Mapo Tofu / Kurdish Kibbeh / Cashew Nut Curry

Blog Post & Recipe: Mapo Tofu

Fortunately, mapo doufu also very easy to make at home. The recipe I’ve developed after countless times of making mapo tofu has a hearty chili sauce perfumed with sesame.

Blog Post & Recipe & Video: Kurdish (Assyrian) kibbeh (Kuttelk) and Kurdish kibbeh (video)

This kibbeh is absolutely delicious and has two marked advantages: One, it is boiled and not fried. Two, it is easier to shape than our traditional Lebanese kibbeh. The shell is composed of fine bulgur and semolina flour

Blog Post & Recipe: cashew nut curry

These nuts become mealy in the best way possible, retaining some body but mostly adding just-enough-but-not-too-much contrast in texture when scooped up with a spoonful of rice. And a ton of flavour too--this is a distinct but subtle curry, it's rich and perfect with biryani or roti, or bread, actually.

Frog Porridge / Collard Greens / Hot and Sour Thai Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: Frog Porridge 田鸡粥

We usually call this 'tin gai'(田鸡) in Cantonese, which simply translates into paddy field chicken.

Blog Post & Recipe: Collard Greens

I had just about given up and resigned to the fact that I was going to be one of those people who hated collards. But then my mom intervened. She swore that my cousin's husband, Chad had the best recipe ever. She said it was fabulous...made with wine, etc!

Blog Post & Recipe: Hot and Sour Thai Soup Recipe

Tom Yum Thai soup has a unique taste. It's both spicy and sour and loaded with amazing flavors such as lemongrass, galangal, fresh kaffir limes leaves and coconut milk. For this version, I combined fresh water chestnuts, sugar snap peas, tamarind, red chili powder, baby squid and mackerel. You could also add shrimp or chicken. And of course, the soup is easy to make vegetarian as well.

Black-Eyed Pea & Bacon Eggs Benedict / Eggplant with Tomato, Garlic & Mint / 14 Christmas Breads

Blog Post & Recipe: Good Luck Benedicts

As it happens, black-eyed peas and bacon make for a really good eggs benedict.

Blog Post & Recipe: Eggplant with Tomato, Garlic and Mint

A lot of fresh mint muddled with garlic, pepper and coriander… a handsome eggplant, (try to get one with less seeds)… and a few minutes in the pan, results in a delectable side dish or to have in a wrap or sandwich or even on pasta.

Blog Post & Recipes: Bread Baking Day # 45 Round up - la raccolta

I have been hosting the last edition of 2011 Bread Baking Day, a special Christmas Edition with Special Baking Presents as theme of the month.

Recipes in English: A Tale of Two Stollen ... Blueberry Sourdough Focaccia ... Char Siu Bao ... Salted Caramel Apple Sourdough Challah ... Bolo Rainha ... Garlic Herb Braid ... Candy Cane Bread Sticks ... Irish Good Luck Bread ... Chrismassy almond cloud ... Saffron Stars ... Marzipan Stollen ... Pandoro ... Pandolce genovese ... Nadalin

Chicken, White Bean, and Poblano Stew / Peppermint Ice Blended Mocha / Vinegar-Glazed Chicken

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken, White Bean, and Poblano Stew

There’s nothing fancy to this stew but it’s pretty easy to throw together, is really filling, and a big hit in our family.

Blog Post & Recipe: Peppermint Ice Blended Mocha

I think I had about half a gallon of hot chocolate leftover, so for an extremely nutritious (and diabetic friendly) breakfast, I infused it with some candy canes and then blended it with ice cream, coffee powder and garnished it with an unhealthy dollop of whipped cream.

