EDIT: Our bad, what we used was WILD BETEL leaves (Piper sarmentosum, lá lốt, chaploo, 假蒟), not betel leaves (Piper betle). It was confusing for us, because at our local market they're literally called "槟榔叶" - 'Betel leaves' in Chinese. Apparently, you do not want to use Betel leaves (i.e. Piper betle) to cook, as they're too bitter and strongly flavored. Wild betel leaves, however, are used throughout southeast Asia, probably most famously to wrap grilled meat in Vietnam. Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Do check out the description box for a discussion on the rice that’s traditionally used for Toishanese youfan - generally, a mix of the jasmine-like champa rice (粘米) and long grain sticky rice (i.e. the sort that’s often used in Southeast Asian cuisines). We used all Jasmine in the video so as to not get bogged down/confuse things, but do feel free to use that sticky rice/jasmine mix - it’s quite good. 2. As I said in the description box though, unless you’re using a fancy Zojirushi rice cooker you’ll have to pre-soak the sticky rice before using. 3. During testing, I really fell in love with youfan - it’s so damn tasty for the effort put in. It made me wonder what other rice dishes could be given the same make-a-stir-fry-and-mix treatment. 4. To be honest, I was thinking back on all the fried rice dishes we’ve done on this channel: the fancy Jiangnan-style Yangzhou fried rice… the spicy Guizhou freestyle fried rice… western fried rice… hell, even stuff like the spam & pineapple fried rice. I think all of these dishes could likely be given the make-a-stir-fry-and-mix treatment. In a lot of western kitchens, it seems like “start from leftover rice” is *such* a pain point for fried rice (given that a lot of people don’t have leftover rice laying around). And while we went over a sort of ‘same day hack’ to make some (pretty great) fried rice with steamed rice, let’s be frank - even that can sometimes be a bit of a hassle. So while texturally it wouldn’t be the same, if all you want is some flavorful stuff in with your rice, why not mix instead of fry? 5. Note that we did not test the betel leaf rice with alternative herbs. I think it would be tasty with basil but basil might handle a bit differently - you might less a bit less, and you’ll probably need to fry it for less time as well. Ditto with Hoja Santa - fair warning that it’s been ages since I’ve tasted it (so if I was out of line with that recommendation, please feel free to say so - I might’ve been a bit fast and loose with my words there), and I’ve never worked with it either. 6. Gah! Completely blanked. Originally, our sub of choice for the betel leaf was going to be Perilla leaf. How could I not remember to include that in the video? In any event, yes, use Perilla. 7. Apologies for the thumbnail - it ended up a bit more kitsch and ‘UA-camr-y’ than what we were thinking it’d look like in our heads. I promise the next video thumbnail (Nanning ol’ buddy noodles) will not feature a big red arrow, lol. 8. A nice video of the not-lazy version of youfan is here if you're curious: ua-cam.com/video/zv54DO30j0o/v-deo.html That’s all I can think of for now. Happy Halloween guys.
seriously love all your content, but this has given me so many ideas! thank you so much! i am in japan, and often make 'takikomi' its like mixed rice you make in rice cooker. once you get the idea, you can customise it many ways. idea is, layer things on top of the rice as its cooking in rice cooker, then mix once its done and leave it to steam for maybe 10 mins. can add chicken and fish, along with many vegetables to cook with the rice. but beef and pork need to cook before. so your suggestion just add toward the end, i will try! i often make rice in cooker with perilla/shiso. use some maybe chicken or dashi stock, also add maybe tbs of soy sauce/miren/rice cooking wine. when done add finely chopped shiso also some pickled plum - umeboshi and leave to steam for 10 mins. if you have left over, it makes delicious onigiri/rice ball so many good things you can do with rice cooker i usually actually cook iwth brown rice at home, as its not so common here in japan when you eat out. its easy to make a mix, also with sushi rice, which has a kind of mochi type aspect. along with other mixed grains.
@@TheCutL Kohlrabi is such a rare veggie internationally for how tasty it is, so i was positively surprised as well to see it's used in chinese cooking.
I make what is laughingly called Spanish rice in my rice cooker. To 4 scoops washed Jasmine rice I add ½ tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp soy sauce, 5 drops of my homemade hot sauce-commercial ones use 1 tsp, one large can plain diced tomatoes. Add water to the 4 level and start. Once it is finished mix in the cooker then layer good sharp cheddar cheese on top and close on the keep warm setting. After about 5 - 10 minutes the cheese should be completely melted and serve!
If you live in the United States, you can often get fresh betel leaves at many Indian grocery stores. Like in Taiwan, southern China, SE Asia, and the South Pacific, the betel leaf and areca nut combination is commonly chewed in the Indian Subcontinent.
@@ANTSEMUT1 I've seen it in its whole, cut up, and betel leaf quid preparations ("paan") in various Indian and Asian markets. According to Wikipedia: "In the United States, areca nut is not a controlled or specially taxed substance and may be found in some Asian grocery stores. However, importation of areca nut in a form other than whole or carved kernels of nuts can be stopped at the discretion of US Customs officers on the grounds of food, agricultural, or medicinal drug violations. Such actions by Customs are very rare."
@@davewmck Yup, the areca nut is a stimulant and carcinogen. Slaked lime is added to help the alkaloids become bioavailable. Some people add tobacco for an added effect.
@@Koji-888 future neighbor used to do one and it was my favorite!! So helpful for going back to the recipe when you just need to be reminded what order things happen before making it again.
A big not-so-secret secret of Chinese, and really, Asian cooking, is the devil-may-care approach to recipes. There is rarely ever a “standard” recipe for especially Chinese dishes - the essence is in the technique and understanding how the ingredients interact with each other, and substitutions are extremely common for literally any reason. I doubt there are many people who would have been particularly upset by the jicama substitute in this video, for instance.
I *really* appreciate how flexible you guys are with recipes while still adhering to tradition or taste when applicable. It is incredibly helpful to relatively inexperienced home cooks like myself in understanding what actually comprises the food we love - for example, saying that basil or tarragon might make a great herbaceous rice makes me wonder that kind of template can be adapted to fit other dishes, like curried rice, for example.
I really appreciate these recent technique-driven videos. They help me adapt the dishes to my local ingredients and taste profile. Keep up the good work!
This video is amazing! My family is from Taishan so I didn't know the different provinces had different types of flavored rice. Being born in Canada, I always thought my grandmas style of youfan was just her style of fancy fried rice. Thanks for the history lesson!
I'd love too see some more recipes using Kohlrabi. Didn't even know this was used in China. But it's a very easily available ingredient here in Germany and the taste is just great!
I agree. Kohlrabi is such an overlooked vegetable, in my opinion. It’s so versatile, you can slice it thinly and eat raw in a salad, you can pickle it, you can roast it, and just about anything you make with it will be delicious.
@@pinkmonkeybird2644 Yeah it's common here in the western US but few people seem to know what to do with it. It's technically a Brassica like cabbage and broccoli so you can use it the same way you'd use broccoli stems and when young its tender and can be use raw, but it's got properties like a turnip so you can use it almost any way you'd use a turnip too, especially with older kohlrabi (most of the ones sold in stores are usually fairly young).
