- [Sara] Sara's Weeknight Meals is made possible by USA rice and by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother, doing fresh pasta.

And now I transmit it to all the guests.

Is something made specially for them.

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(emotional music) ♪ Inside out, got it figured out ♪ ♪ I'm feeling good ♪ And it feels good to feel good ♪ - [Announcer 2] Sunsweet amazing prunes and prune juice.

- [Sara] Today on Sara's Weeknight Meals, (William sings in foreign language) Can you believe we're in Vancouver's Chinatown?

I don't think you're talking about dumplings.

There's all sorts of deliciousness here.

Oh, my whole family is jealous right now.

(Judy chuckles) We're making appetizers with tea.

- As soon as you see smoke, we'll turn it off and let it sit for 15 minutes.

- Okay.

Tea-smoked tofu with wakame salad and Yunnan eggs.

- Make wakame salad.

- Ooh, that's beautiful.

- Yeah.

- It's rainbow colored.

- And then dumplings.

- So we're gonna make a Korean version of Chinese dumplings.

- [Sara] Do you think ours will look like that?

- Better.

(Sara and Judy laugh) - [Sara] But then... That is just spectacular.

- Thank you.

- That was worth the price of admission.

- You know, when they say don't try this at home?

Well, I did.

So I have a challenge today.

I brought in my troops and they are gonna run out and buy egg rolls while I make egg rolls.

And we're gonna see who gets done first.

Mhm.

- Oh yeah, they're great.

- Four tasty Chinese treats you can easily make it home, really!

Yours are the perfect ones.

- No, they all look the same.

- They are upside down.

That was genius.

You did that for me.

(bright music) In this impossibly beautiful city on the edge of the continent lies one of the largest Chinatowns in the world.

Vancouver's Chinatown is a place where ancient traditions meet hipster hangouts, and where its namesake inhabitants were not always welcome.

- Chinatown and Vancouver started in 1885 with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Chinese couldn't live in the city of Vancouver.

So a lot of different, diverse.

- You mean, because they weren't welcome.

- Right.

Chinese didn't have any rights.

They couldn't get jobs in the professions and they had to stick together to protect each other.

So they all formed Chinatown.

- [Sara] Judy Lam Maxwell gives tours of Vancouver's Chinatown.

And today she's showing me the places that make it unique.

- So I'm gonna take you to Treasure Green Tea.

Olivia owns it.

And she's second-generation tea sommelier.

Her dad started the business in 1981.

It was the first authentic Chinese tea shop in the city of Vancouver.

I'll drop you off here so that you can try a few teas and I'm gonna run some errands.

- Oh, nice.

Lovely.

(calm ethereal music) Some drink tea.

- Mm.

-Oh that's so delicious.

- [Sara] Others cook with it.

- We are today featuring a tea-smoked tofu with wakame salad.

- [Sara] Ooh, fun.

- I have an extra-firm tofu here.

If you can slice it about quarter-inch thick for me.

And after that, please pat dry the tofu.

- Oh, okay.

- Make our marination we have one teaspoon of sugar and two teaspoon of salt.

So this is the Lapsang souchong black tea from Fujian.

It's a smoke black tea.

- Whoa!

- Very smoky.

- Wow!

That is so smoky.

- Almost like campfire.

We have the tea here.

There's one tablespoon of Lapsang souchong and one cup of water.

I did make the marination ahead of time and it looks like this.

- [Sara] Oh, that's beautiful!

- Yeah.

Black tea, the color is actually really gorgeous.

So we are gonna patted tofu into the bowl and then.

- [Sara] Any particular way?

- [Olivia] Yeah, just so if they don't overlap each other, would be the best.

And I will pour the tea over it.

And we'll marinate minimum one hour, but preferably overnight.

- [Sara] So this is what it looks like after you've marinated it?

- [Olivia] Yeah, so that one is marinated overnight.

So we see the color is really beautiful.

So you would have a pan and you wanna line it with couple foils.

One tablespoon of rice.

And then we have two tablespoon of our tea.

- [Sara] This is so cool.

- [Olivia] This is a smoky tea, of course.

We can put the rack back on and then we place the tofu.

- On top.

- On top.

- Do you smoke other things besides tofu, this way?

- Smoked duck is another one that we do, yes.

- Wow, okay.

Now what happens?

- Now we turn this stove on.

- Mhm, okay.

- [Olivia] Okay, looks like it's smoking now.

Wonderful!

So this is the time that you turn off the stove and then we let it sit for 15 minutes.

- Okay.

- So, what I'm putting on the topping is this one is my homemade wakame salad.

You can also put whatever you like on top.

