I have always wanted to go to China. The country is diverse with people, culture, and foods. I feel like there's so much to see that it's overwhelming for me to even try to plan a real trip there. Do I start in the North or the South? Do I visit the great wall? Do I try to go during the summer or winter months? Do I take off a month (yeah, right) and travel the entire country? I have no clue, but I do know that I can venture out through foods. I like that the pandemic has given me the motivation to travel the world through food.
What we know as Chinese American food is in some ways similar and in a lot of ways different from authentic foods that we will find when we visit China. I like Chinese food a lot I eat it almost weekly. I know which Chinese place in my area serves the best of what dishes and I will venture out to get what I want.
There are many different kinds of Chinese cuisines. Some of those cuisines include Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, and Zhejiang just to name a few. The different cuisines gives us different foods that we are familiar with like dim sum, spring rolls, and hot pot. I am in no means an expert. For more details on the regional foods you can click the link here for Radii's explanation of the cuisines.
In my food trip to China I made lobster noodles, salt and pepper shrimp, and Yu choy with garlic sauce. It was so good! The lobster noodles are made with a whole lobster cooked with a compound butter of lemongrass and ginger and garlic and the noodles are stir-fried with oyster sauce and green onions. I followed this recipe from Seonkyoungest Longest. I had been eyeing this recipe for the longest time. Once the pandemic came and put us all on quarantine, I was all out of excuses. The recipe for the salt and pepper shrimp I made can be found here. It's actually one of my go-to recipes because it's so easy. My veggie for the meal was yu choy and oyster sauce. It's a veggie that I just so happened upon on one of my trips to H-mart, and I'm so glad I gave it a try. It's yummy!
Taking these "trips" through cooking foods from different countries and areas was my way to stay creative and try to find some joy through these awkward times during the quarantine. I was able to challenge myself to try cooking different things. In doing so I've gained some new cooking skills and confidence. Sounds like a win-win.