Category: My Favorite Dishes

Talking about my favorite dish, I would definitely recommend the “Old Friends Rice Noodle,” a signature dish of my hometown Nanning, a small city in China. People who first encounter the rice noodle may be discouraged by the strange smell caused by the sour bamboo shoots, one of the main ingredients in the rice noodle. However, the sour, combining with spicy flavor, whet people’s appetite. Locals also believe that this rice noodle can drive out chill in winter. The complex tastes of the Old Friends Rice Noodle usually make people end up with loving it. Old Friends Rice Noodle is everywhere in Nanning. You can find noodle houses no matter in luxury malls or alongside the road. And Nanning people love it in every day of their life. Even in the hottest days in summer, those rice noodle houses are full of people, eating noodles even without air condition and enjoying the hospitality in a bowl of soup. It’s also a local non-stratum-differentiated food representative: you can see people who come with expensive cars waiting for seats in a humble but clean roadside noodle house; you can find young and old people are all enjoying the noodle together in a noodle house. 

Old Friends Rice Noodle is a symbol of my nostalgia. I seldom go back to Nanning. My family now moved to Shanghai, and I study in the United States. The distance between me and the rice noodle never stops my love towards it. Every time I go to Nanning, I would have a bowl of Old Friends Rice Noodle. Since Old Friends Rice Noodle is not a very famous food in China, there are only two restaurants in Shanghai that have this noodle as I know, plus that my parents are not good cooks, I might only have it about five times a year, but I always miss the taste and the feeling of being in hometown. I remember the time when my family were still in Nanning. In a lazy Sunday morning when nobody wanted to cook, we walked out of the neighborhood and to have the noodle, talking about trivial things. It’s the feeling about being home, about having little happiness that I always miss. When I was in high school in Oregon, I once tried to make Old Friends Rice Noodle for my friends and my host family as a way to release my nostalgia and bring Nanning-style hospitality to America. My friends and I went to asian market to buy materials, looked up the recipe online and cooked together. Thinking about my host parents didn’t like like peppery and sour, I even made another one with soy sauce instead of spicy chili sauce. The strange smell attracted my host family. I asked the to try the one I made for them. They used forks to taste a little bit, and said, “It smells so terrible! But it taste much better than I thought! Thank you for bringing the Nanning noodle soup to us!”

There’s a story about Old Friends Rice Noodle and why it has such a strange name. There was an old man who always went to Zhou’s teahouse, but he had a cold and didn’t go for a few days. Zhou worried about him, so he cooked the refined noodles with fried garlic, soy sauce, chili peppers, sour bamboo shoots, beef, pepper and so on into a bowl of hot noodles and brought it to this old friend to eat. This hot, spicy and sour noodle whet the old man’s appetite. He was sweating and eventually cured from cold. The old man felt very grateful about it and made a board writing that “Old Friends Always Come” to Zhou. The noodle got the name from the story and later spread in Nanning, became the signature dish of Nanning. It also symbolize Nanning people’s hospitality, solidarity and friendship. Nanning people love sour and spicy food, but people from other place may think the taste too strong and strange, so it’s vary favored in Nanning but has not yet spread to all around China yet.

 A picture of Old Friends Rice Noodle that I took this summer.

 A picture of my family in Shanghai

recipe of Old Friends Rice Noodle:

Ingredients (one person): cut powder (river powder) or noodles two to two; sour bamboo shoots one or two shredded; Douchi a little shredded; ginger garlic a little; chili two minced peppers; vegetables a few slices; onion a little; meat sliced one to two (depending on everyone’s preference, pork, beef, pig liver, powdered intestines). Methods: 1, meat with wine, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, tender meat powder, pepper seasoning, taste can be slightly heavy; 2, oil pot with ginger, garlic, chili, soy sauce fried, add flavor and stir fry meat until discolored, add sour bamboo shoots to stir fry for a minute, add soup or water to boil, add wet noodles, remove and add vegetables, boil and add onion. When cooking noodles, put the alkali noodles in boiling water until medium well, then remove the water, to remove the paste in the noodle soup, after the clear water will become tough, here will be prepared garlic, Douchi, chili, sour bamboo shoots and other ingredients into hot oil to fry, then add semi-fat lean meat slices (broken meat is the best) a little stir-fry, add bone soup to boil, add noodles and cook until eight to nine ripe, and then add vinegar, and then add the prepared garlic, soy sauce, chili peppers, sour bamboo shoots and other ingredients to the hot oil, then stir in the semi-fat lean meat slices (broken meat is the best), add the bone soup to boil, boil the noodles and cook until eight or nine ripe, and then add vinegar. Pepper and other seasonings, then began to smell its sour fragrance, and then you can “hip-hop” ha-ha. As for old friend powder, there is a “cooking medium well, overwater” process. Sometimes when the wet noodles in the shop are sold out, pour the powder directly into the cooked old friend noodle soup and cook it. The same sour and spicy fresh fragrance, the same food dripping.

https://baike.baidu.com/item/老友粉/1455128?fr=aladdin

The recipe is translated by Baidu Translate.