I also have kimchi and some nori, sea weed, as well, black sesame.

They go really well with the smoked tofu, as well.

- [Sara] Next, an ancient recipe for Yunnan tea eggs.

- [Olivia] Lot of ingredients here.

- [Sara] Lot of ingredients.

So what have we got in here?

- [Olivia] So I have six cups of water there and then we'll be adding star anise.

- [Sara] Okay, here we go.

Can I do that?

- Please.

- Okay.

I love star anise.

- Yeah, and then the bay leaves.

- Okay.

That's a lot of bay leaves.

Woo!

All right.

- We want the aroma.

And then a garlic, cinnamon here.

- [Sara] Five-spice powder.

- Yes.

Citron peppercorn.

- Yeah.

- And then this one is optional, chili pepper.

This is a cup soya sauce here.

And then dark soya sauce.

Even give it a little bit more richer color as well.

- Okay, yeah, look at how rich that is.

Okay, and last but not least.

- Yes.

This is a Yunnan black tea.

- Okay.

- Yunnan is very famous for their black tea.

This one has a nice cocoa chocolate aroma to it.

- Ooh, ooh, I love that.

- And then we will bring that all to a boil and then simmer it for 15 minutes.

I have already boiled some tea eggs here.

- [Sara] Olivia boiled the eggs for seven minutes in the hot tea soup before chilling it.

That's cool.

Do you chill it overnight?

- Yes I did.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- [Olivia] You can just simply crack it to make a more marbleized look, and you steep it with the shell on, of course.

- [Sara] Mhm, and then that goes into this.

- [Olivia] Correct, yes, - [Sara] Again for 24 hours.

- Yes.

- Okay.

I made this one in advance.

It's a street food, right, so you can see it everywhere in Asia.

So the more you crack it, the more.

- Little marks you get in there.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Yeah.

It makes it look antique, which is why I love it.

All right.

- That's true.

I never thought of that.

- Yeah, okay.

- Antique eggs.

- [Sara] Well, now we get to taste it right?

- I'm gonna cut this up.

- Wow.

I'm just gonna try, take a bite of one of these.

- Oh, I'm gonna dress it, first.

- Oh, excuse me, of course!

So, that's nori again.

(upbeat music) Mm.

Mm.

Oh!

Oh, my God.

Mm!

Mm!

- Mm.

- That is so good.

That is so good!

That was delicious.

And there's more to come.

- So this is a second-generation Chinese Canadian owned, it's Kam Wai Dim Sum.

- Ooh, dim sum, yum!

- Everybody loves dumplings.

- Yes.

Just like dumplings, there's a surprise inside the shop.

(William sings in foreign language) William Liu gave up an opera career to take over his ailing father's dim sum shop.

(William sings in foreign language) - Oh, wow!

- Goodness, gracious.

I don't think you were singing dumplings, either.

- No, definitely not about dumplings.

- Tell me briefly about this store.

- Yeah, so it got started in '91 by my father and we just saw a influx of people from Southern China, and from Hong Kong.

And my dad saw that there was a need for dumplings in Chinatown, 'cause people were trying to make them at home and wanted to just buy them in the stores.

So we just decided to expand and do frozen dumplings and do a hot food service as well.

- [Sara] That's wonderful.

Good for you.

- [William] Thank you so much.

- So now, oh my God.

These look like little pillows.

- So the little pillowy ones right here, so, those are our barbecue pork buns, or bao, as we call them.

This one is our sticky rice or as we call them in Chinese, (speaks foreign language).

So on the outside is wrapped with a bamboo leaf, which it gives it a really beautiful aroma.

- [Sara] And this guy over here?

- Mushroom dumpling.

So this one is our, one of our newer items for our menu.

It's a vegan mushroom dumpling.

- Well, we've gotta dig in.

- Absolutely, enjoy!

- My husband says never eat anything larger than your head.

And this is getting awfully close.

(Judy laughs) So how do you eat these?

- You just break it apart.

- Oh, my whole family is jealous right now.

(Judy laughs) Mm.

It's so good.

It's like barbecue, and sweet.

Essence of pork.

- [Judy] So, this is a really popular thing to eat during dragon boat festival.

- Okay, and that's sticky rice?

- Yes.

(upbeat, bubbly music) It's comfort food.

It's very good.

- Well, I think this is all comfort food.

I think we're fairly safe to say that.

- [Judy] Mushroom dumplings, there are about five different kinds of mushrooms inside.

- Mhm.

I'm a huge mushroom fan.

And this, mm!

Wow!

This is just fantastic.

Do you think ours will look like that?

- Better.

