I’ve actually never seen Mongolian chicken anywhere in China. It’s an American Chinese food in my mind, but it’s inauthenticity doesn’t make it any less delicious. It’s a deeply umami, slightly sweet, sleek and sticky lick-your-fingers flavor bomb as well as a textural journey of crunchy chicken mingling with tiny pops of green onion, effectively offset by a fluffy cloud of white rice. In the absence of a vegetable, this dish could be a bit cloying, which is why I upped the amount of ginger; it adds just the right amount of freshness so as not to detract from the well known flavor profile of this dish, but to just hum in the background as a way of harmonizing the other strong flavors.
Read MoreThis chicken souvlaki is actually, dare i say it, better than what I had in Greece, especially with all of the accompaniments I use, which enable a different experience with every bite, but never a bad one.
Read MoreThis is one of my favorite dishes to order at restaurants in China, so last year when I was obsessed with recreating experiences from my travels, I decided to give it a go. It was everything I remembered.
Read More2021 was all about memories of traveling throughout Asia and recreating the food I ate then. It was nice, but in 2022 I’m determined to return to basics, the heart and soul of this blog: Butter. My first dish, scalloped potatoes, is a shining star in that arena, and you guessed it, the shine comes from butter.
Read MoreThe first time I ate this Chinese tomato and egg dish was at a café next to the Nanfeng ancient kiln in Foshan, China. I learned later that this is a common home-cooking meal in China - indeed, throughout Asia. After tasting it in Foshan, I could absolutely see why. It is the epitome of comfort food.
Read MoreYou should all know by now that Kung Pao Chicken, which I refer to simply as KPC, is my favorite meal on the planet. Obviously I love all food, but I could eat KPC for every meal and be perfectly happy. Unfortunately, the numbing sweetness of Sichuan peppercorn is crucial to my enjoyment of the dish, and since moving to the Bay Area, I’ve actually had a surprisingly hard time finding it in the Asian markets. I’ve been thus unable to satisfy my KPC cravings since before Covid started - the Chinese restaurants in my area don’t include Sichuan peppercorn in their KPCs for some reason. Maybe they also find it difficult to source? Anyway I finally went to work a few weeks ago for the first time in over a year and stopped by some obscure Vietnamese market near the office, about 40 minutes from my house, and omg they had some in stock! I rushed home and made as many Chinese dishes as I could think of. Obviously KPC came first.
Read MoreIt’s been a while since I’ve posted any original dishes because I’ve been obsessed with making other people’s Chinese home-cooking recipes. I’ve been spending a lot of time sourcing Asian ingredient brands and figuring out the right balance to create Chinese flavor profiles that I find palatable. To kick things off, I’ve focused a lot on vegetarian dishes - I figured if I was going to be trying new things, I should try and keep them affordable so my failures could be less costly. Up first - Spicy Chinese Cauliflower!
Read MoreMy quest for spice has lead me down some pretty deep rabbit holes, culminating finally in this beautiful Thai masterpiece of a dish, which is simultaneously fresh and sweet and tangy as well as an ultimate embodiment of the screaming, scorching hellfire that can only be expected from a dish that literally drips with the oils of 15 Thai chilis.
Read MoreI don’t care if it’s basic - Chicken Tikka Masala is my all-time favorite thing to eat… but since I moved from San Diego to the Bay Area two years ago, I haven’t been able to find even one restaurant with an acceptable rendering of my most favorite dish. Now, at last, I have finally found a recipe I love, so I can make this for myself and eat it for every meal for the rest of my life like I’ve always wanted to. That’s it - life goal accomplished!
Read MoreKung Pao Chicken has been an obsession of mine for several years - I even considered writing a cookbook called Kung Pao Kitchen - and I finally found a good recipe for it. Obviously there are tons of regional variations of this classic Chinese dish, and this actually isn’t my favorite version (no Sichuan peppercorn - huge bummer), but it’s by far the best I’ve made with ingredients which are readily available in most US supermarkets. It really tastes like something you might find in an American Chinese restaurant, like, a good one too. I’ve made it probably 8 times in the past two months, and I’m really happy with the little tweaks and improvements I’ve made over that time. I made it for dinner tonight actually, and I couldn’t think of any way to make it better, which almost never happens.
Read MoreI’ve been growing Thai basil and Japanese eggplants in my garden since July for the express purpose of making Thai green curry from scratch using only ingredients I grew myself. I even got a curry tree (who knew that curry leaves came from a tree?)… but then some kind of bug or something burrowed its way into my eggplants and stunted their growth so my dream is dead. Meanwhile, my basil plants are growing out of control, so I just trimmed the bushes and threw the wok on the stove, and 20 minutes later this beautiful bowl of chicken was sitting in front of me. P.S. I grew that nasturtium flower from a seed!!!
Read MoreThe Masterchef Australia Season 12 finale was weeks ago, but I had been wanting to make a dacquoise throughout the entire season because they make it all the time in that show. The contestants somehow bang these things out in like 30 minutes, and after finally attempting one myself, I’m like HOW???? This thing took hours to make, but the techniques were relatively simple and the flavors and textures were well worth the work. I’d say if you want to give yourself a challenge and you have an entire day, this recipe definitely pays off, and you’ll have enough dessert to last you a week, so really why wouldn’t you try it?
Read MoreI went to Maine (Portland is pretty cool!) over the weekend for my brother’s bachelor party. I can’t remember much of the weekend, but I do remember being generally cold. After living in California for 8 years, I am absolutely no longer acclimated to the weather in the North East. Anyway, what do I crave when it is unbearably cold outside? Soup!
Read MoreIt sounds nasty. It looks nasty… like… surprisingly nasty. But it's actually good. I promise.
Read MoreFor those of you who don't know, I am not a chef by any means. I work at a leading laser manufacturer in the semiconductor industry, which is even more boring than it sounds. Anyway, I work with a lot of mechanical engineers and software engineers from India. I asked around for everyone's opinion on the most spicy dish they could think of. Obviously I got a thousand answers because everyone I work with is from different regions within India, but I did manage to get two whole votes for a single dish: Chicken Jalfrezi!
Read MoreI've always been super afraid of cooking this dish because it really is so good when done right, and it can be completely overcooked or greasy or slimy if done wrong. Also, my mother in-law will not hesitate even for a second to tell me I completely ruined the cuisine of her motherland. That being said, when she showed me how it was done, I couldn't even believe how simple it was!
Read MoreMy mother-in-law has been asking me to make her gelato for over a year now, and she is in town visiting this week because Jess is defending her PhD (yayayayayayayayay!!!). Mother-in-law knows best, so..... here we go!
Read MoreIt's really the honeycomb on top of this beautifully creamy confection that keeps you going in for more. They are like little jewels of happiness sprinkled throughout the dish. They give it this sweet, lingering crunch.... it just rounds out the dish and fills your mind with a sense of long forgotten completeness. The most important part of making this honeycomb is reading the entire recipe before starting, so get your readers on and enjoy!
Read MoreMy new bestie Meghan (@nutmegandhoneybee) and I did a little collab and magic happened!
Read MoreThis weekend was extremely cloudy and depressing and for most of it I was lost in a haze of unfocused drunkness, but one good thing that came out of it all was this soup that I made in an attempt to warm my frigid soul!
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