Day 18: Basílica

Hoy, comé un plato nuevo. Este plato se llama habichuela dulce. Normalmente, comimos habichuela salado con arroz para almuerzo. Hoy, para tratamos habichuela dulce para postre. ¡Me gusta mucho! ¡Que rico!

Habichuela Dulce

En la tarde, fuimos a Higuey para ver una iglesia se llama La Altagracia. Este iglesia es muy grande y muy bonita. Hay muchas personas vinieron aquí para la fiesta religiosa. 

Basílica

Para Lady Altagracia

Day 15: Plaza San Juan

Hoy tenemos una día libre. Mis amigos fueron a la playa, pero no fui porque fue nublado. Entonces, mi sede de la hermana y sus amigos y yo fuimos a la Plaza San Juan. Es un centro comercial muy grande! Compre unos regalos para mi familia y mis amigos Estados Unidos. Tambien, comemos un churro con chocolate! Fue muy bueno! Quiero regresa aqui otra vez!

Churro Nutella

Day 2: I Met My Family!

The hotel we stayed at is called Carey House Hotel. It has a cute, little dining cafe on the second floor. Cleo and I enjoyed our breakfast and the cool breeze. 

Photo credit: Patricio

Afterwards, we went on our first mini adventure. We strolled down the street and saw many different buildings. Some of the architecture is really beautiful and unique to Dominican Republic. Marjorie told us that Dominicans don't walk to places even though it is very close. Now, we understood why. After walking outside for 5 minutes we were all sweating like crazy!  

The girls!

I wanted to try something new, so I bought this drink called Malta. I really liked it! Definitely going to get some more the when I get the chance. I can't remember exactly how it happened but I took a picture with this other consumer at the convenient store. His name is Alejandro; he gave me his number and told me to call him when I get back home. Nice guy, but not my cup of tea. Hit me up if you're interested!

This is Alejandro.

After the welcoming reception at the Adrian Tropical Lincoln, I finally met my family! They're super sweet and their names are Miguel (father), Ana (mother), Michelle (younger daughter), Patricia (older daughter), and Luis (son). They took me roller skating and we had a great time! 

Skating with Patricia!

For dinner, we went to a famous restaurant unique to central Santo Domingo. It is called Yokomo (play on words "yo como"). Yokomo serves sushi with a twist. You have your traditional sushi, which includes fish. And if you're not into fish you can have it with other meats including chicken, beef, and shrimp/crab. I ordered a traditional roll and a "BB Roll." The latter consists of chicken and plantains, a fruit unique to Dominican Republic. 

The right is traditional sushi, and the left is the chicken and plantain sushi!

Tis' is the End: the End of our Culinary Journey

Wow, I can't believe that this is already the end of our culinary journey! We hit off 2014 pretty well I would say, get credit for eating delicious Chinese food, going on field trips to eat more food, by far the best JanTerm everrrr! I learned a lot about my own culture through this class. I mean, I knew that there were certain foods eaten at certain times, but I never thought why is that. Even a generation before me doesn't know sometimes as well. 

Remember in my last post about the Chinese New Year dinner and how I talked about the simple chicken? So yesterday we had a guest with us, my brother's tutor, and I asked him, do you know why we serve this kind of chicken on this day? He says no; I turn to one of the auntie's and I also ask her, do you know? She also replies, no; I wasn't really in shock per say but I definitely was not expecting that. She said she just knows that this kind of chicken is served on this day, but she doesn't know why. And so, I told her that on this day of happiness and a mark of wealth and growth, it is thought that no matter how poor you are you will still be able to afford a simple chicken. 

I guess I have an excuse for myself that I am a second generation living in the United States so it's "normal" or "okay" for me to not know this. But for my parent's generation...I think probably not. It does somewhat upset me that they don't know the why to certain Chinese "ways" anymore. Because it is so interesting and so unique that I would be devastated if no one remembers or carries down this tradition anymore. 

With that being said, I will try my best to carry this tradition with me as I grow. I am in a lot of ways American, and in a lot of ways Chinese. But living in America has somewhat made me forget about my Chinese "ways." And I really hope I preserve some Chinese tradition in me. 

