Porridge for the sick girl

What's this?! you sneer, this colorless, unpretty bowl of carbs, what is it doing here, displayed for all the world to see?

Well, this happens to be the only thing I could actually stomach for the past 5 days: a bowl of porridge (or "congee" I suppose).

Basically I've had a nasty stomach virus since last Wednesday night (which was ironic, because that was the day I had planned to start my latest diet) and...well...you don't want to know the details of that but the point is my stomach refused everything I fed it, plus it hurt like a bitch all the time.

It occurred to me around the third day that it might help to bland down my foods-after trial and error with Indian food, and later with white wine and random street food-and I was finally sensible enough to cook a pot of porridge.

Unlike some people who hate porridge (like my best friend, who associates it with being sick), I used to love porridge and could and did, at one point, eat it for every meal during high school.

Unfortunately, being the carb wuss that I have been, rice has been off my diet for quite a long time, as far back as before I started cooking, and well...the truth is...I don't know how to and have never successfully cooked rice. I don't know how to use a rice steamer. In fact, I may or may not have tried to microwave rice about 2 years ago, and that did not end well-unless you like crispy, crunchy (and slightly burnt) rice, which now that I think about it, wouldn't be that bad really.

The funny thing is, I was miraculously successful with congee on my first attempt.

Mustering up every last bit of breath in me (or what felt like it), I threw less than a cup of rice (bought at some point by my housemate), a piece of ginger, 2 shiitake mushrooms and some spring onions in a big pot, filled it up to almost the brim with water, boiled it and let it simmer for about 40 minutes while I went to lie down. When it was done, I added plenty of salt and pepper and feasted like a sick person.

I don't know if it was the fact that it was warm or bland or liquid-or all of the above, but it was fantastic for my tummy and it was nice to revisit something I haven't had for such a long time.

The next time I made it, I grated half a carrot and half a turnip in about 20 minutes into the simmering, it was yummy.


NOW ON A SIDE NOTE

-and I stumbled upon this while googling the word 白粥, which is plain porridge-

There is a porridge weight loss plan-which really doesn't sound all that bad-not that I would try it, non of these things sound very exciting to cook, plus get-skinny-quick diets have never worked for me in the past. But anyway, apparently,you could potentially lose 4-6 pounds in 3 days eating congee.

The Congee Diet
Day 1
Breakfast: Plain congee, 1 mantou (steamed bun)
Lunch: Plain congee, 1 boiled egg
Dinner: Plain congee, 1 plate stir fried vegetables
Day 2:
Breakfast: Plain congee, 1 sesame paste bun
Lunch: Plain congee, 1 boiled egg
Dinner: Plain congee, 1 plate stir fried vegetables
Day 3
Breakfast: Plain congee, 5 pieces chocolate biscuits
Lunch: Plain congee, 1 raisin bun
Dinner: Plain congee, 1 plate stir fried vegetables

Apparently you can eat all the congee you like as long as you don’t add on the other food.
Apparently it is good for detox.
Apparently it might cause a bad reaction with your stomach.

Meh.If anything all my past diet attempts have made me, if not skinnier, is a skeptic.

Bamboo Shoots

To make it a little more relevant, my recipe today is based on bamboo shoots, one of the giant panda's food of choice.

Bamboo shoots are lovely little things.
They are high in fiber and really good stuff for the digestive system(they help relief constipation to a degree) It is also said that they decrease the amount of fat absorbed in the intestines.

They work well for dieters because they are low-starch, low-sugar and low-fat. 100 grams of fresh bamboo shoots amounts to 40 calories with 0.1 grams fat.

(If you're wondering why there aren't many skinny pandas around, my guess is it's because their lives are pampered and because they don't move)


Braised Bamboo Shoots
2 pieces packaged bamboo shoots
1/2 a carrot
5-6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 spring onion, chopped into short sections
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon Szechuan hot pepper oil (optional)

1. Chop bamboo shoots and carrot into bite sized pieces. Marinade bamboo pieces with 1 tablespoon soy sauce.
2.Soak mushrooms in a bowl of warm water until softened. Reserve liquid.
3. In a pan, heat oil and fry ginger, onions and mushrooms over moderate heat.
Pour in 3/4 cup mushroom water. Add soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar and pepper, bring liquid to a boil. Add carrots and bamboo shoots, cover and simmer for 10 minutes until most of the liquid has dried up. Drizzle some hot pepper oil if you want a little spice to it.