Blog Post & Recipe: Vinegar-Glazed Chicken

Unlike white rice vinegar, Chinese black vinegar from northern China is an aged vinegar made from black glutinous rice, wheat, millet, or sorghum.. (The Gold Plum version from the city of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province, made with glutinous rice, is considered the premier brand.) The flavor resembles that of balsamic vinegar. It’s slightly sweet with a barely detectable smokiness [...] I frequently recommend in my recipes a good-quality balsamic vinegar as a substitute if you can’t find Chinese black vinegar. But the same could be said opposite, that if you run out of balsamic vinegar you can use Chinese black vinegar.

Apple Pork Ribs Soup / Mulled Cider / Nabeyaki Udon + Three Mushroom Vegetarian Nabeyaki Udon

Blog Post & Recipe: Apple Pork Ribs Soup 苹果猪骨汤

The flavour of this soup really depends on what type or how big the apples are. The original recipe calls for 4 apples but I used 3 instead as the apples I used were quite large and I was afraid that the soup would be too sweet. So remember to adjust accordingly to your taste.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make mulled cider

The basic idea of making any mulled drink is to warm the liquor gently with spices. Which spices to use is up to you – nutmeg, star anise and vanilla can be used, though we're going to stick with tradition and use just cloves and cinnamon. Sugar or honey can be added to taste but because of the unusual addition of the very sweet sloe gin in this recipe, you probably won't need it.

Blog Post & Recipe: Nabeyaki Udon and Three Mushroom Vegetarian Nabeyaki Udon

So find some loved ones and get yourself into the kitchen to make some nabeyaki udon. This udon has the thick chewy udon noodles and vegetables of the regular nabeyaki udon, but is made with a mushroom stock base. Plus it sports three varieties of mushrooms—shiitake, king trumpet, and enoki mushrooms and cubes of sauteed tofu. If you can’t find some of the mushrooms, substitute your favorites!

Split Pea Soup with Vegetables / How to Use Chinese Vegetables / Grilling Tips + Flattened Chicken with Parsley Sauce

Blog Post & Recipe: Split Pea Soup Loaded With Vegetables - Perfect for Brrrrr Weather

With weather this cold decided to make split pea soup with vegetables from farmers market.

Article & Recipe: How to use Chinese vegetables

Victoria's Chinatown does indeed offer a diverse selection of vegetables for sale. I can't write about them all, but here are some useful facts and suggestions for using six intriguing looking veggies.

Gai Lan ... Bitter Melon ... King Oyster Mushrooms ... Long Beans ... Taro Root ... Lotus Root

RECIPE: Hot and Sour Soup with Gai Lan and King Oyster Mushrooms

Blog Post & Recipes: 7 fires: lessons from the argentine grill master

The good news is you don’t need to have a BBQ to create any of these. An old frying pan in the kitchen will work just as well.

7 lessons from the Argentine grill master himself: 1. The power of the taste of burnt ... 2. You must respect the first contact between food and the cooking surface ... 3. The ‘chapa’ is best for quick cooking ... 4. ‘Rescoldo’ is a great way to cook veg ... 5. Flame should never directly touch your food ... 6. Cast iron is the best cooking material ... 7. The secret to a perfect steak

flattened chicken with parsley sauce

Fish Cake Soup (Odeng Tang) / Cock Ale / Chinese Ginger Duck

Blog Post & Recipe: Fish Cake Soup (Odeng Tang)

If you have the ingredients it won't take you more than 15 minutes to make this.

Blog Post & Recipe: And now for something a little more löwenbräu

So that’s cock ale. The name sounds so dirty. As does another beer brewed with meat: oyster porter. Another relic of the 19th century. Yes, this is English porter brewed with oyster meat, or sometimes ground up oyster shells.

Cock Ale

Blog Post & Recipe: Chinese Ginger Duck Recipe - 姜麻鴨

Anyway, this recipe is so simple in line with his simplistic attitude to food and life in general - the duck is simply cooked with copious amounts of ginger and some soy sauces for seasoning, add a dash of Chinese Shaoxing wine for added fragrance and that's about it. If you like ginger, I'm quite sure you will love this but if not, then this dish may not be your cup of tea to be honest.

