Happy Dragon Meal by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
The editors of the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) all wanted me to review the local Chinese-American restaurant Happy
Dragon.
I like the Chinese-American dish Beef-Broccoli with rice. It is a perfect
protein-carbohydrate-vegetable dish that made the Chinese immigrants in the US strong
enough to lay metal railroad track and wood ties that connected the east and
west coasts of the United States. (Steinbeck’s
novel East of Eden discusses how the invention of refrigerated rail
cars made Salinas rich on shipping produce to the east coast.)
I told all of this information to Florence before we went to
Happy Dragon, because many people made fun of Chinese-American cuisine for not
being authentic. (“Authentic” meaning
the food of the rich people in the homeland.
Jook, also known as congee, is not really a desired dish by rich Chinese
from abroad in the US.)
“I’m happy Chinese-Americans eat beef, chicken, and pork to
their heart’s content. Chinese-Americans
are actually taller than I am now. They
know about the importance of protein and calcium,” I said to Florence.
With my food lecture out of the way, Laurent, Florence, and
I set out for Happy Dragon full of fun expectations. The article I wrote for the Monterey
County Weekly around 2000 follows:
Blowin’ Smoke
For six years, Happy Dragon’s owner operated of a much
smaller building nearby. All the
neighborhood families who kept coming back to the restaurant convinced the
owner to move to more spacious quarters on Fremont Avenue.
The owner has made maximum use of his space. Two big, red pillars on either side of the
counter greet you when walk into the wide reception area. Large scenes of Chinese landscapes with
mountains, clouds, and little villages typical of Chinese landscape painting
decorate the walls.
Best of all there are several big, round tables with Lazy
Susan turntables in the middle of them designed for serving Chines family-style
meals.
So, that was what I decided to do.
“We’re going to eat like a Chinese family,” I told my family
as we looked over our menus.
“That means we order a soup, a poultry or meat dish, a fish
or seafood dish, a vegetable dish, and rice to share all at once,” I announced,
proud of the knowledge I had gleaned from Nina Simonds Classic Chinese Cuisine.
Heeding my proclamation, we ordered egg-rolls, crab
rangoons, egg-flower soup, Mongolian beef, shrimp in lobster sauce, and eggplant in Yu Shiang Sauce. My efforts were undermined, however, when our
waiter began to bring us our dishes in courses, starting with the egg-flower
soup. My family was saved from my whims
this time.
Happy Dragon’s egg-flower soup tastes of ginger, chicken,
and fresh corn. Crunchy water chestnuts
added some texture to the velvety sheets of egg that had been stirred in at the
end of cooking.
The soup gets its thick consistency from the addition of
cornstarch. My only complaint was that
it arrived warm instead of hot. I
learned later that the restaurant was short-handed the night we were there,
which might explain the temperature problem.
Our egg rolls had a yummy, flaky wonton covering and al
dente cabbage filling. Egg rolls dipped
in plum sauce with a good dab of mustard for heat on them is one of my favorite
dishes in the world.
The crab rangoons resemble four-pointed stars made of
deep-fried wontons with a crab filling in the middle. Laurent liked dipping the crisp rangoons in
plum sauce – a Chinese version of chips and dip. The crab filling seemed buttery to me, but
Laurent loved it.
My Chinese family-style dinner plans went further out the
window as my Florence claimed the Mongolian Beef for herself. This dish is typical of the Mandarin cuisine
that is made in northern China.
The Mongols introduced barbecuing to Chinese cuisine in this
dish that features sweetened soy sauce marinade flavored with ginger and
sesame. Happy Dragon uses fresh
scallions to counter the rich flavor of the marinade. Mongolian Beef is not my favorite dish, but I
liked the restaurant’s spicy version.
Happy Dragon bills itself as a specialist in Mandarin and
Sichuanese cuisine. Northern China where
Mandarin cuisine comes from experiences extremes in climate brought on by
Siberian winds during winter and heat blasts during the summer.
Western Sichuan’s hot, humid climate yields foods like chili
peppers and eggplants in abundance.
Sichuan is famous for the eggplants in Yu Shiang Sauce that I ordered.
This dish is usually prepared with ground pork or beef. I thought this vegetarian dish would be
light, but the minute I tasted the sweetly, tart sauce I knew stir-fried
vegetables can pack in the calories, too.
Happy Dragon’s version of this dish is mild, so I added some
of the chili paste that was on the table to give it some kick. The traditional recipe calls for a generous
dose of chili paste – hot, spicy food is a trademark of Sichuanese cuisine.
Laurent ordered shrimp in lobster sauce. This dish typifies the haute cuisine of
Southern Chinese cooking. The shrimp
were sweet and the sauce, full of peas, corn, green peppers, carrots, and many
crunchy water chestnuts. This sauce was
so rich that Laurent could not finish it.
(Personally, I think the crab rangoons dunked in plum sauce had
something to do with this.)
There are some other insider techniques and ingredients that
made this shrimp in lobster sauce such a great dish. The shrimp are coated in egg white and
refrigerated before they are stir-fried.
This gives them the beautiful sheen I always associate with
Chinese food. Also, ground pork usually
gets stir-fried into the sauce, which is thickened with egg. Often the pork flavor is the taste you just
cannot place when you eat Chinese soups.
Happy Dragon was packed with families on a Saturday night
having fun just like we were.
End of Article
Cookbook Recommendations:
-Classic Chinese Cuisine by Nina Simonds
-Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom
Hom has a nice discussion of China’s different culinary
regions in his book.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Teen in China, and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
 |
| Ruth Paget Selfie |