 

 

As someone born and raised in Tennessee, I have never experienced a shortage of heavy calorie-laden soul food options such a biscuits, gravy, and fried chicken. Furthermore, as the descendant of a family-run, home-cooking diner, I have never experience a shortage of whatever home-made food my heart desired. One food I could not get enough of growing up combined southern comfort with diner desserts—my grandmother’s homemade cobbler. Cobbler is a deep-dish fruit dessert with the syrupy thick filling at the forefront. A successful cobbler requires a deep layer of fruit filling, a thick crust, and nothing more. The rest is up to the creator. The fruit filling can be made of any fruit really, and the crust is typically biscuit-like in nature, yet the form of the biscuit, whether it be in a sheet, uniform, or intermittent and drop-like, is again, up to the baker. Cobblers are often attributed to the deep south, as they frequently involve distinct flakey biscuits and sweet Georgia peaches. My favorite family recipe, however, is my grandmother’s cobbler, which is made using wild blackberries, and homemade drop biscuits, served warm over vanilla ice cream, and topped with whipped cream. Nothing compares to the comfort of that warm fruity dessert on the tongue during chilly winter-time holidays.

When I was growing up, not a gathering occurred without the blackberry cobbler making an appearance, and never ever did I get sick of it. We made blueberry cobbler, blackberry cobbler, raspberry cobbler, peach cobbler, apple cobbler– you name it, we made it, right there in my grandmother’s kitchen. However, for whatever reason, blackberry cobbler, won my heart, as well as the spotlight when it came to the holidays I spent in the diner’s kitchen. That process of making and baking with my grandmother around Christmas and Thanksgiving was the highlight of my childhood. Not only did I get to spend time with my grandmother having fun baking, but I got to eat the result, too! Of course, we made all kinds of other deserts down there: pies, cakes, cookies, etc. But with the discovery of my gluten intolerance, pretty early on in my teens, only the cobbler (at first, without the biscuits) made it into the “eat” phase. The sweet taste of wild blackberry cobbler, complete with warm, juicy berries fresh from the oven, became one of the things I looked forward to the most all year. Then, when I turned 16, the restaurant unfortunately closed, and the desserts and memories of my childhood halted in their tracks. My grandmother had closed up shop and moved to Florida. Luckily, the tradition had not at all stopped with my grandmother’s retirement. In her tiny tropical little kitchen, we of course, still make cobbler, just slightly modified to a smaller crowd and a new outlook on health. Now, when I visit my grandmother in Florida during the holidays, we make a new version of the legacy, but this one with gluten free biscuits (for me), dairy-free biscuits (for my grandmother), and stevia instead of sugar (for the diabetics in my family). Even with these modifications, her blackberry cobbler is just as sweet and comforting as I remember. This dish combines family tradition and southern culture, with a little less grease and sugar, making it the perfect, satisfying dessert for myself and my family.

In researching the history of my favorite dish, I found that the name “cobbler” comes from the “cobbled”-together nature of the dessert. The dish is a trail-modified version of the age-old pie concept adapted to the life of the English settlers. By nature, the dish is ready for variation, requiring limited ingredients, few resources, little skill, and nothing-near perfection. Rather cobblers are believed to have originated in the early years of European settlements, where the settlers had ideas of pie, but had to make do with what they had, which was rarely fresh fruit and neat little pie pans. Instead they had dried, canned, or syrup-preserved fruit, open fires, and biscuit makings. The dessert was often times even served as a breakfast food for the early settlers. As a southerner, this comes as little shock, since biscuits are of course, an any time staple of my geographic region. Biscuits and farm-fresh fruits combine in perfect harmony to create a dessert worthy of its own holidays: National Peach Cobbler day on April 13^th, and National Cherry Cobbler Day on May 17^th. For me, however, the cobbler is also more than worthy of standing front and center every day of the year, but especially during Christmas and Thanksgiving. My memories of baking and eating blackberry cobblers are irreplaceable memories, integral to my upbringing, my culture, and most of all, my family.

 

 

 

Grandma Irene’s Blackberry Cobbler

Biscuits:

3/4 cup gluten-free flour blend

1/4 cup oat flour

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tbsp refined coconut oil

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or more as needed)

 

Filling:

4 Quarts of blackberries

1 cup powdered stevia

3 tbsp of cornstarch or coconut flour

 

Place blackberries in a half hotel pan and coat with stevia. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then remove from the oven and add the cornstarch/coconut flour to a tiny bit of water until it forms a thick soupy consistency. Add this mixture to the cooked berries and stir. Then add the biscuit batter with a disher or ice cream scoop put pack into the oven to cook for another 20 minutes or when you see the biscuits turn golden brown. Serve over your favorite vanilla ice cream (we use so delicious almond milk vanilla ice cream) and whipped cream (we use reddi-whip non-dairy coconut or almond whipped cream).

 

 

Works cited:

Wulff, Alexia. “A Brief History Of Peach Cobbler.” Culture Trip, 24 Nov. 2016,    theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/a-brief-history-of-peach-cobbler/.

Photo credits:

Blackberry Cobbler

https://healthiersteps.com/recipe/vegan-blackberry-cobbler/

    Today I landed in the Dominican Republic just in time for lunch. When I arrived at my grandmother’s house, I was greeted with steaming rice, a stew of pigeon peas, chicken, ripe plantains, and avocado on a large dining table. The combination of rice, beans, and meat, along with other sides, is a dish called ‘La Bandera Dominicana’ which translates to ‘The Dominican Flag.’ The dish is a staple to the Dominican diet and is almost always present at the lunch table. I feasted on the food together with my grandmother, cousins, aunts, and uncles. From an outsiders perspective, it may seem that my extended family reunited today at lunchtime to greet me upon arrival, but the truth is that my extended family comes together daily at my grandmother’s house to enjoy her cooking of ‘La Bandera’ and share news of what is going on in their lives. Even if my aunts and uncles are at work, they will often find time to come to my grandmother’s house to eat as a family. We typically eat and talk at the dining table for about an hour, and after completing the meal, some family members choose to stay longer to continue conversing. Today is the first of many shared family lunches I will have this summer.

