PHETS'S CHINESE EXCHANGE STUDENT THREAD

Hi Guys

In three weeks, the family I am living with with my puppies, is hosting an female exchange student for a month from the 1st October Girls School in Beijing.

I have started this thread as a reference point, for me primarily, if I should need to ask anything and hopefully someone will answer me.

Firstly, does anyone (or their chinese partners) have favourite reciepes for dumplings?  I want to make them for the family this week as a trial.  I can cheat and buy the pastry, but what about the fillings and actually making them ??

When I was in China, I fell in love with a dish and I can't remember the name of them! One had potato, eggplant and pepper?  Another was water noodles, shredded cabbaged, carrot and I think parsley with maybe a lemon vigonette on the top(those I taught with will know)

2nd, How would I say in Mandarin

'Welcome to our home'?

How do you pronounce 'Ayi'?

What do you call a 'hotel boss' in Mandarin?

If we could keep this on topic please, and I promise I won't rib George about KFC and his lack of humour.

Thanks I would be grateful for your help...

I can answer a little of this off the top at 5:25am; more will come.

For my jiaozi, my "traditional" style starts with ground pork (although any ground meat will do). I mix in a good proportion of chopped shrimp meat. (Sorry...I don't measure anything any more unless I'm baking...) I will finely shred a large pile of cabbage or bok choy, put it in a bowl, salt it, and let it sit a while. I will then squeeze the cabbage tightly in my hand to get the extra water out of it, and add it to the meat. I also add a lot of minced garlic, finely chopped green onion, and shredded ginger, and mix it all together thoroughly.

To fill the wrappers, part of the secret is to not overfill the dumplings. A little experimenting will show you the maximum payload you can enclose and get a good seal on the wrapper.

The wrapper has to be firmly sealed when you press it together. Keep a little bowl of water on your prep table...dip a finger in the water and moisten the places where the folded wrapper parts will meet; this helps them "weld together" a little better. Fold the wrapper over and then seal the two sides by pressing them together firmly with your fingers. Then fold the sealed edge into a series of pleats, pressing each pleat sealed with your fingers. A good seal is important...without it, the dumpling will fall apart in the boiling water.

To cook fresh dumplings containing raw meat, bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Introduce a few of the dumplings...don't cook too many at once or you'll have a sticky mess on your hands. When the water returns to a boil, pour in a little cold water to thoroughly quench the boil. Then stir the water back to a boil, and repeat. The third time the water returns to a boil, the meat will be cooked and the jiaozi are ready to eat.

My dumpling sauce: 2/3 red vinegar, 1/3 soy sauce, a generous dollop of sesame oil, and as much chili paste as I dare, all stirred together.

Note that you can put almost anything inside a jiaozi wrapper, and it's fun to experiment. Chopped smoked sausage and grilled onion was a good combination.

Making, cooking, and eating jiaozi is a great social event. They're labor-intensive to make, but fun when there are lots of hands helping. Enjoy!

I believe the three veggie dish you are referring to is di san xian, a staple up north.  Sorry, can't help with the recipe.

My favourite jiaozi restaurant adds chopped coriander and garlic to the vinegar/soy sauce blend.

Hi phets, have fun with the student ... but don't forget s/he will want to be doing all things Oz, not be in a home away from home!!

Ayi - Eye eeeee

hotel boss I would just use - binguan laoban -  bin  gwarn  low (rhyme with how) ban

Huangyin is welcome - who (sort of!!) wong yin.

Happy to know you is - wo gaoxing renshi ni.  War gao (rhyme with how) shing ren cher (as in Sonny) ni - knee.

Phets, I'm pretty sure that other dish you're talking about is Liang Cai (not sure if I spelt that right) and as far as a recipe goes... sorry sweety.

Di San Xian is easy enough though.

Make sure you get the right oil... we use bean oil. Not sure if you can get that in Oz. I couldn't when I was at mum and dads - but rice oil does the trick. Vegetable Oil makes the food too crispy.

Heat the oil, add the potatoes. Let them cook till they're almost done, then add the eggplant. Peppers last. Don't cook the eggplant for too long or it sends the entire dish are murky brown colour.

Add to this, some salt, soy sauce and some chicken stock and hey presto! Di San Xian.

You can also add a little garlic or ginger.

Oh I forgot to say, you should have a little water on hand. You just drip a little in every so often to stop the food sticking to the bottom.

Good luck!

Phets and LT, is that other dish "Ban Liang Cai?"
 This was posted as "a Chinese Version of Coleslaw" and looks suspiciously like like what you mention. It's a cool dish, not hot. Even if not, it looks like it has potential.
It's found at: http://www.unc.edu/usr-bin/ctysor/blosxom.cgi/entries/recipes

Ban Liang Cai

Ingredients


1/2 a head of a green cabbage
1 green pepper
1 carrot
150g (about 4 ounces) rice vermicelli
1/3 of a leek
3 cloves of garlic
1 small bunch fress cilantro
2 or 3 tbsp la jiao mian
salt
1 or 2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
1 or 2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 or 2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce

Begin by preparing the la jiao mian. Heat oil (do not boil) and pour over crushed red peppers. The ratio of oil to peppers should be about 2:1, depending on how spicy you want it to be.

Cut the cabbage, green pepper, and carrot into thin strips. Add the sugar, minced garlic, salt, the bouillon powder, sesame, white vinegar, and soy sauce. Mix well.

Boil water, add vermicelli. Cook for just less than a minute, drain and rinse with cold water.

Add the vermicelli to the salad and mix well. Add the la jiao mian. Add only the oil for less heat.

Refrigerate for about an hour.

I only know how to make Russian dumplings are they are my most favorite 

As I have now tried to make dumplings a few times and it always goes wrong with the dough, what kind of store bought dough would be good? Philo?
Cheeky, what are russian dumplings?

Ummmm almost same as Chinese. Italians call them raviolli and then we have dumplings shaped as Chinese ones. But some of them may have curds inside  We call them "lazy dumplings"

They would be the same as Ukrainian pirogies.  My favourite is potato, cheddar cheese and bacon.

yummm...perogies fried in a wee bit of bacon drippings with lots of onions and served with crisp bacon pieces and a dollop of sour cream.

Yeah. There are a bunch of different Liang Cais. I had one with cashew's in it once. Very, very tasty. 

Ukrainian pirogy aren't originally made with cheddar cheese  Cottage cheese - sure 

Canadian Ukrainians make them with Canadian Cheddar cheese.