Ingredients

Dough:

360 g white flour
240 - 350 ml water
1 tsp salt

You will need to buy the right variety of Chinese flour, which can be either rice flour or wheat flour. Normal plain white flour has a completely different consistency when mixed with water and cooked.

Make sure that the water is extremely cold, in fact nearly freezing. Mix the salt and flour together and add 240ml of the water. Blend well into a smooth dough adding extra water if the consistency is too dry. Knead well and make sure that the end result is a smooth ball. If you inadvertently add too much water, just balance it with a little more flour. Cover the dough and let it rest for at least half an hour.

Filling:

1 lb lean minced meat (beef, pork or chicken)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brandy
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper

Mix all the filling ingredients carefully to make sure that the meat doesn’t end up as a mush.

This recipe should make 60 Chinese dumplings, so divide the dough into 60 pieces and roll each piece until it is about 7.5 cm (3 inches) in diameter.

Put about a tablespoonful of the meat mixture onto one disc and fold in half, sealing with a little water and pinching the edges together until you have a half moon shape. If you have one of those gadgets which does this for you, wet the edges of the dough disc, place it on the dumpling maker, spoon in the filling and press the edges of the dumpling maker together.

Chinese dumplings can be boiled or fried

To boil, bring a large pan of water to the boil and add half the dumplings. When the water boils again add 120 ml cold water and bring back to the boil. At this point add the other half of the dumplings and another 120ml cold water. Stir the dumplings very carefully to stop them from sticking together. Bring to the boil for a third time and the dumplings should be ready.

At this point you can fry the dumplings in a wok with hot oil. You will need to keep them on the move to prevent them from sticking and to make sure that both sides take a little colour.

To Serve

Serve the dumplings with a dipping sauce of equal amounts of soy sauce and dark vinegar, to which you can add a little chopped red chilli if you like a bit of spice.

Chinese dumplings are often served at New Year banquet as they are a symbol of wealth and good luck for the coming year but as part of a dim sum selection, you can eat them with pleasure whenever you want to.

Liz Canham
As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.

Our rooms were a good size, the hotel pool was clean with waiter service and a poolside restaurant so all that a weary traveller could wish for. The in-hotel Italian restaurant was excellent and we all indulged in the enormous local prawns, which could have been mistaken for small lobsters. We made the most of this meal as we had no idea what to expect on our safari to two of the largest and remotest game reserves in Tanzania.

I should explain that there were four of us - my husband, myself and two close friends - we hoped that after holidaying together that we’d still be that way! This destination was a very last minute decision as we should have been in Kenya. However, the political turmoil there dictated that we make a change so we opted for Tanzania, where our friends had safaried previously but we had not. In any event, our two camp safari took in national parks where they had not been so, happily, a new adventure for us all.

7:00am saw us en route for Jongomero Camp in Ruaha National Park by light aircraft. Despite its 23,000 square kilometres, making it larger than Wales, Ruaha is so wild and remote that it does not attract anything like the tourist numbers found at parks such as Arusha, Serengeti or the Ngorongoro Crater. Indeed, one cannot expect to find game in such huge numbers either, but in some ways the difficulty in locating the game makes a sighting all the more exciting. The time of year of our visit (February) being the end of the short rains meant that game spotting would be all the more challenging as the trees and undergrowth would all be in full leaf, providing ideal camouflage for those creatures not wishing to show off for visitors, but more of the animals later.

We were met at Jongomero airstrip and transported to the camp where we were welcomed by singing staff and the young South African couple who ran the place. Our tents were well spaced for privacy and followed the curve of the river bank; on the way we passed a small swimming pool and sun beds. This was not the stuff of boy scout camping, with a large double bed, dressing area, fully equipped shower room and terrace overlooking the river. But enough of the sleeping tent; a cold beer was beckoning from the open fronted makuti thatched lounge/bar area, also with a view of the river, followed by lunch of meatballs, couscous and salad.

Our afternoon game drive was delayed by an hour or so by heavy rain but soon enough we set off in a purpose built safari vehicle - a four wheel drive with two rows of tiered seats behind the driver designed so that everyone had the best view possible. We were lucky to have a vehicle built for six passengers between four of us, so plenty of room for cameras, binoculars, bird books and all the other paraphernalia without which no game drive would be complete.

