Commonly known as Buddha’s Delight, this vegetarian dish is usually eaten on the first day of the Chinese New Year. I’ve turned it into an everyday dish using some of my favorite vegetables with miso paste added for a truly delicious sauce! For new year, the...
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...
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...
Ask anyone of Chinese descent and they’ll most likely tell you stir-fried eggs and tomatoes was a staple dish on their when-I-was-growing-up table. Just like lola’s pancit or obachan’s niku jaga, each family has their own rendition of this homestyle, comforting dish. Yes to Shaoxing Chinese...
One of my favorite snacks as a kid was spicy tapioca crisps, or chips as preferred in the U.S. These crisps are potato chips’ exotic, far-flung cousins made with tapioca (also called cassava, manioc, yuca) instead of potatoes and shellacked in a sweet, spicy, tangy...
I have vivid memories of the annual dragon boat festival, also called Duan Wu Jie (端午节) or Double Fifth Festival (because it occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar). Most of the time, we watched the dragon boat races (the...
Leela Punyaratabandhu is the lyrical voice behind the award-winning Thai food blog SheSimmers.com. Her debut cookbook Simple Thai Food--Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, May 2014) was released almost exactly one year ago on May 13. To celebrate her book's first birthday, I asked Leela to...
I’ve always believed in the healing power of food. And since I’ve been sick several times this past winter, I’ve had many opportunities to harness their benefits. Here are my top 3 favorite healing foods: 1. Ginger My mom’s spicy ginger tea does wonders to clear my sinuses...
I heart noodles. Ramen. Chow mein. Pancit. And especially my mom’s mie goreng (Indonesian fried noodles). But today, I’d like to give a shout-out to a lesser known noodle dish—japchae. A classic Korean dish, you’ll find japchae on the menu at just about any Korean restaurant in the U.S. If you’re lucky...
