Chinese Eats at Home (Part 1)

[mizducky]

My dinner tonight--vegetarian mapo tofu:

I didn't substitute anything for the meat--I just omitted it. Plenty of protein already with the tofu.

[hzrt8w]

My dinner tonight--vegetarian mapo tofu:

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I didn't substitute anything for the meat--I just omitted it. Plenty of protein already with the tofu.

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Ellen: you can put in pressed tofu to make the vegetarian version. Get some flavored or smoked pressed tofu... cut them into tiny cubes (e.g. 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch). This can be the "meat substitute". Then cook using the same recipe. This will give you 2 layers of texture: the harder pressed tofu and the softer regular tofu. Just a trick to please our taste buds.

Where are the firey fresh red chili slices? Oops... watched too many Kylie's shows...

[hzrt8w]

Yes, it is hainanese chicken rice, Ah Leung Gaw. Ahh, we need Ben Sook to spin a romantic yarn on how the balls came to be....like some dutiful wife of some farm folk packing a dozen balls for her partner to take to the fields....etc...etc....but wait a minute...isn't it the women folk who work the fields??

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Wife... partner? Tepee! You applied the modern day Political Correctness to a story in the ancient backdrop!

I read the wikipedia stories. So complicated! To the Cantonese, this dish is just "white chopped chicken" (Bak Cheet Gai) 白切雞... reuse the stock or not, adding coconut milk or not...

Edited November 28, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[mizducky]

My dinner tonight--vegetarian mapo tofu:

...

I didn't substitute anything for the meat--I just omitted it. Plenty of protein already with the tofu.

←

Ellen: you can put in pressed tofu to make the vegetarian version. Get some flavored or smoked pressed tofu... cut them into tiny cubes (e.g. 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch). This can be the "meat substitute". Then cook using the same recipe. This will give you 2 layers of texture: the harder pressed tofu and the softer regular tofu. Just a trick to please our taste buds.

Where are the firey fresh red chili slices? Oops... watched too many Kylie's shows...

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Hi, Ah Leung--I remember seeing that suggestion about the pressed tofu in your tutorial. I just forgot to buy any the last time I was at 99 Ranch ... and I didn't have any ground meat in the fridge either ... but my mouth wanted some mapo tofu anyway so I had at it with what I had on hand.

No fistfuls of red chilies for this girl--but I did get it just hot enough for my tastes with one dried red chile (crushed), and a spoonful each of toban jan and crushed Szechuan pepper. My tongue is happily tingling.

[Dejah]

I think what mizducky used already has texture. The tofu cubes look firm, but I'll bet the inside is silky smooth.

The rice balls look inviting. What a fun way to eat: a complete mouthful (as in a complete meal in a dish). I think I may try that to entice my grandson to eat chicken again. He refuses to eat chicken of any kind!

I've got one pork shoulder picnic braising in the oven at the moment, a la Fushia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. The only thing I added was some white pepper. It proved a hit with the students last week, so I'm making lots this time so everyone will have more than one forkful! I have a shoulder blade roast with a thick layer of fat to braise tomorrow. The potluck is for Wed.

Here's what we had for supper tonight:

Guy choi soup with ginger and pork tenderloin slices.

and char siu pai gwut made with hoisin sauce, wine, 5 spice powder, and a sprinkle of sugar. The ribs were done in the oven. It's been snowing and blowing all day. Couldn't face going out to the BBQ!

[mizducky]

I think what mizducky used already has texture. The tofu cubes look firm, but I'll bet the inside is silky smooth.

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I get a really nice texture in the tofu by par-boiling cubed firm tofu for about three minutes in a large quantity of water, draining the cubes well before proceeding with the recipe. I have found this step produces cubes whose outsides resist crumbling when you stir them around in the sauce (though of course you still have to stir them gently!), and whose insides are soft and almost fluffy.

Plus I chop my fermented black beans rather than mashing them, so there's texture from that too.

[sheetz]

I think I'll try that recipe for Ma Po Doufu. It's supposed to snow here this wekend and that should really help to keep me warm!

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Only if you use slices from 5 fresh red chilies.

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I prefer using the dried ones.

[peony]

learn to cook these dry rice sticks about 2 weeks back...my daughter bought these tteokbokgi from Japan.