I made Bò Lá Lốt not too long ago. Lá Lốt (or la lop) being another name for betel leaf. I was able to find some at a local Vietnamese market. The bundle of leaves was way more than I needed so I'm glad you included the betel leaf recipe in case I make the dish again.
i looooove la lot! we have a huge vietnamese community where i live so i can fortunately get it quite easily. and yeah, i can also get betel leafs fairly easily, technically
Excellent information! Reminded me of the tonnes of flavored rice dishes in Indian cuisine - Cumin rice (single most basic flavored rice in India), Spinach rice, Fenugreek leaves rice, Pulao (derived from 'Pilaf', can be mixed veges or meat based), Biryanis (most famous), Cabbage rice, tomato rice, tamarind rice, Sesame rice, Coconut rice, Eggplant rice, lentil/peas rice (Khichdi or Pongal), and my absolute favourite my grandma taught me- Mint/cilantro rice!
One thing i was told was a Northern Thai and Laotian dish is to add chopped fresh tumeric root to rice and cook it in the rice cooker. My Thai family makes that every once in awhile when an adoptive aunt visits, she's from Northern Thailand originally and says they eat that occasionally there.
My grandma use to make something similar to all 3 of these mixed together. I haven't had it sense she passed. She was chinese but lived in Vietnam. All I remember is there was dried shrimp Chinese sausage Thai basil Taro
As usual everything looks great. I love how there are so many subtle little techniques and tips in each recipe like using the water from reconstituting the shrimp and mushroom
I absolutely love this channel. I've practically given up on all other Asian food channels and now use this one as a benchmark for all Asian dishes. Keep doing what you're doing because it works. Thank you for this content.
All Asian dishes? They focus on Chinese and have barely scratched the surface. There are MANY Asian countries! Anthony Bourdain said: "Jun 8, 2018 - The one thing I know for sure about China is, I will never know China. It's too big, too old, too diverse, too deep.". Even Chinese Cooking Demystified will admit they are not the end all and it would be impossible for them to cover the immense diversity of China thoroughly when each village in the country has their own special dishes. There are absolutely other channels that are of equal quality in executing dishes for many other ASIAN countries: Made With Lau: ua-cam.com/channels/sIF9vk-I_PV1P-ShDFA84A.html Souped Up Recipes: ua-cam.com/channels/3HjB3X8jeENm46HCkI0Inw.html Chef Wang: ua-cam.com/channels/hrcDm7u2mF3II4F7idmXiQ.html Chef Pailin's Kitchen: ua-cam.com/users/PailinsKitchen Am Thuc Me Lam: ua-cam.com/channels/nzWba-pdPcKcM2xA8MExhw.html Maangchi: ua-cam.com/channels/8gFadPgK2r1ndqLI04Xvvw.html Chef Jet Tila: ua-cam.com/channels/cMjZLv_QOFGeN94Hjy9ZJQ.html Helen's Recipes: ua-cam.com/channels/MmZEL8jV1B61NKAXcyW87A.html Panlasang Pinoy: ua-cam.com/users/panlasangpinoy Moms Cambodian Recipes: ua-cam.com/users/MomsCambodianRecipes
I, like many others it seems, am here to inform you that Betel leaf is seasonally available on the West Coast of the United States. I can't speak to its availability anywhere else, but I wouldn't be too surprised to see it in New York or Las Vegas. Some of our better Thai restaurants in there parts serve barely grilled mostly raw seasoned beef in betel leaf, and it's excellent. I want some right now.
Yeah i live in a fairly small city (around 45-50k) in Washington state and there are 3 stores near me that carry it in late spring through to early fall and 1 store seems to have it pretty much year round. If i go to major cities there are places that have it year round too. I think it really depends on how many southeast/south asians live in the area because Washington has tons of people from India, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
Super late to the party, but it seems similar to the Shiso or Perilla leaf (still not totally sure of the differences). I know for a fact that they'll grow 8 feet tall in a Texas summer, if you water them daily.
My go-to method for a base flavour is salt+ msg (I use Korean 맛소금)and toasted sesame oil. Thanks for the youfan recipe, Kohlrabi is in season here and I just got some from a local farmer. I'll definitely cook it soon.
My 3 laziest no-cook ways to flavor warmed leftover rice: a) Butter & chef/sea salt b) Togarashi seasoning c) Fried Dace (aside: I often pop a can, mince it up, then pack it into a small jar, moisten slightly with a few dashes of shaoxing or sake or homemade zarusoba base, some extra oil, and viola ... refrigerated spoonable condiment)
For those who might not know, "chef salt" is a premixed seasoned salt. For example, a decent baseline might be 5 parts kosher salt to 1 part white pepper, then adjust to suit personal taste ... think poor man's faux fleur de sel. I keep a 4oz ramekin of it next to my range. 😄
@@KenshiroPlayDotA That works fine, yes ... but consider the collateral damage of leaving the packet of Maggi you borrowed it from all sad and forlorn, and existentially incomplete. 🥺 The Ramen Robinhood 😉
Sesame oil and salt is a good combo as well, my favorite is black garlic oil with salt and the other one is using chopped lime leafs with fish sauce + salt + chicken broth 😋😋😋😋 sooo good
@@RovingPunster Packet ? It's the dark, soy sauce-type hydrolyzed vegetable protein-based condiment sauce I have in mind. The one that typically comes in glass bottles.
It's amazing how similar the betel leaf rice is to the herb rice my Maltese/Egyptian grandmother taught me to make! Instead of oil and fresh herbs, it's butter and a small amount of dried herbs toasted, then mixed with uncooked rice and cooked in the same pot with the absorption method. It's often my go to easy side when we have leftover stews or meat.
It reminds me of standard Peruvian rice, aka Peruvian "plain" rice. It's how I was taught to make rice by my mother. Fry up minced garlic in oil, add rice and mix slightly. Add water and cook using the absorption method until done. Shows how much we love garlic that this is considered "basic rice" or "plain rice".
I thought it was fascinating that you mentioned the Mexican pepper leaf as a sub for betel leaf, especially since my family's recipe for Mexican rice requires toasting the rice at the beginning as well 😄
It's surprising how many mexican/latin american cooking techniques and recipes have influenced Chinese cooking. I saw something making rounds on social media awhile back of a "kitchen hack" to add a whole tomato to a rice cooker and mixing that in to flavor your rice which is basically a poor mans spanish rice. Saw a similar meal that was basically just red beans and rice, it had a chinese name and was labeled as a chinese dish but it was kidney beans, onions, garlic, chilies, and seasonings (i think it had soy sauce, pepper, and cumin but dont remember) and the whole thing was cooked down until the beans started breaking apart and thickened up sort of like the "gravy" in red beans and rice. Stuff like that is why it always bugs me when people complain about "americanized foods". Cultures across the globe and across time have always seen dishes made in foreign lands and then either copied them or at least localized them. Worcestershire sauce for example was originally an attempt to make curry sauce in England, they used a bunch of spices they could get their hands on and combined them with anchovies in place of fish sauce, onions, pepper, and then tried using that for curry and found it tasted awful until it had aged for awhile in a cellar and worked better as a seasoning rather than a straight sauce. I've had quiet a few Asian versions of Pizza which use different ingredients and cooking methods then places like Domino's, and American pizza is based mainly off New York Pizza which is in turn based off Italian pizza (which is itself likely based off even older Greek flat bread dishes).
