By Albertha Schmid, Registrar, Metropolitan Community College
Part two of our AAPI Heritage Month series "Making Connections Through Food." Read part one here to learn more about your AAPI colleagues and how food serves as a wonderful pathway toward connection.
Chris Huang, Purdue University Fort Wayne
How do you or your family cook rice?
Our primary method is to use a rice cooker (Tatung brand rice cooker) and steam it.
We will also make Xi fan (pronounced ‘she fan’), which is ‘watery rice,’ where cooked rice cooked put in a pan, add water and boil it until it becomes porridge like. We do a few rounds of this, boil, add water, boil, etc.
Our family will also make fried rice, usually from the leftover rice. Then add oil, chopped onions, diced ham, assorted veggies, and egg.
What is your go-to snack?
Chinese watermelon seeds, preserved dried plums
Describe a dish that you enjoyed growing up [or comfort food?].
Hot pot; beef stew and boiled egg
What holidays do you continue to celebrate and what are some of the dishes?
Chinese New Year – steamed rice, fried tomatoes with egg, pot stickers
Favorite restaurant/ingredient/dish you enjoy cooking?
Wonton/pot stickers; tea eggs
Jennifer Oh, Baylor University
How do you or your family cook rice?
We use a rice-cooker! After rinsing short-grain rice until the water runs mostly clear, we just add the raw rice with water, turn on our rice-cooker, and it sings us a song when it’s all done cooking.
What is your go-to snack?
Turtle chips! (no turtles are harmed in the production of the chips) 😊 They’re light, crunchy, and sweet/salty layered snacks that have a really satisfying crunch.
Describe a dish that you enjoyed growing up [or comfort food?].
My favorite dish growing up was galbi jjim (braised short ribs). My easy-access comfort food would be rice and ggim (seaweed/laver) or ramyun.
What holidays do you continue to celebrate and what are some of the dishes?
Chuseok is like Korean Thanksgiving and we eat a lot of celebratory food with family, like japchae (glass noodles) and jeon (a variety of battered/pan-fried side-dishes).
Seollal or Korean New Year is always fun to celebrate with friends and family. We usually eat teokguk (rice cake soup) to celebrate another year of life, health, and blessings for the new year.
Favorite restaurant/ingredient/dish you enjoy cooking?
Restaurant: BCD Tofu House and BBQ Chicken are pretty reliable chain options in different locations.
Ingredient: Sesame oil!
Dish you enjoy cooking: Tteokbokki – really easy, spicy, and yummy!
Sun Jamerson, Lorain County Community College
How do you or your family cook rice?
Now, we all use a Rice cooker, but we used to cook on the stovetop. I was taught to measure water with my hand, putting the palm of my hand flat on top of the rice and seeing how much water came up on top of my hand. I always messed up by not measuring the water correctly.
What is your go-to snack?
Sweet potato sticks.
Describe a dish that you enjoyed growing up [or comfort food?].
White rice mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. And seaweed soup!
What holidays do you continue to celebrate and what are some of the dishes?
Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, and I try to make Rice Cakes and buy lots of Persimmons whenever I find them.
Favorite restaurant/ingredient/dish you enjoy cooking?
Japchae and Kimbap are the two most cooked items because of my husband's family
Leilani Goo, Reach University
How do you or your family cook rice?
Rice cooker. My dad, for a while, raised me as a single parent and I remember at the time we had a small microwave rice cooker he used when I was young.
What is your go-to snack?
My dad always made me sliced peaches soaked in vinegar & shoyu. When I was little, I would pick out and eat only the flower-shaped spicy furikake rice crackers out of the “Chex” mix. I didn’t realize until I was older that this wasn’t a normal snack that others didn’t eat, and furikake wasn’t a regular “Chex mix”.
Describe a dish that you enjoyed growing up [or comfort food?].
For a while, my grandparents raised me. My ultimate favorite comfort food was fried rice, which my grandfather made with leftover meat & rice, and my grandmother would make egg drop soup (egg flower soup). As I got older, my dad would also make this and now I make egg drop soup for my son.
What holidays do you continue to celebrate and what are some of the dishes?
Most common holiday dishes included my grandfather’s Teriyaki pork shortribs, Chinese chicken salad my grandmother would make, and mac salad. The chicken salad recipe has become one of the most safeguarded recipes in our family and is only shared with family members.
Favorite restaurant/ingredient/dish you enjoy cooking?
Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage) is literally in almost every meal. Shoyu (we call it vs Soy sauce), Corned beef hash (Palm brand), Mapo Tofu, Congee with Chicken & Lap Cheong, Egg Drop Soup, Dumplings & Wontons, Tteokbokki