kick up your instant ramen vs. traditional recipes

[shootingstar]

For those  who have a hankering for instant ramen, make it a bit better taste-wise: Laksa Instant Ramen: 10 Minute Recipe! - The Woks of Life

A totally unrelated recipe, a poached chicken dish (which is eating chicken naked) with minimal condiment/sauce, which I occasionally had at home growing up:  Cantonese Poached Chicken (Bai Qie Ji) - The Woks of Life

Of course I wonder one someone tells me they know Chinese cuisine. Ok, probably only 1 regional type.  Even I don't know all regional ones well.  .8 Chinese Cuisines & How They Differ - The Woks of Life  A summary of centuries Chinese regional gastronomy which is like French gastronomy,  thick cookbook bibles, all sorts of techniques and folktales, slang. Or what they dislike. Then they complain to me how heavy it is. It is too bad, restaurant food is used as  benchmark.  Do you know how people eat at home?  You will find it "tamer"/ more modest in flavouring and of course, some dishes that never make it on most restaurant menus.

 

[ChrisL]

1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

For those  who have a hankering for instant ramen, make it a bit better taste-wise: Laksa Instant Ramen: 10 Minute Recipe! - The Woks of Life

A totally unrelated recipe, a poached chicken dish (which is eating chicken naked) with minimal condiment/sauce, which I occasionally had at home growing up:  Cantonese Poached Chicken (Bai Qie Ji) - The Woks of Life

Of course I wonder one someone tells me they know Chinese cuisine. Ok, probably only 1 regional type.  Even I don't know all regional ones well.  .8 Chinese Cuisines & How They Differ - The Woks of Life  A summary of centuries Chinese regional gastronomy which is like French gastronomy,  thick cookbook bibles, all sorts of techniques and folktales, slang. Or what they dislike. Then they complain to me how heavy it is. It is too bad, restaurant food is used as  benchmark.  Do you know how people eat at home?  You will find it "tamer"/ more modest in flavouring and of course, some dishes that never make it on most restaurant menus.

 

My mom was a fabulous cook but one of her guilty pleasures was instant ramen kicked up with whatever she had leftover. Chicken, vegetables or an egg and of course sambal.   Yeah you can do a lot with instant ramen.

[shootingstar]

Last time I had instant ramen was nearly 40 yrs. ago. Even as a poor student, I would at least add some bok choy or veggie. Yes, just flip around some small meat slices, pre-marinated in pan for 10 min. and  pour it into hot soup. 

I never ate instant ramen cooked bare. 

I see instant  ramen...well processed  food that's yet another layer of processing.  I never learned about instant ramen until I left home. Yes, my mother did/still does healthy dishes... BBQ Chinese pork belly is probably deviation we would buy occasionally.

As you can see, what a powerful influence her oooking, has had on my overall cooking preferences/diet..6 decades later.  Except I might go get a little fruit tart now.

[Longjohn ★]

You don’t have to be Chinese to eat chicken naked. I have done it often, especially when it’s really hot out.

[MickinMD ★]

20 hours ago, shootingstar said:

Of course I wonder one someone tells me they know Chinese cuisine. Ok, probably only 1 regional type.  Even I don't know all regional ones well.  .8 Chinese Cuisines & How They Differ - The Woks of Life

I don't see anything there about the table with the hole in the middle so a live monkey can be held in it with his head sticking up above the table, his skill being opened up, and then his brain eaten or about holding live chickens feet to the heat to cook them.  My Taiwanese college roommate told me about them.

Thanks for the links!  I had a Taiwanese dorm roommate in college and another from Hong Kong during a summer apartment rental during grad school.  The first one taught me about different Chinese cuisines and the second one did our cooking - which is how I came to like mushrooms.

Some of the differences were also explained as our tour group went from Shanghai to Wuhan, cruised the Yangtzee for five days to Chongqing, then to Xian and to Beijing.  Often we had Westernized food, but we ate at a lot of local places with real, local cuisine, too.