Chinese cooking

Saturday, yesterday, was a long day..no pictures as when we actually started to work there was no slowing down. A friend had asked me if I would show her how to cook some Chinese food. She also wanted to know how to make the Vietnamese fried spring rolls...so...off we went along with her granddaughter who popped in for the weekend the evening before. Since I know where to purchase vegetarian spring rolls that are outstanding..in the freezer case...just thaw and fry..then the bottled sweet chili sauce. The spring rolls come packaged 24 to the package for less than $5. I know that there are not many people who would really care that they were packaged. There are some things that can be purchased for most occasions. So, you will never have home made Chinese dumplings..I panfry mine...at my house. Why...it is so labor intensive to make the wrappers and filling that I rarely even share them with my daughter. I do panfry dumplings for family and friends...but they are purchased. That is in itself a chore..that is to find ones that are really good. I had a brand that was Korean and was available for about four years at one of the international markets...what happened..they went upscale..and now have lots of others..mostly more expensive...and not near as good. There are many a dumpling that has ended up in the trash. If they don't meet the test...then they go into the trash.

So, we had the ready made spring rolls from the first market. The second market was the Chinese market where we found most of the food for our dinner including the garlic shoots...the third market was where we picked up another eggplant and a couple more things...and my 'student' found out that she could buy trimmed beef tenderloin for a third of the price she normally has to pay...the third market was a run through to see what they had a to pick up a couple of 'sesame balls with green bean paste'. The last place was the Chinese restaurant supply where she was able purchase a really nice cleaver. After leaving here at 10am...we arrived back here at 4pm.

A quick run down of some of the entrees...Bean Sprouts w/Pork; Chicken w/ Onions, Red Bell Peppers; Garlic Shoots with Ground Pork; Julienned Pork with King Oyster Mushrooms and Onions in Black Bean Sauce; Baby Bok Choy with King Oyster Mushrooms; Snow Peas w/ Wood Ears; ...and I know something else but can't think what it was today. With both my friend and her granddaughter working it still took a couple hours to prep...they were both using the cleavers for the first time....and started by mincing the garlic, ginger and scallions. After all the prep we took a break, then cooked the spring rolls, then took a break to visit with my friend's husband and then a newly arrived friend of mine. Then back to the kitchen to cook...I made the first several dishes and then turned the wok over to my friend where I just directed which ingredients to add and seasonings for the remaining half of the dishes.

Luckily we finished up about 10pm and I was given the duty of chilling while the rest of the group finished up the clean-up. The kitchen was spanking clean and they all left right after as it was 10:30pm by then. For me...four ibuprofen and reading for 40 minutes and then sleep. My body was still a little on the stiff side this morning but I was really glad to have made it through without having pain along my scar from lung surgery....

All in all...the two students had a great time...learned a lot...and vowed not to cook more than one Chinese for a meal...this was a learning day for all....and they wondered why the Chinese restaurants don't charge more since it takes so long to prep....The cooking was only slowed by the fact that the 'home' stoves really don't get hot enough for continued wok cooking...and there also isn't room for two woks to go at the same time.

The last stove I had was white...it had scorched tops (two...replaced the first) from the high heat that was used for wok cooking...but, all in all...a great day of showing off the markets and cooking...