Tangyuan

A common Chinese dessert is Tangyuan, or glutinous rice balls. They've got to come up with a better name because 'glutinous' and 'balls' together doesn't sound so appetizing (ok maybe a few of you need to wipe the drool from your mouth, but only a few of you) . Actually, it's a popular dessert in various Asian cultures, although each culture has different adaptation of this. The version I've made here is very simple and easy to make if you take a few shortcuts. The cooking time will vary depending on how you prepare your filling, and if you make a syrup or not. Since the recipe will vary according to how much you want to make and what you want to put as your fillings, I'll provide only a simple explanation:

Start with the glutinous rice flour- Using about 1 cup of flour will yield about a dozen filled balls.
Mix cold water slowly into the flour, enough to form a stiff dough.

Your fillings can be either savory or sweet, in this case sweet- depends on how you like your balls! Examples of typical fillings include peanuts, sesame paste or mung bean paste (as I used). In this case, the red mung bean paste was bought from the Asian market pre-made, but can also be made by soaking mung beans in water over night. Then blanching the mung beans and removing the skin, and finally mashing the beans into a paste with sugar (or if you're really awesome you'll grow your own organic mung beans first).

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I would recommend portioning small marble sized balls of filling and then freezing them on a baking sheet. This makes it much easier to encase in the dough when it comes time to wrap them. Using about a large marble-sized ball of dough, flatten into a pancake in your palm. Place the filling in the center, and gently wrap dough around the filling to seal. Avoid tears in the dough or else the filling will come out when boiled.

Next, boil the balls in water for approximately 3 minutes. If you'd like to eat them in a syrup, syrup can be easily made by melting brown or white sugar in a saucepan, adding aromatics, like ginger, orange peel, or star anise.

The last time I made this, I rolled the balls in flaked coconut, making them easier finger food. Next time I want to try the Japanese version with salty balls, and maybe fill 'em with smoked salmon or avocado inside. Suggestions for other filling combinations welcome :)

Hot Pot

... It's the fondue of China!

Now this is what I call a truly gastronomic experience. Chinese Hot Pot. And surprising that this is the first time I've tried it, considering how many Chinese friends I now have in Finland. My good friend MK is from the Northern regions of China, Shenyang, and apparently it's not as popular there as say, in my friend LY's region of Sichuan. In any case, I love LY's cooking for the awesome spiciness she puts into everything. That's how they do things in the kitchens of Sichuan, and I could definitely get used to that.

So hot pot has been referred to as the Chinese version of fondue. I haven't had proper fondue to speak of, unfortunately, but my guess is that hotpot still blows fondue out of the water. The idea is that it's a communal process, starting with one dish of something fragrant, like in this case, chicken wings with chilies and black flower mushrooms (not 'fungus' as we discussed).


The hot pot takes center stage, and all the hungry feasters sit around with their chopsticks, taking one piece at a time and discarding the bones. The pan rests on a bunson burner of sorts, an electrical table-top stove, to keep the dish warm through the eating process (yes, process, since it took the 7 of us several hours to finish our meal) Once the chicken has been mostly devoured (and it was) and the remaining fats and spices from the meat are still in the pan, water is added, to create a flavorful broth. Then, the other ingredients are added one at a time.

Just to name of a few of the ingredients.....
Crab and fish balls, fish steaks....

multiple types of mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, whole leaves of lettuce, thin strips of beef, bamboo shoots...

I'm probably forgetting some other ingredients, but it seems that really anything goes!

I liken the experience to using one of those stuffed animal claw machine games, in which try as you may, whatever you have in the claw slips out just before you have finally gotten it. That's how it goes when you're a Westerner trying to eat a soup like dish with chopsticks!! I really started to get the hang of it though. Still trying to work with the Chinese on their fork and knife skills.....

We ate this with a side of sticky rice balls in sugar water and finished with my quick and dirty chocolate pudding and ice cream.

Chinese Soy-'Beef' Wontons

Another fun afternoon activity while you are watching a movie and have time idle time, is to wrap your own filling into wontons. Buying pre-made wonton wrappers frozen from your nearby Asian market, like Vii Voan, is the best way to skip the mess and hassle of making wonton dough on your own. I have made my own, and I can tell you that unless you have a LOT of time and a spacious kitchen (unfortunately I have neither), then this isn't worth it. Just buy these:

The filling:

• 1/2 cup dried textured soy
• 1 cup water
• 1 cube veggie or beef bullion
• 1 cup finely chopped cabbage
• 1/4 cup scallions diced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbs ginger, powder or grated
• 1 tbs corn starch
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• dash of salt and pepper
• wonton wrappers
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• peanut oil for frying

1. Boil the textured soy in water and bullion until soft and completely rehydrated (about 10 minutes)
2. In a large saucepan, heat some peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger, scallions and lighly fry until soft.
3. Add the cabbage and carrot to the saucepan and cook until softened (about 10 minutes)
4. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch and other desired spices, and sesame oil.
5. Add textured soy to the cabbage mixture and mix well. Allow to cool.
6. Using a small bowl of water, line 2 sides of a sqaure wonton wrapper with water.
7. Place 1 tsp of filling in the center of the wonton, fold in half and press to seal.
8. Continue the process, leaving ready wontons on a lined baking sheet until you have run out of filling (or time or patience).
9. Add wontons to soup, or fry them quickly in hot peanut oil** and serve with sauce.