Wow, that was kinda' deep...anyways! Thank you again for reading! JanTerm is officially over and everyone enjoy the rest of January!

Evann

Chinese New Year & Spring Festival 春节

Unlike the Western culture how the New Year is celebrated on...the New Year's eve and day on the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year is usually celebrated between mid-January to the end of February. The Chinese separates the year  by the patterns of the moon, hence Chinese New Year is according to the Lunar calendar. This year (2014), Chinese New Year is celebrated on January 31st; adn 2014 is the year of the Horse. How the animals come in play came from an old legend, which I may talk about in another time. 

So lucky for me, and quite a good timing actually, this week we're going to have Chinese New Year! Actually, as I am typing this blog right now, it is already Chinese New Year. Today was such a busy busy busyyyyyy day! My mother and I had to go grocery shopping at the Asian market. And guess what, it was jam PACKED! Everyone was doing their last minute shopping. It's like the eastern equivalent to Christmas Eve shopping or during Black during. Yeah, just that crazy. Andddd here are some typical food items I saw might interest you!

Honey Roasted Pork 叉烧

Roasted Duck 烤鸭

This is actually a very typical way of displaying food in the Asian market in Asia as well. The meat is displayed, and the consumer pick and choose which one(s) they want. Well, we didn't get either at the market becausseeeeee my mommy already bought the roasted duck the day before :). Good job mommy! Today we are here to get some vegetables, noodles, and to stock up on some sauces! 

Thank goodness for JanTerm class I'm taking or else I would've never finished making these dumplings! Practice makes perfect! Today's dumplings were a little different than the ones we made in class. The stuffing we made included: nappa cabbage, ground pork, salt, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and diced ginger; 1/3 being ground pork and the other 2/3 being veggies. (My mom likes to make everything healthier.) Hahah look at me makin' those dumplings! I sat there for almost 3 hours! Netflix was ma pal!

Working super hard!

I'm not going to show you all the dishes that we had but here are some of the dishes that have a significant meaning on Chinese New Year (or Chinese food culture in general haha). This dish (below) is called 捞生 (lao sheng); before the big meal for Chinese New Year, everyone would use their chopsticks and together as a group we would mix everything on this plate together while cheering. This is to bring good luck and sometimes we say wish upon good things (for others) during this time. 

This is no ordinary chicken! This dish is called 白切鸡 (bai qie ji); and it is Cantonese styled. It looks simple, quite plain actually, and you may wonder why is such an easy dish made on such a celebrated festival? Well, meat in China symbolizes wealth. So due to the simplicity of this chicken, people thought that even if you're limited, you (or your family) can still be able to afford a chicken on the table. This is a mark of growth (from the backfire of the Great Leap Forward). So this is still a tradition now and this dish actually asks for a lot of 功夫 (techniques). It was my mom's first time making it, not too bad mommy! Proud of you :)!

There is a Chinese saying and it goes like this, 年年有余. That translates to every year there are remains/leftovers. Every year there is so much abundance that you have remains/leftovers. Fish 鱼 is a homophone for 余. Traditionally, there is always at least one dish that is of fish to signify this saying. However, since we didn't have fish this time....and one of our family's friend got us some lobsters....soooo...we kinda' exchanged it. So what is usually a plate of steamed fish is now a lobster sashimi for us! And it was delish! :D 

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! 

Of course, you can't have a Chinese celebration without alcohol ;). 

That is all folks! This was how I spent my 2014 Chinese New Year! I was definitely the most I've ever put into making a meal for Chinese New Year and it definitely made the food soooo much better! After dinner, we played some games, in this case charades and the loser had to eat a sushi with wasabi packed inside! Ahh I've had only 2, anddddd I was the lucky one who only had to eat 2 muahahah. At the end of the night, of course we received our little red pockets! :)

I hope you enjoyed reading a little snippet of my life and how my family and I celebrated Chinese New Year. I wish everyone good health and may all your wishes come true! Thank you for reading and have a lovely Friday tomorrow!

