73. Chinese Courgette salad recipe

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Chinese courgette salad

Verona

I think it was only since I came to Europe that I learned how to appreciate history -- the history written on the surfaces of ancient roads, hundreds years old buildings, and thousands years old, yet still functioning theaters...

It is true China has over five thousands years history, but nowadays, modern sky scrapers have become the signature of our modern society; rapid change is taking place in every corner of every city; history only prevails protected behind the museums’ walls.

So, here, in Italy, seeing all those ancient buildings still in use, the uneven surface of the roads still serving its purpose after hundreds of years, I feel that the word ‘old’ cannot describe what I am seeing; ‘beautiful’, ‘surreal’ are probably more appropriate.

I feel even a bit jealous of the local people, when they go to the theater, which was original built over 2000 years ago, and still functions now, they become the part of the ‘on-going’ history...

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72. Chinese Steamed aubergine and potato mixed with soybean paste (V)

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Chinese steamed aubergine with potato and soybean paste

酱拌茄子、土豆

What a surprise -- summer came back for one more week, just when I already accepted that autumn is starting!! We thought we were coming to Italy for an extended summer, :)) but could not predict that Oxford would become so warm in the end of September.

Anyway, we dived into the historical, romantic... and hot Verona. If we had some hesitation for leaving ‘last part of summer’ in Oxford, we quickly left it behind as we immersed ourselves into centuries old streets, buildings with the bright sunshine.

I guess I should not completely pack up my summer recipes after all -- well, I really don’t want to, plus, I still haven’t mentioned many of my favorite dishes.

So this is one of my favorites, and one of the most popular ones in northeast China in summer -- steamed aubergine and potato mixed with soybean paste. I learned it from my mum, she learned from her mum, my grandma said she knew how to make it from her mother-in-law -- so definitely a traditional dish. It is very very easy to make, almost like salad (liang cai), but it does not need to be served cold.

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60. Chinese rice with mung beans (mung bean rice)

--- Actually, in Chinese, when referring to ‘having a meal’ (dinner/breakfast/lunch), we always say ‘Chi Fan’, Chi as ‘eat’, and Fan in this context means food, but if by itself, Fan only means ‘rice’.

Normally, a meal is composed by two parts - Fan and Cai. Fan is the stable food, normally only refers to rice, where Cai means the actual dishes. Am I talking sense again? :)

Combining rice with other grains

My friends from South China used to ask me, ‘in the North, you eat lots of flour based food, right?’ … I was always a bit puzzled - well, we have rice with dishes most of the time, then I realized, it is true, particularly compared to South Chinese people, who sometimes only make dumplings once per year, we eat dumplings, steamed bread, bing… almost every week.

But apart from these, we normally have a bowl of rice to accompany the dishes. The varieties of rice are different to those used in Southern cuisine.

In south China, rice is normally stir fried, for example, the most famous one, ‘Yang zhou fried rice’; in contrast, in the North, we usually mix rice with other types of grain. For example, today’s rice is white rice mixed with mung beans (although, in Chinese it is called ‘mung bean rice’).

In northeast China, the popular combinations include red bean with white rice, Chinese millet with white rice, Sorghum grain with white rice, crushed corn with white rice, and so on.

In the past, since China was very poor, and white rice was expensive, combining the different grains with rice was very common. However, nowadays, it is considered as a healthy way of eating, it can help making up what white rice lacks. And for example, today's recipe includes mung bean, which are very healthy and are even used for medical purposes (they are also good for hot summer days ).

In addition, mung beans certainly enrich the flavor of the rice, and I could get bored of eating white rice only everyday. The proportion of white rice and mung bean (or others) is very flexible, depends on how strong you want the flavor.

It is very easy to make, the only thing needs to pay attention is grains like mung bean and red bean (for example) takes longer to cook than white rice, so you do need to soak them first, then put them together with white rice to boil.

The recipe: mung bean rice

Here you go the simplest way of making mung bean rice.

Making for 3 people for dinner.

1) Soaking around 1 cup of mung bean in water. (I soaked it in warm water for 2 hours, if it is cold water, it takes longer.)

2) Mix 1 and half cup of white rice with soaked mung bean, and fill in with water around 2.5cm above the rice level.

