Cantonese Food is Delicious!
My love of Cantonese food must’ve come from eating all of my dad’s home cooking during my childhood, since we hardly had food from restaurants.
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Though my dad didn’t have time to cook for the family each day, he created amazing food at least once a week for us.
My Story
When I was young, my dad worked two jobs, but he would have the morning to mid-afternoon on Tuesdays off from the position at a restaurant. On this day, he would buy ingredients from the nearby Chinatown and always cooked something special before he left for work in the late afternoon, as I witnessed during school breaks.
Just reminiscing over all the yummy meals I had when I was a kid encouraged me to remake them, but how would I do this without photos or recipes?
Favorite Dishes
Before presenting my solution, here’s an idea of what I grew up eating prior to my teenage years:
- Oxtail Stew
- Poached Chicken
- Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs
- Steamed Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce
- Braised Sea Cucumber
- Braised Lamb with Dried Bean Curd Sticks
- Pig Stomach Soup with Dried Bean Curd Sticks
- Steamed Whole Fish
Similar Dish
As for the answer to my challenge, I resorted to my memory and the internet for some directions on how to recreate a version close to what I ate before. Since I preferred trying simple cooking styles with fewer ingredients that were easy to find, I eliminated a bunch of recipes for this time. Inspired by item #2 above, I found Chinese Steamed Chicken Recipe from China Sichuan Food that didn’t look hard to make.
Ingredients to Use
In order to have enough food for my family, as well as convenience, I made the following modifications to the recipe:
- Doubled the ingredients
- Used chicken wings, legs, and drumsticks, instead of a whole chicken
- Replaced plain sesame oil with the hot one
Ready to Cook
After marinating the chicken pieces for several hours, I placed what I could fit on a plate and steamed them in a wok.
Time to Eat
Below is the cooked dish and part of the dipping sauce served with white rice for dinner:
Although my family and I enjoyed the completed dish, the texture and taste weren’t quite what I remembered. I think I need to use a recipe for poaching instead of steaming chicken and one without soy sauce. Next time, I’ll try one of the recipes below:
Continuous Improvement
- Perfect Poached Chicken from Chinese Foody
- White Cut Chicken|Chinese Poached Chicken from China Sichuan Food
Even though I didn’t understand when I was younger why we only ate in restaurants during special occasions, like wedding banquets, I now know there could be many reasons. It could’ve been to save money, control the quality of what we ate, etc. However, what I would share with my naive self would be the following:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Enjoy the mouthwatering feast and labor of love that went into the creation because they could easily vanish!
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try making a favorite food from your childhood?
- Appreciate what you have?
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