Chinese Eats at Home (Part 1)

[Tepee]

I'm liking how this thread is ferreting a lot of lurkers who can COOK! Welcome to the forum, RRO! That looks so yum!

Shredded last night's leftover chicken to use for frying vermicelli for lunch. That blob is part of a bag of rendang gravy given to me by the nasi lemak stall woman yesterday as she was closing up. My hubby and I constantly get 'extras' from places we ta-pau food...must be our charm

Cat's away again....not cooking tonight. Kids want roadside burgers/hotdogs.

Edited December 7, 2006 by Tepee (log)

[peony]

today lunch is a simple bowl of rice fried in sesame oil with lots of julienne ginger and an egg.

for my grandson, a bento box again.

He has fried noodle with cocktail sausages, fu chok and veggi, follow with slices of mangoes n pears.

[Tepee]

Peony, do you happen to have a daughter who is in confinement at the moment? First the livers, then this rice.......so familiar. Next, vinegared pig trotters, I hope? Slurrrrrp.

Edited December 7, 2006 by Tepee (log)

[peony]

no, don't think I'm gonna have another grandchild for a long time.

it's my daughter. she misses her confinement dishes... her work pl quite near my home. So we have lunch together and she requested these dishes. Better for me too, as most r one pot meals.

[C. sapidus]

Yue Fei (March 17, 1103 – January 27, 1142) was a Chinese patriot and nationalist military leader who fought for the Southern Song Dynasty against the Jurchen armies of the Jin Dynasty.

Mmmmm, delicious-looking dinners and fascinating history. Sometimes it is difficult for those of us living in the “new world” to remember that history goes back much further in other parts of the globe.

Half of last night’s dinner was Chinese: Fuchsia Dunlop’s fish-fragrant eggplant (yu xiang qie zi). The eggplant was deep-fried until soft and golden, then drained, tossed briefly with the sauce, and finished with sesame oil. I found it delicious, but the rest of the family had issues with the soft texture. Is eggplant normally soft in Chinese cooking, or should I have left more “chew”?

Description from the Dinner! thread:

The “fish-fragrant” sauce for the eggplant tasted hot (chile bean paste), sour (Chinkiang vinegar), salty (light soy sauce), and aromatic (garlic, ginger, shallots, sesame oil), with umami (chicken stock) and a suggestion of sweet.

Vietnamese pork in claypot was delicious, too, but the family didn’t like the chewy rice noodles. Guess I need to work on their appreciation of different textures.

[hzrt8w]

[...] I found it delicious, but the rest of the family had issues with the soft texture. Is eggplant normally soft in Chinese cooking, or should I have left more “chew”?

←

Soft.

May be it's me. I don't see eating eggplant any other way. It cannot be eaten raw as in salad.

[Tepee]

If it's cooked, it will be soft, won't it? That's why in most recipes, the skin is left on to give it some semblance of a structure. There's one dish my mom used to make; she skins the brinjals and cut it into lengthwise strips. Very soft...you don't want to make that for your family.

The description of the sauce is making me drool. I love vietnamese food but haven't cooked any Viet dishes before. Which book do you usually use?

[Dejah]

Came home to finish BBQing the venison kebabs, so taking time to post the stir-fried venison from last night's supper.

It really was delicious! I used big slices of ginger and left the scallions in long pieces. Hubby loves ginger.

The kebabs are more Thai/Mayasian flavouring, but I might post pictures later anyway.

[C. sapidus]

Soft.

May be it's me.  I don't see eating eggplant any other way.  It cannot be eaten raw as in salad.

Thank you, Ah Leung. I value your perspective.

If it's cooked, it will be soft, won't it? That's why in most recipes, the skin is left on to give it some semblance of a structure. There's one dish my mom used to make; she skins the brinjals and cut it into lengthwise strips. Very soft...you don't want to make that for your family.

Sure, eggplant softens to some degree when cooked. I make a grilled/broiled Italian eggplant with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary that my wife loves. Grilling or broiling softens the eggplant, but the texture is more dry than wet. Apparently, that makes all the difference.

The description of the sauce is making me drool. I love vietnamese food but haven't cooked any Viet dishes before. Which book do you usually use?

Thanks, TP! I have been using Mai Pham’s Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, which has a lot of wonderful recipes and stories. I am hoping to supplement it with Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen..

[Ben Hong]

[...] I found it delicious, but the rest of the family had issues with the soft texture. Is eggplant normally soft in Chinese cooking, or should I have left more “chew”?

←

Soft.

May be it's me. I don't see eating eggplant any other way. It cannot be eaten raw as in salad.

←

Egg plant cooked with fatty pork and haum ha is the ultimate stinky comfort food. It's the soft squishness that gives it "character", dontcha know??

[sheetz]

Shrimp with Glazed Walnuts

[Pan]

Shrimp with Glazed Walnuts

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I love dishes like that! What recipe did you use?

[sheetz]

I love dishes like that! What recipe did you use?

