Hey, so this video was just for fun - proper recipe video coming next week. A few notes nonetheless: 1. If you guys are interested at all in more of this sort of content… definitely let us know. Living in Bangkok, we might be able to make this “International Supermarket Challenge” a bit of a series. In Bangkok we’ve also got access to Indian, Myanmar, and Middle Eastern Grocers too. Japanese and (obviously) Thai as well… but those might be cheating a bit because we already have some more prior knowledge on those cuisines. 2. Note that Nopales *are* definitely a touch slimey, it might not be the most beloved to the average Western palette? Like, Steph enjoys Natto and Okra, which are two other ingredients that’re slimy. My Dad overheard Steph absolutely raving about the Nopales and he was excited to try the dish, only to be a little… confused. I’ve heard that you can salt the Nopales like ~30 minutes prior to blanching to remove a bit of the slime - would love to hear any other strategies for those in the know! 3. The nopales in the liangban dish also feels a little like another interesting Chinese ingredient, Gongcai (贡菜), which is dried celtuce. It’s eaten reconstituted and a common order for Sichuan hotpot. Gongcai is a bit crunchier than nopales, but they both got a nice “meaty” bite. 4. The palm flower eaten in Yunnan is always picked fresh from the tree in springtime when the flower is young. They’ll got bitter and coarse once they’re matured. The zongbao flower in Yunnan is slightly bitter as well, locals also consider it an acquire taste for out of towners. However, people would blanch it to lighten the bitterness, or soak then swapping the water several times for the same purpose. 5. After working with serranos for the first time in a long time… I’m not sure if they’re my favorite fresh chili? They’ve got a nice kick, but especially in something like a hongsanduo I do wish had something that was a little more fragrant. I dunno, it could’ve just been the serranos that I had at my disposal, but I think I might swap for jalapeno if I tried this again in the USA. 6. Beer is not a great substitute for Shaoxing wine, but depending on what you’re making, I’d put it in the category of ‘better than nothing’. Our Shaoxing wine substitute of choice is (a cheap) brandy, and of course everyone else’s is a dry sherry. We didn’t pick any up as my parents are teetotalers, and the bottle would end up just rusting away in the cupboard. 7. Something else that might’ve been a variable with the chorizo hongsanduo - because the chorizo already has a good bit of salt in it, that could’ve been the reason the tomatoes leeched out so much water. If I was trying it again, I think I might remove the chorizo after frying, then add back in at the end. Still, reducing into a sauce was still pretty delicious nonetheless. 8. So the atole packet of drink we saw at the supermarket, we got some and I (Steph) really love it! It’s awesome mixing with milk, which reminds me of two Chinese dessert/sweet soups, one is the rice pudding from Yunnan (牛奶米布) and the other is the peanut/walnut/apricot seed putting from Guangdong (花生糊/核桃糊/杏仁糊). They’re all thickened with starch, maize in atole’s case and rice in both Yunnan rice pudding and Cantonese peanut pudding, and are all rich, creamy, and soothing. That's all for now. Flying back to Bangkok tomorrow morning :)
Don't poop on this video. Many of us (myself very much included) loved the first video and hoped for more parts. In a sea of bland, generic recipes, and unearned attempts at gatekeeping authenticity, these pockets of creativity (Mandy Lee deserves a shoutout too) are so refreshing. I adore your normal videos, and the opportunity to gain insight into Chinese food and food culture, but as everyone else says, there's something fundamentally relatable about this that makes it such a great watch.
I think this type of video is great! It's helpful to see how different people improvise with the ingredients at hand, where it works, and where it could use a more bespoke adaptation, because it can teach a lot about technique and order of operations. Of course, your usual style of video is top notch; You'd never catch me complaining about that. Ultimately, it's the insightful commentary that really helps me get the most out of your content, and that streak is present in all of your work.
Hi. You mention eating the flowers of the Windmill palm. If that's trachycarpus fortunei then I have 3 of them in my garden here in the UK! They flower every spring. I'd love to try eating their flowers. I think all 3 of mine are male since I've never had any fruit. Can you eat the male flowers or is it the female flowers or both?
Curious why she holds the microphone rather than clipping it on. Does it not pickup the sound well or is it just her preference? Not trying to be rude, just curious
There is a whole phenomenon/culinary tradition across the American continent of the Asian diasporas preparing/adapting traditional recipes with local ingredients. For example in Peru, there is a really popular culinary tradition/cuisine called "chifa" which originates from the Cantonese diaspora in Lima preparing Cantonese dishes with local Peruvian ingredients. I would love to see more videos like this, it's an expression of an American (as in the American continent, not just the US) culinary tradition that dates back to the colonial days.
@@guillermo9256these were the Chinese that immigrated to Cuba and then followed the Cubans to the USA. Many inter married like a HS best friend I had. His grandma was Chinese, Mom and Dad Cuban. Chino-Latino spots we call em. I remember Sundays after church stopping by the local one. They spoke Spanish with a Caribbean dialect like us. As a kid in the 80s I found that fascinating and read books that talked about the migration trends of NY back then. Yeah, visit a library and look up shiit. Lol
Love Chifa rice. Looking for a local Peruvian restaurant in NoCal…lots in S/SW Florida Also, I grew up with Puerto Rican arroz chino. This brings memories
Did you know? The Spanish word for pacaya, "tepejilote", comes from Nahuatl tepexilotl, which means "mountain maize", because the immature flowers look so similar to an ear of corn. But it's actually a palm tree!
In the US, most foods are Cal-mex or Tex-mex. Alot of so called Mexican food was invented North of the border, under Mexican rule, or in the US rule, using some Mexican ingredients. Then we got food that was invented in the border. Like Nachos and Caesar Salad. Made for Americans, and in Caesar's case, by Americans. but in Mexico, and then we got influx from various immigrant. In the US Oaxacan food is considered next level because of it's unique and exotic ingredients. WE got one old restaurant in Los Angeles that has been here a long time promoting the cuisine, and despite what Oaxaca is like, you don't go to the streets and the restauants are less common but they tend to be larger and nicer, when you find them. I am a bit evil, and my assistant was getting me mad, and I knew she was part Oaxacan. I gave her family a large amount of Columbian 85% cocoa chocalate with little sugar. My assistant ate half, but the rest manage to get to her mother, which meant Mole. Knowing the female of the family was going to gather to make it, forcing my assistant to waste her weekend being told by her mother how incompetent she is in making said mole. Unfortunately, her mother knew how incompetent her daughter was, and the rest of the family made the mole and sent her to the side. and this is how bad my assistant was. despite my presents of Pitaya, her mother's favorite fruit and good chocolate, no Mole came my way, and I know they were old country Mexican, not the ones found in the Ghettos of Los Angeles. I am willing my assistant left it at home because she is mad at me.
She used a pretty common things in my opinion, they're not popular in every single region in Mexico, but still common, I was sure she wouldn't have any issues as Mexican an Chinese cuisine have similarities, as a matter of fact the sweet bean tamal was a Chinese invention when they arrive back in the big migration in 1910
@@slewone4905 I swear to God, the Burrito (as we know it) was invented in California, probably by farm workers who needed a way to pack their lunch. So they wrapped it in a huge tortilla made from flour about the size of a comal, stuffing it with the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it. Down here (Bajio) they have burrotes, which are like the sickly children of the burritos you’ll find in the San Francisco Mission District. A couple of restaurants have opened (and closed) that sell California style burritos, but it’s just not the same. But to be fair, they have excellent gorditas and there’s a lady that sells them on the corner across the street from my depa. I eat her gorditas once or twice a week. Anyway, I consider Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex to be regional Mexican foods. I don’t know about Texas, but even Cal-Mex has sub-varieties. Northern California is slightly different than Southern California. And I believe that the nachos piled high with all sorts of ingredients was originally a San Diego thing.
