KWONG FUNG GROUP

飲食思源 Food Traces

text/photo. Stephanie

Deep Fried Tofu Wrap
Chinese name: Ja-siean-lin

Squids

Chinese name: Mug-yu

The name ‘Ja-siean-lin’ was given to this golden wrap when a swordsman went in to a restaurant asking for an order only to be told by the chef he ran out of tofu skin, the key ingredient needed to make the wrap.  The swordsman had such a strong craving for the dish that he was not going to give up easily.  Once he found out tofu skin was available at the next county, he jumped on to his horse and rushed there just to get the skins.
The chef was so impressed by his love of Tofu wrap and his dedicated effort; he made the wrap into the shape of a horse bells and named the deep fried tofu wrap “Ja-siean-lin’.
Note: ‘Ja’ means deep fry; ‘Siean-lin’ means noisy jingle-bells.
The other name of Mug-yu is ‘Woo-jei’, referring to his ability to attack with ink.  There was a folklore about Chin-tchi-huang and his entourage who was visiting the south coastal regions.  They were totally stunned by the beautiful scene of ‘Huang-hai’ Sea and decided to spend some time enjoying the view.  One of his servants left his calligraphy set including an inkpad wrapped in a white silk bag behind. As time went by, the inkpad turned into a tiny sea ghoul with a white body and tentacles that shot out ink when under attack and than quickly escaped like a sly thief.
Note: Mug is ‘ink’ in Chinese; ‘Yu’ means fish.   
        ‘Woo’ is the colour black and ‘jei’ means thief.
Sticky Fried
Chinese name: Nor-mi-fann
Cheese
Chinese calls cheese ‘zee-cee’, a direct translation of ‘cheese’.
Back in the earlier century when Prime Minster Ju-geh-liang was a well-respected wise man that promised the emperor ‘Liu-bi’ he would look after the emperor’s young son Ah-dou.  When Ju was dying of old age, he told one of his loyal followers Mon-Wo to go visit Ah-dou on the summer solstice every year. To make sure he was doing fine, Mon-Wo weighted him every time.  Ah-dou would then eat a couple bowls of ticky fried rice before the arrival of Mon-Wo so he would pass the weight-in. 
Note: ‘Nor-mi’ is sticky rice; ‘Fann’ is rice.
Europeans have no doubt achieved their culinary fame by producing fine cheese, however, it was the Nomads who discovered cheese in the Middle East.  There was this Arabian traveler who took a leather sac full of milk with him for his journey through the dessert on a hot day.  When he was ready to take a break, he opened the sac and started to pour the milk into his mouth.  What came out of the sac were no milk but solidified liquid.  He tasted it and found himself enjoying this soft, flavoured substance.  He left the rest in the sac and tasted some more during his next break.  He found the substance became hardened more and tasted even better.

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