Japanese Salted Salmon

I cannot get fresh whole fish where I currently live in the US. As a result, when I am craving fish, I often resort to salmon filet from the grocery store. Lately, I have been feeling bored with always pan-frying our salmon, and want to experiment with new ways of cooking.

I recall eating salted salmon filet as part of my breakfast when I was staying in a Bed-and-Breakfast in Tokyo. It turns out that this staple Japanese dish is very easy to make!

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Fluffy Stuffed Tuna Buns & Curried Turkey Buns

This bun is emblematic of the hybrid food culture in Hong Kong because the filling is essentially a Western tuna salad, made by simply tossing canned tuna with mayo. As a result, ingredients in this recipe can all be easily found at any grocery stores abroad.

Because we had ground turkey left in the fridge, we improvised and made a curried turkey filling as well. The curried turkey version is inspired by samosas, originally from South Asia but are commonly found in local Hong Kong bakeries. Hong Kong has a sizable South Asian community because of the city’s colonial history.

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Eggplant and Ground Meat Stir-fry

This dish and variations of it is very common in Chinese home kitchens. Not only is it flavourful, it is also extremely easy to make. While I used ground turkey in this recipe because that’s what I had in the fridge, but the more traditional way is to use ground pork.

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Juicy Chinese Beef Dumplings with Homemade Wrappers

Dumpling-making is usually a familial activity among Chinese people. During Lunar New Year, families usually get together to make dumplings from scratch and eat it at the beginning of a new year to symbolize wealth.

Depending on regions and family traditions, the dumplings may take different shapes. They can be steamed, boiled, or pan-fried.

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Chinese-American Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry

I was a very picky eater as a kid. Every night, my mother would try all her might to coax me into finishing my dinner--or at least a small bowl of rice and vegetables. The only time I would gladly comply was when she made soy sauce chicken. The sauce rendered the rice so flavorful that I couldn’t resist it.

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Tender Instant Pot Soy Sauce Chicken

I was a very picky eater as a kid. Every night, my mother would try all her might to coax me into finishing my dinner--or at least a small bowl of rice and vegetables. The only time I would gladly comply was when she made soy sauce chicken. The sauce rendered the rice so flavorful that I couldn’t resist it.

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Flavourful Steamed Laap Cheung Rolls

I am obsessed with Chinese sausage (laap cheung). I am also obsessed with making steamed buns. This recipe combines both of them for a flavorful, classic dim sum dish. This recipe is adapted from The Woks of Life.

Steamed laap cheung rolls is a classic dim sum dish that has become increasingly rare in restaurants. You can think of it as a more classic Chinese style of the Hong Kong hot dog b...

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Tomato and Egg Stir-fry with a Twist

Like most Hongkongers, I am keenly familiar with the tomato and egg stir-fry. It’s a simple, cheap, and healthy dish that I have grown up eating. I never gave this humble dish much thought until my American partner Asher exclaimed how much he enjoyed this combination. Before meeting me, he had never had this dish.

I had some Chinese sausages in my fridge one night, and I decided to add that...

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Fragrant Spiced Salt Pork Chops

I was inspired to make this dish after getting a pack of thin pork chop on sale at the supermarket. It’s easy to overcook pork chop that thin. A quick pan-fry is the way to go. This is a quick Hong Kong classic that is both easy and flavorful. It goes well with a bowl of white rice.

My white American partner Asher had never had this dish before, nor had he tasted spiced salt....

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Soft and Fluffy Sweet Potato Steamed Buns

Steamed buns are a Chinese breakfast staple. In Hong Kong, you can commonly find them in dim sum restaurants. While they may seem intimidating to make, the dough is in fact very straightforward. The ingredients this recipe calls for can all be found at any grocery stores.

To create a swirl sweet potato steamed bun, you will first need to make two separate balls of dough. If you want to make...

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Crispy Salt Crusted Pork Belly

One of my favorite dishes during a Chinese feast is the suckling pig--I particularly enjoy the saltiness and texture of the crispy skin. Since it will be near impossible to roast a suckling pig at home, I turned to skin-on pork belly to recreate some of that flavor.

In Chinese culinary culture, pork belly is often braised. This version uses the oven instead to create the crunchy, crispy texture…..

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