Nopales are such an underrated ingredient in the US; I'm glad Steph liked them! A restaurant by where I grew up made the most killer nopales breakfast tacos. I miss them
The traditional, at least for me, way to see nopales is in a nopales salad. Cooked nopales, boiled until water is normal looking with garlic, salt, and onion. Cooled, strain out all other ingredients then add to finely diced tomato, white onion, cilantro and a fresh lime on top. Add salt to taste. Nopales and egg are delicious, I also use it in stews as a great filler. After cooking dry out for a few hours then freeze. It holds for a very long time.
You just made Mexican food. I've seen that cold dish in mercados (market) and the chorizo dish is literally just a chorizo salsa. It's awesome how cuisines are alike and different
Chinese/Mexican who grew up in California here. It was so fun to see this! I basically only shop at asian grocery stores, Costco, and the occasional hispanic grocery store (mostly cause it's the most economic and best variety over more mainstream western grocery stores). I'm glad you guys tried to pick up some uniquely mexican ingredients! I hope it inspired people to branch out a bit and not fear ingredients. There's no hard rules or traditions when it comes to cooking. It's all about ingredient knowledge and techniques!
I’m so incredibly impressed by her ability to identify and strategize how to use some of these relatively obscure Mexican ingredients. I grew up in Mexico and go back every year, and it’s really not normal even for folks there to know how to cook with many of these ingredients. I’ve been following your channel for years to help me understand my favorite Chinese dishes in San Francisco, and yet this video provides me with so much new context about your channel’s depth of culinary knowledge, wow
I would adore a series on assembling Chinese-Like Food From Mexican Ingredients, my area is extremely Latin American and while I could get some Chinese ingredients from Amazon, it'd be way more cost-effective and better supporting of my local businesses to assemble a combination of ingredients from the local Latin-American-Market that still gets good approximations of Chinese flavors.
Fresh ingredients > "authenticity" every time. Get what you can local and fresh, and just use Chinese flavor balance/technique and it's going to be delicious. I do this a lot with Thai and Viet dishes, since many ingredients aren't readily available, but local Thai and Vietnamese residents have found good substitutes from a variety of markets.
There are many ways to remove the slime from nopales but the best way is to just dry saute it until the slime evaporates, then you can incorporate it into your dish. Its hard to overcook nopales but they will loose their bright green color. However, my family prefers it a bit slimy, so we don't cook it that far. Cueritos (pig skin) and nopales are both commenly eaten cold in salads and as appetizers and your dish looks like a perfect combination.
Im Mexican-American, Chicano, I love Mexican food but to me my favorite food is asian food specifically from South East Asia. However, Chineese food in Mexico is AMAZING!!!! just as good as the Chineese food from the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles. This was so much fun to watch
when i was still learning to properly plan meals throughout a week I subbed sausage for ground pork in chinese on many an occasion. My parents (chinese immigrants to the US) would also stir fry italian sausage chopped with bell peppers and onions on weeknights when i was a kid.
😀What a powerful idea! 😀 This kind of happened a long time ago in Peru when a lot of Chinese immigrants came to live, some centuries ago. They created very famous Peruvian dishes that today are a success. 😄 I hope that these new video styles would also be a success.🙂
I know how Steph feels when she said "I want to buy more'. When I was in the Navy, one of my quiet joys was walking into grocery stores at different ports to see what that nation held dear. In France, they have aisles of local mustards but 'French's' brand American mustard is on the shelf... 'for the kids'. I never saw a western style grocery store in Italy, but the 'corner deli' was on every corner and had cured meats of every kind and cheeses too. In Spain we found at more than one port the same grocer with this insane meat counter that had everything from Aardvark to Zebra meat and everything in between... and yeah, Indiana Jones kind of things with snake and monkey meat. Greece a lot of olive oil. I wanted to go see Tunis but.... I wasn't allowed off the ship due to security concerns.... everyone else got to get off, just not me. Bangkok, aisles of fish sauce... and, ....I was in a hospital in Bangkok keeping an eye on a friend, they let me order food off the hospital menu.... 12 sections, one for each culture they have come thru the doors. For hospital food, it was amazing.
Omg this is an amazing video. As mexican (and nicaraguan) american learning and adventuring with chinese cuisine, this is so relatable. Thank you and a big fan!!
I am so happy to see this video! I am mexican american and it was so fun to see. So glad ya'll enjoyed Atole it is a favorite childhood drink of mine. Really hope ya'll do more of these in the future! side note: my grandparents found peppercorn at the market and it was hilarious as we all got the numbing feeling for the first time.
I’d love to see more of this sort of content. How exciting to stretch your culinary muscles while highlighting broad similarities between cuisines at the same time!
1970 growing up In Downey California , I had a great friend Calvin Chung. We were middle school 6th grad to 9th grade, we made our food and sold it to our teachers then students, we purchased bikes and video games. We bought to school Tacos, burritos, white tortillas and Calvin brought Cho mien and egg rolls,. We always fought over taquitos , no its egg roll. Surfer Frank Downey ❤
Heads up if you ever use any dried chillies from Mexico or in mexican cooking. We usually take out the seeds rehydrate them in hot water. You can either blend into a paste to be added as a base for a soup, mole which is similar to curry, or made into salsa which calls for blended or chopped peppers. The cactus though actually pretty spot on when we it comes to preparing it. We usually either grill or cook it on a stove. You can add tomatoes or eggs to it but it is good on its own. Definitely going to try to make that nopal dish you made looks like the perfect blend of cultures.
In Mexico the Cantonese cooks often prepare nopali with beef as you Would with bok Choi; also I saw Cantonese sundrying chorizos in order to use them as lap cheong. A note on cooking nopal: traditionally you put a red hot copper coin when it's boiling to keep them from becoming pale, it's a traditional thing and it kinda works altough I don't fully understand the chemistry behind. Making dousha with Mexican beans it's actually kinda horrendous, many people here hate dousha/anko wrongly because some onigiri sellers used to do it like that and sold it at anime events, it was horrendous, Eurasian beans and American beans are from different families plus canned beans are cooked with onion and salt I would recommend you to investigate the recipe for caldo de camarón, you would love it, also there are a number of street food preparations that have cuerito or chicharrón (pork skin) and nopal
That's intersting to know about the bean paste/refried beans dynamic. Although if there're canned ones that're not fried with onion and salt, then I think that would still work since there's also bean paste that's made with kidney beans and lima beans. And yeah, I do really love caldo de res, it's a fix for my soup craving when visiting America haha.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Hi Steph and Chris I really believe it would be actually easy to find saltless and onionless beans abroad as here even the dolar store brands are made thinking about either main dishes or side dishes; after giving it some thought "Cocina japonesa con Yuta" does prepare anko out of raw black beans on one of its videos, probably would be good to try Caldo de res is indeed nice, but caldo de camarón is spicy, slightly thick and packed with flavor, also is made with a common ingredient in China, dehydrated shrimps; here it's often served as a snack at cantinas and bars Thanks for another great video
@@ChineseCookingDemystified 4:21 Some of the dry leaves at that section of the grocery store are used as home remedies, 'Hierba para la Tos' or 'Tilo Tea' is prepared as a bitter infusion to thwart away a wet cough spell. The corn mustache is used as a diuretic infusion. The avocado leaves are used as condiments. 6:01 The Pacaya are the male flowers inflorescence of palms.