Me and my family eating at a restaurant several years ago.

    Although ‘La Bandera’ isn’t the Dominican Republic’s most unique and complex dish, it remains close to my heart because it is present in all of my memories of eating lunch with my Dominican family. It is also a dish that I take with me wherever I go. In Atlanta, I eat ‘La Bandera’ almost every day for lunch, to the point where I’ve gotten questioned from friends if I ever get tired of eating rice and beans (I do not, rice and beans are ingrained in me). Although I can eat rice and beans wherever I am, one thing that I particularly love about eating ‘La Bandera’ in the Dominican Republic is that either the meats such as beef and pork, or the beans, are often stewed. The beans, in particular, are stewed with a creamy consistency. The stewed items are used to wet the rice, which is typically very dry and grainy. Oftentimes, Dominicans let the rice slightly burn on the bottom of the pan, creating a thin coat of dry and crispy rice called Concon. I personally don’t enjoy eating Concon, but everyone else in my family loves it.

Image from: http://hungryfoodlove.com/2012/10/15/la-bandera-dominicana-dominican-flag/

    ‘La Bandera Dominicana’ is said to be called that way because it represents the Dominican flag. The Dominican flag has three colors, red, white, and blue. The rice represents the white of the flag, the beans represent the red, and the meat represents the third color. Rice is not native to the island of Hispaniola but was introduced through Spanish settlers who had gotten it from Asia. Pigeon peas and red kidney beans are both popular choices for La Bandera. Pigeon peas are said to have originated in India and have been brought over to the New World via the slave trade. On the other hand, red kidney beans are believed to be native to the Caribbean. These foods have become widely cultivated, and thus became part of the daily lunch staple dish. In the Dominican Republic, lunch is the most important and largest meal of the day, an eating custom that is primarily influenced by Spanish settlers on the island of Hispaniola. Traditionally in Spain, Spaniards take a two to three-hour break from work or school to fuel themselves with a large meal.

Recipe:

Arroz Blanco (White Rice):

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil (soy, peanut or corn)
• 1¼ teaspoon of salt
• 6 cups water
• 4 cups of rice

Instructions:

1. Heat up half the oil over medium heat and all the salt in a 1.5 qrt (approx) cast iron or aluminum pot (Amazon affiliate link).
2. Add the water, being careful with splatters.
3. Rinse the rice in running water, drain well (optional, I don’t do it).
4. Bring to a boil and then add the rice, stirring regularly to avoid excessive sticking.
5. When all the water has evaporated cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer over very low heat.
6. Wait 15 minutes and remove lid, add the remaining oil, stir and cover again.
7. In 5 minutes uncover and taste, the rice should be firm but tender inside.
8. If necessary, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes over very low heat.

Habichuelas Guisadas (Stewed Beans):

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of dry pinto , cranberry, or red kidney beans
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 pinch of oregano
• 1 bell pepper , chopped
• 1 small red onion cut into four quarters
• 2 cloves of garlic , crushed
• 1 cup of diced auyama (West Indies pumpkin)
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• Leaves from a celery stalk , chopped (optional)
• 4 sprigs of thyme (optional)
• ½ teaspoon of chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon of salt (or more, to taste)

Instructions:

1. Soak the beans overnight.
2. Remove the beans from the soaking water and boil in fresh water until they are very soft (may take up to an hour, or about 20 minutes in a pressure cooker.
3. Separate the beans from the boiling water. Reserve both.
4. In a pot heat the oil over medium heat.
5. Add oregano, bell pepper, onion, garlic, auyama, tomato sauce, celery, thyme and cilantro. Cook and stir for half a minute.
6. Add the beans and simmer for two minutes.
7. Add 6 cups of the water in which the beans boiled (complete with fresh water if necessary).
8. Lightly mashed the beans with a potato masher to break them out of the skin.
9. Cook until it reaches a creamy consistency.
10. Season with salt to taste.

Pollo Guisado (Stewed Chicken):

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of chicken cut into small pieces
• 2 limes cut into halves
• A pinch of oregano
• 1 small red onion chopped into fine strips or eighths
• ½ cup of chopped celery (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of salt (more may be necessary)
• ½ teaspoon of mashed garlic
• 2 tablespoons of oil (corn, canola or peanut)
• 1 teaspoon of regular white sugar
• 2 cups of water
• 4 plum tomatoes cut into quarters
• 2 green bell or cubanela (cubanelle) peppers
• ¼ cup of seedless olives cut into halves (optional)
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• A small bunch of fresh coriander leaves
• ¼ teaspoon of pepper

Instructions:

1. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Scrub with the lime, getting lime juice into all the crevices.
2. In a bowl mix the chicken, oregano, onion, celery, salt and garlic. Marinate for 30 minutes.
3. In a pot heat the oil over medium heat, add sugar and wait until it browns.
4. Add the chicken (reserve all the other things in the marinade) and sauté until the meat is light brown.
5. Add 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring and adding water by the tablespoon as it becomes necessary.
6. Add onion, celery, tomatoes, cubanelle pepper, olives, and garlic, cover and and simmer until the vegetables are cooked through, adding water by the tablespoon and stirring as it becomes necessary.
7. Add the tomato sauce and half a cup of water, simmer over low heat to produce a light sauce. Add fresh cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe from: https://www.dominicancooking.com/17570-la-bandera-dominicana-our-traditional-lunch-meal.html

Whenever someone would ask what my favorite dish is, there is always one thing comes to mind: phở, a warm and fulfilling bowl of Vietnamese beef noodle soup rich with carefully thin cuts of meat and fresh herbs. If one were to think about Vietnamese cuisine, phở would instantly come to mind as it is one of the most (if not the most) iconic foods of Vietnam. It is a dish that can be eaten at any time from the early hours of breakfast to the later ones of late-night cravings. In a sense, phở is the ultimate comfort food for any occasion. It is a way to bond with friends and family at any time while enjoying its full and wonderful taste. As for me, it is a reminder of my identity as a Vietnamese-American.