Quick Mao Pao Tofu / Roasted Turnips with Olive Oil & Rosemary / Goat Curry

Blog Post & Recipe: Quick Mao Pao Tofu

I prepared it for dinner this past Sunday and had it on the table and ready to eat within 15 minutes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Turnips with Olive Oil and Rosemary

Very easy to prepare, and turnips peel much easier than most root vegetables. The smaller the turnip, the more tender. I add the rosemary in stages throughout the roasting process to layer the flavors.

Recipe: Sunday Supper: Goat Curry

Anyone who likes lamb should love goat; the flavor is similar, but with a little more character. The inherent toughness of the meat lends itself well to long, slow cooking, and the strong flavor of the meat can stand up to the assertive curry and chili seasoning in this dish.

Homemade XO Sauce / Homemade Verjuice / Lemon Fish

Blog Post & Recipe: Homemade XO Sauce [ via ]

Here is my homemade version that will set your tastebuds on fire.

Blog Post & Recipe: Homemade Fresh Verjuice

Verjuice is a green and sour juice made from unripe grapes. It is a fantastic alternative to lemon juice. Lemon is considered as the sole source of sour juices by many people, but it is not!

Blog Post & Recipe: Lemon Fish [Simple Home-Cook]

Long long time ago when I was working in Singapore, one of my roommates was a Teochiew lady from Penang. She liked to cook fish with plum sauce, very appetizing sweet and sour taste. Until now, I thought of her every time I cooked or ate something similar to that.

Cucumber & Hakurei Turnip Salad / Sichuan Eggplant / How to Prepare a Geoduck Clam

Blog Post & Recipe: Cucumber and Hakurei Turnip Salad

The Hakurei turnips were delicious. They kind of reminded me of jicama, in that they are just a bit sweet and starchy. They pair great with cucumbers and would add a nice crispness to any salad, really.

Blog Post & Recipe: Sichuan Eggplant (Fish-Fragrant Eggplant)

You see, it doesn’t actually smell or taste like fish. Rather, the name refers to method of preparation usually associated with fish in Sichuan cuisine that results in hot, sour, salty, and sweet flavors all co-mingling on the plate.

Blog Post & Video:
Geoducks: The Only Shellfish Adored By Chinese Chefs, Japanese Gourmands And Native American Divers Alike

The fat, mustard-colored bivalves--whose name is pronounced "gooey duck," not "geo duck"--grow up to three feet long. They have been known to live for up to 150 years, buried a yard in the sea floor and eating whatever algae they can filter from the water immediately above them. ...

How to prepare a geoduck clam for cooking

Pickled Radishes / Kaiserschmarrn / Lotus Root and Peanut Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: quick pickled radishes

They pickle so quick they can be ready in (almost) a moment, and they have a bright and sweet taste. Each crunchy radish has only a slight mouth puckering vinegar flavour

Blog Post & Recipe: Sunday Brunch: Kaiserschmarrn

To those unaware of this fantastic comfort food, kaiserschmarrn is essentially a thick scrambled crêpe. Tasting primarily of eggs and sugar, this dish is another meal that reminds me of grandmothers everywhere

Blog Post & Recipe: Lotus Root and Peanut Soup

There are two main categories of Chinese soups. The quick boil soup may involve a little sauteing before prepared stock is poured in. Thin slices of meat and vegetables are added to the stock and lightly cooked. Simmered soups take a longer time to prepare. All ingredients are dumped into a large pot and simmered until the flavors meld together and infuse the soup. Oil is not used and therefore there is no sauteing involved.

Agedashi Tofu / Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham) / Uighur Naan

Blog Post & Recipe: Agedashi Tofu

A couple months ago I shared my non-traditional Agedashi Tofu. Instead of deep fried tofu served in the traditional dashi broth, it was served deep fried with homemade teriyaki sauce. Recently one of my readers asked me to share the traditional Agedashi Tofu recipe so here it goes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

One important element of Vietnamese cuisine is nuoc cham or a Vietnamese dipping sauce. Nuoc cham is a fish sauce based dipping sauce that deftly balances sweet, salty and sour aspects and it is really easy to make at home. The basic recipe includes fish sauce, water, sugar and lime juice and chilies and garlic are often added as well.

