Commom ingredient: Garlic bolt

Chinese garlic bolt

Image source: http://www.hometownseeds.com/herb-seeds-c-3?zenid=f80c01c47632e02eaacc3043380cf391

Garlic bolt is a very common ingredients in Chinese cuisine. But because it is mostly suitable for simple stir-fried dishes, it is not usually served in big or fancy restaurants. It is also not easy to find here in UK supermarkets. In most Chinese supermarkets, however, you can get them at reasonable price, and they are normally imported from China.

My husband has suggested that I should only share some recipes with common ingredients which can be easily found in normal supermarkets, so I have held the recipes with garlic bolt for a long while. (But it is one of my favorite vegetables, I could not wait to share!) This time I got encouraged by a Spanish friend. When we were in Spain for Xmas holiday, we decided to invite some friends over for a homemade Chinese meal. I wanted it to be very ‘Chinese’, so we went down to the Chinese supermarkets in Valencia. I was so excited to find garlic bolt, so needless to say, immediately grabbed a bunch. Guess what, although I cooked several ‘more sophisticated’ dishes, the simple stir-fried garlic bolt dish was the favorite of our friends.

Garlic bolt in Chinese is called ‘Suan tai’ or ‘Suan hao’ in some of the Northeast regions. It is said that it part of the stem of garlic flower. It does taste ‘garlic..ish’, but not strong, rather fresh and pleasant. It is very nutritious: rich in fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin C, calcium, etc. In Chinese medicine, it is said that garlic bolt has properties for controlling lipids, preventing coronary heart disease, and it is also good for sterilizing, relieving hemorrhoids…

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Winter ingredient: Northeast pickled Chinese leaves ( Chinese style sauerkraut)

Image source:http://dongbeicai.abang.com/od/dbss/ig/suancai.-0RM/suancai.htm

I have got to face the fact that we are in winter now. I have been using ‘late autumn’ to refer to this time of the year, but it is winter now -- and I haven’t finished my autumn recipes yet! And now, I got to start my winter recipes, no matter how reluctant I am. The good thing is there are many tasty winter Chinese recipes. I am saying these dishes are for winter, one is because they are good to warm up your body, and give you enough energy to against the coldness, another reason is that some of the ingredients can only be found in winter -- well, probably not totally true, as nowadays you can get everything at anytime of the year. But I still feel it only right if have it in winter.

Anyway, to start with, I want to talk about one the most distinctive winter food --- pickled Chinese leaves (Napa cabbage). Its Chinese name is “Suan Cai”, means sour vegetable. I mentioned before, it tastes quite similar to sauerkraut, so when I could not get the real pickled Chinese leaves, I would use sauerkraut instead. In other regions in China, especially in Cantonese region, there is a pickled cabbage called “Suai Cai”, but the taste is still different. However, the actual thing, and the way of making it are totally different.

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Common ingredient: Chinese leaves

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Image source: http://www.js12345.net/goods_view.aspx?goods_id=E6E3A8DC0FED09FC

I know I have already talked a little bit about Chinese leaves in some of my previous recipes. Here, I hope I could give you the full picture, and clarify the common confusions between Chinese leaves and Pok choy.

The ones that you can find in most supermarkets, with layers of leaves, white (creamy colour) ‘hard’ parts and ‘soft’ leaves parts, which can be green or yellow, are called ‘Bai Cai’, or ‘da bai cai’ in Mandarin, as ‘big white vegetable’. The Mandarin name actually coincides with the Cantonese pronunciation ‘Bok choy’, but these are really different things -- well, actually not so different, same family of vegetable.

Bok choy is way smaller and ‘slimer', and it often has more green leaves and a smaller white part. The kind of Bok Choy used in Cantonese cuisine is not commonly found in Mainland China. (Below left you can see the mainland Chinese version of 'bok choy' /small Chinese leaves; on the right, you can see the Cantonese 'Bok choy'). If I am stressing this is because the recipes for these different types of leaves are quite different.

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Common ingredient: Coriander leaves

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I have to start with my own story first, I am sure you are going to laugh.

Since coriander is one of the most popular ingredients in Northeast Chinese cooking, after I came to England, buying coriander was on the top of my food shopping list. Where I used to live was not far from a few Asian vegetable shops. There I saw big bunches of ‘coriander’, at least, at that moment, I thought it was coriander -- there were a few different but similar leaves in one box without label. But, somehow it looked different, and I smelled it, -- yes, I did pick it up, and placed it close to my nose to smell, here, I bet in England, not many people would ‘smell’ the vegetables when buying them. :)) Anyway, it did not smell like coriander, but I still bought it, and thought the problem was with my nose.

Cut it short, I cooked it as how I would use it in Chinese dishes --- it tasted …so wrong, very wrong, I had to bin the whole plate, along with the rest of unused leaves. Then I became very sad, I was homesick badly, because, far away from home, even the coriander did not taste like coriander, how I could even pretend I was creating some homey feeling? I was honestly in sorrow for a long while.

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Sea kelp (Kombu or Haidai): a healthy Chinese ingredient

the image source:http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/seaveg.htm

Hai dai or kelp

I don’t really know how to call Hai dai in English. According to Wikipedia, in Japanese it is called Kombu or dashima, in English it is apparently called Laminariaceae, or kelp. In Chinese, Hai dai literally means sea’s belt, because of its shape. :)

Hai dai is a sea plant; in fact, in Chinese it is also called “Hai cao” as in Sea grass. It grows in the shallow part of the sea, and its shape resembles a long belt. It is said that some of them can be 7 meters long.