Looking tasty. With Indo-Chinese being major with Chinese cooked to Indian tastes, what might the vice versa be like or using Peruvian ingredients for this kind of video?
This is awesome, my parents love cueros (the pickled pork skin) and ive never thought of having them served with nopales like that. Im gonna have to try it!
Seriously fusion videos are always great because you back up the foundation of the dishes .. and Caribbean Chinese (be it Jamaican Trinidadian Guyanese Dominican, etc ) is some of the best fusion
One of the things I really liked about your videos from China were the ones that talked about the development in modern Chinese cuisine. I think the idea of you talking about international culinary mash-ups is a natural progression and I would love to see more of these.
There's a whole world of latin-chinese fusion food that might be fun to try! Chifa - chinese peruvian fusion, would be great to see on this channel (even though it's a little outside your usual portfolio)!
I love your dish. Here in Mexico we consume pork skin (like the one you showed) pickled in vinegar, and we also mostly used it cold, as a garnish together with cabbage, lettuce, carrot and onion and many other vegetables including nopales (cactus)
As soon as I saw Steph pick up the nopales, I knew something good was gonna happen! I love nopales in tacos, and with the pork skin it sounds like a dynamite combo!
The way you used the nopales reminds me of how my mother often uses them. A tasty favourite is a nopal and black bean salad done pretty similar to your liangban. Awesome video, loved the idea!
Honestly these types of things are really interesting and helps inspire ideas! I'm living abroad and I love experimenting with new ingredients, and these are super cool to me.
This was super interesting! I would love to see more challenges in this vein. Hearing Steph explain why she was making her choices hit the right spot of infotainment to light up my brain.
A good trick for reducing an overly saucy dish like the Chorizo Hongsanduo is that you can dip out some liquid and place it into another pan. The more surface area you have available the quicker you can reduce. Then you just mix the reduced liquid back into the main pot when you believe you have achieved the proper thickness. I've done this with 4 pans before when trying to reduce a ton of braising liquid to a highly concentrated sauce.
Oooh this gives me ideas: - Chipotle Pepper Mapo Tofu - Salt and Pepper Chicharron with Five Spice, Garlic, Chilli and Scallions - Mexican Corn Tortilla.. not sure - Cotija cheese... no idea - Mexican Drinking Chocolate.. not sure - Hibiscus flowers... not sure - Pickled Jalapenos.. maybe could go in Chee Cheong Fun or used as a substite for Chinese mustard greens - Tajín.. not sure - Mole Paste fried rice, or a Mole hot pot - Masa Harina.. no idea Lol this is hard...
I just stayed with some friends who had only nonstick pans and a similar electric range. They didn't really cook for themselves so I cooked a bunch. It was horrible. So good on you for powering through.
Dude, as a mexican chinese person myself, I just gotta say that this is kinda curious. I mean, yeah, U can use beer as a replacement for cooking wine, but some other ideas are tequila or mezcal, wich also add a sweet aroma to the food. About chilli, we actually prefer using dried puya chilli or arbol because they are spicier than guajillo, wich only adds color. And, of course, nopales are a favorite as U cooked it in the video. But, any way, every mexican chinese family has learned their own way to homecooking, and that's the most interesting part, there are common spots, but is never a rule at all.
Thank you! This was so interesting, and you two have a way of making it also entertaining. I think this type of cross-cultural exploration is exactly what the world needs more of. Please keep doing this kind of video!
I love this! As a Mexican-American who loves international cuisine, I routinely like to think about how Mexican gastronomy can intermingle with other cultures, especially since my experience is limited to TexMex, and this is such a great representation & example of how fusion cuisines can develop, especially between the Asian & LatAm diaspora
This is such a great concept and hope to see more. It is so fascinating having steph as such a knowledgeable chef incorporate uncommon local ingredients into chinese dishes
I love when you do these kinds of video. They're wonderful and make me think of the adjustments that my mum made to all her recipes when she migrated to the UK.
Great content! Slime tip: Adding a tablespoon of baking soda to the boiling water when the nopales have changed color cuts the slime. You can also cook them without water, stirring occasionally; the slime comes out and gets consumed during cooking.
One of your best videos. It requires you to generalize from your knowledge of Chinese cooking and adapt. This is often what I have to do when I live in areas that don't have a lot of native Asian ingredients. Thanks!
I love this so much. You guys are always great at illustrating how flexible cooking is but you guys have * really * outdone yourselves this time. 10/10
Great cooking challenge segment. I think you folks came up with interesting dishes pretty well. 👍 Take Care and have a safe journey back home. God Bless! 🙏🙏🙏
As a lifelong American and white person the idea of blanching pork skin and then basically just eating it is blowing my mind SO MUCH, for me pork skin has always been exclusively for frying up crispy with a little salt.
This episode was so well done and it's interesting to see how people from different backgrounds use ingredients. I think it'd be interesting to see an Arabic Ingredients, Chinese Dishes episode (not that I'm biased or anything lol) but there's many unique ingredients to Arabic cuisine like tahini, pomegranate syrup, dates (and date syrup), cheeses, spices, etc...
Also the chorizo hongsanduo, while very different flavor profile, reminds me a lot of Picadillo... which is served over rice! I'd recommend looking it up and give it a try sometime! My mom taught it to me, who learned it from her grandma, though she skipped the olives herself, signature but not critical imho
Hi! I've watched so many of your videos over the years and they getting even better still. Just wanted to congratulate you on the great work you're doing after not commenting for so long :)
I live near Vancouver where we have a HUGE asian population, so finding two asian supermarkets accross from eachother on the same street is not uncommon here.... however mexican grocers and resturants are not that common, and when they are its small or not that good. In my city, the best asian ggrocer we have is a small vietnamese market. We also get a lot of seasonal mexican workers that come here to help with harvest time. Because there is actually a very large crossover in the type of ingredients used in mexican and vietnamese cooking, the vietnamese market ended up being where all the mexicans shop.... and now its basically a vietnamese/mexican grocer. Its a great place to shop with a very eclectic mix of ingredients..... you can get fresh corn tortillas, vietnamese pork patties, plantains, japanese rice crackers, banana flower, pho noodles, creme de leche, filipino longanisa, all in one place... and then grab a banh mi on the way out. This video really reminded me of how cool it is when cultures collide but they see enough similarities that it makes more sense to assimilate together than to separate.
I live in Texas and noticed the similarities between Vietnamese and Mexican ingredients myself. There was a time when I was at a food truck that claimed to have Vietnamese and Mexican fusion tacos. I am a Latino and was fascinated. They were basically Mexican meats with Vietnamese toppings in corn tortillas. It was absolutely magical! Some of the best street tacos I have ever had in the whole of my life!
