Autumn: mitten crab, chestnuts and the change in seasons

秋風詞 - 李白 

秋風清 秋月明 

落葉聚還散 寒鴉棲複驚 

相親相見知何日 此時此夜難為情 

入我相思門 知我相思苦 

長相思兮長相憶 短相思兮無窮極

 早知如此絆人心 何如當初莫相識

Autumn Breeze by Li Bai (click for English translation)

Cooked crabs

Chinese mitten crab (大閘蟹) is a traditional autumn delicacy, especially in Shanghainese cuisine and throughout Eastern China. The most famous crabs originally came from Yangcheng Lake, but today these crabs are raised in freshwater farms throughout China. They're also considered an invasive pest in North America and Europe, where they've been carried by ballast on ships. (Since they're not eaten in those parts of the world, one senses a great business opportunity to export these "pests" back to Asia, where they are sold as expensive delicacies. 

The best part of the crab is the roe, located in the central cavity of the body. It's yellow, rich and full of umami flavor. Delicious! There's not a lot of meat in the crab, so if you're at a particularly decadent meal, you'll see diners discard the claws and legs and only eat the roe. 

The male crabs are more valuable than female crabs due to the quality of the roe, and larger crabs can go for up to US$20, or perhaps more, each. 

The mitten crabs are traditionally eaten with Zhengjiang black vinegar and finely shredded young ginger, together with Shaoxing rice wine. Crabs are considered to be an extremely yin "cooling" food in Chinese traditional medicine, and thus must be served with yang "warming" ingredients (i.e. the ginger and rice wine). 

My favorite is whole crab, which the diner can pick apart at the table (be warned: it's very, very messy), but for modern palates and for fussier/lazier diners, many restaurants offer dishes which incorporate the crab roe and meat (already removed from their shell). The best-known of these are Shanghai xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) with crab roe -- super tasty!

Anyway, to round off a meal of mitten crabs, don't forget to drink some hot ginger tea to balance out your yin (cool) and yang (hot). 

I love how Chinese cuisine is still strongly rooted in seasonal dishes - pea shoots are only available certain times of the year, as are lychees, mitten crab, sweet potatoes, roast chestnut and many other yummy foods.

Fall brings cooler, crisper weather and the opportunity to sit down with family to enjoy a rare once-a-year treat together.

On the street below our apartment, a middle-aged couple have set up their rickety wooden cart. It has a giant wok filled with charcoal, powered by a gas burner underneath - traditional but a complete fire hazard! Usually they appear in late October and stay until March or so. In their charcoal wok, they roast hen and quail eggs, sweet potatoes and sweet chestnuts from Shandong province. They'll be there selling their wares until spring arrives. When the weather's cold, there's nothing better than a piping hot bag of roast chestnuts and purple sweet potato. It's the smell and taste of my childhood.

Ginger tea helps increase your yang (warmth)

Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

I walked around a bit today during my lunch hour in Sheung Wan. It's an old neighborhood on Hong Kong island with a lot of character.

Grand Millenium Plaza

I passed a lion dance troupe on the way to work. They're practicing for a performance. Today (February 19) is the 10th day of the new year. There are 12 animals in the Chinese  zodiac, which are paired with one of five classical Chinese/Buddhist elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). 2013 is the year of the water snake. 

Lion dance troup at Grand Millenium Plaza

At lunch, I walked to Shun Tak Centre on the harbourfront. From Shun Tak Centre, you can take high-speed ferries (or helicopter!) to Macau and other cities in the Pearl River Delta. This is the view of West Kowloon district across the harbour, taken from the footbridge by Shun Tak Centre.

Hong Kong Harbour

Joy Hing Roasted Meat 再興燒臘飯店

Jon and I went to a famous Chinese BBQ place last night called Joy Hing, which came strongly recommended by Chowhound and Anthony Bourdain, among others. It was OK. Jon had the charsiu rice, which was good. I ordered the roast duck and roast pork on rice. The duck did not have much meat while the roast pork was too salty (the meat was juicy and the skin was crispy though, which was good). There is a jug of sauce (soy sauce and roasted meat juices) at each table and you can season the rice to your liking.

