Annie,

Many standard Chinese dim sums are made with rice or bean wrapping.

https://dudo6el28sqqp.cloudfront.net/gothamistgallery/2016/12/14/2722e1852steamed-shrimp-dumpling-peter-garritano-jpg.jpeg

dcarch

I was thinking to make spring rolls with rice wrapper except I find that they absorb so much oil. Not sure if it is how I am frying them or if I don't have them sealed tight enough and oil gets in all the cracks saturating the insides.

Okay, I'll also give the heads up that we are going for "McDonald's" "Chinese Food". Nothing too authentic, my kids would cry. I will make something a little authentic just to have so they can try something new. I think I will make about 8 things with smaller portions. I say this now.

Annie, I am not sure, I will check for you next time I go to the Chinese market. I need to buy more persimmons this weekend. Have you tried persimmons? I love it so much, bought 1 persimmon tree this year, and ordered 2 more for next spring. :-)

cookie8, why not make Vietnamese 'summer rolls'?! they're naturally GF, delicious, and no frying involved!

ETA: since it's for a holiday and you need to impress the kids, you should make fried rice noodles!!! the kind where you drop the tiny compressed packet of rice noodles into hot oil and they immediately puff up to about 100 times the original volume. lol! I love Mongolian Beef w/ fried rice noodles... been too long since I've made it, but I cannot find hot bean paste anywhere. :(

I have tried to fry rice noodles and I don't think I do that right either? I soak them, let them dry, and it's like they saturate with oil and stick to the pan. Is there is a trick to it?

Don't soak! just get the oil hot, break one of the rice noodle "packets" in half and loosen or break each half a little then drop one half at a time into the hot oil... be ready because it PUFFS immediately and you need to quickly flip it with a slotted spoon to finish and then remove it to drain on paper towels... repeat with the other half of the rice noodle "packet". By "packet" I mean the sort of square compressed bundle of rice noodles you get that usually looks something like this:

rice noodle "packet". lol!

ETA: here's a link to a site where they make fried rice noodles.

Must add, I think that everyone should make fried rice noodles at least once in their lifetime. Those rapidly expanding noodles are just too fun to miss! :)

Thanks!!

BTW, I use a wok. If you're using something smaller you may want to fry smaller quantities of noodles each time. More enjoyment for the kids too. Seriously, if it's done right (correct oil temp and depth) it causes gasps and giggles. :) Test oil temp by dropping in just a small piece of a single rice noodle... you want to see immediate 'action'. lol! it will also show you how quickly they can brown.

But for Singapore fried rice noodles- a dish not unlike fried rice, but with noodles- you soak in warm water, drain, then toss them straight into the frying pan with your stir fried vegetables and sauce. Don't let them dry out.

Probably should be on the "Tips" thread:

Keep a pack of Chinese rice noodles. Next time when you have to deep fry something, drop a small 1/2 inch of rice noodle into the hot oil. If the noodle puffs up immediately, you are now ready to fry.

No need to guess or measure.

dcarch

You're welcome! :)

Perfect dcarch.

Haven't ade them for ages but I love those little bread buns that you fill with veggies or porky/prawn mix and steam.

If you are frying snacks for the kids consider shrimp chips (apparently called "prawn crackers" on Amazon). My kids enjoy these if they are fresh -- they don't like the bagged ones.

For dessert an almond silken tofu or agar jello with fruit?

My kids also like a hot pot. It is fun and super easy (except for the slicing) and easy to adapt, we add lots of glass noodles ;-)

Have a great time!

>>Mongolian Beef is another Asian dish >>

Just so you know, if you ever go to Asia....anything labeled "Mongolian" or "Peking" doesn't exist in authentic Chinese cooking. They're American-invented recipes.

Thanks, dcarch, I'll check the next time I get to Grand Rapids to an Asian grocery!

Summersrhythm, thank you. I have tried persimmons, and they're good, although all I've ever done is make preserves and eat them raw. I can actually buy them at my local Meijer, I'm kind of amazed. I can grow them here, apparently, at least the American varieties, but the Asian varieties won't tolerate our cold winters, often 20 below zero. I might consider getting a couple, I've been planting a few fruit trees every year, trying to build up a small household orchard. I've killed off 5 pear trees now and half a dozen blueberry bushes, but I'm still working on it!

