These sweet potato dumplings are pretty easy to make; you can used ready-to-use red bean paste (in cans or packs at your local Asian grocery store), though in this Live Asian Kitchen, I used the homemade red bean paste I’d made a couple of weeks earlier. Other popular filling options include lotus seed paste or mung bean paste. The » Read More
How to Make Shanghai-Style Pancakes
November 5, 2018 by
I remember Shanghai red bean paste-filled pancakes being a staple on the sweets trolley at yum cha back in the day, but I have to admit that I haven’t really seen them around in recent years. The good news is that they’re actually pretty easy to make, and apart from red bean paste, all you really need are flour and eggs, and oil for frying. I used » Read More
How to Cook Steamed Fish with Choy Poh (Preserved Radish)
October 30, 2018 by
I've previously posted a couple of steamed fish recipes with preserved vegetables, and this is a variation on one of them; this time around, I'm using barramundi instead of silver perch (though, really, this would work with most white fish/fish fillets). Since I get asked all the time, I'm also showing you the type of "choy poh" ie. preserved » Read More
How to Make Red Bean Paste
October 25, 2018 by
Red bean paste filling is popularly used in Chinese snacks, from steamed buns to mooncakes; here are some examples of what I’ve been using my most recent batch in, with recipes to follow in my upcoming posts - You can buy canned red bean paste filling at Asian grocery stores, but I like the idea of making my own when I can; it’s » Read More
How to Cook Stir-Fried Xinjiang-Style Cumin Lamb
October 11, 2018 by
I’m not going to claim this stir-fried Xinjiang Cumin Lamb dish is the real deal (hence why it’s titled Xinjiang-STYLE) since I’ve yet to even visit China, plus I’ve adapted it to accommodate what I had on hand ingredients-wise along with my own flavour preferences. I discovered that half a leg of lamb (my recent purchase - see previous post) » Read More
How to Cook Indonesian Padang-Style Eggplant Balado
September 11, 2018 by
Lately, my local greengrocer has been stocking the variety of eggplant that I grew up eating back in Malaysia (correct me if I’m wrong, but I often see them referred to here as Japanese eggplants), and it prompted me to get some for one of my favourite Indonesian Padang dishes known as Terung (Eggplant) Balado. I air-fried the eggplants in my » Read More
How to Cook Sang Har Yee Meen (Crispy Freshwater Prawn Noodles)
September 4, 2018 by
I remember Sang Har Yee Meen (literally, freshwater prawn crispy noodles) as a popular dish at open-air restaurants in Malaysia, but they're actually pretty easy to make at home. If you're not too fixated about using freshwater prawns, you'll save a few bucks by using a cheaper and more commonly available variety like the banana prawns pictured » Read More
How to Make Hakka Lo Pek Pan (Hakka Radish Cake)
July 24, 2018 by
I sometimes feel sorry for those not born into the culture trying to learn all the nuances of Chinese food. It’s hard enough trying to wrap your head around the topic, let alone recognise all the different iterations of specific dishes by different Chinese dialect groups. Radish cake is one such example; the Cantonese version found at yum cha » Read More
How to Make Yee Chai Peng (Ear Biscuits)
July 24, 2018 by
Yee Chai Peng (Cantonese for “ear biscuits”) were these intriguing spiral-patterned, curved fried pastries from my childhood in Malaysia, which were crunchy, slightly sweet and yet savoury. The only ones I ever ate were factory-made; this wasn’t one of those things that you would find people making fresh at home or at their street stall - certainly » Read More
How to Make Savoury Taro Cake (Wu Tao Ko)
July 11, 2018 by
Savoury Taro Cake (Wu Tao Ko in Cantonese) was a breakfast snack that I remember being sold alongside Chee Cheong Fun (steamed rice noodle rolls) back in my hometown of Seremban in Malaysia. My parents would typically order a small share plate of it from the hawker stall at breakfast, and it was served steamed (not pan-fried like what you get at » Read More