Recipes & Cooking

Mushroom Chicken (蘑菇鸡)

Mushroom Chicken (蘑菇鸡)

As much as I love cooking, I don’t—and can’t—cook every day. If you are a home cook, I am sure you understand what I mean. Some days, you wake up, open the refrigerator, look at the ingredients you have, and your mind just goes blank. You either feel like you run out of cooking ideas, don’t know what to cook,…

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Pad Thai Recipe

Pad Thai Recipe

Two years ago, about this time, Jaden was in Los Angeles. It was the second time we met in person, and she had just gotten an offer to write a cookbook from Tuttle Publishing. She was teaching a cooking class in LA and I was there to help (and also to learn from her about teaching a cooking class!). We…

Garlic Shrimp

Garlic Shrimp

Inspired by my recent trip to Hawaii, I made garlic shrimp today. It’s not quite the shrimp scampi I had, but it’s a close cousin done in Chinese style and without too much grease. Garlic and shrimp are two of my favorite ingredients and I love pairing them together whenever I feel like having a shrimp dish. Most people in…

Seared Scallops Recipe

Seared Scallops Recipe

Easy seared scallops recipe with a cream sauce infused with Tahitian vanilla and whiskey. Simple, delicious, and almost restaurant-worthy. The recipe is adapted from I Heart Vanilla, who kindly posted me the fabulous Tahitian vanilla beans. I never thought that vanilla pairs so well with savory dishes; seared scallops with vanilla, is a perfect marriage of flavors in heaven…

Yakisoba (Japanese Fried Noodles/焼きそば)

Yakisoba (Japanese Fried Noodles/焼きそば)

When I was in Oahu, other than stuffing my face with malassadas (malasadas), sampling local Hawaiian cuisine, and feasting on shrimp, I ate Japanese food almost every day. Oahu is a real gem for Japanese food, thanks to the many Japanese tourists and also locals who are obsessed with Japanese cuisine. There are countless authentic Japanese restaurants dotting Waikiki Beach:…

Thai Curry

Thai Curry

Thai curry is gaining popularity thanks to the many great Thai restaurants in the United States.  Making a great bowl of Thai curry to go with soft and fluffy jasmine rice is easier than you think, even though you might not be familiar with Thai ingredients. I love all sorts of curry but I find Thai curry one of the…

Clams Recipe: Hoy Lai Ped (Spicy Clams in Thai Roasted Chili Paste)

Clams Recipe: Hoy Lai Ped (Spicy Clams in Thai Roasted Chili Paste)

One early morning in January when I was home in Penang, my brother, sister, nephew, our maid and I set off to a clam-digging expedition in a little island off the coast of Penang. In less than two hours, we dug two buckets full of big, fat, and succulent fresh clams, after we got both our hands and feet wet,…

Tom Kha Gai Recipe (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup)

Tom Kha Gai Recipe (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup)

Tom Kha Gai–everyone’s favorite Thai coconut chicken soup–is one of the Thai recipes that I have always always wanted to make but never did. Why? Because there are plenty of good Thai restaurants in the US that serve pretty authentic Thai food. So, it’s no surprise that this is my virgin Tom Kha Gai–my first attempt at home. It was…

Egg Drop Soup

Egg Drop Soup

I used to dread egg drop soup (蛋花汤); I had countless bad, sticky, gooey egg drop soup made popular by American Chinese restaurants here in the US. When I was a poor and starving graduate student in the Midwest, I ate too much crappy Chinese buffets or lunch specials with endless supply of MSG-loaded egg drop soup. I was not…

Black Pepper Chicken Recipe

Black Pepper Chicken Recipe

Do you love black pepper? I do. Think black pepper crab, black pepper beef (served on a sizzling hot plate!), and black pepper in the many concoctions that ultimately add depth and awesomeness to the dish. Don’t you just love black pepper? I made black pepper chicken for dinner last night. It was a very spontaneous recipe. I had a…

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