shrimp fritters (garnalenkroketjes)

shrimp fritters, step 7 by kattebelletje.

There is no way I can leave the market without trying to see if the fishmonger has unpeeled grey shrimp. These are stacked in big bags (if they have them), cooked on the fishing boat that takes them in. These grey shrimp are more tasty than the other shrimp varieties, and while I have them with mayonaise often, this is the ultimate way of enjoying them.

Buy 300 grams of grey shrimp with the skins on. Go home to peel them, this might take 20 mins. Set shrimp aside. Don't throw away the peels yet; these go into some olive oil in a saute pan to be sauteed with some chopped garlic and half a teaspoon of tomato paste. They are then drowned in a glass of white wine (Noilly Prat or what you like), plus a glas of water. If you feel nerdy: take out the whole bunch to whizz in food processor to mash them finer, so when you put those peels back into the pan they will shed the maximum amount of shrimp-juice. After bubbling for 5 minutes, strain through a fine sieve, leaving you a beautifully colored orange shrimp stock.

Now make a thick white sauce (bechamel or roux) with three large spoonfuls of butter, 5 to 6 spoonfuls of white flour, thickened with milk and your strained shrimp stock. If you omitted this step with shrimp peels and food processor and everything: don't worry, your end result will still taste very good. Mix until you have a very thick sauce. Season with salt, pepper and some nutmeg. I added some freshly chopped tarragon too, because it is my favorite combination with shrimp. Pour the mixture onto a plate and leave to set. Then put in the fridge for at least 1 hour to stiffen.

Form the mixture into sausage shaped rolls. If needed, set in fridge again. However, you can continue with the next step.
Mix 2 egg yolks in a bowl. In another bowl, put breadcrumbs (I used the Japanese panko breadcrumbs). Now coat the shrimp rolls with egg yolk, and then with breadcrumbs. Set aside until ready to fry.

Heat sunflower oil (or other good frying oil) in a small wok. When hot enough (test with piece of bread: it should start sizzling and frying), add 4 to 5 shrimp fritters. Fry on medium heat until golden brown, then get rid of the frying oil by draining on kitchen paper. Serve with lemon wedges and a sharp mustard or great mayonaise of your choice, as a starter or snack. Dutch like to eat it on rye. For lunch!

tomato sauce

tomato sauce
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

One of the joys of coming home is to have this first meal. I always crave for the simple, and usually I end up eating my first meal of pasta with a tomato sauce. I could even do without the tomatoes and then only use anchovies, pepper and some garlic. Of course there is a chunk of Parmesan in the fridge.

Marcella Hazan taught me to make the most simple of tomato sauces. You never have to buy a jar again! Take one tin of plum tomatoes (0.20 euro, I stock up on these), add a large lump of butter, a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, and half an onion (unsliced). Simmer for about half an hour or more. You can add more flavors, like a bit of chopped garlic and a sprig of parsley - but tomatoes, half an onion and butter are the main ingredients. Then mash the tomatoes - I use a potato masher for this - until the sauce is quite chunky. You could put it in a food processor to get a more smooth sauce.

Cook your preferred pasta ( I think I had linguine) and coat it with the sauce, put on a large heap of grated Parmesan and sprinkle on some dried chili flakes and some freshly chopped parsley.

Now try not to think about wonderful Chinese meals.

new kitchen stuff

treasures from the store by kattebelletje.

Too bad I have to go home again. I just started to enjoy this life of walking around, chatting with people, and trying out food in all kinds of restaurants. I haven't been in the kitchen for two weeks, but back home, I will have to cook again myself.

But not without new stuff! I have had lots of dishes to try, especially the quick and easy vegetable ones, which put together ingredients in a way I wouldn't have come up with. I snapped about a picture of everything I've eaten here. My table mates have resented this when they, hungrily, had their chopsticks ready, but I can enjoy my pictures for new inspiration.

To the Chinese supermarket I went all by myself, to buy stuff-to-take-home. While other foreigners might hang around silk stores or calligraphy stores - not me, I am in the supermarket, eyeing the shelves with Sichuan pepper and vintage vinegars. I asked the shop girls for info, and some passers by, too. They told me their favorite brands and then I simply added another item to my shopping basket.

I will travel home with bags of huajiao, chile peppers, dried shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, huajiao oil, fragrant vintage vinegar, new chopsticks and brand new chopping knife. I bought some strange looking packets of sauces to try. Also, I bought a new jiaozi board, for putting on home-made jiaozi so they won't stick.

When I walked on the street with this large round board (the equivalent of a Chinese in the Netherlands walking around with a poffertjespan), an older woman stopped me to ask where I got it. When I told her she wanted to know the price as well (7.90 yuan, being €0.79), and then she went to the shop to get one, too.

to Shanghai and back

frying snacks
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I've traveled from Beijing to Shanghai and back, and eaten many Chinese meals. To eat in China is heaven (although there are food scares and everything); restaurants are plentiful and food is absolutely cheap. You eat out with 5 people, order 4 starters and 5 main dishes, drink beers and orange juice with your meal, and then the total bill comes to about 20 euros. Of course that doesn't really matter, the food is utterly delicious, an it being cheap is even more wonderful, because then you just start ordering dishes just to try out. Something I hardly do at home because I fear disappointment.

The food comes to your table real fast, as soon as it is out of the wok, and is always nice to eat. I have tried my all-time favorites again (ie chicken Kong pao gongbao jiding), tried many dumplings (can't wait to have more), and tried some new stuff.

On a market stall in Shanghai there are many things to eat and buy. Of course there is fresh produce (frogs), lots of great-looking vegetables and ready made cold salads and cold meats. Two women were buying a stuffed lotus root with sticky rice inside, soaked in a kind of honey marinade, and I bought some peanuts flavored with seaweed to take on the night train.

I saw this woman frying up some kind of dough curls in hot oil. It looked a bit too greasy for me, but I would have liked to try! I asked her what it was called and she told me, but I didn't hear correctly so I still don't know the name...

self-heating meal

SHLF-HEATING MEAL
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

This is one of the novelties I've seen in Beijing. There is great food everywhere, but once you are in the Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace in the heart of the city, there are no restaurants, but only snack corners and tea stands. They kicked out Starbucks from their small counter last year, because a high official had campaigned against this foreign invasion in their Chinese cultural heartland so to speak (it was replaced by a counter selling Chinese coffee from Yunnan province). The snack booth in the imperial garden sold quick noodles the last time I was there.

Now all the noodles had gone, perhaps because they were sold out. The only thing on the shelves were square paper boxes saying SHLF-HEATING MEAL. Attendants opened the box, tore open the plastic cover on the white rice, and tore open some package with meat, veg and sauce. Then they pulled a white ribbon and handed it over on a small tray.

Underneath the white plastic box with rice-and-sauce was a small cushion with inside a self-heating substance, so this meal would warm itself from below within about 8 minutes. The tray was there because it became really steaming hot. The meal itself was lousy (and 15 yuan, about 1.5 euros), which can buy you a dish of Chicken Kongpao in just any restaurant.

Pieces of chicken (?) with bones all inside it, plus some potatoes and a kind of gravy. The rice rather hard. But still, where can they invent these things but in China?