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Having Nanzan Giro Giro as the last meal we had at Hawaii, really made each dish linger in my mind. A few dishes I want to recreate such as abalone with cauliflower cream, lobster with uni and lobster bisque, green bean sesame tofu.. Having the long weekend, we decided to try making our own Kaiseki.
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Parents bought me tofu skin from home, its quality is much softer, fresher and sweeter. I have been looking for a variety of ways to cook tofu skins. At home, mom makes tofu skin with pork short ribs and I found that tofu skin really matches well with pork. The first time she made it, I did not expect tofu skin to be THIS SWEET & DELICIOUS… This time I tried making it with minced pork. The light, subtle sweet flavor from tofu skin works well with the more intense sweet-flavor minced pork!
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Bite in…chew…OH MY GOD… Honestly I wanted to make Ebi/Shrimp Katsu only because the frozen shrimp I bought this time, tastes like PLASTIC.. I was hoping smashing it up will eliminate the plastic texture, hence I tried to make Ebi Katsu out of it. As usual, the food scientist nerdiness gets to me to compare air-frying Katsu vs deep-frying katsu, air-frying bread vs pan-frying bread vs toaster bread. Result is, air-frying katsu is not that different honestly.. The sauce learning from Chef Masa is very, super, surprisingly, confusingly delicious. This is my first time making the Ebi/Shrimp Katsu Burger, but I am going to add it to my permanent menu for guests!!
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Shanghai is not just famous for soup dumplings 灌湯包, it is also famous for its Shengjian Mantou 生煎饅頭/生煎包, which has a dough texture in between a soft steam bun and a chewy, thin soup dumpling. The top part (above oil) of Shengjian Mantou is soft, and half-risen with yeast and under high temperature as water evaporates in hot, lid-on pot; on the contrary, the bottom of Shengjian Mantou sticks closely to the pan/pot and the hot oil sizzles, fries it and gives it a golden-brown, crispy texture. The combination of soft top and crispy bottom, the drier bun dough and soupy fillings, will give you a new insight into Shanghainese delicacy!
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Besides seafoods, Cantonese love chicken the most! And we definitely have a lot of ways to cook chicken. Crispy chicken is something we order a lot in the restaurants but rarely made at home because of its long, complicated procedure. Now I am thousands miles away from hometown, locked up in the apartment for more than a year and own a air-fryer, the perfect time to make crispy chicken! Its crispy yet sweet skin, juicy meat is the perfect comfort after a long day!
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Rou Jia Mo, Chinese burger, originated in Shanxi Province in China. That is the province where Terracotta Army stands! Different cities in Shanxi Province eat Rou Jia Mo also differently; warm meat vs hot meat, braised pork belly vs lamb, beef, different ways to make, cook doughs, etc. I have tried this three times so far, the previous two failure results from either dough too soft, or cook at high temperature or cook too long. Understanding the expected texture and how it is formed definitely make this process much easier!
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Whenever I visited my parents’ friends who are from the Hakka area of Southern China, they always cook stuffed tofu (will try and share recipe later) and stuffed green peppers. I think this is not only a well-loved dish in Hakka, but also in many other areas in China! If you want to cook green peppers in new ways, try this simple and yummy recipe!
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Do you know there is actually usually, no FISH in this dish with direct translation from Chinese as “fragrant fish stir-fry egg plants”? I have tried to make eggplants with minced pork twice without recipe, just by “thinking & recreating”, both failed badly — either too sour or not seasoned enough. Getting the tricks included here to preserve color of eggplants and get rid of excessive water, to season the dish with spicy bean sauce, this will be a simple dish!! You can also give an extra kick with dried shrimp or fish so it actually has “fish” instead of just ground pork!
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Craving for Korean BBQ after not having it for more than 1 year in pandemic and celebrating a friend receiving multiple offers, we decided to have KBBQ AT HOME!! One must-have ingredient besides pork belly, bulgogi is beef short ribs (LA Galbi)!! Its slight sweetness is the key of sauce, following Maangchi’s recipe, I was able to replicate the sweetness, softness of LA Galbi!!
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Stir-fried Snails with Shiso 紫蘇炒田螺 is a common street food in alleyways of hot summer nights back at hometown Guangzhou, but does shiso also go well other than snail and duck? I tried pairing shiso with shrimp, another seafood I LOVEEEEE, results turned out amazing.. the unique fragrance of shiso leaves match so well with shrimps’ ocean taste, their juicy texture and “sweetness”!
