I'm not looking for exotic or americanized... a friend of mine turned me onto normal everyday meals they eat in China. stuff a normal chinese family eats.

Real Ramen noodles and the things you put in. Dumplings, vegetables etc. Lots and lots of rice.

I'm looking for meal ideas along these lines and maybe even a recommendation for a rice cooker.

9/11/2006 8:44:05 PM

I would hit up Asian grocery stores. Yellow Page them or something. There's one around the Sam's club and there's one near Rugged Warehouse in Cary. I get my Japanese food fix there.

9/11/2006 8:54:20 PM

i go to the AC supermarket near the sam's club. they have packages of fresh buns, etc. I usually buy a few pork/cabbage buns, some dumplings, etc. they are cheap and quite filling.

9/11/2006 9:16:43 PM

lunch box at Grand Asia

and Zojirushi makes good rice cookers

oh wait, you want to cook yourself, right?

I could tell you some stuff to buy and how to cook it but I don't know the english name. Let me see, and I'll try and post more tomorrow or something.

Or you could just go to grand asia and tell them to help you pick stuff out for "Hot Pot" (direct english translation) they should know what you are talking about.

It's like a soup that you mix all sorts of fish balls, beef, mushrooms, and fish powder. Then eat with a barbcue(nothing like US version) sauce. very famous dish. Cheap and serves a lot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot

[Edited on September 11, 2006 at 9:42 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on September 11, 2006 at 9:56 PM. Reason : link]

9/11/2006 9:28:49 PM

You can pick up a rice cooker anywhere. I got one at Target for $15 that included a steaming tray for vegetables...works perfectly.

9/11/2006 9:34:10 PM

Isn't Oriental a type of rug?

9/11/2006 9:37:48 PM

yep

9/11/2006 9:46:10 PM

asian rice cookers are on a whole other level compared to US versions. Besides, asian rice is sticky doesn't really come out well steamed. Just buy a super large bag of Kokuho rice from grand asia and you're set for a year.

now get some fried fish, and an egg w/ soy sauce and you have a very standard meal. throw in some pickled cabbage and tofu if you want.

for breakfast make the rice with extra water and you got congee. throw in whatever you like... sweetpotato, pickled cucumber and egg.

Every family in Taiwan has a Zojirushi
http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/ricecookers/ricecookers.html

-------------------------------


Ok here goes another great dish I had in taiwan.

1.fresh ground pork.
2.ginger garlic
3.chinese mushrooms (freez dried)
4.soy sauce
5.spring onions

brown pork in olive oil and a little sesame oil (optional) add in the ginger and garlic.
Cook for a little bit then Then add spring onions.
add soy sauce just-- enough to turn a dark color you don't want the pork swimming in it, cook for a min or so.
add water just enough to cover the meat--your not making soup but should be pretty watery. Throw in mushrooms(that you let sit in water for a while).
simmer for about 10~15.
You can add vegatables like bok choy or chinese water cress near the end.
serve with sticky rice.

of course you could always cook vegatables seperate. It's fairly common to have one dish each of vegatable(w/ tofu), a meat, and a clear broth soup.

sorry can't be more descriptive on the quantities you just need a little intuition.


[Edited on September 11, 2006 at 10:09 PM. Reason : .]

9/11/2006 9:49:05 PM

^^ thanks! I said oriental because I wanted anything from asia/japan etc. China was just an example.

9/12/2006 7:52:12 AM

my Filipino roommate used to make Chicken Abodo all the time and it was really good.


I found this recipe online and its pretty close to how she fixed it.

12 chicken pieces
4-5 cloves garlic
Vinegar (cider) to coat each chicken piece
Soy sauce to coat each chicken piece
1/4 tsp. black pepper (may use peppercorn, if desired)
Salt to taste (opt.)
1 bay leaf

Combine all ingredients in a pan and simmer covered on low fire for 30 to 45 minutes. NOTE: Pork or combination of chicken and pork may be used. It is best to brown pork before mixing with other ingredients.

Take the bayleaf out after cooking. She always served it over rice.

9/12/2006 8:18:01 AM

A lot of chinese resteraunts have a chinese menu.

Go with a friend that speaks Chinese and request it.

