Anyone know how to cook authentic chinese????

[Hebrews3:13]

Ok, so DH met a Chinese exchange student. He is the analytical, inquisitive type and asked A LOT of questions. He talked to her about what they eat and since we had been talking about eating healthier (I was thinking whole grains, less refined sugar and flour) he is WHOLE HOG on this thing- to the point that we had a HUGE fight this afternoon (probably biggest one ever- don't fight much) because I went to the store and came home with a box of Cheez-its and Vanilla Wafers for my kids. Never mind all the fruits and veggies I got and all the other things (chocolate) I wanted to buy.

 

So apparently they eat meat (how do they cook it?), some rice and veggies. Sometimes together, sometimes not the exchange student said. Fruit MAYBE for special occasion dessert. No dairy, no other grains I guess?

 

So, how do they cook the meat? Do they wok everything? Have a hard time picturing this. I mean I know what we eat in chinese restaurants is NOT the same, otherwise all those chinese people would not be living quite so long. Hello, salty soy sauce and msg?

 

Do they eat the rice just steamed, dry? Eww.

 

I appreciate anyone who knows anything about this. I am a meat and potatoes pretty darn good cook, so this is killing me. Sigh.

 

DH has not spoken to me since. :001_huh:

[Ashleen]

Try The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp. And tell your husband to lighten up; you can't change a lifetime's worth of eating habits in five minutes and if you try it won't last (trust me on that). We have to take change at a reasonable pace unless we want to get overwhelmed and throw up our hands in despair and end up eating red velvet cake for dinner (or is that just me?).

[milovany]

Are you wanting to cook for the Chinese student? We have a lot of international students over for dinner and they likely would enjoy an *American* meal.

 

Or are you saying that the Chinese eat healthier and your dh wants you to copy that? The meals that the Chinese students we've had over have cooked for us have been pretty basic -- stir fried pork, vegies, rice and sauce. Or rice and eggs. These are the ones I can remember. I can put you in touch with a Chinese adult (female) if you want and you can email with her. Let me know if you're interested!

[Laura Corin]

A few answers:

 

In the south of China they eat rice or rice noodles, as well as some kinds of dumplings (made with wheat). In the north they also eat steamed buns (mantou) and wheat noodles. The rice or noodles are a medium for the sauces that come with the meat/veggies. They do not have their own flavouring (usually).

 

Stir-frying is the usual way of cooking most dishes, but others are steamed (fish, dumplings), deep fried, or stewed (meats). In general, the traditional Chinese diet is very healthy - yes, soy sauce is used, but the table might have one salty dish with several others that are much lighter. The Western version of Chinese food has stressed the salty dishes. Traditionally, meat has been a minor part of a meal, although more is being eaten now. Doufu (Tofu) is/was an important source of protein. The younger generation is eating more milk products, but the older generation did not.

 

I should say that Chinese cuisine varies from region to region as much as, say, European cuisine does. A German does not eat in the same way as does an Italian. One constant is the lack of snacking: in my experience, Chinese people eat three meals a day and that's it. Just tea (without sugar or milk) between meals.

 

Laura

[fshinkevich]

Well I cannot help with recipes or anything but I can recommend the book "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell. I bet DH would love it ;)

[Doran]

Not sure of the authenticity of the *comments* or photographer on this slide show, but I'm pretty sure the kinds of food shown are accurate for the region. Perhaps this will help your husband feel better about the Cheez-its and Nilla Wafers. :D

[percytruffle]

Not sure of the authenticity of the *comments* or photographer on this slide show, but I'm pretty sure the kinds of food shown are accurate for the region. Perhaps this will help your husband feel better about the Cheez-its and Nilla Wafers. :D

 

EEEEWWWW. Anyone for another bowl of dog brain soup? Gag.

 

Thanks a bunch, Doran. Yeah, just, thanks...

[Mrs Mungo]

Wow. Your husband is this upset you suddenly aren't going to start cooking authentic Chinese from ONE conversation he had? Are you kidding me?

 

And from living in a state with a heavy Asian influence I can tell you that Doran is right, a lot of things Asians eat are REALLY weird to the Westerner.

 

He'd be getting a big old bowl of scorpions on a stick with a side of rice. Humph!

[mompotter]

Not sure of the authenticity of the *comments* or photographer on this slide show, but I'm pretty sure the kinds of food shown are accurate for the region. Perhaps this will help your husband feel better about the Cheez-its and Nilla Wafers. :D

 

Well that convinced me!! YUK!!! :eek:

[Mom to Aly]

And from living in a state with a heavy Asian influence I can tell you that Doran is right, a lot of things Asians eat are REALLY weird to the Westerner.

:iagree: Umm, yeah, I have a close friend from high school who is from Hong Kong, and he still talks about eating snakes and the whole monkey brain thing--believe me, if you don't know, you don't wanna'!!!

 

And I can tell you from experience--my dad is Indian, I grew up with Indian food, and I lived in India for a year when I was 19--loved it for the first few months, but we'd have authentic Chinese and African often, was OK with it all for a bit after that, although I missed American more and more, but, soon after, we were going to a five star hotel every time we could sneak away from relatives to pay what was a fortune in India for a spicy grilled cheese sandwich--and we considered it heaven!!!!

