exactly what "pork chops" were.

Here are some links for your interest:

http-::www.thebraiser.com:chris-cosentino-swastika-pork-you:

http-::www.forumosa.com:taiwan:viewtopic.php?f=98&t=95929

http-::www.porkytorky.com:2012:06:hohhot-meat-markets.html

http-::www.thebeijinger.com:forum:2008:01:15:Cuts-of-Beef-in-Chinese

http-::www.yelp.com:biz:bayard-meat-market-new-york

Edited February 20, 2013 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

Lunch on Wednesday:

• Soup of chicken broth with snow fungus, chopped scallions & cilantro, and celery heart & leaves.

• Chinese BBQ pork (store-bought) with white rice (Hom Mali).

• Long-stemmed (Chinese-type) spinach blanched in oiled hot water, drizzled w/ oyster sauce & dusted w/ ground black pepper.

Lunch on Thursday:

• Soup of short-cut pork spare ribs sautéed w/ a bit of garlic & ginger then simmered w/ water, small thick-cap "flower pattern" shiitake mushrooms ("Far Koo"; 花菇) & sea salt; sliced daikon added, simmered a while more, loads of ground white pepper added and simmered to finish off. The soup is nicely "hot"/peppery.

• Simple stir-fry/sauté of zucchini sticks w/ a head of garlic (individual cloves well-smashed but unchopped) & sea salt. Eaten w/ white rice (Hom Mali).

[huiray]

"Yee Sang" [魚生] (Google images) for lunch on "Yun Yat" [人日; "Everyone's Birthday"], today, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year 15-day celebrations.

This is a salad of various shredded raw vegetables (& a few cooked) with raw fish & add-ins, tossed w/ a plum sauce. Today I used daikon, jicama, cucumber, deep-fried turnip (died green & red), carrot, all shredded; oroblanco segments, membranes removed & flesh broken into chunks; pickled ginger; sliced pickled scallion bulbs; cilantro leaves; sliced sushi-grade raw tuna & salmon; with crushed peanuts (two kinds), toasted sesame seeds, ground white pepper, five-spice powder, deep-fried wonton skin strips, and generous freshly squeezed lime juice as the add-ins. The dressing was plum sauce w/ sesame oil, fresh lime juice, and a bit of water.

The larger disks seen alongside the fried wonton skin strips in the photo were prawn crackers & crab crackers which were kept on the side and munched along with eating the tossed salad.

I've shown previous renditions of the dish on the salad thread and touched on the possible origins of it also.

Photos of the Yee Sang all laid out, and after putting everything together and tossing.

DSCN7735a_1k.jpg

DSCN7738a_1k.jpg

Looks like I made an error in the list of ingredients - I used TARO, not turnip, dyed green and red then deep fried.

[Paul Bacino]

I fused chopped ( seasoned with Pike's Place fish seasoning ) Salmon and Northern Pike Belly together with Activia Rm Binder to make my Lenten Sandwich!! Side of Pickled jalapeno

The meyo is sirracha/ pickled jalapeno/ dill !!

Edited February 22, 2013 by Paul Bacino (log)

[huiray]

Lunch on Saturday:

• Beef shanks stewed w/ sautéed smashed garlic, a few slices of ginger, "Fu Yee" (fermented bean curd preserved in sesame oil), bamboo shoots, "Kum Chum" (lily buds), and "Far Koo" (flower-patterned thick-cap shiitake mushrooms). Eaten w/ "vegetarian" egg noodles (Vietnamese brand).

• Trimmed "Gai Lan" inner parts/hearts & stems blanched in oiled hot water, drizzled w/ Ponzu sauce & dressed w/ ground white pepper.

The beef shanks being browned w/ the "Fu Yee" & sautéed garlic:

[Jason Perlow]

Shrimp Boil with Florida wild caught head on large

[huiray]

Lunch today (which happens to be "Chap Goh Meh"). No oranges or rice balls for me - I had wontons instead.

Shrimp & Pork wontons - with skinny wonton noodles, sliced Chinese BBQ pork, "Yu Choy Sum" blanched in oiled hot water, in a chicken-derived stock. Chopped scallions & cilantro.

[stags Leap 2008 Petite Syrah beforehand and while preparing the wontons & stuff. :-) ]

The wonton filling was prepared from deveined and coarsely-chopped shrimp mixed w/ a little minced pork, finely chopped scallions, finely sliced "Muk Yee" (wood ear mushrooms) which had been simmered in the stock, ground white pepper; and dashes of sesame oil, Shaohsing wine, Pearl River light superior soy sauce.

The soup/broth was prepared by briefly sautéeing a few slices of fresh ginger in veggie oil, quenching w/ chicken stock, diluting w/ water, then simmering with a small handful of whole dried achovies ("Ikan Bilis"), a few dried shiitake mushrooms ("Far Koo"), and some soaked wood ear mushrooms ("Muk Yee").

