Drool Time

Summer: Time for Jello!

2009-05-31T17:31:00.001-04:00

Hotter days mean cooler food to me, my recent snack obsession has been Tutto fruit jello from Korea, they're kind of pricey at 2 for $3 but sooo good. There's quite a lot of real fruit inside and the gooey gel's just tart enough to make it my summer treat.

A vegetarian and cheaper option is Hsin Tung Yang's green tea jello(新东阳绿茶冻), made from seaweed powder instead of beef gelatin, it's healthier, and probably has less sugar since the fruit syrup comes in a separate packet. Wish they had the exact caffeine content on the label, it might have more buzz than it looks, since I was up pretty late after trying some last night.

Dinner

2008-07-20T21:30:00.002-04:00

From top (left to right), fried peanuts, salmon salad with chopped garlic, satay shrimp, and bitter melon salad with salmon.

Braised Fish Soup with Radish and Seaweed

2008-07-20T21:29:00.002-04:00

The fish was lightly sauted and then added to the stew.

Cucumber, Walnuts and Black Mushroom Salad

2008-07-20T21:26:00.002-04:00

Easy to prepare, this is a great summer salad.

香香嘴 (Tofu Snacks)

2008-07-09T15:20:00.001-04:00

Finally found one of my favorite Chinese snacks in a local
supermarket! They're about $2.50/pack, individually-wrapped and so
delicious. In China, they're about 10 RMB each. The ingredients
include MSG and bullion, which explain their intense flavor. I didn't
get too thirsty afterwards though, so maybe there isn't a lot of MSG,
hopefully.

Gui Zhou Beef Rice Noodles (贵州牛肉米线)

2008-05-14T22:06:00.001-04:00

Gave $250 to Red Cross for the earthquake, went for dinner at one of
those cheap places on Main, right next door was a Sichuan snack shop,
wanted to ask him about his family....

A Harvest of Soy

2008-04-04T12:09:00.002-04:00

Made soba noodles, with spicy bean paste added in, finished the
leftover bean curd (大溪豆干, a delicious find) and cucumber salad, then
boiled up a huge pot of soybeans (edamame) with star aniseeds and sea
salt for snacking.

Maybe I can make lunch boxes with 大溪豆干 like this smart blogger has done.

Simple Meals

2008-03-30T17:36:00.004-04:00

Made a really delicious grilled cheese sandwich with spicy naan, munster cheese and some Chinese sausage this morning, waiting for a seaweed/preserved radish/egg soup to cool right now. The sausage tastes better cold, I think, cooked they taste greasier.

Yesterday at the potluck dinner, a friend brought a simple dish made of cold, uncooked silken tofu drizzled with a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions and garlic. I was amazed at how the whole thing tasted very gourmet and savory, and yet, apparently took only minutes to make, it'd great for summer when no one wants a hot kitchen. I brought a takeout dish, salt & pepper fried squid, which was pricey and not that amazing, eh.

Saw an easy tofu and marinated soybean sauce recipe, will try it sometime.

A Easy Dinner

2008-02-24T13:46:00.001-05:00

All you need are noodles, soybeans, some miso paste and if you like a saltier taste, spicy bean sauce.

White Rabbit Candy (大白兔奶糖)

2007-08-19T17:01:00.000-04:00

Like a lot of Chinese kids from the mainland, I grew up with White Rabbit Candy, it's cheap and available everywhere and gives you a nice sugar fix. The taste is not too sweet nor rich, but just a little more chewy and milky than the typical American candy. The passing of time has only improved it, now there are new flavors like chocolate, red bean and yogurt. If you live near an Asian grocery store, you've gotta look for it in the snack aisle.

Dates

2007-04-12T21:27:00.002-04:00

I read a funny story from where the date photo came from, a man who married a princess in ancient China was using the royal bathroom when he saw a beautiful lacquer box, curious, he opened it to find it full of dates. He marveled to himself, "Royal families really live it up, even their bathrooms are stocked with snacks!" After he helped himself to a handful, he told people in the house, and was embarrased to find out the dates are really meant to be used as nose stoppers so any foul smell would not be so noticeable.

Dried dates are my new snack obsession, they're slightly sweet, and satisfy my craving for sugar but are healthier than Twinkies. There is a new kind out, which are peanut-stuffed, I seriously will eat a whole bag of those if not checked. My aunt tracked down more of them for me, if I'm lucky, will get the new shipment in a week or so. Can't wait!

Sweet Rice Dumplings

2007-03-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the Rice Dumplings Festival, I think I'll just boil up the frozen ones for the occasion. A French guy living in China has a great step by step on his blog of how he made them from scratch.

Don't they just look lovely?

Giant rice dumplings made at a festival in China. Who ended up eating them, I wonder?

