chestnut chicken stew at danwei.org

Here is a video for Chestnut Chicken Stew from Danwei. The video is a part of a new series the website is doing called Danwei Canteen that highlights different homestyle chinese recipes. Danwei was founded by Jeremy Goldkorn, my onetime boss when I worked at the Standards Group advertising agency in Beijing. Jeremy is also the Editor-in-Chief of the website and is the interviewer in this video. Besides interesting videos, Danwei.org is the best place on the web to find daily news and gossip on advertising and media in China. It's the Gawker of China. 

The recipe in the video is for Chestnut Chicken Stew. The only time I eat chestnuts is in the winter when New York City street vendors sell little bags of hot roasted chestnuts to freezing passersby. I've never made this dish but the idea of sweet, nutty chestnuts stewed with chicken, ginger, garlic is something I have to try. The woman in the video is from Anhui province and she really knows her stuff. She even goes so far as to clean the chicken and remove the organs-- and leave some in. If you want to try making this dish but the idea of cleaning a chicken turns you off, you can use a pre-cleaned (and de-headed) chicken from any grocery store. That's what I'll be doing.

-Nate

Here's the ingredient list:

A whole chicken with skin, liver and heart
Peeled chestnuts: seven ounces (or 200 grams)
Salt: a spoonful
Five cloves of garlic 
Peanut oil: three spoonful (two for frying the spices; one for the chicken)
Soybean paste: a spoonful
Green Onion, pepper, ginger

china institute: humanism in china photography exhibit

Photo from an exhibit at the China institute showing workers at a backyard furnace smelting metal

Last week I went to the China Institute to see a documentary photography exhibit titled Humanism in China: a Contemporary Record of Photography. The photos on display were taken by Chinese photographers during the 20th century and document the radical change the country underwent during this time. Most of the photos are of normal people in rural villages. They show a rare glimpse into what was going on in China during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. One particularly amazing photo (see above) shows men smelting metal in a "backyard furnace" in the countryside. I knew that during this mid-century time in China's history, country folk with no prior steel production experience were required to smelt metal. While other people who had never farmed before had to grow enough crops to feed many. But really seeing this in a photograph-- men climbing up a stone staircase with a basket on their back full of spoons, plates, and whatever else that they had in the village made of metal to drop in a precarious furnace-- really struck me. It's a look beyond a record of history, and into the faces and stories who wrote it.

If you're in town, check out the exhibit at the China Institute. Other amazing photos show, not tell, China's recent history. The exhibit goes until December 13th.  Below are a few photos I took from the exhibit.

-Nate 

This man and his wife's dream was to visit Tiananmen Square. She died before he could make the trip but he brought along her photo.

Photo of restaurant cook taking a break. 

  

Photo of a silk worm farmer carrying the worms in a basket on his head. 

chinese pumpkin and corn stew, halloween is here

You can hand carry pumpkins on planes. How do I know this wonderfully obscure fact? Nate slipped one into my carry-on on our way back from Ohio when I wasn't looking. I set my bag, suspiciously heavy for only containing my clothes, onto the airport x-ray conveyor belt and the security guard was waiting on the other side to escort me aside to undergo "additional screening." When he pulled the pumpkin out of my bag, I said, "I did not put that in my bag," which only made matters worse. 

Fortunately, my pumpkin cleared the x-ray machine again and the explosive detector and I was free to go on my way with my pumpkin in hand for others passengers and my obnoxious brother to see. This pumpkin is the pumpkin you see cut up below. We made a pumpkin and corn stew out of it and a picture doesn't do it justice. 

Pumpkins are obnoxious too, to peel and carve with all their gooey bits inside, a likely reason why people only cook with them when they're in season and why I think the smell and taste of pumpkin has come to mean for me that yet another October is here, another fall, another Halloween, another week just before the holiday season rush that will drain me of my savings and end with the need for me to make a slew of new resolutions.

This Chinese pumpkin and corn stew, 南瓜玉米湯 (nán guā yù mǐ tāng), is bright in color and simple in flavor-- don't be dismayed! Simple in this case is a good thing. Fresh pumpkin, hearty carrots, juicy corn and onions, stew together in a pot with pork and ginger to create the flavor of fall, if their is such a thing, and if not, at least the colors. The pork loin lends just the right amount of meatiness. I'm dining on this homey stew this drizzly late-October evening and I'm thankful that I have enough to last me the week. 