3) Then the rest, boil it as normal rice.
(If you like congee, just add double or even a bit more water. )

You can have it with all kinds of dishes.

59. Chinese bean sprouts salad (liang cai)

Bean Sprout Salad

Waved good-bye to the mediterranean sun and heat, we quickly dived into another kind of summer…
Grandpa called last night, asked, ‘it has been the hottest two days since you left, how about there?’ I told him it has been a bit cold for summer days in Oxford, he laughed, ‘how good! Here, I have to turn on the air conditioning, then stay indoors all the time. Ha… but you would still like it, don’t you?’ -- Yes, I like the heat, I guess it is to do with I was born in the hottest time of the summer, and my mum had to do the traditional confinement in the house, which helped me build up the heat tolerance from the very very early age.

Our friends in Spain all wished to spend summer here, to have cooler days, while we want to be in the hot waves. How interesting we want to cross over to each other’s side!

---------

When I was little, one day I walked through the narrow streets, then arrived at a busy road, my school was right on the other side. I was scared to cross the road, always just stood there, and kept on standing on this side watching people waiting for the traffic slow down so that they could cross to the other side, then carry on their journey of the day.

I did not understand why people needed to cross, why they couldn’t just stay on their own side - they could find their happiness there. Not until I grew up, gradually I understand this is life, we have to cross the roads to do things we need to do, and meet each other, and then probably will say good bye to each other, does not matter how many people have passed by, this is how people knit a big net on the surface of the earth. And that road becomes a wider road, then a land, then a continent, and an ocean...

See now, like me, I want to cross the sea to feel the heat…:)

Chinese bean sprouts salad

I hope summer is still here, it is just playing hide and seek at the moment, it will come back. Then my summer recipe continues as well - bean sprouts salad / liangcai.

I know I have said that I did not like bean sprouts for a long while, but time to time, I still want to give a try - to grab the memory when I was at home, maybe?

But this salad/liangcai recipe certainly refreshed the taste as well as my memory. It is simple and quick, oh, and healthy.:) It is not involved with actual stir frying, just boil the bean sprouts, and make the sauce with the ‘usual’ seasonings.

Here you go.

The recipe

Ingredients

Bean sprout 1 bag (Bean sprout made from mung beans is very good for this recipe, otherwise, yellow beans also do.)

Minced garlic, salt, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, crushed chilli (optional), oil.

Cooking

1) Boil the bean sprouts first in the water - but not long time though, after bringing to the boiling point, last for anther two minutes, then remove it from the wok. (This is only just getting rid of the ‘rawness’ from the bean sprouts. Bean sprouts still need to be crunchy and juicy. )

2) Rinse the bean sprouts in the cold water, then place them into the plate.

3) Place the wok on the fire, pour in around 2 tablespoon of oil, then add in 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1/3 teaspoon of crushed chilli, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, a small pinch of sugar. Mix everything well.

4) When it is bubbling in the wok, turn off the fire.

5) Add in 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.

6) Pour the sauce on top of the bean sprouts, and mix well.

(You can also put all the seasoning directly on the bean sprouts without needing to heat the oil.)

--- Done! Easy and quick, no? And very fresh!

52. Chinese salad (liang cai): seaweed with garlic

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凉拌海带

How spoilt I am here in Spain by the seaside! And I am totally following Spanish eating habits and lifestyle --- get up in the morning, having light breakfast, then go down to swim in the sea; come back for lunch, my mother-in-law already prepared some typical Spanish rice or soup dish, which have all become my favorite these years; then siesta; then get up for merienda (snack after getting up from the nap); go to the town centre for a walk -- culture absorption; then dinner, followed by ‘after dinner walk’, then sleep with the sounds of the waves from the sea… Can life be more relaxing and more beautiful?

I remember when I was young, when holiday came, the teachers (and my dad) would give me a long reading list, I was buried with the books, text books and home works. Now, we all grow up, no need to be given reading list anymore, but in China, with the rapid changes in the city, in the life, like my friend, who now works in Shanghai, once said, 'the scenery around us, and the lives we have here change too quickly, we need to keep up by putting head down and working hard and harder, don't have time to slow down to think about we have done, or what the life is about, or to enjoy it..." --- Sad, but true.