Notes: If you are using fresh bamboo shoots, you'll probably want to boil them in salted water for about 10 minutes before using them.

Green Baos and Eggs

Jiaozis (饺子) have never been one of my culinary strengths-which is weird, considering the fact that dumplings were the only thing my mom would let me help out with in the kitchen (besides peeling carrots and hard boiled eggs).
When I was really little, my mom would let me press down the dumpling skin dough before she rolled it out with a rolling pin. (she happens to be very proud of her dumpling skin rolling skills by the way, as is my grandmother)
When I got good at that, I was allowed to help fold the dumplings. Though despite years of experience, my dumplings still look hideous and are always easily recognizable when brought out to the dinner table ("oh, those two ugly ones are the ones Talia made, who will eat them...*pause*... why don't YOU eat them, Talia?")

About 4 years ago, when I was spending two months with my grandfather in Xinjiang, I attempted to make the dumpling skin from scratch for him and it ended up so hard that he promptly flattened them and cut them up into noodles instead.

Personally I'm not a big fan of dumplings on account of the carb factor and everything. Plus I feel kind of jinxed.

However, considering how everything's starting to get busy, I thought it would be a good idea to freeze some for a quick lunch or dinner.

I found a recipe for dumpling skin that replaced water with spinach juice instead, which I felt was healthier. I didn't have the ingredients my grandmother usually uses for her vegetarian filling (mushrooms, rice noodles, tofu etc) so I used eggs and tomato instead.

Amazingly enough, the dough turned out alright. As did the filling.
It was rolling out the dough to make the skins that was hard. I had trouble making them nice and round, and I suspect I made them too thin.

My boyfriend came in after I'd rolled out a couple and offered to help.

His method was to roll out the dough as use a cup as a cookie cutter-which helped with the shape but not with the thickness.

Eventually, I accepted the fact that we weren't going to be able to make actual jiaozis with the skin we'd made, so we decided they were going to become baozis (包子） instead (their skins are slightly thicker)

They ended up tasting alright, albeit deformed. We ended up with less than 20 baozis/jiaozis (because some of the skin became unusable) and finished them for dinner so I didn't have any to freeze after all.

If I ever try to make jiaozis again I will probably just buy the ready made skin. It saves alot of time even if I question the nutrition value ><

Anyway, I've tried to describe the recipe the best I can here, I expect a more expert dumpling skin maker would get better results than I did with this.

Steamed Tomato Egg Dumplings
Wrappers
300 grams fresh spinach, washed
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Filling
2 eggs
1 big tomato
1 piece spring onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon white pepper

To make spinach dumpling skins:
1.Juice spinach to make roughly 130 ml spinach juice.
2.In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in spinach juice and mix with a spoon until a soft dough forms (it’s very sticky so don’t be tempted to use your hands just yet). Keep adding flour until the dough can be worked with your hands.
3.Turn out the dough on a floured surface and knead it into a smooth ball. Cover the dough with a wet towel and let it rest for 15-30 minutes.
4.Cut the dough snake into around 25 pieces using a knife. Flatten each ball of dough with your palm and cover each with enough flour to prevent sticking.
5.Roll each piece out into a circle about 3-inches in diameter using a rolling pin, making the edges thinner than the center.* Dust the dumpling skins with flour if you stack them or they will stick together.

To make the filling: Place tomato in boiled water for 20 seconds and peel off the skin. Chop tomato into small chunks, discard juice and set aside. Beat two eggs and ¼ teaspoon soy sauce in a bowl. Scramble eggs in a non stick pan. Combine eggs, tomatoes, spring onions, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper in a bowl.

To make the dumplings: Put about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each skin, holding the skin in the palm of one hand. Wet the edges with water, then seal the edges with 2-3 pleats on each side and transfer to a lightly floured plate or tray.