After the recent rainfall, the tracks were somewhat muddy and sliding the jeep was often the only way forward. Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before our first game sighting, a dik-dik, that cutest of antelopes, which even fully grown rarely stands more than knee high on the average human. After that a large batchelor group of impala then increasingly giraffes camouflaged in the trees or standing sentinel beside, or sometimes right in the middle of the track.

Our friend is particularly keen on bird watching, so there were numerous stops to identify a huge variety of bird life. Suddenly our driver, Eric, veered off the track whispering “elephant”. He wove the four wheel drive between saplings and scrubby bushes until we could see what he meant; a whole herd of elephant, probably around twenty of them, making their way through the undergrowth. As we followed at a discreet distance, they trundled down the river bank and across to the other side, eventually disappearing into the bush.

There are no other camps in this area of Ruaha but one of the other drivers radioed to say that a pack of African hunting or “painted” dogs had been sighted. Our friend had a particular ambition to see these creatures so the hunt was on; not bothering with the track, Eric rocketed us through the scrub further up the river bank. We quartered back and forth for a while but the dogs were gone; oh well, plenty of time to catch up with them.

Back at camp, cold beer was gratefully consumed as we discussed what we’d seen and consulted one of the waiters, who was something of an expert, on the birds that we had seen. Showered and changed for the cool of the evening, aperitifs were drunk, our friends’ story of the hippo which came out of the river right by their tent was told and dinner was served on the covered wooden deck, in case of rain; tuna mousse, chicken in satay sauce with chive mash and vegetables plus dessert - all delicious - not bad at all for the middle of the jungle.

Next morning saw us up at 7:00am for breakfast before setting off for an all-day safari. Once again the giraffe and impala were much in evidence together with water buck. Eric suggested a stop for coffee and to our surprise unfolded a table, laid it with a cloth and arranged coffee things and flapjack for us to help ourselves - how incredibly civilised. This stop was by the river so we were entertained by cavorting hippos as well as birds, too numerous to mention.

For the remainder of the day we continued our drive, taking in the somewhat unpleasant sight of vultures squabbling over the remains of a giraffe, monitor lizards, warthogs, zebra, kudu, baboons, vervet monkeys and eland. Our civilized lunch stop in the middle of nowhere saw us tucking into pizza and a variety of salads, all washed down with local beer. After lunch, more of everything, especially elegant giraffes, mongooses, baboons and birds galore.

Back to camp for sundowners, then dinner of Moroccan lamb by candlelight in the (at that point) dry riverbed. We were told that lions and elephant sometimes came into the camp at night and our friends saw a jackal as they were being escorted from their tent to dinner, but apart from that, all was quiet.

Up again at 7am for a nice spicy omelette and the long drive to Msembe at the far end of the park. Plenty to see en route including a tortoise about the size of a domestic one just wandering across the track. Down here, it was much drier with less vegetation and we hoped to see lions, for which the area is well known. We weren’t disappointed. Shortly after an encounter with a very angry bull elephant from which Eric raced away with all the speed that the safari truck could muster, we sighted two male lions. They just wandered along for a while then disappeared but were a majestic sight, nonetheless. After that, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a serval cat, which is rare indeed and some rock hyrax playing amongst, yes you’ve guessed it, rocks!

Lunchtime saw us once again overlooking a river, enjoying another picnic and watching a lone elephant trudging along to rejoin his herd. It was a long trek back to camp so we didn’t stop for much on the way, although we did hear an elephant trumpeting in the trees beside the track and shortly afterwards we had to stop, with some trepidation, to change a punctured tyre. The evening beer was more than welcome after a long day bouncing around in a truck but the rain prevented another dinner in the riverbank which was now by no means dry!

Next morning, after a leisurely breakfast and loaded with the packed lunch that was pressed upon us, we boarded our flight for the Selous Game Reserve for the second part of our safari.

Liz Canham
Liz is a keen traveller who has lived in a variety of countries as well as enjoying many different holiday experiences. She is webmistress of Travellers’ Tales where you can read Part 2 of this tale.

Both the Arabs and the Italians claim to have invented the noodle but an archaeological find at Lajia in Qinghai of four thousand year old noodles, seems to prove conclusively that it was indeed the Chinese who discovered them.

