Persimmon Jam

We’ve recently raved about the perfectly phenomenal persimmon in our post about the Spanish persimmon.  We’ve been buying boxfuls of these lovelies at a time, that’s how obsessed we are with this fruit!

Unfortunately, as happens with the best of fruit, boxfuls of the stuff can lead to having too much fruit and too little time to eat it.  What to do with too much fruit?  Jam it, of course! 

If you make just a jarful of jam, it’s quick and easy to do and you don’t have to deal with all the serious sterilization that is required for mass and long term jamming and canning.  

We just gathered up our extra persimmons, a bit soft and sad from our neglect and whipped up this yummilicious persimmon jam, an explosion of cheeky orange lusciousness,  tasting of honey with hints of plums and apricots and the mellow sunshine of a late summer's afternoon.

Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncake 牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅

It's that time of the year again!  The time of the fullest moon of the year,  of gaily dressed folk swinging their Chinese lanterns high, glowing orbs set against a magnificent moonlit night...the night of the Mid Autumn Festival!   Mid Autumn Festival comes early this year, following the dictates of the fickle lunar calendar and, if the moon we saw tonight is any indicator, the Mid Autumn moon this year is going to be AMAZING!

As you probably know already, we've made most of the traditional mooncakes before, like the double yolk lotus paste mooncake, sesame paste mooncake, snowskin custard moon, five nut mooncake, etc.  This year we wanted to try something new.  

Poking around, brainstorming, I noticed that some mooncakes nowadays are filled with mochi instead of the traditional filling pastes like lotus paste.  I was intrigued, what an interesting idea!  

After a bit of a brainstorm I decided to make Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncakes 牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅, chilled mooncakes wrapped in delicate skin, filled with tender, chewy mochi deeply infused with notes of butter and milk and a heart of luscious sweet red bean paste.  What can I say, this innovative combination turned out a most yummilicious mooncake!

Homemade Chinese Fermented Beancurd Tofu 腐乳

I’m so excited to share this food adventure with you all!  When this idea first hit me I was like hey, what could be simpler and more amazing than making homemade Chinese fermented tofu?  We love how fermenting transforms tofu into a salty, umami packed soft and creamy paste that's just delicious on its own and as a condiment.

For newcomers fermented tofu can be strange at first. But just think about how cheese is fermented  milk.  As everyone can agree, cheese is YUMMY!!  Well fermented tofu is similar and just as YUMMY!  Find out more at our post all about fermented beancurd.

I'm pleased to report that it's actually really easy to make your own Homemade Chinese Fermented Beancurd Tofu 腐乳.   (Although we did hit a wee road bump in the middle.)  The brining time is long but soonish you too can enjoy amazing umami packed squares of fermented tofu yummiliciousness.

Homemade Bagel

I've been baking more and more bread over the years.  And happily, as I bake more often, I find that I've been getting better at it.  Yay!  It's the best feeling, really, to be able to provide fresh bread for my little family.  Today I want to share this homemade bagel recipe that's one of our favorite breads.  

First let me tell you that when I first started making bagels I really struggled with it.  I tried different recipes and methods and still my bagels came out really 'meh'.  It was pretty frustrating but I persisted, cuz, duh, bagel ♥️!   

But ultimately my efforts paid off.  Finally my bagels came out the way I wanted.  Every time!  I'm confident that if you follow this recipe you will end up with delicious homemade bagels with a delightfully dense and chewy interior and a shiny and crunchy crust.  Yummilicious!

Chinese Sweet Chili Sauce 甜辣醬

We discovered this delicious sauce in during the zongzi madness at the end of May.  We made the oh so melt in the mouth Northern Taiwan Zongzi, an absolutely new experience for us in that all the ingredients are cooked and seasoned before finally assembling as a zongzi.  To go along with this zongzi we also made this Sweet and Spicy Chili Sauce 甜辣醬 which ended up being a revelation in itself! 

This sweet chili sauce not only perfectly complemented our zongzi but also surprised us by its absolute deliciousness of taste: tangy, sweet and spicy all at once.  It is the perfect sauce to use as a dip for wontons, dumplings, potstickers, spring rolls, chicken wings, and noodles.