Blog Post & Recipe: Uighur Nan [via]

It's different from Indian Naan. It's a flatbread, cooked in a Tandoor oven, but it is pricked all over by an instrument called a durtlik before baking, both to keep the bread from puffing up, and as a decorative measure. It's also seasoned lightly with cumin and sea salt, although rosemary is very nice too. It's basically pizza dough without the oil, and it's made the same way.

Sopa de Carne / Roasted Mango & Habanero Salsa / 7 Chinese & Filipino Recipes

Blog Post & Recipe: Sopa de Carne

While the beef and olives impart rich and bold flavors, the soup is broth-y and unexpectedly light. It doesn’t look or feel greasy.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Mango and Habanero Salsa

Of course, there was a little thinking required about what to actually do with this salsa. (As if eating this intensely sweet concoction balanced with just the right amount of fire with a spoon out of the food processor wasn’t good enough.)

Blog Post & Recipes: Chinese New Year Menu (2011)

Sichuan "Crossed Hands" Wonton Dumplings, Two Ways ... Mao's Hunan Red-Braised Pork (毛氏紅燒肉) ... Pancit Canton (Philippine Braised Egg Noodles) ... Whole Chicken ... Baked Tahong (Mussels) ... Braised Napa Cabbage with Abalone ... Whole Fish

Thai Three-Flavoured Sauce / Steamed Pork Buns / Baked Endives with Ham

Blog Post & Recipe: Thai Three-Flavored Sauce: The Newbie Sauce That Can Be Used I Many Dishes

The three flavors here refer to sweet, sour and salty.

Blog Post & Recipe: Steamed Pork Buns

Making these pork buns actually requires a fair amount of steps, but none of it is that hard and you can do a lot of it days in advance.

Blog Post & Recipe: Baked Endives with Ham.

Wrap each endive in a piece of ham and place, seam down, in the baking dish. Spoon the béchamel over the endives. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake the endives for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese has browned.

Sichuan Chilli Oil / Making Stock / Mexican Hot Chocolate

Blog Post & Recipe: Sichuan Chilli Oil

Heat the peanut oil in a small saucepan until shimmering, then CAREFULLY add the peppercorns. They will spit a lot - wear long sleeves.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make stock the right way, the wrong way, and when it matters [via]

So here, I'll show you the classicist's way of making stock, but then I'll let you in on all the ways you can cheat.

Classic meat stock

Blog Post & Recipe: Mexican Hot Chocolate

I have to admit that I like my hot chocolate a little stronger than that, and less sweet. But there’s something endearing about that crumbly Mexican chocolate that crinkles with sugar when you snap pieces off. So I upped the proportion of Mexican chocolate and added some unsweetened cocoa powder, which brought up the chocolate flavor and richness to where I like it.

Braised Leeks with Goat's Curd / Chinese Braised Soy Sauce Eggs / Foccaccia / 13 US Bread Puddings

Recipe: Yotam Ottolenghi's braised leeks with goat's curd recipe

Leeks are normally given the job of flavouring other things, such as stocks and soups, but I find their creaminess and sweet, oniony flavour very satisfying.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chinese Braised Soy Sauce Eggs

I promised you my Chinese braised soy sauce eggs recipe (滷蛋) in the Taiwanese scallion oil noodles (葱油拌面) post, so here you go. This is a super easy recipe, and the best thing is that you can save the braising soy sauce stock (滷水汁) in the fridge and re-use it again to make the eggs or even tofu

Article & Recipes & Photo Gallery: California Cook: Focaccia as it was meant to be

I had a blob of already-made dough sitting in the freezer. After defrosting, I just stretched it into a well-oiled jellyroll pan (a generous hand with the olive oil gives a crisper crust), then scattered a half pound of crumbled Gorgonzola on top and baked it. That was all there was to it.

