Posts Tagged ‘rice cooker’

  1. Semi-Lucid Rice Cooker Apple Cake

    November 28, 2011 by MaryAnne

    See, it almost looks like a real cake if you squint hard enough.

    So I am sick again. This time it’s with a bronchial bark that frightens the neighbours and a fever that has made the past few days rather interesting, perception-wise.  Mind you, sometimes when living in Shanghai it is difficult to tell whether or not you are delirious and hallucinating or just out for a stroll in your neighbourhood.

    So I went for a walk on Shaoxing Lu and these were in my pathway.

    (more…)

    Category Baked Things, Improbable Things, Sweet Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,, | 15 Comments

  2. Niúròu Biryani in a Wok, 中国烹饪风格

    October 5, 2011 by MaryAnne

    The basics (the meat is marinating in the fridge)

    So I’m cheating a bit on this one.

    I have a secret weapon. A secret Canadian weapon. A secret, um, Surrey, BC, weapon. Which is also, technically, an Indian weapon. Or Pakistani, depending on which one I use.  My aunt gave it to me, so you can speak to her sternly about my lack of Sino-authenticity.

    I will admit it: the spices are not from ’round here.

    Whenever I go home, my aunt (hi Pat!) goes shopping in her local Vancouver  supermarket and buys me an enormous supply of Indian spice mixes. Jalfrezi, Korma, Biryani, Chana masala, the works.  I have a cupboard loaded with these things. They’re all from India or Pakistan, and the instructions on the back pretty much assume you’re cooking for 15 people and happen to have, say, a side of mutton and a large barrel of ghee at hand.

    I don’t.

    I have, um, 2 very small pieces of awful boneless ‘Chinese top’ beef, whatever that is.  They’re the kind of cuts that need to be marinated in something penetratingly acidic (hence my fridge full of citrus fruit and yogurt) and then cooked for a rather long time before they take on a texture that could be described as anything other than leathery.  The recipe on the back of the box calls for bone-in chunks of beef or mutton, about twice as much as we have. We’re not big meat eaters here (I’m a lapsed vegetarian) and the photo on the front of the box, replete with enormous bones jutting out of rice, is daunting.

    I’m a brave little culinary soldier, so I forge ahead.

    Let me show you how to make a beef biryani with just a wok and a rice cooker. (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,, | 5 Comments

  3. All My Stuff: What I Have In My Chinese Kitchen

    September 17, 2011 by MaryAnne

    You can guess what these are.

    Sometimes I think I’m the world’s worst expat. I live in China now (and before that, in Turkey and South Africa among other places) and yet I still insist on craving and cooking things that are utterly unChinese. If I was a decent human being, I’d immerse myself in Chinese cooking and teach myself how to wrangle tofu skins and beef tendon and jellyfish.

    However, when I venture outside the flat, I get enough of that. At home, I want bread and dairy and egg noodles and stews involving Guinness and potatoes. I want chocolate cake. I want peanut butter cookies. I want garam masala and biryani. When I cook, I prefer to make comfort foods. In restaurants, I’ll try just about anything.  This blog, as you may have gathered by now, is all about what I make at home. You will not see any chicken feet or bullfrog hotpot here.  (more…)

    Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

    Category Improbable Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,, | 12 Comments