Annie

Annie, Tony at the fruit and orchard forum grows a few persimmon trees in zone 5, he wraps them up in the winter. The fruit and orchard forum got me started collecting Honey Jar JuJube, persimmon, Asian pear trees. If you're interested in fruit trees, there are a lot of wonderful growers over there.

I made the deep fried rice noodles tonight and love them! I added them to a stir fry (with extra sauce) so they softened a bit and a couple of crunchy bits on top. I like it so much better than with soaked rice noodles. I also bought some fermented bean paste to make a black bean sauce but sauce that wheat was added:( I will see if I can find straight dried fermented beans. I also added some rice wine to my sauce, which I also picked up today and I liked the added flavour it gave.

As I said, there are many things I do which should be shared on the "Tips" thread. Here is a very useful one:

There are two kinds of persimmons, one (flat shaped, orange colored) you can eat like an apple, another one (pointy shaped, bright red). Very astringent, you have to wait until it's soft like a rotten tomato, which can take several weeks. But you can put it in the freezer overnight, then it is ready for eating.

I have grown persimmons from seeds, in zone 6 without winter protection, and gotten many fruits.

dcarch

I have never cooked any Chinese food. Not much of it I care for.

Sue

Great to hear that you tried the fried rice noodles and like them and that you had success with other dishes.

I also encourage you to branch out -- you'll enjoy some easy and economical meals with very fresh ingredients, and you won't get stuck in a "picky" rut. Try some simple Thai or Vietnamese recipes. Gently ease into a few chilies. Even just a bit (finely macerated Thai bird eye chili (or bit of juice -- wear gloves) can give an interesting layer of flavor.

-- Chinese "Dry Fried" Green Beans with (ground) pork, or chicken is very easy to make.

-- Cashew Chicken

-- YangZhou Fried Rice (so much better than than horrid ho hum Chinese restaurant fried rice.

-- Pad Thai

-- Cellophane noodle salad with beef (medium rare steak). Mung bean noodles = cellophane or glass noodles.

-- Green Papaya Salad

Green Papaya Salad is made with Thai bird's eye chilies and they add a lot of flavor. I've grown to like quite a few in the dish, but a "beginner" can ease into developing a taste for fragrant chilies and their heat. I use a heavy mortar and pestle to macerate the chilies with a few of the other fragrant ingredients.

You're in a good position to introduce your kids to interesting Asian and Chinese flavors and dishes that are far superior to a lot of American Chinese restaurant fare.

Continue to keep us posted.

One of my absolute favorites is Taste of Home's Orange Walnut Chicken.

Probably not to be found anywhere in Asia, either, but meets my loose definition of 'Chinese Food.'

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/orange-walnut-chicken

Thanks, summersrhythm, I may check them out. I tend to be a little leery of some of the other forums, having had an extremely abusive experience on "Tomatoes", and similar reception on, of all things "Laundry". So I keep to myself, staying here and on "Harvest", with occasional forays into things like "Beans"....

Annie

You’re welcome. I know what you are saying. I had bad experience in home decor before.

Here is an easy "Chinese food" recipe if you need a meal in a pinch. A bag of Trader Joe's vegetable fried rice. Leftover pork from pork chops, a pork roast, a tenderloin. I suppose you can use leftover chicken or turkey also.

Heat up veggies in frying pan. Make a well in the middle for the egg which gets scrambled and incorporated into the veggies. Add the pork and scallions. You can add the soy sauce when you are cooking but we just serve it on the side. Voila! Dinner and it's delicious.

I love pad Thai but haven't found one I like made at home yet. The restaurant version is still the best.

I like pad Thai too but the smell of fish sauce can be confronting for some. When DH took his leftovers to work and heated them in the microwave it tended to clear the crib room :-)

Love Pad Thai. I've yet to find a restaurant version better than my own. ;)

This is from The Kitchen Table forum on GW

I've made a lot of pad Thai. I've had good Pad Thai and not so good Pad Thai in restaurants.

I don't often make it because I should eat a lot (simple) carb, low fat, low sodium diet. Dammit.