I was born and raised in the United States in a Vietnamese household, and while growing up, I had realized that I was in between two different cultures. Being outside of my home brought me up as an American constantly exposed to the bold flavors of American cheeseburgers and pizzas; however, being back at home would remind me of my Vietnamese roots and what authentic Vietnamese flavor really was. One of the most important ways my parents developed my palate was through simple but amazingly wonderful dish: phở. As a kid I would always know when my mom was making phở by taking in the rich aromatic scent of the broth steadily boiling in a humongous pot. My mom would call me over and ask whether I was able to smell the blend of the flavors and herbs in the broth, and sometimes she would even let me have a little taste to see whether the flavors were balanced to our satisfaction. After a long day of cooking, everyone in my family would sit down at the dinner table and enjoy every slurp of the noodle and sip of the broth while my parents would talk about how tasty Vietnamese food can be. No matter how picky of an eater someone in the family was, phở would always be enjoyed by everyone regardless of his or her palate; it was a stepping stone of sorts to Vietnamese cuisine. The beginnings of my enjoyment and appreciation for Vietnamese food are some of my fondest memories, and I am truly glad that phở has made a major contribution.

The beginnings of phở were relatively recent compared to other iconic dishes such as noodles or pasta. It first appeared in the northern region of Vietnam in the late 1800s as a simple dish of noodle soup with a few cuts of meat. Eventually, the knowledge of the dish traveled to the south as the country split into North Vietnam and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Interestingly, when the dish moved south, it was slightly modified so that it is served with crunchy mung bean sprouts and fresh herbs such as basil. Therefore, two distinct styles of phở emerged to represent the culinary preferences of each region after the country was reunified from the war. Refugees from the war brought the recipe of phở (particularly the Southern style) to other countries such as the United States when they fled. As a result, phở has become a well-known dish outside of Vietnam that anyone can enjoy.  What makes phở unique in particular is the influence of French and Chinese cooking on it. The noodles and the spices that add to the flavor came from China, but the broth preparation and the use of red meats came from France. In fact, the word phở most likely came from the French term pot-au-feu, meaning “pot on the fire.” This is representative of the cooking process in which the pot is boiled with the beef bones for several hours before it is ready. After the broth is prepared, thin cuts of sirloin are added along with the rice noodles and cooked by the boiling-hot broth as it is poured into the bowl. As a result, this hybrid of Eastern and Western cuisine has resulted in a perfect blend of flavors that people of both cultures can enjoy.

Pictures:

Here is a picture of a typical bowl of pho.

This is a picture of me with my mom, sister, and girlfriend.

Recipe for Southern-style phở:

Ingredients:

5 lb of beef bones (knuckle) or oxtail bones

2 yellow onions

1 spice packet containing cinnamon, cloves, star anise, coriander, and cardamom

¼ cup of fish sauce (nước mắm)

2 lb of rice noodles

½ lb eye of round sirloin

2 scallions

1/3 cup of chopped cilantro

3 cups of mung bean sprouts

Basil for garnish

Lime cut into wedges

2 jalapeño peppers cut into slices

Hoisin sauce

Sriracha

Steps:

1. Boil the beef bones in a large pot with water covering the bones for about 10 minutes to boil out any impurities.
2. Drain the bones of the water containing the impurities and refill the pot with water again to cover the bones. Boil the bones with the spice packet and one yellow onion at a gentle simmer for about 8 hours until all of the flavors from the bones and spices come out. Skim off any fat that comes up from the cooking process.
3. Liberally add fish sauce to season the broth with saltiness until the flavor is to your satisfaction. Constantly taste-test to check the balance of flavor.
4. Cut the sirloin steak against the grain into thin slices. The thinner they are, the faster they will cook when the broth is poured over it.
5. Chop a yellow onion and all the scallions into slices to be added to the bowls.
6. When it is time to eat, prepare the bowls of pho with the desired amount of rice noodles along with a liberal amount of mung bean sprouts, onion, and scallions.
7. Add the desired amount of sirloin slices into the bowl and ladle the hot broth into the bowl. It should cook the slices in a few seconds as it turns from red to a well-done gray-brown.
8. Add cilantro, basil, and jalapeño pepper slices to garnish the phở along with the desired amount of Hoisin sauce, Sriracha, and squeezed lime wedges to season it to satisfaction.

A dish that is important to me and represents my family and cultural background is hot and dry noodles. I grew up in Wuhan, a city in China that is famous for its unique and various kinds of breakfast meals. One of the most popular breakfast meals in Wuhan is hot and dry noodles. Almost every breakfast restaurant in Wuhan sells hot and dry noodles during breakfast time, and it is very common to see people who are on their way to work to hold a bowl of hot and dry noodles that they just bought in their hands, and eat while walking to work.

