Want some Sodium with your MSG?
In terms of gastronomy, Americans can learn a lot from the Chinese. The traditional Chinese diet consists mainly of unprocessed foods, with an emphasis on the veggies. Meat is used sparingly, and they consume very little dairy. Unfortunately, what we call “Chinese” food—overflowing with MSG, sodium, and oil—hardly resembles true Chinese fare. The entire time I lived in China, I saw not one mention of general tso’s chicken, orange sesame beef, or deep-fried crab rangoon.
Yesterday, I was hit with a Chinese-food craving. But rather than run to my nearest Wok-n-Roll (where everything is deep-fried and nothing is vegan), I decided to make my own. Later, I made my own dessert as well. It wasn’t Chinese in the slightest:
Gingerbread Cookie Dough Balls
Then again, fortune cookies aren’t really Chinese, either. In actuality, these cookies hail from San Francisco! And my lunch, a few hours earlier? It hailed from Texas:
CCK Ginger Stir Fry
(I didn’t measure anything, so I’ll just give you the gist)
- Broccoli
- Red Peppers
- Zucchini
- Onion
- Pineapple
- Water Chestnuts
- Tamari, Garlic, and Fresh Ginger (or dry)
- You can also add cashews!
Steam broccoli in a covered wok (with a little water), until it turns bright green. Add other ingredients (except pineapple) and stir-fry. (You could also add a little sweetener if desired, and if you want a thicker “sauce” heat the soy sauce in a little dish, then mix with cornstarch.) At the very end, add the pineapple. As seems to be the case with most ethnic foods, this tastes better the day after it’s cooked.
Can’t have a Chinese meal without rice, right?
I took the lazy route and pulled this box from my freezer, where it’d been forgotten for months. Usually, I’m not a rice girl. But every now and then, my cravings surprise me. Today, they said, “Eat rice!” So I did.
I ate my pseudo-Chinese with chopsticks.
Grandma and Grandpa (or, rather, Obaasan and Ojiisan) joined the luncheon. Continuing with the theme of the post, they’re not Chinese either; we bought them in Japan!
What are your favorite Chinese Foods?
And do you ever make your own stir fries, fried rice, or other Chinese fare?
Writing this post reminded me about my Healthier Lo Mein. I haven’t made it in ages! Other American-Chinese dishes I like to make include fried rice (or bulgur) and the ubiquitous stir fry. Also, does anyone else love water chestnuts? I do, but I always forget to cook with them!
i honestly think its been about 2 years since ive had chinese food.. im MORE than embarrassed, but its becuz i can never get healthy kind! PROBLEM AVERTED
See, this is another reason you need to visit my house. I will cook for you and make you Chinese and pizzerts. In return, all I ask is that you bring along fudgies :).
girl, I am SO THERE! when’s the next flight? 😛
Unfortunately probably not for a while… it’s supposed to ice 🙁
Favorite Chinese food – too many to choose..hehe..but in general I love stir fries and could make any combos of it- last time I made Stir fry mixed veggies with seaweed and jicama…soooo delicious!
I make stir fries very often as it’s healthiest, simplest and fastest to make in a pinch…basically just throw in a bunch of stuff that you have in your pantry..no need exact measurement etc.
oh I never know what to do with jicama! I’ll have to try your idea! 🙂
Here’s the link to the post if you are interested 🙂
http://delightfultastebuds.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/cocomania-primal-dishes/
Thanks a ton! I’ll definitely check it out :).
I definitely appreciate a healthy version of Chinese food. Like you said- Chinese food isn’t naturally unhealthy, but American restaurants make it so!
My favorite chinese type food thing is stir-fried vegetables usually with some teriyaki sauce over some brown rice. So amazing.
I make something like that when I am home, except I use no-fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing instead of terriyaki.
And I love *love* water chestnuts.
I make this thing sometimes that is Italian green beans and water chestnuts with a little bit of shredded carrots all cooked together with a little spices-so good.
hi katie !
i’m sending you an e-hug for this post and your clarification that *real* chinese food is not the takeout we find at Panda Express (i’m chinese, and i love real chinese food :D)
anyway, i actually don’t really like water chestnuts 😛
but this recipe looks delicious 😀
<3 stay warm !
Aww thanks, Lian! And thanks for the warm wishes too… it’s so cold here :-?!
I’ve written about this some on my blog, too – Chinese food in China is so different! Unfortunately, it is changing and becoming less healthy, and Chinese people are becoming sicker for it as they adapt to some Western ideas (like a lot more meat, and the emergence of dairy into the diet). I had one friend who refused to eat MSG so whenever we would go to a restaurant or the school cafeteria he would say, “Bu yao weijing!” and it would annoy the cooks like crazy!
My favorite Chinese food stateside is Mu Shu Vegetable, which I never saw in China. In China I loved jiaozi (dumplings), and Beijing makes some mean noodles. But I wasn’t vegan when I lived there, so I’d really like to go back and see what kind of vegan options I could find! Obviously there’s plenty of tofu and veggies, and I even went to a vegan restaurant there without knowing it (a Buddhist one), the only problem is the whole “meat as flavoring” thing, and that people wouldn’t really recognize that as a problem for vegans/vegetarians.
Yeah, the meat as flavoring thing was HARD! Like chicken or beef stock in pretty much all the veggie dishes. Or shrimp paste. But Shanghai had the BEST veg restaurant, so I ate there a lot. The rest of my family (not vegetarians) always wanted to go there too! They had this amazing carrot sauce… *swoons* :).
That looks sooooo much better than typical americanized “chinese”!!!!!!! Thanks!
I love makin’ my own stir fry!!! To me, this beats take-out any day. Because you are right… the States’ Chinese food is not quite the traditional kind…
I am the same way with water chestnuts… I love that crunch but always forget to add them to meals! I want a proper wok one of these days… woks are super fun to cook in!
Asian and Mexican foods are my favorite! I LOVE water chestnuts because they add a nice crunch to the meal. I’ve never made fried rice but I’d like to try a healthy version! Most places average 1000 calories for that. Aye carumba!