chinese cooking classes

I took 2 cooking classes in Shanghai, both learning some dim sum dishes. The first class we learned to make fried buns filled with pork. We made the dough from scratch and let me tell you these little suckers were tricky to fold properly…

I was kinda ticked when she just flipped them over into the frying pan and you didn’t even see the painstaking folds…

They were pretty good though.

The spring rolls were much easier to fold and better than any restaurant spring roll I’ve ever had…

The best part of the class was that we got to eat our food afterwards. Actually, the best part was the teacher who spoke about 3 words of English and had the best laugh ever. She was a hoot…

In our next class we learned to make steamed shrimp rolls in a myriad of shapes…

I was thrilled to find out what the dough of the steamed rolls are made out of – cornstarch and water. That's it. Interesting, huh?

We then made pot stickers which were very similar to the fried buns except no baking powder in the dough so they weren’t as puffy. Also, the fold was much easier and I could crank them out like a machine…

These were by far the best tasting thing we made. We were mighty proud and ate about a million of them.

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon with the girls and made me miss having a kitchen all the more!

Not a hot pot

We had a delicious meal in one of the small villages at the Longji rice terraces. The weather was a bit foggy, but warm enough to sit outside on the patio with a nice view of the village and terraces.   The lunch was included in our tour and we weren’t expecting much, so we were pleasantly surprised by the myriad of fresh and tasty dishes we were served- soup, chicken with peanuts, cumin spiced beef (sooo good), green veggies and an eggplant stirfry…

We also got to try the local specialty, bamboo rice…

They hollow out the bamboo and then stick it into coals to cook the rice inside.  Ours had pumpkin and pork in it and was a favorite of everyone but me.  It has some taste I didn’t like, but the crispy edges of the rice were really nice- kind of like a good paella.

Walking around the village we saw lots of interesting treats for sale. This one we tasted. It was some sort of honeycomb, crunchy and sweet…

This one we skipped…

last pot

I was really excited about going to Chengdu and no, not only for the pandas.  Every Chinese friend we have has talked to us about visiting Sichuan Provence and how amazing and spicy the food is there.  Amazing and spicy?  I’m in!

I wanted to try as many of the specialties that I could while there, but because of our limited time and hectic tour schedule, we really only had one chance at dinner Saturday night.  One person in the group insisted on organizing dinner, meaning we didn’t get much of a say about where we were going for dinner. And guess what??

Yeah, another Chinese hot pot.  Oily and gross. 

I did discover that it wasn’t anise in the previous hot pot and actually the Sichuan pepper- which to me tastes like  spicy anise with almost a numbing feeling in your mouth when you eat it. 

See those green berry-looking things hanging there?  Those are Sichuan peppers. Word to the wise-  if you don’t like anise - you won’t like these.

Anyway, I am on a total strike from any further hot pot meals in China. 

not-pot

I adored hot pots in Japan.  Well, except for that whole “sea pig” incident. 

A boiling pot of water, thinly sliced beef, vegetables, maybe some udon noodles and a little dipping sauce and you have yourself one yummy and also healthy meal.  I totally plan on getting a table top unit when we get home.  And have a kitchen.

We went to hot pot in Hohhot (yes, it does rhyme- I think) and I was not impressed…

Although I did like the whole concept of a spicy pot, I hated (read: really freaking hated) that they put anise in the water and it was oily. We had beef and lamb and it just wasn’t that great to me.  The noodles they gave us took about 10 minutes to cook and were too gummy.  The pot was also a mile away from each seat (and I’m not considered short here) so cooking was a laborious  up and down nightmare. 

Also, there were these weird fish balls that really grossed me out…

I’m sure we’ll try it again before we leave, but so far- I am not impressed.

Mongolian

Our lunch with the sweet Mongolian family has so far been the best food I’ve had in China.

Spicy tofu, celery with chicken, egg with tomatoes (the eggs were fresh from the chickens wandering about), shredded potato stir fry, steamed bread and some sort of pickled radish…

My favorite was these delicious steamed buns filled with lamb and potatoes that she made in her giant steamer…

We ended with some tea with fresh milk (why do I think we can go around partaking in unpasteurized dairy products in developing countries?!?)…

I didn’t care for the tea, but the meal was truly one to remember.  Huddled around a small table in the kitchen of this sweet, sweet family was just incredible.  I really felt like we were in an episode of “No Reservations”.  Truly amazing!!

Moon Festival

We celebrated our 2nd Moon Festival this year. Thanks to London’s great Chinatown, we enjoyed a delicious meal with our friend from China who introduced the holiday to us last year.

Creamy tofu with mushrooms…

I’ve always thought I only liked firm tofu, but this stuff was heavenly. We also had some very spicy fish with vegetables…

And a couple other dishes, but by the time they arrived I was too busy eating to worry about photos.

And of course we ended the meal with some moon cakes…

I love, love, love being able to share in holidays with our international friends!