To steam dumplings: Place as many dumplings as you can into a steamer, without touching each other. Cover and steam for 10 to 12 minutes over medium heat. Serve warm with your favorite dumpling dipping sauce.







For an American and a banana, we didn't do so bad. Really!

Two days of kao fu

So I was at the dried foods section at the Lotus supermarket grabbing a packet of jujubes when I spied something that looked strangely familiar. A closer examination of the label informed me that this was a packet of sea kelp-but I knew better!


This was no sea kelp!!!

I recognized it as "kao fu" (烤麸), something I had seen at the dinner table but once in my life. If I recall correctly, my mom had tried to get me to try some and I had refused like a little brat.
The texture reminded me of frozen tofu because it is spongy. (which makes it a high risk to pop it in your mouth when it is soaking with hot liquid-but that is another story). Anyway, seeing it there and then filled me with curiosity as I never quite learned of its taste so I decided to take it with me (for 3.14 kuai)

At home, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with my new plaything (which according to whoever wrote it on wikipedia, is called "baked spongy gluten" in English).

I'd found a recipe that resembled the dish I'd seen that fateful day but wasn't quite sure how to cut it.


Here's a tip: Boil first, cut later. I learned the messy way.

Here's what I made ^^

"Honey Braised" Kao Fu

100 grams baked gluten
½ cup peanuts
10 grams black wood ear fungus
5 grams shiitake mushrooms
10 grams dried daylilies

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Minced ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
½ teaspoon light soy sauce
1 clove
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sesame oil

1.Soak wood ear fungus, daylilies and shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water until softened. Cut mushrooms into bite sized slices and set aside.
2.Place gluten and peanuts in a pot, add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, remove gluten (using chopsticks or something) and continue to boil peanuts for about 15 minutes(it takes a while for them to become soft, just add more water when needed).
3.Place gluten in cold water, then squeeze dry and into bite sized cubes.
4.Heat oil in a pan and fry the gluten until slightly browned and crispy. Remove gluten from pan.
5.Heat oil in pan, add ginger and fry until fragrant. Add fungus, lilies, mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute. Add gluten pieces and peanuts. Then add 1/2 tablespoon sugar, soy sauce, cloves and water. Bring water to a boil and reduce heat. Add the remaining sugar. Cover and braise for 20 minutes until it is no longer watery. Turn off heat and drizzle in sesame oil.

Notes:
-This dish is normally eaten cold but eating is warm is nice too
-I read on a Chinese site that the cloves are used to give the dish a hint of a honey-like taste. They can be replaced with a star anise.
-Mine didn't turn out completely authentic because you're supposed to really deep fry the gluten in step 4, I just can't quite bring myself to do it ><. Also I didn't have daylilies so I had to use enoki mushrooms instead



I've found kao fu to be a pretty versatile ingredient. You can use some in a stir fry with your favorite vegetables to add protein to the dish...which is what I did with my leftover ones.


Mixed Vegetables Stir Fry with Kao Fu

1 block kao fu
1 bamboo shoot, sliced
1/2 a broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 a carrot, sliced
3 green beans, cut into 4 cm pieces
1 piece black fungus, sliced
1/2 a tomato, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
goji berries (optional)

1. Soak gluten in boiled water until softened. Squeeze dry and cut into bite sized chunks. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic and tomato and stir well. Add veggies and gluten all at once. Add some goji berries too, if you like. Stir fry for 3 minutes, pour in stock and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and cook vegetables until tender but slightly crisp. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce and sprinkle with pepper. Stir well and cook for another minute before serving.




More kao fu information:
Kao fu is made by leavening raw gluten. It's high protein and low sugar, low fat.
100 grams of kao fu amounts to 121 calories, 20.4 g protein and 0.3 grams fat.

Kale (Gai Lan) with Oyster Sauce

My boyfriend bought me a bunch of kale today, thinking it might be spinach, which was what I'd asked. (He was being sweet because I was stuck at home writing assignments and out of veggies)
What can I say? When life gives you kale...make dinner.
I honestly don't know why I've never bought kale in the past. They actually taste pretty good, the stems are really crunchy.
According to WHfood, kale is actually really good for you too, it protects you from ovarian cancer and slows the loss of memory. What more could a girl ask for, really.


