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Thu 28 Dec, 2006 10:21 pm
I have found 2 of the greatest Asian markets in Austin.
They are filled with the smells of fish, bags of rice, veggies I did not even know existed, and people chattering on other languages.
Chickens hang from the ceiling on hooks.
Fish are piled in the center of a table in the meat market where people yell orders to get the one they want.
Oh lord -mercy, the place stinks. but.. WOW.
I have found a few staples for my american diet, but I am longing for some traditional recipes, dishes, and basic know-how.
This market is full of odd ( well, odd to me ) things, all written in Asian languages so, truthfully, most of it I have no clue what it is.
I see-
Fish, fish, and more fish.. all fresh.
I see tiny minnow looking fish that are crunchy.
Same with squids, eels, and shrimp.
I see packages of dried crunchy fish.
Rice.. oh ... MANY KINDS! Jasmine? Sweet?
Noodles,. sheesh.. I could fill a mattress with all of the noodles I saw and not have to use one type twice.
Veggies are.. odd looking to me.
They appear to be mostly root type veggies? But I have NO clue.
Any way, I will stop raving about the neat little shops and get down to my question.
As I was googling some asian recipes, what I find are American'ized' versions of Asian food.
I mean, you dont make a sweet and sour sauce with sugar, paprika and wheat.. No way.
Where can I look for real asian dishes that are printed in English so I can understand?
Any books that give great , easy to follow traditional recipes?
How about basic cooking rules?
I also found these really great tasting green tea pearls as well.
Pricey.. but . they are tiny tight balls of green tea leaf.
You get them slightly moist so you can remove the string, then steep it in really warm water, but not boiling water, and voila- perfect, organic, REAL green tea.
Ohhh wow..
it is WONDERFUL!
Take a quick look at your avatar...
I bet she would taste good cooked with some mushroom soup, green beans and covered with those crunchy fish..
I refer to these two websites a lot when making my stirfry dishes.
This one has some good articles on techniques and ingredients
http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/
This one is similar but sorts by country and has more recipes.
http://www.asianfreerecipes.com/
This book is raved about on some of the cooking forums I visit:
Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Ingredients-Foodstuffs-Thailand-Vietnam/dp/006093204X
I just might get that book.
Thanks.
We made some noodles with sietan ( spelling?) , black mushrooms, beef sauce and bamboo shoots.
yummmmmmmmmmy
I'm crazy about my asian/international market here in Albuquerque, Ta-Lin.
I could spend hours in there; well, I have, and I've only been there twice now.
When I moved I got rid of a lot of cookbooks, keeping mostly Spanish/french/italian/california books - the one asian one I kept is Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking - I think it's fabulous, but I'm no judge of cookbooks on Indian food. Not that I don't cook asian food, but when I do I tend to look online for recipes. Not sure how much Jaffrey's book is new; I bought it in a used book store for $7.00. Ah, here -
This is the one I have, in paperback - mine is dated 1983
http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffrey-Indian-Cooking/dp/0764156497/ref=pd_sim_b_4/105-5764354-5721259
but there's another, Introduction to Indian Cooking, also by her -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394711912/ref=olp_product_details/105-5764354-5721259?ie=UTF8&seller=
When I lived in the Bay Area, I worked within walking distance of Oakland's Asian markets and restaurants. We would go there at lunchtime for meals and shopping. You can save a lot of money buying produce and noodle products from an Asian market. Look for an Asian deli to get an idea of how to use some of the unfamiliar ingredients.
A woman I worked with would often invite me home with her to make pot stickers and other foods from scratch with her and her husband. Rice flour makes a lot of difference in the textures and flavors of noodles and it doesn't take too long to get a hang of the technique. She also taught me several of her soup recipes. I never could watch her suck the juices from stewed chicken feet though. Yuck!
Oh god.. the image..
I WAS trying to eat here..
Stewed chicken feet..
(shudder)
anyway... Potstickers?
So those are a traditional food and not an american version?
Oh I bet hers were fabulous .
