Steel Cut Oats vs. Rolled Oats

I usually eat oatmeal in the morning with mix-ins (the recipe and description is in one of my previous posts: Bring Back the Oatmeal!).  But this morning, I finally got a chance to try steel cut oats.  I knew that steel cut oats are less processed, even better for you, and some people really like the texture.  My good friend Kate (thanks Kate!) gave me a small canister since she has in's at the big wig oat company.  Boy, have I been missing out.

Steel cut oats look different from rolled oats.  From my observation, I can see the kernel on the oat.  The outer shell (slightly darker in color) has been removed from rolled oats.  Rolled oats are also "rolled" (flat, pliable) whereas steel cut are more compact kernals of wheat cut in half, not lengthwise.  I think this distinction in processing makes the steel cut oats less processed - you got the kernal and the oat is in more compact form.  I bet there is more fiber given the kernel, but not sure (don't have proof).

Cooking these buggers takes awhile.  It is a half hour job with some stirring in between and adding liquid if it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.  I think steel cut is great for weekend mornings when you have a little more time to afford making your breakfast.

I used some water at first to soak the oats, then added lots of whole milk to cook over low heat.  It turns gooey and sticks to the bottom, but with some stirring and adding more milk, it doesn't create a mess, you can use a metal spoon to dislodge it from the bottom of the pan.

The steel cut oat taste, you ask?  Really good, definitely better than rolled oats!  More chewy and nutty, compact grains.  It's like eating small packets of chewy rice.  But, a clean finish versus glutinous feeling.  I think it tastes really good on its own even without the mix-ins (now that says something).  I did use whole milk to cook the oats, but then again, I am comparing it to rolled oats cooked in whole milk.

More Shanghai Food - Last One!

More food adventures in China: The Inventive Shanghai Soup Dumpling

Unfortunately I did not write down the name of this restaurant, which was located in the outskirts of Shanghai but wanted to feature a few photos.  It was a local restaurant in a middle class neighborhood.

I really liked this vegetable dish - really great for vegetarians!  I plan to make it sometime because it was so simply prepared but so good in flavor and healthy.

The dish contains some type of Chinese vegetable, but like spinach (I plan to substitute with spinach since that is easily available to me in the US).  There are scrambled eggs and a sea mushroom, well in Chinese, it is called moo-er.  It comes dried in Chinese grocery stores and one thing to note that eating a lot of this thins blood.  So, certain people actually need to make sure they don't consume too much dependent on their blood situation.  We ended up ordering this twice because it was so good - when we returned to the restaurant.

 

This dish was a favorite of mine.  It had squid, green beans, potatoes, and an interesting garlic stalk.  The garlic stalk was crispy and mild in flavor.  I hope to grow these because I have never seen them in the grocery store! (I heard you just bury the garlic head, will need to verify)

And, lastly, a fried fish and potatoes dish.  Not healthy, but it looks nice, so thought I would add it.

Yang's Fried-Dumpling Restaurant Review

Check out previous posts for more food adventures in China: The Inventive Shanghai Soup Dumpling.

While I was trying to maximize my intake of soup dumplings, I went to a place called Yang's Fried Dumpling on recommendation from a friend.  This place was so good, that our group went back another 2 times after our first visit.  I think my photo taken was during our second trip since I (and my brother) could not get enough of it.

 
This dumpling is pork filled, and is pan fried with sesame seeds on top.  So tasty, so flavorful, so cheap.  Crispy on the bottom, soft on top, juicy on the inside.  Since it is not fried, it doesn't dry out your mouth.  It is a perfect combination of crispy and moist.  The place turns really fast and when people were done eating, we had to swoop in to take their seats.  If you don't, you will be left to eat, standing.

We also ordered a curry soup.  It was alright.  I liked the buns too much so didn't give too much attention to the soup...but if I were to have the soup on its own, it would have been a pretty good one.  I think there was too much competition at that meal.

Although Chinese cooking does use refined flours (as you have seen from my posts), many dishes are relatively light and balanced with different meats and vegetables.  The refined flours (aside from a huge bowl of noodles) are usually not too heavy, but it also depends on your desired consumption levels.  The meals at Yang's were not really balanced as you can see.