This soup is normally made with Chinese nangua squash instead of pumpkin. Nangua squash has a dark green skin and yellow flesh that tastes a little sweeter than pumpkin. You can find it here in the States hiding under its Japanese name "kabocha." I decided to use pumpkin in the stew instead because I picked one up at a pumpkin patch and the stew turned out delicious.

I've made this stew with and without ginger. I prefer with. In the picture above Nate is finely chopping the ginger but I think adding slices of ginger to the stew and then removing them before eating works better.

I also roasted the seeds of the pumpkin with salt and a sprinkling of oil like my mom does every year. I burned my hand on the hot pan while pulling them out of the oven. The roasted seeds went flying across my apartment floor and that was the end of that. I'm not carving another pumpkin.

-mary kate

Pumpkin and Corn Stew  

1 1/2 lb pork loin

5 cups 1-inch cubed peeled pumpkin or squash

2 large carrots

1 medium onion

2 ears of corn

1 quart chicken stock

1 quart water

1/2 cup shaoxing rice wine

5 slices ginger, smashed with the flat side of a knife

1 1/2 cups teaspoon salt

Cut the pork into 1-inch cubes. Slice the carrots into 1-inch segments. Chop the onion. Trim the ends of the corn and cut each ear into 3 segments. Bring the chicken stock, water, and shaoxing rice wine to a boil in a large pot. Add all the remaining ingredients and when it boils again, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the ginger slices with a slotted spoon and serve.

nyc dumpling festival and eating contest highlights and recap

So, who knew the NYC Dumpling Fest was huge? I only heard about it last minute and we showed up to the Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan expecting 50-100 people and a dumpling cart or two. No. There had to be over a thousand people there even though it was raining and about ten stands selling dumplings from countries around the world (Mexican tomales, Italian gnocci, Chinese bao and potstickers, India dumplings, etc.). The festival was rockin-- Akon's album played over the speakers.

The lines for dumplings were insane. I stood in line for 45 minutes only to find out when I finally got to the front that I was not in the Chinese bao line like I wanted. I was in the whole wheat dumpling line. Who wants to wait in line for whole wheat dumplings? I don't anyway, but there was no way I was waiting in line again. It ended up being a good thing. They are actually really great. I think it's a new product-- Tang's frozen whole wheat potstickers available I know at least at Whole Foods. Try them and tell me what you think!

The largest whole wheat dumpling in the world weighing in at 786 lbs. was also on display at the festival.

Joe Menchetti (I've also seen it spelled Manchetti) won the dumpling eating contest for the fifth time in a row. I watched him stuff 53 dumpling in his mouth in 2 minutes. This was my first time to see an eating contest live and I found it kind of disgusting (see the short video we filmed below). I still can't get the image of the guy vomiting on stage out of my mind. The grand prize was $1000 for the men's and women's division. Here's a pic of the winner of the women's being interviewed. I can't remember how many she ate but I remember wondering how she could possibly fit them all in her stomach.

An interesting tidbit I picked up from the to star "athletes" who came in 1st and 2nd. Both of their scores were about 10 dumplings lower from years past. In their interviews, they attributed this to the fact that this was the first time that the dumpling were whole wheat and they were more difficult to eat. Good to know if you plan on stuffing your face.

-mary kate

nyc dumpling festival and dumpling eating contest

I just found out about the 6th Annual Chef One NYC Dumpling Festival tomorrow from 12-5pm! It's too late to register for the Dumpling Eating contest now which is a shame because I think I could have made a good run for the $1000 grand prize (or at least have beat Nate). Gentleman Joe (Joe Manchetti), the defending NYC Dumpling Eating Contest Champ, will be there to defend his title. He ate 66 dumplings in 2 minutes last year. Watch his ESPN interview on youtube. He refutes claims of performance enhancers (ha! not sure what those would be) and says that he's expecting a lot stiffer competition this year. It should be fun to see. Check out the festival deets here and maybe I'll see you there! 

-mary kate