Chocolate Lava Mooncake 巧克力流心月餅

Oh chocolate, oh chocolate, how much do I love thee, let me count the ways...

So many ways amirite, fellow chocolate lovers?!  I love chocolate in everything, be it sweet or savory.  Nom, nom...can never get enough of that dark chocolately goodness...  So it was that this year for Mid Autumn Festival 中秋節 I decided that we needed some chocolate to celebrate the moon!

Thus was the birth of a new styled mooncake, a Chocolate Lava Mooncake 巧克力流心月餅, a concoction of moist chocolate flavored filling with a secret heart of molten chocolate ganache, all wrapped in a tender golden skin.  Wasn't too sure how it would turn out, with the lava center and all, but OMgosh it was fantastic.  We were tickled pink with this chocolatey mooncake!  And the center, it was all melty!  Yeah chocolate chocolate!!

Chaoshan Crab Congee 潮汕砂锅粥

Oh, so pretty, amirite?!  We've had lovely, lovely seafood on our minds after our recent trip to Chaoshan 潮汕 where we feasted, among other things, on marinated raw seafood of all kinds, omgosh, sooo good.  (We're still writing that amazing experience up so stay tuned.)  So yummilicious seafood been on our minds alot lately.  

Inspired by our trip and the wonderful food consumed we made this simple congee that is a delectable treat for all seafood lovers.  Just fresh crab and some rice and you're on your way to this authentic super duper Chaoshan Crab Congee 潮汕砂锅粥!

How to Eat Fresh Lotus Seeds 新鮮蓮子

Dear readers, can you guess what this is?  An alien landscape, you say?  Why yes, it does look quite like the weirdly pocked surface of some far off, mysterious planet.  With a gleaming round space pod just landed in the middle of the bumpy green landscape.  

As you've undoubtedly guessed already, this is not at all a glimpse of a far off world .  Rather this is the image of something close at hand, a rather common earth occurrence, its humble beauty perhaps taken for granted.  Tis the closeup of the seed pod of the wonderfully multipurposed lotus flower.  We recently got to try the fresh lotus seed, plucked straight from the pod, for the first time.  Man-oh, it was divine!  Seriously, I would have never guessed that it was so good. 

Pork Floss Cheung Fun 肉鬆腸粉

We’ve made this little dim sum treat before, once using fresh shrimp fillling and once using the dried shrimp and spring onions.  This version is a cheung fun rice roll twist that I discovered online and had to try as I love, love, love Chinese dried pork floss.  Oh it was as good as I hoped it would be, that deliciously intense meaty filling packed the slightest crunch, contrasting wonderfully with the slippery rice sheet wrapping.

These Pork Floss Cheung Fun rice rolls 肉鬆腸粉 are simple to make once you get the trick of making the rather delicate rice wrapping.  But no worries, we’ll show you how to do it!

Shantou Street Food 汕頭街頭美食

More food adventures from our recent trip to the Chaoshan area!  The first night of our trip we arrived in Shantou 汕頭*.  Due to a typhoon affecting the area our speed rail trip was longer than expected.  Arriving, we were tired and hangry as heck!  Luckily we spotted the most gorgeous sight a hungry traveler can see, the gleam of food trucks serving up local street food lighting up the night!  

It was pretty late and the city streets were quiet.  But the crossroads where we spotted parked food trucks was bustling with action.  Most late night food seekers zipped over on scooters while a few drove cars.  We joined in the fun, circling the trucks, sniffing the air, checking out all the food on offer.  Oh man, everything smelled and looked so good!  In no time at all we were on our way back to the hotel, loaded down with yummilicious bags of Shantou street food!!

*Note: The Chaoshan area 潮汕 is located in the province of Guangdong.  Chaoshan area consists of the cities of Chaozhou 潮州, Jieyang 揭阳 and Shantou 汕頭.  For this trip we went first to Shantou and then to Chaozhou.