[Pan]

we have boiled chicken smeared with sesame oil

sauté beanspout

and those little balls are rice balls.

the soup is from the water used to cook the chicken in it. Just add  abit of sesame oil, tung chai and sping onion.

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I'm really digging this thread!

Those look like what are called "Ipoh beansprouts" in Malaysia - would you agree, TP? What country are you posting from, peony?

[Tepee]

Peony is from S'pore, Michael. That's taugeh, alright, but it has to be from Ipoh before it can be labelled Ipoh beansprouts (which are nice and sweet and plump and crunchy).

Was supposed to be western nite...I usually alternate, but since hubby will be going out of town for the next few days, I thought I'd give him a simple homecooked meal...he eats fancy enough outside of the home as he's in sales and he entertains frequently.

Steamed egg/soya milk, garnished with tiny sweet crispy shrimps from Pangkor Island.

2-minute stir-fried cos lettuce with boxthorn berries (gei chee)

Shallow-fried ma yau fish (what's the english name?) with prawn crackers also from Pangkor Island.

I'm also enjoying this thread...I'm wondering why we never thought of it before. Dai gah jeh, nei hai taak geh!

Edit to add: Guess what we had for dessert? Durian buns! A new discovery by hubby on his way home. Delicious durian filling, more like the actual durian meat than custard. Don't like the soft bread, though.

Edited November 28, 2006 by Tepee (log)

[peony]

thanks tepee for helping..

Ya, now I am in Singapore but I was borned and brought up in Ipoh ...

these dishes are cooked by a relative who made n sell chicken rice. He came to S'pore for hoiday. Knowing that I missed M'ysian food, cooked these for us.

C. sapidus asked what is ' tung chai ', it is a type of dried preserved veg. Used commonly as in - steamed minced pork with tung chai.

[Dejah]

Tepee,

In the stir-fried cos lettuce with gai chee, were they fresh berries or rehydrated ones? I don't have any fresh ones at the moment.

I've never used gai chee in this manner. It's always been in simple soup by itself, or with a million other herbs.

[shengcai]

Steamed egg/soya milk, garnished with tiny sweet crispy shrimps from Pangkor Island.

Tepee,

Do these shrimps come crispy, or did you fry them somehow to get the texture? I made a similar version of this just the other day, but I just rehydrated some dry shrimps (not from Pangkor) in warm water, then chopped into tiny bits. I like the idea of the texture contrast with crispy shrimps.

[hzrt8w]

Peony is from S'pore, Michael. That's taugeh, alright, but it has to be from Ipoh before it can be labelled Ipoh beansprouts (which are nice and sweet and plump and crunchy).

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Beansprouts that have a private label? That must be some beansprouts! I thought they are quite generic.

Shallow-fried ma yau fish (what's the english name?) with prawn crackers also from Pangkor Island.

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I did some Google search. I thinik Ma yau 馬友 is:

Threadfin

Eleutheronema tetradactylum

(Some pictures on Google)

[hzrt8w]

Shallow-fried ma yau fish (what's the english name?) with prawn crackers also from Pangkor Island.

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What was sprinkled on top of the fish?

[sheetz]

Chicken Chow Fun with Black Beans

[Tepee]

Dai gah jeh, the gei chee is rehydrated.

shengcai, it comes crispy...it's a snack by itself.

Thanks, Ah Leung gaw, you are a google king! Do you have ma yau there? It's one of the more pricey fish here. Good meat and no small fine bones. That's garlic (I'm the garlic queen, remember?) on top of the fish. I fished some out when I was sautee-ing as aromatics for the veg. About the beansprouts, they say it must be the water in Ipoh. The cheong fun there is also very smooth, and the girls are known to be fair maidens. Hmm....peony, you said you hail from Ipoh?

sheetz, that's a new dinner idea for me. Never had black beans with chow fun before. Sounds good.

Where's the rest of the dinners??? I'll probably not cook chinese tonight...the cat's away. I may have to be a society donor just for this thread because my image box is already busted.

Edited November 29, 2006 by Tepee (log)

[mizducky]

learn to cook these dry rice sticks about 2 weeks back...my daughter bought these tteokbokgi from Japan.