Chinese New Year Dinner

2007-03-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

My family back home had a feast on New Year's eve, known as Chu Xi, it's the most important night of all during the 15-day-long holiday.

The big get-together took place at a relative's restaurant, that's why you don't see dumplings and other more home-y stuff. Let's see, there were:

Chicken roasted with chestnuts
Sliced meat platter
Bamboo shoot stir-fry
Chinese cabbage
Cheery tomatos (kinda non-traditional)
Pancakes!
Shrimp
Meaty dishes in woks
Fish, of course, for its lucky name

Happy New Year

2007-02-11T13:52:00.000-05:00

It's a Chinese tradition to have plenty of tangerines with leaves in one's home around New Year's. Tangerine in Chinese, "ju zi," rhymes with luck. You can't have too much luck right?

Tangerines with leaves usually sell around six for two dollars, this year though, because of the cold front sweeping South Carolina and the subsequent supply drop, merchants can't help but sell these at five for three dollars, quite a lot for something used more for decor than taste. I'll just have to see if the ones for sale are any good and shell out the money any way. Hopefully, there won't be any fistfights among customers jostling over the last branch of tangerines with leaves in tact.

Beef Noodles

2007-01-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:
beef (preferably with some fat),
green onion,
ginger,
cooking wine,
aniseed,
soy sauce,
sugar,
salt,
rock sugar

Black Sesame Porridge

2007-01-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

I get this yummy treat from the supermarket, individually-packed, it makes for a quick and easy snack. I'd totally eat more of sesame porridge if it wasn't so sugary. In China, they are often sold as nutritious food meant for women, this package even advertises this as Woman's Black Sesame Paste, sigh, marketing gimmicks...

Minced Radish Pies

2006-12-24T15:44:00.000-05:00

Scallion Sausage Pancakes

2006-12-24T15:42:00.000-05:00

You need:

Celery leaves
Vienna sausages
One egg
Corn
Scallions

Sesame Balls

2006-12-24T15:41:00.000-05:00

Ahh, such deep-fried goodness.

Sauteed Seaweed Pancakes

2006-12-11T20:57:00.000-05:00

The longer you soak the rice cakes, the softer they get. You have to change the water daily though.

Hainan Chicken

2006-12-11T20:55:00.000-05:00

Sentosa, a great Malaysian restaurant in Flushing, has a decent version of this dish.

Dumplings

2006-12-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

We eat dumplings on holidays, such as on Chinese New Year's Eve. I can't remember the last time we made dumplings from scratch though, the process is pretty time-consuming. These days, we get frozen dumplings from the supermarket and boil as many as we need for the meal.

Braised Fish and Rice Porridge

2006-11-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

Some of my favorite dishes:

Corn Cake with Raisins

2006-11-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

A Chinese classic, you can make this cake with dates too.

Pork and Leek-Stuffed Mushrooms

2006-11-20T16:10:00.000-05:00

For this dish, you need fragrant mushrooms (Xiang Gu), easily found in Asian grocery stores in the dry-goods aisle.

Egg Tarts

2006-11-11T15:28:00.000-05:00

I had a craving for egg tarts recently, so after wolfing down two bakery-made tarts in one day, looked for and found this photo of home-made tarts online. You'd need:

Flour
Milk
Sugar
Eggs
Pastry crust
Baking pan

Bubble Tea

2006-11-05T14:14:00.000-05:00

You need:

Starch(tapioca) balls
Tea
Milk
Sugar

The only hard part is boiling the starch balls until they're chewy and transparent. They burn easily so you've got to stay by the stove and stir the pot constantly. Rinse them off in cold water after boiling to prevent sticking.

You can make the tea on the fly, once the starch balls are ready, just add them to the tea and you've got bubble tea.

Three Cup Chicken

2006-10-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

One cup of cola, one cup of soy sauce, and one cup of sesame oil
Chicken thighs
Basil

Spicy Rice Jelly

2006-10-24T10:56:00.000-04:00

Heartburn inducing, but oh-so-worth-it.

Pork and Radish Stew

2006-10-20T16:15:00.002-04:00

Stir-Fried Bok Choy

2006-10-20T16:15:00.001-04:00

My biggest problem with this dish is how sometimes there is leftover dirt/sand in the stalks. I'd soak them for a while but I'd still occasionally get some dirty veggies.

Mapo Tofu

2006-10-20T16:15:00.000-04:00

I've been buying takout versions of this dish for so long, I almost forgot how good they're made from scratch.

Spicy Stir-Fried Kidney

2006-10-15T18:45:00.000-04:00

You need:
Tomato sauce
Chili bean sauce
Kidney
Basil

Cut the kidney pieces in a criss-cross, grid-like pattern so they curl up nicely when fried.

Steamed Egg Pudding with Oysters

2006-10-13T14:59:00.000-04:00

All you need for this dish are things you already have in your kitchen. Some eggs, oysters (totally optional), scallion if desired, and a double boiler.

