These little vegetables are peculiar to China, but are also grown very successfully on Long Island by the Chinese farmers. They have a very delicate flavor, and cooked the following way are very delicious, as well as extremely attractive. First wash thoroughly in cold water, then turn them into boiling salted water and boil about twenty minutes, meanwhile preparing the following sauce: Mix one teaspoonful of olive oil with one tablespoonful of Quong Sang Chong (water chestnut flour) until very smooth, then pour enough boiling water over it to make a thick cream. Add one teaspoonful of syou, and let it just come to a boil, stirring in the chopped parsley gently. Arrange the artichokes on a small platter with green lining, or place a green leaf under each artichoke. Fill the center of each with the yolks of hard-boiled egg, whipped smooth with a little olive oil and salt. Lastly, pour the sauce over, and serve. This should look like a water lily.
CHINESE FRIED PEAS (Used by Children as Salted Peanuts are Used in America)
Put a teaspoonful of peanut oil in the frying pan, taking care to have one with a long handle, as the peas may pop. Toss a pint of yellow whole peas in the pan, and shake the pan while the peas roll about and turn a light brown. Chinese children make little cornucopia paper bags into which to put these peas and eat them like nuts.
PUMPKIN AND YELLOW SEEDS
Remove large seeds and spread them on paper. Sprinkle with salt, and bake them until dry.
FRIED NOODLES
Have about two quarts of boiling peanut oil. Throw in the noodles and fry a golden brown. Remove from oil, and drain off all fat by laying noodles on bit of paper.
CAKES
ALMOND CAKES
Two cupfuls of rice flour; one quarter cupful of almond oil; one half cupful of chopped almonds; one and one half cupfuls of powdered sugar; two eggs.
Mix thoroughly two cupfuls of rice flour, one and one half cupfuls of powdered sugar, and half a cupful of blanched almonds, chopped very fine, with a quarter of a cupful of almond oil. Moisten with two beaten eggs. Use no water, and if too stiff, add more egg. Roll about quarter of an inch thick, and cut in fanciful shapes. Place half an almond in the center of each cake, and bake them for one hour in a moderate oven. These cakes are certain to keep for a long time if they are placed in a tin box.
GUM LU (Golden Cakes)
One and one half cupfuls of rice flour; one cupful of honey; one quarter cupful of mixed nuts, chopped; three teaspoonfuls of clarified goose fat; yolks of two eggs; pinch of salt.
Take one and one half cupfuls of rice flour and a pinch of salt and into this work three teaspoonfuls of clarified goose fat. Then chop very fine about quarter of a cup of minced nuts. Beat the yolks of two eggs, and mix all together. Now pour in one cup of raw, dark honey. If too moist, add more flour. Stir thoroughly for fifteen or twenty minutes, and pour into small cake pans, well oiled, and bake slowly for two hours.
LAI YUT (Beautiful Moon Tarts)
Two cupfuls of rice flour; one tablespoonful of clarified goose fat; two eggs.
These tarts are a sort of dumpling. Work a heaping tablespoonful of clarified goose fat into two cups of rice flour. Add ice-cold water slowly to make a stiff paste. Roll out, brush with the whipped whites of eggs, and fold over several times, each time brushing with egg; then roll about quarter of an inch thick and cut into rounds about the size of a small saucer. Put in the filling, and place another round of paste on top. Press together at the edge, forming a rounded edge, and brush all again with white of egg. Bake for fifty minutes in a moderate oven, then remove the outer flake, which will leave the tart snow white. Decorate with a yellow moon in the center, cut from candied orange peel or painted with fruit coloring.
Filling: Two cups of lychee nuts, stoned and mashed to a pulp, one and one half cupfuls of sugar, quarter of a cupful of crystallized limes, and a teaspoonful of mixed spices. Mix all well together, and use to fill tart.
Another filling: Quarter of a pound of beef fat, cut in small pieces, one cupful of chopped dates, one cupful of preserved pineapple, quarter of a cupful of blanched chopped almonds, one and one half cupfuls of sugar, and one teaspoonful of mixed spices. Mix thoroughly.
PART II
JAPANESE RECIPES
SOUPS
SATSUMA SOUP
