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Sunday, 20 November 2011

87. Chinese bread / dim sim recipe: Steamed Creamy Custard Bun





how to make steamed creamy custard bun recipehow to make Nai huang bao Chinese steamed bread at home





奶黄包


This is NOT a northeastern Chinese recipe. :) A friend of mine asked for this recipe a while back, but, well, firstly, I am lazy to try new things, and I wouldn’t put anything here if did not try to make it and take the actual pictures. Secondly, I have never been a good ‘baker’, I can never carefully check the weight / proportions of each ingredient, which is actually quite crucial for making this kind of food.

You don’t believe me? - ha… the proof is that last week I just ‘turned’ a ‘cake to be' into a ‘stone’. :))) But my carelessness is not a secret since I was little, my dad could tell you all the stories. For example, all the marks I lost in the exams were either because of misplaced a ‘dot’ or missed out a word --- carelessly. And there are many other funny things like I could read something, at least I thought I read it carefully and grasped the meaning, then tell a completely different thing -- because I missed out some words or unconsciously ‘re-organized’ the words in different order. Ha… All I am saying is that if there are some recipes that need precision, then I wouldn’t be able to do it, or I wrote something wrong here, it has never been my intention. :)))

Anyway, I did try to ‘behave’ well this time.

Steamed Creamy Custard Bun is a very popular kind of Cantonese Dimsim . Actually, in UK, whenever we go with
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Monday, 31 October 2011

83. Fried bean curd sheet wraps with vegetable fillings (V)




how to make vegetarian dim sim Chinese recipe with dried bean curd sheet and vegetarian filling
Chinese bean curd wraps


This is not a recipe from North East China, :)) This recipe comes totally from my ‘passion’ towards eating - try to make anything that I can eat. Ha..

The original recipe comes from Cantonese dim sim; the ones in Cantonese restaurants in England are often wrapped with duck mince and vegetables. I have never been a ‘duck’ fan, but I really like this way of cooking, so I went to buy dried bean curd sheet, and made my own vegetarian recipe.

Actually, to my surprise,  the dried bean curd sheet I bought is produced in Zhejiang, a province near Shanghai; also, in contrast to Cantonese dim sim, the recipes suggested in the package involve only vegetables, so I guess this vegetarian version is not my own invention after all. :))

Anyway, if you are like me, and love the crispiness of the bean curd sheet after it being fried, and love the combination of the vegetarian fillings with the crispy ‘skin’, you will like this recipe. :)
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Monday, 12 September 2011

Culture note: Typical Mid Autumn Day food --- Moon Cake


If there is one single thing you definitely must eat in Mid Autumn Day, that would be Chinese Moon Cake. A mid autumn day celebration without moon cake is not such.


Chinese Moon Cake


Moon cake in Chinese is called “Yue bing” (Yue as moon, bing - I have mentioned a few times before, a round flat ‘bakery’).


Moon cake is a round cake with various fillings. It is called ‘Moon cake’, not only because of its shape, which reminds us of the the full moon (traditionally, people would sit under the moon light, eating the cake and appreciating the beautiful scenery), but also because, according to the legend, a moon cake was first made for Chang’e, a woman who lives in the palace on the moon.


The legend of Moon Cake


There are many different stories of why we eat moon cake. Although there are historical records on how the moon cake firstly appeared, there is also a popular legend explaining its origin.


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Tuesday, 6 September 2011

65.Bao zi: A Chinese steamed bread with fillings (part III)




steamed Chinese Baozi-steamed Chinese bread with fillings
Chinese baozi


This morning when I opened window, a fresh but a bit chilly air blowed in, that was autumn air, autumn refreshing wind, suddenly felt like my ‘summer laziness’ gone, and the fresh autumn just gave me a new start. I took a deep breathe. Autumn is beautiful.

Just when I enjoyed coolness and refreshing air of the early autumn, I saw a little yellow flower outside window - the summer flower...


