Chinese Deliver Live Rats to Restaurants

Central China, plagued with about two billion rats forced out by a flooded lake, trucks the live rodents to the south to be used in restaurant dishes. Some Guangdong Internet users have already offered rat recipes as a way to deal with the rat invasion problem. The idea to cook rat meat in restaurants was partially suggested by the lack of snakes, a popular dish in the south of China, and owls, traditionally used in Chinese medicine.

Some vendors asked the residents of a village in Hunan province, located near Dongting Lake, to sell them live rats, according to the Beijing News. Vendors offer 6 yuan for a kilo of live rats, but they keep silence as for where they are going to sell the rats. Villagers claim they could catch 150 kilos of live rats a night. As one of vendors from the capital of Guangdong province said, people are rich in the southern part of the country and enjoy eating exotic things, so his business develops really well.

There are restaurants in Guangdong promoting 'rat banquets'. The price for one kilo of rat meat is 136 yuan (that is $A20,7). Hunan local governments have been trying to stop the rats invasion. The rodents have already demolished about 1.6 million hectares of crops. They can also spread dangerous diseases, as reported by Chinese media centers. Some scientists have blamed Chinese Three Gorges Dam project and climatic changes for rodents invading dry land in Hunan.

Taste Korea -- Yaksik, Sweet Rice with Nuts & Jujubes

• 2 cups Korean or Japanese type sweet glutinous rice*, soaked overnight in cold water then rinsed and drained(*Available from Korean grocers and supermarkets with well-stocked Asian food sections.)
• 1 packed cup brown sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1 can (13-ounces) chestnuts in syrup, drained
• 3 tablespoons raisins
• 15 dried red dates (Korean jujubes)*, rinsed and drained

(10 to 12 servings)

How to Cook

1. Put soaked rice in rice cooker. In a medium bowl, mix brown sugar and water until sugar is completely dissolved. Add to rice cooker. Add soy sauce, pine nuts, chestnuts, raisins and dates to rice but do not stir in.

2. Close rice cooker and cook rice according to manufacturer's instructions. When rice has finished cooking, let sit on the "keep warm" setting for at least 10 minutes before serving.

3. The finished rice will have a slightly crusty layer on the bottom; serve some of this layer as well as the softer rice and goodies with each serving. (Be sure to remind your guests that the dates have seeds!)

Taste Korea -- Tteok-kuk, Rice Cake Soup

Lunar New Year's Day is just around the corner. Most of you may understand how important it is in Korea, and there is one thing you can't miss that day. It is Tteok-kuk, a rice cake soup. You may have Tteok-kuk any time or any place you want, but eating Tteok-kuk on Lunar New Year's Day is the traditional way. It tastes special and you will finally feel that Lunar New Year's Day has come. Now, are you ready? Here's the recipe!

Ingredients: (serving 5 persons)

• a spoonful of soybean sauce
• 2 eggs
• 2 sheets of toasted seaweed (kim)
• a teaspoonful of powdered sesame seeds mixed with salt
• a spoonful of a minced green onion
• 200g of minced beef (or 150g of beef cut in small pieces and 50g of minced beef)
• sesame oil
• a piece of green onion
• 5 cups of white rice cake sliced in small, thin pieces

How to cook:

1. Heat the pot and spread it with sesame oil. Pan-fry the minced beef and addsoybean sauce for seasoning. Pour water enough for 5 persons and boil.(1-1: Or you can boil water with beef cut in small pieces in a medium pot.)
2. Add the tteok and boil again for 10 minutes. Overcooking will cause tteok to lose its consistency.
3. Add salt and soybean sauce for seasoning.
4. Fry the egg whites and yolks separately in thin layers.
5. Cut the fried whites and yolks in thin strips, which is called Jidan.
6. Crush the toasted seaweed.
7. Serve Tteok-kuk with Jidan and crushed seaweed on top.

(In the case that No. 1-1 is used, you have to cook the minced beef with soybean sauce in a saucepan. Then put it with the egg and the seaweed on top of Ddeok-kuk.)

Corned Beef And Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular vegetable that is used for cooking and is also known for its medicinal properties (it said to contain chemicals that can prevent cancer).

Corned Beef And Cabbage

1 corned beef brisket
1 large head cabbage (preferably savoy)
8 peppercorns
6 cloves garlic, whole peeled
4-5 parsnips
1-2 turnips
2 bay leaves
1 pound carrots, peeled
6 large potatoes
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
3 whole cloves
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning1/4 tsp black pepper, ground

Instructions

• Wash brisket. Make small X slits in the meat and insert garlic and cloves pieces.
• Place the meat into a stockpot (at least 8 quarts). Cover the meat with water. Add bay leaves, peppercorns, Old Bay, 2 carrots and sliced celery. Bring to a boil, skim off foam and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 2-3 hours, or until meat is nearly tender.
• Meanwhile, prepare vegetables. Quarter the cabbage, peel potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips. Slice vegetables into 2 inch chunks.
• During last half hour, add remaining vegetables and cook until tender.
• Drain and serve with yellow mustard.