There are two different types of Chinese noodles; those made from wheat flour and those made from rice flour. Wheat flour noodles are usually used in northern Chinese cuisine, whereas rice flour noodles generally are found in the south. Although these days, the differences in regional cuisines are not so pronounced, the north of Chine used to be a major wheat grower.

A third type of noodle is actually available but far less common and it is made from mung bean starch.

Like Italian pasta, Chinese wheat flour noodles can be made with or without eggs and can be any shape or size; fat, thin, long or short. The major difference is that Chinese noodles usually cook in around half the time of Italian pasta.

If the more common wheat flour noodles contain eggs, this can easily be told by their yellowish colour. Rice flour noodles are whitish in colour, almost opaque and are usually either vermicelli (very thin) or thick and flat, which are known as Hefen rice noodles.

Wheat flour noodles are used in a dish called mein. Chow Mein is familiar to most westerners and for this dish, the noodles are stir fried. The less familiar dish is Lo Mein for which the noodles are boiled then flavoured with sugar, soy sauce and seasonings. Thus Chow Mein is crispy and Lo Mein is soft.

A popular Cantonese recipe which used rice flour noodles is for a dish called Beef Chow Fun, which can be found in most Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. This is stir fried beef, bean sprouts and Hefen rice noodles

The noodles made from mung bean starch are known as cellophane noodles or glass noodles. These are a nearly transparent thin vermicelli which look somewhat like worms and thus aren’t terribly popular with Westerners. However, served with a hot sauce of chilli and soy, they go down a storm with the Chinese.

No matter which type of Chinese noodles you choose, they can be made into a dish to please any palate.

Liz Canham
As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.

History shows that chopsticks have been in use since the time of the Shang Dynasty which ruled China between 1600 BC and 1046 BC. The chopsticks from those times would have been made of all sorts of different materials such as bamboo, bronze or ivory and decorated with enamel or lacquer or even gold or silver. A collection of more that one thousand pairs can be seen in the Kuaizi Museum in Shanghai. These days, bamboo or plastic is more usual.

Chopsticks are normally eight to ten inches in length but whereas Japanese ones taper almost to a point, Chinese chopsticks only narrow very slightly towards the end.

It’s a little hard to explain how to use chopsticks without the benefit of pictures, but in essence your hand should be vertical as if you were about to shake hands, then curl your fingers round as if you were about to grasp a glass tumbler. Place the chopsticks on the side of your hand and rest your thumb on top of them. Now move your index finger out of the way slightly so that the chopsticks are resting on the side of your middle finger then slip the one nearest to your thumb to the end of your index finger so that it’s resting on your fourth and little fingers. By moving your thumb and index finger slightly, the end of one chopstick will move back and forth, enabling you to pick up food. Try practicing by picking up pieces of cotton wool or other quite small items. You’ll be amazed how easy it is to master the knack.

Because the Chinese use chopsticks to eat, they prepare their food accordingly. Meat and vegetables are usually sliced into thin strips, which also makes them very quick to cook. Dumplings are a little bigger but still small enough to be gripped with chopsticks and rice can be scooped straight from the bowl to the mouth. The only other implement on offer when dining Chinese style would be a soup spoon, from which it is quite alright to slurp as this is not impolite in Chinese circles.

However, there is strict etiquette surrounding the use of chopsticks. For example spearing something like a dumpling, standing chopsticks vertically in a bowl of food, sucking or licking them, waving them around particular at other people and using them to pull a dish of food towards you are all considered very bad manners.

While some of the above are just tradition, the reason for not standing chopsticks upright in a bowl of food is that their appearance resembles that of incense sticks which are lit in remembrance of the dead. To the Chinese, each meal is a celebration of life so they don’t usually mix eating with grieving.

Liz Canham
As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.

The moral of this story is don’t buy on impulse. If you know you’re heading for the garden centre, take a look at your garden first. I know that sounds crazy, but you’ll be surprised when you discover that there are no empty sunny spots left, or shady spots or places where a shrub can spread. Don’t forget those dry or boggy patches or the place that the wind sweeps across.

Apart from the aspect and the dryness or otherwise of the soil, don’t forget the pH level, which is a measure of whether the soil is acid or alkaline. To determine the pH level, you can get a testing kit.

