Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
(Phrase used in the intro of the original Japanese version of Iron Chef)
I have mentioned a couple of times already that I don’t consider myself a foodie; instead, I am just a person who enjoys food and blogs about it. One of the reasons (I don’t consider myself so) is that I don’t have any formal culinary/hospitality training – with the closest thing to “training” that I have is that from working in a restaurant when I was younger. Given the case, where did I get all my thoughts, perspectives, mindset about food then? One word: mom. Since today is Mother’s Day in Canada, I thought it would be suitable to honour the one person who made me who I am currently. And, to do so, what I ate in my last trip to Panama…
My mom’s stove.
One thing I must say: At home, my mom does 99% of the cooking. If there is any prep work that needs to be done, that would be usually me. My father can barely cook; whenever he does, the end result is usually barely edible. As for my sister, I have the odd thought she can burn water. While I did take some from my mom’s side, i.e., she taught me how to do some dishes, in the end, she only allowed me to cook in a couple of instance… The dishes were simple but, even then, I screwed up more often than not. Oh, well, that was the learning curve… Learning curve for what? Just take a look…
Lo mai gai, or glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves. Yes, my mom knows how to make this! This is something really time consuming as you have to prepare the rice, the filling, the leaves, etc. The filling is a make or break component: not savoury enough and the rice will not “soak” the juices which will then provide an additional layer of flavour. In my mom’s case, she had pork, shiitake mushroom, Chinese sausage and so on. Yummmmm!
This is what I had in one of the noons for lunch. Top right is a plate of lentils. When I mentioned I love legumes and my mom knows that… Bottom left is the plate of almost everything my mom used to make a beef bone soup (Panamanian style). Sometimes, in addition to the usual suspects, like corn, carrots, pumpkin and so on, she add unexpected ingredients – like Chinese radish (aka, daikon). And, finally, to the bottom right, steamed fish with soy sauce. Since the fish was fresh, it was the best option.
We had this for breakfast a couple of times: stir-fried rice noodle roll with some side, in this case, BBQ pork. Oh, about the fork and spoon: my parents did not formally teach me how to use chopsticks (oh, heresy!). No, I know how to use them – sort of. ^_^;;; (But, a lot better than most non-Asian).
My mom can also prepare non-Chinese dishes and here is an example: a shrimp salad. Underneath the shrimps there is avocado, pineapple and tomatoes.
Can my mom make dim sum dishes too??? Errr…. Actually, no, my mom “cheated’ here. What happens is that my mom knows a lot of the cooks/chefs in the big restaurants. So, if she wants something, she gives them a call the previous night and have them prepare some extra. That way, she buys them and cook them at home.
Similar to the veggies from the beef bone soup above; this time, a chicken soup. In the case you are wondering what is that yellow-ish thing at the bottom left (not the regular shaped one – the “other” one), that is plaintain.
Green beans stir-fry. Yup, back to Chinese/Cantonese, hehehehe.
My mom’s version of red kidney beans, cooked with pork tail. Compare it to my version… ^_^;
Shrimp omelette, something my mom seldom does but…
Did I mention prep work? In this case, I was assigned to de-shell the shrimp – which I did on several days for several dishes. In this case, to make this:
Which is the filling used for this:
And what is this? Wonton! Oh, the ones that “look funny” are the ones I made, hehehehe. And what do you do with wonton?
Either boil it…
Or pan fry it!
And, to serve the boiled one, a broth made with mushroom, chicken feet, bones, etc. The bok choy was boiled in this broth and served along with the wonton. Was it good? Of course it was!
And, finally, to show one of the biggest food assets in Panama: seafood. Here, langostino (not necessarily “langosteen”), something similar to black tiger prawn but larger.
And how do you cook it? Keep it simple…
Again, I don’t have any food credentials. At least, with this, I hope to show where I learn what I know! And, mom, I love you!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
isn’t it amazing how our mothers know to prepare dishes that restaurants charge quite a bit for? when i was little, i would recall my mother and grandmother sitting in a kitchen, with big bowls containing lotus leaves, rice, various fillings, etc.
Happy Mother’s Day to your sweet mother!
Wow! What a feast for mother’s day! We wouldn’t cook that much, we’d just go out and buy that much. That must took hours upon hours of nonstop cooking!
Nice! You are lucky that your mom can cook so well. For me, it’s the total reverse, all the males in my family do the cooking. Therefore, I was influenced from a young age. My wife doesn’t do any cooking as a result. That Loh Mai Gai looks outstanding! Looks soft and lots of filling!
You are a lucky son. The food looks fantastic, and having a mother that was a fantastic cook, one of the things I miss the most. Those beans look great; I mean really, cook anything with some pig tail or chicken feet and it’s bound to taste good !
Mothers. Who would we be without them.
This post makes me realize how lucky I am to have a mom who knows how to cook, and not just one type of cuisine!
I would never have thought to take pictures of the food she cooks, but now I think I will…to me it’s just normal, but to others it might seem special!
Everybody, thanks a lot for your comments and thoughts!
Pearl, I hope you will be doing some home cooking like this and blog it yourself!
Dave, the pictures are of what my mom cooked while I was there a couple of weeks ago, not that my mom cooked them for Mother’s Day… ^_^;;;
Raidar, you learn a lot more when you cook with left overs that nobody wants. Anybody can cook a steak, but can anybody cook entrails and make them taste good? Now that’s skill to you…
H.Peter, amen!
Kevin, if I were living with my mom, most probably I won’t have. However, since this was from my trip… Well, that’s another story, hehehehe.
Love this post.
Wow, wow, wow! This looks way better than anything I’ve ever had in a Chinese restaurant. Lucky you!
Best Mom you have
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAUwkDJMINg&feature=related
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