A Taste of Grandma’s Dish – Sweet and Sour Short Pork Ribs

When I was still a kid at the second grade of primary school, I remember there were two things that can really caught my attention “The Transformer” games and my grandma’s “red” short pork Ribs. It’s a sweet and unforgettable memory in my life, and also a way that my grandma showed her love to me.

Here’s the essential steps that I remembered when I was standing behind my grandma while she was cooking.

Ingredients:

Short pork ribs: 500g

Cooking wine: 1 tablespoon

Cooked Soy sauce: half tablespoon

Sugar: three tablespoons

Chicken salt: half a tsp

Uncooked soy sauce: one table spoon

Black vinegar: three tablespoon, put 1.5 tablespoon for each time

Salt: half a tsp

Sesame: half a tsp

 Direction:

1. After rinsing 500g short pork ribs, cook the ribs in the water for 30 minutes. The pork rib soup can be saved for cooking noodles and later use, so don’t throw them away.

2.Marinate the short pork ribs with one tablespoon cooking wine, one tablespoon uncooked soy sauce, half a tablespoon cooked soy sauce, two tablespoons black vinegar for 20 minutes.

3. Take out the ribs for later use. Slightly pan fry the ribs with a little oil until the ribs turn golden yellow.

4.Put the fried short ribs, the marinated sauce, three tablespoons white sugar, half the meat soup cooked in step 1 in a pan, and finally add half teaspoon of salt to enrich the flavor. Adjust the cooking heat to the highest until the sauce is boiled.

5. Turn the cooking heat to small and put the slid on for 10 minutes, and then use high heat to steam out the sauce and put one tablespoon of black vinegar at the same time to add the flavor of sour.

6. Before taking the cooked ribs out of pan, sprinkle green onions, sesames and chicken salt around.

Let me know your versions of sweet and sour short pork ribs and share the photos to make everyone drooling.

From 17th century BC till now, the Hot Pot is still really hot

Ask your friends or strangers around about hotpot, I guess most people have tried it at least once.

The embryonic form of hotpot appeared in Shang and Zhou dynasty (1600bc –156bc). People started to use the heat of water to make veal, lamb and other meat cooked in a traditional cook called “Ding”.

Hot-water cooking style was evolving all the time, until Song Dynasty, the term “hot pot”was recorded in the literature.

Today, people are obsessed with Chongqing hotpot. The exotic spicy tasting journey will make you unforgettable, and be always drooling when you think about Chongqing hotpot. Pamper yourself with different hotpot styles:

9-Slot Hot Pot

No.1 Hotpot Fest

Double-flavored Hot Pot

Copper Hot Pot

Fish Hot Pot

Individual Hot Pot

Luxury Hot Pot

Wow! I am drooling now. Personally, I prefer home-made hotpot – Buy a family-style hotpot in a Chinese or a Korean grocery store and DIY it to the style you like using metal board. Then head to Chinatown to find the hotpot stew base with the PinYin “Chongqing” written on the package, and buy whatever food you want to put in the hot pot. The taste should be speechless:)))

Cross-bridge Rice Noodles (过桥米线)

A classic set of Cross-bridge Rice Noodles for one person is more like a banquet for a group.

After your first glance at this headline, I know someone might giggle at the “awkward” translation. Nah~ If you do, you may consider yourself not a qualified foodie. Disagree? Here’s the loving story:

Chinese Vocabs:

Xiucai: One who passed the imperial examination at the county level in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Zhuangyuan: The topmost candidate in the imperial examination at the national level in the Ming and Qing dynastities.

