Chinese Instant Noodles

When I visited H-Mart, Korean grocer, last time, I found instant noodles made in China & in Korea. Although I have read that some kids died because of poisoning eating instant noodles, I ventured to try. Considering how many people lives in China, the risk should be low. :D

This is the one I tried: Original Hot & Sour Flavour Instant Vermicelli. I am big fan of Hot & Sour flavour and also of the sweet potato flour noodles, and that was why I could not resist. I think it costed me 60p or so. Later I found the same thing in also Spa in the university (UoB).



These are the things contained in the packet.



The noodles are not usual rice flour vermicelli, but made of sweet potato starch flour. Sweet potato flour noodles are not sweet and do not taste of sweet potato. They are greyish and opaque in colour and tougher in consistency.

Then, the red bag is chili sauce & refined palm oil (!). White balls below are soy beans. The black bag is vinegar. Then the silver bag contains "gourmet powder". Yes, "gourmet powder", so is written in ingredients table. And I am afraid it is mainly MSG (Monosodium Glutamate).

The instruction said that I just had to keep the noodles in hot water, but I boiled them, as I like hot soup. Nutritionally, the instant noodles aren't good, so I put some stir-fried vegetable on top. Here is the outcome.



The floating white balls are soy beans. I have never seen this use before, and I don't think they added any flavour to the dish.

They tasted lovely... in a junk-food way. I was surprised that the MSG soup did not taste awful (and I am disappointed in my taste buds...). I started to wonder how much MSG I eat when I eat at Chinese restaurants.

It was an interesting experiment, but I still don't like the idea of eating that much MSG in one go. :(

New Chocolate shop in Selfridge

Passing Selfridge Food Hall yesterday, I noticed they installed a new chocolate shop. It is called Bouquets de Chocolats, and just behind Yo! Sushi  (now, you should be wondering if there is any such space between Yo! Sushi and Pret a Manger, and you are right; there isn't and they just crammed into it).



It is from Bayonne (town French Basque region) and makes bouquets with chocolates, as well as other small chocolates. One bouquet of 220g costs £10, 440g for £20, and so one. I guess it is expensive, but the price of chocolates changes greatly according to the quality, so I cannot really tell without eating it.

There is also demostration by a chocolatier (well it was a chocolatière when I saw).



I don't like chocolate so much, so I don't think I have chance to buy it. However, this chocolate drink counter looked interesting.



£2.45 for a cup. Even so I should be really hungry to be able to try one, as good chocolate drink is very filling.

New entries from 3 to 9 March 2008

Yesterday, we went to Han Dynasty, a new Chinese restaurant in Station Road. We wanted to visit here for some time, and we finally made it.

The food was very nice, but the seats & table were uncomfortable: the sofa like seat were too low for rather tall table. I will try to write a review during this week. If you like Chinese food, but not a fan of Chinese take-away, you will probably enjoy this restaurant. Don't be put off even if the menu is not shown on the window. Price is reasonable and the menu is bilingual (simplified Chinese & Enlgish).


Return to the main topic: the new entries this week.

**Birmingham Restaurant Review**

Golden Pond: my seventh visit and 5th review!

**Birmingham Guide**

Birmingham Art Gallery & Museum

I know that the Brummies hardly need this, but it is rather for tourists and short-time visitors.

**England for Food Lovers**

Gwillams' Farmshop in Worcestershire

How to eat Japanese fermented soy beans (Nattō)

If you have Japanese friends, probably you have heard about Nattō.

It is fermented soy beans that one part of the Japanese people love so much that they cannot live without. And the other part, however, hates it. It is popular food in eastern part of Japan, but less so in the western part.

The reason of this deep divide is mainly the small of Nattō. As all the fermented foods, Nattō has a very particular and strong smell which is, if you are not used to it, a bad odour. Some say that the Chinese black beans are smelly, but there is no comparison with Nattō.

Also the non-Japanese people find this food disgusting. For foreigners, the problem is not only the smell, but also its sliminess. The Japanese people in general love slimy foods, but it is not the case for other nations. I have met only a couple of non-Japanese who said they like these fermented soy beans.

I heard that the Indonesians have something similar called "tempe", but they cook in a way that it does not smell as much as its Japanese cousin.

As I belong to the group that love Nattō, I enjoy enjoy eating it. Fortunately in Birmingham, we can find frozen Nattō in Chinese or Korean grocery stores. It costs three times more expensive than in Japan, but, I won't complain as it is probably brought frozen by air cargo (but it makes me feel guilty of carbon foot printing).

This is a packet of Nattō. I paid £1.40.



This packet contains 4 small containers of Nattō, as you see below. In a container, there are also a small packet of soy sauce based sauce and another of mustard.




I eat Nattō with raw egg. I put also some Japanese seven flavour chili. The white thing beneath is steamed rice.



And mix mix mix. Then I get this.



It is almost soupy because I did not put much rice, but usually people put more rice. The mixture of Nattō odour and raw egg smell is almost obscene. It is sooooo good.

I would not recommend this to anybody, as it is not for feint hearted, but if you happen to be lover of smelly food, this is the one for you. ha ha ha.


You can always find it in H-mart in Selly Oak, and sometimes also in Day-In in Arcadian Centre. This page will help you to find it, too.

http://www.wonderbirmingham.co.uk/birmingham/japanesefood_en.html

Frozen Okra

I love Okra, but it is time consuming to clean them.

I am not speaking about washing them, but removed the hard part of okra one by one. Especially when I have to cook dinner after having return from the job, I don't have energy to do it.

So, a very convenient alternative to fresh okra is this frozen okra.



I can buy it from Asian grocers in vicinity. This packet costs me 89p for 400g, which is more or less the same price as for fresh ones. They are already washed and the hard part is removed, so all you have to do is to open the packet and start to cook.

Another advantage of the frozen version is that the okras used for it are very small and tender. I like large, crunchy okras, but my Greek husband prefers these small tender ones that are more common in Greece.

When I lived in Japan, I could not eat okra as many as I wanted, as they were expensive. Another reason for me to feel happy in Birmingham. :)