The most authentic Hakka’s Cuisines! 最正宗的客家菜…
When it comes to food, I think most of us will sure wonder about the origins, from where and since when it became the local delicacies, and most of us will sure go for the ‘ most authentic ‘ ones…
Now, here I am introducing you the most original Hakka’s delicacies…
If you think that I’m bluffing in this blog, then you tell me where else you can get the more original Hakka food than these lo… I was trying all of the Hakka food in Mei Zhou梅州 of China where it is also known as the Capital of Hakka in the World!
Oh yea, for those who might be thinking of going to Mei Zhou, China… The restaurant that I wanted to introduce you is this one, Wan Qiu Lou 万秋楼! Where you can try all kinds of Hakka’s delicacies…
Add:梅州市梅县新城办事处富贵居委扶外村98号
Wan Qiu Lou 万秋楼, previously known as a semi-rounded building围垄屋, (for your information, the Chinese authority is on their way applying these semi-rounded building under list of UNESCO World Heritage site.)It, consists of 72 rooms, once built by a Malaysian and is now owned by a Taiwanese, has become the must- visit tourist spot for everyone who visits Mei Zhou.
While waiting for the food, you can have a short tour around the restaurant, there are antiques, old-time cooking utensils and pictures displayed. And it is worth going to as this restaurant is designed with fully Hakka’s style…
Soup Barrel, this is how they made the soup!
So, let me introduce you the ORIGINAL Hakka food!
But 1st, let me show you this…
This is one of the most famous Hakka delicacies which we used to have in Malaysia, Lei Cha 擂茶… And compare this Lei Cha with what I had in Mei Zhou…
It is totally different kind of Lei Cha, it is like rice plus mixed vegetables with hot vege soup in Malaysia, but what you can see in Mei Zhou is, it is made by whole grains, and it tastes like muesli or oath, and according to the locals, they used to have this for breakfast like what we have our cereal meals. Honestly, I prefer the one I tried in Malaysia, it tastes better and I like the vege soup very much!
The 2nd dish which I would like to introduce to you is this, Salt Baked Chicken 盐焗鸡
I don’t know how they make in Malaysia, but in China, they soaked the chicken in the salt water 1-2 hours before they bake with salt, I was told that the reason why they do this is to make the meat taste better.
Hakka’s Mixed Vegetables
This cuisine is quite special if compared with other mixed vegetables. See, it is mixed with big red beans which is rare to be found in Malaysia.
Yam soup!
This is the 1st time I tried the soup made of yam, and seriously it is very delicious. The yam was shaped like fish-ball and it is boiled until the yam turned soft and with well-preserved original taste of the yam.
Yeong Taufu 酿豆腐
Well, I think this is quite common in Malaysia, as this is also one of the locals’ favorites which attract every food dwellers.
It is made by stuffing the minced meat into the middle part of the taufu and then steaming it.
Fried pumpkin
It tastes sweet, with minced pumpkin stuffed and fried.
And this is what locals call ‘vege biscuit’, but I don’t really know how to call it, hehe!
Well, this is what I want to share with you, these are what I met in Wan Qiu Lou, which is one of the most famous restaurants for it’s Hakka Cuisines… And in the next blog I will share with you more local delicacies which I tried! Ciao…
Chicken Chop ala-Malay-Chinese…
I was planning to dine out with Xiangyun in conjunction with the Day of People’s Unity celebration yesterday. Because I was too lazy to cook! Hehe… We even planned which nice restaurant we would go to already…
But, guess what?
The @#$%^&*ATM Card wouldn’t allow me to withdraw money again!!! Hiaz… so sad that you cannot use your money freely while you are having them in the ATM machine…
So, what to do? We cooked the dinner ourselves lo…
Since it was a public holiday, so I planned to cook something special!!! And the idea to cook chicken chop ala-Malay Chinese style popped out on my mind…
So, see, this is what we’ve cooked…
A heart-shaped chicken chop, although it was covered by sambal, salad, fried egg with a smiley-face rice (it would taste better if we put Nasi Goreng Kampung instead of plain rice) and mushroom soup!
You want the recipe? Sure, no problem…
1 chicken breast meat for 2 persons, Chinese cabbage, plain rice or fried rice, eggs and a packet of mushroom soup packet!
1st divide the chicken breast into 2 and cut properly into heart-shape. Then dipped the chicken in egg-white, pour the fried chicken flour onto it and just fry…
For sambal, prepare 3-4 onions and garlic, add some ginger and chili if you want it to taste better, blend all the ingredients together with some sugar and salt. Pour all of them on to the heated pan with some oil added. Cook until the sambal change color into dark-red.
Simply stir fry the Chinese cabbage, fry eggs and cut some of the canned mushroom for the mushroom soup, and it’s done! Your chicken-chop ala Malay-Chinese is ready to be served!
Minin and Pozharsky
Well, this is maybe another way to introduce Nizhny Novgorod, the place currently where I am to pursuing my final year of my medical degree to all of you. For your acknowledgement, Nizhny Novgorod is currently the fourth largest city in Russia.
I think Red Square in Moscow is the most inevitable tourist spot for every one of you when travelling to Russia, especially Kremlin and St.Basil’s Cathedral. And now what I need is ask you to pay extra attention to the monument that is situated before the entrance of the St.Basil’s Cathedral. Can you notice it? Good!
What I going to tell you is about the story of them, Minin and Pozharsky…
And why it is related to Nizhny Novgorod!
17th Century, Moscow was invaded by the Polish, Kuzma Minin, the merchant from Nizhny Novgorod together with Prince Dimitry Pozharsky became the national hero for his role in defending the country against the Polish invasion.