Preparing the pastry sheet:


1. Gently knead the dough of raised flour, then divide it into smaller pieces, around 4cm diameter ball, maybe?

2) Press the dough flat, then roll it into around 0.5cm thick sheet. It is better not to make it too thin, otherwise the pastry will not be raised up again when steamed.

make the dough for Chinese steamed bread with fillings
Preparing the baozi's dough

Folding:


1) Place one pastry sheet on your palm, make the hand into a little bowl shape, so that the filling could stay in the centre, and easy for folding it up.

How to fold Baozi-Chinese steamed breand with fillingsmaking Baozi-Chinese steamed bread at home



2) Place a tablespoon of filling onto the centre of pastry sheet - keep the hand into ‘bowl’ shape.

3) Use another hand to firstly ‘close’ a small part of the edge, and hold that part to gradually ‘close’ the edges, around 1.3cm a time, eventually close the centre, and make a ‘little twist’.

make northeast Chinese dim sim at homerecipe for Northeast Chinese dim sim Baozi


Steaming


1) Before placing the Baozi into the steamer, dip the bottom into a little oil plate, so Baozi will not get sticked on the steamer sheet.

steamed Baozi Chinese steamed bread with fillings
Steaming the baozi

2) Turn on the full fire, after water boiling, (the steam comes out), allow it to be steamed for further - around 6 mins, then it is done. (But if you are making meat filling, it needs couple minutes longer though).

3) Baozi need to be removed from the steamer immediately after they are.

Serving:


Baozi can be served just by themselves with dip. They can also be served with Chinese soup or congee. Some salad is also good on the table. :)

Baozi can be frozen, and re-warmed up. The best way of warming up is to use steamer again, so you can get that softness and freshness re-installed. Otherwise using Microwave is the simplest way, but they cannot be left in the microwave too long, probably around 1 or 2 minutes. Too long can cause the Baozi too dry or even hard.


Ok, it is now done with Baozi. It sounds a bit complicated, but … not really, and it is all worth it when you put it into mouth. :)))))

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65.Bao zi -- ‘A Chinese steamed bread with fillings’ II





how to make Chinese baozi -steamed bread with fillings
Chinese baozi in steamer


The sun broke through in the afternoon, it was so bright, I suddenly felt that I had to go out - being in the sun, after all I have been missing it for a few days. So I found myself a little excuse - need to buy my mum a birthday gift.

Wow, the whole city centre of Oxford was … too crowded. My friend did warn me there is a ‘funfair’ going on. 


I think I must have frowned all the way as I was trying to squeeze through, but suddenly, without realizing, I stopped, smiled, could not move my feet - I was in front of a ‘merry-go-rounds’ -- the little kids were riding on the ‘horses’, flying with their dreams.

I couldn't figure out what exact magic there, but I have always liked to get on one of those 'horses'. Unfortunately when I was little, it was normally a long queue, and not enough ‘horses’ for every kid, rather ‘not so cool’ boats or something, and I was too slow to grab one before the other kids. But always - I always had that wish that I would ride those ‘horses’.

Until one day, I was already in my early 20s, I took my cousin’s daughter to the ‘funfair’, it was so empty, the ‘horses’ were going round and round without any kids on their ‘back’. The person who was selling the tickets told us that we could pay a ticket and ride for one hour. I immediately asked, ‘could I get on as well? Please!’ He kindly let me. -- Then my dream eventually came true. 



I guess the ticket vendor thought nobody could stay one hour there, after all, rounds after rounds, we would get off at exact spot where we got on, people would get tired quickly. But he was wrong - I ride one a pretty ‘horse’ for an hour, just round and round. it did not take me to anywhere further, but it took me to a dream that it could only happen in childhood, and there I can just dream whatever I want, without any reality crashes ...
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Continued from yesterday, how to make Baozi. :)

The pastry:


For the pastry, you will need to use raised flour, normally plain flour with raising agent, but some times, for making it more ‘healthier’, I would mix half amount of whole meal flour in, or corn flour. However, this kind of mix cannot be expected raising up as much as plain flour alone.