Photos: Step-by-step guide to making focaccia at home ... Recipe: Gorgonzola focaccia ... Recipe: Focaccia recipe from Genoa

The same newspaper has also published thirteen recipes for bread pudding.

Cabbage and Mince Stew / Tea Eggs / Steamed Pork Belly With Lily Buds

Blog Post & Recipe: Estonian Cabbage and Mince Stew

But somehow I always crave this dish in the early to mid-summer, when the cabbage tastes sweetest.

Blog Post & Recipe: Tea Eggs

Tea Eggs are a Chinese specialty that you can find it food stands across Asia. They are a very unique taste made with spices, tea and soy sauce.

Blog Post & Recipe: Steamed Pork Belly With Lily Buds

The lily buds lend a floral Chinese herbal note - the kind you get when you catch a whiff of Chinese herbal medicine shops - to the dish, with a subtle meaty aniseed flavour from the star anise.

Cakes That Look like Meat / Mapo Doufu / Three Hungarian Recipes

Blog Post: Cakes that look like meat

The OC Weekly has scoured Flickr for proud bakers' photos of their convincingly meat-like cakes and confections, assembling the best in a gallery called "Food Disguised As Other Food."

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Fall in Love With Sichuan Food: Mapo Doufu

It's a mixture of tofu, ground meat, and chile bean paste suspended in a bright red and dangerously spicy sauce. The first bite knocks you over with heat, and then this strange numbing sensation takes over your brain and cools you down.

Blog Post & Recipes: Lunches with Kati: Learning to love Hungarian food

Practically every Hungarian kitchen has a walk-in pantry, and Hungarians are zealous canners during the summer, lining their pantry shelves with goodies to eat during the long winter months when root vegetables dominate the markets.

Featured recipes: Paprikás Csirke (Paprika Chicken) ... Galuska (Spaetzle) ... Uborkasalata (Cucumber Salad)

Creamed Parsnips with Roasted Winter Vegetables & Walnuts / Mashed Potato Pizza Dough / Nian Gao

Recipe: Jane Baxter's creamed parsnips with roasted winter vegetables and walnuts recipe

The parsnip also works well as a dip, while the dressing is fab on ­summer veg – try fennel or green beans.

Blog Post & Recipe: Pizza for the Working Woman

The recipe for pizza dough came from Maybelle’s Mom. It had wholemeal flour, wheat germ and mashed potato.

Wholemeal Mashed Potato Pizza Dough

Blog Post & Recipe: Nian Gao (tikoy), a Chinese New Year tradition

Nian gao is made with glutinous rice flour, sometimes steamed and, at other times, cooked in a pan and stirred until thick. It may be savory or sweetened. How it is served varies from region to region. It may simply be pan fried, stir fried with meat and vegetables, dropped into soups or made into a pudding.

Poached Eggs / Fish Ball & Lettuce Soup / Oxtail Pho

Blog Post: Poached eggsactly right

Cooking fans are experimenting to find the perfect way to poach eggs, reporting back online. But what works in your kitchen?

Blog Post & Recipe: Street Food of Hong Kong: Vegetable-n-Fish Soup

The authentic version adds with a lot of white pepper and sesame oil, but now I'd like to try another version that skips the two, but put into arugula to maintain a peppery taste in soup.

Recipe of White Fish Ball, Lettuce and Arugula Soup (for 2 persons)

Blog Post & Recipe: Phở Đuôi Bò (Vietnamese Noodle Soup with Oxtail). There's a follow-up post here.

Phở bò is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup; phở đuôi bò is one made with oxtail ... I like my phở broth silky with gelatin but not slick with grease, so I skim the fat pretty aggressively. To cut down on skimming efforts and to allow flavors to fully develop, I give myself a couple of days to build the broth.