Some of the ways I ensure I make a quality Pad Thai (in no special order):

1. If a recipe calls for "sugar," I use PALM SUGAR. Interesting flavor. My policy is why use a zero flavor ingredient when you can get more flavor bang for your buck by using an primary equivalent ingredient that does have flavor? You can dissolve palm sugar in a bit of water so that the thick syrup easily combines with your other "sauce" ingredients.

2. If an Asian recipe calls for "salt" (a zero flavor ingredient), I use FISH SAUCE (Nam Pla) if Thai if Vietnamese; and use Soy sauce if Chinese. Why use an empty flavor ingredient? Remember that many of these recipes are written (IMHO) with the nervous home cook in mind. Stereotypically the "little housewife" audience is perceived as not knowing beans about Asian condiments and spices, and is fearful of flavors. SO, DOUBLE UP on the garlic, ginger, and scallions. If you are a nervous Ned / Nellie and can't countenance anything stronger than spring water, you should stick to canned chicken soup. For grow up palates or those striving in that direction, relax, expand, enjoy something delicious just an inch beyond hour comfort zone. You will be rewarded.

3. Other unusual ingredients: Have Faith!

For Pad Thai: a bit of cellophane packaged preserved radish or "preserved turnip" (I can give you a link/photo) is really part of the dish. It gives texture and subtle flavor. Absolutely use it.

4. Absolutely NO KETCHUP! Blasphemy!

5. Some recipes call for dried shrimp. Ya ya ya. 'Mer'cans don't use it, but sims Thai-Vietnamese recipes do. Just use a bit. It comes in a package. No, you won't be likely to enjoy these as is. However, Minch-choppy even 2 or 4 very finely. Or get a large, robust, very affordable mortar and pestle. OR, MAYBE BETTER (?), get a small mini blender thing that does a great job finely chopping little bitsy ingredients. I use eith my Sunbeam mini chopper for lots of garlic, bird chilies, dried shrimp; or I use a very sharp knife and rocker chop. You want Very Small fine mince.

6. Use Tamarind! Yep! You can make your own Tamarind paste or buy ready made. It gives a sour flavorful taste. Vinegar just doesn't match it. Nor lime juice.

7. Soak you rice stick, rice vermicelli in warm water until soft. Drain but keep soft. If you let it soften TOO MUCH = mushy. Not enough = too hard. You want it just tender-soft, then drain. Cover or don't let dry out!

8. "Mis en place" = get everything ready to go and all lined up :-) You won't have time to slow poke fiddle around, look in cupboards. Get all ingredients ready and lined up in little bowls. Otherwise, the ingredients in the pan or wok will overcook while you're looking at the rest of the recipe or washing and chopping it.

FROM MEMORY (May NOT be exact, but I usually make much better than restaurant Pad Thai and other dishes):

Have on hand, already prepped, ready to put into wok or pan, these ingredients or equivalent:

* Protein -- either or mixture: Tofu, firm. Or Chicken, ~ 1.5" pieces; Shrimp -- I peel but leave she'll on tail. Do not toss the shells. Hot fry them now or later for TWO-FOR flavor. Pan fried she'll in oil = very flavorful shrimpy oil. THEN, cooked shells can be used w bit of water and garlic, etc to make or contribute to seafood flavored stock. However, don't think that you can just keep she'll or stock in freezer for too long. Try to use within a month.

-- Noodles. As above. Soak rice vermicelli or linguini sized rice noodles for ~ 5 mins in warm water. Drain. Try to not let the noodles stick or clump together.

-- Arimatics to cook: preserved radish/turnip, minced garlic (5 cloves);

-- Lightly scrambled (fork) two (2) eggs in little prep bowl

-- Green onion -aka Scallion. Trim clean wash dry. Slice with sharp knife on the diagonal (pretty!) or bias. Maybe 6 scallions. White part, then tender green part. While parts get cooked with garlic and preserved radish/turnip. Green part gets used as garnish.

-- Dry roasted, unsalted peanuts. Grocery store is fine. Chop to fine., but not dust.

