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Yong tau foo is one of the most representative Hakka dishes. My parents never made it at home, so I only got to enjoy it when we visited their Hakka friends for dinner or ordered it at a restaurant.
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Other than Cantonese radish cake, I’ve always deeply missed taro cake. To be honest, I prefer radish cake slightly more. Restaurant taro cake can sometimes lack the taro taste, after all, it’s a very mild flavor, and a bit firmer, even slightly drier compared to the soft, savory radish cakes. So I want to see if I could make a taro cake that tastes better than the ones from the restaurants.
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Claypot fuzzy melon with vermicelli was once a classic in traditional Cantonese restaurants back home, yet it’s a dish I rarely see on Bay Area Cantonese menus. At first, I assumed this was because ingredients like fuzzy melon or red fermented bean curd were hard to find. But over time, I noticed that this dish has also been quietly disappearing from restaurant menus back home, so that theory didn’t quite hold up.
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When I was growing up in Guangzhou, every now and then my mom and grandma would bring home Teochew (4hr drive from GZ) meat loaf from the market. These cylinder-shaped loaves would be sliced thin and pan-fried, or cut into strips and stir-fried with noodles or vermicelli. Simple, comforting, and very much a taste of home. The recipe turned out to be much easier than I expected and now I can recreate a beloved childhood delicacy anytime and share it with friends.
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It genuinely hurts me when my partner orders a $20.99 salt-and-pepper pork rib dish at a restaurant and the plate arrives with… eight tiny pieces of ribs. Eight. Altogether barely the size of two palms. That disappointment, combined with my love for anything fried, salty, and peppery (pork ribs, chicken wings, you name it), pushed me to recreate this classic Cantonese dish at home.
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In the cold winter months, I always find myself craving bossam at Korean restaurants. But in the Bay Area, this dish often starts at $40 or more, which usually nudges me toward ordering something more affordable instead. Turns out, bossam is much more straightforward to make at home than I expected.
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The spring roll with an air pocket is my favorite dish at Fuhuihua, the new and buzzworthy Chinese fine-dining restaurant in San Francisco. When I first saw Chef Ge serving a spring roll, I was skeptical, how different could it really be? But the moment I bit into it, the top layer cracked gently like flaky pastry. Beneath that dramatic air pocket, Chef Ge had hidden the ocean itself: crab leg, crab roe, fish maw, and fish fin.
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After taco de lengua and carnitas, I’m taking on birria—one of Charles and Rick’s favorites from Tacos El Patron in SF—in preparation for another upcoming taco fiesta. Rich, flavorful, and deeply satisfying, this dish is slow-cooked perfection wrapped in crispy, cheesy tortillas.
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Up until now, beef tongue tacos were the only taco I’d made—but with a taco party on the horizon, I knew I had to expand my repertoire. Hence, unlocking the classic, carnitas.
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Of all the tacos I’ve tried, my heart keeps going back to three classics: lengua, cabeza, and tripa. So when I spotted peeled beef tongue at Costco, I knew it was finally time to recreate my favorite taco — and truthfully, make tacos at home for the first time! Surprisingly, beef tongue tacos are quite straightforward to make and the process made me realize I lack most of the essential sauces and toppings in my well-stocked kitchen with Asian pantry lol Let’s try this juicy beef tongue nestled in a warm corn or flour tortilla, topped with zingy onions, cilantro, a hit of lime and salsa of your choice!
