Nostalgia
One of the many many things I miss about my parents is my mom's cooking. I don't really know how to cook Chinese food, and I mean real Chinese food that my mom used to cook every day. Not stir fry or generic stuff like that, but braised beef tongue, taro, all kinds of Chinese vegetables, oxtail/tendon/daikon soups, etc. The only thing I vaguely know how to make is steamed pork (but I lack a steamer). I've been trying to collect recipes from my aunts, who not only know how to cook this stuff but who know how my mom used to cook some of this stuff too. They give me their instructions entirely in Chinese though, and there's a lot of seasonings I either don't recognize and/or are not available from American supermarkets.
So I'm building a list I can bring to Chinatown, since my Mandarin is probably not up to ordering this stuff (I know the Cantonese names, but they don't always translate very well). Also, I'm illiterate.
苦瓜
ku2 gua4
bitter melon
Momordica charantia
芋头
yu3 tou1
taro
Colocasia esculenta
空心菜
kong4 xin4 cai3
water spinach
Ipomoae aquatica
白萝卜
bai1 luo1 bo1
daikon
Raphanus sativus
牛舌頭
niu2 she1 tou1
cow tongue
I don't know if the Chinese is right - in Cantonese it's just "cow tongue" (translated directly)
牛筋
niu2 jin4
beef tendon
藕
ou2
lotus root
rhizome part of Nelumbo nucifera (Indian national flower)
韭菜
jiu2 cai3
garlic/Chinese chives
Allium ramosum
霸王花
ba3 wang1 hua4
Hylocereus undatus flower
(Thanks Aunty!) Translates to "Tyrant flower" (approximately). Cantonese: ba wong fa. These come dried in packages and need to be rehydrated before cooking (in soup).
椶子
zong3 zi2
glutinous rice dumpling
Extremely delicious - how often do you get to eat tetrahedral food?
I didn't want to put this in my shopping list, but something else I remembered from childhood (and will not eat now) is hair moss (Chinese: 发菜, pinyin: fa3 cai3, Cantonese: fat choy). Overharvesting it is bad for the environment, and apparently it contains a toxic amino acid.
If anyone has any other suggestions, please supply the Chinese and the pinyin. I would also love it if you would tell me how to cook it. :) I'd also love to add sausage to this list, but I only know the Cantonese for it. Of course, sausage is easily recognizable so I can get to it even without the name written out in Chinese.
Edit: finally got the pinyin and characters for all the items on my list. Thanks a ton to murphyzlaw and my aunt!
So I'm building a list I can bring to Chinatown, since my Mandarin is probably not up to ordering this stuff (I know the Cantonese names, but they don't always translate very well). Also, I'm illiterate.
苦瓜
ku2 gua4
bitter melon
Momordica charantia
芋头
yu3 tou1
taro
Colocasia esculenta
空心菜
kong4 xin4 cai3
water spinach
Ipomoae aquatica
白萝卜
bai1 luo1 bo1
daikon
Raphanus sativus
牛舌頭
niu2 she1 tou1
cow tongue
I don't know if the Chinese is right - in Cantonese it's just "cow tongue" (translated directly)
牛筋
niu2 jin4
beef tendon
藕
ou2
lotus root
rhizome part of Nelumbo nucifera (Indian national flower)
韭菜
jiu2 cai3
garlic/Chinese chives
Allium ramosum
霸王花
ba3 wang1 hua4
Hylocereus undatus flower
(Thanks Aunty!) Translates to "Tyrant flower" (approximately). Cantonese: ba wong fa. These come dried in packages and need to be rehydrated before cooking (in soup).
椶子
zong3 zi2
glutinous rice dumpling
Extremely delicious - how often do you get to eat tetrahedral food?
I didn't want to put this in my shopping list, but something else I remembered from childhood (and will not eat now) is hair moss (Chinese: 发菜, pinyin: fa3 cai3, Cantonese: fat choy). Overharvesting it is bad for the environment, and apparently it contains a toxic amino acid.
If anyone has any other suggestions, please supply the Chinese and the pinyin. I would also love it if you would tell me how to cook it. :) I'd also love to add sausage to this list, but I only know the Cantonese for it. Of course, sausage is easily recognizable so I can get to it even without the name written out in Chinese.
Edit: finally got the pinyin and characters for all the items on my list. Thanks a ton to murphyzlaw and my aunt!