Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Most important meal of the day

My breakfast of choice has always been dry cereal. I love cereal. Unfortunately, and fortunately, cereal is in short supply here. I say fortunately because it has forced us to try some new things (good for Jeremiah who isn't in love with plain dry cereal like I am).  We both love these new things. As a result breakfast has recently become one of my favorite meals.

This first one we have had at home, but it took awhile before we found some we knew were not filled with meat: the steamed bun. There is a corner shop that sells them a block away from us and is on our way to school. As a bonus they also have fresh warm soy milk (dòu jiāng). I'm not sure what that other thing on the plate is called, but it was deep fried, greasy and delicious. Add some cinnamon sugar it would have been a churro.


The other breakfast item I have fallen in love with is turnip cake, or lo bao gao. It is made out of shredded daikon, rice flour and water - no turnip as the name indicates. It is pan fried, with plenty of oil, to make it a little crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Sometimes it has a sauce on it, sometimes it comes plain in a bag. This website shows it being made at home: http://hsustyle.travellerspoint.com/29/.

Picture from here

Here is what it looks like when you buy it at the store:

At home I've been making it thinner to cook it faster:

I have to try to limit my consumption of these good foods as they can't be very healthy for you, but at least they are super cheap.  Not sure I will be able to go back to dry cheerios.

3 comments:

  1. they rock the yummy steamed buns here in vietnam -- unfortunately no veg. option. super bummed.
    the rest of your breaky looks very intriguing!

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  2. Those all look like better options than cold cereal - even the fun Banana Nut Cheerios! xxoo

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  3. Hi, The deep fried goodness is called a "Yu tiao" and it taste great when dipped in warm soy milk.

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