CANTONESE FOOD, DUTCH UNCLE, AND IMPRESSING THAT BLONDE CHICK I'VE SEEN YOU WITH

"Man", he said, "those look like muck -- where did you find such lapsap recipes!" Apparently the idea of sweet soups enjoyed as 'refreshement' or dessert did not appeal to him.
We were discussing the two items mentioned in a previous post ('Sweet Times Two'), and he was happily slagging pretty much everything he had ever eaten at home.
In addition to my recipes.

Well, despite his impeccably southern Chinese ancestry, he is a total Yank. Some Cantonese things just aren't very appealing to someone with extremely white sensibilities.

Bananas, for instance.


MORE CANTONESE HOME COOKING WITH A SNARKY KWAILO

So, to continue pushing the envelope, in the inevitably to be frustrated hope that now that he's living by himself he'll eventually start cooking (instead of ordering food to go from the nearest pizza place), and will finally expand his tastes beyond beefsteak, spam, and tuna in a can, here are TWO MORE recipes.

I think they're quite delicious.
Because they actually are.


肉茸銀耳羹
Pork shreds and snow fungus soup

材料 Ingredients:

瘦豬肉: 3両 (four ounces lean pork)。
乾雪耳: 1両 (one and a third ounce dried snow fungus)。
雞蛋白: 1隻, 拂勻 (one egg white, whisked)。
薑: 1片 (one slice ginger)。
上湯: 4盃 (four cups stock: 1斤10兩)。
生粉: 3湯匙 (three TBS cornstarch)。
水: 4湯匙 (four TBS water)。
糖: ¼茶匙 (quarter Tsp. sugar)。
鹽: ⅛茶匙 (eighth Tsp. salt)。
胡椒粉: 少許 (a pinch of white pepper)。
麻油: 點點 (a dash of sesame oil)。


製法 / 做法 Jai faat / Joh faat:

Wash pork, dry, mince. Mix with half a TBS of the cornflour and a generous splash of the stock, let it stand.
Soak snow fungus for an hour or so, then boil it for five minutes, take it out and rinse it under cold. Chop it semi-coarse.
Mix the rest of the cornstarch with the four tablespoons water.

Put the remaining stock in a pot with the snow fungus, ginger, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil, simmer for several minutes before adding the pork, then when it boils up again stir in the cornstarch mixed with water to velvetize it. While stirring, drizzle in the egg white. Add the pepper and sesame oil, and decant to a suitable tureen.


椰汁香芋南瓜雞
Chicken, pumpkin, and taro with coconut milk.

材料 Ingredients:

雞: 半隻, 斬/切五,六塊 (half a chicken, cut into five or six chunks)。
芋頭: 3両 (four ounces taro, peeled and chunked)。
南瓜: 3両 (four ounces pumpkin, peeled and chunked)。
冬菇: 5隻, 切片 (five black mushrooms, sliced)。
芹菜: 2條, 切段 (two stalks celery, coarsely cut)。
葱頭: 1顆, 切成 (one onion, chopped)。
葱: 1粒, 切成 (one scallion, chopped)。
椰汁: 8湯匙 (eight TBS coconut milk)。
上湯: 少許 (small quantity superior stock)。
生粉: 少許 (small quantity cornstarch)。


製法 / 做法 Jai faat / Joh faat:

Rinse the chicken, rub it with a little cornstarch and set is aside.
Gild the taro and pumpkin separately in oil, set aside.

Quick fry the onion till fragrance rises, add the celery and stirfry, add the mushroom and chicken pieces and turn to coat and incorporate. Splash liberally with the superior stock, add the taro, then add the coconut milk and the pumpkin. Let it simmer for about five to ten minutes, and strew the chopped scallion over ere serving.

[Note added 11-18-2013: For presentation purposes, the chicken - coconut dish can be served in a heated clay pot (煲仔 po-chai). It will taste slightly better, and clay pots (on a suitable protective pad) also add considerably to the gemütlichkeit of a cosy shared meal.]

For the im-purist, go ahead and add bacon.
I know you really want to.
Both dishes.


Both of these, with some simple tasty stirfried vegetables, and a bottle of good white wine, will be sufficient for you and your date, and make the girl you are trying to woo quite a happy camper.
Which could be a mighty good thing.
Assuming, of course, that she likes food.

其實好簡單嘅, 不過係配飯嘅好菜！


Although, given your lamentable praedilection for canned tuna, some of her judgment might be a little off. Or even a lot.
That, too, can be a good thing.
Just trying to help.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================