Last month when I walked with my aunt, just like the old time when I walked with her for the strolling at dusk, we somehow talked about some old Chinese saying. It's very warm hearted when she and I still recall about how we call amaranth 莧菜 as the veggie to be "餓死新袍 嚇死奶奶" (Getting the daughter-in-law starve to die, getting the mother-in-law scared to death). It's because amaranth can shrink so much, almost double as compared to other veggie, after it's cooked. So the old story was that a mother-in-law gave some money to her daughter-in-law for buying food for the dinner. Normally the mother-in-law would have a list for what to get, say one catty veggie, half catty pork...etc. The daughter-in-law bought one catty of this veggie. After it's cooked and served on the table, the mother-in-law got shocked why one catty could be that small. So either it would upset the mother-in-law or the daughter-in-law needs to get on diet from letting the others eat more.
1. To cook this kind of watery veggie, draining the water is an important step. I often swing the veggie in my hands like those Japanese chefs swing the noodle before getting them in the bowl. Gotta be a powerful swing. Or you get a spinner to make it simple. Somehow I prefer some hand work. It's a good exercise though. Then heat the wok (use a big wok, better not those non-sticky shallow wok) with some cool oil. Toss the veggie to let some air in, with some salt, sugar and a few drops of rice wine or yellow wine on your preference. When it's a bit soft, cover it and cook until some steam is out. This way the veggie wouldn't get yellow.
2. I guess I have posted about this cooking before. Check on the label for my cooking. The key point is to get a fresh chicken, fresh carrot (better those with some mud on as it has very strong carrot aroma) and some nice dried mushroom (avoid those with dark wet part. Smell it if possible, to make sure it's not with some wet sour aroma).
Again, during the process of cooking, I gotta learn how it can apply to our daily life and even to my work - timing, judgement and discerning. After all, the food soothes our mind.
5 comments:
Thank you for the cooking class and also the philosophy behind.
Yes we can get many things out of cooking and food: chemistry class, cost and time management, observation, judgment, attention, family time, good memory, friendship, social gathering, sharing.....
That's also why in Cantonese saying, everything puts eating on the first priority. 民以食為天.
Yes eating is everything. Very true.
We do our business while eating.
We make deal while eating.
We socialize while eating.
We have family gathering and reunion while eating.
We create good time and good memory while eating.
We take good photos while eating.
We relax while eating.
We eat while relaxing.
We eat while we are happy.
We eat while we are stressed.
We eat in between.
:)
Eating does reflect the local culture and how people study food. I recall my school mate's mother who took 1 whole day to prepare sweet and sour pork.
Interesting to have so many eating factors. Cool quo.!
This is so called "yum sick man Far"(eating culture).
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