(Sara and Judy laugh) - Okay then.

(calm, ethereal music) I'm here with Judy Lam Maxwell who calls herself Chinatown Girl because you do these amazing tours of Chinatown.

All the secret knowledge she has, this lady.

Anyway, now we're at the end of our tour and we get the dumpling at the end of the rainbow.

You're gonna show me how to make dumplings.

- Yes.

- What kind of dumpling are we making?

- So we're gonna make bulgogi dumplings, Korean-style dumplings with ground beef.

- Oh yay!

That sounds so good.

So I just minced up, per your direction, three garlic cloves.

And then what would you like me to do?

- Chop up a quarter of an onion, half an inch of ginger, and two scallions.

And I'll grate the carrot.

And I'll put half a cup of Napa cabbage in the bowl.

(upbeat music) (carrot rasping) (knife clunking) (metal clangs on bowl) - [Sara] So now I'm onto my ginger.

And then the scallions, both part of the scallions?

- [Judy] The whole one.

(upbeat music) - So that's all the vegetables.

- So we're gonna add liquids now and we're gonna start with one tablespoon of soy sauce.

The soy sauce I use is organic and unpasteurized.

Half a tablespoon, fish sauce, Half a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil, not sesame oil, but toasted sesame oil.

Different flavor.

So now, we're gonna add one and a half tablespoons of brown sugar.

- Oops.

So that's the sweet element here.

- Yes.

And then one tablespoon of corn starch and quarter of a teaspoon of white pepper.

So Asians use white pepper instead of black pepper.

- [Sara] 'Cause it's sort of a drier heat?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

And an egg.

- So it's ground beef.

- Yes.

- And I'm just gonna add it to this.

- Okay.

Oh, oh, I see.

Okay, you are beating it up.

(spoon rasps on bowl) Yeah, I never understand when people just say throw an egg in 'cause then it's much harder to incorporate.

Now this looks like a lifetime supply.

- Nothing ever goes to waste.

I make dumplings for the elders in the community.

- Oh how nice.

- As you know.

- [Sara] Should I get the wonton wrappers?

And where do you find them?

- [Judy] You can get them at any Chinese grocery store.

- Sometimes supermarkets, I've found them in supermarkets, in the frozen foods section.

All right, so what do we do?

- [Judy] Okay, I'm gonna put water on the edge of both sides.

- Oh, both sides.

- Yes.

And then you put your thumbs an inch apart.

You start with your left thumb at the start of where the water is and then your other thumb's an inch away.

And then you're gonna use your index finger to push and make the fold.

So one, and you press it at the top.

And move your fingers over and do another fold, two.

Move your fingers over again and do a third fold, three.

So I use a coffee spoon to fill the dumplings with the ingredients because a teaspoon is too big.

So I've made a little pouch.

- [Sara] You sure did.

- Gotta put water on the back, rest it on the mat or the board and press the edges together.

- [Sara] Wow.

- And then I push it down so there's more surface area for cooking and there we go.

- That's beautiful.

I'm nervous.

(Judy laughs) Okay.

So let's see what.

- So, we'll do it together.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) - Over and do another fold.

(upbeat music) - These are gorgeous.

They look like the Rockettes.

- You did a great job.

- Not really, but you say it's practice, practice, practice.

- Yes.

So we're gonna cook them and I'm gonna use avocado oil.

You could use grape seed oil.

So you wanna use a high temperature.

- Smoke point oil.

- Smoke point, yeah.

- I'm shocked.

You don't heat the pan first?

- [Judy] No, it doesn't make sense because some are gonna be cooking at different times.

- [Sara] Oh.

(dumplings sizzle) - So I'm gonna put a few more in.

- Okay.

And turn the heat on.

- [Judy] Medium high.

There we go.

Look at it.

- Mhm.

- [Judy] Looks beautiful.

- Now do you cover it?

- No, I'm just gonna wait until it starts crackling and then I'm gonna add water and then I'm gonna put the lid on.

- [Sara] Okay.

-Yeah, do you hear it crackling?

-Yeah, a faint crackle.

Okay.

- So we can add some water now.

So, about half to three quarters of a cup.

(water sizzles) (calm music) So I just want it to be halfway up.

- Okay.

- You can see?

- [Sara] Mhm.

- [Judy] And then I'm gonna put the lid on and I'm gonna put the heat down to medium.

And then I'm gonna put my timer on for five minutes.

- So what is the point of the shape, the crescent?

- So they're shaped like ingots.

It's supposed to be like good luck, prosperity.

You eat it and then you're, you have good luck.

- Wow.

Well there's lots of things like that in Chinese culture.