The story originated at Mengzi located in the southeast of Yunnan province. In the Qing dynasty, a Xiucai was craving for the award of Zhuangyuan. He was dedicated to study for the imperial exam to get the award. In order to have a complete focus, he studied in Bajiao Pavilion on a small island located in the center of Nan River. His wife was worried about his wellbeing because he devoted so much time and energy into the exam. To ensure that he get enough nutrition, his wife packed meal boxes and brought them to him three times a day. Disappointedly, the meals always went cold after his wife arrived at the small island. She once cooked a fresh chicken soup with rice noodles by using earthen pot. After arriving the small island, she saw his husband was so concentrated that she did not want to interrupt his study. So she waited, waited, and then fell asleep. After she woke up, she found the chicken soup with rice noodles still haven’t been eaten. She felt worried, and she had to go back to reheat the meals to ensure her husband could eat a hot meal. While she was repacking the meal, she surprisingly found that the chicken soup was still hot because of the chicken fat on the surface of the soup. After the Xiucai ate the chicken soup with rice noodles, he loved it and was so proud of his wife’s cooking skill. Gradually, the dish was disseminated and well known by people around. Everyone loved it and they named the dish cross-bridge rice noodles because Xiucai’s wife had to cross the Chiqie Bridge to bring meals to her husband.

The dish is always getting tastier after hearing the story behind it, isn’t it?

After the background story, I must recommend you the most scrumptious cross-bridge noodles that I have ever had out of Yunnan province – Cha Hua Mei Zi (茶花妹子). Since almost everyone has a higher chance to visit the capital city of China than Yunnan province, I think this recommendation is worth marking down on your try-out lists. Also, I’ve been to Yunnan, and yummy noodle shops are almost everywhere. You can’t miss it.

Modernized cross-bridge rice noodles include various traditional and modernized side plates such as sliced pork, sliced fish fillet, prawns, chicken slices, fresh quail eggs, Chinese chive, steamed pot chicken, peanuts, preserved garlic and so many. The reasonable eating sequence is to put raw materials (pork, chicken, fish fillet slices, quail eggs ) into the hot chicken soup first, and then put veggies – give enough time for the raw materials to be well cooked before eating.

Cha Hua Mei Zi Decor

The classic set of “Zhuangyuan Cross-bridge Rice Noodles” priced 58 RMB （about $10 USD） in Cha Hua Mei Zi.

Qing Feng Steamed Stuffed Bun Shop (慶豐包子鋪)

People living at most regions of China prefer to eat steamed buns stuffed with veggie, meat or combination of both for breakfast. The steamed buns are so tempting especially when you passing by a steamed-bun selling window, smelling and seeing the flavored steam coming out of the steamer. While you are wondering the fillings of the steamed buns, you’ve already started drooling and slowed your rushing pace to the office.

Qing Feng Steamed Stuffed Bun Shop is my favorite steamed bun restaurant in China. It was founded in 1948, and named “Wan Xing Ju”. At that time, it’s a restaurant serving side plates, stir fired dishes and rice etc. Since 1956, Wan Xing Ju’s public and private sectors have merged, rebranding as a specialized business in making steamed buns. They offer good quality stuffing, flour, secret ingredients (in a good way), and versed bun chef teams to make their steamed buns to stand out from the crowd.

Steamed buns with pork and shredded seafood,veggies and seafood, prawns,preserved veggies,veal and green onions,carrots and veal and you name it. Except from the signature steamed buns, they also serve a variety of appetizers, side plates and seasonal specialties with options of ten categories – wonton with chicken soup, purple rice congee, sautéed veal, crisp fish, and the most popular traditional cuisine called “chaogan” (stir-fried liver, to some it may sound “phew…er…”, but it is yum!)

Can you imagine how fast these talents can make various steamed buns? I don’t know, but I’ve seen them making once – extremely fast!

Believe it or not: Qing Feng Steamed Stuffed Bun Shop is also Xi Jinping’s (President of China) favorite steamed bun restaurant. Since President Xi visited Qing Feng and ordered “pork buns with green onion + stir-fried Chinese mustard+ stir-fried liver”, “President combo” has soon been released and promoted since last year. You could imagine how popular this set is.

The popular “President Combo” – Pork Buns with Green Onions + Stir-fried Chinese mustard + Chaogan!

For those who are ambitious enough to try to make steamed buns themselves, I share the video clip that I think is the most classic way of making buns according to my beloved mommy.