Evann

Peking Duck

Well, well, well....what do we have here? Yes, ANOTHER field trip down to Dallas to eat some good food! Jealous? Should be ;). Today, we're not just going to eat any Chinese food, we are going to get ourselves some Peking duck!! Yes, the one and only famous Chinese dish that is to die for! (Well..I didn't mean to exaggerate.) We went to a restaurant in Plano called Mr. Wok. It's a cute little cottage  that is heavily decorated with Chinese ornaments all over the walls inside. Very typical of Chinese people actually. This restaurant is super popular. People poured themselves, literally, in as we try not to trip anyone over with our chairs. Yes, it was rather intense.

Peking duck is a delicacy in Chinese food culture. Millions of ducks are served every week in China! Isn't that crazyy??? Peking duck is served with the steamed pancake, thinly sliced green onions, sometimes garlic as well, and sweet bean paste/sauce. The procedure for this dish is as follows. First you take a piece of steamed pancake and put it on your plate. Now get some sweet bean paste and spread it over your pancake. Not too much because it can be quite salty! The next step is to add your green onions, garlic, and lastly your duck pieces. Generally it is one piece of meat and a piece of skin so you have the perfect combination of softness and crunchiness. Wrap it up like a burrito and there is your peking duck ready to be devoured! 

Believe it or not, this is actually the first time I've had Peking duck anywhere else besides China. There are some differences but I wouldn't say it's big enough to change the style or the taste of the entire dish. The steamed pancakes in this restaurant I would say is slightly bigger and thicker than usual. But thats okay. Everything else is fine though! Very nicely done, it was sooo yummy! Everyone just couldn't stop, including myself as well haha. 

This is definitely not a dish that we are able to do at home...unless your house has a restaurant styled kitchen then aren't you a lucky duck?! (Haha, I did it again! LOL.) Anyways, I've always loved Peking duck and it actually has been a while since the last time I've had it..probably 2 years ago? I'm not even joking. So thank you so much (insert instructor's name here) for taking us to get some Peking duck! It was soooo yummy! I felt like I've had enough food for like... 2 days. Well..not really, but you know what I mean. I cannot believe that week 2 is alreayd OVER! Isn't that crazy? Time flies when you're having fun! And I'm having a blast for sure! Well, if you are in the DFW area and would like to try some Peking duck, with a Chinese approval, make your way to Mr. Wok in Plano! You wouldn't be disappointed! (Unless you're a super chef in China who has masted the Peking duck for 20+ years, then there are no guarantees.) 

Thank you all for sticking around these two weeks! I hope to post more Chinese food pictures whenever I can! It is almost Chinese New Year and I think we're doing something big at home this year. We shall seeeee! Until next time!

Evann

Lotus Root Sandwiches 莲藕猪肉饼 and Pineapple Rice 菠萝饭

Yup, we're going to visit a new province today! Yunnan 云南 is located in the southern part of China. The weather there is rather tropical and soooo...there are a lot of tropical fruits and vegetables :). In the Yunnan province, Buddhism is also practiced heavily. So the people's food there is usually kept to the minimal and they don't consume meat at all. So after our instructor told us about this culture, I really wondered what we were going to make today. 

And it turned out that we are going to make TWO dishes today! Get excited! :D

The first dish we are going to make is...drumroll please.....LOTUS ROOT SANDWICHES!! Yeah I know, sounds kinda' weird right? But trust me, they're actually pretty good! (Or maybe we're just super incredible fantastic magnificent chefs ;).) If you don't know what a lotus root is, it's basically a "root" that is found in muddy puddles in swampy areas. So how did we make a dish out of this interesting looking vegetable? Well, I'm about to show you!

Ingredients you will be needing is: sliced lotus roots, soy sauce, pork, sugar, eggs, ginger, corn flour, cooking wine, scallions, and salt.

First step is to mince the pork. It should be easier if you brought ground pork. Dice the scallions and ginger and put it in the same bowl as the minced pork. Now, according to your taste and liking, add in sugar, cooking wine, soy sauce, and mix everything together. 

Now in a separate bowl, mix in eggs, corn flour, and water; mix until the texture is consistent. Obtain some lotus roots, wash and peel the skin. What you would want to do now is to cut the lotus slices about a centimeter in width. 