----And, here I am, almost feel guilty for not doing anything. I tell my mother-in-law, ‘I am not doing anything’, she smiles and replies, ‘good, no? You just need to relax!’ Thanks to them, I learn to appreciate the sun, the sea, the food, the life, each breath, and each vision, like never before. I think I also learned to be satisfied, even for small things, and to be positive and happy.

Chinese Seaweed

One of the great benefits of being by the seaside is to enjoy all the health benefits from sea water, such as iodine intake.

Among all sea plants, I especially like seaweed (this particular one in English is known as Kombu or kelp . I really like its Chinese name - hai dai , as sea belt, because its shape is like a belt, well, a big, wide belt. :)

I did not know that this "sea belt" mainly grows in the waters of Russia, Japan, Korea and China, until I checked up online. Seaweed has always been a very common ingredient in Northern Chinese cuisine , and it is especially used in Chinese salads (liang cai).

In England, I normally buy this kind of seaweed in Chinese, Korean or Japanese supermarkets.
It is different to what we normally called "seaweed", which it is sold as fried / crispy in Chinese or Korean restaurants. This seaweed looks like a big green leaf, but much bigger, and its texture is somewhere in-between rubber and green leaves --- no, I am running out of words to explain--- sorry. :) Its surface is a bit sticky. It is normally very cheap to buy, and after soaking, it turns into quite a big portion, so one package can make into a few plates. It is normally sold dry, you have to soak it in the water for a while, then it can be cooked as salad, stir-fried or soups.

This type of seaweed if considered to be very healthy and useful, and it is good to have it often, however, you need to be careful not take too much, since it contains high level of iodine, it might disturb your thyroid function.

The Recipe: Chinese Seaweed Salad

Here is one of the simplest ways of preparing Chinese seaweed -- a salad dish, good for the summer and for boosting your energy, especially if you are far away from the sea.

Ingredients

Seaweed (kombu) (I used the seaweed as the main ingredients, and added in a little bit shredded carrots, but it can be mixed with other things as well, for example, dried beancurd sheet, and fried salted peanuts.)

Salt, sesame oil, sugar, light soy sauce, vinegar, garlic.

Preparing Seaweed Salad

1) Soak and chop 2 leaves of seaweed into thin strips.

2) Chop 5 (or more) gloves of garlic.

3) Shred one carrot.

Mixing the ingredients

Mix chopped seaweed, garlic and carrot all together, and add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoon of vinegar, 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce, and around 3 tablespoons of sesame oil, mix everything together ---

----- Done!

Serve as a salad/ liang cai dish, or a small side dish, it can be kept in the fridge for a few days if there is enough salt, and well covered for it not to get dry.
It is good to go with rice or beer, or as a side dish with steamed bread, dumplings, noodles. :)

50. Chinese noodle recipe: soy bean paste mixed noodles / zha jiang mian

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Chinese soy bean paste mixed noodles

炸酱面

Please forgive me if I have been mentioning hot summer too much, Spanish summer is so irresistible to me. It is not only because I always like hot, sunny summer weather, but also this hot air in the day and nice gentle summer evenings all remind me the summers I had when I was at home in China.

Having been eating in the restaurants many days, what I really crave is ... Chinese cold noodles , :) like the ones I used to have at home, my mum made them... have tried to ask in many Chinese restaurants here if they serve them -- no, they don’t, but not much to complain about, because this is a quite typical Northern Chinese dish (I think), and a very home-made dish.

Soy bean paste Chinese noodles

This is definitely one of my favorite summer dishes -- a Chinese noodle dish , don’t even mention my auntie used to call me the noodle queen. :))

It is actually a very simple dish -- soybean paste mixed noodles. Although you can use packed soybean paste directly, the paste normally needs to be re-made. For example, you can stir fry it with different ingredients depending on your taste, then mix it with boiled and then rinsed cool noodles. So it is called zha jia mian , as in fried paste noodles .

This time I made home made noodles , similar to the Da lu Mian dish I made before. :)) Otherwise, you can use those ready-to-boil noodles sold in the shops as well.