Most plants survive best in soil with a fairly neutral pH of say 6.0 - 7.0 (1.0 being the most acid and 14.0 the most alkaline). Others, however, such as azaleas, rhododendrons and others of the same family prefer an acid soil with a pH of less than 6.0, in which iron is more readily available.

You can neutralize alkaline soil by adding peat moss or aluminum sulphate (very carefully) and you can neutralize acidic soil by adding lime. However, you may be better off just choosing the best plants for the soil that you already have.

Okay, now you know what type of soil you have and where you have spaces in your garden so you have all the information you need to go and buy the most suitable plants. However, before you fill your trolley at the garden centre, have you thought about quantities? If you’re planting shrubs, they will bush out and fill quite a large space but if you’re planting ground cover or annuals, you won’t want just one here and one there; you’ll probably want groups of four or five.

One more thing before you make your final choice - what about colour? Do you just want a jumble of mixed colours or would you prefer a theme such as blue and white or red and orange. Blue and white give a cool relaxed effect but red and orange are fiery and not so restful. Think about what you use that part of the garden for and choose your colour scheme accordingly. Don’t forget to use grasses and foliage in for structure and a change from bright flowers or choose some shrubs with variegated leaves, for contrast.

Before you actually dig the holes for your newly acquired plants, you should place all your purchases where you think you want them to go, still in their pots. Move them around and group them in different ways until you’re happy with the result. Only then start digging.

Liz Canham

Liz is a keen gardener who has exchanged the relative ease of gardening in Southern England for the trials of gardening on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where her garden is at a 45% angle on the side of a mountain. She is webmistress of Gardening for All.

Competition on the internet is fierce and to profitably sell products a site needs consistently to attract more visitors than its rivals. To get the word out, advertising is needed to increase website visitors and consquently, sales.  But where does one place the advertising?  There are hundreds of directories online as well as classified advertisement sites, to say nothing of the giant which is Google Adwords, but here we’re going to concentrate on Yahoo.

As with other search engines, Yahoo directs potential customers to websites as a result of search words and phrases input by the consumer.  The pages resulting from the search are displayed, in order of popularity but you have probably noticed that above, below and on the right hand side of the search results in Yahoo there are sponsored advertisements.  These companies are willing to pay when someone clicks on their advertisement and ends up visiting their website.

Sponsored search with Yahoo works like this.  The advertiser chooses the keywords which will result in their advertisement being shown.  For example, if you sell skin care products, you may wish to designate “moisturiser” as one of your keywords or a phrase such as “remove wrinkles”.  However, you do have to pay for this method of advertising, as opposed to enriching your website with keywords and hoping that it appears in the search listings, but it is a lot easier on your time.  It’s all dependent on how much you’re prepared to pay for your keywords.  If your competitor is willing to pay 30 cents when someone clicks on their advert which is shown when the word “moisturiser” is input and you only want to pay 10 cents then the chances are you won’t get the traffic, but if you meet your competitor’s bid then you have an equal chance of your advert appearing and attracting the traffic.

You need to sign up with Yahoo Sponsored Search, then you need to create your advertising campaign by firstly deciding on the keywords which are most relevant to your website.  Next you need to create your advertisement which consists of a title, description and URL, then you decide on the maximum price that you are willing to pay if someone clicks on your advertisement.  Bear in mind that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, not when it is shown as the result of a search.

If you have struggled to increase your website’s ranking in the search engines by keyword optimisation, updating content, writing articles, etc. and your time is valuable, you may wish to consider the paid method of advertising which will drive visitors and hence potential customers to your website much more quickly, so take a look at Yahoo search marketing and see what you think.

Liz Canham is webmistress of Liz-e-Biz.com which aims to help newcomers to the internet build their own businesses.

Bird Watching Alone

If you enjoy silence and solitude and become easily irritated by mindless chatter, you had better go bird watching alone. However, if you’re a beginner, even if you have a detailed field guide, you may well fail to recognise some of the birds that you see. Nonetheless, bird watching alone can be a refreshing experience and an opportunity to indulge in uninterrupted thought.

Lone bird watching definitely isn’t for the gregarious types who want to compare notes with like-minded souls and make the outing something of a social occasion.