-- very fresh, very clean bean sprouts. About three (3) cups or 4 Cups. FRESH. PRISTINE beansprouts. 1 C added around end of cooking; the rest tossed and folded in with green scallion and dry roasted peanuts after heat is off and right before serving.

-- Usually I start with a bit of peanut oil, med-high heat, then add chicken, then egg, turnip, garlic, white part of green onion. Then prepped shrimp. Keep mp'em moving. Then soft noodles. Toss. Then "SAUCE" [tamarind, Palm sugar, nam plah (fish sauce)]. Toss to heat, being careful to not cook too hot/high; not to OVERCOOK noodles or shrimp. GENTLY Toss, do not "stir".

-- At end (goes very quickly!), turn off heat. Toss in gentle rest of pristine clean sprout and green part of scallions (chopped). You can add a bit of crushed red pepper flakes if you like. Plate on serving platter and garnish with the fine-chopped roasted peanuts (remainder). Nice to pre-heat serving platter and individual plates/ wide bowls. Nice also to s e out a few pretty cooked shrimp for the top of the platter.

Also garnish with very fresh, pristine, washed CILANTRO. You can use both leaves and stems. Perhaps 1/2 to 1 Cup.

Also have some wedges of very fresh lime. Enough for garnish and for each diner to have one or two wedges.

Pad Thai, well made, is fantastic. A bit calorie rich. I would make it more often but for difficulty in finding pristine beansprouts. And also my need to cut way back on sodium, fats and carbohydrates.

Note. It may take a bit of practice, but keep improving. You want all fresh ingredients. No over cooked protein. The rice noodles should be soft, nicely wetted, intact and not over cooked or falling apart.

Play around; experiment. Practice makes perfect. It isn't rocket science, but takes attention to detail. You will learn and get better at the timing and sequence so that it all comes together very nicely. Keep the faith. It took me more than a few batches before I could make really good pad Thai.

Two more tips:

a) careful not to crowd the pan or wok. Better to make enough to for two or four, and do it well, than to end up with mushy mash for eight.

b) for now, to heck with vegans or whatever. IMHO, this dish does not work if you try to amend it in too many directions to suit those who are not omnivores. Make them something else. Soy sauce IS NOT a substitute for fish sauce. Sounds like it would work, but it is not the same dish. Blech. Make this for yourself and for those without dietary restrictions. After you've made your 18th batch and it goes well, you can experiment.

I use a season steel wok that is now vertually "non-stick." Easy to season one, but a whole other topic.

About the only successful Chinese thing I've ever been able to make is fried Wontons. We don't have any what I'd call "authentic Chinese" places around here, they are all the ones that are franchised in strip malls and I doubt that any of them actually serve authentic Chinese cuisine. Every time I've tried to make it I failed miserably so I gave up.

CindyMac, your Pad Thai looks so yummy. Thanks for the recipe details. I used to use vinegar and sugar, but over the years moved to using the tamarind juice (you can buy it in plastic jar or made your own) and the palm sugar.

How do you come by pristine bean sprouts? There is only one Asian market here and usually their sprouts are not so great. Grocery stores are worse. If I sprout my own, it takes forever and I have to use them when it isn't always convenient.

RitaWeeda -- I can give you some recipe ideas for Chinese and Asian dishes that don't depend on an Asian market nearby. For restaurants, I find so many of the Chinese restaurants wanting, even for simple dishes. Once in a blue moon we travel 30 to 40 miles, but usually, I make our own:

Lobster Rangoon (for a holiday party)

Moo Shu Pork or chicken (the pancakes are easy)

Kung Pao chicken or whatever (using Sichuan peppercorn husks, red rice vinegar, dried red chilies, green onion, ginger, garlic, peanuts, other). It's really good and sure beats the Chinese restaurant fare anywhere near us).

Hot and Sour Soup

Baby Bok Choy with Pork

Yangzhou Fried Rice

Pan Fried Lo Mein

Cantonese Lobster

Cashew Chicken

Chiang Mai Noodles

Penang Curry

Green Curry with Shrimp

Noodles (various renditions)

Cellophane Noodle Salad with Steak

Beef with Broccoli

Now I'm getting hungry.

Have you seen the Pailin'sKitchen YouTube videos? She's good.