Beat two eggs together, add salt, a little soy sauce, and once the egg mixture is frothy, add a bit warm water and toss in the oysters (rinsed-clean of course), steam in the boiler until the mixture is firm.

Rice Cakes with Bok Choy

2006-10-07T17:47:00.000-04:00

Pretty easy to make, especially if you get sliced rice cake from the store and just toss all the ingredients together in a wok. Only drawback is the rice cakes turning hard after a day or two, so eat them up the day you make them.

Sauted Eggplant with Garlic and Scallions

2006-10-07T17:39:00.000-04:00

This is a classic Northern style dish, doesn't look too pretty, but is a mainstay in many households in the Dongbei area in China. It has a pretty pungent flavor due to all the garlic and scallions in there. I love it as week-night dinner, since it tastes even better as a leftover. If you make this much on the weekend, you can generate at least two cheap and fast dinners later on.

Potato & Eggplant Stew, Tofu Curd with Bokchoy

2006-09-30T22:18:00.000-04:00

Pork Buns with Flaky Crust

2006-09-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

Pancakes

2006-09-27T14:56:00.000-04:00

I like chunky pieces of scallions in the pancakes. This way, you can pluck them out if you don't care for them. This is Chinese comfort food at its best.

Takeout: Desserts

2006-09-26T15:51:00.000-04:00

I've heard good things about Fayda Bakery's desserts. They do Hong Kong-style stuff, as in European style, lotsa cream, very little sugar, and the presentation is always gorgeous.

It's possible the branch I went to wasn't great, but the ones I got: Marble Cheesecake and Tiramisu, were lackluster and tasted sour.

The Mooncakes are Coming!

2006-09-24T18:30:00.000-04:00

Someone gave me a box of these mooncakes. I couldn't wait til Oct 6th to enjoy them and already finished one cake. I've never understood why they cost so much (these were $40), but it must be a holiday-related thing. People justify the expense by telling themselves it's only once a year.

The Full-Moon Festival is like a Chinese Thanksgiving, you're supposed to go home and celebrate it with your whole family. Since I can't do that, I'll just use food as my solace.

Takeout: Spicy Diced Pork, Veggie Dumplings, Pan-Fried Beef Pancakes

2006-09-19T20:58:00.000-04:00

Most of these are from No.1 East Restaurant, a bargain take-out and eat-in place in Flushing. My fav were the pancakes, the dough was crispy and flaky, and the beef slices, smeared with a lil' bit of sweet sauce, were just meaty enough to chew on.

The soup is home-made, with just an egg and some cabbage and tofu slices.

Cheap and Dirty Mapo Tofu?

2006-09-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

I'm fighting a computer virus that's not letting me upload photos to my computer right now. Am resorting to photos found elsewhere to show what I'm thinking of eating.

Lee Kum Kee makes some ready-made recipe sauces, like this one. It seems easy enough to toss together chunks of firm tofu and the sauce, right? Maybe I 'll make an attempt.

Takeout: Shrimp Wontons

2006-09-18T20:26:00.000-04:00

I seem to have flour-based food a lot, here I am having wontons again. They're fast and easy to make, even for me, someone who thinks three ingredients for a recipe are too much.

The white blob on there is a piece of silken tofu. What made the soup really delish was the handful of dried shrimp tossed in.

Homemade: Chicken Meatball Soup, Cabbage Salad

2006-09-13T21:06:00.000-04:00

The chicken meatball soup has a lot of black mushrooms in it and the black pepper gives it a kick.

While the cabbage salad looks very boring, it was surprisingly good. There were only three ingredients, cabbage, olive oil and black pepper. Boil the cabbage first tho, I can't eat raw cabbage like some people.

Takeout: Wontons and Sausages

2006-09-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

Shrimp and wild vegetable wontons
Chicken seasoned with cumin
Radish and scallion soup
Northern Chinese style pork sausage

Sausage and chicken were courtesy of a restaurant nearby. Wontons I get frozen from another takeout place and can be cooked on the fly when there is nothing for dinner.

Homemade: Egg Drop Soup and Tofu Curd

2006-09-11T20:03:00.000-04:00

Um, these pictures are not doing the food justice, maybe the contrast is off. The menu is:
Egg drop soup with silken tofu and scallions
Tofu curd, sliced
Lamb & cabbage dumplings (leftover takeout)
Steamed corn

My fav was the corn, it was the chewy kind, not the mushy variety you get at American grocers. It was not cheap, three for $2.50, but worth it because of the taste.

Takeout: Jumbo Leek and Egg-Stuffed Dumplings

2006-09-10T20:19:00.000-04:00

This is a favorite of mine, several takeout places offer this at a dollar each.
Dinner can't be better at this price.