*Since this recipe makes about 4 dozen wontons, you may want to freeze some. To do this, I suggest placing the whole baking sheet with wontons into the freezer for about 2o minutes so that the wontons are frozen separately. Then, you may add them to a container or a bag inside the freezer. Do not throw them together in a bag before they are seperately frozen, or else they will stick together and become a mess.

** Peanut oil or coconut oil is recommended because of it's higher smoke temperature. You are able to fry the wontons quickly at a high heat without burning or creating smoke.

Tofu Soup

This soup can be made with several different broth bases so it's very easy to modify to your own arsenal of ingredients. You can also add veggie dumplings or other vegetables to this soup!

I started out with a mushroom stock base leftover from my mushroom spring rolls. I added another 2 cups of water, and a vegetable bullion cube.

• 1/3 block firm tofu, cubed
• tbs ginger, fresh or 1/2 tbs ginger powder
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 carrot, julliened
• 1 bunch scallions, diced
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs balsalmic vinegar
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• coriander, salt, pepper, chilli paste or flakes, to taste

1. Fry tofu cubes dry in a non-stick pan on low heat for half an hour, using a spatula to turn them around and firm them on all sides. This dries out the extra moisture, giving a golden color to the outside. Be sure to stir every 5 minutes or so to avoid tofu cubes sticking.
2. While the tofu is frying, cut all other vegetables, garlic and ginger and add them to the broth.
3. Add all other ingredients, season to taste. When the carrots are soft, the soup is read.

Wild Mushroom Spring Rolls

I am lucky to have someof the best friends and know some of the nicest most generous people in Helsinki. With their support, I havebeen able to make Helsinki my second home.

One of them, currently my landlord, MK, and his girlfriend LY, are now my neighbors. They are also Chinese. I wanted to make them a special dinner to show my gratitude, but I was given a special challenge. LY is allergic to seafood, and accustomed to mainly meat dishes. In any case, I was excited about this chance to try making some authentic dishes that the true experts could judge for themselves. I was rewarded with the compliment that it tastes 'better than in some Chinese restaurants in Helsinki'. I know that's not really saying much, but it made me happy!

First, I wanted to start with these mushrooms typical to China. There is the typical shitake mushroom, which is meaty and juicy, and then the black fungus, which when rehydrated, unfurls into a beautiful flower like form, but has a rather delicate yet distinct taste. I bought these from Vii Voan on Hameentie 3, for 3,50e and 1,90e respectively.

Then I decided to make mushroom spring rolls, using frozen spring roll pastry, only 1,90e for 280 grams. I had way more wrappers than needed for this recipe, so I can use the rest to make different spring rolls another time! The rest are waiting for me in my freezer.



Wild Mushroom Spring Rolls (makes about 12-15 rolls)
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes*

• about 1lb of mushrooms, rehydrated (this is about 4-5 handfulls of dried mushrooms)
• bunch of scallions, diced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2 cups cabbage, shredded
• 50grams bean thread noodles (1 individual packet, if you can find them packaged as shown below), blanced (easiest if you leave the string tied around it while it soaks in boiling water)
• frozen spring roll wrappers
• 1/2 tbs ground ginger, or fresh grated ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs roasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice blend (I ground equal portions of star anise and cloves with pestle and mortar then added a pinch of salt, pepper, and cinnamon)
• 1 egg, beaten
• peanut oil for frying
• Spicy Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)

Bean thread noodles

1. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for approximately an hour. If the shitake mushrooms still seem hard in the center, cut them in half after soaking partially and soak longer. They should double or triple in size. Drain, but save the water (this makes invaluable mushroom stock for soup recipes).
2. Dice mushrooms.
3. In a large pan, heat a few tablespoons of peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add the diced mushrooms to the pan and fry for another minute.
5. Add the cabbage, carrot, spices**, soy sauce, and sesame oil and continue to fry until tender.
6. Using a large space, prepare your roll wrapping area by placing the beaten egg in one bowl, the stack of wrappers thawed and handy for use, the blanched bean thread noodles, and mushroom mixture in two separate bowls, and one parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Placing the wrapper at a diagonal, place about 2 tbs mushroom filling, topped with a thin layer of bean thread noodles, and roll the wrapper until the filling is covered.
8. Fold in outer corners of wrapper, brush the end triangle with egg, then continue rolling all the way. Place on baking sheet.
9. Heat oil to a high temperature, and fry each spring roll until golden and rest on paper towels to drain. Serve and enjoy immediately.

Spicy Mustard Sauce

• 1/2 cup spicy yellow or dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 3 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar

1. Blend all ingredients together.

* I know this seems like a long time, and rolling the filling into the wrappers can be tedious. But do what I did and enjoy the rolling process while watching a movie :) I watched 'Hurt Locker' which was very intense and seemingly realistic but enjoyable.

** Also it would be good to add about 1 tbs oyster sauce, though I did not add it due to LY's allergy.