My dad was the kale cook at our house and he cooked them using oyster sauce, and that's really the only way I've ever eaten them (bad vegetarian!)This is his recipe:


Kale with Oyster Sauce
1 bunch kale, washed
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons water

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry garlic until it turns brown. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil,1/2 teaspoon sugar and water. Set aside.
3. Boil 2 cups water in a pot, add 1/2 teaspoon sugar and some of the garlic with the oil, then boil the kale for about 3 minutes.
4. Arrange kale on a plate, add the garlic with the oil, and pour in the oyster sauce. Serve.

Tofu Stuffed Mushrooms

My mom has a friend who makes these amazing stuff mushrooms using homemade fish balls that I used to love back when I was a carnivore.
While browsing a Chinese recipe site, I came across a recipe for these tofu stuffed mushrooms and I got hopeful about recreating them. They weren't really the same,but they weren't bad and looked pretty enough.

Tofu Stuffed Mushrooms

1.Soak dried mushrooms in water for about 15 minutes, until softened. Remove stems, if any.
2.Combine the mushroom water, soy sauce, sugar, spring onion and ginger. Place mushrooms in a bowl and pour in the mixture. Place bowl in a steamer and steam for 10 minutes, drain the liquid and sprinkle some cornstarch on the mushrooms. Set aside.

3.Cook the Chinese yam in boiled water for about 5 minutes. Combine tofu, yam, carrot, minced mushroom, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth.

4.Spoon tofu mixture into mushroom caps. Arrange on a plate with cilantro and goji berries. (decorate with bok choy stems if you like) Cover and steam for about 12 minutes.
5. Combine oyster sauce/soy sauce and stock in a bowl. Pour over mushrooms and serve.

Notes:
-The cooked tofu stuffing gets more firm after it has cooled down so don't worry if it's wobbly looking
-The mushrooms taste fine with or without the sauce, they actually make a pretty good snack
-I think a potato can be used in the place of the Chinese yam


A quick note on Chinese yams (shan yao)

I don't know about you, but direct contact with Chinese yams make my skin itchy so I wear gloves when I peeled and cut this one up. Soaking the Chinese yam pieces (after they are peeled) in salted water keeps them from turning black.
Chinese yams are very filling and low fat. In case you were curious, they are apparently for people with chronic diarrhea.

Kung Pao Mushrooms

The food I've been eating over the past few months have almost all been soupy and on the bland side-but the weather's changing, and some spice is always fun to experiment with ^^


Meet my new little friend: Szechuan hot pepper oil, cost me 6 kuai if I recall correctly

Kung Pao Mushrooms
2 king trumpet mushrooms (xing bao gu)
¼ cup edamame beans, cooked and squeezed out from pods
¼ cup roasted peanuts
2 small red chillies, chopped (I added some chopped green ones as well)
1 piece ginger, minced
1 ½ mushroom flavored seasoning
½ teaspoon brandy
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon Szechuan hot pepper oil
½ teaspoon sesame oil

1.Boil mushrooms for about 3 minutes, cool and cut into cubes. Marinade with a pinch of salt, brandy, ½ teaspoon seasoning and 1 teaspoon cornstarch.
2.Combine water, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, seasoning, cornstarch in a bowl. Set aside.
3.Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok, add chili and ginger, stir fry until fragrant. Add mushrooms and stir frequently (it’s a bit sticky). Pour in soy sauce mixture and cook over high heat. Add beans. Then stir in hot pepper oil, sesame oil and peanuts. Eat it hot. Makes 3 servings (I think)

Spicy Flavor Packed Eggplant

Out of impulse, I bought myself a big round purple eggplant, and I couldn’t figure out what to do with it. The last time I’d tried to make a cold eggplant dish using a Chinese recipe it’d ended badly so the vegetable itself was a little intimidating to begin with.
So I went to consult my local vegetable man, who suggested that I make the following dish (well, what he actually did was sell me a green chili pepper, I had to figure out the kinks myself)

Anyway, I've been wondering why the stuff I cook at home never tastes quite like what they make at Chinese restaurants here. Many of the Chinese recipes I refer to don't come with specific ingredient measurements, some just tell you the name of the ingredient and expect you to just KNOW.

