Fried sitck-food is also really popular here.  Breaded or battered chicken legs are a real hit, and you can find them at many street markets throughout the city.  In some special markets you can find some fried stick food of a more unusual variety.  In Wanfujing, for instance, there are several stands featuring fried scorpions, sea horses, snakes, and beetles. As you can tell by the blog name, eating fried scorpions was a goal of mine, and on one of our last days in China I finally did the deed. I ordered one skewer of scorpion, and one of snake. A French buddy of ours had particularly recommended the snake, so I decided to give it a try.  They coated it in a mild curry before frying it, and I must say it was quite tasty.  It had a flavor similar to chicken, and a texture similar to a firm, white fish.  The scorpions were also surprisingly good. I was a little nervous about the poison, so I flicked off their stingers before getting my chomp on.  They were crispy, spicy, and actually really, really good.  I could see fried bugs as being great bar food. Greasy and crunchy – better than potato chips!

The real fried stick specialty in Beijing involves a variety of skewered meats and veggies, and a sizzling hot vat of heavily spiced oil.  These suckers are very very hot, but nothing compared to the last stick specialty found in Beijing.  This last stick based specialty will really put hair on your chest. Bobleo and I stumbled onto this accidentally.  In many noodle shops, they have baskets of skewered meats, veggies, and other curious items.  We grabbed a few interesting sticks, thinking that they would be added to our ramen.  A few minutes later, the kebabs returned, covered in a very strange sesame sauce.  The first bite was delicious! We smiled at eachother, feeling triumphant and adventurous, but it wasn’t long until our mouths lit on fire.  Turns out that the seemingly innocent sesame sauce was actually composed primarily of napalm. God damn, that hurt.

To sum up my feelings on Chinese Stick foods, I would describe them as sometimes dangerous, mostly tasty.

Aside from being crowded, Carrefour’s intensity is due to the direct sales method of the staff. Imagine wandering into the fabric softener section to pick out a deal, then having multiple bottles opened and shoved under your nose at random. The staff here are constantly shoving things in your face. There is no browsing at Carrefour. Instead, I’ve found that the safest thing to do is to close your eyes and grab a bottle at random, then hightail it the hell out of dodge. You’ll experience similar scenarios as you shop in other sections of the store.

The meat and seafood sections are especially different from home. If live lobsters make you squirm, you had better not step foot here. Imagine tanks and barrels of live creatures: turtles, fish, crabs, and shrimp. There are piles of tiny, live shrimp mixed in with minnows and other sea creatures. There are beds of ice and refrigerated buckets where you can literally hand pick the fish or meat you are after. There are butchers who will gut and clean any fish you pick out, or hack an entire section of pig into whatever shape you fancy. It is really intense.

Then, of course, you have your more tame differences, such as the oddly flavored Pringles, or many corn themed snacks and candies. Prepackaged jellyfish, marinated chicken feet, and peanut flavored milk are just a few other curious things you may encounter.

Carrefour on a Slow Day

Dumplings

Smoked Meats

Live Turtles!

Shrimps and Mini Lobster Tails

Crabs!

Fresh Fish

Meat Bins

Crazy Pringles

Though my favorite dumplings are boazi, the little steamed pork buns I went on and on about, I do love a good jaozi as well.  Jaozi are similar to Gyoza or Potstickers, but, naturally, China has their own special way of making these.

Fillings
When we arrived, our teacher, Sophia, had laid out a spread of ingredients in small white bowls.  We were encouraged to sniff and taste each ingredient (expect the raw meat, of course) and learned a little about each one, and how it was prepped for inclusion in the dumplings:

Pork: The raw pork was ground, like hamburger meat.  Sophia told us that it is best to find pork that is heavily marbled with fat when making dumplings, as the fat is necessary for a smooth texture.

Eggs: These were scrambled in a hot wok with a little salt and oil, then chopped finely.

Tofu: Sophia used a very firm, but in all other regards, basic white tofu.  It was crumbled, then stir fried in oil to reduce its moisture.

Carrots: The carrots we used were minced in a juicer, but you can also use a food processor, or (heaven help you) a veggie peeler and knife to achieve the same, finely minced texture.

