Hot and Sour Soup Hot and Sour soup was a childhood favorite of mine. I love the mildly spicy, salty and sour broth strewn with egg drops. Diving into it was a treasure hunt. What would I find? A bit of pork, a crunchy bamboo shoot, chewy black fungus or the elusive prawn? Living in…
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So many requests for Chorizo and bean stew For years my husband has been begging me to make him chorizo and bean stew. So I scoured the internet trying to find one that is suitable to his needs. He was insistent on it being tomato-based and absolutely nothing resembling spinach be found anywhere near it. …
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Chicken Broth heals all Chicken broth is the ultimate comfort food. After all, is there anything more comforting than a warm little mug of this tasty elixir to drink when you’re sick or sad? For the past month or so, I have been sick…TWICE! The first time was a bit of a cold that made…
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The birth of Curry Laksa Laksa is the result of two cultures coming together. The story goes that when Chinese immigrants settled in Malaysia, they married locals who learned to cook Chinese recipes but put their own twist on them by using local ingredients. Hence, Peranakan cuisine (aka Nyonya cuisine) was born and still remains…
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Put that veg in a soup! If you are like me and struggle with getting your beloved family members to eat more vegetables, then this soup is for you. Loaded with veg and full of flavor, my husband and child are none the wiser to my diabolical plan of getting them both…
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Heal me with Chinese wontons Before I had my beautiful daughter, life was carefree! Sure, I’ll have another beer. Why not stay out late on a Saturday night? Hey, let’s go away for the weekend! I had so many opportunities to spend my extra money and extra time. Especially when I became sick. If I…
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In terms of comfort, I can’t think of anything more soothing than a big bowl of tomato soup and some grilled cheese sandwiches. Every bite feels like a cuddle with a baby or a puppy. When I’m in the dire need of cheering up, this is the soup recipe I turn…
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Niurou Lamian: A taste of Western China Niurou lamian (Chinese beef noodle soup) has a special place in my family’s heart. My husband ate niurou lamian every day for breakfast when he lived in Lanzhou, a city in Western China where this dish was supposedly born. He frequented his favorite noodle shop so often that…
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What is Mulligatawny? For a long time, I didn’t know what Mulligatawny was. What was this soup that my husband kept asking me to make? So, I did a little research and found that this dish is yet another British hybrid of an Indian recipe only this time made with added beef, thickeners such as…
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Living in polluted Beijing and teaching preschool meant that I was often sick throughout the years I was there. After all, if you’ve got a classroom filled with 3-year-olds with sticky hands and runny noses coughing and sneezing on you on purposely on you, well then you’re bound to be frequently ill. Should the occasion…
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For years I stopped cooking with mushrooms altogether after my husband had a bad experience. At the time, he was living in rural China when it all went down. The mushrooms were bought from the local supermarket, cleaned properly and cooked thoroughly. Everything seemed OK but little did he know that some mushrooms were…
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