Really Excited

Last Saturday I got the loveliest surprise as hubby had been out shopping and had bought me a present to cheer me up (lots of stuff has been going on and things have been tough).

Sitting on the stainless steel bench in my kitchen was a gorgeous red KITCHENAID and not just any one but the 90th Anniversary edition in CANDY APPLE RED.  He had even washed the bowl and whisk ready for use - WHAT A SWEETY!!!!!!  Lots of cakes, pavlovas and macarons to be made in our household.....yummo:)

Sometimes Ignorance is Bliss

If I had to sum up Hong Kong in a sentence I would say, "a crazy, exciting, fun place with AWESOME food and shopping".  When expats move there they either grab the bull by the horns and have a ball or they find it so overwhelming that they don't cope and end up going back to their own country.  I was the expat that grabbed the bull by its horns and threw myself into the culture.  I learnt some basic Mandarin, Cantonese, Chinese cooking, Chinese knots and Mahjong - Hong Kong rules of course.

Chinese food is fantastic but to the average "gweilo" authentic Chinese food can be just a bit too weird and scary.  As we all know the Cantonese are known to eat pretty much every part of the beast... did I take risks and try things that I wouldn't normally eat...hell yeah!  Look, if I could eat a witchetty grub and a bogong moth when I was a kid, I could sure eat snake soup and the like... and I did.  After living in HK for 3 years and then recently moving back to oz I have suffered a bit from reverse culture shock as it was almost like living on another planet.  No longer do I go to the wet markets to do my shopping where I see chickens being slaughtered and intestines hanging on hooks and/or blood and guts.  Now I go to a quality butcher located in Mawson and Coles supermarket; and everything is sanitized - I am still yet to discover the local Canberra markets but expect pretty much the same....gourmet products but no nasty surprises.

I miss the excitement of shopping in the wet market talking to the vendors in my basic Cantonese and/or Mandarin.  I miss picking out unusual herbs such as Sichuan peppercorn leaves, transported from Sichuan, or picking out live prawns and shrimps.  I miss the giggle of my 6 year old when a prawn escaped from the plastic bag and jumped all over the floor on the bus.  Did anyone care?  No... this was Hong Kong, this was part of everyday life.  On the other hand, did I know what I was eating half the time? No.  Did many expats shop at the wet market? No.  Could I have eaten harmful fungicides and pesticides? Yes.  Did the prawns in Hong Kong have a lot of flavour? No.  Did the Chinese farmers use lots of antibiotics with their farmed animals and seafood? Yes.  Australia has some of the finest seafood, meat, poultry and produce in the world and the highest standards but when you live overseas sometimes ignorance is bliss.  Australia is truly the lucky country but we do have to look after it as the pollution in Hong Kong is so bad some days that you only have 2km visibility.  China produces most of the world's products and the environmental disasters resulting from this are catastrophic and possibly irreversible. Although, I love Hong Kong and there will always be place for it in my heart I also love Australia so will always be torn.

Spices in Graham Street Wet Market

A typical butcher in the wet market.

My 6 year old loved going to the wet market and always held the bag of live prawns on the way home.  I also remember how excited she was when she saw some live toads floating in a bowl above a tub of water...it was even funnier when the vendor started spinning the bowl and the toads got dizzy.

Fruit and veggie stalls at Graham Street wet market on Hong Kong Island.

Below are photos of an authentic Chinese grocery store.  Wing Woo Grocery store located in Wellington Street (now closed) had operated for over 80 years and was handed down through generations.  It was popular with locals and tourists alike and was one of my favourite shops.

Top floor of the store where Kwan Moon-chui lived - don't cha love the gorgeous pink long johns:P  The building itself is over a 100 years old but,  if not already, will be torn down by Urban Renewal Authority and will become the site of the portal for the new wet markets in the Central district.  

Well that's about it for today, from the photo's above I think you now have some insight as to what life was like - very different but very exciting.  If there are any other bloggers out there that have found the excitement in Canberra let me know coz I haven't found it:( 

Send in your Tips and or Suggestions on Asian Cuisine

Ok, I've got blonde hair and blue eyes and there is no hint of Asian about me but I spent a good 9 months with Cantonese cooks learning about Chinese cuisine and have an intermediate Chinese Cooking certificate to prove it.   I plan to include lots of yummy recipes on my site but if you read my blog and are Asian and have some tips or suggestions passed down from your mum or grandma then send them in as I would love to hear from you.

Hand Minced Pork Dumplings with Homemade Wrappers

It's too late to post the recipe and photo's of the dumplings that I made today but they are totally scrumdelicious!!!!!  When I get time later this week, I will update this post with the recipe and photos.  Making dumplings for the first time can prove a little tricky but with tips and a bit of practice you'll be making your own in no time.  Pop them into the freezer and you have a delicious snack that you can prepare quickly.  My kids love them and they are great for tots.... mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

A few days later and I've finally loaded the photo's....

If you  have a cleaver, go to your local butcher and ask for pork belly and try mincing your own meat, this way you will end up with a spongey, moist filling that is flavoursome and juicy instead of dry.

Chinese cooks use two cleavers to mince their meat but I only feel comfortable using one thanks very much!

Here we are aiming for half fat and half lean pork so that the fat renders down whilst cooking and keeps the filling moist.

Slice the ginger then fan it out and shred it finely.

Then in a fan type motion with your knife or cleaver, dice the ginger finely in a similar way that you would finely chop herbs.

