Comfort food Archives - Pickles and Tea

Chinese New Year Recipe: Instant Pot Hainanese Chicken Rice

09 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Celebrations, Chinese, Comfort food, Cook books, Entrees, Family style, Instant Pot, Main Course, Poaching, Poultry, Singaporean

Okay okay, if you grew up in Singapore like me, Hainanese chicken rice is not technically a new year dish. It's more of an eat-it-whenever-you-want dish. However, a whole chicken, is also served at new year to symbolize family, unity and togetherness. White Cut Chicken...

Grandma Pearl’s Thanksgiving Sticky Rice Stuffing (Instant Pot Version)

18 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Appetizers/Sides, Celebrations, Chinese, Comfort food, Easy, Family style, Food traditions, Fusion, Main Course

Sticky rice stuffing is a staple for many Chinese American families at Thanksgiving. It is a riff on “naw mai fun” or “lo mai gai,” two very traditional Chinese recipes. My friend Wing gave me his grandmother’s recipe to include in my very first cookbook—The...

Japanese Food Maven Hiroko Shimbo on Her Mother’s Influence in the Kitchen

12 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Appetizers/Sides, Boiling, Celebrations, Comfort food, Easy, Japanese, Vegan, Vegetable

Hiroko Shimbo is a well-known authority on Japanese cuisine and a beloved cooking instructor based in New York City. And like many of us, she owes much of her culinary finesse to her mother. Hiroko has long been a proponent of cooking Japanese cuisine with a...

One-Year Book Birthday Festive Menu

29 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Celebrations, Comfort food, Cook books

Food plays a very big role in celebrations across many Asian cultures. Whether it’s Lunar New Year, a birthday, Christmas, or a promotion at work, food--festive food--tends to be at the center of any get-together. Plus, the dishes served tend to have special meaning. Since I’m...

Matcha and Chia Mochi Cake

02 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Baking, Comfort food, Easy, Fusion, Hawaiian, Japanese, Kid-friendly, Snacks, Sweets/desserts

I’ve been meaning to bake a mochi cake (also called butter mochi) for the longest time--maybe 10 years?--ever since I first used mochiko for the mochiko chicken recipe in my first cookbook The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. A few weeks ago, I finally did. I was inspired by...

Longlife Noodles

13 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Celebrations, Comfort food, Entrees, Family style, Main Course, Singaporean, Stir-frying

Adapted from The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook (Sasquatch Books, 2009/2012) Noodle dishes are always served during birthdays and Chinese New Year because the Chinese believe they symbolize good fortune, prosperity, and longevity. The longer the noodles, the longer (and luckier) your life will be — so don’t...

Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky)

02 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Baking, Broiling, Celebrations, Chinese, Comfort food, Easy, Kid-friendly, Malaysian, Singaporean, Snacks

When I first came to the U.S. as a college student, one of the foods I missed most from Singapore was bak kwa. It's kind of like jerky, but made with pork and with Chinese flavors. Beef jerky didn’t cut it—not even teriyaki-flavored—and even though salmon...

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

24 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Comfort food, Recipes, Sweets/desserts, Vegetable

Last week, as I was digging through my CSA box anticipating what goodies lay within, I pulled out one ear of corn after another. 1-2-3-4...

Wilted Greens, Egg and No Ham

11 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Breakfast, Comfort food, Fusion, Stir-frying, Vegetable, Vegetarian

Salad for breakfast? Why yes! Last week, I was at a breakfast joint in New York City (Friedman’s if you must know) and their special was a wilted salad breakfast bowl. As luck would have it, Bright Farms had sent me three boxes of their...

Cooking with Coconut + Book Giveaway!

22 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Book giveaway, Braising, Breakfast, Comfort food, Cook books, Eggs, Main Course, Pan-frying, Recipes, Sri Lankan

Before I discovered coconut milk in a can, there was the coconut auntie at the wet market. One whiff of coconut and I'll be transported to the neighborhood wet market where I grew up in Singapore. Once a week, usually a Saturday, I'd accompany my mom...

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