←

For the shrimp and creamy sauce:

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/shrimpreci...honeyprawns.htm

For the walnuts:

1. Boil 4 oz walnuts in 4 cups water for 5 min. Drain and rinse. Repeat.

2. Mix 2 T sugar with 1 T water in a saucepan and boil for 1 min.

3. Add walnuts and cook until syrup turns golden brown. Drain excess syrup from walnuts and cool.

4. Fry walnuts at 300F for 3 min, then gradually increase temperature until oil is 350F and walnuts are browned and beginning to float.

5. Toss walnuts with 1 T toasted sesame seeds while still hot.

ETA: Actually, I didn't use the measurements called for in the sauce recipe. I just looked at the ingredient list and mixed something that tasted about right to me. I think it was more like 1/2 cup mayo, 1 T honey, 3 T condensed milk, and a squeeze of lemon.

Edited December 8, 2006 by sheetz (log)

[Tepee]

Thanks, sheetz!!

Cubed honey melon goes well with this dish too.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Tepee (log)

[Tepee]

Busy this morning...so ta-paued chicken rice. Wanted half chicken and half char siu but they run out of char siu very early...missed it.

[v. gautam]

To Sheetz, and anyone who would like to jump in [ this is slightly off-topic, for which I apologize, but the pictures of the shrimp made me do it!]:

For many years, especially when I have been able to get fresh product, I salt-whip the shelled shrimp with coarse salt at least once, if not twice. This gets rid of a mucilaginous substance and makes for a better mouth feel.

Still, it does not equal the 'crunchy' texture achieved in restaurants, which I have been told takes soaking in flowing water, alkali, etc. Could anyone please enlighten me as to how that wonderful crispness happens? Many, many thanks.

gautam

[peony]

we have sweet n sour pork chop rice today for lunch.

[Tepee]

By all means, jump in, v.gautam, you're still on-topic.

Alkali solution is not needed to induce crunchiness in shrimps. The secret is plain sugar solution. When we buy shrimps, on reaching home, we give it a quick wash, then put them in a bag, throw some sugar in and fill it with some water, then freeze. If you take the shrimps out a week later, or even 2 weeks later, you'll be amazed how fresh and crunchy the shrimps taste and feel. Try it.

[Dejah]

On the prairies, I daydream about fresh shrimp.

To have the "crunch", I soak the peeled shrimp in a solution of cornstarch and cold water for about half an hour, rinse, then cook accordingly.

I need to get closer to an ocean!

[sheetz]

v. gautam, normally I would soak the shrimp in a salt and sugar solution for 30 min before cooking, but I didn't for this recipe because of the egg white marinade. (Egg whites are alkali.) I also like the texture more when I fry/velvetize them in a lot of oil rather than stir-frying in a tiny amount of oil. Finally, don't over cook them. Remove them from the heat before completely done, as the residual heat will finish them off.

hzrt8w, no thank you with the pictorials. I don't know how you guys do them so well. When I cook it's like a 3 ring circus with so many things going on I can't possibly stop to take pics.

Edited December 8, 2006 by sheetz (log)

[sheetz]

This red cooked pork shoulder was prepared overnight in my slow cooker.

[C. sapidus]

sheetz: Wow, indeed. That’s beautiful. Wow.

Chicken with Sichuan peppercorns is a favorite from Breath of a Wok. Last time it was a bit mild, so I increased the chile oil and dry chilies. The delicious sauce contains white pepper, black soy, Chinkiang vinegar, sesame oil, chicken broth, ginger, garlic, scallions, and ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns, cooked down to concentrate the flavors.

The bell peppers were dead simple: sliced, stir-fried, and tossed with rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and sesame oil. The recipe called for steaming/boiling and peeling the peppers, but I was lazy.

Chicken with Sichuan peppercorns; sweet and sour red bell peppers

[rarerollingobject]

C. sapidus, that looks delicious! Do you cook the sauce first and then braise the chicken in it?

For dinner tonight, I made xiao long bao. I'm finally more or less happy with my stock recipe (mostly pork skin and chicken stock, with a trotter if I can get one) but am yet to close the book on the wrapper dough. It's still a bit thick and tacky, not the fine silken gossamer-ness my Amah would make..

Yes, they ARE overly-crowded in the steamer but that's because I'm both impatient and greedy..not, however, completely stupid: note the baking paper with a number of holes stabbed in it, to reduce the risk of the bao sticking to the bamboo steamer and tearing (gotta protect that precious soup! )

[Domestic Goddess]

Sheetz - your pork shoulder has left me speechless... Can I have a chunk please?

rarerollingobject - Bravo for taking such a daunting task! I am drooling back here. They don't look crowded, they look just enough for me. LOL

[shengcai]

Those xiao long bao look so good that I'm absolutely drooling! As you can also tell by my avatar, I too am a fan of these wonderful Shanghainese treats. I've never made them from scratch myself yet but would like to undertake this project in the near future, so please update us if you've found your Amah's secret! In the meantime, the commercially available frozen ones are sufficient to console a hardcore xiao long bao addict like myself (and in the Heartland of America, there's no decent ones made in the restaurants either). Nice work protecting them from losing their soup....I still cringe when I recall the movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, when the little girl says her mom squeezed the soup out of the dumplings so that they were less greasy for her bus ride . I gotta remember that poking holes technique. Usually, I use napa cabbage to line my steamer, but sometimes when I don't have that on hand, I'll resort to the parchment paper.