[huiray]

Lunch on Monday:

• Fried soft tofu slices.

• Deep-fried Vietnamese vegetarian spring rolls (Chả giò chay).

• Kokita sambal Bangkok, diluted w/ fresh lime juice. (dipping sauce)

• Nước Mắm Pha Sẵn. (dipping sauce)

Lunch on Tuesday:

• Snow fungus & button mushroom soup w/ chicken stock; scallions & cilantro.

• Stir-fried beef slices w/ baby bok choy.

• White rice. (Thai Hom Mali)

[snow fungus - rehydrated, torn into small chunks. Button mushrooms, sliced. Sliced fresh ginger sautéed in veg oil, chicken stock. Chopped scalions & cilantro at the end.] [sliced ribeye, marinated w/ cooking wine, peanut oil, light soy sauce, ground white pepper, bit of cornstarch. Tossed w/ finely chopped garlic & grated ginger in hot oil in a very hot pan. Trimmed washed baby bok choy added, tossed till bok choy just short of wilting.]

Edited February 26, 2013 by huiray (log)

[rod rock]

Lunch from today! Sorry for the bad quality photo...

[scubadoo97]

Huiray, you photos are killin me. They're gorgeous. I would love to try all of them

Jason, shrimp look real good. Hard to beat fresh shrimp. Have a place not far away that does sell shrimp right off the boat in Tarpon Springs. Head on and they're great.

[Steve Irby]

Quick snack. Sesame flat bread, hummus, tomato, avocado, oil cured olive and preserved lemon.

[huiray]

rod rock - potatoes & pork? :-)

scubadoo97 - Aw shucks. Thanks.

Steve Irby - ...and capers? I think I'd need two of this at least. :-D

[huiray]

Lunch on Wednesday: "Hainanese Chicken Rice", in the Malaysian/Singaporean style.

Small chicken poached in salted water w/ lots (LOTS) of smashed [with cleaver] fresh ginger & scallions in the chicken cavity. Removed at an internal temp of ~160ºF. Poaching water (now "chicken broth") reserved, of course. I intentionally did not do an ice-water rinse/dip of the chicken this time. (More gelatin retained) Chopped after cooling, served w/ sliced deskinned cucumber, drizzled w/ light soy sauce (Pearl River Superior).

The rice was made by sautéeing generous chopped garlic & grated fresh ginger in chicken fat [freshly
rendered from additional stuff I get in a tub from the butcher], tossing the raw rice (Basmati) in the mix for about a minute or two, then quenching w/ the reserved "chicken broth" (the poaching liquid) and cooking in the usual manner.

The soup was Taiwan A-choy in the "chicken broth".

The sauce was chopped chicken livers sautéed w/ oil, finely sliced shallots, fish sauce (Red Boat), "aged" soy sauce (Kimlan), MRT ryori-shu, Honteri (sweet) mirin.

[huiray]

Lunch on Thursday:

"Kai See Kon Lo Mein". ("Shredded chicken dry mixed noodles") [in Cantonese] chez huiray on Thursday. :-)

The "chicken sauce": Yesterday's Hainanese Chicken leftovers were shredded (deboned) and reserved. "Far Koo" (shiitake mushrooms w/ flower-patterned caps) were de-stemmed, rehydrated and fairly thinly sliced. Smashed & chopped garlic was sautéed in peanut oil; oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee), fish sauce (Red Boat), a splash of "aged" soy sauce (Kimlan) and a bit of "Gula Melaka" added, the mixture tossed/stirred a short while, the shredded chicken added in & the mix stirred; some "chicken broth" [from yesterday's poaching of the chicken] added and the mix simmered a short while to blend and reduce a bit. Skinny wonton noodles (briefly cooked in the usual manner) were dressed with the sauce and plated w/ "Yu Choy Sum" that had just been blanched in oiled hot water. Chopped scallions on top.

Cauliflower florets simmered in more of the "chicken broth". Chopped scallions on top.

[rod rock]

@Huiray yes And i forgot to take pic of the green salad.

[Paul Bacino]

Lenten Lunch!!

Today's Lunch-- " A fusion of Two Belly's" sandwich

I fused Salmon Belly and Pike Belly last week using Activa RM--made a
roll and froze it. I cut the roll in 1/4 " slices and fried one side
and made my lunch!!
Toke a whole wheat loaf and sliced into small sandwich slices and roasted it

Topped it with Pepper Aioli and a squeeze of kishu Mandarin orange!!

Yumm.. Raspberry oyster chasers!!

[huiray]

Paul Bacino, looks interesting. Nice lunch. Raspberry oysters?