Mix the hot water into the flour first before adding the cold so that the water cooks the flour and it ends up looking like this.  This is an important step as the hot water helps to make the dough elastic and it is easier to fill your dumpling wrappers.

Keep kneading the dough just like bread so that it ends up looking like the dough below.

Here, the gluten has started to relax and the dough is still soft and a little sticky.  Try not to spread too much flour on your working surface or you will lose the stickiness in the dough.  If you have to use a little flour only use cornflour otherwise, plain flour and the like will be absorbed into the dough and make it unmanageable.

Cut the dough into portions and cover them in plastic wrap ready for use.

Roll the portion of dough into a long rope and cut with a plastic scraper, similar to gnocchi.  Notice that there isn't too much flour on the work surface.

 Press the piece of dough down with the palm of your hand, cut surface facing up, so that a circle is formed then roll the wrapper as above.  I have a dim sum rolling pin but you can go to your local hardware store and have a small bit of wood cut to suit.  

When you fill the dumpling it is important to leave a a rim so that you can fold and pleat the wrapper.  Oops, in the above photo I dredged the dumplings with too much cornflour which made it difficult to pleat and seal the wrapper - not good.

To form the dumpling, fill the wrapper, fold it in half then pinch the right hand corner.  Start pleating the front side of the wrapper whilst pinching against the back of the wrapper and there you have it.  Notice that I haven't dredged the bench or dumpling with much cornflour and the result is a lot better.

And, look there's more.... waaaaaaaaaaaa.

Next step is to post the recipe.... back soon.

Noodles with Beef & Soy Sauce

These noodles were my absolute favourite in Hong Kong and I think I make a pretty mean version of them.  There is a chef located at Causeway Bay that has a reputation for making the best version of this dish, he uses pork fat in his recipe and so do I...

Ingredients:
2 small rib eye beef steaks (sliced finely)
3 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
2 tblspn fresh ginger (chopped finely)
1 bunch of garlic chives (cut into 1 inch lengths)
pork fat (walnut size)
1 packet of fresh rice noodles (sliced thickly)
1 cup of oil (to blanch the beef)
1 tbsp oil extra

Marinade:
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp water
2 tsp shao xing wine

Sauce:
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp chicken powder

1.  Marinate the beef in the marinade for 15 minutes.  Make sure that you dissolve the bicarb soda well in the water before adding it to the beef and mix thoroughly.  After 15 minutes pour the beef into a sieve to remove excess moisture then using one cup of oil, blanch the beef in the wok (on high heat) until it changes colour - remove.  Pour the oil through a strainer and either dispose or store for later use. Rinse the hot wok under running tap water and clean with a nylon brush then put it back on the wok burner for later use.
2.  Pour a few drops of dark soy sauce onto the fresh rice noodles (in a bowl) and mix thoroughly so that they become a lovely brown colour.
3.   Heat the wok on high until it smokes.  Add 1 tbsp cold oil (drizzled around the middle of the wok so that it runs down to the bottom) then add the chopped ginger and garlic.  Stir-fry a few seconds then add the strained beef back to the wok, add the garlic chives and stir-fry continuously until the garlic chives start to wilt.  At this stage, add the pork fat then the rice noodles.  Stir-fry until the noodles become soft and separate.
4.  Add the sauce and stir-fry until the noodles and beef are well coated.

Note: For the pork fat I went to my local butcher and asked for the fat that surrounds the kidneys.  This fat renders down to a liquid and imparts a smoky flavour to the dish.  Garlic chives and the fresh rice noodles are available from your local Asian grocery store. Below is a picture of the packet of fresh noodles that I used.

Seasoning Your Wok

I had just bought my shiny new carbon steel wok from Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei and was proudly carrying it through the central wet market on Hong Kong Island when an old Cantonese lady gave me tips on how to season my wok.  Scrub the wok with a soapless scourer to remove the thin film of manufacturing oil that protects it from rusting, rinse it in running water then dry with paper towel.  Heat the wok on high heat until it starts to smoke then add pork fat.  Use the garlic chives to swirl the pork fat around the wok so that the surface of the wok is coated in the pork fat.  As the pork fat renders down and the garlic chives become blackened, turn off the heat and let the wok cool.  Remove the blackened pork fat and garlic chives then repeat this process once or twice with fresh ingredients.

When the carbon steel wok is exposed to high heat the pores in the steel open up.  As you season your wok, the pork fat along with its flavour gets trapped in the pores and the garlic chives acts as an antiseptic.

After you have followed the above instructions, your wok is ready to use.  Each time you cook you will be adding to the depth of flavour and colour of the woks patina.  After I make a stir-fry, I put the wok under cold running water and use a nylon dishwashing brush to clean it - never clean your wok with dishwashing liquid.  By the time you put the nylon brush into the wok, it has already cooled down so as not to melt the brush. Wipe your wok out with paper towel, then immediately put it back onto the wok burner on a high heat to remove any moisture, then turn off the heat.  If you follow this method you won't have to deal with a rusty wok.  To be on the safe side, you can also wipe the inside of the wok with a few drops of oil when the wok cools down.

Note that I have a bamboo brush to clean my wok but find it quicker and easier to use the nylon one as sometimes it is necessary to clean your wok several times in the preparation of a dish.  Also, if you are able to get pork fat from around the kidney area, the fat will simply melt and you won't have to remove it.  In this case, wipe the wok clean with paper towels before you repeat the process.  This type of fat is often used to make the blocks of lard in the supermarket.