Another thing to do is to make the soybean paste sauce. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a few different types of soybean paste. The one commonly used for this dish is called Da jiang -- just the plain soybean paste, no actual soy beans or chillis in the paste, it is very salty, but has a very strong soybean taste.

The reason for re-making the soybean paste is to make its taste richer. Soybean paste can sometimes be re-boiled with seasonings for hours, or it can be stir-fried with vegetables, eggs or meat mince. And similarly to Da lu mian, you can also make some shredded cucumbers or carrots to go with the noodles.

In this recipe, I used eggs, green peppers and dried shrimps (which can be replaced with fresh shrimps). If the re-made soybean paste is salty enough, it can be kept well in the fridge for quite a few days.

Ingredients

• If you make the noodles at home, you will need flour, eggs, and salt
• For the soybean paste you will need
  oil, egg, green pepper (optional), soybean paste, dried shrimps (optional), spring onion, soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar and sesame oil .

Preparing the noodles

You can either use one egg or prepare the noodles without eggs, in which case you just need flour, water and a bit salt. In my previous post, I described in detail how to make the noodles by hand .

If you don't want to make the noodles yourself, you can also buy ready-to-boil noodles. However, keep in mind that the wider and thicker the noodles are, the better for this dish.)

Once you have made (or bought and unpacked) the noodles, simply boil them and then rinse them in in cold water.

Boiling the noodles

Preparing the Soybean Paste

1）Chop around 1 whole spring onion and 1 green pepper to small pieces.

2） Beat 2 eggs in a bowl.

Cooking Soybean Mixed Noodles

1） In a heated wok, pour in around 3 tablespoons of oil, when the oil is hot, put in chopped spring onions, and add 1 tablespoon cooking wine.

2）When you can smell the spring onion, add in whisked eggs and keep on stirring, the eggs are then becoming small pieces.

3）When the eggs are forming up, put the chopped green peppers and a handful dried shrimps, stir everything well.

4）Then add the soybean paste in (I added the whole package, the leftovers can be used for later anyway. You can add less though), then add 2 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of white sugar, stir everything well, if it is too dry, add a bit water.

Mixing everything well

5）When everything is well mixed, turn off the fire, add in around 2 tablespoons of sesame oil before remove everything to a bowl.

Serving the noodles

In a big bowl, put rinsed noodles first, then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of ‘re-made’ soybean paste on the noodles. If you like, you can also add some shredded cucumber or carrots in, or chilli oil. Mix everything well in the bowl before eat.

Chinese zha jiang mian

It is good and fresh for a hot summer dinner. If you use ‘ready-to-boil’ noodles, it is just a quick fix dish. It can be eaten on its own, or with some small salad (liang cai dish) or stir fried.

46. Chinese stir-fried shredded potato with green pepper

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I just like this time of the day in Spain - early afternoon, everywhere is quiet, not many people in the streets, all the shops are closed for lunch, followed by siesta. After a few streets, you can see some people eating in the small bars. The view in my sight is the leaves ‘dancing’ with the romantic wind, time to time they will let the sun shine through, I have to quickly shut my eye lids for a second; and the shadow of the trees lying on the street, made a big contrast with the light reflected on the building or the windows. ... I could not even hear my own steps, or even couldn't realize self-being, all by my ears are the echos of the mild wind and warm air. ...Yes, warm, but not restless, I can almost imagine people place themselves somewhere in the house, the best location where the wind blows in through the window to cool down the still and warm air in the room, then they just nap in whichever the position they can relax themselves, later they would wake up with a bit sweat to continue the rest of the day.



… I totally lost myself in the extreme familiar warm picture -- time and location became terms that I could not explain anymore.



And you? Enjoying the summer? Summer sun, summer rain, summer atmosphere...


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Food… Yes, food. Today, I want to write about stir frying shredded potato with green pepper . It is a so common homey dish, I would never thought we could get it in any restaurant in China.

But two years ago, when we were traveling in Dalian (the "northeast Hongkong"), which is known for serving the best seafood in China, we had bad stomach and we ended up in this "Hui" ethnic group restaurant having La mian (Pull noodles) all the time. La mian are plain and easy to digest.

There I also saw the dish I am posting about today, well, almost the same -- I immediately made the order, and reminded me to cook it again.

