Sween yu, a very Shanghainese dish that my MIL cooks every CNY, is usually served cold as an appetizer. It's sweet and fragrant with star anise and cinnamon.
Char siew as appetizer. Not as good as the char siew in HK.
Again, not as good as the roasted ducks in HK.
Crystal prawns is another very Shanghainese dish. The prawns are freshwater, small and have a bouncy, springy bite. My FIL misses this dish and complains that ocean prawns are too big and coarse.
My daughter's fave dish that night was very fresh, sweet and crunchy baby squids the size of a pip of garlic, in spicy bean sauce.
Garlic prawns.
A westernised tomato lamb soup.
Tender beef slices with bean sprouts.
A claypot of mushrooms and seafood.
Cantonese gu lao ro.
A greasy but delicious brinjals dish.
These are 'wok buns', with a hollow inside to hold the spicy brinjals.
Shengjian baos, an item you'll find at small restaurants especially in the morning, are baos that are fried and 'steamed' at the same time to give a toasty, crispy base.
I realized this trip that I prefer shengjian baos to xiao long baos, that other quintessential Shanghai snack. Shengjian baos are eaten with some black vinegar.
All that, and a dish of braised kofu or wheat gluten (lower left in the photo above), for 7 adults and one 6 year old.
It was a cold night but after dinner, my girl and I went shopping. Hub and our relatives went home. The one great thing about many cities in Asia, especially China and Hong Kong, that I love is the late night shopping. Shops and streets are busy and merry until the wee hours. I felt much safer walking at night in China than in KL or many parts of Europe. One reason is the tight control on immigration and the other is that capital punishment is the penalty for serious crimes. For a country with a population of over 1.3 billion, I think China's low crime rate is truly remarkable.
low crime rate in china? unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteisnt sang jien bao steamed while fried? care to enlighten me?
Hi Terri, even though I've taken my lunch, those delicious dishes still make me salivate...especially the sheng jien bao and the yummy baby squid dish.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that KL is not safe as compared to many other Asian countries. Even Vietnam is much safer!
Terri
ReplyDeleteIs the wok bun made of buckwheat? Cos its brown.
I should stop reading your blog post in the middle of the night. :(
ReplyDeleteTime for oatmeal!
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ReplyDeletemiche: we msians think so lowly if China but truth is, they hv progressed a lot the last 10 to 15 years! honestly, many cities in China r lots cleaner, safer n nicer than Msian cities. as for crime rates, i don't hv the stats but based on relatives' feedback n my personal travels, China's crime rate is lower than Msian and even Europe. yes there are lots of touts, cheats n so on and i think white collar crimes are pretty rampant. but for a tourist, it is safer in CHina than in Europe! i'd rather walk at night in SH than in KL, or Barcelona or London! my daughter says SH feels even safer than Melbourne!
ReplyDeletett's why the baos are called shengjian i suppose but i imagined tt to get them so fluffy yet crisp at the bottom they prolly steamed them first altho my relatives tell me no, they are fried. so you are right:)
anon: i do think so:)
ming: everybody, clap, a comment from my son!!! how r you? michael said you are lean n buffed now. will be going to SF this Sat. pls 'look in' on Wey. this is is last chance.
miche: ok, the buns are really fried and steamed at the same time although steaming in this case is not the usual steaming above a pan of water. the buns are fried and then sprinkled now and then with water which evaporates and steams the surface of the buns while the bottoms are heated and crisped by the fire.
ReplyDeleteCLAP CLAP CLAP
ReplyDeleteDid u hv 12 dozen eggs for breakfast this morning, ming?
Yi: Shoo shap fool!
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