I see this ethnicity combo so often in stores in my area. The woman that runs the Chinese grocery near my house is from Latin America and she stocks a lot of Mexican staples and produce
I had such an amazing time watching this video, so wholesome! love to find something on my recomendations that isnt some over the top personality and just someone having fun with food and culture
Hi, I'm a first nations person (Haudenosaunee) and that white corn is a really common staple food in a lot of indigenous cooking. I recommend with what you can have and what you can find online learning about the parts of our cooking we're willing to share. I'd love to see what you guys make. :)
A couple of notes for you. I hope they’re useful. • There’s this thing in Mexico called a comal that has that some of the features of a wok. It has a rounded bottom and curved sides to hold oil and then a flat part further out for keeping the food warm or for heating tortillas. (There’s also a flat griddle called a comal.) It’s used for frying quesadillas made with the raw masa they use for tortillas, among other things (like pambosas and tacos dorados). • I like to eat my nopales grilled. You can do this in a pan, but I prefer grilled like on a barbecue type grill (called a parrilla). It still has that slimy sap, but I dunno. Maybe it sets up better when it’s grilled over a flame? • There’s a Mexican town on the border of Mexico and California called Mexicali. (It has a sister town directly across the border called Calexico.) Anyway, Mexicali has a large ethnic Chinese population for many years, like maybe a hundred years or more. They’re famous for their distinctive cha siu. As you probably can guess, the Chinese cuisine has been adapted to the locally available ingredients, but I don’t think it’s been adapted to Mexican tastes. It’s like its own weird thing, but highly regarded by famous food critics like Jonathan Gold and Gustavo Arrellano. • Chinese food is quite popular in Mexico, but like what happened in America, it changed to please the Mexican palate. How do I know this? I’m from Los Angeles and lived for decades near Monterrey Park. I also spent a summer in Guandong on a summer program and (in the early 80s) visited for vacation. I think I have a rough idea of what Chinese food tastes like, and I have a notion of the vast variety of regional Chinese cooking.) As a result, there are a lot of Asian ingredients available like bottled sauces and dofu. I haven’t found Chinese cabbage yet. And the Dimsum is pretty weak, if you can even find it. • Lastly, you really should do a lengthy visit of Mexico. I think you’d both enjoy it and you’d find many opportunities to make Chinese food with Mexican ingredients or even combine the two cuisines? But also, Mexican food kicks ass. Obviously, your use of habanero chiles tells me you love or would love Mexican food. Also, Mexican food has a lot of regional variety. I hope you have an opportunity to explore all the different types. I’m an Asian American that immigrated to Mexico a dozen years ago. At home still eat a lot of sticky rice (calrose) in a rice bowl, with a guisado on top. I like to put shoyu on my carnitas. I can’t speak for all of Mexico, but in my area (Bajío) there is locally made fresh dofu. I eat a lot of street food from sidewalk stalls. (I do miss the variety of ethnic food in Los Angeles, though.)
My Mexican sister-in-law makes a nopal salad with blanched nopales, the Mexican holy trinity of onion, jalapeno, and tomato, lime juice, and cilantro. The lime juice seems to cut the sliminess quite well.
This brings me back in the days of high schools. I remember going to my Mexican friend’s house to hang out and we were kinda hungry. He said all they had left were left over Mexican rice and I made egg fried rice with it. It wasn’t bad but definitely is different. Also for being in Texas for a while now I have to say that Nopales has grown on me and is one of my favorite things to eat. 😂
When i was in Sweden. I always went Asian stores to get my dried peppers(to make Mexican food), you would be sort of surprised how similar some dried oeppers are to Mexican dried peppers 😊
Most of 4:19 herbs are meant to use for making tea. "Hierba para la tos" is 'herb for the cough' . cola de caballo is usually meant for teas but you could use to make great shampoo, avocado leaves for teas as well but also aromatics in dishes like meats or beans. 5:02 is a mixture for tea of cola de caballo and corn 'beard'. must add that teas in Mexico are mostly done for medicinal purposes.
The pacaya might be good in luosifen; it was trendy a few years back. The nopales is good salted and grilled with olive oil if you're not jazzed about the texture, but pickling should help, too. Good in gumbo. Probably good in a lot of traditionally starch thickened dishes, the kind your mom throws together to eat over rice
being half brazilian and living in germany, my mom and i have been going to asian (and russian) aswell as african grocery stores as long as i can remember to get ingredients like maniok, beans or sweetened condensed milk. There really aren't any South American grocery stores around in my area bc immigration from there to germany isn't as common, so i'm even more thankful for the cultural diversity
??? Pouteria sapota, the mamey sapote, is a species of tree native to Mexico and Central America. The tree is also cultivated in the Caribbean. Its fruit is eaten in many Latin American countries. The fruit is made into foods such as milkshakes and ice cream.
When you were in the dried products section, the vast majority of the dried stuff are herbs, barks, leaves, etc, used as traditional medicine. To make sure that you get the spices you need, you must look for them packaged separately, not mixed with anything else.
I really like this sort of content. Its always interesting to see If you can't find as many unknown ingredients in Bangkok, maybe change the series to feature a sigle unknown ingredient and make a single recipe
Hey, so this video was just for fun - proper recipe video coming next week. A few notes nonetheless:
1. If you guys are interested at all in more of this sort of content… definitely let us know. Living in Bangkok, we might be able to make this “International Supermarket Challenge” a bit of a series. In Bangkok we’ve also got access to Indian, Myanmar, and Middle Eastern Grocers too. Japanese and (obviously) Thai as well… but those might be cheating a bit because we already have some more prior knowledge on those cuisines.
2. Note that Nopales *are* definitely a touch slimey, it might not be the most beloved to the average Western palette? Like, Steph enjoys Natto and Okra, which are two other ingredients that’re slimy. My Dad overheard Steph absolutely raving about the Nopales and he was excited to try the dish, only to be a little… confused. I’ve heard that you can salt the Nopales like ~30 minutes prior to blanching to remove a bit of the slime - would love to hear any other strategies for those in the know!
3. The nopales in the liangban dish also feels a little like another interesting Chinese ingredient, Gongcai (贡菜), which is dried celtuce. It’s eaten reconstituted and a common order for Sichuan hotpot. Gongcai is a bit crunchier than nopales, but they both got a nice “meaty” bite.
4. The palm flower eaten in Yunnan is always picked fresh from the tree in springtime when the flower is young. They’ll got bitter and coarse once they’re matured. The zongbao flower in Yunnan is slightly bitter as well, locals also consider it an acquire taste for out of towners. However, people would blanch it to lighten the bitterness, or soak then swapping the water several times for the same purpose.
5. After working with serranos for the first time in a long time… I’m not sure if they’re my favorite fresh chili? They’ve got a nice kick, but especially in something like a hongsanduo I do wish had something that was a little more fragrant. I dunno, it could’ve just been the serranos that I had at my disposal, but I think I might swap for jalapeno if I tried this again in the USA.
6. Beer is not a great substitute for Shaoxing wine, but depending on what you’re making, I’d put it in the category of ‘better than nothing’. Our Shaoxing wine substitute of choice is (a cheap) brandy, and of course everyone else’s is a dry sherry. We didn’t pick any up as my parents are teetotalers, and the bottle would end up just rusting away in the cupboard.
7. Something else that might’ve been a variable with the chorizo hongsanduo - because the chorizo already has a good bit of salt in it, that could’ve been the reason the tomatoes leeched out so much water. If I was trying it again, I think I might remove the chorizo after frying, then add back in at the end. Still, reducing into a sauce was still pretty delicious nonetheless.