However, in total, we found it quite easy to order stir-fried vegetables everywhere we went.  The Chinese consume more vegetables on average than the typical American.  Chinese also consume much less meat.  I think it is still considered and priced as an expensive food.  And, if you add in all the walking people do around there, it is easy to burn off all the calories from your previous meals.  

Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant Review

As I said in my previous post The Inventive Shanghai Soup Dumpling, the next few posts are about my food adventures through China and Taiwan.  We are still at Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant in Shanghai, China.  This meal, you might say, was "epic" since we waited in all the wrong lines and ended up spending a pretty penny for all the delectable dishes, and left stuffed to the rim.

The review: a repeat buy, over and over again.  This place was really good, and the winding lines show it.

Photos with some commentary.

 This was a really well made BBQ pork bun.

This shrimp toast was out of this world!  I don't eat much fried food, as you know, but this was doubly amazing because they were shrimp balls with soup inside!!  These people know how to give little surprises in delicious ways.

You will see the glistening soup inside!  One of my favorites.  Flavors of toast vs. shrimp so balanced, salt and fried just right.

This is a soup that was very light.  Lots of deep flavor but the broth was cooked so clean, as you can see the bok choy pretty clearly!

These dumplings are stuffed with glutinous rice and meat filling.

The Inventive Shanghai Soup Dumpling

My blog is usually about finding healthy food, but given that I downloaded my pictures from the trip to China and Taiwan, I want to take a few posts to display some of the very traditional and very delicious food we ate on the trip.  First stop: Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant in Shanghai, China.

One of my favorites is the Shanghai soup dumplings.  This restaurant is in the Yu Gardens and is famous for Xiaolongbao (小笼包), or referred to as Shanghai soup dumplings.  This restaurant is famous with locals and tourists.  The lines were winding around the restaurant, inside and out, no exaggeration.

Shanghai soup dumplings have a very thin wrapper skin with filling and broth inside.  It's a pretty ingenious invention.  Usual fillings are pork, crab/pork, vegetable, and other seafood combinations.  The little orange pepper indicated that my shark fin/crab/pork dumpling was on the right of it.  The shark fin soup dumpling is usually the most expensive and to be savored.

I also should add, we went all out for this meal, so that basket below was a personal basket.  All mine!

When you eat the Shanghai soup dumpling, you usually use a soup spoon, put the dumpling on the spoon, add the vinegar/ginger condiment, and then bite a hole at the top of the dumpling to let the steam out.  The broth inside can be really hot.  After you blow and it cools, eat while sucking.  A trick that takes a few times to get used to.

Here you find a MASSIVE soup dumping.  Note the little caution hot! sticker. haha.  And that broth is H-O-T.  I burned my tongue even after I waited almost 10 minutes to consume.  We had so much food (more to come in my next post), so although it was so well made, I don't think I really enjoyed it as I could have.  Need a repeat!

Fake Egg Alarm?!

Many of you know of my love for eggs from my previous posts, and that I find Not Every Egg is Laid Equal.  But here in this post, you will find that some eggs are MADE very unequally, in a very literal (and enraging) sense.  At lunch today, one friend (thanks Jeanie!) brought up an incredibly disturbing, vile piece of news that in certain parts of China, there are people who man-make eggs!  They use a concoction of gelatin and chemicals to form the yolk, the white and it hardens to a shell.  And they say that it was because the materials were cheaper than actually raising a chicken to lay the egg.  The poor Chinese consumers who buy them and actually use them without knowing that they are about to consume a botch of harmful chemicals.  Simply outrageous. 
 
This video was from a few years ago, so I hope that things have changed, but be forewarned, especially when you are visiting China, that this is a possibility.  Of course, not every egg from China is fake, but better to be on the lookout for any suspicious egg formations.   

They say that a couple of ways to detect whether an egg is fake is to see whether the egg white is runny like water and whether there is a membrane layer beneath the egg shell.  The fake ones do not have the membrane layer beneath the shell. 

Investigation of fake eggs in China. by FujiTV, from YouTube