Uses of Kelp in Chinese cooking and Chinese medicine

In Chinese cuisine, the use of all kinds of seafood and sea plants is very common (an example is the ‘famous’ jelly fish salad). Sea food and sea plants are normally considered very healthy: they provide many nutrients that cannot be normally obtained elsewhere. :) The legend says that one of the reasons why many monks in Japan live a very long life is because of the many properties of sea kelp (they also eat a lot of tofu with this sea kelp). :)

True or not, the many benefits of seaweed are real. This kind of seaweed/kombu is best known for its richness in Iodine, which plays an essential role for thyroid balance; and calcium, needless to say its importance in the body. Sea kelp also contains dietary fiber, unsaturated fatty acids and glial, all these together can help with cleansing cholesterol, and stimulating stomach and bowel movement.

In the famous Chinese book "Yin shi ben cao', kelp is described as a powerful anti-expectorant, and it is also supposed to act against potential tumors, cool down the body heat, and help lowering blood pressure. It is known to be particularly good for people suffering from (hypo)thyroidism, over-weight problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, constipation...etc.

Kelp, however, is categorized as a ‘cold’ food in Chinese medicine, so it should be taken carefully if you have ‘cold’ stomach problems :) (it is a Chinese medical term, which basically describes the stomachache triggered by either cold weather or cold food. And in general, the intake of kelp needs to be carefully measured, as too much kelp could cause (hyper)thyroidism, which is a concern during pregnancy and breast feeding.

Sea kelp can be found in many Chinese, Korean, Japanese shops, it is normally sold dry and fairly cheap, it needs to be soaked it at home first, after soaking, it comes back as fresh and soft again. Actually even if you get the fresh ones, soaking and washing them properly is still very necessary due to potential problems related to sea pollution. Normally it is recommended to soak it for 5 or 6 hours before making it into dishes in order to get rid of the 'arsenic' that may be dissolved in sea water. I also boil it to make sure it is completely clean.

In modern Chinese Shi liao, kelp salad, kelp congee, stir fried kelp with meat, or tofu, kelp soup are all recommended. I have one kelp salad recipe posted already, the rest, I will write here as I am cooking them. :)

Common ingredient: Garlic

If you have been reading my recipes here, you have probably already seen so many dishes with garlic. As I mentioned in another post, the taste and smell of garlic is used as one of the main influences in Chinese dishes along with ginger and spring onion.

Garlic in Chinese Cooking

Garlic in Chinese is called “suan (4)’, sometimes “da suan” in northeast China, as ‘big garlic’. It has been one of the most essential components of Chinese dishes -- functioning more like a seasoning.

If you walk into any home kitchen in the China, you will always see some garlic prepared for cooking. I remember in the past, most families would buy garlics in a whole branch, which were hung in the kitchen. When garlic was needed for cooking, people would just pick up one, so they were still ‘fresh’. Although nowadays scenes like this are rare to see, I have seen the same thing in Spain - branches of garlic hanging in the shops, restaurants, markets… I just totally lost in the culture, place, time...

Anyway, so since I learned to cook, my dad told me the use of the garlic from the very beginning. In northeast China, we always use fresh garlic for cooking, whereas in the south, dried garlic is often used.

When cooking, garlic is normally sliced, and always needs to be in contact with oil first, to influence the oil, thus also the rest of the ingredients. It is just as most recipes I mentioned - put the wok on the fire, when the wok is very hot and dry (if you just washed it), add the oil into the wok, and when the oil is hot, put sliced garlic into the oil - when the garlic is ‘cooked’, the smell of the garlic comes out, and adds to the rest of the ingredients.

Even when making soup, (garlic is normally used for meat soup), garlic still needs to be ‘cooked’ first, before adding the water.

Northern Chinese people often use the spiciness of garlic to accompany dumplings, or ‘baozi’ - things with fillings, for example the dip I made for the dumplings, sometimes with noodles as well.

It is also common to use the properties of garlic to prevent food poison, for example, when having seafood, it is always recommended to have some garlic with it.

Well, of course it will leave you with some smell, :( one of the knacks is to have some tea or chew some tea leaves. There is another way have garlic is to have ‘pickled’ garlic. It might loose some healthy benefit compare to the fresh one, but still good.

In northeast China, entering the coldest time of the year, it is custom to make ‘la ba suan’, means the garlic on ‘8th December’ in Chinese calendar. Garlics are peeled, and gloves are placed into a sealed bottle, filled in with a bit sugar, salt and lots of rice vinegar. Normally it takes a week or two to get it ready, the garlic will even turn ‘blue’ or ‘greenish’. The garlic will not be as spicy as it was, and not very sour either, but the vinegar will be very ‘garlic spicy’, they both become very good to have dumplings with.

Nowadays, Chinese use garlic as natural anti-biotic as well, isn’t it said that after the whole ‘sars’ thing, the price of garlic has been keeping on increasing.

I probably never appreciated garlic before, but I do now, no matter which way it is prepared. Lately, my favorite way is when my mother-in-law cooks them in the Spanish rice dish. The garlic becomes so soft and ‘mashy’ - the best. Oh, and the Spanish garlic mayonnaise, if I did not know when ‘fat’ it can be, I could just continue eating it with every dish. :)

It is always good to have garlic, no? Especially for its healthy benefits? Oh, also there is a very old saying that hanging garlic and eating garlic can prevent you from ‘weird’ stuff -- you know what I mean. :) :) I have just bought a few - to be cooked. :)

Potato in Chinese cuisine

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I know I haven’t written here many potato recipes, but, trust me, there are a lot, a lot of Chinese dishes with potato -- it is a very common ingredient in Northern Chinese cuisine .

Sometimes when I am cooking, I have to make an effort to avoide using potato in the dishes, otherwise there are going to be potato on the table everyday -- I will receive complaints.