Well, today I decided to just use ALOT of everything. Pouring in soy sauce, tossing in ginger and chillies~the works.

Definitely a good call, the eggplant turned out nice, spicy and flavorful~

Spicy Eggplant Stir Fry
1 eggplant
1 green chili, diced
1 small tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (liao jiu)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon mushroom seasoning
½ teaspoon sugar
1 strip spring onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 piece ginger, cut into thin strips
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. Peel eggplant and cut into 2 inch pieces (like fries), soak in salted water for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, dice the chili and chop up the tomato.


2. In a wok, heat 1 tablespoon oil and stir fry eggplant until browned and soft. Remove from wok and set aside.



3. Heat another teaspoon of oil in the wok and fry onions, garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add tomatoes and chilies and stir fry for about a minute.
4. Add soy sauce, rice wine, salt, seasoning, sugar and water. Add eggplant and cook over high heat for another minute.



5. Add cornstarch until sauce thickens. Drizzle sesame oil, turn off heat and serve.


Makes about 2 servings.

My favorite Chinese cabbage dish

I love Chinese cabbage, especially when they're cooked REALLY soft. They come with vitamins C and E, plus studies have linked them to linked to a moderately lower breast cancer risk. Best of all, the ones sold in Beijing are HUGE and very cheap.

They go really well with tofu... (another food I love alot, I'm currently more hooked on them than usual)

...and beehoon (or rice vermicelli noodles to you none South East Asians), I don't love as much. There was a small bunch of them left in the kitchen- I don't remember why I have them to begin with-and they add a nice enough texture to the dish I suppose. Still, they're carbs and this dish works fine with or without so I normally skip the noodles.


-though I did look up their nutritional contents after eating them though and to my surprise (and relief, if you will), they're only about 142 calories per half cup.


Try to imagine that there's more soup in the dish because they're a little drier than they should be~

Stewed Chinese Cabbage with Tofu
500 g Chinese cabbage, chopped
300 g firm tofu, diced
100 g rice vermicelli noodles
1 strips spring onion, chopped finely
1 small piece ginger root, minced
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (liao jiu)
150 ml vegetable broth or water
1 teaspoon mushroom seasoning
1 teaspoon oil
Salt

1.Soak noodles in warm water until softened (10 minutes), drain and cut using scissors. (or knife if you prefer). Set aside.
2.Heat oil in a wok, add spring onions and ginger and stir fry until fragrant. Add broth and heat through.
3.Add tofu and cook over moderate heat for about 2 minutes, then stir in wine, followed by cabbage and noodles.
4.Simmer for about 15 minutes until cabbage and noodles are soft. Add seasoning and salt to taste. Drizzle with sesame oil if you like. Serve warm.

Note: The noodles tend to suck away the broth so you might want to add more broth if you want a soup-ier dish. Mine ended up drier than I would have preferred.

Fun with Tofu

Time to clear out the vegetable compartment, and what better way to do so than to chop everything else and toss em all into a stir fry?

(Literally) Toss Everything In Stir Fry

½ package firm tofu, sliced
¼ cup green peas
1/3 medium sized carrot, cut into chunks
¼ small bell pepper, cut into strips
2 water chestnuts, peeled and sliced
1 small handful spinach, washed and de-stemmed
2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
3 pieces wood ear fungus, softened and sliced thinly
2 strips spring onion, sliced thinly
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon white pepper
¼ cup vegetable stock or water.
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. Boil water in a pan over high heat and cook tofu, peas, carrot chunks and wood ear fungus for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, drain water, and set aside.
2. In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderate heat and fry tofu until both sides turn golden brown. Remove tofu from pan and set aside.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in pan and fry spring onions until fragrant. Add bell pepper strips, and the rest of the vegetables in and stir fry until tender. Add tofu to the stir fry. Add soy sauce, sugar, and pepper to taste. Pour in vegetable stock and allow to simmer for half a minute. Stir in cornstarch until the sauce thickens.
4. Serve warm