I made hot and sour soup, and egg drop soup. I also do various stir fries with Chinese ingredients. Bok choy, water chestnuts, onions, peppers, baby corn... when I get to Asian markets I look for Chinese broccoli. Add whatever protein you like. I cook gluten free at home 95% of the time, and I do these gluten free. Cellophane noodles are also good, I cook them in broth with green onions and sometimes mushrooms and tree ears.

I am not really crazy about Americanized Chinese food... waaaay to much sugar!!! I save my restaurant experiences for when I can get to authentic places in NYC.

Different culture, but I LOVE Vietnamese summer rolls. I make them with pork or shrimp, cucumber, bean sprouts, a soft noodle such as white yam noodles, and crispy lettuce. A couple types of dipping sauces. You can vary them up a bit with ingredients to hand. Best of all, they are cool and refreshing, not deep fat fried.

I've been making dumplings lately. It is really easy.

Filling: pork, greens, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, a little bit of hot sauce, and whatever else you like, all minced. About equal parts protein and greens. If you add the pork last, you can taste and season the filling as you add stuff.

Dough: flour, salt, oil. Mix and knead briefly until roughly bread dough texture, then E roll into a skinny log and cut off a little piece, roll into a round skin about 1/8" thick. No yeast so no rising and doesn't need to be kneaded more than a couple minutes.

Assembly: put filling in skin, pleat and gather skin at top, twirl and pinch. Doesn't have to be pretty - the ones above aren't. Or you can leave them open at the top, then they are shao mai.

Steaming: main thing is, don't steam any longer than the minimum required to cook the pork, or the filling gets dry. Lots of greens helps keep the filling moist, or you could add lard or gelatin.

DD makes prettier dumplings, she is more careful with the pleating.

Those look wonderful! I tried soup dumplings in NYC for the first time last spring... I now desire to learn how to make them myself. A project, perhaps, for this winter.

I don't think I've ever told you guys about ordering dumplings in Macao :-)

The second time we went to Macao, we were looking for somewhere to have lunch, and I really had a hankering for dumplings/dim sum. All the restaurants we found only did the kind of dishes that are stir fries with sauce etc. Finally we found one that had dumplings.

One problem- they spoke no English and we speak no Chinese. Macao was a Portuguese colony, and unlike the English in Hong Kong, the Portuguese never encouraged the local population to become bilingual. This restaurant didn't even have one of those menus with pictures :-)

So I ordered all out favourites, trying hard to pronounce them all correctly. I suck at tonal languages. I guessed I didn't do too badly, as there were no giggles or horrified looks from the waitress :-) Food started arriving, and it was what I ordered. And delicious. Yay!

Then out came the siu mai. At first glance it looked like each was topped with a bunch of writhing maggots. Holy cow, I thought, how do I send this one back without offending? The waitress set the dish on the table, and we looked at it. Relief! Because Macao was a Portuguese colony, the locals started incorporating bacalao in their cuisine. The "maggots" were delicate flakes of dried cod, fluttering in the steam from the siu mai :-) Whew!

The trick to soup dumplings is to make a stock high in collagen from bones and paws. I use chicken or duck feet and clip the tip of the nails. With a few other bones I keep in the freezer.

Excellent quick video ...soup dumplings

She makes it look very easy using good film editing skills, fast forwarding, but it can be a fun project.

Fortunately I've worked and lived in NYC for 30yrs and have my favorite dumpling shop I frequent. From Canal St walk south on Mott. Pass my favorite loose tea shop, stop in, then a block later, stop in Aji Chobin on the right, for some amazing preserved gingers, free samples. Next block as Mott St slightly curves left, look for the big soup noodle sign on the next right hand side corner. yum, : )

coleenoz, you can get bonito flakes easy enough in the Japans section of most groceries and/or health food stores. They do the same 'dance' when placed on top a steamy hot dish. Nice mild flavor like a finishing salt.

Our favorite sushi place, (sadly he retired), used to put them on top of an appetizer of roasted then steamed eggplant....still cannot figure out how to make eggplant so silky and creamy like he did.

I like bonito flakes on miso soups and some fish chowders.

