If you have traveled to Singapore or Malaysia, one famous Chinese soup you are bound to have heard of is Bah Kut Teh. This soup, which literally translates to “Meat Bone Tea (肉骨茶)” from the Teochew language, is a deeply flavorful pork ribs broth that contains no tea (despite the name). This pork ribs soup is intensely [Read More...]
One of the key ingredients in making Chinese Pork Ribs soup (aka Bah Kut Teh) is the spice mixture. A concoction of fragrant spices like grounded peppercorn, salt, star anise, cinnamon, and cloves are combined and cooked with the soup. These spices impart a wonderfully delicious peppery flavor that warms and comforts the stomach. To make Bah [Read More...]
If you purchased a pumpkin for cooking or decorative carving, save the seeds! The seeds are tasty when roasted, and they offer valuable minerals like zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, and many others. Making your own homemade pumpkin seeds is very easy. First, open up the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds (also called pepitas). In my case, [Read More...]
Huang Jing (Siberian Solomon’s Seal) is a medicinal herb that comes from the rhizome of the polygonatum plant. It has a bland sweet taste and feels a little soft and sticky to the touch. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Huang Jing nourishes the yin and revitalizes the qi for several body organs. It is used for [Read More ...]
Dried tangerine peel is a food ingredient used in Chinese cooking and medicine. It is cherished for their distinct bitter and fragrant taste. The best and most valued Dried Tangerine Peel is from a region in China called Xinhui (新會), as they are more fragrant than tangerine peels from other regions. This fruit peel is known to have a warming property, with anti-viral and anti-bacterial abilities. Dried Tangerine Peel is also known to help with digestion and wet coughs due to [Read More ...]
Besides the Hot and Sour Soup, the West Lake Beef Soup (西湖牛肉羹) is probably the next most common soup found in Chinese restaurants in the US. Although the ingredients for this soup are simple, the West Lake Beef Soup is both gratifying and flavorsome – with a rich, mellow taste and a silky smooth mouth feel. The West Lake Beef Soup is a popular local dish of the mountainous ZheJiang (浙江) Chinese province, where the famous West Lake is located. One secret to making a soft, smooth West Lake Beef Soup is [Read More...]
I am heading down an experimental path with my cooking lately. It started with the purple sweet potato I used to re-create a traditional rice dumpling (tang yuan) dessert in my last recipe. This week, I am using an ingredient that I have never cooked with although it is familiar to me. This ingredient is very well [Read More...]
Sweet rice dumplings, or Tang Yuan, is a traditional Chinese sweet dessert that is similar to the Japanese mochi in appearance. Like mochi, Tang Yuan is made out of glutinous rice flour and water to form a smooth al-dente dough which is rolled into round balls. While mochi is typically served dry, Tang Yuan is always served moist with a sweet gingery syrup. Tang Yuan is also never filled with ice cream like some versions of mochi. Instead, Tang Yuan is typically filled with a sweet delectable [Read More ...]
This is a delicious classic double steamed Chinese dessert I love. It has a delicate sweetness that is lightly contrasted with a smooth gingery zing that sits over a lovely mellow tone of almond fragrance and fresh pears. This dessert is good year round but especially suitable for the cold dry autumn and winter seasons. This dessert soup nourishes and moisturizes the lungs and skin. It helps to quench thirst and expel phlegm. This dessert can be [Read More...]
(CLOSED) To celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year for 2012, Kee Wah Bakery (奇華餅家) is generously sponsoring me to GIVEAWAY 3 e-GIFT CARDS totaling $100 value redeemable at www.keewah.us. Kee Wah is a time-honored family-operated bakery founded in Hong Kong in 1938, prior to World War II. Kee Wah is an established and time-tested brand of quality [Read More...]