Spinach with Century Egg Bits

I have never bought or cooked a century egg before. I was never too crazy about them, in fact, I have probably not eaten one for at least 2 years now.
These preserved eggs are usually eaten with porridge or as a cold dish, at least in my family. Anyway, I found this recipe on a Chinese site and decided to try it out because I love spinach (like Popeye,come to think about it, all Popeye eats is friggin' spinach, does he ever eat carbs or fats?)


I added chopped salted duck eggs into mine and it got too salty. So...don't.

Spinach Stir Fry with Century Egg Chunks
1 bunch spinach, washed
1 century egg
1 small piece of ginger root, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon oil
100 ml vegetable broth
salt
white pepper

1. Steam century egg for about 7 minutes. Then soak it in a bowl of cold water, peel it, and chop it up coarsely (the cold water makes it easier to peel)
2. Heat oil in a pan and stir fry the ginger until it becomes fragrant. Add the egg and stir fry for about half a minute.
3. Add the spinach and cook until soft. Add salt and white pepper to taste (if your broth has enough flavor, you can skip the salt)
4. Pour the vegetable broth and cook until it's heated through. Serve warm.

Lily Lotus Stir Fry

Buying the lily bulbs was kind of like buying a really cute pair of shoes didn't go with the rest of my wardrobe-only in this case it was the refrigerator-and so I ventured out to get another series of oddities: lotus root and water chestnuts.

I found a stir fry recipe on a Chinese website and thought I'd give it a try. The recipe came only with the ingredient names (lotus root, lily bulb flakes, water chestnuts and celery) so I was winging it most of the way.

The honey gave out a nice flavor but the end result was still missing something to be honest,soy sauce? I guess I'll figure it out another day...





Lily Lotus Honey Stir Fry
1/2 cup lotus root, peeled and cut into thin pieces
2 lily bulbs, cleaned and flaked
5 water chestnuts, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 strip ginger root, minced (optional,depending on how you feel about ginger)
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons warm water
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Salt (to taste)

1. Boil water in a pan and toss in the lotus root pieces for about 1 minute. Blanch and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve honey and cornstarch in warm water and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok or pan, fry ginger and pepper strips for about 1 minute. Add water chestnuts and lotus root pieces, stir fry for about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the honey mixture. Cook over moderate heat for another minute, stirring to coat.
5. Add lily bulbs and stir some more until everything looks tender. Turn off heat and add salt to taste.

Alternatively, you can use soy sauce in the place of salt. You can also decrease the cooking time if you prefer a crisp texture for your veggies (or flower parts).

Water Chestnuts (马蹄)
Water chestnuts were not as easy to find as I'd expected: the little vegetable vendor in my housing area for example, didn't carry it, and neither did Carrefour. Eventually I found them at the Lotus supermarket, next to the lotus roots.
Anyway, they are actually a very low-calorie vegetable (around 50 calories per 130 grams) with health benefits similar to lily bulbs (cold energy, clears heat, etc. I'm beginning to realize that I incorporate quite alot of cold foods in my diet)


This was the first time I'd ever bought water chestnuts so I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, it turns out all you have to do it cut off the top and remove the skin using a normal peeler.(A little search engine told me so)

Tofu Enoki Rolls

This recipe was so simple that I didn't expect it to taste so good but it DID.

Tofu Enoki Rolls
4 sheets tofu skins
Half a package enoki mushrooms
1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
1 tablespoon oyster abalone sauce* (or soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, whatever sauce you like really)
Handful of goji berries (for decoration, but yummy too)

1. Wash enoki mushrooms and snip off the dirty looking stems (I use scissors because it's quicker). Blot them dry and set aside.
2. Place enoki mushrooms according to the amount of your liking on a tofu sheet. Roll up tight and hold together with a toothpick. Repeat with the other sheets. Brush rolls with a bit of sesame oil.
3. Place rolls in a steamer and steam for 8 to 10 minutes. Place rolls on a plate,remove toothpicks, drizzle with oyster sauce, sprinkle on goji berries. Makes 4 rolls.

