Chinese Food 101: Adventures in Cooking Rice

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

“Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.” – Chinese Proverb

I’m no housewife, but oh how I wished I had practiced cooking rice before moving to China! The first few weeks here were brutal without this simple knowledge. My roommate and I and purchased a rice cooker, but I had no idea how to use it. The directions were in Chinese, obviously, and the pictures seemed to also be in another language. Thankfully, I’ve mastered the art of rice cooking and I can now easily make a bowl of mouth-watering rice whenever I feel like it.

My first try, I ended up with a bowl of watery slop. The second try, I overflowed the rice cooker and made a huge mess. I asked a Chinese friend how to use it and they laughed at me and said that rice is the easiest Chinese food to cook! They said to put in a cup of rice and then to add water up to the top of the rice, “just so that all the rice is covered.” That time, I ended up with a disgusting and overcooked hodgepodge.

I turned to my friends in Egypt for help. They told me a simple formula that saved my wannabe cooking life: >one part rice + two parts water = one delicious bowl of rice.

The only preparation needed might be to clean the rice. If, like me, you buy the rice from the outdoor market down the street, you might not trust it to be the cleanest rice in the world. Just rinse until the water becomes clear.

(For reference:
Chinese Food 101: Basic Cooking Utensils
Chinese Food 101: Basic Ingredients)

Let’s begin.

1. One Cup of Uncooked Rice

You can’t have cooked rice without uncooked rice… but which came first? The little cup that came with the rice cooker is a little smaller than an American-sized measuring cup, but I’m sure you could use it just the same. Remember to clean the rice if you don’t trust it!

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2. Two Cups of Water

Clean water, please.

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3. Mix in the Rice Cooker

Add both to the rice cooker’s bowl and mix together lightly, allowing the rice granules room to breath and cook evenly. Place back in the rice cooker, push the “cook” button and wait.

(Photo)

4. A Fresh Bowl of Delicious Rice

15 – 20 minutes later, you should have a refreshing snack! Be sure to have some veggies, soup, or soy sauce ready…

(Photo)

DK’s Fried Rice will be next, I think.

Chinese Food 101: Basic Ingredients

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

“Never eat Chinese food in Oklahoma.” – Bryan Miller

Agreed. I would add Wisconsin to that statement as well. To get the best, most authentic Chinese food, you need to know what you’re looking for. If you’re not from China and you’ve never been to China or Chinatown you might lack this ability, but not always. The local buffet down the street may be tasty, but it’s likely to not be very bona fide. For instance, in the entire Minneapolis/St. Paul area there’s less than a handful of genuine joints.

My first post in this series listed the Basic Cooking Utensils and for this second edition, I’ve decided to list some of the rudimentary fixins’ you’ll need to have around the kitchen to provide the best, most legitimate Chinese meal. OK?

1. The Rice
Back in the day, people in China only ate rice. Many Chinese people that I’ve asked around Tianjin say that rice is their main course when they eat at home. And they buy it by the bag-full here. It’s quite easy! I have a nice little outdoor market on the way home from work. I haven’t figured out the measure word for rice yet, but the rice lady always smiles and asks me if the amount is okay after she puts in a load. I wouldn’t even know how to buy rice in America! The grocery store? In a box? Costco?

Relative Links:
How to Cook Rice
Ancient Chinese Food

2. The Fresh Fruits & Veggies
Note, I said “fresh.” Over the next few months, I might start taking for granted the fact that I can walk a half a block away from my apartment and buy the cheapest, most delicious fruits and vegetables I’ve ever bought or eaten. Hopefully not. I noticed, though, that one stand was selling some Red Delicious with the Washington sticker on it. That made me suspicious! Until I can adequately communicate and ask where those apples came from, I’ll keep assuming they were locally grown by the person who sold it to me.

In addition to what’s in this picture, make sure to have tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant around too; they were absent for the photo shoot.

Relative Links:
Pictures of Chinese Vegetables
Made In China Fruit

3. The Eggs
Whether you want chicken, duck, or goose eggs, you can get them at the market. I think I’ve only been getting chicken eggs, but who can really tell anyways? (Especially an ignorant foreigner like myself.) Oh, and if you see some chickens running around the KFC on the corner, assume they’re only being used for the eggs. (wink)

By the way, eggs are essential. Some of my favorite dishes, so far, all have plenty of eggs in them.