 

Having recently gone as healthy as I can, for health reasons, I can tell you, I am so glad I did, but it isn't as easy as you'd think, and I have been ultra inspired, and it has been ultra necessary. I am sending you a major :chillpill: for your hubby--don't deep fry it or coat it in anything unhealthy, maybe he will take it then, and you and the kiddies skip out for a nice enjoyable meal. Maybe then you can all sit and talk about this reasonably :D. You can't change everything overnight. It needs to be a mutual decision, you both need to research it, and no one ethnicity of food is ideal (hey, the people in the Himalayan mountains live a really long time, and they eat a ton of yogurt, and not just Dannon says that ;)).

 

I'm sure you guys can find a happy balance for your kids without having to alienate each other or fight. Just do it together.

[percytruffle]

I haven't been to the mainland of China, but we spent a month in Taiwan.

 

We often saw families eating dinner together on the street level at small vendors. In the cities most people eat out and don't cook at home. Their day is very long and their apartment kitchens aren't very good. The average person would eat a bowl of noodles (udon) or rice with a soupy mixture of veggies and maybe a little meat in it. The veggies were often stirfried in pork fat.

 

They also eat a lot of dumplings, barbequed foods, and pork. You can eat at restaurants where the seating for your group surrounds a table with a small barbeque on it. You order what you want to cook and then cook it yourself. It can be anything from shark fin to shrimp.

 

Hotpot is also very popular. Basically you have a communal cooking vessel in the middle of the table that you all dip your foods into to cook them right there.

 

They do eat a lot of seafood and a lot of it is raw: sashimi. For lunch they might have a cup of broth with tiny whole fish in it. Another soup-like rice based dish they eat a lot of is called congee.

 

They also eat a lot of eggs in the form of omelette type things and sort of a cross between hardboiled and fried that are made in this special pan.

 

The Oolong tea helps with hunger pangs. Many of the thin women consume a lot of tea to stay thin.

 

We saw almost no dairy or bread. Dessert is pretty non-existant too.

 

Snack foods that you would buy in the store might be dried almond fish, dried squid, potato chips with some seafood flavoring...do you see a trend here?

 

After our month-long adventure we were thrilled to encounter a MacDonald's!

[Sandra in FL]

A typical dish is very little meat (chicken, pork or beef) stir-fried with lots of one type of vegetable (Chinese greens - usually). He did do some exotic stuff once in a while but usually the dish above was the staple of our everyday meals.

 

My mother always complained that there wasn't enough to eat because my dad cooked just enough for no leftovers. He didn't want any left overs because it's not nutritious and didn't look appetizing.

 

There was no snacking between meals and a pot of green tea (in a basket - to keep it warm) from which to drink all day long. There was no dairy, no dessert or sweets.

 

I still look back on those days as the best food I ever had. My dad had 3 dishes on the table in a half hour. Unfortunately, because he was such a good, efficient cook, he never wanted me in the kitchen and I never learned to cook all that delicious stuff.

 

Blessings,

Sandra

[Laura Corin]

Ah, but all those are fresh, healthy bugs. But seriously, you can see that kind of thing for sale, but most people eat more straight-ahead food (pork, chicken, pork, fish, beef, pork, lamb (in some areas)) with lots of veggies.

 

Laura

[Ashleen]

You can eat at restaurants where the seating for your group surrounds a table with a small barbeque on it. You order what you want to cook and then cook it yourself.

 

My sons saw this on Food Network and want to do it so badly!

[Pster]

We have dear friends, who used to be our neighbors, who are Chinese. She would cook with me often.

 

This cucumber salad is something that she made that was delicious:

 

"My cucumber salad is also very simple. Mix cucumber with some salt and wait for 10 min. get rid of the juice before adding some sesame oil. Please use very little salt otherwise you will see a lot of juice coming out and the cucumber becomes very soft instead of being crunch"

 

 

Here is something from another email:

"You could stir-fry bok-choy with mushroom no matter it is fresh or not. When the oil is heated, throw bok-choy in first and cover the lid for 2-3 min or until it becomes a little soft. Add some salt and cook for another min or so before adding mushroom. If it is too dry, add a soup spoon of water. Cover the lid for 2 min and the dish is ready. This is the basic way to stir-fry veggies. Once you know how to do it smoothly, you can cook any kind of veggies."

 

 

She was trying so hard to teach me how to cook like she does!

 

 

Basically in a nutshell - (if you have a wok) - heat up some canola oil with a few slices of ginger and a few cloves of garlic - you do the chicken first [they don't eat much meat at all - it is in much smaller proportion to veggies than "our" typical meals] - start adding in veggies (kinda in the order that they would be done cooking first - so, green beans first, maybe some mushrooms, cabbage, bean sprouts, etc etc....

 

 

On the top of the dish, when it is done, sprinkle the sesame oil. She says to use it as a "dressing" for flavor not a cooking oil.

 

 

They have lots of veggies - often several different dishes during a meal. They do eat rice - she had a huge rice cooker for just the 2 of them. She did use a lot of tofu..... sometimes fish. Lots of fresh stuff.

 

 

Not sure that this helps you much. It was wayyyyy healthier food than what we get in a typical Chinese restaurant.

 

 

We loved her cooking - very different - always tasty!