• Malay Butter/Creamy Chicken | 馬來奶油雞

    I have never had this dish when I was in Malaysia or South East Asia, but when I saw the video making this dish, I want to try right away! Luckily, the Indian grocery nearby sells fresh curry leave that I got to have this essential ingredient for the dish. When we tried it right away, it also tastes like cheese (mainly because I added in chicken too late and sauce dried out), when we reheated next day, it has salted egg yolk taste!!! According to my Malaysian friend, creamy mushrooms (vegetarian version) and butter prawn are also very delicious! Will try next time 😉

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  • 髮菜豬手, 發財就手 | Stewed Pork Feet with “hair veggie”

    髮菜豬手, stewed pork fee with “hair veggie” has an irreplaceable place for Cantonese New Year dinner. Either we eat out or cook at home during Chinese New Year, we always try to include this dish. The pronunciation of the dish, 髮菜豬手, is phonetically similar to Cantonese pronunciation of 發財就手, making a fortune and hold it in hand. Such good meaning, besides the delicious, gelatin-rich pork feet texture, makes this dish very popular.

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  • JTown Oma Oma | homestyle Kaiseki

    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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  • 腐竹滷肉飯 | Minced Pork Rice with Tofu Skin

    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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  • Ebi Katsu Burger (air- vs deep-fried)| 日式炸蝦漢堡 氣炸 油炸大PK!

    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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  • 生煎饅頭 | Shengjian Mantou/Pan-fried baozi

    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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  • 脆皮雞腿 | Crispy Chicken Leg (air-fried)

    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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  • 肉夾饃 | Rou Jia Mo (Chinese Burger)

    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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  • 尖椒釀肉 | Stuffed Green Pepper

    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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  • “魚” 香茄子 | Eggplants with minced pork

    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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