Potato in everyday Chinese is called tu dou , as the bean of soil . I really love potato, I used to be able to finish almost a whole plate of my auntie cooked stir fried shredded potato on my own with boiled rice. :)

But a few years ago, I read an article somewhere saying that potato is not good for aging, I started restricting myself from having a lot of potato. No, no, don’t get me wrong, I am still cooking and eating a lot, you will know from all of the forthcoming potato recipes. :))

Since I came to the West to study, I began to love all the Western recipes with potato, for example, jacket potato, chips, wedges, roasted potato, Spanish omelet. However, the best potato I ever tried was Canary island’s potato - papa local .

The locals told us that the the soil in the islands is of volcanic origin and as a result the taste of the potato is different. And ‘patata local’ was one of the few Spanish words I learned first and quickly. Je je…

Although there are many different types of potato in the supermarkets here in UK, and I have no idea how to distinguish them when cooking Chinese dishes, back home in China, in the market, there are normally only two types, (probably nowadays there are more) one is soft and mashy after cooking, and one can be more crunchy after cooking.


As I mentioned in my first potato recipe, I like to use Maris piper and new potato here, which are more controllable for whatever the result you want to achieve when cooking Chinese dishes.
Using ‘Maris piper’ is a result of many tries. After a lot of unsatisfactory results, I found Maris piper is the best for the Chinese dishes I cook. As for new potato, it is because my auntie and my parents used to say that the more fresher and newer potato is, the more tasty is in the dish. Sometimes, in the market we normally shop, we can get Majorca potato, always reminds of "papa local". :)

And normally when choosing new potatos, I always look for those ones that look ugly, muddy, and the skin of which is almost peeled off. Don’t be turned away by their appearance’ When cleaning them, you don’t have to use knives or peeler, just soak them into water for a little while, then use a spoon to scrub the surface of the potato, the skin will come out very easily if they are very fresh

It is a very easy job, I started learning to do it when I was.. probably five, I remember that my mum would give a little basin with some potato soaked in the water and a spoon, and I would place it in the front yard of the house, peeling them (of course very clumsy), while waiting for my dad coming back from work. :))

Potato in Northern Chinese cuisine is normally stir-fried, steamed, made into soups or salad. No roasting, frying chips or omelet… very different to western cuisine. :) The most famously home cooking dishes are di san xian (stir-fry potato, aubergine and green pepper), ‘chao tu dou si’ (stir fry shredded potato), steamed potato with soybean paste dip (a summer dish), potato and beef soup, and shredded potato salad (another summer dish).

In addition, potato can be stir-fried with many different vegetables, for example, green pepper, tomato, celery, cabbage. In northeast, there is a famous soup based dish ‘luan dun’ (means mix everything together), which uses potato as one of the main ingredients. Also, with meat dishes, normally beef (or probably pork for other ethnic groups) with potato is the most popular combination, for example, ‘hong shao rou’.
All the recipes will be here soon. :)

Mung beans in Chinese cuisine

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（The image is from http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/绿豆)

Today, in Oxford, it really feels summer is here, warm and sunny. I like heat -- I know… :) I am not even talking about just hot. :)
We can never be really satisfied -- cold days we want hot, hot days we wish it was cooler, so difficult to get just right.. If only we can control the sky. :)) However, no matter what, balance is always very important, no? :))

Mung beans in Chinese cuisine and Chinese medicine

In summer, one of the most popular foods in northeast China for balancing the body heat is mung beans . It is well known that mung beans can help reducing the body's inner heat, and dissolve the accumulated toxins in the body.

Mung beans in Chinese are called lǜ dou , literately green beans. It is said that there are many valuable nutrients in mung beans, for example, fiber, vitamins, iron, copper.... Also, the Bencao gangmu ( the Chinese medicine "bible" written in the 16th century) already recorded how people used mung beans for medical purposes .

Anyway, in general, they are all very good and healthy. In really hot days, having mung bean congee is highly recommended. In Chinese medical terms, when the weather too hot, it is easy to get "heat stroke", which can make you restless, and feel dry and thirst in the mouth and throat, even dizzy. Boiling mung beans with water for some time, and having the liquid with beans is known to help you cool down, and balance out.

Although mung beans are considered very useful in daily life, they count as ‘cold’ in Chinese medicine, so you should be careful if you are having stomachache or if you are prone to suffer from diarrhea. Mung beans are also not adviced for women when having period.

--- Sorry, should not get too much into Chinese medicine . There will be other times for talking about health issues.

Chinese mung bean dishes

In northeast China, there are many kinds of mung bean made food.


Mung bean cake , - commonly called lǜ dou gao , (gao here means cake): northeast mung bean cake is normally quite dry, without any oil or eggs in it, it can be eaten as it is, or .. which I like better, by dissolving some pieces into the hot water, turn it into a kind of liquid form; OR mung bean water / soup - simply boiled in the water with some sugar, and drink the liquid; OR mung bean rice - cooked mung beans with white rice; OR even mung bean ice cream -- which became my husband’s favorite after first bite.

Oh, no, I cannot talk more about these, my mouth is watering !!

Cooking salad leaves in Chinese cuisine

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... I know…:)) Yesterday’s recipe, stir-fried green salad leaves , sounds pretty strange. However, in Chinese cuisine, there are many dishes that involve cooking green leaves .

Stir-frying Bok choy , or choi sim (these are all cantonese pronunciations) sounds like a natural thing to do, and you can easily find many such dishes in restaurants. In contrast, stir-frying salad leaves , like lettuce, may sound a bit weird (well, I only just realized the weirdness of it when my husband pointed it out to me).

In Western countries, salad leaves (and also other salad vegetables like cucumber) are almost exclusively used for making salad, and they are never served hot. But in Chinese cuisine , cooking salad leaves is a very common thing to do.