Potato and green pepper in Chinese cuisine

I say almost the same is because in their dish, they stir-fried shredded potato, green pepper and beef mince, where we normally cook it without the meat.

The shredded potato is not supposed to be very soft or mashy, rather, juicy and crunchy. So is the green pepper. Oh, and the potato and green pepper are supposed to be shredded into very slim strips, I mean as thin as possible. In fact, in Chinese, it is called "tu dou si" and "qing jiao si", "si" literally means "thread", like silk thread, so you can imagine. And they can be stir-fried quickly in the wok. (But in these photos, I was a bit ... lazy, the strips are a bit fat).

As I mentioned in the previous post, I used new potato for most Chinese potato dishes ; as for the green pepper, I just used the normal ones I could get in supermarket. But if you can get, the peppers with thin skin, for example, Italian (green) peppers are better.

HOWEVER, if you are buying in the markets in China, have to be very careful, the peppers shaped as "Italian (green) peppers" with a "pointing" end can be very very very spicy, so probably better to ask the sellers first.


There are around three basic types of green peppers in the markets in China. One is just like normal green peppers, but with thinner skin, juicy and crunchy without any chilli taste, it is called You jiao , as oily pepper . The second type has the same shape but it is very spicy, (dry spicy), comparable to those small chillis, for people who really love hot spicy food. There is also another type "half spicy" --- spiciness mainly stayed at the inside (white) stems and seeds, if you removed the stems and seeds with care, the rest of the skin is very tasty, without any chilli taste in the mouth, but a little bit spicy smell to the nose, they are actually the best ones for this dish.


Also, since the main ingredients here are a bit plain in taste, so I used garlic and ground sichuan peppercorn to enrich the flavour --- which is a very common way of home cooking in northeast, well, but somehow, I really like the ground sichuan peppercorn with potato in stir-frying.

The recipe: Chinese stir fried potato with green pepper

This is a typical stir-fry dish with strong fire, and can be quickly done. It is very light, so probably even very good for summer stir-fry dish.

Ingredients

Potato, green peppers.

Garlic, ground sichuan peppercorn, salt, oil, cooking wine, vinegar (optional).

Preparation

1) Peel the potato, and shredded the potato and green peppers to the thin strips.

2) Chop around 3-4 garlic gloves.

Cooking

1) In a heated wok, pour in around 4 tablespoons of oil.

2) When the oil is hot, add in chopped garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of ground sichuan peppercorn.

3) When the smell of garlic and sichuan peppercorn coming out, ( :) have you got bored of me saying the same thing all the time? I am bored of myself, see my English is limited, otherwise, I could use some more fancy words to explain. Je.. je… ), put the potato strips in, stir well, and add a few drops of cooking wine.

4) After couple of minutes put chopped green pepper in, stir well.
Then add in around just a bit more than half of teaspoon of salt, and couple of drops of vinegar. (The vinegar is not for adding the sour taste to the dish, rather just help enriching the flavor a little bit). Also if you do use vegetable/mushroom/chicken stock or MSG, you can add 1/2 teaspoon at the end as well. Then


----- Done!!

If you like the potato and green pepper more soft, then you can add some water in the wok, and keep it cooking a bit longer, otherwise, it is just crunchy, still juicy, but without "rawness".

With boiled rice or bing (flat bread) or beer, they are all good combination. :)

44. Chinese radish salad

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I know, I know.. :)) I have been talking about the weather all the time. Many years ago, I was learning English culture when I was still in China, it said in the book that one of the most common topics in England was the weather. I never really took it seriously, until one day I was chatting with a friend online who was studying in Canada, suddenly he said, “you have become so English! You are talking about weather all the time”. … Ha… Now I think he is right, just look at the posts I had here, weather, weather…:))

Radish in Northern Chinese Cuisine

Radish, radish! My friend Zhenya really loves radish, she introduced those pickled radish to me, since then, I could not stop ( Chinese radish pickles are different). In northeast China, there are many radish dishes , and according to different seasons, different types of radish harvest, and they are cooked differently. For example, having raphanus sativus as salad for summer, it is a good way of cooling the heat from the body along with a big detoxing.:) --- In addition, given the healthy properties in radish, and without really much oil, it is a super healthy dish!! :)

