Chinese Cooking Basics

[Hanseng]

Another delicious bread in China. Not exactly a flat bread, not a normal raised loaf. Usually an inch or more thick, can be sliced and used for a sandwich, The sesame seeds and scallions add just the right amount of flavor. This is a fry bread, not oven baked.

Recipe here:

Chinese Bread with Sesame Seeds & Scallions - EZPZ Cooking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hanseng]

About the bread pictured directly above: This bread is a bread with very little oil, perhaps a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon. Oil is not necessary to fry the bread if you use a non stick pan. I've eaten no oil bread from different sources. Resembles hard tack a bit. If you can make a no oil bread that is soft and delicious, good on you. If not, try either the French bread or this "fry" bread or you can use a half a cup of oil like we used to do. People in transition might want to go with the oil bread; however, you can get some very good bread scant use of oil. So far, we have found that whole wheat flour up to about 1/3 the total flour can be used without affecting the quality of the bread.

The Nang bread made by Chinese Muslims requires a special type of oven to which most people don't have access. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hanseng]

A general rule is that noodles are eaten in the north, rice is eaten in the south. There are exceptions. Noodles are normally made of either rice, or wheat, sometimes buckwheat. There are also egg noodles which mix egg with the wheat flour. Then there are dry noodles, fresh noodles and refrigerated noodles.

There are different kinds of noodles made from rice. Pictured below are chow fun noodles, common in Guangzhou. Can be found in Chinese restaurants in your local Chinatown. There are Chinatown restaurants that cater to the local Chinese community. Then there are tourist-oriented restaurants which serve food "adjusted" to Western tastes. My simple rule for finding a delicious authentic restaurant is the customer base. Are most of the customers Chinese? Are there roasted ducks and chickens hanging in the window? If yes, chances are you can get some authentic Chinese style food. "Chow fun with vegetables" is a delicious [not oil free] dish. My simple rule is that the dirtier the bathroom, the more delicious the food. A good restaurant has so many customers, it's practically impossible to keep the bathroom clean.

 Chow fun:

  

This photo includes a meat substitute, probably mianjinm, a gluten product.

[Hanseng]

*mian jin

[Hanseng]

Vegetarian oyster sauce

A standard in Chinese cooking, oyster sauce is thicker than soy sauce. Personally, I don't care for the taste of regular oyster sauce. Vegetarian oyster sauce is another matter. It's a bit sweet. Can make an otherwise bland vegetable dish quite good. If you stir fry Napa cabbage with onion, garlic,  ginger, and tofu, add some vege oyster sauce, over rice, you will have a nice meal. Check your local Asian market or online shop for Vegetarian oyster sauce:

[Hanseng]

Rice steamer

A rice steamer is a handy kitchen appliance. Most have a steamer basket which allows you to steam vegetables while your rice cooks. The water to rice ratio varies. Some use a 1/1 ratio. Others recommend 2 parts water to one part rice. Rice is the main component of a meal in many parts of Asia. Steaming vegetables while the rice cooks allows you to then quickly stir fry the vegetables with garlic, ginger, and onions and a bit of soy sauce or "oyster" sauce. Over the rice you have just cooked, you have a great meal. 

Many types of rice steamers available. Different sizes, too.  Coated inner pot a good idea. Make sure you get one with a heat resistant, plastic-like steamer basket.  These steam cookers are for white rice. Whole grain rice requires a pressure cooker. If you like chewing rubber, you can use a standard steamer. Pictured is a good example of a rice steamer.

Thai fragrant rice, cooked while broccoli is in the steamer, with a few dry roasted cashews, will make a delicious meal. Add the cashews after the other food has cooked. The vegetable will provide fiber.  Check out a local Asian supermarket for a good deal.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

This forum has a history of allowing people who begin a thread to request that the thread be removed.  However, while that has been our practice, removal of a thread is not a right.

Hanseng has requested that this thread be removed.  I have reviewed this thread and I have decided not to remove it at this time.

[Hanseng]

I requested removal of all my threads because Chaplain Matthews has become a homosexual partisan. I don't wish to be associated with homosexuals in the church or their partisans.

[Gregory Matthews]

I am having a hard time to keep from laughing at your post.  By the way,  I do not consider myself to be a homosexual partisan.

However, if you posted in truth, you will leave this forum and neither read nor post here.  But, that will be a voluntary act on your part.  You have not been banned.  In any case, I will continue on in this forum.

 

[Stan]

@Hanseng As a retailer, I used to bring in specially Made Worthington WHAM rolls (fake Ham) for Buddhist vegetarians who would not eat onion, chives or garlic,

I was told that several companies have tried producing deodorant to sell in China. And it has never gone over that well because there is no need unless they eat onion, garlic or chives.

I am very interested in your comments on this.