Chocolate -- Perfect Chocolate Covered Strawberries

A typical chocolate covered strawberry has less than 100 calories and is a healthy low fat delicious treat. But just because it is low on calories does not mean that it is low on taste. The combination of luscious fruit on the inside and smooth chocolate on the outside makes them an irresistable desert, perfect for special occasions, romantic dinners for two and dinner parties, offering all the taste that anyone could wish for, without the guilt.

Beautiful chocolate covered strawberries can of course be bought from specialised shops and online stores, but it is more fun to make them yourself. This also allows you to control the amount and content of the chocolate covering and so the calories.

Here the simple steps to make perfect chocolate covered strawberries:

• Fresh and best quality strawberries are essential
• Wash them well and dry thoroughly.
• Either milk or dark chocolate can be used to make the dipping sauce, but for the best result you may choose a fine good quality chocolate.
• Melt the chocolate slowly in a bowl by carefully placing the bowl in a pan of boiling water. Add an equal amount of cream and gently mix in.
• Dip each strawberry and leave to set on wax paper. An alternative method is to pierce the stem end of the strawberry with a cocktail stick, use the stick to dip the strawberry and then stand it in some polystyrene. This also makes it easier to decorate after the chocolate has solidified. Try piping melted white chocolate or even dipping again in a different chocolate to provide a double layer - delicious but not good for calorie counting !
• Keep in the fridge and ideally eat on the day they were made. They do not keep well.

Chocolate –- The History

How Chocolate Became A Popular Flavor

The chocolate is such a world wide super commodity that it deserves some research into its background and history. Well, to start with, the history of chocolate began with the domestic plantation of coco plants by the Olmec Indians way back in 1500 BC. Not that they made a handful of chocolate bars, packed in beautiful cartons for sale in the open market. Their traditional method of consuming this wonder commodity was by drying it first and then making a brew of it, not unlike the way we brew coffee now. This delicacy was meant only for the elite and not for the common man. History, however, took a back seat here when a shipload of coco beans was intercepted by Columbus who had reportedly ordered the cargo destroyed on the presumption that it was nothing but "sheep's droppings".

How Europe first got the taste of chocolate

Christopher Columbus, nevertheless, amended his mistake and brought the first consignment of coco beans to Spain after returning from America. But nothing much about coco or chocolate could be heard for quite sometime until some Spanish monks discovered the taste of crushed coco beans in a the form of a hot beverage. Soon Chocolate Houses opened all over Europe that served the beverage to a clientel that was stinking rich. Grinding the roasted coco bean was an expensive labor oriented affair. During the 1700, mechanized coco grinders appeared in the market that led to a formidable drop in the price of ground coco, the mother of all chocolates.

Chocolate's trip across the Atlantic

During the end of 1700 chocolate was sold in the form of cakes, rolls and sundry chocolate-coated pastries and desserts. These tasty treats were available in Chocolate Houses and in wealthier homes across Europe. The company that initiated the process of making chocolates in America in a big way was named Bakers Chocolate Company. This happened about 10 years before the American Revolutionary War broke out.

Chocolate gains popularity through its own history

No other condiment in recent history had been as popular as the chocolate. Some even thought that it contained medicinal values and one of the reasons for the Baker's Chocolate Company in America to flourish were its products were believed to be linked with therapeutic properties. In Amsterdam a process known as "Dutching" was invented, in which the coco butter is removed from the chocolate resulting in a smoother texture in the still popular beverage form of the chocolate.

The chocolate candy

It was not until the middle of the 1800's when chocolate could be produced in the molded form and thus was born the chocolate candy. It was found that if the "Dutched" chocolate was sweetened then added back into the coco butter it made a delicious sweet and moldable treat. And so what we know today as a chocolate bar was born. Candies in both milk and Swiss chocolates followed it. Valentines Day has been a favorite occasion and when Cadbury's came out with a heart shaped box of chocolates it became a great success. Today we know how important an occasion that was in the history of chocolate.

Chocolate and the modern day America

Ever since the day the chocolate set its foot on American soil, people fell for it, making thousands of variations where chocolate is often the main theme. The first published recipe for the beloved Brownies appeared in the Sears Roebuck Catalogue during the end of the 19th century. The renowned Hershey Company has minted millions by selling chocolates only and so has the Nestlé Company. Enthusiasm soared so high that a Belgian confectioner opened Godiva Chocolate Company in the year 1926 and may God bless them all, they are all still doing fine.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com