Chinese Noodles

The fusion between Indian cuisine and Chinese cuisine is an amazing blend which has yielded some very popular dishes such as Chinese Noodles, Gobi Manchurian, etc. Especially popular in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, "Indian Chinese" as it is fondly called, the food is available everywhere including the road side stalls at the famous Chowpati beach. Enjoy this delicious version of Indian Chinese fusion recipe called "Indian Chinese Noodles". Quick is high on my list of redeemable recipe qualities. Although, it’s right up there with tasty and healthy. This sometimes makes for a challenging recipe hunt. I picked up a few packs of MTR vermicelli noodles a few weeks back for experimenting with vermicelli style upma, or semiya upma. As I started making the noodles though, I decided the taste would really benefit from a splash of soy sauce and chili garlic hot sauce. The result was spicy, soy spiked noodles mixed with fresh (I use this word loosely since I did use frozen peas) veggies and topped off with crunchy cashews. I’m going to classify this as “Indian Chinese” since anything that mixes mustard seeds with soy sauce seems a little bit Indian, a little bit Chinese to me.

This recipe is great because it’s a real “clean out you vegetable crisper” recipe – you can add cabbage, bell peppers, or broccoli to this – really whatever you find in the fridge. Let me know if you think of any other good add ons.
I'm sure Asian cooking guru Jaden of Steamy Kitchen would cringe if she saw this noodle recipe, but I can't help it. It was my go-to dish my last year in college and it's a keeper. My senior year I shared a big beach house with four other girls in Santa Cruz, California. I seemed to be the only one really interested in cooking. One was a Japanese American basketball player who ate bowls and bowls of rice, one was a perpetual dieter, another favored baked or fried foods that always seemed to incorporate Crisco, and one was a pint-sized Chinese American sophomore from Sacramento who came from a very large family. She didn't cook very frequently, but this easy noodle recipe was something I learned from her.

I recently received a number of Annie Chun's noodles. The dried chow mein noodles reminded me of this long forgotten recipe. Perfect for a college student or anyone else for that matter, it's fast, cheap and easy. It can be eaten very simply or dressed up any number of ways with toppings. It's good served hot or cold. I like it with a sprinkling of chopped cilantro and green onions and shreds of chicken. But it's surprisingly satisfying plain too. I have no idea if it is in any way authentic, I only know it makes a comforting meal when you can't think any further than the pantry.
Noodles in any shape or form are my weakness. They are why I would fail the Atkins diet so miserably. Well that and the fact that I eat rice almost everyday. Chinese stir-fried noodles are one of my favorite dishes because it's delicious and a cinch to make. Like fried rice, it's usually something I can make when I have nothing planned, throw some ingredients together, and it comes out so good every time that I can almost eat the whole pan myself. This is one of the dishes I cooked for Chinese New Year. It's traditional to eat noodle dishes for New Years and birthdays because the long strands symbolize long life. So don't cut your noodles! Slurp, slurp away to your heart's content!

In Chinese restaurants, this dish is usually called chicken, beef, happy family, etc. etc. chow mein, which is the Cantonese translation of pan fried noodles. In Mandarin we call it chao mian, which means the same thing. The dish is made with wheat or egg noodles. I like to use egg noodles because they have a chewier texture and have a pleasant yellow color. If you use rice noodles, it's called chow fun/chao feng. There's a lot of flexibility with this dish. You can use whatever protein and veggies you feel like. Chicken, shrimp, pork, BBQ pork, beef, tofu or a combination would work. You should cut your meat or tofu into strips so they're easier to eat with the noodles but you don't need to cut the shrimp, just peel and devein. I used some Chinese BBQ pork I made the day before.
When you make chow mein noodles be sure to rinse them or they can get very sticky. I've used this sauce on flat rice noodles and even on spaghetti in a pinch. While the recipe I learned was equal parts ketchup and oyster sauce, you could add ginger, toasted sesame oil, Chinese chile garlic sauce, Sriracha sauce, whatever you like! It is one of the reasons I always have a bottle of good quality oyster sauce on hand.
For the vegetables, it's best to use ones that can be julienned or cut into strips. So peas would not be a good idea but you can use carrots, cabbage, snow pea pods, celery, red bell pepper, baby bok choy, sprouts, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, the list can go on and on. I cook things in three stages. First the meat, then the veggies (adding meat to the veggies towards the end), then the noodles and then add everything together in the end to heat through and mix evenly. For a pound of noodles I use a pound of protein and this should serve about 4.
If you're starting with raw meat, use the marinade I included.
- If you're starting with cooked meats, then add the ginger slices to the oil when you're cooking the veggies in step 2
- If you're using mushrooms, you'll need to cook those first before adding the rest of the vegetables, cook them until they release their juices and the juices evaporate before adding the rest of the ingredients. Otherwise the rest of the veggies will get soggy.
- Mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar together in a little bowl before you add it to the noodles so you can add the seasoning in one step. Add more seasoning later if you need to

Traditional Chinese Food

I am very fortunate that Foodbuzz agreed to include my reunion dinner as part of their January “24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs” event. This event was scheduled for Saturday January 24th evening. Although tradition dictates that the reunion dinner is served on New Year’s Eve, I invited my family to join us in this celebration one day early to coincide with the Foodbuzz event.