Bird Watching with Another Person

Going bird watching with one other person, preferably someone you know well, can be very rewarding. You have the advantage of another pair of eyes and another range of experience when it comes to bird recognition but if you choose your companion wisely, they will be just that - companionable, without being intrusive or noisy. Choose someone to go with you who has been bird watching for a good long time and who will already have learnt the tips and tricks to telling some birds apart.

Bird Watching with a Group

Group outings can be fun and a sociable experience but make sure that the members are serious bird watchers and not just chatterers. Much of bird watching involves waiting and searching, so the more people looking the better. Someone may spot a rare species and will be able to point out to everyone where it is. If the birds are in hiding, then you’ll have a variety of people to chat to about their bird watching experiences or share books with.

In addition, if you plan on going quite far afield, then you can save on transport costs by car sharing or even hiring a minibus between you.

If you don’t already have a friend or friends who are interested in bird watching and want to find someone to go with, here are a few tips on how to go about it.

Join a local bird watching club or if you don’t want to take the plunge straight away, ask if you can join one of their trips so that you can get a feel for the type of people who belong to the club and the range of their expertise on the subject.

If you are in education or work in an office, check the notice board for clubs or societies. You could even post your own notice asking for fellow bird watchers to contact you.

Search the internet for bird watching websites that are based in your area. If there is a forum, join and you’ll soon learn what’s going on in the bird watching world.

Magazines and newsletters can be useful sources of information about bird watching events in your vicinity, so subscribe to a couple and see what turns up.

Whether a lone or group activity, bird watching will always be a fascinating hobby to pursue.

Liz Canham is webmistress of Worldwide Bird Watching.

There is more to cats than the loveable and affectionate pets who purr contentedly on the sofa. They have a destructive side as anyone whose furniture has been scratched, ornaments broken or stocking laddered beyond recognition will know. However, there are reasons why cats behave in this way and when you know why, you will be able to keep your cat under control.

The following are some reasons why cats misbehave as well as tips on how to prevent this happening:

1. Cats are easily bored when they aren’t asleep and when they are bored, they become destructive. In reality, they are looking for ways to expend their energy or possibly for attention from their owners. A way round this problem is to make sure that your cat has plenty of playthings and preferably you should join in the games yourself. With young kittens, this could be for as much as two hours a day. However, don’t start to play with your cat as soon as they start to play up or they will know that the way to attract your attention is to scratch the carpet or climb the curtains.
2. Cats are nocturnal creatures and will normally be awake when humans are sleeping. If you don’t want your house wrecked while you are in bed, try playing with your cat quite boisterously just before you retire for the night. In this way, the cat will, initially at least, be tired out and will want to sleep too.
3. When it’s mating time, cats want to go out. If you normally confine your cat to the house, then the unrequited sexual urge may well cause it to behave badly. You have two choices here; let the cat out, but this is pretty irresponsible as, if you have a female you may end up with unwanted kittens or if a male, someone else will or have the animal neutered. For a male cat, this is a very simple operation and for a female slightly more complex but nonetheless, the recovery rate is normally very fast.
4. Cats are inclined to misinterpret human chastisement. If you wag your finger at your cat, it is just as likely to wave its paw back at you. If this doesn’t make you laugh too much, you need to make it clear that it’s not a game and that you are annoyed at the cat’s behaviour. Obviously, you mustn’t physically abuse the cat, so you may want to try a “no” in a raised voice or removing the cat from wherever it is misbehaving. Cats like to be rewarded and attention from their human is just that, so make your displeasure known briefly then ignore the cat for a while.
5. Cats become attached to certain household items and in the course of playing with these, will damage them irreparably. If your cat seems particularly taken with a particular cushion or similar, buy a specialist spray from your pet supply shop. It will be practically odourless to humans but the cat will find it unpleasant and will leave alone whatever you’ve sprayed it on.

The key to controlling your cat’s behaviour is knowing why it behaves as it does and treating it firmly when it misbehaves but giving it lots of attention at other times.

Liz Canham is the proud owner (or maybe servant) of three cats and is webmistress of The Cat Lover.

http://www.lizebiz.com

Because Canton (now called Guangzhou) is a port city on the coast of China one may expect seafood to be a salient part of any restaurant menu as indeed it is. Live fish and other seafood will frequently be kept in a tank until it’s ordered by a customer.