For example, my grandma used to say that everything needed to be properly cooked, you should not eat anything raw or "cold", it was not good for your stomach and body. I do remember, however, how much I enjoyed eating raw leaves, cucumber and reddish with soybean paste dip. I guess she meant "in general", without mentioning the exceptions. :))


Anyway, what I want to say is that cooking salad leaves and serving them hot is actually very popular. There are normally two ways of making them, quick stir-fry and cooked in soup.

In northeast Chinese cuisine, salad leaves are normally stir-fried alone, never with other vegetables, You can have different tastes depending on your own preferences; for instance, spicy stir-fried lettuce , garlicky (chop plenty of garlic gloves, stir fry with leaves), with oyster sauce (not a typical northeast dish, but very popular in the past 20 years), or simply with oil and salt (very original indeed).

How to cook salad leaves

The only difference between stir-frying leaves and stir-frying other vegetables is in the cooking time -- more precisely, the time that the leaves need to stay in the heated wok.


The best stir-fried leaves are those that stay fresh, juicy, and a little bit crunchy. However, leaves get soft very easily when they get in touch with salt and heated oil; so, the cooking time is definitely essential.


And the sauce should not be too strong or thick to mask the original freshness from the leaves. --- Sounds like …you might ask, then why bother to cook them not just leave in salad? Personally, I think that, after cooking them briefly, the leaves absorb very well the seasonings and the salt (the taste of the seasonings goes into the leaves), while when prepared in salad, the taste of the seasonings stays on the surface of the leaves.

Cooking leaves in soup is also common in China. However, saying "cooking" probably is not very quite right -- again, you don’t want to get it too soft, so I should say leaving the leaves in the soup briefly?

Sichuan Ma La Tang

The most popular dishes are hotpot, a spicy Sichuan soup (which you can find on the streets easily) called Ma La Tang , and spicy fish soup. In all the these dishes, the soup is well-cooked with full flavor, leaves are probably the last thing to put in to keep the freshness. But you have to be very careful when eating the leaves, because although the leaves themselves might not be very spicy or hot, after all, it is not in the soup for long, but they can carry all the spices on the surface, so when you swallow (the throat can feel it) and it might be too late to realize. :))

Chinese Soybean paste (Huang jiang)

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 大酱

Soybean paste is definitely one of those things have a sentimental attachment for Northeast people. Soy beans natively grow in the North Eastern provinces of China, thanks to their rich soil.

This kind of paste is called jiang in Chinese, soybean paste is called huang jiang or "da jiang" from the word "huang dou/da dou" (as soybeans ). It is one of those foods made from soybeans .

Chinese soy bean paste

If you are used to Western food, you might be very... surprised (?) by its form and colour, might not want to try it ever. :) But after trying it in the dishes, you will know what I mean. (All the recipes with soybean paste will be in forthcoming posts).

Well, actually, there is nothing very special about the soybean paste, it is fermented bean paste, tastes salty with strong soy taste. But, it plays a "big" role in daily food.

In the past, almost every household would start making it at home just before summer. Although all of the methods of making it are very similar, different people created greatly different varieties. For example, both of my grandmas used to make it, the paste they made was equally tasty, but quite different.

I have no memories of how they made it from scratch, but I do remember in the hot summer days, it was very stinky under the layers of wraps. After weeks of fermentation, they would slow boil them for hours --- that was the magic moment -- all the stinky smell disappeared, instead, the house was full of fragrance smell, which made me feel like wanting to dance in the air. Then on the dining table, my grandma would take out a small bowl of it and place next to the other dishes, and we used the tips of the chopsticks dipping in (otherwise it could be too strong), then put into the mouth --- heaven…:))

There are no particular nutrients in the paste, rather, adding a strong taste to your meal. It normally can be eaten on its own, or (we call it) "Zha", more like ‘re-making’ it in the wok with oil, eggs (for example), meat or vegetables and other seasonings. It can be a great dip for raw leaves, radish, cucumber, dried bean curd sheet... ; or with mix with Chinese noodles as "Zha jiang mian" ; or use as cooking sauce/media.

Types of Soy Bean Paste

Nowadays, very few people make soy bean paste at home anymore, as there are many varieties on the market.

Commonly three types of soybean paste are often used in daily food, ‘da jiang’ -- the traditional type of paste, yellow colour, very thick, better to be ‘re-cooked’ with ingredients and seasoning, as it comes quite dry and strong; ‘Dou ban jiang’ --- it is very similar to ‘da jiang’, but with darker colour, and have actual soy beans inside, (which I love to ‘bite’, :)) it can be eating just like what it is, can also be ‘re-cooked’; ‘Tian mian jiang’ -- translated as ‘sweet ‘mashy’ paste, but on some packages which are imported to England, it says as ‘Hoisin sauce’, but real Hoisin sauce is from Cantonese cuisine, so you can imagine the actual differences. It can be eaten alone, but mostly is cooked with vegetables or meat.

I grew up with a small bowl of soybean paste on the table all the time, so a few years back, when there was no where in England I could get it, I really suffered "foodsickness" badly. Every time I went back home, I would buy packs of them and bring back. This is one of my most embarrassing experiences - because packs of them can be heavy in my luggage, so I put some in the big pockets of my winter coat.

At Beijing airport, when I was passing security doors, I was stopped for searching, and asked to take everything out of the pockets --- a pack of soybean paste, then another pack of the paste, and another one… I blushed, and could almost see the person who was scanning me was trying so hard to hold his laugh. I just had to say, ‘I am going away for another year, and there is nowhere I could get it in England.’ Ha…. After putting everything back to my pockets, I walked away as quickly as I could and hoped that he would never remember me.

But now, in some Chinese supermarkets here, you can buy this typical soybean paste from Northeast. Phew... I never had to go through same embarrassment again, well, with the regulation now, I will never be able to bring it back anyway.

So, my taste of home continues on a different land...