Chaoshan Beef Hotpot 潮汕牛肉火鍋

Okay, this one was a most pleasant surprise.  We took a trip to Chaoshan 潮汕 and were treated to the local food star the Chaoshan beef hotpot 潮汕牛肉火鍋.  When I first heard about this I have to admit that I rolled my eyes a bit.  Whatever.  I’ve had plenty of beef in hotpots before.  Delicious but how ‘special’ could a beef hot pot be?  

Well, I was totally sucker punched in this one.  We sat down to a Chaoshan style all beef hotpot and it was the most delicious beef hotpot we’ve ever had!!!  I had never even dreamed that beef could be so interestingly yummilicious, each beef cut brimming with flavor and its own unique texture.  It was a powerful food experience, one that I’ll never forget and am already longing to taste again.

Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup 八寶冬瓜盅

This spectacular traditional Chinese soup Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup 八寶冬瓜盅 is not only beautiful and decadently delicious but also most excellent for relieving of the summer heat.  The soup is made using all parts of the winter melon: the flesh as an ingredient in the soup and the hollowed out melon itself as the soup 'tureen'.  

With a large sized winter melon this soup makes for a knock your socks off presentation, soup served in a carved and hollowed out melon 'tureen', so cool!  For the home version you can nowadays find the mini winter melon at markets.  We used these to make individual soup tureens of winter melon soup.

Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Soda 話梅檸檬水

This homemade concoction has to be one of the most refreshing drinks ever!  One long slurp of this Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Soda 話梅檸檬水 and you'll be sighing out a long happy ahhhhhh...  It's sooo hot here in HK, endlessly hot, and I'll bet it's like that everywhere these days.  So try out this easy to make traditional southern Chinese summer drink and slough off some of that heat!

Butterfly Pea Flower Drink 蝴蝶豌豆花茶

Goshdarnnit, it's been so hot these days.  Not only in HK but everywhere...sigh.  No fear, HK Cookery to the rescue, here's a refreshing and beautiful drink for you to revitalize your body from the heat!

Are you not tempted?  Isn't this Butterfly Pea Flower Drink 蝴蝶豌豆花茶 just the most sublime color?  Just looking at it makes you feel a bit cooler, no?  This totally natural color is from the amazing butterfly pea flower 蝴蝶豌豆花.  This little blue flower provides color, is packed with antioxidants and is said to work as a mood enhancer, busting the stress and anxiety right outta your life.

Fermented Gooseberries

Okay, this whole food adventure happened because of a show about food that led me to a book that is all about fermentation!  The show that I stumbled on was "The Bear", the quirkiest, craziest show about chefs? restaurant business? food?   Umm...not actually sure but it was totally fun to watch.  

Anyways at one point one of the restaurant employees wanders in totally engrossed with a thick cook book in hand.  A quick screen grab and some furious searching later, I realized it was a real life cookbook, The Noma Guide to Fermentation.  Wow.  I had to get my grubby little hands on that book!

Once I finally managed to wrangle a copy of the book I gobbled away at it and here is our first 'making' from the book, fermented gooseberries, tangy little bursts of intense flavor and texture.  I've never pickled fruit before.  Aren't they beautiful?!

Mangosteen Fruit

Another fruity post!  I  know, I know.  We've gone completely fruity!  But how could I resist?  The  tropical mangosteen is in season now!  We've seen heaps and heaps of these ball shaped purple fruit with its cute green hat everywhere recently.  This small and humble looking fruit hides a most delicious taste sensation inside, delicate white juicy flesh, lusciously sweet and tangy, reminiscent of the flavors of peach, pineapple and lychee.  Taste buds say 'Wow!'

Homemade Passion Fruit Soda

Deliriously delicious passion fruit soda!  Heady tropical scent and flavors burst out in this most refreshing concoction and it's so easy to make!  The best thing to do with passion fruit if you ask me.  And super duper easy to make it right at home!