As the ingredients are so fresh it isn’t essential to use strong spices that overpower the taste. Whether a recipe is based on shark’s fin or a whole fish you can rely on a Cantonese dish offering something that is was alive very recently.

Stir-frying is a popular cooking technique, but steaming and roasting are equally utilised. Roasted meats are frequently offered by street vendors and it is always fresh because they have such a high turn over. Likewise barbecued meats may be available, but when they are the sauces are light not heavy and sticky.

The seasoning that complements a Cantonese dish may be something as uncomplicated and tasty as Hoisin sauce which is thick and dark but the taste is not overpowering. Made from soy, garlic and chillies it gives just the right hint of flavour to a roast chicken.

Plenty of other spices can be found in the Cantonese chef’s pantry. Ginger, spring onions and sesame oil are always there and five spice powder is obligatory in any Cantonese kitchen. A blend of the traditional five Chinese flavours - sweet, sour, bitter, savoury and salty, it is made from Tung Hing (a type of cassia), star anise, ginger root and cloves. However, in all Cantonese food it is used sparingly.

Cantonese cooking is not all about meat, spiced or otherwise. Congee, a variety of rice porridge, is a traditional offering, particularly for breakfast. Unlike its Western equivalent, white rice used for congee is boiled until it is nearly a thick soup until the rice is just about unidentifiable as individual grains. It is often mixed with flavoured duck eggs or century eggs (made from quail or other poultry, kept for weeks or months in lime and ash).

Slow-cooked soup is another time-honored Cantonese dish that takes a long time to cook (though, fortunately, not quite so long as century eggs). In one variant a whole chicken may be simmered in a pot with water all night, which is then gently seasoned and served warm.

Last, but not least, we owe the origin of dim sum to the Cantonese. A combination of foods, such as dumplings (sometimes stuffed with meat and sweetened with sauce), no visit to a Cantonese restaurant can be complete without ordering at least one portion for the table.

Some critics say that Cantonese cuisine is flavourless but that really isn’t true. Delicate, fresh and light are terms which are more appropriate and while the food doesn’t pack a punch is titilates the tastebuds nonetheless.

Liz Canham

As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.

Dim sum originated in the Canton province of China and was always served with tea. The custom soon spread to other provinces and indeed, around the globe. Whether at home or in a restaurant, dim sum can be enjoyed and because of the many choices, there is always something for everyone.

Dumplings are indeed popular and are generally made with flour and steamed, resulting is a soft, slightly sticky ball. Nonetheless, it is the filling which differentiates and here there are a huge variety of options.

One type of dumpling is Gau or Gau Ji which consists of a quite fragile rice flour paste stuffed with various vegetables, such as picked cabbage or tofu. These dim sum are quite hard to make because of the delicacy of the past but are full of flavour.

Prawns and shrimps of various types are often used to stuff dim sum dumplings. These may be ground up and used alone or combined with spices, nuts or flavoured oils. Crab roe with Chinese mushrooms is a common filling for dumplings fried squid or other seafood may also be found on the dim sum trolley.

Another variety of dumpling is Chiu-Chao and these are usually filled with prawns or pork combined with mushrooms or peanuts, garlic, spring onions and other flavourings.

Bau is a dumpling glazed with sugar, which turns it from white to brown and which is referred to as a bun. These are stuffed with roast pork and spring onions and are a real delicacy.

Dim sum is ideal for vegetarians as the trolley will often offer rolls stuffed with shredded vegetables such as carrots, cabbage or mushrooms.

So, we’ve touched on a few of the many varieties of dumplings, buns and rolls but dim sum doesn’t stop there.

Other possibilities include a rice porridge called Congee and of course, desserts. Thousand layer cake (Chien Chang Go), made from a sweetened dough with egg is one such and a steamed sponge cake sweetened with molasses is another. For a lighter finish to a meal, tofu drizzled with ginger syrup is a favourite.

We’ve hardly begun to explore the possibilities of dim sum which, although usually steamed or deep fried, can consist of almost anything snack-like in a small portion. This can include sesame toasts, meatballs, spareribs or even steamed chickens feet. There really is something for everyone so do give it a try.

Liz Canham
As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.