Easy, healthy and delicious, steamed fish is a lovely traditional recipe to make for Chinese New Year During Chinese/Lunar New Year, fish—usually steamed, sometimes grilled or fried--is served during the reunion dinner on new year’s eve. Fish is a symbol of prosperity and surplus and its...
Excerpted from Instant Pot Asian Pressure Cooker Meals, an official Instant Pot Cookbook Thai basil, sweet chili sauce and lots of black pepper make for an easy and delicious chicken rice dish This dish is a riff on the very popular Thai basil pork dish Pad Grapow...
SPICY SMACKED CUCUMBERS (SUAN LA PAI HUANG GUA) China Makes: 2 cups Prep time: 10 minutes plus 30 minutes salting time Smashing cucumbers is a classic Chinese technique that allows the cucumbers to release moisture as well as absorb the dressing readily. 1 pound thin-skinned cucumber like English or Persian...
When it comes to anecdotes about chocolates and life, the most famous quote of all has to be Forrest Gump’s: "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Recently, I discovered another quote in a book by...
A few years ago, my cousin gave me several packets of a spice mix from Bali, Indonesia. The small, clear packets contained an assortment of whole spices including coriander, black pepper, long pepper, cloves and what I believed were slices of dried kencur (zedoary, curcuma species)....
Sort of randomly, I came across an article extolling the wonders of pastéis de nata, or Portuguese egg tarts, in a British magazine of all places! Now I’ve not had true Portuguese egg tarts, but many a dan taht (romanized for 蛋挞, ‘egg’ in Chinese, and...
“Authentic” is a loaded word, especially when it comes to food. In Singapore—where I was raised, and in my opinion, the birthplace of Asian fusion cuisine—authentic is subjective. Mee goreng, a local favorite, brings together Chinese egg noodles, Western potatoes, bottled tomato ketchup and Indian...
People who cook rice at home often belong to one of two camps: those who cook their rice in a rice cooker, and those who cook it on the stove top. When I was in the beginning stages of researching my cookbook, I met a woman...
Food is universal. And whether in Beijing or in Paris, food writer and book author Ann Mah shows us that food can forge connections and food can be a lifeline. Ann’s debut novel Kitchen Chinese was loosely based on her time in Beijing. Now, her new memoir...
I'm so happy to announce that the paperback version of The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook is now out. To celebrate this special occasion, I produced a book trailer using photos from the book, a soundtrack, and Windows Live Movie Maker. Et voilà, you can feast your eyes on...
