chinatown in boston

bitter melon and lotus root stir fry

this morning as i wandered around china town i was in an interesting people watching-ish mood. as soon as you enter the main archway, you see lots of people walking around with interesting groceries that you simply can't find at shaws or even whole foods. vendors on the street were selling little persimmons, massive pomellos, taro potatoes and the like. i really enjoy watching how people pick their produce. it is a very determined process, i think. anyway, i went to a little grocery store and (with a tiny bit of hesitation) started wandering around. it reminded me a lot of uwajimaya in seattle, only waaaay smaller. the cooler section had various fresh tofu species (i was very tempted to buy some, but then i thought of the mess i could potentially make on the bus. next time!), frozen dumpling wrappers, surimi, etc. i felt a bit like a kid in a toy shop as i walked through the vegetable section because before me were all the crazy foods i grew up on but haven't had access to in maine. before i entered the shop, i had told m+p that i was looking for a few persimmons and asian pears. by the time i left, my list was somewhat longer: three persimmons, three asian pears, a daikon radish, one lotus root, and fresh water chestnuts. this should make for interesting meals over the next few days!

tonight's dinner was a bit of a dream for my chinese side. i love bitter melon. i don't know when i started enjoying it, because i distinctly remember being wary of its lumpy green exterior and positively bitter taste, but these days i really enjoy it. it is an interesting plant in that you don't eat a substantial portion of its mass. you cut it in half, scoop out the insides, and what remains is a shell about 1/4 inch thick. you slice it into the little half-moon shapes and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and let them sit. that way some of the excess water comes out. anywho. in the meantime, i pealed and sliced four water chestnuts and half of my lotus root. the lotus root has an amazing shape. i'm not quite sure what the evolutionary reason for all the holes is, but perhaps it was a fashion conscious vegetable and just wanted to look cool. perhaps. for my stir fry, i also used 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil, soy sauce, and chili paste.

the fun thing about both bitter melon and lotus root is that they don't require much fussing. you don't need to pre-boil them, or speak nicely to them, just slice and saute. so: heat oil, add minced garlic, then the sliced water chestnuts, and finally the bitter melon. (i did the lotus root separately, but only because the pan wasn't big enough. hmm.) it doesn't take long for either to become tender. at that point, add a bit of soysauce and the chili paste. because the pan is so hot, the liquidy soy sauce will help cook the vegetables. particularly the lotus root needs to be sliced thinly enough so that it cooks quickly and doesn't burn in the oil. aand what else, oh, white rice. yum!

on my way back to south station, i stopped at a little chinese bakery on behalf of julianna (sesame ball queen) who used to send me packages of these little delicacies from chicago (in the regular mail, so you can imagine how wonderfully difficult to chew they had become!) as soon as i got home, i put them out in the kitchen for my housemates to try. verdict: coconut-rice dumpling was too chewy for most (though it is my favorite), julia loved the coconut bun (not pictured) because it was the most similar to things she'd tried before, maya liked each one for its own merits, but noted that the sesame ball tasted like doughnuts. no response yet from chivy. :-) so noonie: the pastries are mentally for you!