When it comes to protein, meats like chicken and beef tend to get all the love. But for me, lamb is probably my favorite. Here, I'm sharing three different ways to eat lamb, based on three of my favorite Chinese recipes.
Shu mai (烧卖) is probably one of my top three favorite dim sum items, so here's our family recipe to share with you guys! They're a part of the dumpling family, but are open-faced so you can see all the goodness inside!
It's He Zi recipe, round two! This time, we tackle the more traditional version of He Zi -- a popular Chinese street food item consisting of chopped chives and eggs, and of course, as the name suggests, shaped like a box.
Chinese egg tarts are popular treats found all over Chinatown, particularly in tea houses as a dim sum dish. Egg tarts are prominent in Guangzhou's food scene, and scholars call it the "quintessential symbol of the fusion between Cantonese and Western cultures."
Brown sugar rice cakes are a classic: crunchy on the outside, chewy on the outside, they look almost like potato fries. But instead of ketchup, they're covered in an osmanthus flower-infused honey syrup, that you (double) dip each bite into.
Ma lai gao (马拉糕) is a popular dim sum dessert, alongside the ever-popular salted-egg yolk custard bao. It's essentially a sponge cake with a beautiful caramel color due to the brown sugar, and because it's steamed, ma lai gao is a fluffy, soft and gorgeous cake (it will literally spring back if you push down on it!).
Red-braised pork belly (Chinese: 红烧肉) has been a staple of my childhood diet -- and now that I've moved out of Texas, it was the first thing that I was determined to learn how to make. It's made with a wonderful mix of spices, cooking wine, a soy sauce power duo, and more. What you end up with is soft, melt-in-your mouth pork belly from a two-hour long braising process, and a thick, subtly sweet sauce that's perfect for drizzling over white rice.
Here's an extremely simple yet delicious lil' recipe for Amber Walnuts to add a bit of spice and edge to your life! 🙂
Wontons are a classic Chinese dumpling variation: instead of like their semi-circle cousins, wontons are made from a square wrapper and usually have less filling (but of course, this just means you can eat more of them in one sitting). They're literally a soul-warming meal, especially if you eat them alongside the hot soup, with a generous dollop of spicy chili crisps and green onions.
Happy Dragon Boat Festival! As the occasion calls for, today we celebrate with zongzi! Zongzi (also called Chinese sticky rice dumplings) are a traditional Chinese dish, consisting of various fillings wrapped in glutinous rice and cooked in bamboo leaves. As a native Texan, here's my best analogy: think tamales, except the Chinese version.
Hungry Mind, Hungry Stomach 