Eggs in Chinese Cuisine

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What can I say... eggs are one of the ingredients that I am most familiar with. As I mentioned before, when I was little, I never liked red meat, nor chicken, duck… you name it.

The only thing (along with vegetables) that helped me get the proteins I needed were eggs (as eggs contain lots of protein, as well as many nutritious, like folic acid, vitamins, calcium. etc.) My parents, auntie and grandma tried all different ways of cooking eggs for me, so that I wouldn’t get bored of it --- very spoiled. :))

Eggs in Northern Chinese Cooking

Anyway … chicken egg is one of the most popular ingredients in Northern Chinese cuisine, not to mention being used in the coating, or mixing into the fillings for helping holding things together.

Eggs in Northeast cuisine can be boiled, steamed, stir-fried, pickled or preserved, in soup, or even for drinking. They act as one of the main ingredient for home cooking, but not in fancy restaurants though.

Although the most commonly used are chicken eggs, duck eggs are often on the dinning table, but usually served pickled (salty); occasionally, goose eggs are used as well. Quail eggs are often used for medical purposes (I know a recipe that uses quail eggs to alleviate allergies). I used to have very bad allergies, even my own tears or strong winds could trigger them;  my parents got this ‘legendary recipe’ - eating quail eggs -- then I was cured. -- But I cannot explain the medical theory behind it, just eased my suffering. :))

Boiled eggs

  Eggs are normally boiled as in the West. But in Northeast China, eating boiled egg can go with different dips, for example, soy sauce dip, salt and pepper dip. I have never be able to have just a plain boiled egg since I was little, so whenever my mum packed me some boiled eggs for a school trip or something, she always had to prepare a sachet of salt, or a small container of soy sauce.

 There is another most common way of preparing boiled eggs: tea eggs, which are boiled along with red tea leaves and other seasoning. It has very strong tea influence, slightly salty. (Recipe is on the way -- I consider it is one of the best invention, then I did not have to carry salt or soy sauce with me). :)

Steamed eggs

I don’t really know if it is same in the other regions in China, but steamed eggs are super super popular in Northeast, especially for people with stomach problems, or for kids just off the milk, starting having ‘real food’. It is also a good idea for breakfast.

It is to beat eggs well, and steam it --- very easy.

Stir fried eggs

  Now I am talking… the real thing.:))))  Stir-frying egg can be prepared just by itself, or stir-fry with other ingredients. In fact, my first ever cooking lesson was my dad taught me how to stir fry eggs, Northeast stir-frying egg is slightly different to western scrambled eggs -- no milk added. It comes out as a bit ‘dryer’ then scrambled eggs.

‘Egg fried rice’ is popular way of stir fry eggs, it can be found almost in all Chinese restaurants and takeaways here. But if you are in the restaurants in Northeast of China, plain egg fried rice is normally not in the menu, you have to specify, then they can cook for you individually.

But eggs stir fried with different ingredients is very common ‘homey’ dish in Northeast. For example, stir fry eggs with tomato, stir fry eggs with green peppers, or with cucumbers, with onions, with garlic chives… are all the very simple and common dishes. (See the recipe for stir fry eggs with black fungus for example. All the other ‘recipes’ will be here, well, not really recipes I guess, more like suggested ideas.)

The only thing is when egg fired with these ingredients, it is given a ‘fancy’ name -- Mu Xu (as in the beard of wood-- you can imagine). For example, egg fried beef is called ‘Mu Xu Rou’, as ‘the wood’s beard with meat’. ha…

This way of combination is always a very simple dinner solution, especially when I run out of ideas of cooking. :)) But in Cantonese dishes, apart from eggs with tomato (or egg Fuyong), the rest of the combination is not their style. Once I cooked eggs with green peppers, all the other Cantonese friends (most of them were chefs) looked at me and the ‘wok’ strangely.

The thing that is almost ‘forbidden’ to combine is eggs with potatoes. The legend says that it could cause poison. I used to be very careful following this rule, since my grandma and my auntie mentioned all the time. But after I tried Spanish omelet, it all changed -- traditional Spanish tortilla became my favorite!! My caring in-laws always cook potato tortilla for me whenever I am there -- but they have to tell me not too eat too much --otherwise it will be too much calories intake… :)) -- I am trying to make up all those years (this combination) I missed. :)))

Fried eggs

Another common way of preparing eggs. Remember I mentioned that my dad used to make me lunch? One fried egg was always included. It is very similar to the Western way, but Chinese fried egg need to cook it longer time, until both sides of the surface of gets golden colour or in the soup until the white get firm, and completely wraps the york. It is a very traditional way, and has a very pretty name ‘Hebao dan’ to describe the egg looks like the lotus’ bud -- wrapping the york inside.

Chinese Fen Si (Cellophane noodles)

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Chinese cellophane noodles

中国粉丝

Fensi in Chinese cuisine

Fensi is one of commonly used ingredients in Northeast Chinese cuisine. For the translation in English, I had to look up online, the formal term for it is ‘Cellophane noodles’.

Although some people use ‘Chinese vermicelli’ to refer to ‘Fensi’, (even sometimes when I have to explain what it is, I always say Chinese vermicelli too), it is really not the same thing.

Chinese vermicelli are made from rice, and can be served as main ‘stable food’, like ‘noodles’, but ‘Fensi’ is always used in (sharing) dishes or soup cooked along with either meat or vegetables - at least in Northeast cuisine, while vermicelli is never part of Northeast food.

In a book written by one of my favorite Chinese writer, she describes ‘Fensi’ as ‘rain drops from the sky like threads, and Fensi is just that thread being collected’ --- What a beautiful and romantic description! 

