Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, June 24 – During the cooler months we used to always enjoy having sweet potatoes and tea after shopping at the larger supermarket in the neighboring town. Unfortunately, sweet potatoes seem to be considered a “winter” snack and they are not available already cooked since we have returned from the USA. So, today, we checked out the prepared dim sum at the supermarket. I guess this would be equivalent to the section in the USA with salads, coleslaw, or side dishes, etc. There are so many choices! We decided to each have a slice of water chestnut cake. I posted about fresh water chestnuts back on March 24 and included a picture of my homemade water chestnut cake… now you can see the “real” thing! After we finished our shopping, we bought iced green tea at our favorite “after shopping” place called “Happy Sweet Potato” and ate our dim sum with it :-)
Life in China: A Picture A Day, March 24, 2016
One thing I will definitely miss when we leave China is fresh water chestnuts, called 马蹄 mǎtí, literally translated as “horse’s hoof”! There is absolutely NO comparison between fresh ones and the canned ones you get in the USA. The fresh ones are one of my favorite snacks. I prefer to buy them unpeeled and peel them when I’m ready to eat them, although you can peel them ahead and keep refrigerated in water for a couple days. They have a nice crispy, crunchy texture and a delicious sweet taste. I also like to cook with them: Chop them and add to stir-fries, make water chestnut cake (a popular Chinese dim sum dish, my version is pictured), or bacon wrapped water chestnuts with bbq sauce for a western style treat. For the water chestnut cake, you use a powder made from dried, crushed water chestnuts. They are also made into a juice. The best places to buy them here are the Chinese fresh markets or from street vendors on the Chinese shopping streets, and you can also usually find them in supermarkets.