8. So the atole packet of drink we saw at the supermarket, we got some and I (Steph) really love it! It’s awesome mixing with milk, which reminds me of two Chinese dessert/sweet soups, one is the rice pudding from Yunnan (牛奶米布) and the other is the peanut/walnut/apricot seed putting from Guangdong (花生糊/核桃糊/杏仁糊). They’re all thickened with starch, maize in atole’s case and rice in both Yunnan rice pudding and Cantonese peanut pudding, and are all rich, creamy, and soothing.
That's all for now. Flying back to Bangkok tomorrow morning :)
Don't poop on this video. Many of us (myself very much included) loved the first video and hoped for more parts. In a sea of bland, generic recipes, and unearned attempts at gatekeeping authenticity, these pockets of creativity (Mandy Lee deserves a shoutout too) are so refreshing.
I adore your normal videos, and the opportunity to gain insight into Chinese food and food culture, but as everyone else says, there's something fundamentally relatable about this that makes it such a great watch.
I think this type of video is great! It's helpful to see how different people improvise with the ingredients at hand, where it works, and where it could use a more bespoke adaptation, because it can teach a lot about technique and order of operations.
Of course, your usual style of video is top notch; You'd never catch me complaining about that. Ultimately, it's the insightful commentary that really helps me get the most out of your content, and that streak is present in all of your work.
Hi. You mention eating the flowers of the Windmill palm. If that's trachycarpus fortunei then I have 3 of them in my garden here in the UK! They flower every spring. I'd love to try eating their flowers. I think all 3 of mine are male since I've never had any fruit. Can you eat the male flowers or is it the female flowers or both?
Curious why she holds the microphone rather than clipping it on. Does it not pickup the sound well or is it just her preference? Not trying to be rude, just curious
Also, I love the idea of the series!
There is a whole phenomenon/culinary tradition across the American continent of the Asian diasporas preparing/adapting traditional recipes with local ingredients. For example in Peru, there is a really popular culinary tradition/cuisine called "chifa" which originates from the Cantonese diaspora in Lima preparing Cantonese dishes with local Peruvian ingredients. I would love to see more videos like this, it's an expression of an American (as in the American continent, not just the US) culinary tradition that dates back to the colonial days.
i immediately thought of chifa as soon as i saw this video!! im glad someone brought it up 😊
The rabbit hole goes deep, look up chaufa amazonico, its a cantonese style feied rice, made with the traditional ingredients of the amazon rainforest
There are also chino latino style restaurants in New York, slight different in their conception but still really cool
@@guillermo9256these were the Chinese that immigrated to Cuba and then followed the Cubans to the USA. Many inter married like a HS best friend I had. His grandma was Chinese, Mom and Dad Cuban. Chino-Latino spots we call em. I remember Sundays after church stopping by the local one. They spoke Spanish with a Caribbean dialect like us. As a kid in the 80s I found that fascinating and read books that talked about the migration trends of NY back then. Yeah, visit a library and look up shiit. Lol
Love Chifa rice. Looking for a local Peruvian restaurant in NoCal…lots in S/SW Florida
Also, I grew up with Puerto Rican arroz chino. This brings memories
I love Chinese-Mexican cuisine. There's a lot of Chinese descendants in the Mexicali/Calexico area.
That’s wonderful to know! Thanks for sharing
Also chinese food is Mexicali's tipical dish/food
mexican food is bomb, chinese food is bomb, so using some trial and error and combining the two just sounds heavenly!
I can confirm, many Asians in Mexicali. I ❤ Asian people and their food. Saludos!
Has anyone from Cali ever heard of historical accounts/rumours of Chinese railway builders, being able to understand Mayan descendant tribesmen?
Did you know? The Spanish word for pacaya, "tepejilote", comes from Nahuatl tepexilotl, which means "mountain maize", because the immature flowers look so similar to an ear of corn. But it's actually a palm tree!
Chocolate comes from Nahuatl Xocolatl
there's no way anyone would know that, but cool info, thanks!
@nonstandard5492 Haven’t you heard of a rhetorical question?
We call it pacaya in Guatemala, we cook it covered in batter.
Ok
Even as a Mexican, you tried out a couple ingredients I've never seen before! Just goes to show how diverse our cuisine is.
to be honest a lot of mexican stores just whole stock a lot of latin american dishes so it could also be that its very interesting!!
In the US, most foods are Cal-mex or Tex-mex. Alot of so called Mexican food was invented North of the border, under Mexican rule, or in the US rule, using some Mexican ingredients. Then we got food that was invented in the border. Like Nachos and Caesar Salad. Made for Americans, and in Caesar's case, by Americans. but in Mexico, and then we got influx from various immigrant. In the US Oaxacan food is considered next level because of it's unique and exotic ingredients. WE got one old restaurant in Los Angeles that has been here a long time promoting the cuisine, and despite what Oaxaca is like, you don't go to the streets and the restauants are less common but they tend to be larger and nicer, when you find them.
I am a bit evil, and my assistant was getting me mad, and I knew she was part Oaxacan. I gave her family a large amount of Columbian 85% cocoa chocalate with little sugar. My assistant ate half, but the rest manage to get to her mother, which meant Mole. Knowing the female of the family was going to gather to make it, forcing my assistant to waste her weekend being told by her mother how incompetent she is in making said mole. Unfortunately, her mother knew how incompetent her daughter was, and the rest of the family made the mole and sent her to the side. and this is how bad my assistant was. despite my presents of Pitaya, her mother's favorite fruit and good chocolate, no Mole came my way, and I know they were old country Mexican, not the ones found in the Ghettos of Los Angeles. I am willing my assistant left it at home because she is mad at me.
Al chile nos vale verga we
She used a pretty common things in my opinion, they're not popular in every single region in Mexico, but still common, I was sure she wouldn't have any issues as Mexican an Chinese cuisine have similarities, as a matter of fact the sweet bean tamal was a Chinese invention when they arrive back in the big migration in 1910
@@slewone4905 I swear to God, the Burrito (as we know it) was invented in California, probably by farm workers who needed a way to pack their lunch. So they wrapped it in a huge tortilla made from flour about the size of a comal, stuffing it with the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.
Down here (Bajio) they have burrotes, which are like the sickly children of the burritos you’ll find in the San Francisco Mission District. A couple of restaurants have opened (and closed) that sell California style burritos, but it’s just not the same. But to be fair, they have excellent gorditas and there’s a lady that sells them on the corner across the street from my depa. I eat her gorditas once or twice a week.
Anyway, I consider Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex to be regional Mexican foods. I don’t know about Texas, but even Cal-Mex has sub-varieties. Northern California is slightly different than Southern California. And I believe that the nachos piled high with all sorts of ingredients was originally a San Diego thing.
Nopales are such an underrated ingredient in the US; I'm glad Steph liked them! A restaurant by where I grew up made the most killer nopales breakfast tacos. I miss them
The traditional, at least for me, way to see nopales is in a nopales salad. Cooked nopales, boiled until water is normal looking with garlic, salt, and onion. Cooled, strain out all other ingredients then add to finely diced tomato, white onion, cilantro and a fresh lime on top. Add salt to taste.
Nopales and egg are delicious, I also use it in stews as a great filler. After cooking dry out for a few hours then freeze. It holds for a very long time.
Yeah, I love them, been eating nopales as my vegetables since veg is a rare sight when eating out in the US haha.