*I had a mini mental dilemma making this because I didn't have vegetarian oyster sauce in hand so I figured what the heck, it's a sauce (said the unethical vegetarian ><)

Sweet Chinese Soup with Lily Bulb Flakes

Ingredients for Chinese sweet soups can be found on one big shelf in Beijing supermarkets (big or small) and most Chinese kitchens stock them because they keep well and most people (like me) can't use 'em all in a single recipe.

It occurs to me that to non-Chinese (or Asians), these items might as well be ingredients to some magic potion in a Harry Potter book (Eye of Newt, Tail of Dog... Goji Berries =_=''')

In a sense, Chinese soups are kind of like magic potions, used for warding off or counter attacking health problems: preventing fatigue, stopping colds, soothing nerves, promoting beauty and weight loss etc.

The whole knowledge of the characteristics of food, knowing what's hot or cold, warm or cool seems to be one of those things you grow up knowing as a Chinese person -I suppose it starts with grandmothers, mothers, aunts plopping some food in front of kids and explaining its goodness all the time, then kids going on to mention the properties of certain foods to whomever listens when they see that same food because that's just the thing to do.And eventually it becomes a cultural thing for you to discuss food properties at the dinner table. Go figure.

Anyway, this particular soup reduces heatiness (the suspected culprit of my cough) and reduces phlegm (which would be fantastic). It is supposedly good for your skin as well because it improves blood circulation and moisturizes your complexion (this is a nice bonus though normally I probably wouldn't sit around boiling a soup just for skin care).

Sweet Snow Fungus Soup
6 pieces snow fungus
1 fresh lily bulb, washed and flaked
10 dried lotus seeds
15 dried Chinese dates
20 goji berries
8 gingko nuts
2 tablespoons rock sugar (depending on your taste)
5 cups water (roughly)

1. Soak snow fungus and dried lotus seeds in warm water for 30 minutes to an hour.
2.Cut off and discard the hard stem parts of the snow fungus. Slice into small pieces.
3. Remove green stems from lotus seeds. (those are really bitter to bite on)
4. Place snow fungus, lily flakes*, dates, lotus seeds, goji berries and gingko nuts in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 2 hours (until all the ingredients have become really soft). Stir in more water as needed.
5. Add in the rock sugar before you're about to turn off the heat. You can increase or decrease the sugar according to your taste.
6. Serve either warm or chilled.

*My lily flakes totally dissolved when I was done with the soup-come to think about it, I don't really remember really tasting them. I would probably choose to add the lily in with the rock sugar (towards the end) if I made this again





Not the prettiest dish, I have to admit, but undoubtedly good for you-as you will hear from most Chinese mothers

Eating Lilies

There's a short article in this month's issue of Self magazine that extols the benefits of eating lily bulbs(百合).

I read this on the plane to Shanghai, and being the highly impressionable consumer that I am, I promptly went out and bought about 20 bulbs from the nearest hypermarket.

Of course, now I haven't got a friggin' clue what to do with them.


Eat your flowers


I've seen fresh lily bulbs being sold in Beijing supermarkets, but never really took the initiative to figure out what I could do with them until now.

It turns out that at 162 calories/100 g (albeit starchy), fresh lily bulbs actually come with quite a number of health benefits:


They clear your pipes
Fresh lily bulbs can be consumed to "clear heat", relieving coughs, dry throats and other respiratory conditions.

They calm the spirits
It also works as a mental tranquilizer (no, not like weed) and helps treat insomnia and loud heart thumping ('palpitations')with it's tonic properties that promote restful sleep.

They fight Cancer
Lily bulbs have anti-tumor properties (I am not a med student, so I don't know which ones) and are a cancer fighting food.

They make you pretty
According to the March issue of Self (China) magazine, the bulbous lily root also gives you a smooth,rosy and supple complexion.


I don't know about you, but I know what I'm going to be eating for the next few days...