Chinese Eats at Home (Part 2)

[Tepee]

Yum!!! Do I see some rice in your soup, Bruce?

....

In Hong Kong, the ones that we make are using 2 cast iron plates with many ball shape "holes" and the holes are arranged in a honeycomb fashion.  One pours the batter on one side, close the 2 plates, then turn them so the batter floats to the other plate.  When done, a plateful of about a dozen "balls" - all still interconnected by some batter - would come out.  The vendor may sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top.  Eating at home, you may add jelly or peanut butter.

These little eggs are like sponge cakes, aren't they?

[Dejah]

Tonight we made Tai Bai chicken (Tai Bai ji), from Land of Plenty. This had tingly Sichuan peppercorn ma; plenty of la from the dried chilies, pickled Thai chilies, and chile paste; rich flavor from a cup of chicken stock reduced to its essence; and nutty fragrant Sesame oil. The absolutely delicious flavors lingered pleasantly after the last mouthful, like a guest that can’t bear to leave a good dinner party.

Served with Napa cabbage and shrimp soup (canh cai kin chi nau tom) and jasmine rice.

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Bruce: Your descriptions are OVER THE TOP!

Your photos are very much appreciated when Ms. Dunlop doesn't have visuals of dishes such as this one.

And now, I'll have to get the Vietnamese Kitchen book that you have been showcasing.

Trying to keep up with Bruce - never mind the "Joness"!

[C. sapidus]

Yum!!! Do I see some rice in your soup, Bruce?

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Thanks, Teepee! Yes, the rice was not cooked in the soup, but added at the table.

[hzrt8w]

These little eggs are like sponge cakes, aren't they?

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They are hollow. When you flip the 2 cast irons plates, the batter runs to the other plate and creates the cavity.

Some references (in Chinese):

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%9E%E8%9B%8B%E4%BB%94

Lots of Google pictures:

http://images.google.com/images?num=100&hl...F-8&sa=N&tab=wi

[hzrt8w]

Hire a translator for legal work. As far as ordering in restaurants, I'm not sure how much it would help to learn to speak Chinese. I would think learning to read characters on the menu would be far more helpful. Hence, learning standard Chinese (Mandarin) would be more useful, IMO, as Cantonese is primarily only a spoken dialect and you will not be able to find much of anything actually written in Cantonese dialect.

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I want to clarify something here, from a language/linguistic point of view...

Chinese is Chinese - the language has a unified set of characters (symbols, pictograms as some call them). Each word has a specific meaning (or multiple meanings). The composition of sentences - in standard Chinese grammar - does not change regardless of dialects.

Dialects are more different pronounciations of the same Chinese words. For example, the same word "Chicken" would be pronounced differently in Cantonese ("gai") than in Mandarin ("ji"). However, in different dialects we may call things differently. Cantonese do compose our sentences in a way that is different from standard Mandarin Chinese. Some words cannot even be committed in writting.

(And throw in the confusion... Mao had started the campaign to simplify the Chinese characters. Now we have two sets of characters: the standard character set (used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and the simplified character set (used in everywhere else in China).)

To learn the Chinese language, you need to pick a dialect to learn the spoken portion. Mandarin is the most standard (official). The way you speak is exactly the way you write. You can go anywhere in China by speaking Mandarin - even in Hong Kong as now it is the "standard". Most of the restaurant workers in the USA probably, still, speak Toisanese or Cantonese dialects but they also probably understand Mandarin as well.

(Edit: typos)

Edited January 30, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[Pan]

[...]Our local Asian store brought in a case, but most of the melons were bought up by their East Indian customers. I bought my share and had dow see gnow yuk chow fu gwa served on top of ho fun.

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You had what?

[Tepee]

You had what?

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Michael, it's cantonese:

dow see = black beans

gnow yuk = beef

chow = fry

fu gwa = bitter melon

ho fun = flat rice noodles

Noodles topped with beef stir-fried with black beans and bitter melons.

[Pan]

You had what?

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Michael, it's cantonese:

dow see = black beans

gnow yuk = beef

chow = fry

fu gwa = bitter melon

ho fun = flat rice noodles

Noodles topped with beef stir-fried with black beans and bitter melons.

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Thanks, TP. That's yummy stuff!

[liuzhou]

My Chinese Language Page

(Amateur Cook - Professional Linguist)

[Gastro888]

Hi everyone, I've got a question for you about fu-gwuah (bitter melon).  I love bitter melon with beef in black bean sauce.  However, I cannot grow my own so I'm left to the mercy of the markets.  I thought bitter melon is only available during the summer time until I saw some in the NYC markets this month.  Now they're not the dark green, fat, wide ridged ones that you see during the summer (ok, I only see those at my mom's but you know what I mean) but they're thinner, pale green with skinny ridges.  Now are these inferior?  Any special way to prep them besides the normal way?

My mom says they are but dang it I want me some dow see ngaw yook fu gwah that I can make myself so I don't have to pay $4 for a skimmpy portion.

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The paler green ones you see may be grown in a greenhouse. They are the same as the usual ones in the summer.

