Weird Chinese snacks?

[hzrt8w]

[...Sometimes, late at night, getting hungry, I would try to look for something to munch on in the kitchen. But I have no cracker, Cheetos, potato chips or anything like that in the house. I resolve to looking in the pantry...]

Do you munch on these (normally Chinese cooking ingredients) items as snacks?

Small dried shrimp

Dried oyster - only when just brought them from the market where the dried oysters are still soft and moist. Cut them into 1/4 inch strips.

1/4 of a small cube of fu yu (fermented bean curd) - just to get the rich taste. Can't eat too much as it is quite salty.

1 tsp of the Sa Cha sauce (dry, skip the oil) - it is full of minced dried shrimp.

Open a can of Pearl River Bridge brand "Fried Dace with Fermented Black Beans" and consume half a fish. Salty? A little bit. Oily? A little bit. Hell... quite tasty!

What else may you snack on that might be considered "wierd"? I might try some...

[Dejah]

Do you munch on these (normally Chinese cooking ingredients) items as snacks?

Small dried shrimp

Dried oyster - only when just brought them from the market where the dried oysters are still soft and moist.  Cut them into 1/4 inch strips.

1/4 of a small cube of fu yu (fermented bean curd) - just to get the rich taste.  Can't eat too much as it is quite salty.

1 tsp of the Sa Cha sauce (dry, skip the oil) - it is full of minced dried shrimp.

Open a can of Pearl River Bridge brand "Fried Dace with Fermented Black Beans" and consume half a fish.  Salty?  A little bit.  Oily?  A little bit.  Hell... quite tasty!

What else may you snack on that might be considered "wierd"?  I might try some...

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Ok, this is just too weird for me. Ah Leung, with all these salty snacks, I'll have to start calling you "ham sup lo"!

I can't imagine eating uncooked dried oysters, or dried shrimp. Now, if I opened a can of fried dace, then I'd have to have rice, then that wouldn't be a snack!

I might have ramen out of the package though.

[insomniac]

My kids loved to eat raw noodles until I told them their stomachs would explode

And I guess wah mui and haw flakes don't count.

Last year's mooncakes found in the back of the cupboard

[insomniac]

ham sup lo

[sheetz]

Really, Ah Leung, aside from the canned dace that's just too weird! My father likes munching on preserved ginger.

[jo-mel]

Any shrimp chips? Deep fry in seconds -- or the already prepared ones?

Oh-- but you are looking for something weird! Dip the dried shrimp into hoisin sauce to off set the salt ?

[mizducky]

[...Sometimes, late at night, getting hungry, I would try to look for something to munch on in the kitchen.  But I have no cracker, Cheetos, potato chips or anything like that in the house.  I resolve to looking in the pantry...]

Do you munch on these (normally Chinese cooking ingredients) items as snacks?

Small dried shrimp

Dried oyster - only when just brought them from the market where the dried oysters are still soft and moist.  Cut them into 1/4 inch strips.

1/4 of a small cube of fu yu (fermented bean curd) - just to get the rich taste.  Can't eat too much as it is quite salty.

1 tsp of the Sa Cha sauce (dry, skip the oil) - it is full of minced dried shrimp.

Open a can of Pearl River Bridge brand "Fried Dace with Fermented Black Beans" and consume half a fish.  Salty?  A little bit.  Oily?  A little bit.  Hell... quite tasty!

What else may you snack on that might be considered "wierd"?  I might try some...

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I'm so glad you confessed to all this, Ah Leung--I thought I was the only one with weird snacking habits!

I too have eaten fu yu as an unconventional snack--either as a spread on bread or crackers, or mashed into sour cream as a dip, as we discussed in another topic.

I have also been known to finish of the remains of an open packet of dried shrimp ... and to take little sample tastes of sa cha sauce.

Oh and I realize this is a Japanese and not a Chinese product, but I also like to snack on furikake. I'll pour about a teaspoonful out of the jar into the palm of my hand and eat it.

And I wonder why I have high blood pressure?

[Dejah]

All right, I had a senior moment/brain fart when I called Ah Leung "ham sup lo"!

For that I do apologize to his wife for I don't know if he is!

What I meant to say was "ham jup lo"...salty ingredients man. I was cooking my paella and thinking, and nearly cut off my fingers when the thought hit me!

[hzrt8w]

What I meant to say was "ham jup lo"...salty ingredients man. I was cooking my paella and thinking, and nearly cut off my fingers when the thought hit me!

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I am glad your students didn't see your paella came out as blood red! My taste buds couldn't stand sweet, or sour, very well. But a little salty taste I can handle!

[SuzySushi]

Memory might be serving me incorrectly, but I thought other people do munch on the dried salty shrimp as snacks. Leastwise, I seem to remember seeing packets hanging from a rack at a checkout stand at one of the supermarkets here. They might have had other spices as well. Have to go hunt that down now and photograph a packet for documentation! (They're too salty for my health...)

