Stir fried Milk

[divina]

I am still on my quest for the use of olives in chinese Cuisine.

Joyce Jue told me about the Fried Milk garnished with olive nuts.

Are the olive nuts easily available outside of China?

anyone make this.

I have seen some recipes with shrimp and chicken livers. then the milk, thickened with water chestnut flour and egg whites is "fried" until thickened.. and served on top of the shrimp mixture...

sound familar

thanks from Italy!

[Ben Hong]

Divina, I may be mistaken, but what we call "olives" in Chinese is a name used for lack of a better term. Usually it means jujubes, which are dried and are reddish brown and wrinkled in appearance. They are olive shaped and similarly sized and are decidedly sweet in taste.

Edited March 25, 2005 by Ben Hong (log)

[divina]

Thanks.. but I have it on expert advice that there are olives in china.. I also thought they were jujubees.

I am doing a presentation on Olives in Dallas at IACP and we are getting Chinese Olives for the tasting!

I will let you know

[Dejah]

Thanks.. but I have it on expert advice that there are olives in china.. I also thought they were jujubees.

I am doing a presentation on Olives in Dallas at IACP and we are getting Chinese Olives for the tasting!

I will let you know

←

There was a discussion of this in another thread? or forum? I believe we talked about olives in the candy thread in this forum: preserved olives with licorice flavours, or salt and vinegar, etc. They are probably used more for snacks in China. I also remember eating them fresh; these were green. I hadn't eaten them for years when my dad on a visit to HK brought some back. I had wonderful memories of them so I gorged myself. Man! Did I have a stomachache.

Will look froward to your report, divina.

[jo-mel]

About those Chinese olives -------- 3 of my books on Chinese food/culture mention that particular olive. They say that it is from a different tree than that of the olive we know.

From Simoons' "Food in China": Chinese Olive --- This is one of the Chinese fruits and vegetables named by Europeans and Americans for the products at home they most resemble. In fact, the "Chinese olive" derives from evergreen trees that are specied of 'Canarium', a genus indigenous mainly to the Asian and African tropics. This genus is quite distinct from "Olea", that of the cultivated olive (O.europea) of the Mediterranean area and the Near East, which was described in Tang times as a tree of Persia and Syria whose fruit was pressed to obtain a cooking oil used like sesame oil in China. Simmons has another four paragraphs on this olive. One paragraphs says briefly:------There are two kinds -- one yellow in skin color when ripe, and the other which is purple black. Both resemble European olives and have an acrid unpleasant taste when fresh, and after processing, they are palatable. They can be salted and sun-dried, or preserved in sugar, honey or syrup, or processed with licorice.

Anderson's "The Food of China" says that the Chinese olive (kan-lan) is reminiscent of a Greek green olive, when pickled, tho the trees are not related.

Chang's "Food in Chinese Cuisine" says that eaten fresh, the Chinese olive was sour, but remarkably sweet when steeped in honey.

Is this more than anyone wants to know? Sorry-- I just got taken away! Now I want to find them!

c

[Dejah]

I remember now that the green olives were sour when eaten fresh.

They are great preserved, salted and sun dried.

[hzrt8w]

From my experience, I found Chinese olives in 2 uses:

1) As snacks: (as mentioned in earlier posts) sun-dried or pickled, many flavors.

2) In a lesser known way: olives are fermented (I think) and are called "Laum Gok" [Cantonese] (meaning "olive diamond"). They are black in color and very salty. Cantonese use them in cooking certain dishes, such as steamed fish.

Jujubes are more like dates, aren't they?

[Pan]

[...]

Jujubes are more like dates, aren't they?

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Yes, in terms of taste. Botanically, they are not at all closely related to either dates or olives.

[divina]

Thanks.. I will let you know. the presentation is in April..

Now I want the NUTS...I immagine they crack the pit and take out a sort of pinenut like center.

[jo-mel]

Thanks.. I will let you know. the presentation is in April..

Now I want the NUTS...I immagine they crack the pit and take out a sort of pinenut like center.

←

That Frederick Simmonds book says that the seeds of both the 'white' and 'black' olive are eaten. The 'black' are considered the best, are said to resemble walnuts in taste. The 'white' ones are high in fat and high in protein --- like many other seeds.

[divina]

Thank you,

I have found info on Chinese olive pits being found in 1850's Sacramento...along with pottery.

Will have to try cracking open an Italian olive pit!

[Seitch]

I am still on my quest for the use of olives in chinese Cuisine.

Joyce Jue told me about the Fried Milk garnished with olive nuts.

Are the olive nuts easily available outside of China?

anyone make this.

I have seen some recipes with shrimp and chicken livers. then the milk, thickened with water chestnut flour and egg whites is "fried" until thickened.. and served on top of the shrimp mixture...

sound familar

thanks from Italy!

←

I've had olive nuts before. I'm pretty sure they're not from the standard Mediterranean olives and they're also probably not from the football shaped Chinese olives. They are sorta long and narrow in shape like an almond but not as big around and the texture is unique. Its as if you took an almond and cut little slits into it so that when eaten it would be crunchy but not hard. I wish I could help you find some but I've never seen them for sale any where. I had them in a dish in Canton years ago. Good luck though.

[Suburbanpeasant]

From my experience, I found Chinese olives in 2 uses:

1)  As snacks: (as mentioned in earlier posts)  sun-dried or pickled, many flavors.

2)  In a lesser known way:  olives are fermented (I think) and are called "Laum Gok" [Cantonese] (meaning "olive diamond").  They are black in color and very salty.  Cantonese use them in cooking certain dishes, such as steamed fish. 

Jujubes are more like dates, aren't they?

←

My Teochew grandmother used to have breakfast porridge consisting of a fermented black olives and little crabs - called mua kee... hope this helps. The other kind of olives is the snack type which is sweet and sour...usually yellow but sometimes green. In Singapore it's called Kana.

[jo-mel]

Thanks.. I will let you know. the presentation is in April..

Now I want the NUTS...I immagine they crack the pit and take out a sort of pinenut like center.

←

I did a google on these nuts and see that there are very few recipes for them. The fried milk one and one for a steamed sponge cake.

Pictures of them are interesting!

Here is what Charmaine Solomon says about the nuts:

http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alp...rtno=1&endno=25

[Dejah]

Please explain "stir fried milk". Should I know it by another name?

[divina]

It was Joyce Jue from San Francisco that mentioned it, when I google it

I get simliar recipes for

Stir Fried Milk

The closest I get to being Chinese is that my mom was raised in china... but lived in the Frenhc Quarter..so rather Isolated

Thanks for the info on the olive nut

Edited March 27, 2005 by divina (log)

[Laksa]

There are two kinds -- one yellow in skin color when ripe, and the other which is purple black. 

←

Interesting to read that Chinese olives are of genus Canarium.

In Sarawak, the Canarium odontophyllum or dabai is a very popular food:

The local Chinese call these ka lan, also. The flesh of the dabai is ready to eat after the "olives" have been steeped in some hot water, or heated under the hot sun.

The seed of the dabai contains an edible kernel that is nutty in flavor.

[divina]

Thank you soooo much! great foto..