Jok, jook, congee, 粥, rice porridge, whatever you want to call it. I’ve been nailing it since I learned about broken rice. Most recipes calls for bashing rice grains to pieces using a blender or mortar and pestle. These are are all decent (and traditional) options, but one of the problems I have with the […]
Hearty beef soup in a spiced broth is one of my favorite things in life, and I can’t pick a single favorite. Bò kho, bún bò Huế, boat noodles, pho, and this Taiwanese beef noodle soup. If there’s a meat ball or a piece of tendon floating in there, the better. For the fleshier ,braised […]
I’ve had heard on more than one occasion that wonton, as the characters 云吞 would suggest, means “swallowing cloud” and was named so for its delicate, slippery texture and ethereal lightness. This is, however, a mistranslation from Cantonese to Mandarin. Nevertheless, it’s extremely common. Even my wonton wrapper package reads “云吞”. The correct characters, which […]
Whatever you do, just don’t make it like the Culinary Institute of America, as demonstrated by Chinese Food Demystified in this video, and call it mapo tofu. I’m sure it’s a tasty stir, but mapo tofu it ain’t. I’m not sure either about the chile oil. Some people like Lady and Pups go hard on […]
I used to purchase Chinese fermented black beans (豆汁) in the sauce form, but because the few times I had purchased them whole I was disappointed with the flavor. I decided to give them another try. When I couldn’t find them at one of our local Asian markets, I asked the shop owner where they […]
This bowl of soup was nine months in the making. I was all set to make this in March last year when lockdown began. I first made beef filling, but then there was not a gram of flour to be found to make the wrappers due to panic buying. I finally found flour in October, […]