Cooking western foods on a Chinese student budget

[boubou]

**Note before you read. I live in ChongQing, western supermarkets are scarce and cost more that back home. Metro cards are hard to come by and eating in a ''proper'' foreign restaurant is almost unheard of unless you want to spend at least 200 yuan on a meal.**

Hello everyone! Well, I've been in and out of China and recently I started making a list of my favourit dishes from back home. I realised that appart from specific herbs, spices and some mushrooms most ingredients can be found. So I propose an exchange of receipes from back home that you can find most or all ingredients in a normal small Chinese supermarket. I'll contribute the first recipe. More to come!!

Chicken breast stuffed with 'bechamel' sauce and spinach.

Cost: approx 6 yuan per person

For 4 people

Ingredients:

4 medium or large chicken breast

1-1.5 jin of spinach, finely chopped

approx 1/2 litre of milk (here in chongqing we have the '35' milk which is very rich in cream, thus not needing butter for the sauce.)

8-10 table spoons of flour

1 piece of garlic, finely chopped

1/4 of a big red onion, finely chopped

salt

Step 1: boil milk and add flour. stir until thick (but not too thick. If it looks like paste, add milk, if it doesn't thicken, add flour) once you have a nice creamy sauce, add a pince of salt for taste, put aside to cool.

Step 2: put garlic, onions and spinach in a pan with a drop of oil. Pinch of salt for taste.Stir, add a little water if it look like its sticking. Once it has a 'muddy' texture, droppe the whole thing in your bechamel sauce. sitr everything together. This time you need the sauce to be nice and thick to use it as stuffing, so bring it to a boil and stir until thick. Don't stop stiring or it will burn.

Step3: cut the chicken breast from the small end to make a pouche in the middle. Stuff chicken breast. You should have stuffing left over, keep for later.

Step4: cook chicken in a pan with a drop of oil. Cook it at a low temperature to prevent it from burning the outside and leaving the inside uncooked., cover it adding a bit of water when it seems too dry. It takes 15-20 minutes to cook.

Step4: reheat the rest of the stuffing adding a bit of milk to thin it. Drop over chicken.

Voila! Now you have an amazing western dish for very little cost! Enjoy!! (If I could, I would post pictures of the one I did the other day.. )

[skylee]

This thread is relevant - China-Friendly Western Food Recipes

[abcdefg]

I realised that appart from specific herbs, spices and some mushrooms most ingredients can be found.

Sounds delicious. At this time of year I'll bet you can still find wild mushroom from streetside vendors. Several varieties are available at low cost in Kunming especially now that there's been some rain. I especially like the "niu gan jun" which are inexpensive and full of flavor.

[Scoobyqueen]

I have a glut of cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and green peppers from the garden. I have already done loads of soup using bog standard chicken stock + variations on above.

However, if anyone has any other creative ideas perhaps with some Chinese inspiration I would be grateful.

[abcdefg]

I have a glut of cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and green peppers from the garden.

What a great problem to have. I often make a salad or 凉拌 with cucumbers, tomatoes, and green peppers plus a little garlic and onion. Douse lightly with vinaigrette.

Crush the cucumbers without peeling them: make 拍黄瓜。Use the side of your heavy kitchen knife 菜刀。

Consider an international ratatouille with tomatoes, eggplants, green peppers plus, plus, plus.

[heifeng]

This is the extent of what I would "cook" when I was in China:

Spaetzle: Flour, milk, water, salt, eggs, pepper

Spanish Tortilla: egg + potatoes

crepes: egg, milk, sugar , flour, butter* + jelly *or just not if you can't find it where you are

Edited September 3, 2009 at 01:47 PM by heifeng

[liuzhou]

I'm surprised about the lack of mushrooms.It seems to me that are are lot more different types available here. The only difference is that they are more seasonal. I can't get white button mushrooms all year round, but can always get something, often more tasty. But then I still look forward to the white mushrooms appearing in the market in winter.