I live in Germany and I miss my momma's nopales tacos sooo much
You just made Mexican food. I've seen that cold dish in mercados (market) and the chorizo dish is literally just a chorizo salsa. It's awesome how cuisines are alike and different
the only no, it is the soy sauce and the sugar in the chorizo fry, the chorizo it is already seasoned
Chinese/Mexican who grew up in California here. It was so fun to see this! I basically only shop at asian grocery stores, Costco, and the occasional hispanic grocery store (mostly cause it's the most economic and best variety over more mainstream western grocery stores).
I'm glad you guys tried to pick up some uniquely mexican ingredients! I hope it inspired people to branch out a bit and not fear ingredients. There's no hard rules or traditions when it comes to cooking. It's all about ingredient knowledge and techniques!
I’m so incredibly impressed by her ability to identify and strategize how to use some of these relatively obscure Mexican ingredients. I grew up in Mexico and go back every year, and it’s really not normal even for folks there to know how to cook with many of these ingredients. I’ve been following your channel for years to help me understand my favorite Chinese dishes in San Francisco, and yet this video provides me with so much new context about your channel’s depth of culinary knowledge, wow
Next, ship Doña Angela from De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina a bunch of bitter melon and lap cheong and fish sauce, see what she does with it
That would be awesome
I'm dead asf 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
that would be an INTERESTING video
This was an exciting watch :)
I would adore a series on assembling Chinese-Like Food From Mexican Ingredients, my area is extremely Latin American and while I could get some Chinese ingredients from Amazon, it'd be way more cost-effective and better supporting of my local businesses to assemble a combination of ingredients from the local Latin-American-Market that still gets good approximations of Chinese flavors.
Yeah i do that a lot. I would say that look at the vegetables and spices, and see what the most common kinds are and base your option on that.
Fresh ingredients > "authenticity" every time. Get what you can local and fresh, and just use Chinese flavor balance/technique and it's going to be delicious. I do this a lot with Thai and Viet dishes, since many ingredients aren't readily available, but local Thai and Vietnamese residents have found good substitutes from a variety of markets.
@@aoterou and tons of mixed families too lol
There are many ways to remove the slime from nopales but the best way is to just dry saute it until the slime evaporates, then you can incorporate it into your dish. Its hard to overcook nopales but they will loose their bright green color. However, my family prefers it a bit slimy, so we don't cook it that far. Cueritos (pig skin) and nopales are both commenly eaten cold in salads and as appetizers and your dish looks like a perfect combination.
Mexican Chorizo has such a strong flavor it needs to be treated like a seasoning in most applications.
Im Mexican-American, Chicano, I love Mexican food but to me my favorite food is asian food specifically from South East Asia. However, Chineese food in Mexico is AMAZING!!!! just as good as the Chineese food from the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles. This was so much fun to watch
when i was still learning to properly plan meals throughout a week I subbed sausage for ground pork in chinese on many an occasion. My parents (chinese immigrants to the US) would also stir fry italian sausage chopped with bell peppers and onions on weeknights when i was a kid.
😀What a powerful idea! 😀 This kind of happened a long time ago in Peru when a lot of Chinese immigrants came to live, some centuries ago. They created very famous Peruvian dishes that today are a success. 😄 I hope that these new video styles would also be a success.🙂
The "whatever that thing is" is a fruit mamey sapote. Flesh inside has salmon color, and tastes between pumpkin and sweet potato with a little almond.
I know how Steph feels when she said "I want to buy more'. When I was in the Navy, one of my quiet joys was walking into grocery stores at different ports to see what that nation held dear. In France, they have aisles of local mustards but 'French's' brand American mustard is on the shelf... 'for the kids'. I never saw a western style grocery store in Italy, but the 'corner deli' was on every corner and had cured meats of every kind and cheeses too. In Spain we found at more than one port the same grocer with this insane meat counter that had everything from Aardvark to Zebra meat and everything in between... and yeah, Indiana Jones kind of things with snake and monkey meat. Greece a lot of olive oil. I wanted to go see Tunis but.... I wasn't allowed off the ship due to security concerns.... everyone else got to get off, just not me. Bangkok, aisles of fish sauce... and, ....I was in a hospital in Bangkok keeping an eye on a friend, they let me order food off the hospital menu.... 12 sections, one for each culture they have come thru the doors. For hospital food, it was amazing.
Omg this is an amazing video. As mexican (and nicaraguan) american learning and adventuring with chinese cuisine, this is so relatable. Thank you and a big fan!!
I am so happy to see this video! I am mexican american and it was so fun to see. So glad ya'll enjoyed Atole it is a favorite childhood drink of mine. Really hope ya'll do more of these in the future! side note: my grandparents found peppercorn at the market and it was hilarious as we all got the numbing feeling for the first time.
I’d love to see more of this sort of content. How exciting to stretch your culinary muscles while highlighting broad similarities between cuisines at the same time!
1970 growing up In Downey California , I had a great friend Calvin Chung. We were middle school 6th grad to 9th grade, we made our food and sold it to our teachers then students, we purchased bikes and video games. We bought to school Tacos, burritos, white tortillas and Calvin brought Cho mien and egg rolls,. We always fought over taquitos , no its egg roll. Surfer Frank Downey ❤
Heads up if you ever use any dried chillies from Mexico or in mexican cooking. We usually take out the seeds rehydrate them in hot water. You can either blend into a paste to be added as a base for a soup, mole which is similar to curry, or made into salsa which calls for blended or chopped peppers. The cactus though actually pretty spot on when we it comes to preparing it. We usually either grill or cook it on a stove. You can add tomatoes or eggs to it but it is good on its own. Definitely going to try to make that nopal dish you made looks like the perfect blend of cultures.
In Mexico the Cantonese cooks often prepare nopali with beef as you Would with bok Choi; also I saw Cantonese sundrying chorizos in order to use them as lap cheong.
A note on cooking nopal: traditionally you put a red hot copper coin when it's boiling to keep them from becoming pale, it's a traditional thing and it kinda works altough I don't fully understand the chemistry behind.
Making dousha with Mexican beans it's actually kinda horrendous, many people here hate dousha/anko wrongly because some onigiri sellers used to do it like that and sold it at anime events, it was horrendous, Eurasian beans and American beans are from different families plus canned beans are cooked with onion and salt
I would recommend you to investigate the recipe for caldo de camarón, you would love it, also there are a number of street food preparations that have cuerito or chicharrón (pork skin) and nopal
That's intersting to know about the bean paste/refried beans dynamic. Although if there're canned ones that're not fried with onion and salt, then I think that would still work since there's also bean paste that's made with kidney beans and lima beans.
And yeah, I do really love caldo de res, it's a fix for my soup craving when visiting America haha.
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Hi Steph and Chris
I really believe it would be actually easy to find saltless and onionless beans abroad as here even the dolar store brands are made thinking about either main dishes or side dishes; after giving it some thought "Cocina japonesa con Yuta" does prepare anko out of raw black beans on one of its videos, probably would be good to try
Caldo de res is indeed nice, but caldo de camarón is spicy, slightly thick and packed with flavor, also is made with a common ingredient in China, dehydrated shrimps; here it's often served as a snack at cantinas and bars
Thanks for another great video
fresh nopales would be delicious prepared the way the American Chinese restaurants serve those garlicky fried green beans (with the crispy skin)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified 4:21 Some of the dry leaves at that section of the grocery store are used as home remedies, 'Hierba para la Tos' or 'Tilo Tea' is prepared as a bitter infusion to thwart away a wet cough spell. The corn mustache is used as a diuretic infusion. The avocado leaves are used as condiments. 6:01 The Pacaya are the male flowers inflorescence of palms.