In China, and in many other parts of Asia, hot pot is a very popular way for family to share a meal around a dinner table. Similar to a fondue concept, raw or partially cooked ingredients are cut up and brought to the dining table, then cooked in a boiling broth. A pot specially designed with a flue and commonly fueled with flaming charcoal is set in the middle of the table. Before central heating was widespread in China the heat from the pot can always be counted on to warm the family at dinnertime.
Chinese food, is a unique, tasty and very common cuisine which usually consists of two main ingredients. chinese recipies,shanghai, Jiang-Huai The first being a carbohydrate source such as rice chinese rice or noodles noodles. The second component that is used in chinese food can be vegetables, fish or meat. Chinese Food Varieties Unlike meals from the west that usually consists of a meat as the main dish, spicy food in chinese food meat is not the main dish.

As with many other food traditions there are wide-ranging regional variations of hot pot meal. In the north “Lamb Hot Pot” (涮羊肉) is very popular, whereas in Sichuan the “Mala Hot Pot” (麻辣火鍋) is omnipresent. I decided to make the version from my family’s home province in China’s southern coastal region. It is served with a simple aromatic broth accompanied by a multitude of sliced meat, meatballs, dumplings, and vegetables.on a Saturday or Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for dim sum. With dim sum, you order little plates of assorted steamed buns and dumplings, meats, seafood and vegetables. All this is kept track of on a tally sheet... Be sure to try the unsalad-like Chinese shrimp salad. It's made with shrimp fried in a light batter and served with pineapple and broccoli in a sweet, velvety mayo-like sauce. Sounds odd, but it is quite popular and delicious. Other popular dim sum items include steamed shrimp dumplings and pan-fried turnip cake. "It's wonderful to win all the awards," Leung says. "It means that all of my family's hard work has been recognized....""
As it is known world wide, rice chinese rice dishes is the most crucial item in Chinese Cuisine. On the other hand, in many places in china, vegetarian chinese food wheat based products such as noodles are just as good and is used instead of rice. chinese desserts In South China rice is dominant Chinese Food Dishes and in the north, wheat based products are dominant. Soup (with some wheat based product) is usually served at the end of the meal various chinese rice. However the western world influenced the chinese cuisine to serve soups at the start of a meal. beef , vegetables , squid,muscles , prawns , shrimps , sweetcorn, tofuThe chinese people are famous for their unusual eating method, oriental food "two chopsticks". chinese traditional food In china the chopsticks are the primary eating method for solid food. chopsticks Soups and liquids are of course eaten with spoons and not with chopsticks. chinese soups The chinese cuisine uses traditional chopsticks made of ceramics and not with regular wooden chopsticks. sweet and sour It is reported that chopsticks made of wood are used by less people throughout chinese restaurant the world recently in order to save the forests and trees, therefore using less wood.

Chinese Foods Recipi

Jan Mee is one of the better options for Chinese food in the small but charming city of Portland, ME. The restaurant offers a convenient location with plenty of parking in the Union Station parking lot. Jan Mee has an extensive menu that includes all the typical appetizers you have come to expect in a Chinese restaurant in the United States. The creations are typically fresh and tasty, and never seem dried out or warmed over. There is also a wide variety of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, and vegetable dishes. The food is always cooked to perfection. I especially enjoy the twice-cooked pork and sesame chicken, but I have tried almost everything on the menu over the past ten years and I can attest to the fact that it is great. I should add that the portions at Jan Mee are enormous. It would be easy to share an item off the menu between two diners, or at least have plenty to take home for later, because it is almost impossible to finish an entire meal by yourself. There are plenty of both lunch and dinner specials that come accompanied with soup and carry very reasonable, wallet-friendly price tags. There are also some more pricey dinner specials for two to four people, but even these are not beyond reason in terms of price. Overall, the positives include great and plentiful food, excellent prices, and a ton of free parking. If you are in Portland and have a hankering for some Chinese food, give Jan Mee a try! To find more Japanese restaurants like this, visit globalYP.ne


Fortunately for me when traveling, every halfway-decent-sized town in the US seems to have at least one mediocre Chinese place (even more prolific than Mexican cuisine in some parts) where I can be assured of getting *something* to eat. Sometimes it's veggie lomein (the smokier the better), other times it's Szechuan String Beans, and all-too-often it's the default vegetarian dish that goes by many names: Buddha's Delight, Vegetable Delight, Mixed Chinese Vegetables in Brown Sauce, Buddhist Vegetables, etc. It's all the same shit, and it's edible, but booooring, and ranges from so-so to awful.