As the name suggests, we are going to make a sandwich! As simple as that. Tkae a slice of lotus root and, like spreading peanut butter onto a piece of bread, spread the mined pork mixture onto the lotus root. Take another slice of lotus root an put it on top of the meat. Yay, you have your very own lotus root sandwich! But it's not done quite yet. Remember you prepared an egg mixture? Yes, submerge the entire sandwich into the egg mixture. Once you take it out, deep fry it in a wok heated with oil. When you see a golden, crispy, layer formed that means the sandwich is ready to be served! :) You can also try to lay a piece of napkin on the plate so it can soak the leftover oil. You can either go ahead and eat it as the way it is, or you can dip it in soy sauce, hoisan sauce, chili sauce, etc. Have fun eating! :)

So nowwwwwwwww, the PINEAPPLE dish! I'm sure most, if not all, of ya'll are quite interested in what is this Pineapple rice. Yup, well just like it sounds, it's pineapple...with rice! Or I guess it's more like rice in a pineapple bowl. Anyways, let's get started! Here listed are the ingredients that you would need for this dish:

• 1 cup sticky (glutinous) rice
• 1 fresh, ripe pineapple
• 3 pieces rock sugar or 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup dried longans
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or coarsely chopped almonds
• Honey or agave nectar (optional)
• 1/2 cup flaked or shredded coconut

There are a couple of different ways to create this dish, but I'm going to tell you the recipe that we used in class. Because it can get a little wordy...I'm going to make this as succinct as possible! (You're welcome :).) 

1. Cook the rice!
2. Rinse the pineapple, cut off the head and cut the rest in half; carve out the pineapple meat and cut it into bite-szied block pieces for later use. 
3. By this time, your rice should be done. Mix the rice with honey, rock sugar, salt, longans, nuts, coconut water, and pineapple meat of course! (We're going to call this the "stuffing," you will see why in just a second. Literally.)
4. Place the stuffing in the pineapple bowl (or shell, however you want to call it). 
5. If you have a bamboo steamer, then place the whole thing in it and let it cook for 30-45 minutes. If you don't have a bamboo steamer, steam it in whatever way works for you! If you don't have any kind of steamer, I'm sure the oven would work just as fine :). 
6. Once the time is up! Grab a pair of gloves and it gobble up! You've just made your very own Chinese pineapple rice! 

Out of the two, I would say the lotus root sandwich is my favourite. (Well, besides the fact that I'm slightly allergic to pineapples.)When it comes to a meal, I gernally aggravate towards more savory and salty dishes than sweeter ons. And I also really liked how the lotus root sandwiches turned out. The lotus root was kinda' crunchy, probably because it wwasn't entirely cooked. But it added a different texture, which I thought wasn't bad. But if I were to make this dish again, I would let the sandwich deep fry a little longer until it's a golden brown colour. Then for the dipping sauce, I would use fish sauce, soy sauce, water, and some sesame seeds.

We've never made this dish at home before. I've talked about how my mother is a health freak. So usually we don't make anything that is deep fried. In our family, we like to use lotus roots to make soup. Lotus roots are known to hydrate the body. So a lot of Chinese families like to make lotus root soup (with pork and other herbs) after a BBQ, during the winter seasons, in which the body needs extra hydration (to keep it's balanced state; oh goodness I can go on with this forever. But I know you don't want to hear it haha.) With that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if my mom made me lotus root soup when I go back home this weekend. I'll try to post a picture if she did make it!

Well that is all for today folks, thanks for reading! Tomorrow, like last Friday, we are going to go on a field trip! Yayyy! :) We are going to have Peking duck. Yes, the one and only! So stay tuned and come back tomorrow for more! Have a lovely day! :)

Evann

Lao Nai Yang Yu 老奶洋芋 and Beef Skewers

There are so many different ethnic groups in China! Soooo many, it's kind crazy, yet incredible at the same time. Have you ever heard of the Uyghur people? Yeah, before today, I haven't either. The Uyghur people inhibit in the northeast border of China. They are a very distinct group with their own unique style of clothing, lifestyle, as well as culture. Most of them practice Islam. And of course, how can we forget about their food?? Righhttt??

Again, today we are going to make two different food dishes! Yayy more food! So let's start with meat, becauseeeee I like meat :). Well, I guess if you compare it to potatoes. You'll know what I mean later! 