As for the amount, I normally use 4 full cups of flour to make around average sized 15 Baozi, and I would say 3-5 Baozi per person, so here you go, the numbers. :) I do make a bit more each time, it can be frozen and re-heated up.

The filling:


As I mentioned yesterday, most of the dumplings’ fillings are good for Baozi, but because of different pastry and different way of cooking (one is boiling and the other is steaming), even the same filling, it can turn out slight different taste. But in the recipe, I made vegetarian one - mix Chinese leaves, Mu’er (black fungus), Chinese mushrooms, and Fensi.

It is very easy to make.

Ingredients:


For 4 cups of flour, I used: one Chinese leaves, It is better to use only the outer layers with big stem part; one handful dried Mu’er, (or one bowl of well soaked Mu’er); one big handful dried Chinese mushrooms (Xiang gu); one small bunch of Fensi.

Salt, oil, (as I mentioned, ‘cooked oil’ is definitely good for this filling mix), sesame oil, light soy sauce, ground Sichuan peppercorn, five spices powder (or 13 spices powder) -- although I mentioned that the ‘spiced water’ can be used instead of five spices powder, but in this case, I wouldn’t recommend, simply because apart from Fensi, the rest of the ingredients are not good at absorbing liquid, and too much liquid could cause problems for sealing ‘Baozi’, MSG or Vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence (optional).


1) Soak Mu’er and Chinese mushroom in warm water for 1 hour or until it is soft, and Fensi for around 20 mins in warm water.

Chinese steamed bread with fillings-baozihow to make baozi Chinese steamed bread with fillings


2) Chop Chinese leaves (the better to use the outer part with big stem), mu’er, Chiense mushroom, and Fensi into small pieces (mince).

3) Mix all chopped ingredients together, then add 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoon of oil, 1 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil, 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 2/3 teaspoon of ground Sichuan peppercorn, 1 flat teaspoon of five spices powder (or 13 spices powder, 1/2 teaspoons of MSG or Vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence (optional).

Make Chinese Baozi steamed bread with vegetarian fillings
Preparing the baozi's fillings


4) Mix everything well, probably it is better to leave the mix for a little while, for example 15 minutes, so the excess juice from the Chinese leaves would come out, then try to get ride of any excess liquid - this might effect the taste that have already been mixed, so I normally would taste a little bit, see if there is anything needs to be added in.

(To be continued) :) 

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Sunday, 4 September 2011

65.Bao zi: A Chinese steamed bread with fillings (part I)




Chinese baozi


Time is so fast, the weekend has just past, and also we are already in September. Where is the time gone? Probably I should give up the hope that summer might come around again, instead, hope for a lovely autumn.

But now, it is the best time in Northeast China in terms of food - the ‘summer food’ is still there, and ‘early autumn’ food is just starting. So, this time of the year one can find all different kinds of fruits and vegetables. In traditional Chinese ‘health’ theory, this is the best time for people to have as many nutrients as possible.

Anyway, in conclusion, eat! Must eat at the best time of the year. Oh, no… If we are really going to eat too much, soon I will have to come up with some ‘diet’ recipes out. Ha…


-----------
As I mentioned in the ‘Chinese birthday meal’ post, Bao zi are a must in a traditional Chinese birthday meal. How to describe ‘Bao zi’ - because the pastry is very similar to steamed bread, the only difference is that Bao zi has fillings, so let’s say it is steamed bread with fillings?

You cannot find more traditional food than Bao Zi in northeast China. It is definitely a regional cultural symbol. ‘Bao’ in Chinese means ‘wrap it up’, Zi is just an ‘assistant’ word here.

Bao Zi is very much a ‘northern’ food, as in the south flour-based foods are not so common in home cooking. Besides, Bao Zi are much bigger than normal Cantonese Dimsim. Well, it is probably because unlike Dimsim, you would have all different kinds of ‘dimsim’ for one meal, while Bao zi are normally served as main ‘staple’ food, instead of rice.


