Jeffrey C.

When I have few hours with nothing to do at home, I always ended up in the kitchen making something. Today was no difference. I wanted zha jiang mian 炸醬麵 (fried sauce noodles) for dinner but don't fancy using dried noodles. So I made some rustic pulled noodles. I am not expert enough to make those super pulled noodles. My version is easier and more rustic.Here was what I did. This portion is enough for 2 peopleIngredients:250 - 275g strong white bread flour (extra strong if you can find some)1 medium or large egg3/4 - 1 tsp saltwaterExtra flour for dusting Method: Beat the egg and salt in a measuring cup. Top up the egg with water to 1/2 cup (125ml). Stir. Put around 250g of the flour in a mixing bowl, pour in the egg mixture. Start mixing till all the dry flour is absorbed into the dough. This dough should be quite stiff. If a bit sticky add in more flour. When the bowl is clean, cover and leave to rest for about 15 minutes. Then knead the dough. The dough should not be sticky, so

Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵 is fried sauce noodles, I called it Chinese spag bog. These noodles are very popular in most parts of Northern China, especially Beijing.Koreans are also fan of zha jiang noodles, similar name called jajangmyeon . The sauce Korean used is not the same as Chinese, similar flavour but made with black beans called chungjang .Chinese zha jiang sauce is dark brown, salty, sweet and very fragrant. The main sauce ingredient for the sauce is sweet bean sauce (sweet flour sauce) 甜麵醬 and/or yellow bean sauce 黃醬. I like the sauce a bit spicy so I always add some chilli bean sauce ( douban jiang ) 豆瓣醬. The sauce mix is fried till caramelised in plenty of oil till fragrant. If you use only a little oil you won't get the same flavour.Other than meat, fried or marinated firm tofu can be added. Some people like to add shitake but not common.I really like Zha Jiang sauce a lot. It keeps really well in the fridge. A convenient sauce for quick noodles anytime of the day

Here is another request from a reader for a recipe.Yeung Ji Gum Lo 楊枝甘露 is a cold Chinese dessert created by some Hong Kong restaurant in the '80. It's quite a refreshing dessert soup which is creamy, sweet and fragrant from mango and pomelo. Very simple to make, all you need is gather the ingredients and mix everything together. The key ingredients are mango, pomelo, sago pearls, mango ice cream and cream/milk.In Hong Kong you can get Mango icecream easily but may be a bit difficult in UK. If you can find some that is great if not can use mango sorbet. Otherwise just use a good vanilla icecream with ripe mango puree.Pomelo is an oriental large grapefruit. In Chinese it is called 柚子 (yu z i). You can find this citrus fruit from Autumn to Winter in most Chinese supermarkets. You may find them in your local Lidl (in UK) from Nov - Feb too, cheaper than Chinese supermarkets. To eat this fruit you need to peel the rind and the skin each segment. Most of the 'honey' pomelos

I love Chinese dumplings and I am sure many of you too. There are hundreds of different kind of Chinese dumplings, from quite small and dainty to golf ball size, so many different methods to wrap, so many different types of pastry and infinite types of fillings. Dumplings can be boiled, steamed, fried or deep fried. And different parts of China have their own different recipes.Southerners' dumplings: Cantonese - har gau 蝦餃, sui mai 燒賣, wonton 雲吞, sui gau 水餃, goon tong gau 灌汤饺 etc... Chaozhou 潮州 - fun guo 粉果 Hakka 客家 - cha guo 茶果For the Northerners, dumplings are normally referred to as as Jiaozi 餃子 here are some different types and names. Shanghanese - xiao lung bao 小籠包, potsickers 鍋帖, etc... Sichuanese - hong you chao shu 紅油抄手, zhong sui jiao 鐘水餃, all dressed heavily with a spicy chilli oil sauce Beijingnese - boiled dumplings 水煮餃子, these dumplings are also the most common in many parts of Northern China.** If you need further explanation on some of the above dumplings and n

During CNY many Chinese will have a box of candied fruits and nuts at home to welcome friends and families when they visit and also given them as gifts. Popular candied stuff like candied lotus root slices, lotus seeds, red dates (jujube), kumquats and winter melon.Candied lotus seeds (tang lan zi 糖蓮子) are popular especially for any family wishing to have kids because the word lotus seeds in Chinese rhyme with having more children.Candied lotus seeds are quite yummy if you don't count the sugar. It's not that difficult to make. If you want to try here is the recipe. Ingredients: This recipe will make about 2 cups1 packet of whole skinned lotus seeds about 170 - 180g1/2 tsp bicarb (baking soda)3/4 cup sugarabout 1 cup of icing sugar, sifted (confectioner sugar) Method: Soak the lotus seeds for at least 10 hours or till the seeds are plump without any wrinkles. Then take each seed and lightly squeeze the brown end to check if there is any greenish/brownish stem inside the seed i

Rice cake or nian gao 年糕 is something nearly every Chinese family will have for CNY. The two words 年 nian and 糕 gao rhyme with the Chinese greeting phrase 年年高升 nian nian gao sheng, literally translated as higher year after year or simply you will prosper year after year. So eating nian gao is considered lucky for the coming year.There are different nian gao, the Northerners have white plain rice cake made with plain rice (see this post ), similar to Korean rice cake and normally cook with other things to make a savoury dish or rice cake soup.The Southerners like Cantonese have sweet sticky cakes made with glutinous rice flour. There is a little story about why these sticky sweet cakes are made. Any Chinese (Taoists) with praying Gods at home will know this. On the 12th lunar month and 24th day which was the 7th Feb in 2010, the Kitchen God/Stove Master (Zao Jun 灶君) will leave Earth to Heaven (I wondered if Zao Jun needs Scottie to beam him up :)). He is to report to the Heavenly Grandf