- There's a lot of symbolism.

There's a lot of superstition in Chinese cultures.

So this is ready.

So this is gonna cook for about three to five more minutes.

By the time the water evaporates, it'll be crispy on the bottom.

- And when do you eat dumplings?

- Chinese New Year's, birthdays, Christmas time, special celebrations is when you sit down together, make them together, and eat them together.

(calm music) - Now how do you get 'em out the pan?

I mean, that's gonna take forever.

- Watch this!

- Oh no.

(Judy chuckles) I'm scared.

- So this is really simple.

You don't have to take them out one at a time.

- Whoa!

Oh!

- [Judy] There we go!

- Oh, you just pulled a Julia Child on me!

(Judy laughs) That is just spectacular!

- [Judy] Thank you.

- That was worth the price of admission.

(Judy laughs) I thank you.

Well, I think we must go eat.

- Yes, I think so, too.

- Yeah, let's head out to the garden.

- Okay, I'll take this out.

(calm music) - So the moment has come, right?

Should we just?

- Okay.

- Yeah, go right in?

Oh dear.

These are big.

Can I eat it in two bites?

(Judy laughs) No?

It's all.

- Go for it.

- Okay.

- [Judy] Mm.

- Oh, wow!

Mm.

Mm.

That is so good.

- Mm.

- So can you tell which one are yours and which ones are mine?

Yours are the perfect ones.

- No, they all look the same.

- Oh, you got a point there.

I mean, after all they are upside down.

That was genius.

You did that for me.

You did that for me.

How nice.

(upbeat music) A Chinatown tour and dumplings cooked by a native, that's outta my league.

Still, those of us who are not Chinese can make decent Chinese food at home.

That's coming up next.

(upbeat music) You know, I get it.

Some nights, you're just tired and you wanna get takeout and what's everybody's favorite takeout?

Chinese!

But here's the problem.

Chinese isn't necessarily very healthy.

And you know what?

It's not always so quick.

So I have a challenge today.

I've brought in my troops.

I have Heather and Yangley, they're my associates.

They work hard on the show.

And they are gonna run out and buy egg rolls while I make egg rolls.

And we're gonna see who gets done first.

You ready?

- We're ready.

- Okay.

Go!

- All right.

- All right, I gotta move fast.

There's a lot of dicing, and slicing, and chopping.

So we're gonna start with the pork.

I've had it in the freezer here.

We're gonna make the filling first.

And the reason I have the pork in the freezer, this is a half pound of boneless pork chop, is because when you freeze it, it's much easier to slice.

There's gonna be pork and a whole bunch of vegetables in here.

Obviously, you can do other kinds of fillings, but this is what I'm gonna do.

(upbeat music) And I'm cutting it into strips.

The smaller you cut it, the faster it cooks.

And like other Chinese recipes or Asian cooking, when we have many different parts, and we do have many different parts here, you wanna prep all the ingredients ahead of time to make sure that they're all ready 'cause they spend only 30 seconds, one minute, in a pan.

(upbeat music) (knife scraping gently) Okay, there's our pork, ready to go.

Now I'm gonna move on to the ginger, gonna cut it into planks and then mince it.

So it's just gonna take me a minute.

Here we're using a two-inch piece of peeled ginger.

(knife scraping) And now we need a clove of garlic.

(garlic skin crinkles) (knife clunks) (knife clunks) (knife rasping) Okay.

I've got my ginger and garlic ready.

Now I'm gonna move on down to the vegetables.

So we're gonna cut this into thin strips 'cause they all have to fit into an egg roll wrapper, a wonton wrapper, a square wonton wrapper.

So they have to be the right size.

That's why I cut the pork the way I did into strips.

I've got two scallions that I'm gonna slice thinly.

Just a quick slice.

(knife scraping) Okay, now Napa cabbage, I like Napa cabbage 'cause it's sort of mild.

It's not as you know, intense as regular cabbage.

We only need about a cup.

So I'll just take a little bit.

It's just got a nice, fresh flavor.

(cabbage crinkling) Okay, let's say that's about a cup.

Okay.

Now here's a favorite tool.

This is a peeler that has little holes in it.

It's also a julienner.

So what you do 'cause you could certainly do this on a mandolin, but look at how easy that is.

Isn't that cool?

(peeler scraping) Okay.

So we are all set.

Here we go.

So, let me heat up the pan with some grape seed oil.

(upbeat music) Ginger and garlic are going in.

And then once that gets a little bit hotter, I'll add the pork.

I'm gonna try to spread this out 'cause it sort of sticks to itself.

You could use chicken, too.

I should have mentioned that.