I got the feeling that the restaurant is coasting on its reputation a bit. There's also much better roasted meat across the harbor and in less tourist-friendly neighborhoods, but I suppose most HK Islanders are hesitant to cross the harbour to "the dark side" (i.e. Kowloon).

新強記 on Shanghai Street in Jordan will always be one of my favorites as we bought takeout charsiu there when I was young.

Anyway, it's an excuse for some food porn (ahem):

Tea-time dimsum and steamed pot rice

There's a cha chan teng (茶餐廳) [literally, "tea restaurant" but it means more of a Hong Kong-style diner or casual restaurant] near where I get off the bus in Wanchai. It's down an alley by an outdoor street market. It serves nothing but dim sum and steamed pot rice all day. It's a little family-run shop with simple tables and stools. The choices are listed on posters on the wall. There's a takeout counter at the entrance serving steamed buns and sticky glutinous rice with Chinese sausage.

During tea-time, they have tea sets. I ordered the steamed chicken pot rice, braised chicken feet and a hot lemon tea, all for HK$28 (about US$3.60).

This was a great find for me, because I love steamed pot rice (other versions include pork spare rib, egg and minced beef, fish, etc.).

Why I will be going back:

• All day dim sum and steamed rice!
  
• The people are quite friendly (at least during the afternoon tea period when it's not so busy)
• It's not the best dim sum and rice I've ever had, but it is a decent choice in the area and really cheap, making it good value for the price

Kam Fai Dim Sum Restaurant
G/F, 49 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai
金輝點心茶餐廳
灣仔春園街49號地下舖

One-pot steamed Chinese chicken mushroom rice

A classic Chinese comfort food is steamed chicken with winter/shiitake mushrooms (冬菇蒸雞飯). There are variations with dried lily flowers but I like the ones with mushrooms best. In Chinese cooking, shiitake/winter mushrooms are more commonly used dried than fresh. The dried ones have a stronger, more umami flavor to them that the fresh ones don't, and the best dried winter mushrooms can be quite expensive!

I adapted my recipe from this one I found online.

The only specialized equipment you will need is a rice cooker (found throughout Asia). Rice cookers are amazing things - see this blog post by Roger Ebert (yes, the film critic) if you need to be convinced of its usefulness.

Notes:

• Rehydrated winter mushrooms (or you can use any fresh ones that you prefer. A "meatier" mushroom would probably work better here.
• I used boneless chicken thigh, cut into small pieces, because my boyfriend doesn't like bones. In cheaper restaurants in Hong Kong, the chicken in this dish can have a lot of bone splinters :(
• Didn't have spring onion so I substituted coriander/cilantro - not strictly traditional but I feel that you have a lot more flexibility for savory dishes than with baked desserts.
• Rice + about 2/3 of the normal amount of water you would normally use in your cooker because the soy sauce marinade for the chicken will make up the remaining liquid.
• If you don't have Shaoxing wine you can use cooking sake/mirin/pale dry sherry/gin. Not quite the same but close enough.
  
• It's OK if your rice gets a slightly burnt and crispy crust - that's the BEST part!
• The main point is, don't worry about following the recipe too strictly, play around with it depending on what ingredients you have on hand and ENJOY. It will be yummy.

Eating out in Taipei

Jon and I visited Taipei this past weekend for a quick pre-Christmas getaway. The last time I visited Taipei, I was less than a year old, so this trip was essentially the first visit not only for Jon but for me as well.

We only had two and a half days, so we mainly wandered around the city, snacking and eating nonstop. Our hotel was in Ximending (West Gate), the main shopping and hangout spot for young people; the area reminded us of Shibuya in Tokyo. We also visited some other parts of the city, including Yongkang Street, Shilin Night Market, and Xinyi (for the giant Eslite 24-hr bookstore).


Overall, I enjoyed Taipei. I would definitely go back for the great food (especially local Taiwanese, eastern Chinese [i.e. Shanghai, Fujian, Chiuchow] and Japanese) and the relaxed café/coffee culture (local family-run cafés, not Starbucks, dominate). Shopping-wise, I can see why people love to go crazy in Taipei, but many of the home goods, tchotchkes, clothes and accessories can also be bought in Hong Kong for pretty much the same price. Chinese-language books are a bargain for Chinese readers (not me, unfortunately) while English-language books are at the same unfavourable rate Hong Kong bookstores use.