Mr Suzuki always had seasonal app specials DH insisted on trying. One was a lovely little pile of semi-transparent tiny noodles. After the first taste I pointed out each noodle had two tiny eyes and they were moving, lol. Alive. haha

Macau - Yes, street food! Must try!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDOId0lD71Q 

Soup dumplings - There is only one way to enjoy them; with a Chinese soup spoon.

http://chubbyhubby.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/DumplingNoodle055.jpg

dcarch

That Macau street food video is really weird. I think the person who uploaded it mislabelled it, because it (and the food) looks nothing like anything I've seen in Macau (and we love street food). One of the (reversed) signs said it was in Shanghai and prices where they were displayed are in yuan, which is Chinese currency, not Macanese.

I love xiao long bao/soup dumplings and do intend to make some -- the video is very good but I think her dumplings are too large. I also prefer mine with a more delicate skin as well -- just a style preference -- so that the dumpling sags when picked up by the stem and just about breaks but doesn't.

Is that Macau video actually a compilation of cities?

I think it is, Gooster.

Well, sleevendog, I have now decided to never go within 100 yards of soup made from paws, even with the nails clipped lol. Why?.......?.....?.........

Have you seen the Pailin'sKitchen YouTube videos? She's good.

Thanks for the heads up! I've been enjoying some of them and caught a bit of her live youtube show today.

Islay, lol. In the video I posted she used a pig hoof. I can get those and a great source of collagen. I can get feets of duck and chicken at my local market. Another good source of the collagen that makes the stock very gelatinous so it can be added to the dumpling filling easily, then when steamed it returns to a liquid.

Glad you like them, CindyMac. Now I "want" one of those portable IWATANI butane cookers. We have smooth top electric, but it heats up quickly and works well. My _problem_ is that, although we have a robust kitchen-stovetop exhaust fan, cooking certain things like a dozen fresh Thai basil leaves makes a fine splattery mess. It's easy to clean up and wipe down the visable or stovetop oil spatter, but there is a lot that gets "around". I was thinking that perhaps the IWATANI butane 35 whatever might help me fry outdoors. But, we are in New England, often have a 30 mph breeze. A friend thinks that it would not have sufficient heat in those conditions. If I used it on en enclosed, unfinished, un insulated and un heated porch just off the kitchen, it would still be chilly while cooking, but as there is NO exhaust fan, would probably GOP that up in short order.

For a while (30 minutes) I had visions of my cooking SE Asian noodles and meals at outside summer markets. But New Engand ain't Saigon or even Mexico. Lots of hoops and regulations and Inspections. Yadda yadda. End of that whimsical notion. Not to mention to restricted diets -- no gluten, no peanuts, no this or that.

QUESTION- what do the Chinese and Asians do about gluten and gliadin and peanut allergies? Do they have as many picky eaters as we have in the US? What about other places? In my household, we can eat about everything. I have some degree of (age-related) lactose sensitivity. But I just eat aged cheeses or yogurt and restrict the volume of whey, lactose-laden foods. We also get lactase drops for milk.

"----QUESTION- what do the Chinese and Asians do about gluten and gliadin and peanut allergies? ----"

Everyone in China uses peanut oil for cooking for many centuries.

Gluten is a very common food in Asian cooking, especially vegetarian cooking.

https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+gluten+dish&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=lnt&tbs=isz:l&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4yOGMtYDYAhUtUd8KHRDpCX4QpwUIIA&biw=1250&bih=695&dpr=1.34

dcarch

Answer: Asians usually have no idea nor sympathy for people with allergies. Memories/fears of famine are still vivid altho the WWII generation is now dying off. Once you get to the younger Westernized generations, people have accepted the idea allergies are okay to admit to.

dcarch makes a VERY good point, btw. A few recent studies have shown that a limited exposure to peanuts at younger ages seems to reduce the incidence of peanut allergies.

As a Boomer I remember growing up, you had your choice of Crisco, rendered cooking fat, corn oil, or peanut oil, to cook with. Olive oil was virtually unknown and unused. Canola (rapeseed) oil didn't exist.

CindyMac - made you pad thai - super easy. Thanks. The leftovers I mixed with kale (lots), added a little more dressing and had it for salad.