Baozi can be accompanied by salad (Liang cai), or soup, or congee. Actually, in my university years, we often went to a small family run restaurant for breakfast, and we always order 2 or 3 Bao Zi (because Baozi are normally really big and filling) and a big bowl of lamb soup.

Making Baozi at home is simple, but it does require -- experience, I would say? For example, the pastry sheet needs to be raised up properly; the filling can not contain too much ‘liquid’, otherwise it will be very difficult to ‘wrap the baozi up’ and ‘seal’, and affect the softness of raised flour. But saying that, it is good to have a little bit ‘fat’ if you are making meat filling, because it is steamed instead of boiling unlike dumplings, it is good to ‘hold’ fat in the wrapping after steaming - have a bite, the ‘juice’ comes out. --- enh… tasty.

As I said, the pastry is the same as Chinese steamed bread - raised flour. However, the fillings can vary. Most of the dumplings’ fillings can be used for Baozi. The most popular filling for Bao Zi is beef mince (or pork mince) with spring onion or celery (or Jiucai /garlic chives), and for the vegetarian options are Jiucai with eggs, or Chinese leaves with other combinations.

In this first recipe of Baozi, I made a vegan filling - Chinese leaves, Mu’er (black fungus), Chinese mushroom, and Fensi (cellophane noodles). Lately, I found Chinese leaves with mushroom or Mu’er (black fungus) is very good combination. The juice of Chinese leaves gives flavor to the ‘dryness’ of mushroom. And Fensi (cellophane noodles) here is not only good for the taste, but also very good for absorbing the excess ‘liquid’ in the filling mix, so you won’t find too difficult to ‘seal’ the top of Baozi. The only thing for this vegan recipe is I like to put a bit more oil in the filling, because for ‘steaming’, it just needs that ‘smoothness’ and ‘fat’ in the filling and for the inter part of the pastry sheet.

Am I talking too much? I‘d better stop here, continues tomorrow then. :)

Have a good fresh week!

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Sunday, 26 June 2011

39. Chinese flat bread (fa mian bing)





Chinese bread

发面饼

Chinese bread varieties


Traditional ‘Chinese bread’ comes across very differently to typical Western bread. What is called in English Chinese bread can actually be two different things: one is steamed bread with raising flour; the other one is light fried bread with plain flour or raising flour. And these two types can also be distinguished by different fillings, different flour… all sorts. In Chinese term, most of the steamed ones are called bao , where most of the light fried ones are called bing , many are referred as Chinese flat bread.

And different regions make different ‘bing’ (flat bread). When I was doing my data collection for my graduation work many years ago, we travelled from my city to Beijing, then from Beijing to Xi’an through centre China then to Sichuan by train, crossed a few different provinces and major cities.

At every train stop, we would get off the train to buy some ‘Bing’ being sold on the platform -- then we were poor students, having that with some vegetables and chilli paste was our main food. (Well, on the long journey on the train, there were not much we could buy of anyway.) But we were totally fascinated by how different those ‘bing’ (flat bread) could be just a few train stops away from each other. Eating different regional bread became an interesting thing.

Nowadays, even with the regional food being introduced to every part of China, I still found hard to find the same ones as we ate on the train. I guess the sweet memories can never to overtaken…. if only there is a time tunnel. I have never been able to make those ‘bing/flat bread’, probably I know I will never be able to make the same taste, so I gave up.

Chinese Flat Bread


Anyway, this recipe is one of the "bing", and is the most popular and simplest one in Northeast China. It is very similar to ‘Nann bread’, but it is lightly fried in a shallow sauce pan, and the shape is different, if I am not too wrong, most of bing is round shape. It is called ‘fa mian bing’, as in ‘raising flour bread’. According to its name, you already know it is made from raised flour.

