I miss you too Guangzhou.

So I was getting ready to sleep last night (hmm...maybe more like early in the morning since it was 2am), about to turn off the TV when what do I see on screen, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. Not usually a regular viewer of the show but I had to watch it this time. He was visiting my birth city, Guangzhou, China! More on that and my Monday night dinner below.

I was in Guangzhou about 9 years ago and I was also there 6 years before that. Definitely don't remember anything from my first visit, but my second visit is something I will never forget. I visited the house I spent my baby years in, met relatives I never knew I had, took embarrassing "professional" "beauty" pictures, had my grandfather questioning me why my hair was blonde (it was a weird phase I was going through), and of course, got to taste some amazing food. So, I just had to watch this episode of Bizarre Foods, even though I had work in the morning.

Here's a little info on Guangzhou. It's located on the southern part of China in the Guangdong providence. From Hong Kong, you can take a 2 to 3 hour train into the city. It use to be also known as Canton and is the 3rd most populated city in China.

It was really interesting seeing Andrew Zimmern visiting the local markets, talking about the "breath of the wok" (something my aunt and uncle, who recently moved from Guangzhou to the US, points out a lack of when eating certain Chinese restaurant dishes here), and eating sweet potato leaves (easily becoming one of my favorite greens). What got me really drooling was when he ate at the simply named but very popular restaurant called Guangzhou Restaurant. During my stay in Guangzhou, I was eating there close to every other night. This is where I fell in love with eggplant in a dish loosely translated as Eggplant stir-fry with Small Dried Salty Fish. *sigh* For now I guess I have pictures to take me back.

For more info on Bizarre Foods' Guangzhou episode, you can read Andrew Zimmern experience in the city on his blog, post titled Guangzhou: "Cooking Fresh, Local, and Best"
For more info on Guangzhou Restaurant and other places to eat in Guangzhou, check out Bizarre Foods' Guangzhou guide at Food Guide.

On a more happy smiley face note, I had lobster on Monday! For those living in the Philadelphia region, ShopRite had a lobster sale, $5.99 a lb. Not sure if the special is still going on though. This was very good news for my dad who was more then happy to take advantage of this. A few good smacks of ginger, a quick chop of scallions, and less then 30mins later you have Lobster with Ginger and Scallion. A dish you can find in most Chinese restaurant, but its simple enough to make at home. I believe this is really a wok only dish and cooking it in a pan can be a challenge.









Lobsters with Ginger and Scallion

Ingredients

Lobsters - 2 lobsters about 3.25lbs in total weight

Scallions - 3 to 4 stalks

Ginger - 4 to 5 .25inch thick slices

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Sesame oil - 1 tablesoon

Salt - less then 1 teaspoon

white pepper - less then 1 teaspoon

Cornstarch - about 2 to 3 teaspoons

Water - about 6 tablespoons


Chop the lobster into large pieces.

Smashed the slice ginger and cut the scallions into inch and a half pieces.

In a bowl, mix the cornstarch, water, sugar, salt, sugar, sesame oil, and white pepper together.

In a wok heat about 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil. Once the wok is hot, add the ginger and scallion.

Cook for about a minute and add in the lobster. Stir and cook until almost done.

Add in your cornstarch mixture. Stir and serve when lobster is cook through.

Have you ever travel to Guangzhou or other cities in China before? If yes, what was your experience like? If no, would you want to travel to China and to where?

Come and get it!

Welcome to my blog and my first post! I believe we eat with our eyes as much as our mouth and this blog is my dedication to that saying.





A few months back I was introduce to jicama (hee-kah-mah) by my uncle. I’ve seen it a few times, especially in Asian supermarkets, but never knew the English name of it or how it taste like. How I wish I was introduce to it sooner! Jicama or “saa got”, as pronounce in Cantonese, is a vegetable native to Mexico that has a semi-tough brown skin on the outside and a white crisp texture on the inside. To me, its flavor resembles almost a pear but less sweet. You can peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, but I find that if you make a small cut on the top of the jicama you can easily peel off a large section of the skin off.





One of my uncle’s favorite way to cook “saa got” is in a “ding” dish. “Ding” dishes in Chinese usually means the ingredients are all cut up into bite size cubes. One of the most popular and recognized “ding” dishes here in America is Kung Pao Chicken. Served alone with a bowl of rice, “ding” dishes are a great one plate meal.

To make this dish vegetarian, just take out the chicken and instead of using oyster sauce, substitute it with a vegetarian stir-fry sauce. I recommend Lee Kum Kee’s Vegetarian Stir-Fry Sauce.



Jicama (Saa Got) Ding

Ingredients:

Jicama – 1 large

Chicken breast or cutlets – quarter pound

Carrot – small

White button mushroom

Cucumber – small

Corn kernel – 1 to 2 ears (In the photo above I used yellow squash instead of corn. Although it turned out ok, I prefer corn over the squash)

Oyster sauce – about 3 tablespoons

Sugar – ½ teaspoon

Soy sauce – about 4 teaspoons

Cornstarch – about 2 teaspoons

Water – 1/3 cup

Salt and white pepper to taste



Cut your chicken, jicama, carrot, and cucumber into even size cubes. Cube your mushrooms as well but slightly larger since they do tend to shrink when cooked. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix 1/3 cup of water with 2 teaspoon of cornstarch, ½ teaspoon of sugar, and 4 teaspoons of soy sauce. Mix well and set aside. This will be your thickener.

In a wok or pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil and the cubed chicken. Add in 1 tablespoon of the oyster sauce. Cook until done. Set aside.

In the same wok, add in 2 teaspoon of oil, the cubed jicama and carrots. Cook for a few minutes and add in remaining cubed vegetables. Add 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, salt, and pepper. Stir and mix well. Taste and adjust to see if you need more oyster sauce or salt.

Cook until vegetables are tender but still crispy. Add in the cooked chicken.

Make a whole in the middle of your wok or pan and pour a little more then a half of the thickener in it. Make sure to stir the sauce in the bowl before you add it into the wok. Watch for it to bubble up and mix all the vegetables and chicken with it. If you need more sauce, add the remaining thickener. Stir until everything is well coated and plate.

For an extra crunch, sprinkle some roasted peanuts on top after plating.

Feeds about 2 to 4 people.






When I was observing my uncle cooking this dish he didn’t use any measuring spoons. It was either a pinch of this or a splash of that. Trying to convert his pinches and splashes into units of measurements was more of a headache then trying to perfectly cube the vegetables! I have terrible knife skills! This is why I always believe that you should taste as you cook along.

Have you tried jicama before? If yes, what is your favorite way to prepare it?

Time to start cooking.

What a productive Sunday! Made the header wider and added a little info about me. Replace the RSS button (please remember to subscribe!) and the Flickr widget. Added a list of my favorite food blogs and changed the design of the left sidebar. Need to add a few more things, but it's getting close!

Waiting for it to get crisp and golden brown now.

Heating up the pan.

Header is finally done! I think I will stretch it out and make it a little longer though. Changed the RSS icon. Please remember to subscribe! Also added a Flickr widget for my pictures on Flickr. Not sure how I feel about the look of this Flickr widget, so I will probably change it. Working on the color scheme and also an image background.

Almost time to cook!

It all starts with the filling.

Blogs, like food, needs a little prep time before it's ready.

I've selected the cookware (Blogger!) after weighting out other options, and now it's time to slice and dice the ingredients.

Stay tune!