If you’ve ever had Chinese food or any other Asian food, you’ve likely seen egg rolls or spring rolls. For a long time, I was unaware that these two rolls were NOT interchangeable and that they were different dishes. Spring rolls have variations of both fillings and wrappers depending on the type. For example, the wrappers can be made of…
Fluffy, ultra-soft, and slightly sweet–these mantou are more than just a simple side of sweet steamed buns. This easy mantou recipe will teach you how to get hot and freshly steamed Chinese bread for your next breakfast or meal. What is mantou? Mantou, or Chinese steamed buns, were thought to have originated from the Qin State during the Zhou Dynasty…
Nutty, al dente, and evenly cooked brown rice is now easier than ever with an Instant Pot or another electric pressure cooker. This hands-free method of cooking rice will give you a quick side of steaming brown rice in under 30 minutes with reliable results every time. Brown rice in Instant Pot or pressure cookers I’ve tested and made brown…
I LOVE making yakitori at home and making it with actual charcoals or binchotan for that amazing bbq smokiness you just can’t replace with any other cooking method. The variety you get with yakitori just makes it extra fun to eat! My favorites are chicken with green onion, but I also have to have pork belly, grilled quail egg, some…
Whether it’s paired with steaming sticky rice or tossed in a heap of fried rice, Chinese sausages add such a richly cured flavor to any meal. This Asian sausage recipe will give you different options for cooking these sweet and salty Chinese style sausages for your quick next dinner. What is Chinese sausage (lạp xưởng)? Chinese sausage, or “lap cheong,”…
This char siu recipe is a classic Cantonese comfort food that will give you sweet, savory, and succulent pieces of oven-roasted pork at home–you don’t even need red food coloring to replicate the bold red shades of pork. What is char siu or Chinese bbq pork? Char siu, or cha siu, is a famous Cantonese dish that is a type…
Typically a food you’d want to eat immediately while seated at a sushi bar, these artfully crafted hand rolls feature fresh seafood and crunchy greens wrapped in a bed of seasoned rice and crispy roasted seaweed. This temaki sushi (or hand roll sushi) recipe shows you how to prepare hand rolls for a hands-on dinner party. What is temaki sushi…
Savory, gingery, and nutty–this Asian dressing recipe is great for healthy and light salads any day of the week. Use this Asian style sesame vinaigrette on various roughage you have around the house when you need a quick meal. Background Like most vinaigrettes and dressings, you want it to amp up the greens and toppings you have in your salad,…
The recipe you’re about to cook calls for a ½ cup of freshly diced onion, and you look in your fridge or larder or pantry (or wherever you store onions), and the onion you thought you had wasn’t there. You can still get that oniony flavor by substituting fresh onion for dried minced onion or onion powder. I use both…
MSG stands for monosodium glutamate, which is the mix of salt and glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid that is both naturally occurring and synthesized. Together as MSG, it’s used to add or enhance umami flavor in food. What is umami? It’s the hard-to-describe “fifth taste,” alongside saltiness, sourness, bitterness and sweetness. It’s what makes things taste meaty, savory, substantive.…
This homemade sweet and sour pork recipe yields crispy pieces of deep-fried pork, sautéed in a sweet and slightly tangy sauce. After decades of eating (probably) hundreds of authentic, Chinese style sweet and sour dishes from various restaurants throughout the years, I’ve finally have the best homemade sweet and sour pork recipe that I can make anytime I have a craving. What…
Nothing heals the body, mind, and soul like a steamy bowl of chicken soup even if you aren’t under the weather. Vietnamese cháo gà is another delicious take on chicken soup with rice that can feed a large group a delicious meal at a very low cost. This is a dish I ate allll the time growing up at home…