9/12/2006 8:50:50 AM

Oriental is also a town in North Carolina.

Free useless trivia.

9/12/2006 10:06:22 AM

Traditional chinese?

There's a form of pot roast that a former roomate of mine used to make,
Maybe i'll scan the package for the spice you need and post up directions. It's something of a long term cooking thing though.


Basically it's a big piece of beef- dont get something seriously lean or it actually wont work out (trust me, I tried.....)
That you wind up slow cooking in a pot with water and spices and soy sauce and ginger and green onion, and serving with steamed nappa cabbage and rice.

hell, i scan the package and post directions later.

It isn't uber cheap like ramen, becuase you have to buy the meat, however you can usually make a LOT of meals out of the combination because it's very filling.

[Edited on September 12, 2006 at 11:18 AM. Reason : .]

9/12/2006 11:17:45 AM

Great ideas so far keep em coming.

9/12/2006 2:15:46 PM

^^ i have packets of those, its "Bak Kut Teh" i think,

chinese meals are easy to make, at least for me. now if someone can make some good filipino chicken feet salad......

9/12/2006 3:45:45 PM

i have a small rice cooker from panasonic, it works very nicely. I don't make a whole lot of rice in one sitting, so the size is good. At the moment, I have long grain rice (from Vitarroz)...basically what most Chinese families eat every day.
A basic (cheap) meal - get the rice into the rice cooker, toss in some chinese sausages (can buy them at the asian markets), put in an egg (raw with shell) <-- can be regular chicken egg or salted duck egg, which you also buy at the asian market. then turn the rice cooker on, when the rice is done, so are the meat and egg(s). You can buy "yu choy" a type of leafy green at the asian market and sautee it with some garlic and oil, salt to taste, or put oyster sauce over it. When I want a quick meal, I usually make this. I'd say it's a very "every day" type of meal (though you wouldn't eat this every single day). ...and not all the rice asians eat are sticky either.

9/12/2006 9:11:40 PM

village restaurant is good

trawl door is great but it isn't cheap

9/12/2006 9:17:26 PM

isn't the term 'oriental' not PC anymore?

sorta like calling a black person 'colored'

9/12/2006 9:19:57 PM

Quote :

"and not all the rice asians eat are sticky either."

Their plain rice is stickier than American rice.

Maybe some confusion about the term. I know "sticky" rice in Taiwan/china/japan (what we call "glutinous rice") is actually very very sticky-- similar to risotto-- usually comes with sausage/chicken and other stuff inside and sometimes served wrapped with bamboo leaves(esp. in taiwan).

I just meant that their rice is different, and if you think it's not then you must be from some country I have never visited, like vietnam/Thailand/India. If I recall correctly India imported a rice seed from us that required less fertilizer around 30 years ago.

Quote :

"(from Vitarroz)...basically what most Chinese families eat every day"

yeah, I heard that the chinese in guangdong only buy rice from a company in Jeresey.


[Edited on September 12, 2006 at 9:38 PM. Reason : .]

9/12/2006 9:32:41 PM

buy frozen dumplings. boil the dumplings in a big pot of water and wait till they float to the top. usually 10-15 minutes and they're ready to eat. get a bowl and put soy sauce with diced scallions and garlic and add a little bit of sesame oil on top and maybe some chili if you want some spice.

dip dumplings into the sauce and eat. they're easy and tasty.

9/13/2006 8:01:15 AM

Ramen noodles

9/13/2006 8:20:19 AM

Quote :

"I just meant that their rice is different, and if you think it's not then you must be from some country I have never visited, like vietnam/Thailand/India. If I recall correctly India imported a rice seed from us that required less fertilizer around 30 years ago."

Yes, the "Asian" rice is different, but I'm just saying it's not always sticky. I could make my regular rice softer and stickier but I don't use as much water. though I suppose in comparison it is "stickier" than "american" rice (I have eaten minute rice that was kind of "sticky" or maybe the person who made it put too much water). also, I didn't mean that I usually get Vitarroz, only that's what I have at the moment. We usually buy long grain white rice that's all. My family lives in America, we don't always buy the same "brand" and sometimes not even always the same kind. though we do tend to stick to the long grain white rice.
p.s. I'm Chinese.

9/13/2006 10:50:51 AM