I have entered the world of Chinese cooking! My wonderful family gave me a Wok for Christmas. When they asked me what I wanted and I said a Wok, the kids looked at me very strangely. Then they asked me why I wanted a walk for Christmas, couldn’t I just go on a walk any time I wanted. So I explained what a Wok is and they were very excited since they LOVE Chinese food and now maybe I would make it for them at home.
After I got my wok, I went to the library and checked out a ton of Chinese cookbooks. I went through them and took about half of them back and kept my 6 or 7 favorites. Then I had to find some ingredients. The grocery store has some things but I couldn’t find everything. So I began the search for a Chinese grocery store and found one in Sandy. It’s called Super China Market.
When I walked into that store I entered a whole other world. Everyone was Chinese, everything was written in Chinese, and everyone spoke Chinese. It was actually very fun although I did feel a little conspicuous. I wandered up and down the aisles looking at everything. It was definitely not set up like a good old American Supermarket. It felt much more like I was in a foreign country. Lots of the packages had both Chinese and English writing which was helpful and I just kind of passed by things that only had packages written in Chinese. I did find a couple of great utensils to use with my wok and I found every ingredient I needed including canned bamboo shoots and Moo Shoo wrappers. Awesome!!
Then the cooking began. Oh…. first I had to season my new wok. Every cookbook talked about this and how important it is so that the food tastes good and the wok lasts forever. So I did that and then I was ready to cook. My first attempt was chow mein. That is a very hard recipe to find. Out of all the cookbooks I checked I only found one book with a recipe for chow mein. Yet it said it is one of the most popular dishes here in America and in China. Maybe it’s like spaghetti and everyone just knows how to make it. Anyway, it turned out delicious and everyone loved it.
My next attempt was wontons. I used pork in mine and they were fantastic. Once again everyone loved them. Then I made Stir Fried Beef and Snow Peas. Yum. Adam wasn’t too fond of the snow peas but he liked the beef.
This is just the beginning. I can’t wait to try my next recipe which is the Moo Shoo pork.
2 comments:
A friend gave us a wok when we got married...and we love it. We love eating Chinese food. You should share some of the great recipes you've enjoyed! I'm always looking for new recipes.
Gaylene, as always you impress me. Look at all those cookbooks! It looks like you (and your family) have been having fun. I understand wok cooking goes pretty quickly, which sounds good. Especially being able to make your own chinese food -- yum. Not too much time woking -- er,working at it, I hope! Me, I'm a diehard crock-potter; sloooooow coooooking.
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