-- In addition, given the healthy properties in radish, and without really much oil, it is a super healthy dish!! :)

But the radish here is very different to the ones in China, again, my knowledge is rather poor, especially when coming to distinguish the different types of radish and name them in English, should I just say it this way -- the ones I can use in original recipes are mainly those small round ones. And in recent years, I found the other type -- white, long, fatter radish, called Raphanus sativus , in Chinese, it called bai luo bo , as white radish . Both the small round radish and Raphanus sativus are juicy and crunchy, I just like them in the salad. So I mixed them together, (otherwise, it is only Raphanus sativus).

My mum loves Raphanus sativus, when it is the season, she likes to have it almost accompany with every meal, and it is very simple -- chop them and dip with soybean paste . I think she definetly has a great influence on me about this, I love them since I was little, I remember I used to go there and would "steal" a few pieces first, when mum was chopping them. :))

Here, in England, in some Chinese supermarkets, you can get them, otherwise, in Japanese shops, you usually can get them as well, but with a bit higher price. A few times, in the market we normally go to, they were selling them --- as you can imagine, we bought big bunches.

The recipe: Chinese radish salad

This salad / liangcai dish is very simple - a bit sweet and sour , mixed with the taste of soy sauce .

The only thing you need to be careful is, this kind of radish we call it cold food in Chinese medical term , so if you have stomach problem, you should avoid having it… Sorry… I know, I have to be very careful with my stomach too. :(

Ingredients

Radish (I used a bag as it sold in the supermarket), Raphanus sativus (one big size)

Salt, sesame oil, light soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar

Preparation

1) Peel and chop Raphanus sativus into thin slice (say around 0.3cm).

2) Halve the small red radish, just for mixing with the seasonings easily.

3) Put all chopped radish together in a salad plate, then add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 and half tablespoon of light soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Mix everything well, ----

----- Done!!

37. Chinese spring onion and tofu salad

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It actually should be called super quick fix, it is a liang cai dish, no need to fry, stir fry... nothing. :)

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Paris has been so beautiful, but we have not been very lucky with the weather, only on our way back, the sun started shining out, and the weather got warmer, like the forecast predicted for yesterday. :( And we were caught in the peak time traffic, the underground was unbearable, crowed - people all had to stand next to each other closely, I could feel my body had been ‘squeezed’ -- I wished I had a shell protecting my flesh. ha… But probably deep, deep down, at the bottom of my heart, I enjoyed and loved this moment even at the same time I complained a little bit, it all reminded me when I was in China crowed with millions people. :)) Walking in the busy street or getting on the bus at the busiest time of the day, the shoulders rubbing shoulders, back 'knocking' back -- it cannot be more 'real' to feel the physical existence of self, I liked that feeling, especially after staying in the studio painting for a few days.

--- Now, I miss it.

The metro in Paris at that time went very slowly, sometimes it had to stop for a while, and the light went off. The conductor announced that everyone should be patient, just a few seconds. But those a few seconds, as if the time stayed still, I could not helping thinking how people passed by on the 'over' ground. The smell of the bodies' sweat mixed with some people’s perfume started spreading in the air. I almost smelt the ‘flesh’ and the body temperature. ---- I was dying to have some fresh water, (I could not even be able to move my hand and lift up my arm to reach and drink some water from the bottle, which i was carrying in the hand -- there was no space for this luxury movement), and really wanted to eat something fresh -- fresh from just the field, no hot oil, no meat… The freshness that I could smell, that I could see, that I could dive in...

But it is sad to leave Paris -- too beautiful to say goodbye, to leave all the fresh market in the street, and to sad to see the paintings of Monet’s garden eventually out of sight …… I did not know if I wish to take them all back with me, or more to leave myself with them....