I like this dish mainly because of its taste and the way it makes me feel when I eat it. The main ingredients of hot and dry noodles are boiled noodles and sesame paste. The delicious taste of the sesame paste is a main reason why I like the dish. When I was in middle school in Wuhan, there was a hot and dry noodles restaurant next to my school. Since it was considered a breakfast meal, and its ingredients were not very expensive, hot and dry noodles was sold very cheap. Although its price has increased throughout the years, at the time when I was a middle school student, it was only sold for three Chinese yuan, which was about forty US cents. I had limited allowance at the time, but I was really interested in video games. Therefore, I would often eat hot and dry noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner in order to save money to buy video games. Since I liked the taste of hot and dry noodles, it did not bother me too much to eat it every day. Now that I have lived in various other places in the world, I still miss the hot and dry noodles sold in Wuhan. Although many other places also have hot and noodles restaurants, and many of the restaurant owners are from Wuhan, I still think that the hot and dry noodles they make taste very different from the hot and noodles in Wuhan. However, I would still look for hot and dry noodles restaurants whenever I move to a new city. When I eat hot and dry noodles now, it would often remind me of my hometown, as well as my childhood in Wuhan.

According to my research, hot and dry noodles originated in Wuhan during the 1930s. Summer in Wuhan is very hot and spans a long time. Therefore, since a long time ago, people would add alkali to noodles to prevent deterioration. This is the predecessor of hot and dry noodles. Hot-dry noodles originated from Cai Mingwei, who sold soup noodles on Changdi Street in Hankou in the early 1930s. His soup noodles are very popular, and guests would often wait in lines for a long time to buy them. Cai Mingwei was very clever at doing business. In order to speed up the shipment, he found an efficient set of noodle making procedures through repeated experiments. In order to serve customers faster, before selling the noodles, he would first cook the noodles shortly, and then quickly cool them and evenly spread oil on them, so that when selling noodles, the cooking procedures would be much faster. Cai Mingwei once saw a sesame oil workshop in Changdi Street. He saw that after the workers extracted sesame oil from sesame seeds, the sesame sauce, which had a very attractive fragrance, was left aside and thrown away. He immediately thought of the idea to add sesame sauce into the noodles. Therefore, Cai Mingwei bought some sesame sauce from the owner of the sesame oil workshop and went home. After repeated trials to add sesame sauce to his noodles, he was finally satisfied with his noodles and everyone around him who tasted the noodles also said it was delicious. Only then did he feel confident enough to launch his new products and go out to the streets to sell them. At this time, Cai Mingwei gave this noodle the name “Sesame Paste Noodles.” Later, in 1950, the industrial and commercial registration of the product was officially changed to “hot and dry noodles”. Cai Mingwei also established the brand “Cai Lin Ji Hot and Dry Noodles.” Now that hot and dry noodles had increased in popularity all around China, the instant hot and dry noodles brand “Big Hankou” is also gaining popularity. The brand can be found in supermarkets in almost every large city in China, and can even be seen in supermarkets in other countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Even though the instant noodles tried to simulate the taste of authentic hot and dry noodles by using sesame paste and soy sauce, in my opinion, it still tastes very different from the authentic hot and dry noodles, probably because the procedures to produce instant noodles are very different from the procedures to make authentic hot and dry noodles.

Source: http://www.365azw.com/share/s-302103.html

 

 

Recipe:

Recipe Source: https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/hot-and-dry-noodles-wuhan-noodles/

Ingredients

200 g alkaline noodles , light yellow ones (either dried or fresh ones)

2 tbsp. sesame oil

Garlic water

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp. warm water

Sesame paste

2 tbsp. sesame paste

1 tbsp. sesame oil

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 tbsp. dark soy sauce

4 tbsp. warm water

1/8 tsp. Chinese five spice powder

small pinch of salt

 

Serve with

pickled radish

green onion

sugar

vinegar optional

Chinese Chili oil I use my homemade version

 

Instructions

1. Cook the dried noodles for 4-5 minutes or fresh ones for 3-4 minutes. Transfer out and drain.
2. Place the noodles to a clean operating board, add sesame oil and combine well. This process can cool down the noodles quickly and creating a chewy texture. Set aside to cool down completely.

Tune sesame paste

3. In a large bowl, first mix 2 tablespoons of sesame paste with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Stir until well combined. And then add light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, continue stirring in one direction until well combined. Add around 4-5 tablespoons of warm water by three batches. Each time after adding water, stir in one direction until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Add Chinese five spice and a small pinch of salt based on personal taste. Combine well.

Other serving ingredients

5. Mince green onion and chop the pickled radishes. You can also add smashed peanuts, pickled green beans or other toppings.

Garlic water

6. Smashed 2 garlic cloves and then soak with warm water.

Assemble the noodles

7. Bring water to boil in a large pot, and re-cook the noodles for around 10 -15 seconds until hot. Shake off extra water and transfer to serving bowl.
8. Add around 2 tablespoons of tuned sesame paste mixture, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar (optional), 1 teaspoon garlic water, 1/8 teaspoon sugar and 2 teaspoons of chili oil. Top with green onion and pickled radish.
9. Combine well before enjoying.

One of the important dishes to me is Wang You Juan, a traditional sweet roll made from mashed red beans, lard oil, and egg white. The specialness of Wang You Juan is that it is the most unique desert in my hometown, Changzhou, and I have never found it in any other cities nearby. Even in Changzhou, nowadays, it’s a great pity that finding a restaurant that can make Wang You Juan is becoming harder and harder; however, it is still an unforgettable memory of many natives of Changzhou. I can never forget that when I was a child, my grandmother made it for my family at weekends.