I love the "whatever"s in this one. Really drives home that there are no rules and just put in whatever you think will taste good. Just trying to figure out how one would time adding the extra stuff on top of the rice if one's rice cooker is one of those super-simple Western ones that never "starts" letting out steam because it's pretending to be a pot on the stove instead of a pressure cooker.
Not just western models that do that, I've got a mid range Asian model and it just kind of steadily belches steam. My cheap Asian one did the same but the fancier Asian ones in the west sometimes dont
I mean you can pretty much mix anything into your rice, you just need the water you're cooking the rice with to be flavoured, spices, herbs, pre-made pastes like tom yum, bone stock/veg stock etc
Here in the Philippines, it's quite common at local eateries to ask for a bit of "extra sauce" on your rice. I've also seen people pour KFC gravy directly on rice, then ask for extra gravy for dipping the chicken into.
Really like the summary at the beginning. Easy reference for later. And it's really well done: other summaries can feel like someone reading the table of contents for their book report, but this felt snappy and unique, yet fit the style.
The algorithm sent me here, and I'm quite pleased! I think I'll make some rice tonight (more boring than these, unfortunately; I saw this *after* I returned from the grocery) and devour it while I devour the rest of your videos! Cooking for one can be a bit frustrating, though, since it's hard to buy perishables in modest quantities, and thus gets expensive to prepare anything with loads of ingredients unless you're committed to eating it every meal for a week. I'll definitely look into the dried mushrooms and shrimp, but what else do you keep stocked in your pantry to add variety to your dishes?
Oh my god, I don't know why it never occurred to me that you could (and that obviously Cantonese people would) make "chicken rice" with duck instead. PLEASE do an episode on that.
That is a traditional Portuguese recipe :) You can look for duck rice recipes, they usually are finished in the oven with some chourico slices for extra flavor and crispiness! Look up some recipes online. One of my favorite dishes ever!
@@arthas640I love shmaltz! Any recipe that calls for lard gets the shmaltz treatment from me (though it’s pretty much always chicken shmaltz in my house)
The high level overview works great! Love the format. I will definitely give the lapcheong one a go. Plus shout out to KL Liew! My other favourite cooking channel
Hey! I think the betel leaf you have used here is the Wild Betel Leaf (Bai Chaploo in Thai). The Asian Betel Leaf used to wrap betelnuts or paan in India is much more astringent and sort of bitter tasting as compared to Bai Chaploo which has peppery notes
I'm keen to try making the herb one with wild garlic (which is a plant leaf with a garlicky flavour, not a bulb), as it's almost wild garlic season here in the UK.
Thank you! I really learned something today! Though I'll have to figure out how to work this without a ricecooker, since our kitchen doesn't have space for one.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified That's great I have Shiso growing in my garden. I also have a few huge Yomogi plants which according to Wikipedia is called "Ssuk" in Korean and "Huanghua ai" in Chinese. What can I do with that and some rice? Someone also gave me something on Halloween, it's a "Budda hand citron" but I wish I could send you a picture of it, it was sold as some kind of Halloween fruit and has a label tied to that says "Goblin Fingers," and the O in Goblin looks like Jack's face from the Nightmare Before Christmas movie. I want to use this fruit in a video give me suggestions. By the way our oven is not hooked up to gas right now, but I have 3 gas burners and one electric burner. So I can cook but not bake.
@@adriennefloreen I’ve used Buddha’s Hand to infuse vodka, make a tincture using grain alcohol, and I even tried making limoncello with it. Pro: preserves the beautiful citrus aromatics of the Buddha’s Hand. Cons: takes forever to painstakingly peel all those goblin-like fingers without getting too much of the pith. These days I drink less so I might try a marmalade. Anyway good luck with your Halloween fruit.
@@sasentaiko The infused vodka thing was the first thing I saw listed, and drying it was the second. I might do the vodka infusion just because I live in an area where there's a high humidity content and drying is hard.
man I for some reason kept smiling every time you said taro I haven't hear it said that way in forever most the time is in the Japanese style TA as in aw with a t and RO as in row your boat. The foo looks good thanks for the work.
As a rice cooker owner i will try this. "Kohlrabi" we say in germany is in seasion also Brocoli , this should be awesome with this too. Various Beetsroots and Cabage ist also worth a try
It's funny because nobody is even certain if its German or not since the first records of it are from Italy and it's name is partially Swiss German rather than German-German. It's not really a common vegetable globally but does appear in Asian cooking, Wikipedia says its eaten in Kashmir and I see it in Asian grocery stores and American ones alike. It's grown all over where i live in Washington and my grandparents were growing it before my parents were born. I know its even used as a fermented/salted form in Lao Gan Man fried chili in oil.
I just bought my first rice-cooker, this video came at exactly the right moment! :-) If somebody knows somer other good rice-cooker based recipes, I'd appreciate a link or something!
I gave my child my fancy zojirushi rice cooker for their dorm room (they are a freshman and everything about college life is new to them), and I really miss it. I had come to rely on it; I also made oatmeal and semolina with it, and so much more. It’s nice to have all the guesswork out of the cooking equation for at least one element. I may have to buy myself another one. My child uses that rice cooker many times a week, as their college dining facilities aren’t the best and are the furthest point from their dorm. Some days a bowl of ochazuke (Japanese green tea over rice) is the best option. Enjoy your rice cooker! I think you’ll find it a handy investment.
i LOVE YOUR betel leaf rice technique. I think it would be very delicious to make with just coriander leaves as obviously a tropical thing like betel leaf is not available in ireland.
if there are any asian grocery stores near you it might even be available frozen. I live in a similar climate (near Seattle) and dont even live in a big city (like 45k people) and there's a few stores with it fresh for part of the year and it's sometimes in the frozen section. I'd suggest bringing a list of its names since I've seen it sold as "paan", "betel leaf", "bettel leaf", "pepper leaf", and oddly enough "mint" even though its not related to mint or similar to mint in any way.
Some interesting ideas here. Before I'd simply go with coconut milk, kardemom pods, cumin or turmeric to flavor the rice while cooking, or simply some leftover stock.
Oh WOW. I would be definitely interested in more recipes featuring kohlrabi 👀 It's a really common vegetable here in Central Europe but it's pretty much only ever used in soup or eaten raw
Really common in the US too with similar uses. I mainly see it served raw but people sometimes pickle it or use it in salads. My family has grown it since my grandparents time and usually julienne it in roughly french fry sized cuts and then soak them in salted water for a bit or just salt the pieces and eat them plain. I've heard some people salt the whole turnip and sort of dry them out to be used like dried vegetables (it even appears on Lao Gan Ma chili oil ingredients).
love the jambalaya analogy.... as a cajun, that's a main course!!! maybe it's time for a chinese ingredient aproximation of a gumbo (once it gets cold that is!)
