Xiaosui's Chinese Home Cooking -

Xiaosui's

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KaiXin%20-%20cooking%20049.jpg%20-%201.jpg Cooking Chinese food is not difficult. I was doing it when I was 4 years old. My parents told me how good it was; my sister told me it was terrible.

I have learned a lot since then.

I want to show you how a typical Chinese mother cooks a meal for her family.

There are two main things you have to know before you begin. The first is that Chinese food does take a lot of preparation and the second is that it takes a lot of cooking utensils. The food is good, with rich variety, but the washing up is ‘terrible’, as my sister would say. My sister was six years older than me, so often when we were sent to do the washing up, it was I who had to do it all.

Remember that Chinese food is served in dishes and placed in the center of the table. Everyone then uses chop-sticks to pick up the food and either eat it directly or put it into a small bowl. So meat and vegetables are usually cut into bite sized pieces.

Each individual dish is not all that troublesome to prepare, however most family meals would have 4 dishes and a large family meal between 8 – 12 dishes.

After a meal, particularly a large family meal, the women usually do the clearing away and washing up while the men drink tea. My husband really enjoys drinking tea and says that he does not want to get in the way of 5,000 years of tradition. Hmmmm ...

The photo is of a lunch which we shared with four friends.

Recipes

Wednesday

May232012

Steamed Rice Rolls - Hmong

Xiaosui's Home Cooking

How to make Hmong food

Steamed Rice Rolls

Steamed Rice Rolls/Fawm Kauv

Ingredients:

- 2 lbs ground pork

- 1 bunch green onion, sliced thinly

- 3 tbsp canola oil

- 2 bags of steamed rice roll powder

- 8-9 cups water *

- 2 tbsp oil

- salt, to taste

- black pepper, to taste

*The directions on the back of the bag says use 4 cups of water/bag but I like my batter thinner so I use 4.5 cups of water/bag. Start out with 8 cups and adjust to your taste.

Directions:

1. In a pot, heat up the oil and add the ground pork. Salt and pepper to taste.

2. Once the ground pork is fully cooked, add the green onions and cook for 1-2 minutes.

3. Drain the mixture in a colander or spoon the mixture into a bowl.

4. In a large bowl, mix the 2 bags of rice roll powder, 8-9 cups of water, and 1 tbsp of oil. Stir until there are no more lumps.

5. On medium high heat, heat a non-stick pan. Take a small piece of paper towel, fold it into a small square and dab it into the oil. Wipe the hot pan with it and set aside.

6. Pour a small amount of batter (1/4 – 1/2 cup) into the pan, making sure to swirl the pan around so the liquid covers the bottom of the pan.

7. Cover the pan and let cook for about 15-20 seconds.

8. Uncover the pan and flip the thin crepe onto a plate. Fill with the meat mixture and fold it like a burrito or eggroll.

Peanut Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:

- 1 cup peanuts

- 1/2 lime

- 2-3 Thai chili peppers

- fish sauce, to taste

- water, to taste

- MSG, to taste

- salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a mortar and pestle, crush the peanuts. Scoop out and put in a bowl.

2. Add Thai chili peppers, MSG, & salt and pound until broken into small pieces. Add to peanuts.

3. Add about 1-3 tbsp of fish sauce, 2-3 tbsp of water, lime juice, and a dash of MSG to the peanuts and pepper. Stir and add more fish sauce/water/lime to taste.

Dry Chili Pepper

Ingredients:

- 1 tbsp dry chili pepper

- 3 tbsp fish sauce

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, add the dry chili pepper and fish sauce together. Stir and serve.

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