Okay, marinade ingredients:

• 1 tsp. ginger powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. dried chili flakes
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3 tsp. sea salt
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 80 ml vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce

Once you already made your marinade sauce, cut your beef into bite sized pieces. In a bowl, pour in the sauce and let the meat, well marinade, for about 15-20 minutes. And while this super delicious flavouring soaks into the meat, I have something else for you to do! Grab some toothpicks and soak them in a bowl of water. We do this because later when you make the skewers, the meat would slide through easier than it would if the toothpicks were dry. When the beef is done, your toothpicks will be done as well! 

Tick...tock...tick...tock... Well technically I could tell you guys what to do for the second dish, but I really don't want to confuse ya'll like this! Is 20 minutes up yet? Well, if it is almost hitting the 20 minutes mark, you can start the griller and get it all heated up! This part is pretty much self explanatory. After you have finished making all your cabobs, throw them on the griller and let it cook, cook, cook! Ooooh talking about this is making my mouth water all over again! I'm sure you guys have cooked beef before, so when you know it's done, it's done! Honestly, I had to like...fight for my skewers! Because they were just sooooo goood!! :D

Now onto this second dish: basically Chinese mashed potatoes (I'm not going to use that fancy name. I mean...what are titles for, right? Haha :).)

Okay, enough of this nonsense and let's get started! So in order to make this potato dish, you will neeeeeeeeeed:

• 1 lb. waxy potatoes
• 1/3 c. peanut oil or canola oil
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed and sliced
• 4 whole dried red chilis
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 c. fresh fennel greens
• 2 tsp. chili garlic paste (we added more because we're boss)
• 1 tsp. salt

The most tedious work ever, well in cooking terms, is peeling the potatoes...thank goodness I didn't have to. Thanks to Caitlin, Katie, and other wonderful people in my class! What would I do without them? Starve. Running on a tangent again, FOCUS! Once your potatoes are peeled, cut them into blocks, and them smash them to make it into a mashed potato kind of consistency. The rest of the ingredients, you are going to put all of them into the wok! So first heat up your wok, add some oil; the first few ingredients you want to add are the garlic and the salt. Then right after that, you want to put everything else (except for your green onions), including your mashed potatoes. If you feel adventurous like how we ALWAYS are, add in some chili garlic sauce, siracha, or whatever hot sauce you want to spice things up! (Haha, see what I did there? SPICE things up? Okay fine.) 

Well ladies and gents, here is your Lao Nai Yang Yu 老奶洋芋! Or in other words, Chinese mashed potatoes! Enjoy!

I'm going to be quite honest with you guys. I LOVED the beef skewers, the mashed potato....not so much. I mean, I didn't dislike it, but it's not something down my alley. Like...if I had a choice I wouldn't choose to eat mashed potatoes generally. But the beef skewers on the other hand... oh boy can I please have seconds? Thirds? Uhh...all of them pleaseeeee??!!? They were soooo delicious! I ate so much that I had an obvious food baby when I left the class. Quite embarrassing actually but..NO SHAME FOR FOOD! And while we're on the page of honesty right now, my family never made mash potatoes before...I've always thought the mashed potatoes is such a western meal. Like...never have I even seen mashed potatoes on a Chinese restaurant menu before...I don't know, I just found it quite odd and interesting. 

The beef skewers we made today was actually another thing that I thought was quite interesting... I don't think I've ever seen it on a Chinese menu before... Well, given that I lived in the southeast border of China, which is DIRECTLY opposite of the Ugyhur people, that would explain some food culture differences. Given the location of where the Ugyhur people reside, I'm not that surprised that their foods have a western twist to it. Well if I were to make these skewers again, I would sprinkle some pepper on top while it's grilling to bring out the taste even more! What do you think? I don't know, I'm not a great cook, I just know what I like to eat :).

Woohoo! Another two dishes under our belt! We are GOOD aren't we? Like always, thanks for reading and I hope you guys have a wonderful day! If it's cold in your region, please stay warm! Have fun creating the foods and I would love to see ay pictures :). 