Quick tip on the Bethel leaves, i buy mine at a Thai vendor. Restaurants use them for Miang Kham, a tasty Thai appetizer. So if your city has a small Thai community, chances are you can get Bethel leaves.
Quick note that what we actually used was WILD Betel Leaves, not Betel Leaves. Our bad. Edited the description and pinned note. In Thai they are called chaphloo (ชะพลู)
Totally by coincidence I discovered Betel leaves are available at Indian grocers in the states. I was looking for pandan leaves for a Maldivian dish and the clerk thought I meant paan aka Betel leaves. Guess I should've gotten some and made rice.
Paan is quite integral to Indian culture,in some regions (including mine) it's even linked to some religious rituals so I'd be surprised in Indian grocers abroad didn't have them. Love your channel btw!
I like the monster hunter greatsword you whipped out for the jicama. What even is that knife? I've never seen something like that, closest I've ever seen is like an italian mezzaluna with the rocking-back-and-forth cutting style.
Great episode. I like the quick and to the point method. Although I will have to ask....where did you get that cleaver! Tell me somewhere online ;) I've gotta know where you got it.
Whoooaaaaaahhh... the knife you use to cut the kohlrabi is possibly the coolest kitchen knife I've ever seen. Does that style have a name, or is it a one-off you picked up? Thanks for the great channel!
Because every Chinese household has leftover rice after a meal, even if it's Thanksgiving, one year I came up with the ultimate: Thanksgiving Turkey fried rice. All of the leftover drippings and gravy fried into the leftover rice. It was the most decadent fried rice I've ever made in my life.
omg I can't believe I've never tried this as someone who LOVES Thanksgiving food and is also of Chinese descent so I always have leftover rice lmaooo. I wonder if a bit of cranberry sauce works well with it?? 👀
The betel leaf rice looks alot like greek dish "spinach rice" witch is rice flavored with spinach and other fresh herbs / greens and usually with a side of feta cheese. The texture thought is not that dry, it's more wet like a loose risotto and uses a lot of olive oil for flavour.
It's a Husa Knife. They're not available outside of China right now, but we have an acquaintance that's working on trying to export them. When/if they get that set up, y'all will be the first to know: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husa_knife I (Chris) personally prefer the caidao (Chinese chef's knife), but right now our Husa knife is sharp and our caidao is not, and we're being a bit lazy.
Making flavoured rice is pretty normal in Indonesia, we got our own nasi liwet, and we usually use coconut milk in addition to water as its cooking liquid. Some form of nasi liwet uses kaffir lime leaves as flavouring, but betel leaves? That's new...
@@ChineseCookingDemystified let's be honest. Who doesn't? Less than a dollar at the traditional market near my home and you get a plate full of nasi kuning and its assortment of toppings.
What is that Klingon-weapon-like curved cleaver you are using? I want one! I have never seen a cleaver shaped like that. Oh, and the rice variations look delicious.
He does that when he gets excited... Now he associates sitting on his stool outside in front of the camera with treats, and so air licks vigorously. He'll never be Francis...
Does dried betel leaf work ? I never tried it fresh so I wouldn’t know. I think I saw fresh betel leaves once in my asian supermarket but I’m not sure.
Potentially, we need to eat around Hainan/Wenchang to help get a base for it. The Straits variety (i.e. that in Singapore/Malaysia) is internationally the popular sort - and there's plenty of good resources out there for it (including the K L Liew video shown in the video) - so we haven't been in a rush.
EDIT: Our bad, what we used was WILD BETEL leaves (Piper sarmentosum, lá lốt, chaploo, 假蒟), not betel leaves (Piper betle). It was confusing for us, because at our local market they're literally called "槟榔叶" - 'Betel leaves' in Chinese. Apparently, you do not want to use Betel leaves (i.e. Piper betle) to cook, as they're too bitter and strongly flavored. Wild betel leaves, however, are used throughout southeast Asia, probably most famously to wrap grilled meat in Vietnam.
Hey guys, a few notes:
1. Do check out the description box for a discussion on the rice that’s traditionally used for Toishanese youfan - generally, a mix of the jasmine-like champa rice (粘米) and long grain sticky rice (i.e. the sort that’s often used in Southeast Asian cuisines). We used all Jasmine in the video so as to not get bogged down/confuse things, but do feel free to use that sticky rice/jasmine mix - it’s quite good.
2. As I said in the description box though, unless you’re using a fancy Zojirushi rice cooker you’ll have to pre-soak the sticky rice before using.
3. During testing, I really fell in love with youfan - it’s so damn tasty for the effort put in. It made me wonder what other rice dishes could be given the same make-a-stir-fry-and-mix treatment.
4. To be honest, I was thinking back on all the fried rice dishes we’ve done on this channel: the fancy Jiangnan-style Yangzhou fried rice… the spicy Guizhou freestyle fried rice… western fried rice… hell, even stuff like the spam & pineapple fried rice. I think all of these dishes could likely be given the make-a-stir-fry-and-mix treatment. In a lot of western kitchens, it seems like “start from leftover rice” is *such* a pain point for fried rice (given that a lot of people don’t have leftover rice laying around). And while we went over a sort of ‘same day hack’ to make some (pretty great) fried rice with steamed rice, let’s be frank - even that can sometimes be a bit of a hassle. So while texturally it wouldn’t be the same, if all you want is some flavorful stuff in with your rice, why not mix instead of fry?
5. Note that we did not test the betel leaf rice with alternative herbs. I think it would be tasty with basil but basil might handle a bit differently - you might less a bit less, and you’ll probably need to fry it for less time as well. Ditto with Hoja Santa - fair warning that it’s been ages since I’ve tasted it (so if I was out of line with that recommendation, please feel free to say so - I might’ve been a bit fast and loose with my words there), and I’ve never worked with it either.
6. Gah! Completely blanked. Originally, our sub of choice for the betel leaf was going to be Perilla leaf. How could I not remember to include that in the video? In any event, yes, use Perilla.
7. Apologies for the thumbnail - it ended up a bit more kitsch and ‘UA-camr-y’ than what we were thinking it’d look like in our heads. I promise the next video thumbnail (Nanning ol’ buddy noodles) will not feature a big red arrow, lol.
8. A nice video of the not-lazy version of youfan is here if you're curious: ua-cam.com/video/zv54DO30j0o/v-deo.html
That’s all I can think of for now. Happy Halloween guys.
I like the thumbnail actually
seriously love all your content, but this has given me so many ideas! thank you so much!
i am in japan, and often make 'takikomi' its like mixed rice you make in rice cooker. once you get the idea, you can customise it many ways. idea is, layer things on top of the rice as its cooking in rice cooker, then mix once its done and leave it to steam for maybe 10 mins. can add chicken and fish, along with many vegetables to cook with the rice. but beef and pork need to cook before. so your suggestion just add toward the end, i will try!
i often make rice in cooker with perilla/shiso. use some maybe chicken or dashi stock, also add maybe tbs of soy sauce/miren/rice cooking wine. when done add finely chopped shiso also some pickled plum - umeboshi and leave to steam for 10 mins. if you have left over, it makes delicious onigiri/rice ball
so many good things you can do with rice cooker
i usually actually cook iwth brown rice at home, as its not so common here in japan when you eat out. its easy to make a mix, also with sushi rice, which has a kind of mochi type aspect. along with other mixed grains.
