Beijing in the fall

is so pretty! We had over 2 weeks of blue sky days... it was absolutely amazing. I knew it had to come to an end soon, and when it did, it was with a vengeance! The embassy was getting pretty funny with their air quality read-outs... instead of "hazardous" they chose "crazy bad," which was hysterical to me. Yesterday, the pollution read-outs were off the charts, so they literally had to write "beyond index." Hopefully we get some wind and it clears up!

Beijing has been really pretty in the fall and I thought I'd post a few pictures to show the change of seasons. These pics are from all over Beijing - random streets, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall at Mutianyu.

At the Forbidden City



In this picture, we wandering down a hutong and stepped in to show my parents where the cook lives for the cooking class I go to. These two women, mother and daughter, used to live in the house back to the left... they left in '62, when the daughter was just a baby. We all went back and the people currently living in the home invited us in and showed us around. It was so cool to have the opportunity to see the inside! My husband and the older woman not only spoke Chinese together, but practiced their Russian as well.

Pretty fall leaves on a random Beijing street

The Great Wall at Mutianyu

The hubby and I at my favorite park in Beijing: Beihai. See that tree? It was COLD that day!

At the market with the chef, shopping for our cooking class. Sometimes the uggs need to be worn, what can I say? They are so warm and super comfy to walk around in for me (but my feet don't really have an arch, so that may be why I find them so comfy to walk in for hours on end).

"What's this called?"

Making dumplings

Mmm the yummy Sichuan noodles we made. SO delish! 担担面

Steph

Cooking class #2, with recipes!

My husband and I took another cooking class last weekend. The first time, we learned how to make fresh jiaozi (dumplings) and a few other cold vegetable dishes. This time, we chose a class that included a lot of meat! Braised pork, dry pepper beef, fish flavored eggplant, garlic spinach, etc. It was another amazing class and we made a lot of recipes that will be easy to make at home. I think for those of you outside of China (um, yeah. almost all of you!), the difficult part would be getting certain ingredients, but if you have a local Asian market, its definitely worth a try - because the food is easy to make, and its delicious.


#1: Canton Style Braised Ribs (广东烧排骨(shown in the picture on the left)

Ingredients:

500g ribs

Seasoning 1:

a few pieces of sliced ginger

Seasoning 2:

dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
sugar, 2 tbsp
Chinese white wine (more than 30% alcohol), 1 tbsp

Method:

1. chop rib into section (the ribs we chopped into 2 inch pieces approx.)
2. season wok with 1 tbsp oil (canola oil is fine), add ginger, ribs, stir about 30 seconds until fragrant, and then add 200ml water.
3. add all of seasoning 2 to the wok, cover, cook over low heat for about an hour until the water is gone.

How easy is that? SIMPLE, minimal ingredients and hardly any work! And these were so amazingly delicious.



#2: Fragrant Spicy Beef (香辣牛肉

Ingredients:

Beef, 250g

Marinade:

salt, 1/4 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tsp
wine, 2 tsp
starch, 4 tsp
If meat looks dry, 1-2 tsp water

Spices:

dry chilis, julienned（干辣椒） - how many you use depends on your personal preference for spiciness
sichuan pepper (these are the sichuan peppercorns 花椒), 1/2 tsp
ginger, julienned, 2 tsp
leek, 6 pieces, only the white part, julienned
coriander (we call this cilantro in the U.S., and its also known as Chinese parsley), a few pieces

Seasoning:

sugar, 1 tsp
dark soy sauce, 2 tsp
sesame oil, 1 tsp

Method:

1. cut beef into 5cm long and chopstick thick, mix with marinade for 15 minutes.
2. Julienne all ginger, leek, and chili
3. season wok with 2 tbsp oil over high flame, turn down heat until oil is not smoking, add dry chili, sichuan peppercorns, then ginger, turn heat to high. When chili and sichuan peppers are fragrant and chili has turned a brown-red color, add the beef. Stir slowly until beef just changes color and separates, then add leek, sugar, dark soy sauce. Stir until leek is soft, turn off heat, and add coriander and sesame oil, mix, and take out.


#3. Fish Flavored Eggplant (鱼香茄子）－ and no, it does not taste or smell like fish, nor is there fish in it.

Ingredients:

Eggplant, 500g, cut into small finger sized
Minced pork, 2 tbsp (you can omit the pork, or you can even add pork strips)

Spices:

3 pieces of pickled chili, minced and seeds removed （泡辣椒）pictured below


ginger, minced, 3 tbsp
garlic, 5 cloves, minced, about 2 tbsp
spring onion, 3 pieces, minced, about 4 tbsp

Seasoning 1: (add during cooking)

salt, (now follow me here...).... use 1/2 of 1/4 tsp
sugar, 5 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
wine, 1 tbsp

Seasoning 2: (add at the end)

vinegar 1 tbsp
sesame oil 1 tsp

Method:

1. season wok with 1 tbsp oil, turn to medium low heat, add eggplant, stir until eggplant becomes soft, then take out.
2. season wok with 2 tbsp oil, low heat, add pork, stir until pork separates and changes color, add chili, ginger, garlic, and stir. Add wine and 200 ml of water.
3. Add salt, sugar, soy sauce, and add eggplant. Cover. Cook on medium low heat until the water is gone.
4. Add vinegar and mix well. Turn off heat, add sesame oil and spring onion, mix, and then take out.