“Jian Bing Guo Zi” – Energize your morning with Chinese crepe

A typical and popular mobile brekkie stand parking around a corner of a residential building is Jian-Bing-Guo-Zi stand selling freshly cooked Chinese crepe. It’s quick, warm and tasty. An easy choice fits people who go to work or school and do not have time to cook their brekkie at home.

What is Chinese crepe (Jian Bing Guo Zi – in Chinese characters:煎饼馃子)?

Chinese crepe originates in Tianjin, and it was evolved from Shandong crepe over 100 years ago. It was said that Shandong crepe was created by a Chinese Muslim with the surname Ma. The old Chinese crepe only contains a big crepe with a Chinese cruller/doughnut（Youtiao）and Welsh onion.

Later on Tianjiners enrich the ingredients in Shangdong crepe to make it tastier and filling enough for people to stay unstarved till lunch break.

Many Chinese crepe stands look alike. How can you tell which one is tasty? A classic Chinese crepe includes crepe made with white flour, an egg, crispy and crunchy pastry or Chinese doughnut, green onions, bean sauce and chili paste. Personally, I prefer crepe made from five-grain flour, 2 eggs, some fresh vegies, bean sauce and chili paste.

In my hometown Nanjing, I know where to find the tastiest crepe, and even the stand owners’ nicknames. But when I travel to a new city in China, and I love Chinese crepe for my brekkie. I usually walk up close to several crepe stands around to tell 1) sanitariness, 2) options for fillings, 3) options for flour paste; obviously, the cleaner, the more choices, the better. But on top of all the factors for choosing a crepe, do pay attention to if the cooks wear cooking gloves when they are cooking, and if they take off the gloves while they receive the money and give you back the changes.

Let’s visually experience how a Chinese crepe is cooked? It’s hard to find an authentic video clip with English subtitles. This one is the best one so far.

The visual feeling of the crepe stand on the live street just makes me miss my crepe so badly. BUT! For those who are craving for a taste like me, the good news is a transformed Chinese crepe restaurant not a Stand called Huangtaiji (黄太吉)is planning to open up their first Chinese crepe restaurant in the New York City soon. How can they make that happen? Because they are extremely popular in China now, even hotter than the street stands, that’s why they are now so loaded enough to open up a store in the crazily expensive and fabulous New York City. Look at their popularity on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) -http://www.weibo.com/u/2813050101.

 

Pita Bread Soaked in Lamb Soup

When you are still freezing in the winter and wondering why there’s still no sign for the spring. Let’s warm up by a bowl of self-cooked Shanxi’s famous specialty “Pita Bread Soaked in Lamb Soup”. The dish name sounds not fancy? Nah, you should never judge a dish by its name.

Shanxi is located at the northwest of China. Its distinctive weather pattern forms its unique food culture. Lamb soup is a great way to keep warm and feel full during Shanxi’s unbelievable cold weather in winter. How to cook it by yourself? Sounds challenging? Well, the key is the freshness of lamb. Let’s start!

Ingredients:

Lamb foreshank, ginger, garlic, black fungus, flour, Chinese herbs (chinese cinnamon, Illicium Verum, codonopsis pilosula, radix astragali, rhizoma kaempferiae, myrcia, Galangal, Cardamon), Chinese Hawthorn, Sichuan pepper.

Directions:

1. Rinse and clean the fresh lamb foreshank.
2. Chop the lamb into large pieces.
3. Place all the lamb pieces into a pressure cooker. Add all the flavoring: ginger, garlic, Chinese cinnamon, Illicium Verum, codonopsis pilosula, radix astragali, rhizoma kaempferiae, myrcia, Galangal, Cardamon, Chinese Hawthorn, Sichuan pepper.
4. Pour in 4 cups water. Close cover securely, and bring cooker to full pressure over high heat.
5. After the soup is boiled, skim off the scum at the surface of the soup; Reduce heat to low-high; cook for 2 hours until lamb and bone are almost separated, then you can remove pressure cooker from heat, and allow pressure to drop on its own. Remove lamb, separate meat from bones, discard bones and keep warm. Set aside the lamb broth for later use.
6. While you are stewing the lamb, you can use the time to pour the flour into a bow and mix flour with water to make flour dough with balanced softness. Leave the dough for 20 minutes for the proofing process. The amount of flour and water depends on how much pita bread you want to eat.
7. Use a rolling pin to shape the round dough into flat circle, and then place the flat dough on a heated flat pan (similar as making a pancake). Close the cover to cook the flat dough with low heat.
8. Cook the other side of the flat dough after one side of it turns light brown.
9. After the flat dough is ready. Cut the flat dough into small pieces for later use – pita bread.
10. Pour the reserved broth into a small pot. Add in the broth with starch noodles, cooked black fungus, 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, beef powder, fish sauce (skip this if you don’t have), and a small amount of salt.
11. After the starch noodle are cooked, you can add pita bread in the broth to cook for about 2 minutes.
12. As a traditional habit of flavoring, you can choose to add chili sauce/oil, coriander, shallot, and sweetened garlic in the soup.

To be honest, if you are abroad like me, it’s really hard to find the same tasteful chili sauce/oil and sweetened garlic as the ones made in Shan’xi.

Tips: Make sure you mix all the traditional flavorings in the broth.

Suggested eating sequence: One bite of sweetened garlic is followed by one bite of starch noodle soaked in lamb broth. Then sandwich the soaked pita bread with sweetened garlic and lamb.

No matter how great your DIY lamb soup + pita bread is, you must try the following restaurants if you get a chance to visit China: Mr. Sun’s Lamb Soup with Pita Bread (Xi’an), Lao Xi’an Restaurant (Beijing), Hao Ganggang (Taiyuan). They are all affordable and unforgettable.

 

The map of the yummiest PLUM CAKE~~~

You can only find the yummiest plum cake in Nanjing. Please don’t start to have a debate with me. Let me show you.

Plum cake has originated since Ming Dynasty. When plum cake developed till Qing Dynasty, it became the most famous desert specialty in the south of Yangzi River. Plum cake was named after the adventure of emperor chien lung, since the cake shaped like a plum blossom.

Plum cake was made by blending quality flour, baking powder and water until they became paste. After the paste is ready, you pour the paste into plum-shape moulds. Then you can choose whatever filling you love to fill in the center of the plum moulds, following by covering up the top with the prepared paste. The last step is to sprinkle some white sugar, green and red melon slices, and black sesame.

These steps read easy, but the real distinctions that differentiate the tasty plum cake and non-tasty ones are the freshness of the fillings. While you have many options to fill the plum cake with red bean paste, pork, rose petals and many other kinds, the most classic and my favorite one is the red bean paste. Restaurants usually choose to buy a large bag of cooked red bean paste in the supermarket to make plum cakes, which adds extra sweetness and heaviness to the cake. In comparison, some of the most popular food stands along the streets in Nanjing make the red bean paste from fresh red bean every time before they fill the paste into hot moulds. This one tiny difference separates the authentic from the crowed.  Even better, some food stands, for instance, the one that I went quite often before, mix the fresh red bean paste with black sesame paste. When you have a bite, god! It’s incredible and speechless, and what you can only say is that it’s a perfect winter desert. Indeed, some smart food stands mix little sticky balls and dates with flour paste as toppings. You could imagine the flavor! I am drooling now…

If you had a chance to visit Nanjing, here are the most highly rated plum-cake stands in Nanjing:

• Plum Cake: No.159 Longpan Rd., Xuanwu District (Inside Nanjing Forestry University)
• Mr. Wei Plum Cake: No.9 Matai St., Gulou District (near West Liuwan Park), Mobile: 13327816780
• Chef Zuo Plum Cake: Matai St. (near Tongjia xiangkou), Mobile: 13057604099
• Plum Cake: Nanjing University, Hankou Rd., Gulou District