Homemade Passion Fruit Syrup

Ooolaalaa!!  We're really excited about this one!  The fruits of the warmer months are starting to appear on the store shelves and we're going completely fruity over it all!  On an impulse I bought some passion fruit (they smelled so good!) and then didn't know what to do with them cuz they were pretty sour to eat straight.  So I left the fruit in a basket until the other day when I had a 'lightbulb'.  Why not make a syrup like we do with pomegranate (see our fabulous grenadine syrup recipe)?  

And so we made passion fruit syrup (it was so easy!) and the result was just as fabulous than our previous favorite grenadine syrup!  Passion fruit syrup infuses with the heady, exotic and sexy tropical scent and flavor of the passion fruit into a gorgeous orange fruit syrup that is out of this world.  It's so good that I had quickly to scour the neighborhood for more passion fruit due to immediate strong consumer demand (i.e. my little girl's demands ;)  Ahh...the joys of fruit...

Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰

This smooth, creamy, ice-ilicious Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰 is the most unexpected delight.  Made with old style traditional Chinese ingredients, it is transformed with a modern method of treatment into a powerfully enjoyable and addictive treat.  

We discovered this neato drink at a local restaurant that serves HK traditional cha chaan teng 茶餐廳 foods.  But I'm pretty sure that this is no traditional HK treat.  But no matter, all is fair in love and food.  This smoothie was absolutely yummilicious, just the thing to cool off and soothe away a hot day.  We have recreated this Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie at home for all our dear readers to enjoy as well.  Cold, sweetly creamy, tofu-y, this smoothie is really far out!

Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung Fun 葱花蝦米腸粉

Silky, slurpable rice sheets entangled with chewy sea sweet bits of dried shrimp, accented with the sparkle that is fresh fragrant spring onions.  Dressed in a light sweet and savoury sauce that just accentuates it all.  Did I successfully tempt you yet, dear readers?  

This oh so yummilicious treat is the Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung Fun 葱花蝦米腸粉.  This is one of the classic Cantonese versions of the steamed cheung fun 腸粉, delicate rice sheets wrapped around various yummy fillings, normally served at dim sum restaurants.  This might be my favorite cheung fun, actually.  So simple yet so darn marvelous.

Yellow Dragon Fruit Pitahaya 麒麟果

This is our latest fruit-ilicious discovery!  We always like to share whenever we find a new fruit of outstanding deliciousness and boy-o is this fruit delicioso!!  I'm sure y'all have seen the red dragon fruit before as it has been quite popular for many years now.  But to be honest we've been avoiding the red skinned dragon fruit for a while now, finding that the taste is quite 'meh' nowadays.  Maybe from over production?  Don't know, just know that it doesn't taste as nice as it used to.

We found these yellow skinned fruit in the sale bin the other day and decided to try them, not even knowing that they were related to the red dragon fruit at all.  Upon consuming we found that the white flesh of this yellow dragon fruit 麒麟果 so refreshingly sweet and juicy that we actually went back to the store for more the next day and the next...  Nom, nom!  It's soooo good!

Mashed Tofu with Century Egg 涼拌皮蛋豆腐

Alright, I'll admit right off the bat that this ain't the most good looking dish.  The first time I beheld it at our neighborhood Taiwanese restaurant I was like "whaat the heck!"  But man, oh, man once we started eating this Mashed Tofu and Century Egg 涼拌皮蛋豆腐, it was baboom!  Flavor texture explosion!  Most favorite tofu dish ever, have to order it every time and everyone takes turns scraping the bottom of the glass serving jar.

This is a riff, if you will, on the traditional Tofu and Century Eggs 皮蛋豆腐 where the tofu and eggs are served arranged prettily but separately on a dish.  Which is how I've always eaten it and it sure is yummy.  But mash up this dish, chill it and somehow it turns the flavor up by a WOW factor as well as adding a lovely creaminess.  Once you get a taste you just can't stop, it's really that good!

