Lunch! What'd ya have? (2012–2014)

:-))) Do tell, when you make it and how you used it.

Love braised tendons!

Had another bowl of phở today.

Shredded cabbage instead of Napa; omitted the cilantro.

This is the brand of dried bánh phở I like to use:

New Year's Day lunch: Savoury Tong Yuen - traditional in the Choy household when my Mom was alive. She'd make the sweet version for late night New Year's Eve. I ate minimum requirement on the sweet version. This one...I love! My Mom would also make this whenever she has a hankering.

Glutinous rice flour dumplings, julienne daikon, dried shrimp, fresh shrimp, sliced pork tenderloin, lap cheong, sesame oil, ground pepper, cilantro. I always have a small dish of soy sauce with white pepper and chili oil to dip my dumplings. Most people don't know how to tackle these sticky blobs. Just chew a couple of times then let it slip down the gullet !!!. They're guaranteed to stick to your ribs...

is the Glutinous rice flour dumplings the roundish white item lower L screen? do you make them or buy them?

looks sooooooo delicious, perfect after a Big Storm Clean Up if bet!

rotuts: yes. That glob is the glutinous rice flour dumpling. I make them - just glutinous rice flour, a bit of salt, and small amount of hot water to make a dough. The dumplings are dropped into boiling water (broth in my soup) and are cooked when they float to the surface. It's all the other ingredients that make it delicious.

Interesting, Dejah. I don't recall (or believe) I've ever had these glutinous rice flour dumplings in soup as a CNY dish. Not in my childhood or later and not in adulthood. Doesn't even ring a bell, sorry. :-(

Sounds like a Northern Chinese tradition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangyuan_%28food%29

One of the dishes I had for lunch yesterday: Whole red snapper done in a modified "cheong ching" style. ["醬蒸"; "sauce steamed"] The fish was marinated w/ sesame oil, Shaohsing wine, grated ginger, chopped garlic, chopped scallions; then steamed only partially, all the steaming accoutrements and steaming juices removed, the fish returned to the steaming dish and covered w/ the "cheong" and steaming resumed/completed, the fish replated on a nice deep plate and strewn w/ chopped cilantro & sliced scallions.

The "cheong" was formed by sautéeing chopped garlic, grated ginger & chopped de-seeded hot long green chilli in peanut + veggie oil, salted yellow bean paste (whole soybeans) added and sautéed; then a mix of [tomato paste (I used Heinz ketchup), sugar, dark soy sauce, some Worcestershire sauce, 3 "fresh" sour plums (hand-shredded, pits added in) and diluted w/ a little water] added in and the whole stirred and simmered for maybe 5-10 minutes or so then held aside before using on the fish.

huiray: I've had students from various places in China, and they've all had tong yuen, but not in a savoury combination. They have all had the sweet version, and some have had ones filled with sweet bean paste or black sesame seed paste. I see them sold pre-made, dried or frozen.

Took a big container of my savoury tong yuen to school for my students from Lauyang and Beijing. All enjoyed it, but all mentioned the sweet version. I think it's maybe more common to have the meat filled jiaozi dumplings for CNY. In Guongdong province, specially Toisan county, the savoury version for NYD, the sweet version for NYE - so said my Mom. And I, being the obedient daughter, followed the tradition...

Interesting info' on the URL posted by hongda. I always thought northern CHinese preferred the sweet version, and the southern preferred the savoury!

Well, I'm a savoury kind of person, so THERE!

Interesting info. I looked up "tangyuen" [湯圓] also.

I still don't remember eating it or being served it during CNY day. It's possible I might have seen it around at Chap Goh Meh. Or at the winter solstice festival, but my family and relatives seldom gathered to celebrate that. I don't remember seeing it around at my Grandfather's place too when we gathered for CNY at the time, but then again maybe I've blocked out memories of it? (My father's family came from Canton proper)

A variation of Yeung Chow fried rice for lunch today.

Chinese celery, peas, "Char Siu", Chinese long beans, shrimp, plain omelette.

Eaten w/ pickled chopped hot long chillies.

Ingredients mise-en-place:

I dont know about the Chinese celery, but the rest looks tasty. Guess its time to get back on the Fried Rice Band wagon.

do you peel those Saus. first?

rotuts, if you don't like normal (Western) celery then I guess you would like Chinese celery even less. :-)

I sometimes do a very simple fried rice with chopped up (Western) celery and eggs scrambled in the rice in situ, just oil, no garlic, no spices, nothing else except maybe a little salt and even then usually not. This gives a very "clean-tasting" (to me) stripped down fried rice which particularly appeals to me when I am very tired or under the weather.

"saus."? I guess you mean Chinese sausage? (lap cheong) I didn't use it here - but when I do use lap cheong in fried rice, I don't bother skinning it. I might soften it by steaming beforehand, though, but I have also simply sliced it up and fried it in the oil a bit before adding the other stuff (in a suitable sequence).

A more traditional plating of gumbo!! Happy Mardi Gras!!

• A modified “Sayur Asem” – sliced shallots & garlic cloves, sautéed in oil; then added: cabbage, Chinese long beans, shallots, baby maize, zucchini/squash, peanuts, fried firm tofu [equivalent of "tauhu"], spice mix [Cap Ibu “Bumbu Sayur Asem”], tamarind concentrate [Dragonfly brand], sour shrimp paste [Golden Boy], crushed “gula melaka”, simmered till done.

• Nasi lemak – Basmati cooked w/ coconut milk, pandan leaves [previously frozen] & a little salt. (Nasi “Basmati” dimasak dengan santan, daun pandan dan sedikit garam)

• Deep-fried “Ikan Bilis” [whole anchovies]; plus some celery as well, as "garnishes".

Looks good, Paul B.

(I forgot it was Mardi Gras! I was thinking of the day as "Chor Sam" [the third day] of Chinese New Year instead. )

Kimchi jigea for me today. No suitable pork cuts so I made some pork meatballs - very satisfactory.

Lunch on Wednesday:

• Fried rice w/ Western celery & eggs scrambled in situ. No spices, no salt, nothing else except just the oil used. :-) [This one is for you, rotuts, following on from what I described 2 days ago: http://egullet.org/p1908862]

• Yesterday's modified "Sayur Asem", boosted w/ some rice vinegar, fresh chopped white cabbage, fresh cut long green chillies, sliced cod pieces, and a good squeeze of fresh lime juice as well. I liked this further modification better than yesterday's.

Western celery ??? Chinese celery ???

Western celery ??? Chinese celery ???

Yes. Two different (but related) plants.

Chinese celery (Mandarin: 芹菜 qín cài) is thinner and has hollow stems. It is somewhat stronger in taste than Western celery (西芹 xī qín, literally "west celery") and is almost always cooked. It is usually sold with a head of leaves, too. Stems and leaves are both used in soups and stir fries.

Both celery types are widely available in China.

Chinese celery - 芹菜

Western Celery - 西芹

texturally both to me are

but I use the leaves.

Interestingly, (for me anyway) , at certain times in England we can buy 'Dirty Celery', this is with mud on and no attempt has been made to blanch the stems during cultivation. This gives you a stronger taste and would be used in cooking., As a bit of fun, take a branch of celery (clean) and dip it in to sugar, the taste will surprise you !

• Pan-fried thick-cut pork chop w/ fried onions & Cipriani tagliarelle tossed w/ plain mushrooms sautéed in the pan sauces.

• Salad of red-leaf lettuce, Napa cabbage heart, parsley & cherub tomatoes [thanks for the tip, Paul Bacino]; tossed w/ olive oil, 8-year balsamic, black pepper & salt.