A native of Balakhna, Minin was a prosperous butcher (meat trader) in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. When the popular patriotic movement to organize volunteer corps in his native city was formed, the city merchants chose Minin, a trusted and respected member of the guild, to oversee the handling of the public funds donated by them to raise and equip the Second Volunteer Army (Второе народное ополчение).
The army led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky was credited for clearing the Moscow Kremlin from Polish-Lithuanian forces on November 1, 1612. Minin distinguished himself as a skilled commander and was made a nobleman and member of the Boyar Duma under the newly elected Tsar Michael Romanov. He died in 1616 and was interred in the Archangel Cathedral of Nizhny Novgorod. A central square of that city is named after him and Prince Pozharsky.
Originally, the statue stood in the centre of the square, with Pozharsky waving his hand towards Moscow Kremlin. The Communist authorities, for whom the monument was obstructing military parades, discussed plans for its demolition or moving it to some indoor museum. In 1936, the statue was moved closer to the cathedral where it remains up to the present.
On the first celebration of the Day of People’s Unity (November 4, 2005) a near exact copy of this monument by Zurab Tsereteli was erected in Nizhny Novgorod. The copy is only 5 cm shorter than the Moscow original.
And there will be another celebration of Day of People’s Unity this Wednesday (4.11.09), you know why I like this celebration? Because it’s public for all of us! hehe…..
Another Crisis…
Well, as you know, life as overseas student can never be as easy as back in our motherland… This is because in order to study, we need to solve every challenge in our life in order to survive, from our daily routines to facing the external threats like hooligans, skinheads and etc… (Don’t think that we are so happy enjoying our life here ya)
A little story to share…
And this is what happened to us recently, our ATM cards, especially BSN, failed to withdraw money from the ATM machine. For the beginning we thought it was normal because it happened sometimes within a month due to some technical problems according to them from Malaysia, and this phenomenon happened for quite some months….
Until these two weeks, during the end of the month, the time we became broke, and the time we essentially need the money!!! We can’t withdraw money from the ATM machine, at 1st we thought it was normal like what we experienced before, but after trying for 2 weeks, we decided to ask our parents to call up the bank and ask for the reasons why we can’t withdraw the money!
Guess what is the reply from the bank?
Due to the high fraud cases recently, the bank decided to stop all the international transactions from now!!!For those who wish to activate the international transactions are required to reactivate the card from the bank!
Yea! Thanks for that great news. How can we who study overseas go back to Malaysia just to reactivate the card? Why didn’t they implement this while we were in Malaysia 2 months ago during summer holidays?
So, how to solve this issue? Yea, the bank asked us to fill in the form from the official website, and then resend back to them. How? I also don’t know, I’m still trying, anyone who already succeeded, please let me know ya.
I don’t know about condition for other bank, but I’m sure for those BSN ATM Card holders, you must fulfill the requirement above before you can withdraw the money…
For BSN users, you may try on this website: www.bsn.com.my, you can see there is a ‘Borang-borang Column’ on the main menu on the left side, click on it and you will see the form.
…The Power of Will…求学的意志…
I found this picture accidentally in my photo album from my trip to China, and ‘she’ reminds me of that day…
It was a hot summer afternoon, about 40°C… We met this pity girl while doing shopping on the walking street somewhere in China. She was on her knees, showing some of the photos and a cardboard full of words, begging the pedestrians who passed by for donations.
She mentioned on the cardboard that her father lost every assets in her family because he gambled a lot, her mother gave up and decided to leave them… She was left to stay with her granny who was diagnosed with lymphoma…
She couldn’t continue her secondary education due to shortness of financial support, and she is begging for donations so that she can continue her secondary school educations…
So, what’s that on your mind after seeing her conditions? Don’t you feel that how lucky you are to have free education? We should be grateful for what we have and appreciate it…
翻阅了我在夏天的中国之旅的相片, 偶然中看到了 ‘她’, 令我想起了那时的情景… 那天是摄氏40度, 一个非常炎热夏天的下午, 我和妈妈在某条街上购物时碰见了 ‘她’… 跪在人群中, 在地上放了几张相片和一张密密麻麻写满了字的卡片. 在好奇之下, 我们便靠近看个究竟…
卡片上写着…
中学生的苦恼…
“尊敬的各位父老, 叔伯和兄弟姐妹们…
您们好, 请抬起你们一双眉开眼笑的目光来看我悲伤的一员吧! 让我把苦涩人生问诸位好心人倾诉一下… 本来我也有温暖和舒适的家庭, 不幸的是父亲不知去哪学来了狂赌, 一下把家里的财产和我身上所穿戴的全赌光, 妈妈多次劝他不听就带着弟弟远离家乡, 又加上奶奶患了淋巴瘤, 就这样经济来源断绝, 为难我只好休学前往贵地求资入学, 敬请各位好心捐分献文使我返回学园让我完成自己的学业…”
看完了, 心都寒了, 没想到, 就在这么先进的社会里, 还有人会为了求学问题而苦恼… 反观在我的国家就没有这种事了, 只有那些不想上课, 只想逃学的朋友… 看了这位朋友的苦诉后, 有没有激起你的那股发愤图强的决心! 要么, 干脆就把你的学位让给她好了… 她, 比任何人都需要那份你们也许就不觉得重要的知识…
能够求学, 是你的福气,我说啊! 在即求学的我们, 不知要感到多么的庆幸! 千万不要生在福中不知福哦!
当然, 我不晓得这是否是场骗局… 但是我们还是奉上我们那真诚的支持…
limshouzhi