YUM! Totally delicious!

The garlic spinach was sooooo good, too.... and it was simple. We just took a bunch of garlic, minced it, and threw it in a seasoned wok with oil, added the spinach, some salt, and stir fry until done.

Let me know if you try any of these things! I was told if you can't find the pickled chilis for the eggplant dish, you can use fresh red chili as a substitute.

Steph

HELP me decide! What cooking class should I take next?

I'm completely indecisive and need help deciding! In case you are wondering - pork is the meat of choice in China, and "fragrant fish" actually has nothing to do with fish (doesn't use, taste or smell like fish) and is completely delicious. Also, I love eggplant & spinach... (just for reference). I want to use what I learn in class in my own kitchen!

B

stir fry pork
braise chicken with mushroom
Fish fragrant pork (stir fry pork with chili) (hot)
Stirfry pork with garlic shoot/celery…
Three treasures (braise potato, eggplant and green pepper)


C

Braise pork rib with soy sauce and sugar
Black pepper beef
Stir fry beef with chili pepper (hot)
Fish fragrant eggplant (braise eggplant with chili) (hot)
Stirfry spinach with garlic


D
(Dim Sum)

barbecued pork ( char siu)
steam bun in two filling ( char siu and fresh meat )
Wonton and soup


E

Braise beef with bamboo shoot/white radish
Dry stirfry chicken (hot)
Dry stirfry beef (hot)
Mapo doufu ( numb and hot)
Blunch vegetable ***I don't know what this is, I just copied and pasted... lol**

WHICH CLASS?

THANKS!

Adventures in Chinese Cooking: Homemade Noodle Edition - 成功！

After our delicious adventure in jiaozi (dumpling) making, we decided that what we needed to work on most was the dough. You make noodles using the same dough that you use to make jiaozi, so we decided to try making our own noodles, which is overall less time consuming than making jiaozi. I made the dough using my teachers' tips, and when it came time to make the noodles, the dough was perfect!

Because we didn't really have a recipe to go off of, every time we ate out we decided to look and see what veggies kept popping up in noodles. There are no rules really - you can put pretty much any veggie you want in a noodle dish, it all depends on your own tastes. We kept seeing green onion, green peppers, thin carrot slices, and cabbage popping up, so we decided to use those veggies - as well as some red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

The noodles were a success! The food was delicious! The only thing we need to alter next time is the usage of those red Chinese peppers.... those suckers are deceivingly hot.

The veggies all nice & cut up, yum, plus the infamous sauce that completely makes the dish (I use some Chinese vinegar, Chinese soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and red pepper slices - same sauce I love to dip my dumplings in)


The noodles all nice and cut up


Look at that!! Perfect noodles!


Boiling the noodles first until they feel right, then you stir fry


The noodles, pork strips, and veggies all being stir fried



These deceivingly hot peppers! They are so small, at first we only cut up one... then decided maybe we would use one more.... wow... that made a huge difference, this dish was spicy! Next time, we'll stick with one.


They sell them in a huge bag full, like this - but I only need one.... haha. Too bad you can't just go in and buy one pepper ;) I am pretty sure they would look at me as if I had five heads.


I think we are getting the hang of it!

Steph

Two Laowais' Adventures in Homemade Dumpling Making

My husband and I attempted to make homemade jiaozi (dumplings) a week or so ago. We happened to randomly pick the day that you are traditionally supposed to eat jiaozi on: what is supposed to be, according to the lunar calendar, the hottest day of the year (but that I can tell you which was nowhere close to the hottest day we've had in Beijing!)

We tried to remember as best we could the instructions we learned from the Hutong Cuisine cooking class that we took. Neither of us took home the recipe... DOH. Majorly kicking ourselves for that!

So, we looked everywhere for the little wooden-stick-thingie (擀面杖 or ganmianzhang in Chinese) that you are supposed to use to roll out the dough (yes we made homemade wrappers and everything!) Unfortunately, we couldn't find one anywhere, so we used some quick thinking and scoured our kitchen for an acceptable replacement. Adapt and overcome, right? Luckily, we found this thing... it goes in a plastic pitcher we have, and you usually freeze it to keep the drinks cold. It also doubles as a decent little-wooden-stick-thingie, as I like to call it!


The hubby rolling out the dough. I'll be honest... about 10 minutes into working with the dough, I decided we were crazy for trying to make our own jiaozi and left the dough-work to my husband. Working with dough is hard, people! Especially when you use the wrong measurements - oops! Silly waiguoren (foreigners).


Our not-yet-cooked, not-quite-visually-appetitizing jiaozi. OK, OK. We need to work on the dough. Some parts were too dry, others too wet - noted! We spoke with our Chinese teachers who gave us some little tricks, which we will definitely try next time.