Pepper Oil: Pepper Oil is made by infusing dried peppercorns (red or green depending on personal taste) in oil.  Sophia uses a plain Soybean Oil and Red Peppercorns and heats them over a low flame in her wok.  You can strain the Peppercorns out of the oil when it cools, or leave them in it for visual flair.

Black Wood Fungus: These mushrooms are purchased dried and then reconstituted using room temperature salted water.  The dried fungus looks like a black rose, but after it is hydrated it looks more like a squashy pile of seaweed.  Mince it finely after it is hydrated for use in dumplings. On a side note, according to Sophia, these mushrooms are used to cool the body, and cleanse the digestive system in Chinese medicine.  They can supposedly help with gall stones and other various digestive issues, but should be avoided if you are an overly chilly person.

Duck Soy Sauce: A thick, dark, and intensely flavored soy sauce that is usually used on meats, and of course, duck. This is used only with meat dumplings, as the flavor is too strong for veggies.

Glass Noodle: Sophia had a good time making us guess what these stiff, white noodles were made of.  Our guesses included: rice, radish, and vericelli, but were all totally wrong.  These special noodles are made from green beans and peas.  They become totally clear when cooked, and have a very unique, elastic-like texture.  They should be boiled for 3-5 minutes, or until they become totally transparent, then drained, but not rinsed.  When they cool enough to handle them, chop them into little, 1/2 centimeter bits.

Ginger: We used fresh, finely diced ginger, but Sophia assured us that you can also use dried ginger or crystallized ginger according to your taste.  An interesting note, the preparation of ginger, as well as the part of the ginger root used, affects is purpose when it comes to Chinese Medicine.

Shitake Mushroom: In China, these little brown mushrooms are readily available both fresh and dried.  According to Sophia, the dried mushrooms have a better flavor for dumplings, so we used the dried kind.  These are hydrated the same way the Black Wood Fungus is – in room temperature salt water.

Scallions (Chinese Leeks): In China they have these enormous scallions, which they call either chives or scallions in English.  I am not sure, but I think they might be closer to leeks in actuality.  They use them constantly in Chinese cuisine.  For dumplings, they chop them very finely.

Mystery Greens: There is a very dark green leaf that is minced and added very commonly to dumplings in Beijing.  Our teacher, Sophia, called it Dill at first, but after we all smelled it we decided it definitely could not be dill.  She used the word “fennel” next, but I’m still not 100% percent sure it was fennel.  It had a slightly herbaceous, lemony aroma, but has a texture similar to spinach once its cooked. Up until now, I had assumed it was spinach or the dark leafed baby Chinese cabbage that is so common here right now.

The Fillings
To make Veggie Dumpling Filling, you simply mix and match any non-meat fillings you like, then top them off with some Pepper Oil and a little salt.  For meat dumplings, the process is a wee bit more standardized.  First, stir in a few teaspoons of Duck Soy Sauce into the meat, followed by the minced scallions, and some salt.  Crack an egg white into the mix and stir (in only one direction) until the egg whites whip up and get the mixture nice and sticky.  Once the mixture has gotten nice and goopy, you can add your Mystery Greens and some Pepper Oil.  Add more Salt and Soy Sauce to taste, and maybe a little ginger if the mood strikes you.

The Dough
The dough is very basic, just flour and water, kneaded into a soft, but not sticky ball. You can enhance the nutritional value of the dough (as well as the appearance) by using vegetable juice in place of water.  We used carrot juice and spinach juice, but there are countless other juices that could be used as well.  Beet juice, for instance, would create lovely purple dumplings.  Once the dumpling dough is ready, it is rolled into a tube that measures a little less than an inch in diameter.  The tube is then chopped into 1 inch nuggets and dusted with dry flour.  We rounded the nuggets, then flattened them into discs using the palms of our hands.  You could probably use a cup or a mallet to get more perfect discs, but I’m not sure that’s really very necessary.  The tricky part comes next.  You’ll need to flour your work surface, and get yourself a very small rolling pin.  Pinch one edge of your disc, then roll firmly into the center on three sides, (rotating each time).  Continue to roll the pin in very deep on each turn until you get your disc to be about 3 inches or so wide.  The goal is to make the inside of the disc thicker than the outside, so that the bit that holds the filling is strong, and the excess dumpling isn’t too chewy.  This took some practice, and for later inspiration, I took a short video of Sophia rolling her dough like an expert. You can check it out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drstrangeglove/4114672492/

Stuffing and Folding
Another slightly tricky part, filling and folding the dumplings is a delicate art.  To a perfectionist, this activity could be maddening, but if you simply want to get that sucker closed, it’s not so hard.  Lay the wrapper flat in your palm, then use your other hand to scoop the filling into the middle. Not too much, not too little.  Pinch the middle of the wrapper closed first, then carefully pinch one of the edges together, and fold the remaining opening in the same direction that you folded the edge.  Repeat on the other side, and viola! Your little joazi is ready to go.

