Lunar New Year to Orientals is like Christmas to Westerners. It is the most beloved and anticipated festival of the year. When I was a kid, I looked forward to buying and wearing new clothes, playing with my cousins, visiting relatives, receiving angpao (red envelopes/ 紅包) and eating all sorts of cookies. Now, I most look forward …
Hakka Yam Abacus Seeds With Vegetables (Suen Poon Chi/ 算盘子) Read More »
My late grandmother used to always make a huge plate of deep-fried oyster balls during Chinese New Year. I remember she would wrap it in caul fat, something that looked like a see-through net which the kid in me found incredibly fascinating. I truly enjoy the taste and texture of this dish – it’s out …
Hakka Deep-Fried Stuffed Dried Oyster (Yong Hou Si/ 酿蚝豉) – 5 Ingredients Read More »
There’s so many ways to cook tofu, this is one of the easiest and most delicious. The otherwise bland tofu is topped with tasty fried shrimps and shallots mixture. It is then seasoned with soy sauce and sprinkled with spring onions. When I was just a little girl, my mother would cajole me to eat …
“This dessert is so sinful!” I would hear my friends exclaim before digging into their sugar and flour laden dessert. But it doesn’t have to be so. Dessert can be a healthy treat. I always try to pick desserts made from nutritious ingredients like fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Naturally, I prefer Chinese and Malaysian …
Bubur Pulut Hitam in Slow-cooker (Black Glutinous Rice Dessert Soup) Read More »
Many Chinese begin the morning of Lunar New Year with Buddha’s Delight or Lo Hon Zai (simplified Chinese: 罗汉菜; traditional Chinese: 羅漢菜). As it’s a mixed vegetables dish, commonly known as chap chai (literally: mixed vegetables in Chinese). This dish is named as such because it is traditionally eaten by Buddhist monks who are vegetarians. Various …
Sweet and Sour Pork is popular dish loved by both kids and adults. It’s commonly ordered at restaurants and sometimes made during Chinese New Year because of its auspicious red colour. When I was a kid, this is my favourite food to have when I eat out because it is rarely cooked at home. Many …
Being a Hakka descent, I have this dish quite often while I was growing up. However, my family’s eating habit changed over the years. We try to have more vegetables and less meat. When we do have meat, it’s normally steamed or braised. I’ve almost forgotten about the existence of this dish until I saw …
Easy Hakka Fried Pork Belly With Red Fermented Beancurd (Hakka Char Yuk/ 客家炸肉) Read More »
I find it bizarre that women spend heaps of money on ‘miracle’ skin-care and things like collagen drink to preserve their youth, but pay little regard to their food and mental health. Isn’t it a universal fact that junk food and stress hasten aging? Besides, we can get collagen, and a lot of other minerals, …
Salted Egg Prawns is one of the most delicious and auspicious dish for Chinese New Year. I like that the word ‘prawns’ in the Chinese language sounds like our laugher (ha-ha), symbolising happiness. Among other prawns recipes, I believe this is the most delicious way to enjoy the shelled fish. Flavourful ingredients used in this recipe – …
Fish Maw Soup is normally served during special occasion such as Chinese New Year. Some of the ingredients (such as fish maw and scallops) are considered as delicacies, and high-grade ones can be expensive. I loved this savoury soup since I was a child. Now that I put some thought into it, I realise I …
What’s better than cookies on a hot and humid Chinese New Year? We would say chilled jelly straight from the fridge. It’s so refreshing and goes well with drier snacks like biscuits. One Chinese New Year, I made Koi Fish Jelly. This year, we decided to make something healthier by infusing konnyaku jelly with osmanthus …
Osmanthus & Wolfberry Konnyaku Jelly – 4 ingredients Read More »
Chicken essence is the juices from the flesh and bones of chicken. It is extracted by double-boiling the chicken in high temperature for about three hours. The extract contains highly nutritious active components like protein, peptides, mineral, trace elements etc. My search on food that boost energy led me to chicken essence, a traditional Chinese …