 

The process of making Wang You Juan is a bit time-consuming compared to other dishes, so my grandmother always began preparing all the ingredients quite early. One important step is whisking egg white. Since we didn’t buy an electric mixer, my grandmother chose to make it by hand; therefore, it always took her a lot of time and energy to make it. Although the ingredient was not as perfect as those made by an electric mixer, it still looked so perfect to me. When all the ingredients were almost prepared, she liked calling my young cousin and me to see how she made and fried the rolls, and that was always our favorite part. The net lard oil seemed like a spider web, and the egg white was like sweet cream, luring us into tasting it immediately. When the rolls were finally dropped in the gold oil, the smell of lard oil disseminated from the pot in a second! The freshly fried Wang You Juan had the best taste, so my cousin and I could not wait to taste the hot rolls. The sweetness of red beans, the great smell of lard oil, the fluffiness of egg white, the crispy sound of cracked pastry, and the crunchy taste of white sugar wrapping the rolls; all these feelings gathered together to create my treacly childhood memory. Like me, many natives of Changzhou regard Wang You Juan’s unforgettable taste and warm family time as the most important parts of their memories. Also, we view Wang You Juan as a symbol of Changzhou’s history and are proud of it all the time.

 

The origin of Wang You Juan can be traced back to Song Dynasty, when the great poet, Sushi, was spending his remaining days in Changzhou. One day, when Sushi was eating a rice ball, he suddenly had a whim:” If I put mashed red beans inside and wrap it with egg white outside, then make it as a rice ball but fry it instead of steaming it, I can definitely make a delectable dish.” However, he did not get the method of whisking egg white and failed to make it. Nevertheless, his idea was spread to other famous chefs later, and they tried it over and over. Finally, they learned the whisking egg white could make the desert have a perfect taste.

 

The origin of Wang You Juan and the taste of it can also reflect some culture of Changzhou as a city in the southern part of China. Cities in the at the south of Yangtze River abounds with sugarcanes; therefore, people here are described as “surrounded by sugar” and are used to eat sugar in their daily life. As time goes by, this becomes a dietary habit of Jiangnan people. Therefore, the sweet mashed red beans and white sugar reflects this dietary habit of people here. Also, the rice ball inspired Sushi is a traditional dessert in Jiangsu. People like to make rice balls and rice cakes at festivals and new year, not only because of their sweet and delicious tastes but also due to their appearances and names. The round shape of rice balls represents unity, which is an essential idea of traditional Chinese culture. The name of rice cakes, Gao(糕), has the same pronunciation as the word “high” in Chinese; thus it is entrusted with the wish of getting success. Therefore, the sweet round Wang You Juan represents happiness and unity of family as well.

Wang You Juan Recipe:

Ingredients: net lard oil 200g, mashed red beans 200g, 3 eggs, starch 10g.

Steps:

1. Soak lard oil in clean water for about 30 minutes and clean it.
2. Shape mashed red beans into small balls
3. Wrap the red beans with net lard oil.
4. Take egg white only and whisk it.
5. Add some starch to the egg white and stir them into a mash.
6. Roll the red bean balls in the rest of starch.
7. Wrap the balls with the mash made in step 5.
8. Fry the balls in hot oil until the color turns to gold.
9. Sprinkle some white sugar particles on the top of Wang You Juan.

This is a photo of me with my family.

A dish that is important to me and represents my family and cultural background is a Jamaican dish called ackee and saltfish with fried dumplings. Ackee and saltfish is a traditional breakfast eaten in Jamaica and is considered the Jamaican national dish. Ackee is a fruit that is commonly grown in Jamaica and is also the national fruit of Jamaica. As a result, it has a large significance in Jamaica and is a great representation of the culture of Jamaica. It is also very common for families to grow Ackee in their yards and when my father lived in Jamaica, he and his family grew up growing it and eating it for breakfast which has great significance for me.

There are so many reasons why I love this meal. It is a reminder of my heritage and my history and allows me to identify closely with my Jamaican background. It also gives me the feeling of closeness and connectedness to my dad who enjoyed this meal growing up in Jamaica. Whenever we visit my family in New York and Jamaica this dish is a focal point of our meals and is always enjoyed by everyone. When visiting my aunt’s house in New York, my sister and I always travel to the Jamaican grocery store with her to pick out the saltfish and buy the ackee. Once we get home my aunt begins cooking the ackee and saltfish and my dad begins rolling out the dough to cook the dumplings. The tradition is that my aunt will cook the ackee and saltfish first while my dad rolls out the dumplings. My dad will wait until the ackee and saltfish are done before frying the dumplings so they are hot and crispy when they go onto the plate. My favorite smell is when the dumplings begin frying because that means the food is almost done and ready to eat. This meal is also important to me because it’s a rare dish that we have whenever we’re with family on my dad’s side. Since most of the family on my dad’s side lives in New York or Jamaica we don’t get to visit them very often. As a result, it’s not often that we get to enjoy this meal so when we have it, it means that a special occasion is occurring where we can all be together. The memories attached to this meal of the family all together coupled with its amazing taste is what makes this dish so important to me.

Ackee and Saltfish with Fried Dumplings

My Dad’s side of the family from Jamaica

Along with my personal history and culture with this dish, there is an entire global history surrounding it. Since Ackee and Saltfish is Jamaica’s national dish, and Ackee is the national fruit, this meal is held in high regard in Jamaica and has been a part of the country’s history for hundreds of years. Ackee is originally native to tropical West Africa and was imported to Jamaica during the slave trade. Ackee also has a long-held reputation as a poisonous fruit which can cause fatalities if eaten before ripe. However, when ripe the fruit can be delicious and is prepared for many famous Caribbean cuisines. Saltfish is traditionally made from cod in a

process of drying the fish and then being salted to preserve it. This practice of drying fish to make saltfish was first established in Europe and made its way to the Caribbean during the slave trade in the 1700s which was the same time that ackee was imported to Jamaica. Since Jamaica has such a hot and humid climate, the ability to preserve fresh fish by drying and salting it resulted in it becoming a staple in Jamaica. The ackee and saltfish were then combined with other vegetables that were imported into Jamaica such as onions, tomatoes, and peppers and coupled with seasoning to create the dish that is historically significant to Jamaica.