My mum used to make it often at home, I like it, well I like all kind of flour based food. It is too ‘homemade’ food, you cannot find in any restaurants or shops. I think I started learning to make it from mum was because my ‘homesick’? I just miss that when my mum made it, and we had it with soup, for example. Once, my mother-in-law and her sister (I call auntie) came to visit, this Bing was one of the dishes they really enjoyed (I am still in the process of learning authentic Spanish food).

The whole process is very easy. It uses raising flour, so needless to say that raising up flour is the main part, sometimes I use self-raising flour instead of making the raising flour myself, it also works.

The recipe


Here it is how I do it the simplest way.

Ingredients


Flour, raising agent (I used yeast), salt, oil


Making the Chinese bread


I made for around 3 people’s portion for dinner, it served as stable food, so no rice on the table).


1) Mix four cups of plain flour with 1 and 1/4 cup of warm water, and 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of fast baking yeast.

2) Kneading the dough well, and keep it in a warm location to raise for around 1 hour and half.


Making Chinese breadChinese bing

3) Divided the big dough into a few small ones, and roll the small doughs into a flat sheet but not very thin, say around 0.7cm.

Chinese bread doughChinese bread dough

4) Heat the shallow sauce pan, and pour in a little bit oil, and make it evenly spread in the sauce pan.

frying chinese breadpan frying chinese bing

5) When the sauce pan is heated up, (very hot) place rolled sheet into the sauce pan. (If the sauce pan is not hot enough, the first side contacted the sauce pan would not inflate, so it would not be too soft).


Chinese flat breadChinese flat bing

6) The bread would raise, like having bubbles :)) on the surface.

Chinese bread recipeChinese bread recipe

7) Then turn over on the other side, the bubbles would raise up as well.

--- Then it is done!!



It is normally good to have with soup or .. something like ‘Jidan geng’ (Chinese steamed eggs) .

Sometimes there would be some dry flour left in the sauce pan, if it is cumulated too much it could cause smoke, so you need to constantly clean the sauce pan.



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Wednesday, 25 May 2011

22. Chinese egg made flat bread (Ji Dan Bing)





Chinese ji dan bing (Chinese egg bread)
Chinese egg pancake
鸡蛋饼


Every time mentioning or cooking ‘Jidan bing’ always, always makes me think of my deeply be loved auntie. And that day a few years ago, when I was very sick and sad lying in bed, didn’t want to eat anything, after rejecting all the food she suggested, she went back to the kitchen, and a few minutes later, she brought this to me, that was the first thing I properly ate in days. Seeing my friends visit me, she then went back to prepare more --- it was the first time my friends got to know my auntie, they all said that I was very lucky to have a really kind and understanding auntie …. of course, a very good cook as well. She had lots of recipes that I never learned, and now I will never be able to learn from her…

Bing, or Chinese Flat Bread


If ‘bing’ is translated as ‘Chinese flat bread’, ‘Ji dan bing’ should be translated as ‘egg made flat bread’. It is one of the most popular foods in Northeast China. I say ‘food’, because I am really not sure how to categorize it, it is not normally served as ‘main’ for a meal.

My auntie used to prepare these for me when I got hungry in between two main meals, so I guess it is a kind of ‘snack’ or side dish on the table. It is a bit like 'pancake', but Chinese style. :)))

Once just by chance I made it at home, my husband really liked it, and suggested it would be a lovely breakfast. Ha… back home with my parents, this kind of simple Chinese breakfast can never be acceptable, but compare it to simple toast, it is really not bad ---- There you go, I shall introduce it as a simple ‘quick fix’ breakfast menu, takes about 10 minutes.

Before writing this down, I had a quick look on
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Sunday, 22 May 2011

21. Chinese Garlic chives and prawn Pastry (part 2)





Chinese jiucai Hezi recipe
Chinese Jiu Cai He zi


Ok, keep on making ‘Hezi’. (Continued from Chinese recipe: 21. Garlic chives and prawn Northeast Pastry I )

Making the pastry for Jiucai Hezi


As mentioned before, the dough is exactly same as dumplings’. Here, we start by making the pastry sheet.