Evann

Hunan (湖南) Beef

Today, we continued our exploration in the Chinese food culture; I am so excited to hear that today we are going to make food from the Hunan province. Why? Because it's going to be SPICY FOOD! And I LOVE chilli peppers and all things that give my tongue a little tingle. Hunan province is located in the southeast part of China. Yes, this is the second region in China that makes its food with mouthwatering, hot spices. But what makes Hunan food different than that of the Sichuan province? While Sichuan food had its distinct "numbing heat" flavour, Hunan food is sinply, yet dangerously hot. Like...really hot. The "numbing heat" will gradually grow on you, the hotness with Hunan food is that it just hits you (like no other). Yeah, be cautious! 

Hunan province is part of southeast China!

So the Chinese dish we are going to make today is Hunan Beef. If made correctly, the sauce should soak the beef and it will enhance the natural flavour of the beef itself. Soooo let's get on to it! 

First, you would want to marinate 1 lb of sliced flank steak, preferably cut into bite sized. Then you would want to marinade it in a bowl with the following ingredients: 

• 1 tbsp. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp cornstarch

While you wait for the beef for 15-20 minutes, you now want to start on something else! So now, chop some ginger and garlic (both about 1 tbsp. each); then you want to prepare the sauce, which contains:

• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tsp. chili oil
• 1 tsp. chili sauce
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Now the basic work has accomplished, but we're not finished yet!! When the 15 minute mark hits, heat up the wok and put some oil in it until you can hear it sizzzzzzle. Throw in the marinated beef. Once it looks pinkish, add in the chopped up ginger and garlic. When you can tell that the beef is almost completely cooked, you can add in the sauce you have prepared. Stir it for a little bit, 5 minutes, and your very own Hunan beef is done!! :) Serve it with rice and sprinkle some green onions; there you have the perfect food presentation for this dish! Now pat yourself on your back and dig in! :D

Hunan beef served with white rice.

Hmmm...now my thoughts on this dish. The flavoring was actually really delicious! But if I were to cook it again I would add some Sichuan peppers, which I guess would defeat the purpose of it being "Hunan," some dried chili peppers, and some thinly sliced celery to add colour and texture. The beef should be chopped smaller than it was because it was very difficult to chew on and separate. Another reason would probably be due to overcooking the beef as it lost its tenderness. This is definitely a dish that is considered to be a 送饭菜, meaning "eaten with rice" because it is so savory! I actually don't remember our family making this dish, but definitely something similar. Our family likes to make a beef dish called 炖牛肉 (dun niu rou); I think the western equivalent would be pot roast. So instead of putting potatoes and carrots the Western recipes tell us, the Chinese 炖牛肉 would include different types of spices, which I can't recall from the top of my head. And usually this dish is also served with rice, and sometimes with noodles as well. 

Well I hope you guys enjoyed reading or recreating this dish yourself! Tomorrow we will continue our culinary exploration through Chinese food culture! And I have great news, tomorrow we are going to learn how to cook TWO dishes! Yipppeeee:) that means, more food! Let's all try to contain our excitement! Until next time!

Evann

Asian World Market

Today we did something different than we usually did in class. Instead of exploring different Chinese cuisines and trying to cook ourselves, we went to the Asian World market to checkout the products in the stores! One of our tasks today was a scavenger hunt!! Oh I love this game! Let's see what we have got in store! Hahaha you get it, in store... :D 

1. What are the four different types of tofu sold here? -Soft, dried, cakey, & deep fried!

2. What are the four different types of tea sold here? -Ji Jin, Dragon's Well, Long Jing, & Black Tea.

 3. Find a vegetable you've never tried. -Long squash

4. How is the meat displayed here? -In rows/columns by parts

5. Name one type of Chinese beer. -Was trying to find Tsing Dao, but found Taiwan Beer instead!

6. Find a spice you've never worked with. -Never heard of Coriander and Masala spices before!

7. How many types of rice to you see for sale? -Toooooo many! :0

8. What's in a Chinese bakery? -Different types of buns! Some with sweet/salty stuffing instead and some without! There were also different types of cookies!

Fresh ginger, garlic, dried red chillis, and scallions.

Pine nuts, red Azuki beans, stick rice, dried longans.

Chinese cabbage and prickly ash.

