It is my usual routine every morning to go to the wet market near
my house to buy my groceries and other food items like vegetables,
meat and seafood. Adjoining the wet market is a food court and I
can just pop over for my breakfast. Joining me for breakfast
every morning will be some friends, homemaker like me and we have
a designated table there where we meet, chat and exchange cooking
tips.
There is one lady in the food court who sells what we locals call
'mixed rice' which is actually in the true sense of the word,
assorted dishes accompanied with rice. Sister Ying, as we called
her is always very generous with her recipes though she is doing
a business and will not hesitate to divulge or teach us the ways
to cook different delicious dishes. It was from her that I
learned to cook nice and delicious dishes to fete my family.
Years ago when I first got married, I could hardly cook rice
properly. Not that I was from a rich family with lots of maids
at my disposal. In fact we were poor but all the cooking was done
by my mother and elder sister and even my late second brother was
more adapt at cooking than me. The first cook book that I bought
was by a Westerner teaching Chinese cooking! How dumb was that?
Simple stir fry dishes was a complex process and I never got any
dishes right following that book. It didn't help that some of the
ingredients didn't have a local name and I was laughed at when I
tried to explain to my grocers at the market.
Talking about local names for certain ingredients in recipes, I
found that many recipes in English do not have an equivalent in
the local language. Just the other day I came across an ingredient
called 'burdock' for use in soups. Scratching my head over this
new ingredient and clueless as to its local name, I just drop this
recipe from my dishes until I found out one day that its name is
'ngau pong.' I had been using burdock to make soup countless times
and never knew it is burdock but 'ngau pong.'
In case you didn't know, burdock soup is good for countless ailments
including cancer as claimed by Sister Ying. But I do not believe in
all these claims, its just another soup recipe which I can try out
and if the claims are true, all the better. Besides burdock, you
have to add Chinese dried mushrooms, dates, carrots, chicken bones
or pork bones, turnips with the shoots and leaves. The turnips must
be from local farm-grown ones which are usually thinner and not those
from Cameron Highlands. Just put all the ingredients in a pot and
simmer under low fire for 2-3 hours. Remember to blanch the bones
in hot water before adding in the soup. This is one tip I learned
from Sister Ying. Before, I just throw eveything in and it makes
the soup cloudy.
More tips to come after I have consulted Sister Ying in the days
to come.
my house to buy my groceries and other food items like vegetables,
meat and seafood. Adjoining the wet market is a food court and I
can just pop over for my breakfast. Joining me for breakfast
every morning will be some friends, homemaker like me and we have
a designated table there where we meet, chat and exchange cooking
tips.
There is one lady in the food court who sells what we locals call
'mixed rice' which is actually in the true sense of the word,
assorted dishes accompanied with rice. Sister Ying, as we called
her is always very generous with her recipes though she is doing
a business and will not hesitate to divulge or teach us the ways
to cook different delicious dishes. It was from her that I
learned to cook nice and delicious dishes to fete my family.
Years ago when I first got married, I could hardly cook rice
properly. Not that I was from a rich family with lots of maids
at my disposal. In fact we were poor but all the cooking was done
by my mother and elder sister and even my late second brother was
more adapt at cooking than me. The first cook book that I bought
was by a Westerner teaching Chinese cooking! How dumb was that?
Simple stir fry dishes was a complex process and I never got any
dishes right following that book. It didn't help that some of the
ingredients didn't have a local name and I was laughed at when I
tried to explain to my grocers at the market.
Talking about local names for certain ingredients in recipes, I
found that many recipes in English do not have an equivalent in
the local language. Just the other day I came across an ingredient
called 'burdock' for use in soups. Scratching my head over this
new ingredient and clueless as to its local name, I just drop this
recipe from my dishes until I found out one day that its name is
'ngau pong.' I had been using burdock to make soup countless times
and never knew it is burdock but 'ngau pong.'
In case you didn't know, burdock soup is good for countless ailments
including cancer as claimed by Sister Ying. But I do not believe in
all these claims, its just another soup recipe which I can try out
and if the claims are true, all the better. Besides burdock, you
have to add Chinese dried mushrooms, dates, carrots, chicken bones
or pork bones, turnips with the shoots and leaves. The turnips must
be from local farm-grown ones which are usually thinner and not those
from Cameron Highlands. Just put all the ingredients in a pot and
simmer under low fire for 2-3 hours. Remember to blanch the bones
in hot water before adding in the soup. This is one tip I learned
from Sister Ying. Before, I just throw eveything in and it makes
the soup cloudy.
More tips to come after I have consulted Sister Ying in the days
to come.
Burdock ( Ngau Pong)
Well I didn't eat any dumpling that made from you yet.
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