Shanghainese Pao Fan Breakfast

Traditional Shanghainese breakfast fares typically include little wonton soup, Xiao Long Bao (tho it's now more of an all day thing), fried dough (we Shanghainese like to dip our fried dough in light soy sauce)... But for at home, on the go breakfast, we eat Pao Fan (Soaked Rice) and Pao Tsai (Soaked Veggies)... My aunt makes her own Pao Tsai, here she is taking some Pao-ed spaghetti beans (very long string beans) and peppers out of her Pao Jar... it's a super cute jar, and it is sealed by pouring water around the edge of the cover.

Chop the pao-ed red peppers, spaghetti beans, and some fresh ginger...

Peel fresh soy beans. I peeled them! So proud of myself :-)

Now fry all of them together. Fry, fry...

Tada! Isn't this beautiful? Glistening soy beans, sweet soury spaghetti beans, sweet and spicy red peppers... this is the kind of yummy xiao tsai (little dish) that you will never get in restaurants.

Now, get some homemade Pao Ginger (it's crispy, gingery, sweet and sour all at once, make sure you use very young ginger, otherwise it gets fibery), Pao Daikon/Cucumber (also homemade), and some Pao Rice, and you have your traditional Shanghainese Pao Fan Breakfast. I supplemented my Pao Fan with some sour milk (ie Chinese yoghurt). See the bottle with the Chinese words "bright"? That's freshly home delivered sour milk.