Recipes & Cooking
During my most recent trip to Singapore (in April), my friends took me to Melben—a popular restaurant famed for its crab dishes. When the waiter came to take the order, I knew that I had to try crab bee hoon, a dish that I had read so much about on Singaporean food blogs. The crab bee hoon was served in…
Crab Rangoon is an appetizer found in many Chinese restaurants in the United States. A classic American creation, crab rangoon is basically fried wonton filled with cream cheese with tiny bits of crab meat. I first encountered Crab Rangoon at a Chinese restaurant in the Midwest, when I was pursuing my Master’s Degree. The restaurant serves typical American-Chinese fare; the…
When I was growing up in Malaysia, my favorite times were the many festivities that we observed. With every festivity, my late grandmother would prepare lots of food. Sometimes her younger brother’s wife—my grand aunt—would come and cook together, then exchange or share the dishes they made. I loved the idea of exchanging food, because we got to try out…
We will be leaving for Malaysia to celebrate Chinese New Year tomorrow morning. Before I leave, I feel obliged to share a very delicious recipe with you, so here is my crab in sour and spicy sauce (酸辣蟹), or known as “chili crab” in Singapore. The timing couldn’t be better as Chinese (Lunar) New Year is just a few days…
Recently, I have been in high gear working on my cookbook, developing recipes, cooking, food styling, and shooting. I work on my cookbook almost every day and my life has been consumed by it, pretty much! The good news is that the list of to-do recipes are getting shorter by the day. I have given myself a hard deadline of…
I am a huge fan of Vietnamese spring rolls, or cha gio, roughly means “minced pork rolls” in Vietnamese language. I don’t like most Chinese spring rolls or egg rolls served in the United States. They are mostly bad, filled with vegetables flavored with MSG. Some of them even taste like they are infused with a dose of antibiotics. I…
Noodles are commonly served at Chinese New Year dinner, after all, Chinese live on rice and noodles. If not steamed rice, there is always a noodle dish to go with all the fabulous dishes prepared for Chinese New Year. In Malaysia, whenever my family celebrates Chinese festivities, we would always make a big serving of noodle dish—either egg noodles or…
What is the easiest—and the most delicious—way to eat crab? Baked. With a wok. Plain old and simple wok-baked crab with nothing other than the crab, a little bit of water, and a smoking hot wok— just like my mother used to make them…(get baked crab recipe after the jump)
One of the things that I miss most about Malaysia is the availability of various kinds of little fishes in the market; little fishes that I grew up eating, little fishes that need no special recipes, little fishes that taste like heaven when deep-fried with just a little salt and turmeric powder or tamarind, little fishes that are so crispy…
The holiday season is just around the corner and I wanted to share a special recipe with you: creamy butter crab. Last Christmas, I served creamy butter crab to my friends and family and they couldn’t get enough of it. Everyone was asking for the secret recipe. Creamy butter crab is a fairly new Malaysian creation and has gotten popular…