All right, while that's getting white, I'm just gonna measure, I'm gonna add our sauce in a minute.

So, what we've got here is a couple tablespoons of chicken broth We're gonna add a couple tablespoons of soy sauce.

This is for the vegetables just to soften them up in a minute.

(pork sizzles) All right, we're almost there.

(upbeat music) (pork sizzling) All of my vegetables going in.

Isn't that pretty?

Just think how healthy this is.

I mean that's not the point.

The first thing should be, it tastes good.

And I guarantee you, this tastes so good, we have to make it for every holiday at my house.

(upbeat music) (vegetables sizzling) So now this just cooks for a few minutes and softens up.

We want all the liquid to evaporate.

That's what we're looking for here 'cause we don't want the liquid to sog up my wanton wrappers.

All right, the pork goes back in and make sure, you see those yummy pork juices?

You don't wanna lose those.

(tongs scrape on plate) And the whole thing now is gonna go into the freezer, which is a trick that I often do when I have to quick-chill something.

Not to freeze it, just to cool it down.

Okay, here we go.

(pan clatters) All right, I am doing great.

Oh dear.

I wonder how they're doing.

Well, hello, where are you?

- Hi, Sara.

- Hi, Sara.

We just got here.

- [Sara] Wouldn't you know, I've already made the filling.

- [Both] What?

- Yeah, so you're in trouble.

All righty, bye!

- [Both] Bye.

- Oh, they're nowhere.

Oh, I've got all the time in the world!

- Can we get our egg rolls?

- Yes, it's all ready.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Have a good night.

- Bye, bye.

(upbeat music) - Here's our filling.

Let me get my wonton wrappers.

Now, wonton wrappers, I love.

It's nothing more than fresh Chinese pasta.

They don't call it Chinese pasta.

They call it wonton wrappers.

I'm gonna do about three at a time.

Here we go.

So I've got some water here, which is my glue and we do them in a diamond shape like this.

So, on go our vegetables.

Make sure you've got a little bit of everything.

You don't really need a lot.

This filling goes a long way.

I think it makes about 30.

So get your buddies together and do it as a team.

So what you do, so you roll it in, you tuck in the sides, and then you keep going.

(upbeat music) And again, we're gonna use the flavorless vegetable oil.

I like grape seed.

You could use sunflower or safflower.

You could use peanut oil, that's fine.

And you notice, it's not a lot of oil.

It's really more like sauteing.

(upbeat music) Okay, so these go right into the pan and we're gonna saute them.

And what's wonderful is these won't get crispy like they do when you deep fry them.

Let me turn it up a little bit.

But they certainly will get crispy.

And you do have to watch them because they get brown, you wanna turn them.

I think I'm gonna beat them!

I really do!

(upbeat music) - We're almost there.

- We're so close.

Oh, my gosh.

The look on her face when we beat her.

- Yeah.

- That's gonna be a little embarrassing, I think.

(both laugh) (upbeat music) - Geez, you know, I wonder where they are?

- Here we go.

- Here we go.

(car rumbles) - Well, where have you been?

- You're done?

- I mean, excuse me.

I have been done.

I paused this when I was done.

24 minutes, 18 seconds.

And you guys have been gone for half an hour?

- Well, we tried really hard.

- Yeah we did.

- Well, I don't know.

Okay, so let's see your egg rolls.

I'm sure they're delicious, but we're gonna try mine, too.

Look at this, aren't you impressed?

- Very nice.

- They look really good.

- I mean don't they look like the real McCoy?

They're probably not as big as yours.

These are little guys.

Oh yeah.

(Sara laughs) That's the big one.

Well, we can all chow down anyway.

So.

- Yours look delicious, Sara.

- Yeah, go ahead, ladies.

Chow down!

- All right.

- Me too.

Thank you so much for doing this challenge with me.

I'm sorry you lost.

I'm not sorry I won.

(assistants laugh) Any rate, pretty good, huh?

- Mhm.

Oh yeah, they're great.

- [Sara] Mm.

- [Heather] Beautiful colors in there.

- Yeah.

- In yours.

- Yeah.

Well those were, you know, fresh.

I mean I'm sure there's fresh vegetables in here too, but I may have (indistinct) (calm music) For recipes, videos, and more go to our website, saramoulton.com.

Sara's Weeknights Meals is made possible by USA Rice, Sunsweet, and by... - Cooking is the first kind of love you know.

It was starting when I was child with my grandmother, doing fresh pasta.

And now I transmit it to all the guests.

Is something made specially for them.

- [Announcer 1] Oceania Cruises, proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(emotional music) (light piano music) (upbeat music)