You can stuff them with ground pork, sauteed then gently braised. Or, make soup with melon chunks, rehydrated oysters, pork and some ginger.

Our local Asian store brought in a case, but most of the melons were bought up by their East Indian customers. I bought my share and had dow see gnow yuk chow fu gwa served on top of ho fun.

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Cool, thanks Dejah-Jeh and Ben Sook! Actually, I've never seen a fu-gwuah so pale until I went shopping for it. My mom grows her own and they are BEAUTIFUL. Big, dark green, fat ridges - unlike what you see in the market. I will be making the beef dish tonight for dinner. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow and hope they're as nice as everyone else's. (Which is a big challenge! )

[Tepee]

Just a quick snap of kau yoke - pork boiled, fried, then steamed for 2.5 hours with interspersed taro slices (which had been fried with 5-spice powder and garlic) marinated in nam yu (fermented beancurd) and sugar. Result: everything melts in the mouth.

Kids were too hungry, had to serve them pronto. Didn't manage to snap the veg which is just simple cauliflower and julienned carrots, tossed in sesame oil and oyster sauce.

[Gastro888]

Ooooh, looks yummy, TP! Question - how do you get the "soh may" out of the pork belly? That gamey taste?

Edited January 29, 2007 by Gastro888 (log)

[Tepee]

Gastro, the poor thing has been

boiled (preferably in stock) for 20 minutes,

marinated in thick soya sauce for 15 minutes,

shallow-fried (original recipe is to deep fry),

rinsed in cold water,

sliced,

then marinated with nam yu and sugar for 45 mins,

finally steamed with the 5-spice powdered taro next to it for 2.5 hours.

How 'so'??

Edited January 29, 2007 by Tepee (log)

[Ben Hong]

How 'so'??

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My mother had a saying, "so-so hai yeung yook", meaning a little bit of "so" characterises it as lamb, also meaning that the distinctive taste comes with the territory.

Tepee, I made the identical kau yook when my kids were home for Christmas. Since then, my son has made it twice at his place.

[hzrt8w]

Just a quick snap of kau yoke - pork boiled, fried, then steamed for 2.5 hours with interspersed taro slices (which had been fried with 5-spice powder and garlic) marinated in nam yu (fermented beancurd) and sugar. Result: everything melts in the mouth.

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Boiled, fried, steamed... you are cooking the pork belly to death!

Looks very nice!

[Gastro888]

Not your pork belly, TP, it was MY pork belly was "soh". The one I made a while ago did have a faint "soh may". I never tasted that before in pork belly so I was surprised. Now I know how you got yours out!

Edited January 29, 2007 by Gastro888 (log)

[hzrt8w]

Not your pork belly, TP, it was MY pork belly was "soh".    The one I made a while ago did have a faint "soh may". 

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To counter the "musky" taste... try using more ginger?

[Ben Hong]

Boiled, fried, steamed...  you are cooking the pork belly to death! 

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Kau yook is one of the very few dishes in our cuisine that uses three different types of cooking...boiling, deep frying and steaming, to accomplish. Well worth the effort.

[eje]

These little eggs are like sponge cakes, aren't they?

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They are hollow. When you flip the 2 cast irons plates, the batter runs to the other plate and creates the cavity.

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Oh, funny!

A place called "Eggettes" serving these very waffles just opened in Glenn Park not far from where I live.

How and/or when are they usually eaten?

[hzrt8w]

A place called "Eggettes" serving these very waffles just opened in Glenn Park not far from where I live.

How and/or when are they usually eaten?

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They are usually eaten as is. They are great when fresh off the grill. Some may sprinkle sugar (regualr sugar) on top. I don't think this is "traditional" Chinese small eats but it had gotten popular in Hong Kong since the 50's. The world is getting smaller!

[Tepee]

Not your pork belly, TP......  ..[snip]

Eeek! Thanks for reminding me that I should watch my diet. Cheongsam time soon. That jumped at me, thank you...because my surname is Choo...sounds like Pig.

[sheetz]

Eileen YF Lo's Heng Yang style spicy scallops with water chestnuts, bell peppers, and snow ear fungus.

Vegetarian hot pot using whatever vegetarian stuff I had.

[hzrt8w]

Eileen YF Lo's Heng Yang style spicy scallops with water chestnuts, bell peppers, and snow ear fungus.

Snow ear fungus? Really? That's very interesting! Is it in their original recipe or it is your add-on? I never thought of using snow ear fungus for this type of stir-fried dishes. Would be a very interesting texture contrast.

[sheetz]

Eileen YF Lo's Heng Yang style spicy scallops with water chestnuts, bell peppers, and snow ear fungus.

Snow ear fungus? Really? That's very interesting! Is it in their original recipe or it is your add-on? I never thought of using snow ear fungus for this type of stir-fried dishes. Would be a very interesting texture contrast.

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It's actually in the original recipe.

Edit: DOH! It's actually cloud ears.

Edited January 30, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[Dejah]

Hey Folks: Meet a foodie pal of mine from Brandon: Inga. Now that she's joined, I'll have to show her how to post!

How did your chicken stir-fry with oyster sauce turn out tonight?