As a German loving Chinese food, I would have never thought I'd see kohlrabi here, let alone hear you say that it can be "in season in Guangdong".
@@TheCutL Kohlrabi is such a rare veggie internationally for how tasty it is, so i was positively surprised as well to see it's used in chinese cooking.
I make what is laughingly called Spanish rice in my rice cooker. To 4 scoops washed Jasmine rice I add ½ tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp soy sauce, 5 drops of my homemade hot sauce-commercial ones use 1 tsp, one large can plain diced tomatoes. Add water to the 4 level and start. Once it is finished mix in the cooker then layer good sharp cheddar cheese on top and close on the keep warm setting. After about 5 - 10 minutes the cheese should be completely melted and serve!
If you live in the United States, you can often get fresh betel leaves at many Indian grocery stores. Like in Taiwan, southern China, SE Asia, and the South Pacific, the betel leaf and areca nut combination is commonly chewed in the Indian Subcontinent.
Isn't the nut banned in the US though because of it's carcinogenic properties?
@@ANTSEMUT1
I've seen it in its whole, cut up, and betel leaf quid preparations ("paan") in various Indian and Asian markets.
According to Wikipedia: "In the United States, areca nut is not a controlled or specially taxed substance and may be found in some Asian grocery stores. However, importation of areca nut in a form other than whole or carved kernels of nuts can be stopped at the discretion of US Customs officers on the grounds of food, agricultural, or medicinal drug violations. Such actions by Customs are very rare."
I used to get them at one of the ones in Berkeley, California, where they also had fresh neem leaves.
Isn’t betel nut a stimulant? I know it rots your teeth.
@@davewmck Yup, the areca nut is a stimulant and carcinogen. Slaked lime is added to help the alkaloids become bioavailable. Some people add tobacco for an added effect.
Like you adding the "high level" overview to each menu
@@Koji-888 future neighbor used to do one and it was my favorite!! So helpful for going back to the recipe when you just need to be reminded what order things happen before making it again.
"or whatever..." I love the chill nature of all of this. I'm trying that herb one!
That is kinda the essence of Chinese food at least for most peoples childhood lol. toss in whatever you have and if don’t have something oh well 🤷
A big not-so-secret secret of Chinese, and really, Asian cooking, is the devil-may-care approach to recipes. There is rarely ever a “standard” recipe for especially Chinese dishes - the essence is in the technique and understanding how the ingredients interact with each other, and substitutions are extremely common for literally any reason. I doubt there are many people who would have been particularly upset by the jicama substitute in this video, for instance.
I *really* appreciate how flexible you guys are with recipes while still adhering to tradition or taste when applicable. It is incredibly helpful to relatively inexperienced home cooks like myself in understanding what actually comprises the food we love - for example, saying that basil or tarragon might make a great herbaceous rice makes me wonder that kind of template can be adapted to fit other dishes, like curried rice, for example.
I really appreciate these recent technique-driven videos. They help me adapt the dishes to my local ingredients and taste profile. Keep up the good work!
This video is amazing! My family is from Taishan so I didn't know the different provinces had different types of flavored rice. Being born in Canada, I always thought my grandmas style of youfan was just her style of fancy fried rice. Thanks for the history lesson!
I'd love too see some more recipes using Kohlrabi. Didn't even know this was used in China. But it's a very easily available ingredient here in Germany and the taste is just great!
I agree. Kohlrabi is such an overlooked vegetable, in my opinion. It’s so versatile, you can slice it thinly and eat raw in a salad, you can pickle it, you can roast it, and just about anything you make with it will be delicious.
my mom uses kohlrabi in her cooking a lot when it is in season (her family comes from toisan) and it's really good stir-fried
@@pinkmonkeybird2644 Yeah it's common here in the western US but few people seem to know what to do with it. It's technically a Brassica like cabbage and broccoli so you can use it the same way you'd use broccoli stems and when young its tender and can be use raw, but it's got properties like a turnip so you can use it almost any way you'd use a turnip too, especially with older kohlrabi (most of the ones sold in stores are usually fairly young).
I made Bò Lá Lốt not too long ago. Lá Lốt (or la lop) being another name for betel leaf. I was able to find some at a local Vietnamese market. The bundle of leaves was way more than I needed so I'm glad you included the betel leaf recipe in case I make the dish again.
Hey I know this doesnt sound good but betel leaf is not la lot at all. they tastes way different from each other,.
Betel leaf is "lá trầu không" I think. The slightly narcotic betel nut refers to old people eating "trầu".
i looooove la lot! we have a huge vietnamese community where i live so i can fortunately get it quite easily. and yeah, i can also get betel leafs fairly easily, technically
@@Alphonselle Our bad, what we used was wild betel leaf, i.e. la lot. Edited the description box and pinned note. Apologies.
Excellent information! Reminded me of the tonnes of flavored rice dishes in Indian cuisine -
Cumin rice (single most basic flavored rice in India), Spinach rice, Fenugreek leaves rice, Pulao (derived from 'Pilaf', can be mixed veges or meat based), Biryanis (most famous), Cabbage rice, tomato rice, tamarind rice, Sesame rice, Coconut rice, Eggplant rice, lentil/peas rice (Khichdi or Pongal), and my absolute favourite my grandma taught me- Mint/cilantro rice!
One thing i was told was a Northern Thai and Laotian dish is to add chopped fresh tumeric root to rice and cook it in the rice cooker. My Thai family makes that every once in awhile when an adoptive aunt visits, she's from Northern Thailand originally and says they eat that occasionally there.
My grandma use to make something similar to all 3 of these mixed together. I haven't had it sense she passed. She was chinese but lived in Vietnam.
All I remember is there was
dried shrimp
Chinese sausage
Thai basil
Taro
Very nice!
As usual everything looks great. I love how there are so many subtle little techniques and tips in each recipe like using the water from reconstituting the shrimp and mushroom
I really love it that you go over the recipe twice.
Once for the overview, once going step by step.
Youfan! My family tradition :) definitely kohlrabi is a must.....thanks for sharing us how you guys make it!
I absolutely love this channel. I've practically given up on all other Asian food channels and now use this one as a benchmark for all Asian dishes. Keep doing what you're doing because it works. Thank you for this content.