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A Chinese salad with tofu and spring onion

I was not very satisfied with my tofu dish yesterday in the restaurant, too much thick sauce, although it was not fried, but it masked the freshness and the original taste of the tofu --- so I am dying for … this tofu salad dish -- to cool down the heat I gathered in the heavy traffic, the sadness for leaving Paris, and my desire for tofu. :))

This is a very typical tofu dish in Northern China , especially for the summer days. There is a saying for it, ‘spring onion mixes with tofu -- one ‘blue’ two white’.
Blue colour in traditional Chinese refers to green colour, It is particularly common when describing landscapes and traditional Chinese ink paintings. This saying is a metaphor for something that is very clear, without ambiguity. So you can imagine this dish is just a simple combination of the two things, there is no colour mixing, but you can taste it. :)

The recipe: Chinese tofu and spring onion liang cai

The only essential ingredients are tofu, spring onion and salt, all the rest are optional -- super easy ?!

Ingredients

Fresh tofu, (medium firm is the best)

Spring onion, (mainly the green part), salt, (essential)

Sesame oil, vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence (optional), light soy sauce, chilli oil (only if you like spicy)

Preparation

1) Chop tofu into small cubes, around 2cm square each side.

2) Chop 2 spring onions, only the green leaves part into small pieces.

3) Mix everything together in a salad plate, and add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 big spoon of sesame oil, 1/2 vegetable/mushroom/chicken essence, 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, if you like chilli, 2 teaspoon of chilli oil.

---- Mix everything together, then serve!!

Super quick fix, no? :)) --- for a hot summer day! Good to go with rice, or bing, or beer-- of your wish!

34. Chinese dried bean curd salad (liang cai)

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拌干豆腐丝

According to the forecast, the weather in Oxford could reach today 22 degrees!! I am so looking forward, cannot wait to be in the sun. I am Leo, without sun, I don’t function. :))
So today’s dish is a salad－ perfect for this weather. :))

Chinese dried beancurd

Dried bean curd sheet is one of my favorite soya bean made food , and is probably one of the dishes I miss the most since I came to England.

Same as tofu, it requires freshness, so it is not good for shipping, and because it is not a typical Cantonese food, there was no production in England, so it was impossible to get it here.

Around 3 years ago, in a Chinese supermarket in Manchester, (the buyer is from Northeast China), I suddenly saw a small pack of dried bean curd sheet in the chiller -- I almost screamed. It is packed in a air-tight plastic package, which I have never seen it like that before. So you can imagine, it is a bit dryer than the really fresh ones, but I am very grateful already.


Nowadays, in many Chinese supermarkets which sell the food from mainland China, you can find this packed beancurd sheet (in the chiller). If you ever see it, never miss the chance.

Dried bean curd can be made into salad , stir-fried or in soup, or just by itself. When I was in primary school, there was an old lady selling dried bean curd in a small piece. After you paid, she would take a piece of bean curd sheet, and wipe some salted sesame paste, put a small piece of spring onion and roll it up -- pass it to you.


This is what was called a ‘snack’ in China.

The small business was very popular, after school, the queue was formed up very quickly, many students were waiting for it, then having it on the way home. My dad never trusts the hygiene of this kind of street food, so he would make it for me at home ... but he makes the best. :)) I will blog this ‘wrap’ next time.

The recipe: Chinese bean curd salad (Liang cai)

Here is one of the ways to make into salad, also my dad’s recipe.

Ingredients

Dried bean curd sheet, coriander (optional)

Salt, sesame oil, light soy sauce, sesame paste, sugar.

Preparation

1) Try to open the beancurd sheet carefully, spread as a whole sheet.

2) Optional cleaning: use hot water soak and rinse it quickly.

3) Chop the sheet into around 0.5cm width strips.

4) In a small bowl, add in 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 2/3 teaspoon of salt, around 2 (or more) tablespoon of sesame paste, 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mix everything well, until the sesame paste dissolves into the liquid.

5) Chop a few leaves of coriander.

Mixing

Pour the seasonings onto chopped beancurd sheet, and add in coriander, mix everything well. If you like spicy, add a few drops of chilli oil . It can be as a main salad dish, or side dish. Good to go with different kinds of rice and beer.

33. Chinese five spice adame beans

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五香毛豆

Summer! Summer! But today, there was no sun shining into my room to wake me up from the disturbing dreams… I got up, opened the curtain, grey, grey... the wind and the rain even seemed not that annoying any more, just the colour, the grey colour. I wish I could use a brush to paint the sky into yellow -- the colour of the sun...