The next funny part - we decided to steam them. It was only after our decision that we realized we didn't bring our proper steamer with us to China... so, again, we improvised and used a strainer. It worked, except some of the jiaozi "skin" stuck to the bottom of the steamer. Our teacher again gave us a tip - you are supposed to place a thin damp cloth on the bottom of the steamer to ensure the sticking doesn't happen.


And ohhhh... the best part in my opinion - the dipping sauce! I could seriously drink this stuff, people. It was SO good. MMMM. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! The key is to use good quality Chinese soy sauce and Chinese vinegar. I put a little of each, some fresh crushed garlic... a little bit of fresh ginger - to be honest, I can't really remember if I used ginger or not... but I may have... and a spicy red pepper cut into small pieces. The sauce was out of this world!


Despite our dough mishap... the jiaozi were truly delicious! And well worth the effort. We did a traditional filling of pork & cabbage (with some green onion, garlic and ginger, soy sauce. I've since been told Chinese don't put garlic in the filling. I love me some garlic and the filling came out so good, garlic is definitely going in again next time!)

I'll get another chance to work with dough tonight - we are going to make our own homemade noodles, then stir fry them with veggies and pork. Luckily, I remember the process for the noodles, and this time I'll hopefully get the water to dough ratio right ;)

Steph

Chinese cooking class! with Hutong Cuisine

Yesterday we had an absolutely amazing day! We took a cooking class with Chef Zhou Chunyi of Hutong Cuisine. Originally born in Canton, Chef Zhou followed her passion for cooking and ultimately ended up in Beijing, where she opened Hutong Cuisine. Learning to cook traditional, authentic Chinese food from a great chef was a wonderful experience.

We started by meeting Chef Zhou at the local market. She led us around and explained how they pick the right meat, what different spices do, and pointed out all kinds of vegetables I've only seen here in China. In China, chicken breasts are much cheaper than chicken thighs, wings or other parts of the chicken (they also eat chicken head and chicken feet, of which I will spare you the pictures). Chicken breasts are seldom used in Chinese cooking due to lack of flavor and a drier texture than other parts of the chicken - lucky for us Americans, its very cheap to buy chicken breasts here in Beijing.

The spice aisle


Meat! Here, everything is much less "behind the scenes" than it is in the U.S. (unless you were to go to a Butcher or something in the U.S.)


Be careful not to break your eggs! The greenish tinged eggs and the brown ones closest to us in the pic are duck eggs.


Tons of fresh veggies.


We saw several other things at this market that you typically wouldn't see in the U.S., including locals loading up their carts for delivery around town.


The aquarium at the market, where you can pick your own fish.... what? It doesn't look like your local grocery store? lol.

Chef Zhou's class is held in her own home, in one of Beijing's oldest hutongs in the Dongcheng district of the city. These traditional courtyard homes have true Chinese flair and as soon as you step foot in one, you are instantly given a picture of how Chinese lived hundreds of years ago when hutong living was the way almost everybody lived. Much like any other big city, Beijing is loud, and I am pleasantly surprised at how peaceful, quiet and tranquil it is in the hutong.

Gorgeous inside the hutong.




Chef Zhou teaching us about the different types and grades of soy sauce, vinegar, and rice wine.

The hubby and I after chopping up chives, cilantro (also known as coriander according to our British cookmates, as well as Chinese parsley).

The hubby stuffing the dumplings. We made dumplings with pork, beef, and one with egg. Some were mixed with chives, some with spring onions, some with cilantro, and some with cabbage - all had ginger. We handmade the outside "wrapper" as well - surprisingly easy, its made with just flour and water! Same goes for the noodles (which are first boiled for 3 minutes, then stir fried).

MMMM tons of various sorts of dumplings, absolutely delicious! Chef Zhou taught us how to pinch them the correct way. We either stir fried them, boiled them, or steamed them.

A delicious Sichuan style cold dish... cucumber, cilantro, vinegar, soy sauce, chili pepper... so delicious!


This is a type of raddish... I forget exactly what is in it but the flavor is amazing.

My bowl! I can honestly say this is my favorite, most delicious meal in China so far. I love that its homemade, all fresh, no MSG!

Me and the hubby sitting in Chunyi's tiny courtyard, enjoying our meal and drinking tea.

The class was amazing and I will definitely be taking it again to learn how to make more authentic Chinese food! Not only was the food delicious, but the company was great. We have met such cool people in our time so far here in Beijing. Another couple who took the class with us were other Americans from Colorado - they are both twice over Ironman triathletes! They were beginning their 1 year of traveling around the world, and their first stop was here in Beijing. Something about the type of people who come to a place like this are so interesting, and it seems like Beijing draws all kinds of people, from all over the world with all sorts of backgrounds.

If you make it to Beijing or China in general, I highly recommend taking a Chinese cooking class - the food is a huge part of their culture and I think this class would be a highlight of your trip!

Thanks for reading!

Steph