All Asian dishes? They focus on Chinese and have barely scratched the surface. There are MANY Asian countries! Anthony Bourdain said: "Jun 8, 2018 - The one thing I know for sure about China is, I will never know China. It's too big, too old, too diverse, too deep.". Even Chinese Cooking Demystified will admit they are not the end all and it would be impossible for them to cover the immense diversity of China thoroughly when each village in the country has their own special dishes. There are absolutely other channels that are of equal quality in executing dishes for many other ASIAN countries:
Made With Lau: ua-cam.com/channels/sIF9vk-I_PV1P-ShDFA84A.html
Souped Up Recipes: ua-cam.com/channels/3HjB3X8jeENm46HCkI0Inw.html
Chef Wang: ua-cam.com/channels/hrcDm7u2mF3II4F7idmXiQ.html
Chef Pailin's Kitchen: ua-cam.com/users/PailinsKitchen
Am Thuc Me Lam: ua-cam.com/channels/nzWba-pdPcKcM2xA8MExhw.html
Maangchi: ua-cam.com/channels/8gFadPgK2r1ndqLI04Xvvw.html
Chef Jet Tila: ua-cam.com/channels/cMjZLv_QOFGeN94Hjy9ZJQ.html
Helen's Recipes: ua-cam.com/channels/MmZEL8jV1B61NKAXcyW87A.html
Panlasang Pinoy: ua-cam.com/users/panlasangpinoy
Moms Cambodian Recipes: ua-cam.com/users/MomsCambodianRecipes
@@violetviolet888 cheers, I'll check them out 👍
We cook a lot with Hoja Santa here, greetings from Mexico! love your channel
I, like many others it seems, am here to inform you that Betel leaf is seasonally available on the West Coast of the United States. I can't speak to its availability anywhere else, but I wouldn't be too surprised to see it in New York or Las Vegas. Some of our better Thai restaurants in there parts serve barely grilled mostly raw seasoned beef in betel leaf, and it's excellent. I want some right now.
Yeah i live in a fairly small city (around 45-50k) in Washington state and there are 3 stores near me that carry it in late spring through to early fall and 1 store seems to have it pretty much year round. If i go to major cities there are places that have it year round too. I think it really depends on how many southeast/south asians live in the area because Washington has tons of people from India, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
Super late to the party, but it seems similar to the Shiso or Perilla leaf (still not totally sure of the differences). I know for a fact that they'll grow 8 feet tall in a Texas summer, if you water them daily.
The fact that you know of similar substitutes for the rice from different country’s is amazing, much respect !!
My go-to method for a base flavour is salt+ msg (I use Korean 맛소금)and toasted sesame oil.
Thanks for the youfan recipe, Kohlrabi is in season here and I just got some from a local farmer. I'll definitely cook it soon.
they use salt, sugar, msg, and white pepper powder so often in recipes I'm convinced they must add it to their coffee and tea.
Love it when your little Right Hand Dog makes an appearance!!!
My 3 laziest no-cook ways to flavor warmed leftover rice:
a) Butter & chef/sea salt
b) Togarashi seasoning
c) Fried Dace (aside: I often pop a can, mince it up, then pack it into a small jar, moisten slightly with a few dashes of shaoxing or sake or homemade zarusoba base, some extra oil, and viola ... refrigerated spoonable condiment)
For those who might not know, "chef salt" is a premixed seasoned salt. For example, a decent baseline might be 5 parts kosher salt to 1 part white pepper, then adjust to suit personal taste ... think poor man's faux fleur de sel. I keep a 4oz ramekin of it next to my range. 😄
Another super-lazy way : Maggi seasoning sauce drizzled on rice ; kinda similar to adding some soy sauce to the rice.
@@KenshiroPlayDotA That works fine, yes ... but consider the collateral damage of leaving the packet of Maggi you borrowed it from all sad and forlorn, and existentially incomplete. 🥺
The Ramen Robinhood 😉
Sesame oil and salt is a good combo as well, my favorite is black garlic oil with salt and the other one is using chopped lime leafs with fish sauce + salt + chicken broth 😋😋😋😋 sooo good
@@RovingPunster Packet ? It's the dark, soy sauce-type hydrolyzed vegetable protein-based condiment sauce I have in mind. The one that typically comes in glass bottles.
It's amazing how similar the betel leaf rice is to the herb rice my Maltese/Egyptian grandmother taught me to make! Instead of oil and fresh herbs, it's butter and a small amount of dried herbs toasted, then mixed with uncooked rice and cooked in the same pot with the absorption method. It's often my go to easy side when we have leftover stews or meat.
which herbs, if you don't mind sharing?
It reminds me of standard Peruvian rice, aka Peruvian "plain" rice. It's how I was taught to make rice by my mother. Fry up minced garlic in oil, add rice and mix slightly. Add water and cook using the absorption method until done. Shows how much we love garlic that this is considered "basic rice" or "plain rice".
I love the techniques for all these rice dishes! Thank you very much! Your dog is VERY cute!
Your videos dropping are distinct happy moments in my life.
As others have said, the outline before doing the recipe is super helpful!
I thought it was fascinating that you mentioned the Mexican pepper leaf as a sub for betel leaf, especially since my family's recipe for Mexican rice requires toasting the rice at the beginning as well 😄
It's surprising how many mexican/latin american cooking techniques and recipes have influenced Chinese cooking. I saw something making rounds on social media awhile back of a "kitchen hack" to add a whole tomato to a rice cooker and mixing that in to flavor your rice which is basically a poor mans spanish rice. Saw a similar meal that was basically just red beans and rice, it had a chinese name and was labeled as a chinese dish but it was kidney beans, onions, garlic, chilies, and seasonings (i think it had soy sauce, pepper, and cumin but dont remember) and the whole thing was cooked down until the beans started breaking apart and thickened up sort of like the "gravy" in red beans and rice.
Stuff like that is why it always bugs me when people complain about "americanized foods". Cultures across the globe and across time have always seen dishes made in foreign lands and then either copied them or at least localized them. Worcestershire sauce for example was originally an attempt to make curry sauce in England, they used a bunch of spices they could get their hands on and combined them with anchovies in place of fish sauce, onions, pepper, and then tried using that for curry and found it tasted awful until it had aged for awhile in a cellar and worked better as a seasoning rather than a straight sauce. I've had quiet a few Asian versions of Pizza which use different ingredients and cooking methods then places like Domino's, and American pizza is based mainly off New York Pizza which is in turn based off Italian pizza (which is itself likely based off even older Greek flat bread dishes).
Always looking for something new to do with rice. These are 3 fantastic recipes. The herb one looks like a good starting point for me.
I love the "whatever"s in this one. Really drives home that there are no rules and just put in whatever you think will taste good.
Just trying to figure out how one would time adding the extra stuff on top of the rice if one's rice cooker is one of those super-simple Western ones that never "starts" letting out steam because it's pretending to be a pot on the stove instead of a pressure cooker.
Just go 10-15 minutes from the end of cooking :) Low stress, just giving the flavors a chance to mingle before mixing
Not just western models that do that, I've got a mid range Asian model and it just kind of steadily belches steam. My cheap Asian one did the same but the fancier Asian ones in the west sometimes dont
Why am I watching this in the middle of the night!.... Thanks for the awesome video :)
I mean you can pretty much mix anything into your rice, you just need the water you're cooking the rice with to be flavoured, spices, herbs, pre-made pastes like tom yum, bone stock/veg stock etc
Here in the Philippines, it's quite common at local eateries to ask for a bit of "extra sauce" on your rice. I've also seen people pour KFC gravy directly on rice, then ask for extra gravy for dipping the chicken into.
You had me at lard😜🤣🤣🤣 Also, your dog is absolutely adorable!
Really like the summary at the beginning. Easy reference for later.
And it's really well done: other summaries can feel like someone reading the table of contents for their book report, but this felt snappy and unique, yet fit the style.
