豆苗, Dau Miu, Snow Pea Sprouts, A Vegetable By Many Names

Dau miu: snow pea shoots stir fried with garlic

When I lived in Hong Kong I used to go to many local dim sum restaurants and the people I was with would always order a stir fried green leafy vegetable dish.  It was one of my favorite vegetable dishes there yet I had no idea what it was, and nobody could really explain it in English when asked. Tonight I went to have some crispy duck in London's chinatown...I know, again in Chinatown, I should have rented a place there. There I finally found out that this magnificent dish is actually the shoots from snow pea plants steamed with garlic.

These are one of the most delicious vegetables that can be stir fried and are considered a Chinese delicacy. If you haven't tried this it's a must. I don't remember seeing this on the menu in any Chinese restaurants I've been to in the US, although surely it's available in the Chinatowns of larger cities such as New York and probably available in quite a few places in California. So rather than search through all of the Chinese style restaurants here's a quick little recipe for it.

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Chop Chop Redux

In a previous post (Chop Chop) I detailed a bit of Chinese chop stick etiquette. This post of course left out a huge portion of the chop stick using population; the Japanese and Koreans. Today I am comparing three countries, Korea, China, and Japan, each of which have their own style of chopstick and different etiquette.

Chinese chopsticks are the longest of the 3 styles of chopsticks and have a square end. The material they are made from is typically wood, however they have been made of many different materials from ivory to plastic. There is no definite answer to why they the are longest, but it is said that it is because the Chinese typically share their food. When they sit at the table there are many dishes in the middle and each person pulls a bit of food rather than piling everything they will eat onto their plate as in other cultures. The wider and longer chopsticks make it easier to move food from a bigger serving dish to a smaller eating dish.

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Crispy Ducky in Chinatown

Crispy duck and some fixings

Whenever I travel to London I always make it a point to visit Chinatown. The restaurants there are very authentic and reminiscent of the local restaurants of Hong Kong and China. My trip wouldn't be complete without having my favorite Asian appetizer; crispy aromatic duck. This time I stopped at the Four Seasons restaurant in the heart of Chinatown, who are said to have the best in all of England. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but they do make a really tasty duck.

This dish is very similar to Peking duck for those who are familiar. The duck is first marinated with spices, then steamed until tender, and finally deep fried until crispy. This leaves an amazingly low fat and deliciously crispy skin on meat. In most restaurants here the server brings the duck (whole, half, or quarter size) directly to the table on a platter and uses a fork and spoon to shred it into chunks. Accompanying the duck is a bamboo steamer filled with thin flour pancakes similar to soft tortillas, fresh cucumbers, and a plum sauce similar to but a bit sweeter than hoisen sauce. You're basically left to the task of assembling the given ingredients to your liking, like a make your own taco night. Spread the sauce on the pancake, add a bit of duck and vegetables, wrap and enjoy a mouthful of bliss.

Chop Chop!

Beautiful set of carved hardwood chopsticks

The Chinese were taught to use chopsticks long before spoons and forks were invented in Europe. The knife of course is older, but as a weapon, not a dining utensil. Chinese people living under Confucianism considered the knife and fork as weapons of violence, and chopsticks reflecting benevolence and gentleness; the main moral teaching of Confucianism. Therefore, instruments used for killing must be banned from the dining table, and that is why Chinese food is normally chopped into bite size portions before it reaches the table.

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Sweet and Sour Pork

During my time in Hong Kong I found that it was much cheaper to order or prepare foods which the locals eat. Also it added a bit to the adventure to be sampling the local cuisine not commonly found in the west. One dish I found myself eating quite often was sweet and sour pork. Quite similar to it's western counterpart sweet and sour chicken, only a bit healthier and doesn't leave you hungry 30 minutes after eating it. It's one of the few dishes I could serve to my family without them experiencing culture shock

The recipe does include a bit of frying which can be done using a wok or if you have one a fryer. I find the wok works just fine, and you only have that to clean when you're done cooking. There are a few substitutions in this recipe as a few of the ingredients are a bit difficult to locate here in the west.

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Cantoneseishness

Despite spending just under a year in Hong Kong I regretfully didn't learn much of the Cantonese language. Apart from basic phrases related to food, and the occasional confirmation there really wasn't much more that was required of me as a considerable portion of the population had a basic mastery of the English language. Apart from the taxi drivers of course, most of the time I was lucky to not end up on the other side of the island in an alley.

Now that I actually have the time to learn the language I'm left with limited learning resources. No local universities have a good course, Rosetta Stone only carries Mandarin, and Pimsleur is archaic and overly formal. I have found one Popup Cantonese however. It's more of a daily podcast than a structured lesson, but they do provide documents explaining the podcast for download. This is one of the first language resources I've encountered which teaches the language as it is used today on the streets, not how it was used 70 years ago. Given the fact that my Asian fiancé no longer laughs hysterically when I speak Cantonese, I'd say it's worth a look.