Quick Basic Congee with Century Egg 皮蛋粥

This is another way to make basic congee, except waaay faster!  Basic Congee is Cantonese style of rice porridge, cooked down to a dreamy creaminess that beats every other rice porridge you'll ever have!  This basic congee is then mixed with other meat and veggie ingredients to make the final delectable congee-as-meal dish.

Congee is a wonderful comfort food, pleasing to both the tummy and the heart.  But basic congee such as our Basic Congee with Dried Scallops and Tofu Skin takes quite a while to cook.  My hubby discovered this alternative Basic Congee with Century Egg 皮蛋粥 that not only cuts the cooking time by two-thirds but also tastes just as if not more delicious.   

Sampan Congee 艇仔粥

Burrr….I’m still feeling a wee bit of the chill of winter nipping at my toes these days, how about y’all, dear readers?  When you’re a bit cold inside and out there’s nothing better than a warm soul soothing bowl of velvety congee chock full of all kinds of yummilicious bite sized edibles.  Comfort food all the way!

We’ve been on a kind of congee kick lately and our latest is this fabulous queen of congees, the Sampan Congee Tang Jai Jook 艇仔粥, a creamy congee filled with delectable treasures from the sea and the land and then some.  The name 'sampan congee' comes from the many small boats, called sampans 艇仔, that ply the many waterways of Guangzhou (Guangzhou is smack in the middle of a large delta area, FYI) from whence is congee first emerged.

Chinese Candied Cashews 蜜汁腰果

Here's another Chinese New Year post, a most delicious snack, perfect to have around to serve guest and friends during the new year festivities.  These Chinese Candied Cashews 蜜汁腰果 are quick and easy to make and good enough you're going to want to make it again and again.  So yummy and they are shaped like gold ingots of old, giving lucky vibes to all who partake!

Chinese Prosperity Cake Fa Gao 新年發糕

It’s the new Chinese year, dear readers, and we’re ready to start it off with our lovely fortune guaranteeing Chinese Prosperity Cakes Fa Gao 新年發糕!

These simple but gorgeous sweetened flour cakes or buns are steamed until they dramatically rise and then crack into a distinctive and attractive pattern. This ‘explosion’ of these buns, made in the event of the new year, indicates that your upcoming year will be prosperous!  Cool trick, amirite?

Before we go on, let me quantify a teensy bit.  Your prosperity will be predicted by the mysterious gods of bun fortune, BUT you gotta make sure that your buns actually do achieve that ‘explosion’ effect. Your buns might just not ‘explode’ at all (guess how I know that LOL). 

Fish Congee 魚粥

Congee love!  More congee goodness!  We move onto the fabulous traditional Cantonese Fish Congee  魚粥 which is my favorite congee of all time!  Smooth creamy warm congee with just cooked, tender and delicious pieces of fish, what more could a gal ask for?

Basic Congee with Dried Scallop and Tofu Skin 腐竹瑤柱粥

There are tons of recipes for congee out there, and I can totally understand why.  Rice cooked into a soupy mess is delicious, filling and soothing to the soul.  But honestly a lot of the recipes labeled as congee are not really congee.  Rather, they are recipes for delicious rice porridge.  This is a recipe for traditional Cantonese style Chinese congee 粥, a different creature altogether from rice porridge.

Traditional congee or 粥 is thick and creamy and perfect for showing off the simple yet aromatic flavor of rice.   It is so popular a part of the Cantonese eating repertoire that there are dedicated restaurants that serve delicious congee all year round in HK.  Which is saying a lot considering the super high rents in this functional city.  

But it's actually pretty easy to make traditional congee at home.  The most basic congee you can make is with just rice, water and salt.  Today, however, we're kicking it up a notch or three by introducing the more sophisticated classic Basic Congee with Dried Scallop and Tofu Skin 腐竹瑤柱粥, a deliciously creamy congee, ever so delicately flavored with beancurd and scallop.