The algorithm sent me here, and I'm quite pleased! I think I'll make some rice tonight (more boring than these, unfortunately; I saw this *after* I returned from the grocery) and devour it while I devour the rest of your videos!
Cooking for one can be a bit frustrating, though, since it's hard to buy perishables in modest quantities, and thus gets expensive to prepare anything with loads of ingredients unless you're committed to eating it every meal for a week. I'll definitely look into the dried mushrooms and shrimp, but what else do you keep stocked in your pantry to add variety to your dishes?
Oh my god, I don't know why it never occurred to me that you could (and that obviously Cantonese people would) make "chicken rice" with duck instead. PLEASE do an episode on that.
That is a traditional Portuguese recipe :) You can look for duck rice recipes, they usually are finished in the oven with some chourico slices for extra flavor and crispiness! Look up some recipes online. One of my favorite dishes ever!
Goose rice is best!
it's amazing, especially using duck fat as the cooking oil
@@arthas640I love shmaltz! Any recipe that calls for lard gets the shmaltz treatment from me (though it’s pretty much always chicken shmaltz in my house)
You guys are really diligent with your presentation..
The Betel rice reminds me a lot of Nettle Risotto we make in northern Italy. Give it a try!
I learn so much from your videos! Thank you for producing this content :)
The high level overview works great! Love the format. I will definitely give the lapcheong one a go. Plus shout out to KL Liew! My other favourite cooking channel
For any viewers in the Atlanta area, I was able to find Wild Betel Leaves at MetroChef in Duluth. Can't wait to try the recipe.
Thanks for educating me on my ancestor province.
using lard instead of oil is sooo good it just boost flavor on whatever you do even on eggs i use a little bit of lard for my eggs
Hey! I think the betel leaf you have used here is the Wild Betel Leaf (Bai Chaploo in Thai). The Asian Betel Leaf used to wrap betelnuts or paan in India is much more astringent and sort of bitter tasting as compared to Bai Chaploo which has peppery notes
Yes, you're correct. My bad. Edited the description and the notes.
I'm keen to try making the herb one with wild garlic (which is a plant leaf with a garlicky flavour, not a bulb), as it's almost wild garlic season here in the UK.
oh damn that's an incredible idea
thank you for this video! i was just trying to figure out how to make flavored rice the other day. can't wait to try it tomorrow
Thank you! I really learned something today! Though I'll have to figure out how to work this without a ricecooker, since our kitchen doesn't have space for one.
I lit up when you brought up Kohlrabi. I love that stuff, as niche as it may be in the states.
I cooked Chinese sausage + shiitake mushrooms (Soaked), chopped into small bits with rice.
It was amazing, and hustle free too.
I can sometimes find dried hoja santa in Latin grocery stores here in NJ. I think I saw betel leaf once in Kaustyan's Manhattan once too.
Amazing depth of knowledge. Tks.
Would perilla or shiso leaves work?
Oh yeah! Perilla was originally going to be our sub of choice lol, totally blanked on that. Will edit the pinned note.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified That's great I have Shiso growing in my garden. I also have a few huge Yomogi plants which according to Wikipedia is called "Ssuk" in Korean and "Huanghua ai" in Chinese. What can I do with that and some rice? Someone also gave me something on Halloween, it's a "Budda hand citron" but I wish I could send you a picture of it, it was sold as some kind of Halloween fruit and has a label tied to that says "Goblin Fingers," and the O in Goblin looks like Jack's face from the Nightmare Before Christmas movie. I want to use this fruit in a video give me suggestions. By the way our oven is not hooked up to gas right now, but I have 3 gas burners and one electric burner. So I can cook but not bake.
@@adriennefloreen I’ve used Buddha’s Hand to infuse vodka, make a tincture using grain alcohol, and I even tried making limoncello with it. Pro: preserves the beautiful citrus aromatics of the Buddha’s Hand. Cons: takes forever to painstakingly peel all those goblin-like fingers without getting too much of the pith. These days I drink less so I might try a marmalade. Anyway good luck with your Halloween fruit.
@@sasentaiko The infused vodka thing was the first thing I saw listed, and drying it was the second. I might do the vodka infusion just because I live in an area where there's a high humidity content and drying is hard.
Kohlrabi.. I would have never guessed, that the german turnip is an ingredient in asian cuisine..
I loved the dog at the end just going crazy licking the air
Wait, it wasn't the dog talking at the end?
These look amazing i want to try all of these!
man I for some reason kept smiling every time you said taro I haven't hear it said that way in forever most the time is in the Japanese style TA as in aw with a t and RO as in row your boat. The foo looks good thanks for the work.
As a rice cooker owner i will try this. "Kohlrabi" we say in germany is in seasion also Brocoli , this should be awesome with this too. Various Beetsroots and Cabage ist also worth a try
I love Kohlrabi. Always thought that it was one of the most German vegetables ever :D had no idea it is used in China.
It's funny because nobody is even certain if its German or not since the first records of it are from Italy and it's name is partially Swiss German rather than German-German. It's not really a common vegetable globally but does appear in Asian cooking, Wikipedia says its eaten in Kashmir and I see it in Asian grocery stores and American ones alike. It's grown all over where i live in Washington and my grandparents were growing it before my parents were born. I know its even used as a fermented/salted form in Lao Gan Man fried chili in oil.
@@arthas640 interesting :)
hey, you gave me an idea for how to use up the rest of thai basil on my window sill! thank you 💚
Looking forward to those poultry rice dishes mentioned in the intro
Many fond memories eating youfan as a kid.
Your timing is stellar - just took delivery of a Zojirushi!
Good stuff!
I truly love my rice bot. It sings a happy song of rice when it's done.
I just bought my first rice-cooker, this video came at exactly the right moment! :-) If somebody knows somer other good rice-cooker based recipes, I'd appreciate a link or something!
I gave my child my fancy zojirushi rice cooker for their dorm room (they are a freshman and everything about college life is new to them), and I really miss it. I had come to rely on it; I also made oatmeal and semolina with it, and so much more. It’s nice to have all the guesswork out of the cooking equation for at least one element. I may have to buy myself another one. My child uses that rice cooker many times a week, as their college dining facilities aren’t the best and are the furthest point from their dorm. Some days a bowl of ochazuke (Japanese green tea over rice) is the best option. Enjoy your rice cooker! I think you’ll find it a handy investment.
i LOVE YOUR betel leaf rice technique. I think it would be very delicious to make with just coriander leaves as obviously a tropical thing like betel leaf is not available in ireland.
if there are any asian grocery stores near you it might even be available frozen. I live in a similar climate (near Seattle) and dont even live in a big city (like 45k people) and there's a few stores with it fresh for part of the year and it's sometimes in the frozen section. I'd suggest bringing a list of its names since I've seen it sold as "paan", "betel leaf", "bettel leaf", "pepper leaf", and oddly enough "mint" even though its not related to mint or similar to mint in any way.
Some interesting ideas here.
Before I'd simply go with coconut milk, kardemom pods, cumin or turmeric to flavor the rice while cooking, or simply some leftover stock.