Looking tasty. With Indo-Chinese being major with Chinese cooked to Indian tastes, what might the vice versa be like or using Peruvian ingredients for this kind of video?
This is awesome, my parents love cueros (the pickled pork skin) and ive never thought of having them served with nopales like that. Im gonna have to try it!
Seriously fusion videos are always great because you back up the foundation of the dishes .. and Caribbean Chinese (be it Jamaican Trinidadian Guyanese Dominican, etc ) is some of the best fusion
One of the things I really liked about your videos from China were the ones that talked about the development in modern Chinese cuisine. I think the idea of you talking about international culinary mash-ups is a natural progression and I would love to see more of these.
loved steph's Spanish skills, lovely video overall.
There's a whole world of latin-chinese fusion food that might be fun to try! Chifa - chinese peruvian fusion, would be great to see on this channel (even though it's a little outside your usual portfolio)!
I'm half Mexican and Chinese so this video made me really happy 😊😊
I love your dish. Here in Mexico we consume pork skin (like the one you showed) pickled in vinegar, and we also mostly used it cold, as a garnish together with cabbage, lettuce, carrot and onion and many other vegetables including nopales (cactus)
As someone who lives in Texas, I'm very grateful to get some new ideas!
Please make this internal supermarket thing a series with recipes if you can!!!
As soon as I saw Steph pick up the nopales, I knew something good was gonna happen! I love nopales in tacos, and with the pork skin it sounds like a dynamite combo!
The way you used the nopales reminds me of how my mother often uses them. A tasty favourite is a nopal and black bean salad done pretty similar to your liangban. Awesome video, loved the idea!
Honestly these types of things are really interesting and helps inspire ideas! I'm living abroad and I love experimenting with new ingredients, and these are super cool to me.
This was super interesting! I would love to see more challenges in this vein. Hearing Steph explain why she was making her choices hit the right spot of infotainment to light up my brain.
A good trick for reducing an overly saucy dish like the Chorizo Hongsanduo is that you can dip out some liquid and place it into another pan. The more surface area you have available the quicker you can reduce. Then you just mix the reduced liquid back into the main pot when you believe you have achieved the proper thickness. I've done this with 4 pans before when trying to reduce a ton of braising liquid to a highly concentrated sauce.
it is really cool to see you using stuff I regularly eat 😇! I love your channel, salutes from Mexico
Oooh this gives me ideas:
- Chipotle Pepper Mapo Tofu
- Salt and Pepper Chicharron with Five Spice, Garlic, Chilli and Scallions
- Mexican Corn Tortilla.. not sure
- Cotija cheese... no idea
- Mexican Drinking Chocolate.. not sure
- Hibiscus flowers... not sure
- Pickled Jalapenos.. maybe could go in Chee Cheong Fun or used as a substite for Chinese mustard greens
- Tajín.. not sure
- Mole Paste fried rice, or a Mole hot pot
- Masa Harina.. no idea
Lol this is hard...
I just stayed with some friends who had only nonstick pans and a similar electric range. They didn't really cook for themselves so I cooked a bunch. It was horrible. So good on you for powering through.
Dude, as a mexican chinese person myself, I just gotta say that this is kinda curious. I mean, yeah, U can use beer as a replacement for cooking wine, but some other ideas are tequila or mezcal, wich also add a sweet aroma to the food.
About chilli, we actually prefer using dried puya chilli or arbol because they are spicier than guajillo, wich only adds color. And, of course, nopales are a favorite as U cooked it in the video.
But, any way, every mexican chinese family has learned their own way to homecooking, and that's the most interesting part, there are common spots, but is never a rule at all.
Thank you! This was so interesting, and you two have a way of making it also entertaining.
I think this type of cross-cultural exploration is exactly what the world needs more of. Please keep doing this kind of video!
I love this! As a Mexican-American who loves international cuisine, I routinely like to think about how Mexican gastronomy can intermingle with other cultures, especially since my experience is limited to TexMex, and this is such a great representation & example of how fusion cuisines can develop, especially between the Asian & LatAm diaspora
Can intermingle? But Mexican gastronomy did intermingle - chilis which are essential to so much Asian cuisine originated in Mexico!
This made my California heart so happy.
mind blown!!!!!!🤯 more like these please!!
This is such a great concept and hope to see more. It is so fascinating having steph as such a knowledgeable chef incorporate uncommon local ingredients into chinese dishes
I LOVE this. This is how I shop in markets, always looking for new stuff to try. Great video!
These kind of videos are great, it's nice to see you two just letting loose and having fun. Would definitely love seeing more of these!
I love when you do these kinds of video. They're wonderful and make me think of the adjustments that my mum made to all her recipes when she migrated to the UK.
Great content! Slime tip: Adding a tablespoon of baking soda to the boiling water when the nopales have changed color cuts the slime. You can also cook them without water, stirring occasionally; the slime comes out and gets consumed during cooking.
One of your best videos. It requires you to generalize from your knowledge of Chinese cooking and adapt. This is often what I have to do when I live in areas that don't have a lot of native Asian ingredients. Thanks!
I love this so much. You guys are always great at illustrating how flexible cooking is but you guys have * really * outdone yourselves this time. 10/10
This is such a fascinating topic and study! Thank you!! ❤
Great cooking challenge segment.
I think you folks came up with interesting dishes pretty well. 👍
Take Care and have a safe journey back home.
God Bless!
🙏🙏🙏
As a lifelong American and white person the idea of blanching pork skin and then basically just eating it is blowing my mind SO MUCH, for me pork skin has always been exclusively for frying up crispy with a little salt.
Love this little series! It's fun to hear the way you think through different ingredients
This episode was so well done and it's interesting to see how people from different backgrounds use ingredients. I think it'd be interesting to see an Arabic Ingredients, Chinese Dishes episode (not that I'm biased or anything lol) but there's many unique ingredients to Arabic cuisine like tahini, pomegranate syrup, dates (and date syrup), cheeses, spices, etc...
Yo the nopal and cuerito salad looks FIREEE
Chile Pequines are awesome. They have a slightly fruity flavor in addition to the spice. They're super easy to grow, too
This was fascinating. I absolutely love this channel and recommend it to people all the time.
Also the chorizo hongsanduo, while very different flavor profile, reminds me a lot of Picadillo... which is served over rice! I'd recommend looking it up and give it a try sometime! My mom taught it to me, who learned it from her grandma, though she skipped the olives herself, signature but not critical imho
Hi!
I've watched so many of your videos over the years and they getting even better still.
Just wanted to congratulate you on the great work you're doing after not commenting for so long :)
Great video!!! These recipes are all something I feel like I can make, especially that Hongsanduo! I'd love to see more videos like this
I live near Vancouver where we have a HUGE asian population, so finding two asian supermarkets accross from eachother on the same street is not uncommon here.... however mexican grocers and resturants are not that common, and when they are its small or not that good.
In my city, the best asian ggrocer we have is a small vietnamese market. We also get a lot of seasonal mexican workers that come here to help with harvest time. Because there is actually a very large crossover in the type of ingredients used in mexican and vietnamese cooking, the vietnamese market ended up being where all the mexicans shop.... and now its basically a vietnamese/mexican grocer. Its a great place to shop with a very eclectic mix of ingredients..... you can get fresh corn tortillas, vietnamese pork patties, plantains, japanese rice crackers, banana flower, pho noodles, creme de leche, filipino longanisa, all in one place... and then grab a banh mi on the way out.
