FONG WAN - Library

a bowl of noodles, or some small cakes and fruit. At the main meal,
rice is the principal food and is eaten with all the other dishes. Ordin-
arily (banquets excepted) there is but one course, there being no des-
sert, and all the food is set on the table at the same time the rice is
served; no matter whether these dishes be soups, vegetables, fish, eggs,
meat, or poultry.
RICE
The Chinese cook rice until it is dry and each grain stands out from
the others. While Americans pour water over the cooked rice to wash
out the starch, the Chinese do all the washing before cooking. The rice
to be cooked is washed in several waters by being
stirred round and
round the pot either with the hand or a perforated cook spoon until
the water becomes white, when it is poured off and the water changed.
This process is repeated some ten or twelve times until the water pours
off clear. All the cold water is then drained off and boiling water in
the proportion of two cups to one cup of rice is added. After the rice
has come to a boil, the fire is turned very low, and the rice allowed to
cook (or rather steam) a half hour or more until firm and dry. A
heavy Chinese porcelain-lined, iron pot is best, but a double boiler also
serves the purpose.
SHRIMP OMELET (FU YUNG HA)
1 cup small, picked Fong Wan shrimps.
1 small onion, sliced.
5 or 6 dried mushrooms, washed, soaked till soft, and sliced into
strips.
Fry shrimps, mushrooms and onion in oil over slow fire.
Pour in 4 well-beaten eggs and mix.
Add a teaspoonful of Chinese Sauce (Pak Yau) and salt to taste.
Fry quickly until light brown.
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