The difference between the pastry sheet of dumplings and ‘Hezi’ is, firstly, the size: “hezi’s pastry sheet is around the size of the upper edge of a rice bowl, whereas dumplings’ is probably the bottom edge of the rice bowl. Secondly, for dumplings’, when rolling the pastry sheet it is best to try to keep the centre thicker than the edges, while for ‘Hezi’, it is just a flat sheet.

Ok, here we go.

1) Divide prepared dough into smaller even portions.

Chinese garlic chive pastryPastry for Chinese Jiucai Hezi


2) Press down each small dough, and roll it into a flat round sheet.

Making hezi doughMaking Chinese pastry dough


3) Take one sheet, place the filling on it, and spread the filling evenly on the sheet, leave out the edges.

Jiucai Hezi (pastry with garlic chives and prawn filling)

4) Take another sheet, cover on the filling, and press down the edges firmly -- it is a half way prepared ‘hezi’ already.

5) Now it's time to make it ‘beautiful’. Use a rice bowl, place the edge of the rice bowl on the edge of ‘pre-prepared’ Hezi. Hold the bottom of the rice bowl, and move around the edge of the pastry sheet while firmly pressing down  (be careful not ‘cut’ off the fillings).
Chinese jiucai Hezi pastry

6) Then remove the excess edges

Chinese recipe with garlic chives


----  you done making it. now it's time to shallow fry it.

Frying:

1) Place a flat pan on the medium to low fire, pour in oil just for making the pan ‘moisture’.
traditional Chinese pastry recipe

2) When the oil is heated up, place prepared ‘Hezi’ one by one into the pan, keeping the fire low. --- This is especially important if you are making meat filling, otherwise, you will get ‘burnt’ surface, and raw inner.

3) Turn around the ‘Hezi’ time to time, make sure both sides are cooked.

Chinese garlic chive pastry recipe
The final result: Chinese garlic chives pastry

4) It is done quickly since the filling just contains  ‘Garlic chives’ eggs and prawns.

---- Serve.

I like to put a little bit light soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil on the plate to go with ‘Hezi’, but it is good just by itself if you like.

Hope you like it!!

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Saturday, 21 May 2011

21. Chinese Garlic chives and prawn Pastry (part 1)





Chinese he zi with jiu cai (garlic chives)
Chinese garlic chives pastry

---  JiuCai He Zi (韭菜合子)


If you have read my post ‘Dumpling introduction’, you probably already know that there is another type of  pastry my mum would cook for our family’s Chinese New Year Eve --- here it is “He zi”.

Again, I am not sure if this kind of pastry is popular in other parts of China. The Northern provinces are famous for their ‘flour-based’ food and many Northern pastries are not that popular in the South. However, this is definitely one of the most traditional dishes in the North East of China.

A few years ago, my husband took a few of these to work for lunch. A Chinese girl who grew up in the North East of China saw him in the canteen, and was very surprised, asked him where he got that from.

Imagine a Western man peacefully eating one of the most distinctively local Northeast dishes for lunch, which btw is almost impossible to get in Chinese restaurants or takeaways in the UK. She must have been in total shock seeing him eating he zi with chopsticks, soya dip, and all. Ha… Couple of years later, we all moved to Oxford, and became good friends.

Chinese He zi


This pastry is called ‘he zi’ in Chinese, as in ‘something to cover up’, or ‘a box with lid’. To give you an idea, he zi are somewhat similar to  ‘Dim Sim’,  but Northeast style.

He zi’ are essentially two pieces of round thin pastry sheets with fillings in the middle.

In Chinese, there is an expression ‘Tuan tuan Yuan Yuan’,  which literally means making a round shape. It is normally used as a metaphor for referring to a family happily, blissfully united together.