This video really reminded me of how cool it is when cultures collide but they see enough similarities that it makes more sense to assimilate together than to separate.
I live in Texas and noticed the similarities between Vietnamese and Mexican ingredients myself. There was a time when I was at a food truck that claimed to have Vietnamese and Mexican fusion tacos. I am a Latino and was fascinated. They were basically Mexican meats with Vietnamese toppings in corn tortillas. It was absolutely magical! Some of the best street tacos I have ever had in the whole of my life!
Could you please share the name of the market?
I see this ethnicity combo so often in stores in my area. The woman that runs the Chinese grocery near my house is from Latin America and she stocks a lot of Mexican staples and produce
this was so fun! i grew up in a mexican community and its fascinating to see other uses of classic ingredients!
I had such an amazing time watching this video, so wholesome! love to find something on my recomendations that isnt some over the top personality and just someone having fun with food and culture
Hi, I'm a first nations person (Haudenosaunee) and that white corn is a really common staple food in a lot of indigenous cooking. I recommend with what you can have and what you can find online learning about the parts of our cooking we're willing to share. I'd love to see what you guys make. :)
This is very similar to a lot of Peruvian cuisine was developed. I love this video
THe best cold salad i have ever had had nopales in it..cactus...many need to try it also add avocado and it makes great combo with tacos..
A couple of notes for you. I hope they’re useful.
• There’s this thing in Mexico called a comal that has that some of the features of a wok. It has a rounded bottom and curved sides to hold oil and then a flat part further out for keeping the food warm or for heating tortillas. (There’s also a flat griddle called a comal.) It’s used for frying quesadillas made with the raw masa they use for tortillas, among other things (like pambosas and tacos dorados).
• I like to eat my nopales grilled. You can do this in a pan, but I prefer grilled like on a barbecue type grill (called a parrilla). It still has that slimy sap, but I dunno. Maybe it sets up better when it’s grilled over a flame?
• There’s a Mexican town on the border of Mexico and California called Mexicali. (It has a sister town directly across the border called Calexico.) Anyway, Mexicali has a large ethnic Chinese population for many years, like maybe a hundred years or more. They’re famous for their distinctive cha siu. As you probably can guess, the Chinese cuisine has been adapted to the locally available ingredients, but I don’t think it’s been adapted to Mexican tastes. It’s like its own weird thing, but highly regarded by famous food critics like Jonathan Gold and Gustavo Arrellano.
• Chinese food is quite popular in Mexico, but like what happened in America, it changed to please the Mexican palate. How do I know this? I’m from Los Angeles and lived for decades near Monterrey Park. I also spent a summer in Guandong on a summer program and (in the early 80s) visited for vacation. I think I have a rough idea of what Chinese food tastes like, and I have a notion of the vast variety of regional Chinese cooking.) As a result, there are a lot of Asian ingredients available like bottled sauces and dofu. I haven’t found Chinese cabbage yet. And the Dimsum is pretty weak, if you can even find it.
• Lastly, you really should do a lengthy visit of Mexico. I think you’d both enjoy it and you’d find many opportunities to make Chinese food with Mexican ingredients or even combine the two cuisines? But also, Mexican food kicks ass. Obviously, your use of habanero chiles tells me you love or would love Mexican food. Also, Mexican food has a lot of regional variety. I hope you have an opportunity to explore all the different types.
I’m an Asian American that immigrated to Mexico a dozen years ago. At home still eat a lot of sticky rice (calrose) in a rice bowl, with a guisado on top. I like to put shoyu on my carnitas. I can’t speak for all of Mexico, but in my area (Bajío) there is locally made fresh dofu. I eat a lot of street food from sidewalk stalls. (I do miss the variety of ethnic food in Los Angeles, though.)
Very creative! I use alot of chinese technique and flavour influence in my western food thanks to you guys and it just tastes so much better!
My Mexican sister-in-law makes a nopal salad with blanched nopales, the Mexican holy trinity of onion, jalapeno, and tomato, lime juice, and cilantro. The lime juice seems to cut the sliminess quite well.
I'm impressed with your guy's cooking skills and enjoyed learning about Pacaya. Great video.
This brings me back in the days of high schools. I remember going to my Mexican friend’s house to hang out and we were kinda hungry. He said all they had left were left over Mexican rice and I made egg fried rice with it. It wasn’t bad but definitely is different. Also for being in Texas for a while now I have to say that Nopales has grown on me and is one of my favorite things to eat. 😂
These recipes look amazing. Chinese food is so adaptable.
When i was in Sweden. I always went Asian stores to get my dried peppers(to make Mexican food), you would be sort of surprised how similar some dried oeppers are to Mexican dried peppers 😊
What a fun concept! The texture of that pacaya looks really interesting.
I am soooo trying that nopal liangban. Thanks for the inspo!
This was such a neat topic to watch! 🥰
Frying in the corner of a pan, I like it. Good tip.
Most of 4:19 herbs are meant to use for making tea. "Hierba para la tos" is 'herb for the cough' .
cola de caballo is usually meant for teas but you could use to make great shampoo, avocado leaves for teas as well but also aromatics in dishes like meats or beans. 5:02 is a mixture for tea of cola de caballo and corn 'beard'. must add that teas in Mexico are mostly done for medicinal purposes.
I make refried beans from dry beans. When I do so, I use chorizo. It gives it a wonderful taste.
I didn't have Sino-Mexican food on my 2023 bingo card!
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Then you’ve never been to Mexico
The pacaya might be good in luosifen; it was trendy a few years back. The nopales is good salted and grilled with olive oil if you're not jazzed about the texture, but pickling should help, too. Good in gumbo. Probably good in a lot of traditionally starch thickened dishes, the kind your mom throws together to eat over rice
being half brazilian and living in germany, my mom and i have been going to asian (and russian) aswell as african grocery stores as long as i can remember to get ingredients like maniok, beans or sweetened condensed milk. There really aren't any South American grocery stores around in my area bc immigration from there to germany isn't as common, so i'm even more thankful for the cultural diversity
???
Pouteria sapota, the mamey sapote, is a species of tree native to Mexico and Central America. The tree is also cultivated in the Caribbean. Its fruit is eaten in many Latin American countries. The fruit is made into foods such as milkshakes and ice cream.
As a Southern Californian, this excites me.
Great Idea and I enjoyed this content.
Seeing Steph get excited about Atole made me very happy lol
When you were in the dried products section, the vast majority of the dried stuff are herbs, barks, leaves, etc, used as traditional medicine. To make sure that you get the spices you need, you must look for them packaged separately, not mixed with anything else.
I wonder how similar Mexican medicinal herbs are to Chinese medicinal herbs?
Great video. The weird fruit with the ??? looks like a past-its-date Mamey to me. Love from Mexico!!!
This video is so fun to watch. I love it and can't wait to see what you cook up, I'm only half way into the video lol
I'd love to see more videos like this!
I'd love to see more of this content
I lived in queens and the local supermarket had those dried spices. I'd spend so much time at that section
I really like this sort of content. Its always interesting to see
If you can't find as many unknown ingredients in Bangkok, maybe change the series to feature a sigle unknown ingredient and make a single recipe
Super fun video! I love this series.