Likewise, doesn't everyone (in the know, that is) eat haw flakes?

[peony]

you can also snack on canned abalone, pickle choy sum - canned / bottle, instant noodle with spam n fried egg.

of cause not forgetting hundred/thousand year old egg(pei tan) with pickle ginger or since you like salted food, boiled salted egg.

[hzrt8w]

of cause not forgetting hundred/thousand year old egg(pei tan) with pickle ginger or since you like salted food, boiled salted egg. 

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I do like pei dan slices and pickled ginger. But salted eggs... only egg yolks. As the egg white is too salty even for this "ham jup lo"...

[Kent Wang]

I admit to eating the shrimp, too.

Also, furikake, I pour it straight into my mouth, as if drinking it like a liquid.

[Dejah]

Ok, I admit to snacking on pei dan. Every once in a while I get a craving and will crack one for myself.

Haw flakes - Of Course! Have to savour each round individually. Mustn't devour a whole stack at a time!

I have seen packets of dried squid, but not the shrimp. I used to like the squid, but I find them too smelly now.

Peony, I don't know where you're from, but snacking on abalone?! It's $75.00 a can here in Canada!

How about yook suhn, aka pork silk? Great snack.

[hzrt8w]

Peony, I don't know where you're from, but snacking on abalone?! It's $75.00 a can here in Canada!

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May be "abalone"-like shellfish from Mexico, Chile or elsewhere in South America? - Only US$6.00 a can.

[annachan]

When I was little, I definitely loved dried shrimp. I also munched on dried scallops. Another favorite is pluffed rice with sesame seed and tea.

[jasie]

I like snacking on furikake too... spoon? No thanks. haha.

I love dried squid/cuttlefish. Soft chewy ones, crispy ones.. all good.

Congee with salted vegetables, salted radish omelettes, nam yu or spam fried with eggs. Yum!

*wanders off into the kitchen for any of those.....*

(you guys made me hungry )

[sheetz]

When I was little, I definitely loved dried shrimp. I also munched on dried scallops. Another favorite is pluffed rice with sesame seed and tea.

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I suppose dried shrimp can be eaten, but they are generally pretty tough until they are soaked. But dried scallops are hard as a rock!

[hzrt8w]

When I was little, I definitely loved dried shrimp. I also munched on dried scallops. Another favorite is pluffed rice with sesame seed and tea.

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I suppose dried shrimp can be eaten, but they are generally pretty tough until they are soaked. But dried scallops are hard as a rock!

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So are dried squid and dried oysters!!

[Dejah]

When I was little, I definitely loved dried shrimp. I also munched on dried scallops. Another favorite is pluffed rice with sesame seed and tea.

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I suppose dried shrimp can be eaten, but they are generally pretty tough until they are soaked. But dried scallops are hard as a rock!

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So are dried squid and dried oysters!!

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I think the dried squid would be the specially prepared snacking ones - usually shredded and flavoured with chili peppers, etc.

I don't think my teeth can handle any of the above mentioned.

So far, there's been a lot of salty snacks. Do you drink beer or tea with these snacks at 3 am? Ah Leung?

What about rock sugar? Bars of brown sugar? Chunks of palm sugar? We are out of peanuts and other snacks at the moment, and I see this morning, my box of rock sugar is...empty!

[peony]

once a year, esp after the Lunar New Year, can lah..., we normally buy abt 1 dozen cans..so after the New Year.. if there are remainder, munch on the extra cans with beer.

I buy those about 35 - 50 S'pore dollars range... sometimes also receive as gift hamper.

[annachan]

When I was little, I definitely loved dried shrimp. I also munched on dried scallops. Another favorite is pluffed rice with sesame seed and tea.

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I suppose dried shrimp can be eaten, but they are generally pretty tough until they are soaked. But dried scallops are hard as a rock!

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The shrimps I used to love are larger ones (~ 2 inches) with the shell still on. They were more chewy than hard. The scallops weren't that bad when you break them up into small strands.

Also love those little dried fish seasoned with soy, sugar and chili.

Oh yeah, Burmese tea salad....tofu fa....stinky tofu....chestnuts....

[jhirshon]

I am notorious for snacking the solids found in the bottom of Yank Sing's XO sauce - salty, hot goodness,

cheers, JH

[jo-mel]

Xioa hzrt -- Since you are into the salty stuff, how about a few slices of Sichuan pickle or pickled mustard cabbage? Or one of the forms of dried turnip?

[Ben Hong]

Holy sheeit, you guys have weird cravings!! But I do like your tastes. I used to be an inveterate snacker of dried shrimp, that is until got a terrible case of of the sheets from a bad batch. Now to satisfy my salt cravings, I go to kalamata olives, smoked herring, pickled herring snacks, smoked oysters, kielbasa, pepperoni, cretons, all kinds of cheeses, the stronger the better. I am almost addicted to Danish Blue Cheese.