Oh WOW. I would be definitely interested in more recipes featuring kohlrabi 👀 It's a really common vegetable here in Central Europe but it's pretty much only ever used in soup or eaten raw
Really common in the US too with similar uses. I mainly see it served raw but people sometimes pickle it or use it in salads. My family has grown it since my grandparents time and usually julienne it in roughly french fry sized cuts and then soak them in salted water for a bit or just salt the pieces and eat them plain. I've heard some people salt the whole turnip and sort of dry them out to be used like dried vegetables (it even appears on Lao Gan Ma chili oil ingredients).
love the jambalaya analogy.... as a cajun, that's a main course!!! maybe it's time for a chinese ingredient aproximation of a gumbo (once it gets cold that is!)
Love this channel
Quick tip on the Bethel leaves, i buy mine at a Thai vendor. Restaurants use them for Miang Kham, a tasty Thai appetizer.
So if your city has a small Thai community, chances are you can get Bethel leaves.
Quick note that what we actually used was WILD Betel Leaves, not Betel Leaves. Our bad. Edited the description and pinned note. In Thai they are called chaphloo (ชะพลู)
Totally by coincidence I discovered Betel leaves are available at Indian grocers in the states. I was looking for pandan leaves for a Maldivian dish and the clerk thought I meant paan aka Betel leaves. Guess I should've gotten some and made rice.
Paan is quite integral to Indian culture,in some regions (including mine) it's even linked to some religious rituals so I'd be surprised in Indian grocers abroad didn't have them.
Love your channel btw!
Note that we're actually using Wild Betel Leaf (Piper sarmentosum), not Betel Leaf (Piper Betle). Our screw up, apologies.
@@ishitaananya8649 Thanks!
What product are you setting that wok on to cook? Is it an induction burner or something like that? I’m new and don’t have a great stove
I like the monster hunter greatsword you whipped out for the jicama. What even is that knife? I've never seen something like that, closest I've ever seen is like an italian mezzaluna with the rocking-back-and-forth cutting style.
I think I saw a Star Trek episode where the Klingons were carrying them.
@@David_T That's the first thing I thought of, it's definitely something I would expect to see in a Klingon kitchen
@@petermiller5573 Or battlefield. But, for a Klingon, there may not be much difference between the two 😆
Great episode. I like the quick and to the point method. Although I will have to ask....where did you get that cleaver! Tell me somewhere online ;) I've gotta know where you got it.
Wild betal leaf is pretty easy to find in local vietnamese and cambodian markets here.
Whoooaaaaaahhh... the knife you use to cut the kohlrabi is possibly the coolest kitchen knife I've ever seen. Does that style have a name, or is it a one-off you picked up? Thanks for the great channel!
Always appreciate the doggo cameo!
Youfan is so similar to Fukien Fried Rice ( my childhood fav). My ancestors are from the Toishan (Teochew) area.
As an indian, I'm really curious to try the betel leaf one! It sounds yum (as do the rest!)
That’s an interesting knife there! Where can I get one?
"...or whatever"- HAHAHA! I'm thinking basil rice might be great with Popeye's fried chicken.
FAM!!!!! I AM IN!!!!!!
I had no idea it was called youfan! My mom had always just prepared fried rice that way. Specifically with the kohlrabi and lapcheung.
you know, I think spinach (baby or regular) would be good for this too
Because every Chinese household has leftover rice after a meal, even if it's Thanksgiving, one year I came up with the ultimate: Thanksgiving Turkey fried rice. All of the leftover drippings and gravy fried into the leftover rice. It was the most decadent fried rice I've ever made in my life.
omg I can't believe I've never tried this as someone who LOVES Thanksgiving food and is also of Chinese descent so I always have leftover rice lmaooo. I wonder if a bit of cranberry sauce works well with it?? 👀
@@mabellemichelle Yeah, little bits of cranberry sauce mixed in with turkey chunks.
TIL Schmaltz is rendered chicken fat. Very cool recipes!
The betel leaf rice looks alot like greek dish "spinach rice" witch is rice flavored with spinach and other fresh herbs / greens and usually with a side of feta cheese. The texture thought is not that dry, it's more wet like a loose risotto and uses a lot of olive oil for flavour.
Basal rice sounds crazy, but I want to try it
Are there ways to make the first two if you have a basic spring-based rice cooker instead of one of those fancy timer-based ones?
What brand is that huge knife at the beginning of the video?
My man is using a Dark Souls weapon to cut vegetables.
It's a Husa Knife. They're not available outside of China right now, but we have an acquaintance that's working on trying to export them. When/if they get that set up, y'all will be the first to know: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husa_knife
I (Chris) personally prefer the caidao (Chinese chef's knife), but right now our Husa knife is sharp and our caidao is not, and we're being a bit lazy.
Making flavoured rice is pretty normal in Indonesia, we got our own nasi liwet, and we usually use coconut milk in addition to water as its cooking liquid. Some form of nasi liwet uses kaffir lime leaves as flavouring, but betel leaves? That's new...
I miss Indonesian food :/ What I wouldn't give for some Nasi Kuning...
@@ChineseCookingDemystified let's be honest. Who doesn't? Less than a dollar at the traditional market near my home and you get a plate full of nasi kuning and its assortment of toppings.
What is that Klingon-weapon-like curved cleaver you are using? I want one! I have never seen a cleaver shaped like that. Oh, and the rice variations look delicious.
We want one of those curved cleavers, too! I scrolled through the comments looking for a shopping source. Seriously, where can we find one?
What is the knife that is being used in the video to chop the jicama called?
What sort of knife did you use to slice the betel leaves? That looks very useful!
These look great!! Just curious though, what is “schmaltz”?
Chicken fat
I think the second method will be probably great for cooking brown-white rice mix.
That's a cool cleaver you got there! Also 8:11 - is he eating air? My dog does that too. I don't understand her sometimes...
He does that when he gets excited...
Now he associates sitting on his stool outside in front of the camera with treats, and so air licks vigorously. He'll never be Francis...
@@ChineseCookingDemystified LOL! I enjoyed that cooking channel too. 🐩
Does dried betel leaf work ? I never tried it fresh so I wouldn’t know. I think I saw fresh betel leaves once in my asian supermarket but I’m not sure.
Try an Indian supermarket. They really enjoy their "paan".
Jicama is sold as ‘yam bean, in Australia.
I'm not a fan of the betel leaf smell, but my Dad eats it with the nut a lot. We have the betel leaf plant and the betel nut tree in our home.
Note that we're actually using Wild Betel Leaf (Piper sarmentosum), not Betel Leaf (Piper Betle). Our screw up, apologies.
what is that knife? it´s beautyful.
I just realized you guys don't have a video on Hainanese chicken rice! Is that in the pipeline?
Great video, will definitely put the recipes to work.
Potentially, we need to eat around Hainan/Wenchang to help get a base for it. The Straits variety (i.e. that in Singapore/Malaysia) is internationally the popular sort - and there's plenty of good resources out there for it (including the K L Liew video shown in the video) - so we haven't been in a rush.
I didn't know you were "allowed" to open the rice cooker before it is finished. I thought it would just lock tight until the rice is done.
Yeah best not to make a habit of it, but once real quickstyle doesn't do any harm
God i love the fry in your voice