I’ve had heard on more than one occasion that wonton, as the characters äșć 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 “äșć”. The correct characters, which […]
I haven’t met a meatball I didn’t like, but Mexican style albondigas are my favorite, whether in soup or in salsa, and for me (or as I’ve been doing lately, in a Mexican style meatball sub). For me, the essential element in sopa de albondigas is the herbs. I use mint and cilantro in the […]
The 50/50 Margarita. A mezcal margarita with an equal dose of sherry. I used amontillado because that is what I had on hand and I was confident it worked well in a margarita, having made the frozen Sherry Margarita on Imbibe in the past. This is an awesome version for less than sweltering summer nights. […]
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 […]
The Bitter Mai Tai. A modern classic. Even as a kid I was somewhat of a mixologist, whether when raiding the home fridge or a self-service soda fountain. When I wanted to feel fancy, I would mix up orange juice, cranberry juice, and maraschino cherries. That childhood mocktail was my first thought when I tasted […]
I used to purchase Chinese fermented black beans (è±æ±) 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 […]
A little less common than its red counter part, pozole verde is flavored with tomatillos, green chiles, herbs and sometimes pepitas. I improvise almost every time I make it, but I feel I stumbled on a winner of a recipe this time with roasted poblanos, anaheims and tomatillos. No pepitas this time. Topped it off […]
What happens when you put the salt in the margarita first? What happens when you replace the salt source with umeboshi? Insanely quaffable. I tried a few other variations of this, including with Ancho Reyes and Luxardo Maraschino for the sweet stuff.. Both were decent additions , but I felt it was best with orange […]
This is one of my favorite salads from Ottolenghi. Curried cauliflower, spinach, mangoes, chickpeas, cilantro and mint. I change the process a little by lightly roasting the cauliflower. Mustard seeds become more pungent after becoming dampened, and I almost love even letting the cauliflower and chickpea mixture rest in the fridge until the next day. Recipe […]
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, […]
