I read in Fushia Dunlops books about how traditional Chinese cooking has loads of fermented veggies in glass jars that you eat straight out of the jar. I see this too on youtube videos and I bought a jar on amazon (like below).

But the sterilization mixture I read about in Chinese cookbooks for fermenting seems random (like...doing whatever sounds good etc.) with alcohol (baiju), salt, herbs etc. It’s like I’m not sure what is necessary or not and if the alcohol is there for sterilization in addition to the salt or vinega

Does anyone have a sterilization recipe for fermenting veggies (not too salty)? What kind of veggies are you fermenting? I think it needs to be only hard veggies or else soft things like cilantro will turn to a yucky mush in water after a week. thank you

https://preview.redd.it/2w9z5phoum6e1.png?width=970&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cc1920752a3c8ba8f127053850d2ff40d1b1dff

https://preview.redd.it/1wh5vuhoum6e1.png?width=970&format=png&auto=webp&s=b9c847e5243ffa5afedb9e2651cb0fd683505e13

Hi,

I made a beef chow fun with just the normal ingredients.

Baking soda Light soy sauce Dark soy sauce Chicken powder Sugar Green onion Garlic Onion Beansprouts

But the whole family got dizzy. What could be the reason? I didn't even put MSG to it. Tsk.

About 6 Months ago I made my own Hot pot base, which I used once. Since then it has been sitting in the fridge. Now I want to make hot pot again for friends, but I'm not sure, if it's still safe to use the base. I can ofc make a new one, but it'd save me a great deal of work if I didn't have to. What are your thought?

Edit: I must say I'm surprised by the answers. Do you never keep anything longer in the fridge than a couple of weeks?

I should've said that my main concern is botulism. I can easily smell and taste it, but you can't detect the toxins. On the other hand, I'll be frying and boiling the base, which should kill any bacteria and therefore make it safe.

Help cooking Mexican rice

So I live in Germany if that matters and I got myself a jar of Lao Gan Ma crispy chili oil two times and both times it wasn’t spicy at all.

I do have have some spice resistance but it‘s not so crazy , I wouldn’t dare to eat a fresh chili.

So is Lao Gan Ma chili oil actually spicy or was I just unlucky two times in a row?

I want to make lo mein with this recipe which calls for Lao Gan Ma Black Bean Chili Sauce. Is there a reasonable substitute for this ingredient?

I have some potatoes I need to use up and want to try something new. What's your favorite Chinese potato dish? It could be a potato-focused dish or just use them as an ingredient with other stuff. Spicy is ok, and I have very good access to Chinese ingredients for North America.

I find it very hard to find zhajiang or black bean paste:/

This is the only supplier I could find that is kosher and available to order.

I was wondering if anyone has tried this brand of black vinegar (Roland). I am looking for something similar to gold plum chinkiang black vinegar, so if anyone has tried Roland and has a comparison , I would appreciate your input!

https://rolandfoods.com/product/70535-black-vinegar

Im trying to design a menu of hot and some cold dishes for a group of 8-10 people. A couple of the hot dishes are chicken based but I’d like to introduce the guaiwei/strange flavour somewhere, I’m wondering what are acceptable cold alternatives to the classic bang bang chicken. I was thinking maybe crunchy veg/glass noodles/wood ear and bamboo or possibly tripe as fairly neutral flavour carriers?

It was at a cantonese restaurant and from what I remember it was just a big block of tofu that was fried but the inside was soft possibly even silken tofu

Wasn’t really sure where to post it but I typed in mala and this was the first sub to pop up. Has anyone ever had a terrible reaction to mala spice. I love the mouth numbing taste, so it’s not that it tastes too spicy or anything but i was making a hot pot late last night and ended up not being able to sleep with an elevated heart rate all night.

I have had mala spice before like a dry fish pot from a Chinese restaurant a few times, or the spice on Xi’ans famous foods, but this time, the hot pot base I usually use was sold out and I decided to go for the mala flavor and I think I had too much. I didn’t even really drink the broth but obviously it was absorbed by the meats and veggies I was dipping in. I could not sleep allll night and it seemed as though my breathing was no longer automatic and I kept waking up gasping for air. My boyfriend who shared the meal with me barely got any sleep either.

I was thinking back and actually the last time I felt this way, I was on vacation and trying to get some sleep before my flight the next morning and just couldn’t. I had mala spiced food from a Chinese restaurant that night too. I looked it up and it said Mala and more specifically MSG can have this type of effect on certain people. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Looking for validation here as I’m seriously considering going to a doctor if it wasn’t caused by the Mala or MSG, what I was feeling was pretty concerning. And it’s a real shame because I absolutely love the way it tastes. Obviously I know now one can give medical advice in here but just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. Thank you!!

I want to cook a vegetarian chinese dinner for 4-5 people. 🥬 So i'm thinking 5-6 dishes that are cookable by one person at a home kitchen.

There are a few dishes that I have successfully cooked before, but only for max. 2 eaters and I'm uncertain what works together in a bigger dinner settings.

What do you think would be you perfect combination of dishes that go well together?

This are the first things I thought of:

• sichuan stir fried potatoes 🥔
• big potions of chinese greens with garlic (pak choi, choi sam, gai lan or whatever looks good at the market)🥬
• 1 tofu dish, either vegetarian mapo tofu or hong shao red braised tofu.
• biang biang mien ( I love them...but I'm not sure if it works with the other stuff 🤔 )
• smashed cucumber salad - quick, cheap and everybody loves it.
• fuzhu salad
• some pomelo or other fruit for dessert

It seems like a similar proccess, only douchi is dry and kept whole, where miso is turned to a moist paste.

I was interested in cooking some Chinese food but it calls for "chili bean paste." I was able to find "chili bean sauce" and "chili black bean sauce" at an Asian Market near me. Will all of these work for my recipe?

The recipe: https://www.npr.org/2007/02/28/7603564/home-style-bean-curd

The chili bean sauces look like this and this.