translational amusements
watched the matrix last night. for a while I listened in chinese. missed a lot, I’m sure, but this…this is brilliant
zion is translated as xi’an : )
between that and the subsequent nervous breakdown of my dvd player (it started plastering the brand name splash screen in ever changing multi-colored quadrants all over the place, I cannot begin to describe it, really) I am now convinced that if I travel three hours east I will in fact find the only true survivors of the human race, though they may or may not be being used as batteries.
also, the following is my current favorite lunchtime home cooked mien. (yo po mien remains my dining out lunch favorite.) there are as many ways I’ve found to prepare this simple recipe as there are people in china. the following is the recipe I’m currently favoring.
egg and tomato mien :
(to serve one. double for two, etc etc.)
~2 bricks mien (the small kind. or 1 roll if you buy roll packaged.)
1 egg
1 small tomato (or 1/2 large one)
green onions, chopped, to taste
bring water to a boil. cook desired amount of mien. switch mien to other burner, placing wok on the heat. as wok warms up, drain mien.
add oil. once smoking, add egg (this ensures it puffs up nicely, giving you an awful lot more egg for your egg. if you do not have a hot enough wok it will seem like you have an awful lot less egg going on.)
after ~6 seconds break up egg and add green onion.
almost immediately add mien. do not stir yet
add salt. I like adding a little black pepper but chinese people think I’m crazy.
stir
crush tomato into wok. by this I mean hold tomato over wok and squeeze. this a) breaks up tomato into pleasant bite size chunks and b) gives you a little juice for flavor
stir and cook for another ~15-30 seconds. the smell fo the tomato will change. the moment it does, take the wok off the heat and turn off the stove.
put into bowl, eat.
the real trick is the oil. too much and it’s, well, oily. too little and you’re burning noodles. experiment. I count one missippi, stop. but ymmv.
filed under :: daily life :: annie carr @ 11:55 pm
Yep, egg and tomato noodles, yum. Also maybe add some garlis and a tiny bit of crushed ginger. To make beef noodles, by some beef(1/2 kilo or more) and boil in in your rice cooker for 4 hours, carefull to scoop the blood out as it boils out of the meet chunk and becomes frothy then coagulates (is that the correct verb) be sure to add a nice chunk of ginger, and spring onion. Anyway afetr 4 hours or so, take out the beef and slice it thnly, you’ll have plenty of left overs . Then do you noodle thang in the wok and minus the egg, add a healthy amount of pepper, add sliced beef then add the soup from boiling the beef to tastse. Try emptying some of the noodle water before adding the tomato, then adding the beef and beef soup and tomato at the same time. no need to add garlic.
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btw are you a vegetarian?
Comment by matt — June 23, 2005 @ 8:33 am
how do you get your rice cooker to stay on for four hours?? mine shuts off automatically.
I’m a minimalist, no garlic or ginger in my egg n tomato.
no, no vegetarians here. I’m partial to the famous lanzhou beef noodles, which means no tomato but also includes sesame seeds and I think sesame oil, and i’m pretty sure there’s one more ingredient I haven’t yet been able to pin down…but I’ll give your version a shot if I can figure out how to use my rice cooker as a pressure cooker ; )
my new lunchtime favorite has switched, though. maybe it’s the heat. start green beans gan bian style (loads of garlic and chili), add onions. I switch between 2 variations, one with a third veg (youcai is lovely, as are oyster mushrooms), one with a little of the thinly sliced frozen yang rou (though I bet it’s be great with the fresh variety as well, as long as it’s sliced almost transparently thin). pick out garlic and chilis just before adding noodles if you don’t want to pick around em (the flavor’s settled in the oil and food). once almost done add those cooked noodles (with a smidge of the noodle water) salt and pepper if you like. stir up, cook a bit, remove from heat, eat. mmm.
Comment by the manangement — June 25, 2005 @ 11:57 am
sounds nice. I do like my garlic and chili. mmmm lanzhuo lamian in gansu….yummm
The rice cooker; you just have to keep pushing the switch, maye hold it down for 20s after the water has started to boil.
Comment by matt — June 27, 2005 @ 8:41 am