Souvenir shopping tip: Taiwan pineapple pastries (fenglisu/鳳梨酥) are famous and crazy-good. The best place (recommended by bloggers and guidebooks alike) to buy these super-yummy little shortcakes is at Kong Kee in Ximending (opposite the East Dragon hotel). Staff here are friendly and speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese. You can try before you buy, i.e. free samples. The fenglisu's shortcake-like crust is crumbly, buttery-rich but not too sweet, while the inside pineapple filling is light and slightly sticky. It's like a lighter, airier version of Fig Newtons. I never really liked pineapple pastry as the ones I had before were very dense and brick-like, so authentic Taiwanese fenglisu was a revelation. Beware though, good pineapple pastries are very addictive...

Some of our stops included:

Jolly Brewery and Restaurant - A Taiwan microbrewery (not brewed on site due to municipal restrictions) that doubles as a sports bar and Thai eatery. Their home-brewed beer are respectable and reasonably priced (a 6 x 100ml sampler of their six home brews was NT$240 [US$8] if I recall correctly). I liked the sweet malt of the Scotch Ale (7.2% a.c.) while Jon preferred the lighter Weizen and the Pale Ale. Worth a visit for beer-lovers: don't expect amazing beer but it's not bad compared to all the Heineken, Carlsberg, and other supermarket beers that are served almost everywhere else.



Shilin Night Market - The mother of all Asian night-markets. A must-visit for foodies and everyone else. The temporary market building opposite the Jiantan metro station mostly contains some food and a few desultory amusement stands/games such as shrimp fishing, balloon shooting, etc. Oyster omelettes are one of Taiwan's classic dishes but Jon and I much preferred the Chiuchow version - the Taiwanese version had some transparent gooey stuff which was a bit too slimy in texture for our liking. (I later found out that it was tapioca starch.)

While the Taiwanese share the same intense foodie mania with most of the rest of Asia, they really up the stakes in craziness. Famous street dishes included the small sausage in big sausage, small bun in big bun and giant fried chicken steak (a gargantuan breaded fried chicken meat steak that's famous for being bigger than one's face and ridiculously cheap at NT$50/US$1.50).



The "big sausage" is actually a delicious mixture of garlicky, spicy glutinous rice stuffed into a sausage casing. The "small sausage" is a sweet, porky Taiwanese sausage. A relish of Chinese pickles, cucumber and a spicy soy-based sauce combines to create an AMAZING street snack.

Delicious sausages...mmm...the neon sign says "Small sausage wrapped in big sausage"



A bunch of victorious food maniacs who have lined up to buy the Giant Chicken Steak! (Seriously, Jon and I wanted to get this but we were stuffed from Din Tai Fung and the line for this was at least 30 people long.)


Din Tai Fung @ Yongkang Street - While I've never been that impressed by Din Tai Fung's food (especially after being served a drunken-chicken dish that had actually gone bad/rotten at their Shanghai Xintiandi branch a few years back - an unpardonable offense that I have neither forgiven nor forgotten!), the restaurant's xiaolongbao does have a cult following throughout Asia (particularly China, Korea and Japan). So I was willing to give DTF another chance, especially as all reviews indicated that the original branch at Yongkang Street in Taipei was much better than the other. Verdict? The xiaolongbao was good, but nothing special. I've had way better xiaolongbao in Hong Kong at Faye's Nouvelle Cuisine (aka Xiaonanguo/小南國) and amazing xiaolongbao in Shanghai (particularly at the xlb ground zero aka Nanxiang Mantoudian/南翔饅頭店 where these buns were invented). Anyway, I guess the food there is OK but not worth the 30-minute wait (Japanese tours bring huge groups here a LOT so be prepared for a long wait and very antsy crowds)

Crowds at Din Tai Fung.

OMG! Buns! Xiaolongbao! Steaming pork juice spurting into your mouth!