Cooking the Jaozi
After we had a platter full of dumplings which ranged in beauty from flawless to lumpy and weird (these, Sophia called “Sexy Ass Dumplings – I couldn’t really figure out why, but she kept pointing to them and giggling) we boiled ourselves a wok fill of water and dumped those suckers in!  This part excited me, can you tell?  I love boiling things in woks.  The steam!  The danger!  It’s really pretty thrilling.  Anyway, we boiled them until, and I quote, “they sink to the bottom, then rise to the top, then sink to the bottom again, then rise again, then sink and rise once more.”  Another clue to tell that they had finished cooking was to look at their shape.  Dumplings puff up while they cook, and when they’ve finished they shrink up like saran wrap.  You can also poke at the meat ones a bit to see how firm they are.

We also pan fried some, which were really really delicious.  To pan fry the dumplings, you heat oil in a wok, then place the raw dumplings in the pan, standing on their little dumpling bottoms.  Let them cook for a bit, until they become golden down below, then add a generous portion of water, and cover then pan.  You’ll know their finished based on the aforementioned saran wrap and poke tests, but you cannot, unfortunately rely on the sink and rise test this time.

Dipping
Jaozi are meant to be dipped!  They are most commonly, if not always, served with brown rice vinegar.  Most folks toss some hot chili pepper and oil into the mix. (Myself included) And some people even like to add a little plain soy sauce to the equation.  Any way you dip them though, they should be pretty ding dang tasty. Ours certainly were.

包子 bāo​zi​ steamed stuffed bun

Baozi are a staple part of my diet, here in Beijing. These little buns are stuffed with a mixture of minced pork, seasonings, and scallions then steamed in little bamboo containers in towering stacks over pots of boiling water. Generally, these little bundles of deliciousness are only available in the morning, but if you keep your eyes peeled you can find hole in the wall boazi joints that serve these little darlin’s all day long. Yummers.

By the way, the best way to eat these is piping hot, with a side of vinegar and hot chili pepper. Nibble a little hole in the side to let the excess heat out, then soak that baby in sizzling spicy vinegar. Ohhhhh mama.

After the set was finished we partied hardy for the rest of the night.  Many whiskey & cokes, and many Tsing Tao’s were enjoyed backstage, at the bar, and wandering around the general vicinity of Yu Gong Yi Shan.  Bobleo and I bailed early (around 2 am) so that I might get some semblance of rest before my classes the next morning.  We got home around 3 am, debated for about 20 minutes over whether we should go to sleep drunk and hungry or try to locate some post-bender grub.  Fortunately for us, we passed out while still arguing.  8 am was less than friendly when it arrived, but somehow I found the strength to trudge to Wanda Plaza and muddle through a kindergarten, then a 3rd grade class. Lucky for me, I’ve discovered the virtues of crayons.  Less screaming, less jumping, more learning. Go crayons.

One of our favorite places to chow down, especially after a night of beer drinking, “The Kebab Place” as we call it, is definitely not your everyday American eatery. Tiny stools and itty bitty foldable tables speckle the cement sidewalk outside of this restaurant’s back kitchen. There is a small restaurant around the corner where you can sit at a normal table, if you like, but most folks tend to gobble kebabs outdoors if the weather is cooperative.

You can order all kinds of things grilled on sticks, but my favorite is Yang Rou, or mutton. I’ve also tried sheep tendon and chicken wing, but I believe there are many other parts that are usually served up this way. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I can’t read the menu, so I may never nibble the other mysterious meats here.

We headed back to Matt’s place after that, and stuck our shoes in his oven to dry. I am quite jealous of his oven by the way – they are hardly standard commodities in Beijing apartments. We curled up on the couch and watched movies and ate scrambled eggs for the rest of the afternoon. Not a bad way to end a snowy day.