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This dish looks absolutely scrumptious! I love that slightly-chewy rice stick texture, and every time I look at this picture I can just feel my teeth sliding into one of them.

I should have another picture for this topic in about an hour or so ...

[hzrt8w]

These rice sticks never made it to Hong Kong. At least as of 8 years ago. I think we (Cantonese) are not used to the thick, round rice noodle sticks. This is close to the Cantonese "ho fun" (flat rice noodle sheet) - as in sheetz's dinner picture. It seems to be just a form factor difference while the ingredients are the same. Carb. Rice.

[mizducky]

I went shopping at the local Food-4-Less this afternoon, and in the meat case I discovered several packages of turkey tails. I think a lot of people don't know what the heck to do with these things, but I love 'em--they're full of flavor, rich with fat, and really inexpensive. Usually I use them to make soup, but since I'm still playing with my new sand pot, I had an inspiration to use the turkey tails in a red-cooked dish. Not traditional as far as I know, but I figured why the heck not? And they fit in my little sand pot perfectly.

The pot just out of the oven:

The reveal!

I put some chunks of onion, carrot, and daikon in to braise with the turkey and seasonings (light and dark soy sauce, shao zhing wine, star anise, and ginger, plus a scant cupful of water).

[hhlodesign]

My mom came to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend. Here is what she cooked for us!

Chinese meal by mom

Still trying to pick up all her techniques.

[Kent Wang]

This must be hottest thread on all of eG right now!

Mizducky: I've never heard of turkey tails. Is it more like the rump on a chicken?

I wonder how popular turkey has become in China. I don't recall seeing it anywhere -- on menus or at supermarkets -- when I visited earlier this year.

[mizducky]

My mom came to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend. Here is what she cooked for us!

Chinese meal by mom

Still trying to pick up all her techniques.

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Wow! That's quite the feast your mom whipped up!

Mizducky: I've never heard of turkey tails. Is it more like the rump on a chicken?

I wonder how popular turkey has become in China. I don't recall seeing it anywhere -- on menus or at supermarkets -- when I visited earlier this year.

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It's the actual tail of the bird--the turkey, being a bigger bird, will have a much more substantial tail (plus I think the turkey just evolved a sturdier tail in order to hold up its big beautiful plume of tail feathers). In English the chicken or turkey tail is often nicknamed the "pope's nose" (pity the poor pontif who has a nose shaped like that! ) I very seldom see turkey tails in the market here in San Diego, though for some reason I used to see them a lot more in Seattle mainstream supermarkets. Sometimes they even turn up smoked--great for flavoring a potful of greens! (Though that's more a dish common to the US Southeast...)

Some random Googling suggests that turkey hasn't made much of an inroad into Chinese cuisine yet--all the recipes I found seem to be adaptations of dishes traditionally made with other types of poultry. But the turkey tails did take to the red-cooking treatment really well--turkey's a good blank canvas for all kinds of flavorings.

Edited November 29, 2006 by mizducky (log)

[Dejah]

We're so far behind the Dinner! thread it's not even funny! I think everyone here needs to hurry up and whip up twelve different batches of fried rice.

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Considering that the Dinner! thread was started in 2002, I think we are doing very well!

I am trying to upload the image of tonight's supper, but it wasn't working for me. I got a message to contact the eGullet team, so must wait to see what I did wrong.

It's still snowing, and we must have had about a foot of snow! I was teaching also, so we had bo jai fan.

As for the rice sticks, I have not seen this shape, but I do have the flat ones that are about 2" long with rounded ends. They are like the ones my mom used to make for New Years. She used to make them different shapes: some long, some like the old ingots, some round, etc. These were made with rice flour, steamed and kept in pails of water in a cool place. The water must be changed frequently. I loved it when Mom would slice some up, brown them in the pan, then mixed with lap yook and vegetables. She called them gnau lan yuen.

I am going to cook the package I have tomorrow. They are soaking in water now to soften up. The directions said to soak for 12 hours!

[Dejah]

Ho fun with black bean garlic is my favourite way to cook them! I like to add bitter melon and sliced beef. The kids prefer lots of oyster sauce, gai lan, and beef.

Gota have ma la oil for dipping.