Hint: most Chinese restaurants have tofu (aka "beancurd") on hand, regardless of whether it appears on the menu (even meat-eaters in asian cultures eat tofu regularly), so ask for it. You may just get the bland stir-fry with tofu thrown in, but if you're lucky and they're accomodating, you could also get General Tso's tofu, Ma Po Tofu (make sure they don't put pork in it!), or Sesame tofu.

Note: Some places use fish or oyster sauce for flavoring (all the more confusing since oyster sauce isn't necessarily made from oysters...it can be vegan), and some lomein noodles and fortune cookies contain egg. Sesame pancakes and scallion pancakes are often vegan and usually delicious!
I LOVE chinese food - usually eat it at least once a week (and now I make my own stir fry) - but here's a few tips from Guliana Rancic's healthy lifestyle blog, Fab Fit Fun, about eating chinese food in her latest newsletter.

The Good

Hot and Sour Soup, Egg Drop Soup
Steer clear of the fried apps and try some steamy soup packed with flavor and low on calories. Both soups run around 100 calories a serving and help prevent overeating later.

Stir-Fried Shrimp and Veggies
Compared to beef, pork, or chicken, shrimp has less calories per serving. Pair with some fresh stir-fried veggies and you have a healthy low cal dish full of protein and flavor. Ask for the sauce on the side and pour carefully.

Brown Rice
Carbs can be your friend when they’re steamed and loaded with fiber.

The Bad



Sweet and Sour, Orange, and General Tso’s…Anything
The golden trio of fat-filled, calorie-packed disasters can do serious damage. These dishes are battered, deep fried and drenched in thick, sugary sauces. Run the other direction.

Lo Mein
This pasta dish seems innocent enough – but an average carton of lo mein can have more than 1200 carbs and fat-loaded calories. Just think of lo mein as your first boyfriend who seemed great but was actually messing with your best friend behind your back.

Fried Rice
There’s nothing that wrong with plain rice. So why fry it up, add a ton of sodium, and bits of fatty meat to turn it into a total calorie bomb. Just think of fried rice as your second boyfriend who liked sodium and meat, and then cheated on you.

Tips I already knew, pretty basic. I ALWAYS order chicken with broccoli in a garlic sauce - substitute white rice for brown, and if I'm feeling extra healthy, I'll get it steamed with the sauce on the side.
If you're a tourist or a person living in Hong Kong and you want to eat a delicious and affordable Chinese foods, will I can tell you where to go. Before I always eat in Cafe de Coral because that's the only place that I know selling some Chinese food that I know I can eat and also I thought the price is cheap. You will spend HK$ 37 to HK$ 40 for one order (ex. curry beef with rice and a softdrink).

Later this week a Chinese friend of mine brought me to a place near Langham Place in Mongkok, and I was amazed. It's like a food court that has more than 10 restaurants. The prices of foods are very affordable. You will only spend HK$28 for an order. You will get a bowl of viand (ulam sa ating mga pinoy) of your choice, a cup of rice and a softdrink. And I can tell you that the foods are freshly cooked because you can see the chef cooking and the food that is served is still very hot.

Langham Place is located in Argyle Street. It's a walking distance from "Lady's Market". I know all the tourists' primary distination is there. So if you dont know where to find Langham Place in argyle street and no one can teach you how to get there, the best thing to do is to go down the MTR station (the one that is closer to your location) and then you take exit C2 or theres an exit going directly inside Langham Place. When you are already inside, go to the 2nd floor then beside a cosmetics shop near Mcdonalds theres an exit door going to the next building (it's actually like a closed hanging foot bridge). Then turn left and "hoooola!!!" that's it. You can choose the food that suits to your taste.

So guys "Bon appetit!"...

MSG was first condemned in 1968, when a physician, Robert Ho Man Kwok, contacted the New England Journal of Medicine with a letter describing Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. “[It] usually begins 15 to 20 minutes after I have eaten the first dish, and lasts for about two hours,” noted Kwok. “The most prominent symptoms are numbness at the back of the neck, gradually radiating to both arms and the back, general weakness, and palpitations.”

The following year, Dr. John W. Olney reported that laboratory animals suffered brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders after being exposed to monosodium glutamate. Infant laboratory animals given free glutamic acid suffered brain damage immediately, and assorted neuroendocrine disorders later in life.