Ingredients:

For the ackee and saltfish

• 450g/1lb salt cod
• 1 x 400g/14oz can ackee
• olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp mild curry powder
• 2 tsp jerk seasoning
• 1 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 1 red pepper, seeds removed and sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, seeds removed and sliced
• 200g/7oz tomatoes, chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dumplings

• 250g/9oz self-rising flour
• 30g/1oz vegetable suet
• pinch of salt
• vegetable oil, for frying

Method:

1. For the saltfish, soak the salt cod overnight, changing the water a couple of times.

2. Drain, then put the cod in a large pan of freshwater and bring to the boil. Drain again, add fresh water and bring to the boil again.

3. Simmer for about five minutes, or until cooked through, then drain and flake the fish into large pieces. Discard any skin or bones.

4. For the dumplings, mix the flour and suet with a pinch of salt and 250ml/9fl oz water to make a dough.

5. Wrap the mixture in clingfilm and leave in the fridge to rest.

6. Open the can of ackee, drain and rinse, then set aside.

7. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and fry the onion until softened but not brown.

8. Add the spices, seasoning, pepper sauce and sliced peppers and continue to fry until the peppers are tender.

9. Add the chopped tomatoes, then the salt cod and mix together. Lastly, stir in the ackee very gently and leave to simmer until ready to serve.

10. When you’re almost ready to eat, heat about 1cm/½in vegetable oil in a frying pan and heat until just smoking.

11. Shape the dumpling mix into plum-size balls and shallow-fry until golden brown. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave the pan unattended.)

12. Drain the dumplings on kitchen paper and serve with the saltfish and ackee.

References:

• “Ackee and Saltfish.” My Recipes, myrecipejm.com/recipes_list/ackee-and-saltfish-2/.
• “Ackee and Saltfish.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackee_and_saltfish.
• Kilifin, Lyndsey. “A Brief History of Ackee and Saltfish, Jamaica’s Staple Breakfast.” Culture Trip, 19 Feb. 2017, theculturetrip.com/caribbean/jamaica/articles/a-brief-history-of-ackee-and-saltfish-jamaicas-staple-breakfast/.

Dumplings have always been a big food for my family and me. We eat dumplings throughout the year, but to me they represent more than just a basic Chinese dish. This dish consists of pork wrapped in a thin layer of dough. These can then be boiled, steamed, or pan fried. My personal favorite is steamed dumplings. This dish reminds me of family gatherings where we would all come together and make them. We would have them when my brothers came back from college or when my aunt would come back to town. This is also a dish that we eat at Chinese New Year, one of the biggest holidays for my family. This dish is very important in the Chinese culture because the dumplings are in the shape of gold ingots. They represent wealth and prosperity, so we eat them during the new year in hopes of a wealthy year ahead of us. This has been a Chinese tradition for many years. Every year, we would hide coins in a few dumplings. If you found one of the coins, you would have good luck in the coming year. This is one of my favorite new year’s traditions.

My grandparents took my mom to the United States when she was just eight years old. They then opened a Chinese restaurant and taught my mom and my aunts how to cook. Many years later, they taught me the same skills they had taught my mom. When I was younger, my grandfather taught me how to make the dumpling skin to prepare for the new year. We stayed in the kitchen all day to make them together. Letting the dough rest was the hardest part for me because I was so excited to start making the dumpling skins. When the dough was finally rested, we would roll out the dough together to make the wrappers. I always tried to roll them quickly to be like him, but he always reminded me to take it slow and practice so one day I could be as fast as him. My entire family would then help to wrap the dumplings while my mom was in charge of cooking them. My grandfather would hide coins in the dumplings while we were not looking so we didn’t know which dumplings would have them. We would carefully wrap each dumpling and place them on a cookie sheet. My brother enjoyed making dumplings that were shaped in different ways so he would know which ones he made after they were cooked. Two hours would go by and we would make a few hundred dumplings. It was amazing to see how many we could make in one sitting! My mom would pan fry half of them and steam the other half. Once they were cooked, we would all sit together at the dining table to eat our dumplings. We would talk about what we hoped for in this coming year and then we would light fire crackers in the back yard. These family traditions have always made Chinese New Year my favorite holiday.

Dumplings have been around for thousands of years. Each culture has their own type of dumpling, whether it is filled with meat or not. Dumplings were originally used to cure illness. One particularly cold winter, many Chinese citizens got sick and got frostbite from the cold. Zhang Zhongjing created these Chinese dumplings to fight of the sickness by feeding them something warm. People then made different kinds of dumplings based off of Zhang Zhongjing’s original recipe. Dumplings later became a Chinese new year tradition. People would make dumplings on New Year’s eve and eat them between 11:00 pm New Year’s eve and 1:00 am New Year’s day. This was a time of transition between the old year and the new year. These dumplings were a symbol of wealth and good fortune for the new year.