Honestly, I thought all these ingredients would not be as hard to find. Turns out, I was WRONG. Maybe I should pay more attention to what my mother is getting when she is here. Usually I just hangout at the junk food section and think of different ways to sneak snacks into the grocery cart without her noticing hahah!! :D 

Can you find these items in your nearby Asian market? Brave enough to take this challenge? To be completely honest, I had to ask to ask customer service for help. There were just SOOOOOO much spices and products in the store! 

I think the abundance of spices and different sauces really shows how the Chinese food culture is. With all these spices and various sauces, the Chinese is able to create a dish with different types of layers! This is definitely something distinct to the Chinese food culture. Hopefully, after this course I would be able to create my own dish with different layers. Practice makes perfect! Wish me luck!

Thank you for sticking with this for yet another week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Go checkout the Asian market! It's really fun :))))))

Evann

Chinese Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐

Continuing where we left off yesterday, today we are taking a step further into traditional Sichuan cuisine! In today's dish, we are going to play with the famous Sichuan pepper 花椒. It is not necessarily the spiciest chili pepper in Sichuan; but what is unique about it is that it produces a numbing sensation to your entire mouth afterwards. Very different from what you're used to right? Ahh I'm so excited! But before we get started I want to tell you a story behind the this dish we are about to make! 

The dish we are making today is called Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐. It translates to English as "pockmarked." The story behind this dish is that there is a woman with pockmarks, so obviously she wasn't "fairest maiden of them all." But because of her pockmarks, she was unable to find herself a husband. So she began to make this dish....that led to countless men wanting to win her hand. 

It is needless to say that she is an amazing cook, so let's hope that our team today will be as great as her!! Let's get started!

• 1 lb ground pork (marinated with soy sauce and corn starch)
• soft tofu
• chili bean paste
• chopped green onions
• chicken broth
• water
• rice

Before cooking the meat, we first want to cook the tofu. Since we are going to mix all our ingredients together, we don't want our tofu to be completely smushed by everything else. We are nooottttt trying to aim to make tofu paste! So in order to semi harden the tofu, we want to boil it and then take it out to settle for later use. But while you are waiting for the tofu to boil, obtain some rice, wash it, and turn on the rice maker. By the time you have finished the dish, your rice would be ready to eat with it! (Cooking Chinese food is also about time management!)

 With the wok all heated up again, throw in the ground pork and stir evenly and consistently (you don't want to only cook one side of the pork)! Now put in the chili bean paste, now the colour on your wok should be a orangey, reddish kind of colour! Isn't it pretty? :). Okay, now you want to put in 3 teaspoons of chicken broth, 3 teaspoons of water, and the boiled tofu. Once everything is almost done, add in the green onions! This adds more colour to the dish! Food presentation, remember? Haha :). Lastly but not least! Add in the sichuan peppercorn and dried chili peppers (if you wish)! 

The way that you would serve this dish would generally be simple on a plate. But in our case, since everyone has their own plate. We piled up some rice onto a plate, and set the Mapo tofu on top of it or on the side (as shown below). And by now your mouth is probably watering non-stop! Take a seat and gobble up!! 

I would say this is one of our more successful dishes we have made so far! I give this 10/10. However to customize it to my taste, I would definitely add some chili oil and extra peppercorn to really get the numbing sensation! Can you tell how much I love spicy food? Haha! I know, usually Cantonese people can't really eat spicy, but I guess my family and I are an exception!

Yes, my family absolutely LOVES spicy food. And one of our favourite family dishes includes Mapo tofu! I remember this one time that our entire family had a huge craving for Mapo tofu that we made it for 5 days straight. Yes, can you imagine. After that, it took us a while to want to make that again hahah. I would say this is one of the less fussy dishes in Chinese cuisine in general. It doesn't require that much ingredients, there is less chopping and cutting, and spices do in fact make a huge part in it! Oh I love Sichuan food. I have actually never been there before either. Having been living in China for 11 years, it is kind of embarrassing. Hopefully, one day I would be able to explore the grounds of my favourite Chinese cuisine. 

Well....guess what folks. Tomorrow we are actually NOT going to cook! OHMYGOSH right? Our class is taking a trip down to Dallas to explore the Asian market and have some dimsum! Wanna' know what that is? Come back to read more about it! :) Have a lovely day!

Evann