Relative Links:
The Century Egg
Eggs in Chinese cooking

4. The Cooking Oil
I think there are different kinds of oil, but I’m unable to translate them all. I just got the biggest tub of oil I could lug back so it would last a long time. It’s not lasting long at all. Oil must be its own food group here. Oh, and be careful when you heat this stuff up. Not that I’ve burned myself or anything. The pros make it look so simple!

Relative Links:
What kind of oil?
Cooking with Oil

5. The Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Peanut Something, and MSG. (Lots of MSG.)
Ah, the condiments. Admit it, no one really knows how to correctly use soy sauce, right? Well, neither do I, that’s why we’re starting with the basics here. I just know it tastes good and a requirement for authentic Chinese cooking. In the market here, there’s an entire row of different sauces. It’s like the cereal or toothpaste aisle in America. I just picked the one that had an English translation on it.

MSG may have a bad rap, but I think it contributes a lot to the enhancing of neurotoxic flavors in Chinese food! If it’s supposed to cause health problems, why are Chinese people generally pretty healthy? I have no answers on this one, just questions. Leave your lawyers at home.

Relative Links:
Soy Sauce Secrets
Monosodium Glutamate

Meat, tofu, and chicken feet will all be addressed later. That is all.

Chinese Food 101: Basic Cooking Utensils

Friday, December 18th, 2009

The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table. – Confucius

Disregarding Confucius’ advice on keeping well away from the kitchen, I decided to chronicle my cooking adventures here in China with an ongoing series of blog posts on Chinese food. Starting with the basics, obviously, like the utensils and ingredients needed, I’ll slowly progress to rice then fried rice then maybe some meat dishes down the road. Sound good? Feel free to follow along and join in! Comments and feedback is appreciated.

For this first Chinese Food 101 post, I list the basic cooking utensils that I’ve purchased and used so far. These are must-needs if you want to start cooking Chinese food, so if you don’t have ‘em, hit up your local thrift store right away!

1. The Wok
Essential to every stir-fried, pan-fried, or deep-fried dish in China! And it takes a master to master the wok. I’ve already had my fair share of spills and burns, but I love using it! I also enjoy watching the street vendors (read: masters) use their woks. True artists at work. Mine is made out of iron and has a handle for easy moving. PS I never knew how to properly clean a wok till I arrived here in China! My one in Minneapolis always had oil stains on it.

Relevant links:
How to Choose the Right Type of Wok
Cleaning a Wok

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2. The Cleaver
A big knife for the big task of cutting the plethora of veggies and meat in every meal. We’re not talkin’ about the cute little pre-cut vegetables that you can buy in the foreign supermarkets… we’re talkin’ ’bout the freshly picked ones that you buy at the outdoor market as you walk home from work. And we’re not talking the packaged, frozen meat either. I absolutely love the cleaver. Its heavy blade can cut through anything from the smallest clove of garlic to chicken bones. Don’t get all Swedish Chef up in here, though, it takes practice to use it fast and safely. For my immature readers, this is not a toy! Did you know there’s a proper way to hold it? Don’t hold it like you’d hold a ping pong paddle – place your index finger over the top of the blade and place your thumb and middle finger knuckle on the blade’s two sides. I assume this is a given, but please use a cutting board with your cleaver.

Relevant links:
Before You Buy a Chinese Cleaver
Cutting Food with a Chinese Cleaver
Cooking with a Chinese Cleaver (video)

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3. The Rice Cooker
Note to self: before you move to China, learn how to use a rice cooker. I wish I had made that note months ago! It took a while to learn how to use this, but that’ll be for a future blog post. Mine came with a measuring cup (140 ml, I think) and a little scoop. The instructions were all in Chinese, of course, so I had to turn to my friends for help. Humbling, but necessary.

Relevant links:
What is a Rice Cooker?
How to Choose the Best Rice Cooker

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4. The Chopsticks
Not to be confused with the famous piano-based tune, these are eating utensils. I had a complete stranger say to me tonight, “You use chopsticks very well!” Oh? Thanks for noticing. (Apparently, people are watching me eat…) Used for most every meal, these little white bowls are filled with rice in front of you and the main dishes are set in the middle for everyone to share. A third of the world’s population use chopsticks to eat, and it’s not any less dignified than forks, knives, and spoons. If you don’t know how to use them, start practicing!

Relevant links:
History of, etc.
How to Eat with Chopsticks
How to Use Chopsticks (video)

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