Because of the shape of ‘Hezi’, my mum loves to make it especially on Chinese New Year Eve (many other Chinese make dumplings instead). By preparing he zi she wants to express her happiness for being all united, together, as a family.

It just shows how important he zi are in my family. It takes some time to make them, but they are probably easier than dumplings: the pastry sheet is bigger, and normally around 3 -4 are enough for one person.

The dough for the pastry sheet of ‘He zi’ is made exactly as for ‘dumplings’ (see here).  The size and shape is, however, different. I will post the illustration tomorrow, otherwise this post would be too long, you will get bored of me. :))

The recipe: Chinese Hezi with Jiucai fillings


I am now going to explain one of the most popular fillings for he zi in the North of China. This filling can be used for dumplings. I improvised the original recipe a little bit, but even this ‘improvisation’ is a common one.

The original filling is called ‘Sanxianxian’, as in ‘Three fresh.. fillings’. Although it is normally believed to be seafood fillings, the only kind of seafood in it are prawns.

The traditional and original recipe is composed by three items: garlic chives, eggs and dried small prawns. The garlic chives and dried prawns are very ‘Chinese’. I also used fresh prawns and ‘Fensi’ in the filling. Here are the ingredients.

Ingredients


Jiu cai, 

Chinese jiu cai (garlic chives)Jiu cai are normally translated as ‘Garlic chives’ in English, but their smell and taste are way more stronger than the ‘Chives’ we can get in the supermarkets.

In fact, sometimes, after buying ‘Jiu cai’, if we leave them in the car for a little while, the car would become super smelly (same if you leave them in the fridge for a while). My husband used to wonder if something got rotten in the fridge.:) He may not like the smell of jiu cai, but  he is a big fan of its taste in dumplings or ‘he zi’.

Unfortunately, jiu cai can only be found in Chinese supermarkets in England, and the ones sold there are not quite the ideal ones as they are not freshly cut. Anyway, they do the job. )

Eggs

Prawns,

Chinese dried prawnsTraditionally, he zi are prepared with dried small prawns (see the picture). The smaller ones are the best to use in this fillings, otherwise, slightly bigger dried ones are also ok, but they need to be soaked in the water for some time until get soft.

As improvised version, I also put some fresh prawns in, just for the fresh taste. So if you cannot get the dried prawns, the fresh ones in any supermarkets are just as good.)

Fensi

Chinese fensi (cellophane noodles)I am actually about to introduce these in a separate post. Let me say something now, briefly.

Fensi are a common ingredient in China. They look like Chinese rice vermicelli, but they are not made from rice, but rather from corn flour, potato, or mung beans.. etc. The best one used in this recipe is Mung bean Fensi.

Using Fensi in the filling is an improvised version of the original one, but it is also a very common way.)



Preparation


1) Wash and chop ‘Garlic Chives’ into the smallest possible pieces, like mince. (Pay attention to the bottom, the part with white stem when washing, as it is normally with muds).

2)In a heated wok, pour in 3 tablespoons of oil, then put in around two well beaten eggs, and keep on stir it, try to make the ‘scrambled’ egg into small piecse, and let it cool down.

3) Mince the fresh prawns.

Preparing Chinese Jiucai Hezi

4) Place a small bunch of ‘Fensi’ In a bowl, then pour in hot water to soak it to soft. And chop it into smallest pieces possible afterwards.

Mixing


1)Mix all the prepared ‘Garlic Chives’, eggs, fresh prawns, ‘Fensi’ and a handful of ‘Dried small prawns’ (if you can find in the supermarkets) together in a big mixing bowl.

Chinese pastry with garlic chivesChinese Hezi recipe with garlic chives

2)Add in 2/3 tablespoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of sesame oil, around 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or seasoned oil) 1 teaspoon of five or thirteen spice powder, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of MSG or vegetable/ mushroom essence (optional).

3) Mix everything well

Chinese garlic chives pastry fillings
Mixing the fillings


--- Here your filing for ‘he zi’ or dumplings is done!

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