Asian Legend Restaurant

The restaurant Asian Legend (in Toronto) offers decent Chinese food with a modern decoration. Some of the food is presented in an interesting way such as rolled onion pancake with sliced Beef (feel like burrito).

Other interesting dim sum such as 絲瓜瑤柱湯包: Dumplings filled with dried scallops, pork and luffa. It looks green, I guess because the dumpling skin is made of luffa. Very juicy inside because the pork fat melts after steaming. Although as a Shanghainese, I have to say it is no way to compare with the Xiao Long Bao (steamed dumplings) in Shanghai.
Luffa is a plant very popular in Asia. My mom always cooks it in soup with egg drops. They are very juicy and soft after cooked. The ripe, dried fruit is also the source of the loofah or plant sponge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luffa

You could order food on their website as well, with reasonable price.
http://www.asianlegend.ca/

Crunchy Pig ear

It is really ear from pigs, but at least they are sliced thin and lost its original form. You can buy them in a container in China town: pre-spiced and ready to eat. They are spicy and crunchy. Since it is ear, it is not about meat, it is about the texture!
In Madrid, I had it with salad, quite good!

Chicken feet (Phoenix claw in Chinese)

When speak of chicken feet, most of my non-Asian friends think they are disgusting. But for me they are addictive. It is a pure enjoyment of skin and tendons, very gelatinous.

There are many ways of cooking chicken feet. In Toronto, since many Cantonese own the restaurant, it is much easier to find it in dim sum style. The chicken feet are deep fried or steamed first in order to make them puffy before being stewed and simmered in a sauce flavored with black fermented beans, bean paste and sugar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_feet

Rice Congee – how to deal with left-over rice

Rice congee is common comfort food, usually as breakfast in China. Left-over rice (from the day before) is slowly cooked with a lot of water, so the result is watery rice porridge. (Boring!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_congee

I never liked it when I was a child, because it looks like eating glue. Most home-cooked congee is plain with rice and some other side dishes (salty eggs, pickles, etc), nothing fancy. I thought that was the most boring breakfast and refuse to eat it.

After I came to Toronto, I really get into eating congee. Cantonese cooking really brings the congee to another level. They add a lot of meat and varieties to the simple congee dish. There are some restaurants in north Toronto only serves congee, like Congee Wong. Since they have lots of customers, I assume the congees are not made from left-over rice.

My favorite congee is fish congee. I normally have it at King’s Noodle restaurant (at Spadina & Dundas). The congee is the right texture, not too watery. I don’t know what kind of fish is that, but it is not fish at all. The fish is very tender. Thin slices of ginger and green onion add nice strong punch to the blank congee. If you want more, add some white pepper powder.

Hong Kong Shrimp Paste –fishy smell to get rid of unwanted guests

Shrimp paste is made by grinding up salted, fermented shrimp and has a strong, salty, fishy flavor. I have never had it until I came to Canada (from most Cantonese restaurants). It is commonly used in South Asia cooking. Since I grow up in east china, I totally missed out many years of shrimp paste consumption. I have to make up for it from now on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp_paste

Shrimp Paste can be bought in most Asian market. The bottle (see pic) is a travel souvenir from Hong Kong. Tiny shrimps are sun dried and made into paste on some small Hong Kong islands. There are many brands you can choose in Toronto’s Asian supermarkets also.

In Cantonese restaurant, I always order Xia Jiang Tong Cai (Tong Cai – certain kind of veggie with hollow stem, See Pic). The dish is about $12. The strong shrimp paste adds lot of flavor to the blank vegetable. Tong Cai is in season during the summer about $ 1 per pound in china town. They sell 2 kinds: the darker green is soil-based and lighter one is water-based. I prefer the greener ones for better nutrients.

Since I love it so much I started cooking it at home with shrimp paste and garlic. There is no extra salt needed since the shrimp paste is already salty. The paste adds a very strong fishy flavor to the dish, not everyone will love it. After cooking the whole house smells fishy, therefore is not recommended if you don’t have good ventilation. Some people will think the smell is repulsive. Look at the bright side: if you don’t want someone come to your home, e.g. your mother-in-law, you can try to cook the shrimp paste.

I am interested to know how other counties use shrimp paste. Wait till my next trip to South Asia.

Hong Kong Food

Hong Kong Food

Hong Kong is a shopping heaven. Since my trip wasn’t for shopping, I avoided those fancy shopping malls, instead I went straight to the markets. There are many night markets listed in the Lonely Planet travel guide. As usual, food is everywhere in Chinese cultural. Being disadvantage of traveling alone, I can only try one dish at a time without wasting them. Fresh seafood are displaced on the table, so that they can cook your order on the spot (Pic 1).

