Yum Cha

While we were at the central markets, (it was phil's birthday) we decided to go for yum cha at Kowloon cafe. We were pretty late so we had to order off a list instead of waiting for waiters to come around with the selections of food.

Yum Cha had always been a part of my bringing up, and tradition. Sunday, was yum cha day, (well in Hong Kong everyday is Yum Cha day.) My grandparents go for yum cha every morning after waking up, and also for afternoon tea. (Instead of having lunch.) It's pretty enjoyable chatting, reading a newspaper, drinking tea and eating a range of different little steamed or fried dishes. It is definitely like chinese tapas. My memory of yum cha in Hong Kong always included the old ladies pushing around trolleys with food on it and saying or yelling out loud what types of dishes they had in their trolleys.


The trolleys had steamers in them to keep the steamed food warm, or they had constantly boiling/hot water in containers so if you wanted to boiled choi sum vegies with oyster sauce, they do it straight away (so your vegies are fresh and not limp) Sweet soup also came in similar ways, you'd ask the ladies to lift the lid so you can have a look inside to see what yummy dessert soups you can have today. Egg tarts and other steamed or baked desserts came on trolleys with glass windows so you can see inside what they have.

People often went to their "regular" restaurant for yum cha, so all the staff and the trolley women would know you. And when I went back to the usual restaurant my grandparents go to, the staff (especially the trolley women would say "ahhhh, its Mrs. Wong's oldest daughter's daughter, she's back from Australia... look how much she's grown.. and etc." Its pretty cute :) The people have worked there for so long they remember your grandkids!


Last time I went to Hong Kong, the restaurant that I have been to all my life, have changed to the list ordering system. So you basically tick/select the dishes you want and hand it to the waiter. Its just not as fun anymore. Ahh, the old days!

Back to yum cha at Kowloon cafe, the selection of food is a little bit less than what you have in Hong Kong, but that doesn't matter, it's still yummy! We only had two people eating, but its definitely more fun if there's people, you can order a lot more dishes to share!

We ordered:

"Lor mai gai" Steamed Lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice with chicken pieces, pork mince, shrimp etc inside.

"Ma Lai Go" A steamed bun/cake favourite of mine, especially when I was young, it's more a dessert, so we ate it at the end.




"Gow Choi Gow" Steamed chive dumpling, a staple at yum cha. (on the right)



"Cha Siu So" BBQ pork pieces wrapped in triangular shaped pastry and baked. The pastry is soft and crumbly, not thick at all.



This was a newbie.. its a green tea mung bean cake, I think it had lotus seed paste inside. If you like green tea, this is for you!



Phil's and my favourite, "Hoy Jit" This is jelly fish strips with cucumber. carrot and spring onion (salad) dressed with sesame oil, seeds and paste and a little fresh chilli. It usually comes with chicken but since I'm allergic to chicken we ordered it with duck strips. (I asked mum the other day if this was Cantonese, but she thinks it originates from Shanghai!) It is divine! I love it!

Osso Bucco with lemon, saffron and parmesan risotto

It was a cold, August Saturday, I had a bit of time on my hands and decided to attempt the Osso Bucco. It was always one of those dishes that seemed too hard to cook, so I'd rather eat it at a restaurant, but to my surprise, it was quite easy to master.

I looked up many recipes on the web and in cook books, they were all slightly different as with most recipes, and decided to base my Osso Bucco on the Abstract Gourmet's recipe  - http://abstractgourmet.com/2007/08/theres-a-buco-in-my-osso/ but added  gremolata and served with lemon, saffron and parmesan risotto. Waiting for it to cook slowly for 2 hours was painful.. the delicious scent of it permeated the house! And this was one of the recipes with the least amount of cooking time! Anyway here's the recipe (serves 2)

2 pieces of osso buco -
flour for dusting
1 onion - chopped finely
3 cloves garlic - chopped finely
1 can tinned roma tomatoes
2 carrots chopped into 1cm wide rounds
Around one cup of red wine (you can add more later)
sea salt and cracked pepper.

Lightly coat the osso buco in flour, shake off any excess, then fry them in a pan with a bit of oil till they're lightly brown all over.  Take out of the pan and leave aside.

Meanwhile fry up the onion and garlic with a bit of oil. Add the carrots and cook for a bit until the onion goes soft and transparent. Put the osso bucco back in the pan and make sure they are lying flat and touching the bottom of the pan. Pour in the red wine and the tin of tomatoes, add a bit of passata if you have some on hand. Make sure you have enough liquid to just cover the meat.

Turn the heat down to low so it just simmers and put the lid back on or just ajar .

Wait 2 hours or more, check it now and then to make sure there is enough liquid in the pan to just cover the meat. I poured in some more wine and vegetable stock and water. Season it with salt and pepper halfway through. I cooked it slowly in the pan for 2.5 hours, before I couldn't wait any more (my stomach was grumbling!) But Im sure it doesn't hurt to cook it for longer, it will just get softer!

While the meat was cooking, I made the Gremolata. The ingredients are:

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
just under half a cup of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon

Mix well and sprinkle over osso bucco when its ready.

Heres the recipe for the lemon, saffron and parmesan risotto. The osso bucco and the risotto really does go hand in hand. Something about saffron...

a knob of butter
a tbsp olive oil
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
2-3 handfuls of Italian Arborio rice
2 cups of vegetable stock
a few saffron strands
salt and  black pepper
juice of half a large  lemon
half a cup of parmesan cheese
grated rind of 1 lemon

Add oil and onion to a saucepan on medium heat. Cook till onion is  slightly transparent and add the rice with a bit of butter. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add boiling vegetable stock  to till it just covers the rice and drop in a few strands of saffron.  Turn the heat up so the liquid is starting to bubble, then turn it down to low heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir frequently until liquid is absorbed. Add more stock  if the rice has absorbed all the liquid but isn't soft enough yet. When it is ready, the consistency should be that of the rice lazily falling off the spatula. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, cheese and lemon rind, add salt and pepper to your liking. Return to heat and cook for 1 minute, stirring before serving.

Be careful taking the osso bucco out of the pan, its very soft and easily falls away from the bone.

Place it with the risotto and you have a very hearty, delicious meal! Its worth the wait :)