Preparing Chinese Fensi

Fensi can be made either from potato (starch), sweet potato (starch), mung beans (starch). And it comes in different shapes - flat, round, slim like thread, or fatter like a small tube… They all can be called ‘Fen’, but ‘Fensi’ really only refers to the ones are ‘threads’ like. And I prefer the ‘mung bean’ ones for salad or vegetable soup dish, while potato ones for stir-fry or soup with meat.

As ‘Fensi’ normally comes in ‘dry’ form, and packed in a little ‘bunch’, they becomes difficult to separate it when you only want a little bit. We normally use scissors to cut it, but still the little pieces would jump out everywhere.

Once Fensi touches (warm / hot) water, it absorbs water easily, and

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Rice and making boiled rice

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Rice in Chinese cuisine

Since rice has been the main stable food in Chinese diet for over 5000 years, I think it is an unavoidable topic, :)) especially, given that a few friends have asked me many times how to make boiled rice - without a rice cooker.

Rice production in China is massive, well, you can imagine given the large population. White rice used to be considered as a  ‘luxury’ product, as many poorer people (or most Chinese people in poorer times in the past) struggled to have it.

Thirty years ago, one of the future plans of the Chinese government was to ensure that everyone in China would be able to afford white rice on a daily basis -- It seems that these goals have been fulfilled.

And not only that; surprisingly, nowadays, people are trying to increase the amount ‘Culiang’ (which refers to millet, mung beans, corn, and so on) in their diet, because these are considered healthier than white rice.

There are many popular restaurants in China called ‘Recall the past’, which specialise in the kinds of food that people used to have in old days -- when the country was poor. The idea of this is not only to help people recall or re-experience the past, but also that ‘we taste the bitter past, so we can be more satisfied with what we have now’. :))

Different parts of China grow different types of rice. Northeast is considered to have the best soil to grow rice, thus Northeast rice is one of the best in China.

In the past, rice was distributed regionally, rather than nationally. During those times, my parents used to give away packs of Northeast rice as gift to their friends living in other regions. The grain of Northeast rice is short, but fuller, very good for boiling, and after boiling, the rice tends to be sticky, has great fragrance.

It is actually very similar to Japanese rice, I could not tell difference really. When Chinese rice was still exported to UK, we used to buy ‘Northeast rice’ for having Chinese food or making Japanese Sushi, which is much cheaper than Japanese rice, and I could almost feel that I was very close to my home land...

But since the exports stopped, we started buying Japanese rice instead. If you saw Northeast Chinese rice on the market, look for well packed ones to buy, otherwise it might be different type.

I like Sichuan rice as well. It can be white or black/purple. Its grain is long and slender, has strong fragrance when just open the lid of sauce pan, and it is dry, non-sticky, very easy to ‘separate’ after cooking, a little bit like basmati rice. Oh, if you like, you can try to mix a handful dark purple rice with Northeast rice --- a new experience.

The traditional way of cooking rice is to boil it. However, egg fried rice is also very common, which used to be my everyday breakfast when I was a little picky child (very ashamed, gave my grandma lots of headaches coming to cook for me.)

The most famous stir fried rice in China is probably Yangzhou fried rice from mid south of China. In North, other than boiled white rice, it is also popular to mix it with other different grains, for example, mix with millet, or mung beans… etc. -- much healthier than just white rice along.

Traditionally, rice has always been served in a rice bowl on the table, never placed on a flat plate, or mixed with dishes together. In my ethnic group, when we have honored guests, the rice in the bowl needs to be presented nicely -- use a smaller bowl to put the rice in first, then transfer to another normal rice bowl, this way, you can get a very nice round shape of rice on the top, like a ball. I still keep this habit to serve our guests at home.

Ok, now, talking about boiling rice -- when friends asked this, I have to admit that my heart bumped a little bit -- I have always used a rice cooker. I am so grateful for whoever invented rice cooker. As far as I can remember, my parents have always used rice cooker.

Long time ago, long before the time of all these fancy rice cookers, my dad even improved the basic rice cooker to meet his needs, for example, he made a timer connect to the rice cooker, so he would prepare the rice in the evening before going to bed, and in the morning, when get up, rice was just freshly made, ready for serving.

Of course, nowadays, there are all different kinds of functions in a rice cooker, not mention timer, but also auto make normal rice, congee, baby congee, cake… etc. I insist to have the one with timer, so we can have congee for breakfast with zero hassle. :)

How to Make Chinese Rice

Anyway, here is the way to make boiled rice without a rice cooker. (I had to make this myself and take photos, and I am so happy that I still can make it, not a slave of modern technology.. yet.):))

You need a deep sauce pan with lid, and it is better if there a little ‘hole’ on the lid for the air coming out.

1) In a deep sauce pan, put one and half cup of rice (it is for two people, average.)

2) Pour in water until it cover the rice by around less than 2cm. The best way,(well, apparently a common way in the East), is to put your index finger into the water, make sure your finger tip touch the surface of the rice, and your first joint line level with the water -- this way, your rice will just absorb enough water, and still moisture.

3) Turn on the fire to medium, cover the lid.

4) When the water is full boiling (it is normally very quick), turn down the fire to very low. (Be careful the water might spill out the sauce pan).

5) Until the rice absorbs all the water, but not totally dry yet, turn off the fire, and keep the lids covered for further 3-5 minutes, let the rice rests well before serving.

--- Done!

Chinese Food Made with Soya

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Soya in Chinese Cuisine

Soya is an important ingredient in Northeast Chinese cuisine. The nutritional properties of soya have been well-studied. If you think that your soya intake is limited to soya beans themselves, soya milk and tofu, you are wrong :) Actually, there are many different kinds of soya-made food products in North China--- which, btw, are all among my favourite, no matter how you cook them. (Recently I learnt that Northeast produces really good soya beans because of its  weather and different soil). Here in UK, there are many kinds of vegetarian meat substitutes made from soya, but they don't have its original taste, which I like the most.