 

 

Ingredients

• 3 lbs green leafy vegetable (like shepherd’s purse, baby bok choy, napa cabbage, or Chinese chives)
• 1 ½ pounds ground pork (or ground chicken or beef, as long as they aren’t too lean)
• ⅔ cup shaoxing wine
• ½ cup oil
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• ⅔ cup water, plus more for assembly
• 3-4 packages dumpling wrappers

Instructions

1. Wash your vegetables thoroughly and blanch them in a pot of boiling water. Transfer them to an ice bath to cool. Ring out all the water from the vegetables and chop very finely.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the vegetable, meat, wine, oil, sesame oil, salt, soy sauce, white pepper, and ⅔ cup water. Mix for 6-8 minutes, until very well-combined.
3. To wrap the dumplings, dampen the edges of each circle with some water. Put a little less than a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Fold the circle in half and pinch the wrapper together at the top. Then make two folds on each side, until the dumpling looks like a fan. Make sure it’s completely sealed. Repeat until all the filling is gone, placing the dumplings on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Make sure the dumplings aren’t sticking together.
4. If you’d like to freeze them, wrap the baking sheets tightly with plastic wrap and put the pans in the freezer. Allow them to freeze overnight. You can then take the sheets out of the freezer, transfer the dumplings to Ziploc bags, and throw them back in the freezer for use later.
5. To cook the dumplings, boil them or pan-fry them. To boil, simple bring a large pot of water to a boil, drop the dumplings in, and cook until they float to the top and the skins are cooked through, but still slightly al dente.
6. To pan-fry, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Place the dumplings in the pan and allow to fry for 2 minutes. Pour a thin layer of water into the pan, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Allow dumplings to steam until the water has evaporated. Remove the cover, increase heat to medium-high and allow to fry for a few more minutes, until the bottoms of the dumplings are golden brown and crisp.
7. Serve with soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, chili sauce, or other dipping sauce of your choice!

 

https://gbtimes.com/hello-china-60-dumplings

https://thewoksoflife.com/dumpling-recipe-youll-ever-need/

All over the globe, meat is treated as a celebratory food. Meats like Thanksgiving turkey and honey-baked ham carry special meaning as they are symbolic for the gathering of people that they entail. Being from Texas, smoked meats are part of our heritage. These can range from ribs to sausage to pulled pork to brisket. All are cooked in a wood-burning smoker and the meats are seasoned with a basic rub of little more than salt and pepper. At all holidays and special events, this type of meat becomes the central point that Texans, and any others from the “barbeque belt”, gather around. In my house, Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and even sometimes Christmas involves smoked beef brisket as the main event on our dining table. My dad will plan out his days and wake up early the night before to put a brisket on our makeshift Big Green Egg smoker and monitor it over the next 12-14 hours. The end product is always crisp from the bark, juicy from the rendered fat, and has adeep penetrating smoke flavor

Smoked brisket has become my favorite dish not only because of its mouthwatering taste, but because of the good times that it represents with my family. As much as I would love to, this dish is not something that can be eaten every day. It takes hours to cook, is not exactly something for the health conscious, and it tends to be expensive when purchased from a restaurant. As a result, brisket has become synonymous with celebration and family gathering. As for its taste, I enjoy brisket because of its depth of meaty flavor that is so unique and not really replicated in other culture’s cuisine. If trimmed correctly before cooking, brisket should have all of its fat rendered into a moist piece of meat that takes on the flavor of the wood that it is smoked in.

 

Source: https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/faux-vide/

The earliest mention of brisket comes from a grocery store in 1910. This again emphasizes how brisket was, and still is, something to be cooked at home amongst family. Coming from the same part of the cow as Jewish Pastrami, brisket developed from the Jewish influence in the central Texas region. It wasn’t until the 1950s that brisket first appeared on the menu of Black’s BBQ in Lockhart, Texas. While brisket has spread in popularity across the country since then, it is still this central Texas region of Austin and Lockhart that is where the best is located. Restaurants like Franklin Barbecue, Kreutz Market, and Snows have become institutions, and their chefs are as famous as celebrities. The meticulousness of chef Aaron Franklin, and his dedication to perfecting the meat have led him to be known as the king of brisket. While brisket stems from this region of Texas, each part of the “barbecue belt” of the United States is known for their own take on southern barbeque. Memphis is known for dry rub ribs, the Carolinas for pulled pork, and Kansas City for burnt ends. Each of these places across the United States have pride in their product and have the same love for barbeque as I do for brisket.

 

 

Recipe for Texas Smoked Brisket

Source: https://putneyfarm.com/2013/09/14/bbq-brisket-franklin-style/

 

Ingredients:

• 1, 10-12 pound “full packer” brisket
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup fresh ground pepper, finely ground
• Oak wood, chunks or chips, for smoking.

Assemble:

1. Trim the fat layer on the “flat” section of the brisket to 1/4 inch. Trim all the thick, hard fat around the “point” section. Trim any super-thin sections of the meat that will burn during long-cooking.
2. Mix the salt and pepper in a bowl and lightly cover all the brisket with salt and pepper. Keep mixing the salt and pepper as you go, to keep even distribution. Avoid clumps or spots of extra rub. You do not need to use all the rub. Set brisket aside.
3. Set up your smoker to smoke at 225 to 250 F degrees (Franklin runs closer to 250 F). Add your wood and then add the brisket. Add water pans. Cook for 6 hours, adding wood as needed. Check the brisket (internal temp will probably be 130-150 F). Wrap the brisket in butcher paper or foil and cook another 5-7 hours (finish in the oven, if you like). Look for an internal temperature of about 195 F. Or see if all (both “flat” and “point”) of the meat is soft and “jiggles” to the touch. Remove from the heat and rest, in the paper or foil, 45-60 minutes.
4. To serve, slice the “flat” section of the brisket, across the grain, in pencil-thin slices. The grain for the “point” section runs in the other direction. Rotate the “point” 90 degrees, cut it in half, and then serve in pencil-thin slices. Look for, and find, the grain before you slice.
5. Serve with slaw, white bread and some sauce, if you like.