Kidney Mango 腰芒

As our dear readers will know, we like to share the love when we find new and yummilicious fruits.  Well, we've found a new one!

We discovered this gem of a mango recently.  Though, to be honest, this fruit has been hiding in plain sight.  We just never noticed these little guys cuz these mangoes are so small and humble looking, as well as being really affordable!  I guess I just thought that these little mangos weren't going to be worth the work of peeling and pitting.

So that was it until one fine day when, on the casual recommendation from the fruit lady, my hubby brought a bagful of these kidney mangos 腰芒 home.  Wow-wee, what a wonderful surprise!  Seriously, we've tried all kinds of mangos but this had to be the best mango ever!  

Broccoli Vegetable Pizza

Okay, guys, I gotta confess...I honestly never thought that veggie pizza could be this good.  This Broccoli Vegetable Pizza was so yummilicious I couldn’t stop moaning 'OMG, this is so good' over and over as I devoured my first slice.  Embarrassing but true.  

I think this might be the tastiest pizza I have ever had, homemade or restaurant served.  It was so devastatingly good that I was seriously bummed out that I only made one veggie pizza out of the four pizzas we made that night.  Darn it!  But guess what?  Next time it's gonna be veggies all the way!

Northern Taiwan Zongzi 台灣北部粽子

It's that time of the year for the Dragon Boat Festival also known as Duan Wu Festival 端午節!  This festival celebrates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan 屈原 (340-278 BC) who advised against an alliance to the displeasure of the Chu emperor who then exiled him.  When the alliance led to the eventual downfall of the Chu kingdom as he had foreseen, Qu Yuan threw himself into a river in grief and despair.

Apparently he was well loved for the local folk rushed out in boats (ie dragon boats) to try to save him.  When that failed they dropped balls of sticky rice (ie zongzi) in the river so that the fish would feed on the rice and not on Qu Yuan's body.  Kinda of a disturbing ending but whatever...

Sweet & Sour Yummilicious Sauce Braised Fish 好味醬酸甜魚

This lovely dish is our alternative to the traditional preparation of Chinese Sweet and Sour Fish (see our post on Traditional Sweet and Sour Fish here) and, what can I say, it's amazing!  So much so that we nicknamed this new family favorite as '好味醬魚' which very roughly translates to 'Yummilicious Sauce Fish.'  Because it really is that yummilicious folks!

According to my 老公, this succulent dish is the creation of the old chef of Luk Yu Tea House 陸羽茶室, one of the most historic restaurants in Hong Kong as well as being one of the top restaurants serving traditional Cantonese cuisine.  During this chef's time at the restaurant this dish was a favorite order.  

Later he passed on this recipe to his good friend William Mark Yiu Tong 唯靈, the famous HK food critic.  It is interesting that this dish is a 'fusion' type of dish when you look at the ingredients and yet it was created quite a while ago.  

If you're a seafood lover you've got to try this amazing dish!  Honestly we prefer it over the traditional sweet and sour version.  Savory, slightly sweet, slightly tart, this multi flavor layered Sweet and Sour Yummilicious Sauce Braised Fish 酸甜魚 rocks the f**king boat in the flavor department and we're left licking the plates afterwards.  This, my friends, is the real deal...

Peanut Tang Yuan Dumplings 花生湯圓

Time for more of those sexy tang yuan dumplings!  These lovely little sweet morsels of lusciously soft and tender rice dough hide hearts of ooey gooey delicious fillings like sesame, red bean paste or peanut.  We're making the nuttily delicious Peanut Tang Yuan dumplings 花生湯圓 today, a general favorite among tang yuan fans.  

While we noted that most recipes for peanut tang yuan used store bought peanut butter we decided to make it the traditional way, from scratch!  Our made from scratch Peanut Tang Yuan Dumplings 花生湯圓 are not only easy to make but also super yummilicous, with a tender yet chewy skin concealing a luscious heart of gooey aromatic roasted peanut filling highlighted with hints of caramel and vanilla.