Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐) pictures (1 of 5)
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Recently, my colleague asked me for Mapo Tofu/麻婆豆腐 recipe. He has just gotten into cooking and wished to try making Mapo Tofu at home. I was psyched by the idea of teaching a novice home cook with my secret Mapo Tofu recipe; great recipes are meant to be shared.
I went through the recipe with him in great length. But he ditched the idea of making Mapo Tofu from scratch. It was too complicated and troublesome, he said. He bought a packet of instant Mapo Tofu mix instead.
Is Mapo Tofu/麻婆豆腐 so hard to make at home? Does the long list of ingredients appear intimidating to a novice home cook? I asked myself. The answer is–unfortunately–yes. Making a plate of Mapo Tofu that oozes the signature mala/麻辣 (numbing spiciness) flavor without losing its originality is not easy…
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Steamed Scallops pictures (1 of 6)
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Scallops on the half shell are hard to find, as far as I know. I have been searching high and low for them for quite some time now. I asked, I looked, I googled, but I hadn’t found any stores that sell them in SoCal–until I found the seafood store that I mentioned in my crawfish post. (The seafood store sells live crawfish, scallops on the half shell, cockles, various fresh oysters, crab legs, etc.)
I love regular scallops (especially the untreated ones), but scallops on the half shells are–in my opinion–better, tastier, and prettier! Plus, I can take great pictures with the scallops strutting in their half-shells.
Anyway, to preserve the most original flavors of these scallops, I opted to steam them with the simplest of ingredients: soy sauce and garlic oil. Succulent, sweet, and delicious…
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I have never cooked crawfish at home. I have to confess that these little feisty and fierce some creatures almost had me surrender and call for rescue. Handling these crawdads and crawmoms ain’t no piece of cake. I totally underestimated them. However, at the first bite of their juicy [...]
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My brunch this morning–chicken shu mai (sui mai), or steamed chicken dumplings.
See the little turquoise plates? I got them from London. Aren’t they so beautiful? They are the only thing I got myself in London. I know…the only thing I bought!
I was out shopping for clothes, shoes, and all [...]
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I accidentally deleted all pictures captured when I was going through them on my camera!!! But luckily–BIG phew!–there is this one and only shot on the other flash card (which was full). All other mouthwatering shots were completely erased. Kaput. Gone.
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This is the last of my red bean paste recipes.
Truth be told, I didn’t really have a recipe of my own so I referred to my Chinese cookbook “Yan Kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook.” The recipe is pretty good, except one flaw. If you look at my pictures, you will [...]
This is my second creation using red bean paste. It’s still amazing to me that I made three completely different Chinese desserts using just a can of red bean paste…it’s such a versatile ingredient.
There are many different kinds of bao or steamed buns, but one of my absolute favorite is Tau Sar Bao (豆沙包). When [...]
My secret ingredient for this souffle egg white balls recipe is red bean paste. Red bean paste or 红豆沙 is widely used in Chinese cuisine and Japanese cuisine for many dessert dishes.
I must confess that I have never made these red bean paste souffle balls or 高力豆沙 at home. A classic Shanghainese dessert, I have [...]
