How to Make a Vanilla Matcha Latte The base of a vanilla matcha latte is matcha tea, which is matcha and water. No one wants a powdery drink, so it’s key to use hot water to dissolve the matcha. Even if it seems counterintuitive to use hot water if your endgame is an iced beverage, […]
Egg Tofu with Mushrooms
Chinese Egg Tofu Recipe This particular egg tofu recipe features pan-fried egg tofu mixed into a Chinese-style mushroom gravy. This dish starts by pan-frying some rounds of egg tofu before making a quick gravy. This is a brown sauce (great name and description, I know) used for stir fries and seafood over pan-fried noodles, not […]
Hojicha Latte with Red Bean Cream
What is hojicha? Hojicha is a roasted green tea. It doesn’t have a high level of tannins, so it’s pretty smooth and not that bitter. Does it have caffeine? Yes, hojicha has caffeine, though a minimal amount compared to other green teas. Ippudo Tea says that this is due to the usage of the leaves, […]
Strawberry Mochi Cookies
Mochi Cookie Recipe These cookies have been a long time coming. I devour mochi whenever I see it and I always have to have cookies on hand (how am I supposed to drink tea with nothing?), so I hopped on the bandwagon as soon as I saw a mochi cookie recipe pop up. The basic […]
London Fog Ice Cream
What is London fog ice cream? London fog ice cream is flavored like London fog lattes – milk with Earl grey tea and lavender. What does it taste like? Earl grey tea is black tea infused with Bergamot oranges; it’s a really strong tea, from the roast-y dark bitterness of the tea to the citrusy […]
Chinese Steamed Egg
This Chinese style steamed egg (dun daahn in Cantonese) is one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s silky soft and much wobblier than daahn tāat, and surprisingly rich even though it’s mostly water and eggs. You can garnish or serve it with almost anything, although rice on the side is a non-negotiable for me. This […]
Furikake Chex Mix
How to Make Furikake Chex Mix To start this Hawaiian snack, you heat butter, corn syrup, soy sauce, sugar and oil together in a pot. Once the butter is melted and everything looks homogenous, you pour it over your cereal and mix until each piece is glossy and coated with the sauce. You then sprinkle […]
Nián Gāo
What is Nián Gāo (Chinese New Year Cake)? Nián gāo (or nin gōu in Cantonese) is a chewy, sticky cake made of rice. The texture is similar to other food made with glutinous rice flour, including tōng yuen (another one of my Lunar New Year must haves) and custard mochi. It can be flavored in […]
Black Sesame Coconut Tāng Yuán
How to Make Tāng Yuán There’s two parts to these tāng yuán (in Mandarin; in Cantonese, they’re tōng yuen): the chewy wrapper, and the filling. The dough to make the wrapper is really simple: you mix glutinous rice flour with water, and knead until smooth. That’s it! It’s pretty dry, especially compared to the liquid-y […]
Taro Cake – Wu Tau Gou
chinese taro cake recipe taro cake, or wu tau gou, is a savory steamed cake filled with starchy taro, salty lap cheong (chinese sausage; i grew up eating this in sticky rice) and chew dung gu (shiitake mushrooms; i throw these into everything, especially steamed egg). it’s really soft when it comes out of the […]
Ube Latte
This ube latte features a creamy base of ube-flavored milk before getting topped with a shot of strong espresso! How to Make an Ube Coffee The bottom ube milk layer is a dump and stir situation. I like to use a whisk since the ube halaya (ube jam) can be stubborn and not want to […]
Sushi Bake
What Is Baked Sushi? Sushi bake is rice topped with a creamy imitation crab salad, almost like a sushi casserole. It’s eaten in spoonfuls wrapped in crispy seaweed. Since it’s so rich, baked sushi is best served in small portions as an appetizer. Sushi Bake Ingredients Here are the main ingredients in this sushi bake: […]
Spam Musubi with Egg
How to Make Spam Musubi with Egg I’m betting that if you’re here, you probably already know what Spam musubi is, but in case you don’t: it’s pressed Spam sushi. I like my Spam pan-fried until crispy and slicked back with a smear of teriyaki sauce before it goes into the musubi. This version takes […]
Ube Milkshake
This ube milkshake recipe is really easy: 4 ingredients and 5 minutes max (an actual 5 minutes, not a trick you into making this only to realize 1 hour in that you’re only 30% done with the recipe kind of 5 minutes). The assembly, aka dumping coconut milk, ube ice cream and crushed ice into […]
Loquat Lemonade
Loquat Drink Recipe This loquat lemonade is perfect if you have too many loquats, and you’re tired of eating them plain. Before we get into the recipe, what if you’ve never heard of a loquat? What Is a Loquat? A loquat is a small oblong fruit native to China, usually with yellow-orange skin and fruit. […]
Spam Musubi
What is Spam Musubi? It’s a pressed sushi made with Spam, where crispy, pan-fried Spam is covered in teriyaki sauce and sandwiched by fresh rice and roasted seaweed to hold everything in place. It’s a mix of Japanese (the rice and seaweed) and Hawaiian/American cuisine (the Spam). If you don’t want pure Spam, this Spam […]
Strawberry Matcha Latte
this creamy strawberry matcha latte is inspired by the version from boba guys, a pearl milk tea empire that originated in the bay area. (note jul 2020: after hearing about the rampant racism and sexism at boba guys, i no longer support their stores, and would recommend that you either make this at home or […]
Grapefruit Green Tea Recipe
How to Make Grapefruit Juice You can’t have grapefruit green tea without the (surprise!) grapefruit. If you’re making a glass for yourself as a quick afternoon break, I’d recommend squeezing by hand. If you’re prepping a big batch for you and all your friends and family (hi, can we be friends?), then an electric juicer […]
Chinese Rice Cakes – Chao Nian Gao
Chinese Rice Cake Recipe These stirfried Chinese rice cakes, or what I call chao nian gao, are cozy and comforting. The rice cakes are dense and chewy (similar to the texture of steamed sweet rice cake, or chewy filled dumplings, both typically eaten during the Lunar New Year), the cabbage a little crunchy, the mushrooms […]
Mango Pomelo Sago
This mango pomelo sago is a fairly easy Chinese dessert to make, unlike some of the astounding pandemic bakes I’ve been seeing (Kinako chiffon roll cakes filled with red bean, whipped cream and mochi??? Strawberry genmaicha cream puffs?? Feed me please). You boil some chewy, bouncy sago and stir them into a mango coconut smoothie, […]