I went to another market near Nu Ren Jie (Woman’s Street) during the day. I saw the food I have been craving for a long time: Toad (Pic 2). Since Chinese call them frog, sometimes is misleading. I sometimes buy frozen frog meat in Toronto’s China town, of course the frozen ones are not as good as when they are alive. Those toads look ugly but meats are tender and skins are fatty. You could say it taste like chicken, but fattier. My mother simply stirs fry them with green pepper, wine, salt and grounded pepper. They are considered as Ying food (the food have cold characteristic, such as snake, crab (Pic 6); in the contrary, Yang represents Hot food, such as goat, deer, etc. Ying Yang is also related with traditional Chinese medicines).

I believe turtle is Ying food, but I never tried them (Pic 3). They supposed to be really good for your health that is what Chinese always says. I remember once some rich kid told me that when she was preparing exams, his father will cook one turtle soup every week, just for her. Turtles are commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine also. I found an interesting article about turtle imports to China. Sadly, turtle species are declining because this Chinese appetite. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/environment/24216

Snake is a Ying food. Hong Kong is famous for snake soup which I have been longing to try for a long time. Luckily, there are one snake specialty restaurant just right across the place I stayed. It was a tiny cheap restaurant but full of people at night. One bowl of snake clear soup costs 5 HKD. Snake meat soup is a bit more, cooked with mushrooms (Pic 5). At the corner, there are clear glass jars filled up with dead snakes and alcohol (Pic 4). Both soups are so good that the next day I had them again for lunch. In the market I discovered a “snake-skin fruit” (pic 8). The name comes from its’ appearance obviously. I regret that I didn’t try it.

I didn’t get a chance to try Geoduck clam either (Pic 7). In Chinese it is called “elephant trunk clam” and they are expensive (about $ 30 /lb). I will love to try it someday: both Chinese hot pot style and Japanese sashimi style. It is interesting that geoduck clam is native to Canada, however I never see them in Toronto. There are more details if you want to read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoduck

It was my first time to see pig snout alone for sell (Pic 9). I couldn’t imagine how would you cook it. I was also surprised when my friend Jerome told me his grandfather (French) cooked the pig snout, with potato and salad around it. It is visually interesting dish, but according to Jerome, the taste was not so good.

Shanghai - Xiao Long Bao

Shanghai

Speaking of Shanghai (my home town), you can't say you have been there without having some juicy Xiao Long Bao (pic 1. generally is a pork dumpling with a lot of fat, so that after steaming, the fat becomes the juicyliquid that determine if it is an authentic Xiao Long Bao. )

Xiao Long Bao is so famous and popular in shanghai, there are tons of restaurant serving them nowadays. But for nostalgic reason, my parents and I went the one specialize in Xiao Long Bao in old town: Cheng Huang Temple. The restaurant has three stories and they selling take-out as well, for those who didn't have patience to wait or fight for a decent table. The crab meat Xiao Long Bao suppose to their specialty, however,this time we find it is disappointing because they don't use as much crab
meat as before. It taste almost like the regular pork ones. I will be very disappointed if that just an old fame, but nothing real like the way used to be when I was a child.

When I feel homesick, an authentic Xiao Long Bao can totally comfort me,however, I have never had any good ones in Canada. Too many flour, not enough juicy liquid. Maybe they are adjusted to Canadian taste, but again if you are on diet, this is not the food I recommend to order.

Conclusion, the really good Xiao Long Bao: very thin flour skin, a lot of meat and juicy liquid. It serves with hair-thin ginger in vinegar. The art of eating them is: first bite a tiny hole, then sucks out the juicy liquid before put the whole thing in your mouth. Just be careful, don't burn your tongue.

Besides Xiao Long Bao, Shanghainese also madly love Shen Jian Bao(pic 2). Instead of steaming, it is cooks in a big flat wok with oil. In the morning, you can see a long queue in front of restaurant. Those people are no doubt waiting for fresh cooked hot Shen Jian Bao, with sesame seeds and green onion on top. Again, it is served with vinegar and if you want, a hot seaweed soup to accompany with.

Those are the two things I first searching for when i go back Shanghai.
Just writing about them makes my mouth water...

It is my first time to see a black corn (Pic 3). I am not sure if it is the same as Black Aztec Corn. I am not sure either if it is necessary to wrap them in plastic bags (Chinese seems to wrap everything in plastic). For sure that I don't pay much attention to the veggies, compare to MEAT. It would be interesting to try them, just like the purple cauliflower in Quebec city.

There are tons of food in Shanghai worth to talk about, next time I will
be better prepared and taken a lots of pictures.