Oo.. the introduction book is only 10. bucks.
that isnt bad at all .
I have a huge book resale shop just up the street. Maybe I can find it there too without having to spend money on shipping..
They were excellent and tasted nothing like the ones you get from restaurants or frozen in supermarkets.
I think it was a combination of fresh ingredients and not using as much cabbage as filler. They are at their best when you master the fine balance between frying in oil and steaming in water for best texture and flavor. I liked them best when the bottoms of the pot stickers had a crusty brownness to them rather than just cooked noodle texture.
The technique is pretty simple for making them. You roll the dough out into a log, cut off 1-inch sized pieces, flatten with your palm and use a small dowell to roll it out in a circular shape about the size of your palm. Add a teaspoon of stuffing, fold in half and then pinch the halves together as you gather the edge of the dumpling into pleats to form the shape.
The stuffing was usually made with raw ground pork or chicken thighs and was mixed with a little shredded cabbage, sometimes rice and shredded carrot. Seasoned with Chinese five-spice, garlic and ginger.
Refrigerate the dumplings for an hour then heat up a couple tablespoons of peanut oil in a thick-bottom pan. Carefully place the dumplings in the oil bottom side down. Watch for splatters! Cover and cook without lifting lid for about 3-5 minutes. Check bottoms for browning and then add 1/4 cup of chicken broth or water and cover again. After 3 minutes, remove lid and continue cooking until water evaporates and the dumpling is cooked thoroughly.
I like them plain, but many use dipping sauces such as soy sauce and rice vinegar.
A friend of mine was in China and anxious to sample some of the traditional Asian cuisine. However, he shied away when he discovered the dish was dog meat in sauce and vegetables.
Shewolf, as for the potsticker dough, we used a 2 to 1 ratio. Two measures of rice flour to 1 measure of water. Knead it until suitable then roll into the logs.
Also forgot to include onions in that recipe from memory. We used thinly sliced green onions or grated yellow onions.
Ooohh my mouth is watering.
That sounds wonderful!!
NickFun wrote:A friend of mine was in China and anxious to sample some of the traditional Asian cuisine. However, he shied away when he discovered the dish was dog meat in sauce and vegetables.
Ya think I can substitute dog for tofu?
Why not Shewolfenm? Bon appetite!
Shewolfnm
If you like to eat vegetables, Vietnamese food has a lot of fresh vegetables and herbs, unlike Chinese or Thai where they are cooked I don't know any recipe but there should be plenty on the Internet. Maybe the most commonly known are "imperial rolls" and "pho" (noodle soup with beef). Usually, in Vietnamese restaurants, they serve plates with vermicelli, veggies, herbs, chicken or beef, and they are very tasty and not greasy at all.
Btw, in Asia, people also eat turtles, crocodiles, eels, etc. It is just a matter of getting the necessary proteins, since they don't have fat cows, so no hamburgers, you see what I mean? Asking what you eat takes all the fun out of it. Eat first, ask after - a long time after to ensure you have already digested the thing.
So tell one please about eastern breakfast!
Well, Roger, Vietnamese breakfasts can be whole meals in themselves, and there are so many choices you would not have to eat the same thing for a month. You can actually eat a big bowl of noodle soup for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner.
I think for Chinese food also, there is not much difference between the meals, as the Chinese can eat congee rice soup with other dried and saltied condiments (e.g. 1,000 years-old eggs - the black ones) for any meal, even for supper (late at night); the same with wonton soup.
Just stay away from those dried pawns/shrimp. They are farm raised in pesticide laden lagoons. If you really want shrimp try and find wild ones harvested in this country- they cost more, but are free of things like DDT (yeah, I know Gungasnake is going to protest that last statement).
That's interesting, cello. Why don't you fill in your profile so I'll have something really interesting to read.
By the way, I was alluding to multiple requests for the difference between eastern and western breakfasts, which finally went away before you joined the board.
I'm always a bit embarassed at getting a straight, thoughtful answer to a wise guy question. Thanks.
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