all vegie

2-03-2017 Fri. 



 LUNCH --- Ji-cai wonton 
 DINNER --- curry cauliflowers | mustard greens | tonghao porridge | rice 

 

•  operation day

wrapped close or half-way open

3-03-2015 Tue. chilly, sunny.  


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- rice and pumpkin curry 
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- apple 
DINNER --- ji-cai wonton soup | steamed Chinese taco buns with BBQ pork, caramelized onion, and cilantro | wine 

• fun food

hold on to summer

8-29-2014 Fri. mild, sunny.  


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- rice with eggplant 
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- tea 
DINNER --- Vietnamese summer rolls | Chinese Ji-cai wonton | wine 

 

• green and light

Cantonese wonton soup

3-16-2011 Wed. chilly, cloudy.


BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- rice with sauteed winter greens (leftovers)
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- apple
DINNER --- salad of chayote, jellyfish and arugula with Japanese citrus dressing | Cantonese-style shrimp wonton and egg noodle soup with greens | sauteed canola shoots

• learning a thing or two from XO Chinatown about the Cantonese wonton soup, thin and crispy egg noodles, plump shrimp wonton, full body chicken broth and a little greens.
  

simply Chinese

11-15-2010 Mon. mild, cloudy.

BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- rice with sauteed string beans | steamed dumplings
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- apple | LU cookie
DINNER --- mustard green wonton soup | sauteed octopus with mung bean noodles in ginger and garlic sauce | stir-fried bean sprouts and cabbage | rice | fennel and pear salad | wine

• homey Chinese food, cannot be found in any restaurant.
  

One big bowl of juicy wonton and noodles

4-21-2010 Wed. chilly, rain

BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- rice with fish stew (leftovers)
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- green tea | apple
DINNER --- wonton noodle soup (wonton with minced chicken and greens filling, baked ramen noodles, daish broth, shiitake, radish sprouts, radish and pickled celtuce )

• this is a one-big-bowl dinner, great comfort food indeed

Wonton soup for the soul

1-26-2010 Tue. chilly, windy, cloudy

BREAKFAST --- coffee
LUNCH --- roasted ginkgo nuts | eggplant pizza (leftover from yesterday's dinner)
AFTERNOON-TEATIME --- green tea | apple
DINNER --- wonton soup with chopped capsella fillings and spiced vegetable pickles (Shanghai Ji-cai wonton) | pan-fried Japanese dumplings (gyoza) | red wine

• Wonton soup is supposed to be breakfast food in China. Actually it is good for anytime, particularly after rushing around in a chilly and gray day. Capsella (shepherd's purse, or Ji-cai in Chinese) has unique flavor and can be used as herb. These tiny pretty greens are very hard to find at markets in the US.

Popo's wild green wonton soup

The garden looked a wild land that spring. There were a hundred kinds of weeds growing everywhere.

In the previous winter the lawn was turned over every inch by a group of policemen and red guards. Nobody dared to ask them what they were looking for. They did not find anything except a metal cover for the sewage line.

While Didi and Dudu were digging dirt to trace ants, Popo was inspecting weeds. She had a little wood stool, a pair of small scissors and a bamboo basket with her. she cut a small green from the bottom of the stem and smelled its tiny triangle white flowers. She showed the little weed to Didi. This is called Ji-cai, a wild herb we used to look for when living in countryside. Didi liked the smell of this little weed. The shape of its tiny flowers made her think of the fragrance purse Popo made for Duan-wu festival.

By the time to make dinner Popo's basket was full. Didi and Dudu were helping her to spot Ji-cai among a hundred kinds of weeds and they became experts of that.

Popo washed the green leaves and chopped them into a small green mound. She made a dough and turned it into a pile of wonton wraps. She folded the wrap three times to enclose the green fillings and several dozens of wontons quickly lined up in a big bamboo tray. She put wontons into boiling soup, and told Didi when wonton is done it floats up to the the surface. Didi watched wonton dancing and rotating in the soup, and floating up with the fresh green color of the fillings showing through the translucent wrap. The perfume of the wildness of spring filled the kitchen.

Wonton noodle soup

wonton:

• 1/4 cup ground chicken
  
• 1/4 cup chopped shrimp
  
• 1/4 cup finely chopped greens
• 1 tsp minced ginger
  
• 1 tbs finely chopped green onion
• 2 dozen wonton wrappers
  
• 1 tsp soy sauce
  
• 1 tsp rice wine
• salt and white pepper
  

noddles and broth:

• 2 cup dashi stock
  
• 1 tbs mirin
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
  
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs dried seaweed
  
• salt and white pepper
  
• 2 packs baked ramen noddles
  
• 2 shiitake mushroom, sliced
  

garnish:

• radish sprouts
  
• radish, finely sliced
  
• spicy pickled vegetables

1. mix the ingredients for wonton fillings well in a bowl
2. use the wonton wrappers to make wontons
3. heat the dashi stock in a pot
4. add ingredients for the broth in the stock, bring to boil
5. add dried noodles in the pot, cook till al dente
   
6. when doing the step 4, heat water in another big pot
7. when the water is boiling, add wontons to the big pot, stir gently and cook till the montons float and stay at the surface
   
8. put the noodles and broth in to 2 big bowls
9. take the wontons out of water using a slotted spoon, put the wontons in the bowls
   
10. add the ingredients of garnish on the top, and serve hot