Turkey Day Was A Hit

Thanksgiving ain't just for the turkey. Besides, turkey is pretty damn boring. But I'm one lucky American, because every Thanksgiving, I get the a little bit of Taiwan, America, and sometimes Russia. It's awesome.

My wife's family is Taiwanese, so holiday meals are always loaded with more than the basic selection. This year, we had all the staples - turkey, ham, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, green beens, homemade cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. But the spark to the meal is always a few Chinese dishes and yours truly is responsible for one of them every year.

The first is a sticky rice dish pronounced "u-bung." Sounds nasty, but don't think like a dirty minded scroundel and read on...it's made with Japanese sticky rice, shittake mushrooms, dried squid, dried shrimp, pork, shallots, soy sauce and oil. Here's how it's done: soak the mushrooms (if you're using dried ones), dried squid and dried shrimp until each are tender. Once that happens (30minutes - 1 hour), slice the squid and mushrooms into thin strips about 1 inch long by 1/4 inch wide. Also cut the pork into same size strips and set aside. Use copious amounts of oil and fry the mushrooms, squid and shrimp for about three minutes. Add pork. Add a few tablespoons of soy sauce (or more if you like it salty). Add dried shallots (about 2 tbsp). Fry this mixture up until the pork is cooked, then set it aside. Meanwhile, cook the sweet rice 1 cup water to 1 cup rice. Use a rice cooker. When it's done, mix the rice with the other stuff and that's it. I also make my fried chicken roll (see my September post). There was something else, but I can't remember what it was. Oh well.

Now, sometimes I go to my aunt's, and since she's Russian, we often get a hint of that as well. Usually it's lamb, either a roast or kabob-type rendering (pronounced "shashlick" - yeah, I know, hahaha). I'll tell you sometime how to make it, because it's simple and great.

That's it.

~ Brock