Chinese Food Culture

September 27th, 2010 | Eating Light, | 1 Comment

I have said it many times. I am constantly amazed by the many talented Malaysian bloggers living overseas. Thanks to Almost Bourdain, I recently discovered yet another beautiful blog authored by Steph, a Malaysian currently living in Sydney—Raspberri Cupcakes. As the name suggests, Raspberri Cupcakes is mostly about baking, cupcakes, and desserts, a department which I am pretty much useless. Please welcome Raspberri Cupcakes to Rasa Malaysia with the decadent Malaysian Banana Pancakes with Lemon Coconut Curd recipe.

After spending several years growing up in Malaysia, there are so many fabulous Malaysian dishes that I associate with happy childhood memories. These days as I am living in Sydney, and am always excited to go back to Malaysia on holiday, or have my Mum visit and cook to me my favourite Malaysian treats. As I am a complete sweet tooth, I thought I would share a Recipe of my Mum’s that I am incredibly fond of – Malaysian Banana Pancakes. Whenever we had overripe bananas in the house my Mum would mash them up and make these deliciously fragrant pancakes for breakfast. I would wait by the frying pan impatiently and eat them too quickly, burning my tongue. They’re very different to regular pancakes, small, a bit denser and a little oily thanks to the banana and coconut milk. They taste pretty great on their own, but my Mum used to serve them with fresh lemon slices and golden syrup. It was definitely one of my favourite breakfasts. The leftover pancakes were always warmed up in the microwave for a delicious afternoon snack…

Since I always like to put a fun twist in all of my recipes, I decided to replace the fresh lemon slices with an indulgent sauce – Lemon & Coconut Curd. This sauce is amazing; it’s smooth and creamy and the flavour matches the banana pancakes so perfectly. The tangy flavour of lemon is the first thing to hit your tongue, but you’re left with the beautiful, creamy aftertaste of coconut. I couldn’t resist serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well. As soon as I tasted these banana pancakes, I was transported right back to my Mum’s kitchen in KL. It’s packed full of rich banana flavour, with lovely crisp brown edges. If you wish you can serve the pancakes traditionally without the lemon coconut curd, but I think the sauce adds a little something special. Any leftover curd can be stored in the fridge for a few days and served with vanilla ice cream, or spread on toast.

A huge thanks to Bee for letting me share this recipe with all of you, I hope you get the chance to try these pancakes and enjoy them!

Chinese persons may well be changing fast, on the other hand they are still highly conventional and incredibly specific about their cultural values. Paying respect to their local customs will make your stay pleasant. Here are a few tips to assist you in avoiding any cultural faux pas.

Dos

• Always remove your shoe prior to entering a Chinese temple or house.

• Greeting the eldest human being in a family first is regarded as as sign of respect and

• good values in China.

• A nod or a wave of hand is typically taken as a greeting specifically from a distance.

• Touching someone’s head is regarded as sacred.

• Never point a finger towards an individual. Pointing someone having a finger is deemed poor. Such gesture is employed for pointing at dogs.

• If presenting a gift to a Chinese person, present it with your both of your hands. This reflects that you might be offering with excellent intentions.

• Whole-heartedly thank a human being if he or she gives you a gift. Then keep the gift aside to open later.

• Be calm whilst dealing with officials particularly throughout tense situations. Obtaining hyper or raising your voice will produce an ugly and unhealthy situation for all.

• Eat whatever you might be offered by your host. Refusing is considered rude.

• Keep your glass below that with the eldest human being in the group although toasting. The glass on the eldest man or woman is constantly held high.

• While having tea with a companion, constantly fill up his or her tea cup whenever it goes empty in particular if your companion is older or even a female.

• Chinese believe that it’s negative luck to leave even a single grain behind in the bowl. So, much better finish all from the rice within your bowl.

• Show your interest towards NBA Basket Ball as Chinese persons love it.

• Always be punctual when meeting Chinese folks. Punctuality reflects respect for others.

Don’ts

• In China, exam papers are not corrected in red ink since it’s employed for letters of protest. Nevertheless, anything else could be written with red ink.

• Do not leave your chopsticks in a standing position in your bowl and do not tap your bowl with them.

• Shaking feet is really a sign of poor luck in China.

• Clocks are the best alternatives for gifts to Chinese persons.

• Do not date multiple persons at one time. dating one individual at a time is deemed great in China. Chinese men and women look forward to commitment and long-term relationships in dating. Going for a walk or dinner on a date is acceptable.

• Do not get offended should you be asked about your marital status. Nevertheless, in case you are single and over 30, say yes unless you feel pity for yourself.

• Wear those t-shirts that speak about very good about China unless you want to grab lot of attention.

• When dubious about something, follow the proverb: watch Chinese persons and do what they do.

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BBC presents a short insight into the place of Chinese cuisine in western society nowadays. It has become an increasingly well-known take out meals in the United States. As Americans grow to be additional aware from the require for lifestyle changes to fight issues just like obesity and heart disease, it is becoming a wholesome ‘fast food’ alternative to unhealthy burgers and fries. To most, it would certainly seem that Chinese foods must be more healthy than the typical “fast food” diet. While usually healthier than typical burgers and fries, a closer look shows that Chinese take out in America is usually not as healthful as the meals discovered on the tables in the average Chinese family. You will discover a couple of primary reasons for this. Chinese meals in our American restaurants generally has considerably additional meat, typically red meat, and is served in very much bigger portion sizes here, than in China. The food on the table of families in China will be identified to have a significantly larger portion of vegetables than of meat. In fact, until the modernization on the past century, particularly in rural areas, meat would only have been consumed occasionally. Even so, some studies are beginning to show that modernization has brought with it in China, a higher consumption of meats and fats and so, an increase in particular conditions associated with overeating meat and/or fat. Food is also served differently in China which causes it to become a much healthier dish. This difference has to do with portion size. The meals we order for take out at our local Chinese restaurant and take house to consume in a single serving are the size of shared key courses in China. Chinese meals of this size would normally happen to be the shared dishes inside the center of a communal table if served traditionally. In China, each and every particular person in the table is given their own serving of rice or noodles but the main dishes, consisting mainly of bite sized vegetables and some meat, could be placed inside the middle from the table and shared by all. In reality, every single person at the table would have eaten straight from the serving dishes since they don’t share our habit of obtaining personal portions of primary dishes from the serving dishes and putting them on individual plates. Understandably, some Americans do not take into account this part with the traditional Chinese foodstuff ‘habit’ to be healthier, as all persons at the table would be placing used chopsticks into shared or communal containers with the major dishes. Nonetheless, it could be argued that the advantages of healthier habits just like eating less meat and smaller portions far outweigh the risks of perhaps passing germs via placing utilized chopsticks into a communal dish. In any case, even “American-style” Chinese meals is really a health boosting option than burgers and fries.