During my time at my summer job I was constantly yearning for Chinese food. Not the Chinese food cooked up in local "Chinese" restaurants, but the real deal. Particularly I was yearning for Chinese street food, and my favorite was baozi. Since I figured I'd be unable to get real Chinese food for a while (being in Germany) and since my parents had never tried any; I decided to make a Chinese feast.
In order to make this Chinese feast, I had to go out in search of ingredients, since things like Shanxi vinegar and dark soy sauce aren't available at my local grocery store. My Mom and I ventured to the closest Asian market, about an hour north of my parents' home.
We came back with quite the load. I had the ingredients for Egg & Chive Baozi, Pork & Scallion Baozi, Kung Pao Chicken, Mapo Doufu, Sweet & Sour Pork, and Spicy Fried Green Beans. The guy working at the store who helped me find the ingredients I had trouble locating got a kick out of me and my Mom. I was asking for ingredients in Chinese and my Mom was perplexed by something called bananas in syrup that comes in a can.
It took me forever to chop up all the ingredients. I had given myself two hours of prep. In retrospect I should have given myself four hours of prep. Chinese food has a lot of prep time but very little cooking time, very different from the food I'm used to cooking. Thankfully my family was very eager to try the Chinese food and gave me a hand. Unfortunately I don't have any other pictures of the cooking process, I started to get overwhelmed and then my family started helping, and then we were done. Oops.
The above picture that I drew is a testament to my love of Baozi.
We were also too hungry to take pictures of all the food. By the time I was ready to take pictures most the plates were empty. So sad as I am that I don't have pictures, I'm glad that my family enjoyed the food. This is the only picture I have it has some of the food and some of my family. My parents are sitting with Sweet & Sour Pork, Spicy Fried Green Beans, and China Inspired Asparagus (my own creation).
The food came out very good! The only thing I have to work on really is my Baozi the dough was a little tough, but I suppose there are worse things I could have to work on.
The food came out very good! The only thing I have to work on really is my Baozi the dough was a little tough, but I suppose there are worse things I could have to work on.
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