Saturday, June 13, 2009

Homemade Chinese Food

A couple of weeks ago, Junior decided he wanted to try making something with cabbage. In the past, the only thing we have ever made with cabbage was cole slaw. I say we, but it's really Junior who makes it. I don't care for any type of slaw, but the kids love his, and request it every time we have hot dogs. Anyway, Junior wanted to try frying it in a pan with some bacon and oil, salt and pepper. As soon as the cabbage hit the pan, it smelled like a Chinese restaurant had opened up in my kitchen. Instantly, my mouth was watering. It was really good. It tasted exactly like an egg roll, just without the outside wrapper. I told Junior the next time he made it, we would get some wrappers and try and make some egg rolls. I have made fried cheese wontons in the past, and they were delicious. The secret, I think, was using peanut oil to fry them.

I figure that if I am going to make egg rolls, I might as well attempt to make an entire Chinese dinner. I looked in our local grocery store for sauce mixes so I could make sesame chicken or chicken and broccoli. I couldn't find anything. They has dried mixes that required you to add a lot of soy sauce, but I don't think that is what I want. I want to find authentic sauces, or even recipes where I could make them from scratch. This led me to searching the internet.

I found a site where I could buy online groceries, specifically groceries from China. They have so many choices! I did find sauce mixes, and am excited to try them. They also had accessories to help cook, like bamboo steamers and assorted pots. I also found a section where you can find recipes, and they had a lemon and sesame chicken recipe I can't wait to try. I need to make my list of ingredients, and have them delivered to me. They have a $4.99 flat shipping rate, so I want to make sure I get everything I need.

My mouth is watering just thinking about the meal I am going to attempt to make.

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