Chinese food--Fenghua Yam

[tochinesefood]

Materials:
650g Chinese yam
sea cucumbers soaked in water
25g mushrooms soaked in water
25g cooked ham
25g cooked chicken breast
25g green beans
5g carrots

Preparations

Peel the yam, cut it into flower-shapes, steam till soft and tender, transfer to a plate.
Dice the sea cucumbers, mushrooms, ham, chicken breast and carrots, add green beans, put these ingredients into a saucepan, add clear soup and boil till cooked, season, thicken, and pour over the Chinese yam.

[Austin_]

Sounds good. Just one question. Why would you measure things like mushrooms as 250 g? Wouldn't that be hard to figure out? I mean I guess you could look on the back of the package but I think I'm missing something here...it just seems like a hassle. Is it something that they often do in different cuisines/counries? I see many Asian recipes with grams and I just don't understand why many of them don't have measuring cups. Am I missing something? I notice that many foreign chefs also use grams in place of measuring cups and spoons. Is it more exact? Please help me.

[Mezzaluna]

Austin, just about every other country on the planet uses the metric system for measurements- except the U.S. and maybe one or two others. We Americans are the ones who persist in sticking to non-standard measurements, which is why we have people asking us "How many deciliters to a 'cup'?" and so forth. Also, using a scale is the most accurate way to measure.

Remember, Chef Talk is enriched by being boundaryless and truly global.

[Austin_]

Oh, I get it know. Thank you. That's why Nigella Lawson, that food network star that has the accent, always uses the metric system. That's interesting! It sounds really useful and helpful too. Thank you. By the way- the recipe sounds delicious! I'll have to try it. My dad would go crazy over it. He is literally the king of yams. Thanks for all your help.

[mudbug]

Austin,

Kitchen scales can easily be found in just about any department store kitchen section. They'll measure ounces, pounds, milliliters, and kilograms. You can do a search here for "scales" at the Equipment Forum as well for more info.