In this post, I am introducing the most popular soya-based food in Northeast China and the popular ways of making them.

Soya beans

Soya Beans

Start from the original form in which soya presents itself in nature: soya beans. I have been looking for soya beans in normal supermarkets or shops like Holland and Barrett, but didn't have any luck. Fortunately, soya beans are sold in most Chinese supermarkets in the UK. The beans are sold dried and hard, so if you decide to cook them, you need to soak them in water at least overnight to get them softer and ready for cooking.

   A popular way of cooking them is to stir fry them. I like to do it with little tofu pieces and carrots; or light frying them in the oil, until they become crispy --- they can then can be taken as snacks or side dish.

Soya milk

Soya Milk

Although it is called soya milk in English, it is slightly different in China. In China, soya milk is  slightly thicker, and is never ever mixed with any other juice (where here in the shops, they normally come with apple juice in it). Nowadays, soya milk can be made at home by using a soya milk maker. If you remember to soak the beans the evening before, the next morning you can make pure soya milk in 10 minutes. (Once, I found a type of soy milk maker sold in US which does not require you to soak the beans in advance --- which is cool, since I always forget it.) Soya milk is one of the most common food in Chinese breakfast .

Chinese tofu

Firm to medium tofu

Well, I don’t think I need to say more about tofu (especially having said a lot about it in my first Tofu recipe). It is generally very easy to cook, and of course different ways of preparing it make the taste and texture different.

For instance, if you want to make the tofu firmer, and not to break the ‘cell’ too much, you can quickly boil it or steam it -- it is good for making salad; if you only just want the the surface to get firmer, you can fry it with a little bit oil, it is good to pour the sauce on it, for example.

If you deep fry it, it is called ‘Tofu Pao’, as tofu with bubbles, the ‘cells’ in the tofu will be losen, tofu could get ‘spongy’, and can easily absorb sauces, so it is good for soup. It can be purchased in the shops, but since it is easy to make, so I normally prepare it myself -- my dad's influence, 'you never know how clean the oil is they used to fry'. :))

If your tofu is accidentally frozen, DO NOT throw it away, it is the best! It is called ‘Dong Tofu’, means frozen tofu. I think it is probably because Northeast China gets really cold in winter, tofu was easy to get frozen outside, (it was normally sold fresh in the open markets or streets), so North people created this way of preparing tofu. :)) And here, if I miss it, I would just leave the fresh tofu in the freezer for a few hours, until it is completely frozen, then take it out to defrost it for getting ready to cook. Traditionally it is cooked with pickled ‘Chinese leaves’, its taste and texture is very similar to ‘pickled cabbage’, so I use it instead. (-- improvise again. :)) Nowadays, it is very popular for having it in ‘hotpot’ -- Northeast Chinese style.

Silken tofu

Silken Tofu

Silken tofu appeared in Northeast Chinese cuisine only in the last, probably, twenty years. It is really soft, almost impossible to pick it up by chopsticks. In Northeast, apart from normal salad, soup or having savory sauce on top of it, the most popular dish is silken tofu and  preserved duck egg salad， with a drop of ‘old vinegar’ --- the taste is the best. :)) It can be found in almost all of the Chinese and Japanese supermarkets here, and they always in the similar packages.

Tofu nao

Tofu Nao

It is a kind of ‘homemade’ silken tofu -- one of the traditional foods in North China. I still remember my grandma making it, and she used to tell the me the stories of having Tofu Nao when she was young. Traditionally, it is made from soya milk. Add coagulant to get it firmer, then pour prepared soup on top of it, have it with a spoon. The common soup to go with it is eggs, black fungus (Chinese mushroom). It is another common breakfast dish. Here, I normally buy the whole set from Japanese supermarket. In the package, soay milk powder substituted fresh one, and it comes with coagulant --- very easy to make. It is our Sunday breakfast sometimes.

Dried Beancurd

In the Chinese supermarkets here, dried beancurd comes in two types, one is like ‘stick’, another one is in sheet. They both need to be soaked in water first. Since in North we normally have it in salad, I prefer when it is a bit ‘chewable’, I soak it in warm water (not hot) for a couple of hours, then make it into salad.

Soya bean skin

Actually I don’t really know how to call it English, its original name in Mandarin can be mistaken as dried beancurd sheet in Cantonese. It looks like ‘light brown paper’. I only found it couple of times in Chinese supermarket here. We normally cook it in vegetable mushroom soup.

Dried tofu sheet

Dried Tofu Sheet

  --- At least it is the name if it is translated literally. :)) It is very similar to tofu, but instead of in a soft cube, it is in sheet. It is one of most common soya bean products in Northeast China, along with firm tofu. The first time I saw it in a Chinese supermarket in Manchester, I almost jumped up and screamed --- it is not a Cantonese dish, so almost impossible to find in the restaurants or normal Chinese supermarkets, but if the buyers or the owners are from North China, it is likely to sell it there. And once you find it, you have to try it!! :)))

Well, although the ones you can find are not really fresh ones (they are packed), and a little bit dry, it is more than enough for me. It is normally made into salad or stir fried --- the recipes are on the way, since I just bought one pack two days ago. But if you could get one now, the easiest way is to spread some soy paste and put a piece of spring onion on the tofu sheet, roll it up, then -- just enjoy!!

Chinese vegetarian chicken

Ha… it is the literal translation, otherwise it is called 'Suji), so don’t get confused with the ones sold in Vegetarian section in supermarkets here. It is another form of tofu, not for making it as substitute for chicken. :) Again, very Northeast food, normally in salad or stir fry. But unfortunately, I haven’t seen any sold here, so I’d better not explain too much --- till I go back home.