So today’s recipe -- this pre-planned Sunday SUMMER recipe is only a wishful ‘title’. :))

Adame beans in Chinese cuisine

I guess many people are familiar with adame beans . In Japanese restaurants, you can have it as ‘starters’ or side dish, and M&S sells ‘crispy adame beans’ as snack.

But probably you don't know that boiled five spice adame bean s is one of the most popular dishes in June and July in Northeast China, and it is very tasty and very cheap.

There are two types seasonal peas / beans commonly eaten during the summer season in Northeast. In early June, it is the season for peas, but later, it is the time for ‘adame beans’. The way of preparing them is the same. However, for the taste and texture, normally people have heart for ‘adame beans’.

It is called ‘Mao dou’ in Chinese, as in ‘hairy beans’ (because surface of its skin), but it is actually just soya beans --- the very fresh ones. So needless to say, lots of the proteins, and very easy to fill up stomach.

In Northeast, during the season, you can see almost every household prepare a big ‘basin’ of adame beans, the whole family would sit or stand around the table to ‘pile up’ the skins peeled from the beans while chatting ; or the restaurants put the tables outside, then you can see almost at every table, people are having plates of adame beans with their beer. Now, I think you already understand my surprise when seeing the overpriced small portion in the restaurants here. :)

However, on the other hand, since I am rarely able to go back to my hometown in June or July, having the adame beans here becomes a treat, I am even grateful for whoever brought them here, even in frozen form.

Having small portion in the restaurants is certainly not enough for my craving towards the beans and easing my homesickness, especially the taste is not the same, so whenever we have chance to buy some, (we would buy A LOT), I prefer to make them at home. Luckily, nowadays, they are easy to get in many Chinese supermarkets, Japanese or Korean supermarkets, at very reasonable price. We always have a few packs stored in the freezer, just in case. :)

The Northeast recipe for making adame beans is very simple, but judging if it is nicely made can be very strict, so making it can be kind of challenge (small challenge though). We normally boil the beans with commonly used seasonings and salt, which is very different to the ones in Japanese restaurants. The nicely made soybeans need to be tasty (having all the seasoning soaked in), and still keep the skin green. It sounds easy, but … let’s see. (Since we all know if they are boiled or soaked longer enough, all the taste will go in better, but then, the skin will turn into ‘yellow’ instead of green, it can be disqualified as successful --- tricky, tricky).

Here is how I did. (I don’t make it right all the time as well, so here is my lucky ‘one time’.)

The recipe: five spice adame beans

Ingredients

Adame beans (Normally what we can get in England are the frozen ones, don't need to defrost before cooking. Hey, by the way, welcome to Northeast China in June then, to have the fresh ones).

Salt, anise star, cinnamon stick, sichuan peppercorn, bay leaves.

Cooking the adame beans

1） In a deep sauce pan, fill in water, and put 2 bay leaves, 2 normal size cinnamon stick, a few anise star, 1 teaspoon of sichuan peppercorn, and 2 tablespoon of salt.

2) Add the frozen adame beans in the sauce pan.

3) Turn on full fire, allow it to be boiling for around 5 minutes (time count as only after it is boiling).

4) Don’t cover the lid, otherwise, the skin will lose the green colour.

5) Turn down the fire, cover the lid now for about 2 or 3 minutes - this is for helping the seasonings settling in. (Not longer than 2 or 3 minutes, otherwise, the colour will turn to yellow as well)

6) Take the adame beans out, and raise in the cold water immediately. If the colour turned a bit yellow before, this can help get back to green -- only a little bit. But not too long in the cold water either, as it might raise all the seasonings away as well, just enough to get rid of the ‘hot’ steam among them to prevent it from the further colour changing.


---- Serve as snack or ‘starters’ with beer.

How to eat it: I have seen many people really trying hard to ‘peel’ it. :)) If this way, you will never wish to eat with me, because I can quickly finish the whole plate. Here is normally how we have it --- pick up one, bring it close to your mouth, use both hands hold each end of the bean, the inner curve facing you, then squeeze the ends and the other curve edge at the same time, the inner edge will open, and the beans will pop to your mouth directly. :))

I hope you are enjoying this especially if where you are is hot and sunny! :)

Have a lovely Sunday afternoon!