At a market in Shanghai

I love food markets. I can easily spend hours walking around and exploring. Especially when you are not familiar with many of the things sold there, like here in Shanghai.

Food markets here are just amazing, you can find just about anything. They are very similar to the markets in south of Europe in the way that it is all about seasonal and local. Below you can see just a few of the things you can find at a Shanghainese market.

It looks like cheese but is not. It is tofu...in all kinds of shapes, textures, colors and sizes.

However a warning must be issued for the "stinky tofu". It is a tofu that is fermented in some kind of special brine which makes it smell worse than rotten. I cannot even explain how bad it smells. It is usually sold on streets deep fried. The name it self "stinky tofu" is a direct translation from Chinese.





All kinds of cucumbers.









All kinds of clams.









Chinese aubergine is thin and it has very delicate meat. The skin is very thin so you do not need to peel it.









All kinds of bean sprouts.






Noodle "factory" at the market. This reminds me of small tortilla "factories" you can find at Mexican markets.




Yes these frogs are very alive. Sold both at markets and supermarkets.








Same applies for turtles. Just minutes after this picture was taken a guy behind the counter slaughtered one with a pair of scissors. Looked VERY cruel.







All kinds of shrimps.










Fresh bamboo shoots.






Red beans, mung beans, lotus seeds, corn seeds, jujube dates, rice, sesame, flour, soy beans, peanuts, dried longan...just name it!




Ground black sesame is used for cakes, cookies.








Jelly fish...







Pork is the most consumed meat in China.









Another creature of the sea...sea cucumber.









Lotus root.









Squid





Water chestnut, peeled and unpeeled. Note the perfectly arranged pak-choy in the right corner.




Mushroom with a funny name: chicken feet mushroom.








Vegetables. Note the VERY long green beans next to the tomatoes.

China is mourning

On 12 May south-western part of China was hit by a devastating earthquake that took the life of many people and left the life of the ones who survived in ruins. Help will be needed for many years to come in order to restore the life of the ones who survived. Please contact your Red Cross office to see how you can help or make an online donation.

THE sweetest museum

I have visited the sweetest museum...ever...it is called Taiwan Nougat Museum. Yes, it is a museum in Taipei dedicated to nougat!

The museum is situated in the nougat factory it self and if you are lucky enough (I wasn't) your visit will be at the same time when there is a factory tour that includes "do-it-yourself" activities. I only got to see the nougat museum and the shop that is attached to it.

Production of nougat started in 1956, after it was introduced from Hong-Kong by Ms Chiu Peng Yu-Ho. In the museum, which is very small and free of charge, you can see a nougat production line that is from way back in time.

You can also see the world's biggest piece of nougat (according to Lonely Planet) and it is all covered in gold. The staff didn't speak English so I never found out if it really was nougat or just a big piece of plastic.

The factory also makes other types of cookies, like Chinese wedding cookies and different types of western cookies. The package of the wedding cookie below says: "It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know that it has begun". Sweet!

There is also a room dedicated to all different types of typical Chinese cake molds, like cake molds for moon cakes. An entire wall was covered with those, looked really beautiful!

Last but not least, I bought some nougat in the shop and it was chewy and sweet as nougat should be. What was new to me was that it is made with peanuts. I liked it!

Lotus root

Lotus is a water plant and many parts of it are used in Chinese cooking. Lotus root it self is the root of the lotus plant and it is growing in the soil of the river bottom. It is the most beautiful looking edible plant I have ever seen. The root can be eaten raw or cooked, it is crispy, tastes delicious and is VERY healthy!

The most common way of preparing lotus root is in soups, stir-fries and candied lotus root filled with sticky rice. The later one is served on the New Years Dinner where candied lotus root symbolizes sweet relationship between husband and wife and sticky rise means they will stick to each other. How sweet!

I found a recipe called "Stir-fried lotus root slices" in the cookbook called "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: recipes from Hunan province" written by Fuchsia Dunlop. It is a REALLY good book with lots of wonderful authentic Chinese recipes. I adapted the recipe by using one whole lotus root without breaking apart the sections.

Peking Duck

When visiting Beijing one of the must-things-to-do (as must as the Great Wall visit) is to eat Peking Duck. This special way of preparing duck is over 700 years old and not much has changed until today. At some restaurants in Beijing you can even see a part of the preparation, like how the duck is roasted in a special oven.

When you order a duck in a restaurant you always get to see it and check if you like it. If you think it looks good (do not know what you really need to look for) it will be sliced and served for you.
The duck is served with steamed pancakes, sauce, onion, cucumber, radish, pickled vegetables, sugar and garlic. If you have never eaten Peking Duck before the stuff will demonstrate how you should do. Here comes a small summary.

First the skin dipped in sugar and garlic is eaten. And this combination is VERY delicious, sugar and garlic balance the fattiness of the skin.

Later you continue with mixing meat with sauce, onion, radish, cucumber and wrapping it in the pancake. Again, very very VERY delicious. The pickled vegetables are left for the end to refresh your taste buds.

The head of the duck was also served on a separate plate, but as we didn't try it no review on that one.

Spring = bamboo shoot

It is bamboo shoot season in China. With the arrival of spring come first bamboo shoots of the year. Bamboo shoots are new bamboo plants that have just started coming out of the ground. They are edible as long as you pick them before the first leaves start coming out. So if you let it grow bamboo shoot will eventually become a bamboo plant.

Bamboo shoots have many different sizes and shapes. But all need to be cleaned, sliced and cooked in plenty of water before eating, otherwise they taste bitter, I was told. So I did that. I cleaned, sliced and boiled them for about 30 minutes. And when done they were still a bit crispy and the taste was very mild. Kind of like asparagus but not watery. And what can you make with bamboo shoots if not quesadillas!

I made corn tortillas. The wonderful thing about living in an international city like Shanghai is that you can find special corn flour called Masa.

The easiest way to make tortillas is with a tortilla machine. No matter how you put the dough, it always comes out perfectly round. Mine tortilla machine has made it all the way from Mexico to China (it is called addiction).

When making corn tortillas it is important to get them inflated. And there is a trick for that! Put a tortilla in a very hot pan for a bout 10 seconds, or until it gets "skin" on the bottom. Then turn it around, and cook for 20 seconds. Then turn it around again and let it inflate. Late it cook for 10-15 seconds...done!

And what can I say, the perfect corn tortilla with melted cheese and slightly crispy bamboo shoots was wonderful!

Bamboo banana

This is one of the most creative ways of making a dessert...inside of a bamboo plant. This creative dessert is called "Bamboo banana". Bamboo because the sticky rice and raisins are cooked inside a piece of a bamboo plant, and banana because it reminds of a banana, the rice is yellowish and you peal the bamboo.It tastes quite good as well!

Dulce de cacahuate

This is one of my favourite Mexican candies, dulce de cacahuate, peanut candy. In Mexico this style of candy is called mazapan, as in marzipan, but it does not remind of the type of marzipan I know (almond marzipan).

The texture of this peanut candy is really different and interesting. It is kind of dry, crumbles very easy but when you eat it, it just melts.

But what I wonder is, how do you make peanuts like powder without making butter? I do not know, but will come back to it when I find out. And eventually I will, because I cannot imagine it can be that hard to make this candy by your self. The ingredient list on the back says: peanuts, sugar and artificial flavour. Last one being the reason why I want to make it my self.