Tofu gan

Tofu Gan

I even lost idea of literal translation for this one. It is very similar to ‘Pressed Five Spice Tofu’ sold in the Chinese supermarket, but without pre-prepared flavor, like ‘Five Spice’. I used to buy it in a Chinese supermarket in Manchester, not exactly the same, it is with ‘a little bit’ Cantonese touch, but, we say ‘improvise’. It is normally stir fried with green pepper, for example.


  There are also some seasonings made from soy, like soy sauce, soy paste, soy oil. Anyway, soy products are one of most important food in every household in North China. Hope this could boost your interests in soy protein intake for healthy issue, and for having different taste of tofu dishes.

   I am having to stop here, otherwise, not mention you are bored already, if you want to listen, I can keep on talking about tofu food for hours and hours. :))

At the beginning

Ok, about the background of me and my dishes - before you cook, you know what you are cooking. :))) Chinese food varies among different regions and different ethnic groups, same as Chinese language. I am originally from the Northeast of China, the food there is different from the food in South China, or other parts, and very much different from the ‘Chinese food” you can find in Chinese restaurants here, as many of them are ‘Cantonese style’ adapted to British taste. I guess this is another reason why I want to write these recipes down, before I adapt as well. :)) So for example, the dishes I normally prepare do not come with a thick sauce base, not like “Sweet and Sour” sauce. It is more … light? :) Anyway, also, because of my “Hui” ethnic group origin (it can be described as ‘Islamic’ in China, but it is not necessarily connected to religion), so there is no pork in my dishes. .. Sorry if you are pork lover. And I am not good with birds, so I don’t really know how to cook, for example, duck or goose. (sorry again).

Lots of dishes I did learn from my parents, my dearest beloved auntie, recipe books, and 'invented' based on the restaurant taste. But, no matter what, I have to improvise a lot sometimes, because the food or the ingredients are not exactly the same in UK, or simply because I could not remember all the details. :))

Now, about the ingredients, not a lot, and not all necessary for each dish:

- Oil: Again, in my hometown (Northeast) we normally use soy oil, healthy, aromatic. Unfortunately, here, it is not easy to find soy oil, (I used to be able to only buy it from ‘8th Day’ in Manchester). When I run out of soy oil, I normally use Veg oil instead, as it claims having soy oil as its main ingredient, although the taste is not that same. I use it especially for deep frying, and it can be more economic.

- Salt: I normally use fine sea salt, unless cook very different food.

-Soy sauce: I use ‘light soy sauce’ for the taste, and ‘dark soy sauce’ for the colour, although I prefer the natural colour of food nowadays.

- Vinegar: I prefer rice vinegar, which is traditionally used in China along with ‘Old vinegar’ （Chen Cu), it is soft, mild, not as sharp as, for instance, wine vinegar. And sometimes, the ‘Old vinegar’ is used for some particular dishes.

- Sugar: Lots of people are surprised that there is sugar in Chinese dishes. But a little pinch of white sugar could enhance the taste of the dish. In fact, you will be amazed of the taste that a mixture of a pinch of sugar and a drop of vinegar can bring to a dish. However, do be careful and do not put too much, otherwise, although the dish does not necessary taste sweet, it is not super healthy, and can make you thirsty afterwards.

- Cooking wine: This is only a kind of Chinese cooking wine I normally use, I get it from Chinese supermarket. The most famous brand, which has existed in China for centuries, is ‘Shaoxing cooking wine’. In fact, ‘Shaoxing rice wine’ is not bad either for drinks.

- Anise star

-Cinnamon stick

-Sichuan pepper: (Hua jiao) I am not sure if it is accurate to call it Sichuan pepper, although we normally use it as function of Sichuan pepper, there is another 'real Sichuan pepper' my Sichuan friends showed it to me, it is slight bigger in size, and stronger in taste, have more distinctive Sichuan spicy taste. 

-Sichuan powder (Hua jiao mian)

-Five spice powder: Actually, there is another one we call 13 spices powder, which I normally use, I guess the taste and smell is richer. But, anyway, I would suggest not to buy it from the regular supermarket, they taste different, try Chinese supermarket, I prefer the brand “Wangshouyi”.

-Spiced water: Ha… :)) I named it myself, it is actually my mum who taught me how to do this, a secret. :) You put a little bit of anise star, cinnamon stick and Sichuan pepper in a little bottle, fill in water, let it soak for a bit, then pour a little bit into your dish. It can last for a few days. (I keep it in the fridge.)

-Sesame oil: Recently I prefer to buy it from M&S, it is much cheaper than the ones in Chinese supermarket, smell and taste great!! 

-Sesame paste: Although a friend of mine told me she bought it in the normal supermarket, I have never been able to find it. So I buy it from Chinese supermarket here.

-Chilli Oil: You can make this at home easily by using dried red chili, it will cause some smoke, but the smell is amazing, at least to me. :)

-Cumin seeds

OH, almost forgot the most important things, Spring onion, Ginger and Garlic. And you should always have some corn flour in hand for thickening the sauce.

There are some more small things that it is not necessary to have in hands all the time, if I come across when I am cooking, I will write them down then. :)

As for the woks, traditional Chinese wok is made of iron, it is thick enough for not burning the dish, and thin enough for instant heating up. Here a friend got us this steelless double layered posh wok. It does the job. Anyway, the most important thing is it has to have at least one longer handle for holding when you cook and for pouring the plate later. Saying that, there is kind of wok with two small short handles, although in English it is called ‘wok’, it is different in Chinese. A steamer is very useful. And of course a few sauce pans.

The cooking methods I normally use:

Chao: as stir fry

Shao: I don’t know how to explain the difference to stir fry exactly, let’s me when I actually ‘Shao’ one dish. :)

Zheng: steam

Zhao: deep frying

Jian: similar to shallow fry, but with less oil.

Ok, for now, let us see what we can do with all these. :))