Beautiful Baklava

Picture this, dear readers.  Nutty aromatic roasted nuts soaked in sweet scented syrup enveloped in devastatingly crispy thin as a whisper pastry layers.  Sound enticing?   This is Baklava!

This baked treat has a history going all the way back to ancient Assyrians of Mesopotamia in 8th century BC, around 2800 years ago!  From then and there the idea of the baklava has spread, appearing in different permutations as a dessert in many cultures throughout in Asia and Europe.  

Delicately crisp layers of phyllo dough packed with roasty chopped nuts, all clung together through the application of a thick sweet scented syrup, a tray of golden baked Baklava is a beauteous thing to bring to a party, sure to get a lot of wows and yummies!  I’ve wanted to make this for a while now but hesitated, thinking that it looked kinda complicated.  Well it’s true, it does look complicated and fancy but it’s actually quite easy to make!  And ever so impressive to show off and munch on after!

Pistachio Almond Biscotti

Tis the season...for cookies!  One of my absolute favorites is this elegant Italian Pistachio Almond Biscotti cookie studded with nuggets of almonds and pistachio making for a subtly sweet, nutty, and oh so satisfying flavor.  The Italian word 'biscotti' means 'twice cooked', a baking method that creates dense, crunchy textured cookies that are perfect for slow yummy nibbling or for dunking into a hot coffee.  These biscotti are not only super yummilicious but also gorgeous to look at with their flecks of pistachio green.  Just the thing to add to a cookie box!

Japanese Okonomiyaki Savory Pancake

In our last post we wrote about the wonderful Japanese pancake, the okonomiyaki, that we enjoyed so much on our trip to Tokyo.  These tender and moist savory pancakes are packed with all sorts of delectable seafood or meaty bites, topped with umami packed toppings and zigzagged with all kinds of delicious sauces.  Just one of the best comfort foods you can find!

We wanted to share with you about how to make these totally yummilicious savory pancakes at home.  It's not that hard but does require you to source some Japanese ingredients to get the job done.  But it's so worth it, cuz your homemade Okonomiyaki Savory Pancakes are gonna taste so darn good!

Tokyo Okonomiyaki Savory Pancake

I look at these photos as I write and sigh...ahh...such happy memories!  And what exactly might I be sighing over?  It's only one of my favorite Japanese snacks/meals, the okonomiyaki, those delectably fluffy and savory pancakes, mixed with your yummy protein of choice and topped with a generous sprinkle of dried bonito flakes, spring onions and a most dashing slashing of kewpie mayonnaise!   We've gobbled mucho of it here in Hong Kong and actually I've made it at home many times, very popular and super scrumptious!

So on our recent-ish trip to Tokyo, queen amongst cities, we had a major late night Snack Attack while exploring the vibrant Shinjuku area and thus wandered into an okonomiyaki restaurant.  OMgosh...best time ever!  Not only was the okonomiyaki fabulously delish and cooked right on our own personal table grill but the atmosphere in this eatery was too cool for school!

Halloween Decorated Sugar Cookies

Happy Halloween, dear readers!  This post is really just to say 'hey' on our favorite spooky holiday and to share some of the stuff my little girl and I have been churning out this month for a bake sale!  It's the reason behind the belated postings this month, please forgive!

That's right, it's our old favorite holiday cookie activity, making decorated sugar cookies to celebrate the day.  Previously we've made them for Xmas, Valentine's Day and Easter, and now, finally we made them for Halloween!  We're going to share some new cookie decorating tips we tried out that are totally right-on and also share the new royal icing recipe that we're using that totally upped our cookie game!

Papos Secos Portuguese Rolls

One fine day not long ago my hubby asked me if I knew how to make the kind of bread that is used for the famous Macau Pork Chop Bun 澳門豬扒包.  Pork Chop Bun is a super popular snack in Macau, consisting of a deliciously marinated fried pork chop placed inside a bun (locally called a piglet bun or 豬仔包) that is crispy on the outside and deliciously soft on the inside.  Macau's own version of the hamburger, lol.

I was so very tickled pink cuz hubby never asks me to make bread.  He just be weird like that.  So I dove into the research.  What was this mysterious bread that made the Macau pork chop bun so special?

It turns out, I believe, that this bread bun originated from the traditional Portuguese bread rolls called Papos Secos.  Makes sense, since Macau was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years. To test my theory, I made some papos secos and am quite pleased to report that if this bread isn't it, it's darn tootin' yummilicious enough to be it and more!  Bread that's crispy on the outside but oh so soft and luscious on the inside, we were hooked so hard on this bread at once.   And it's the perfect bread for sandwiching a pork chop or whatever else you want in your gosh darn sandwich.  And, ultimate proof of the pudding, hubby has asked for it again and again!

Hangzhou Pian Er Chuan Preserved Vegetable Noodles 片兒川

My hubby became enamoured of this humble little noodle dish after reading a story about the tennis player Wang Xinyu 王欣瑜.  When asked what her favorite food was, she wistfully replied that it was the noodle dish her grandparents always made for her when she visited.

And there it was, that invisible yet undeniable connection between yummilicious food and love.  The amore each of us put into the food we make for our loved ones, unconsciously connecting us together through time and distance.

So what is this favorite noodle dish of Wang Xinyu then?  It is the classic Hangzhou Pian Er Chuan Preserved Vegetable Noodles 片兒川, a specialty of the Hangzhou 杭州 city in Zhejiang 浙江 province (my mama's province!)  Think sliced bamboo shoots, sliced marinated pork, preserved vegetables topping silky noodles in a rich aromatic broth...nom, nom, nom!  Very delicious and easy to make!

Tokyo Yakiniku Yazawa Grilled Wagyu Beef

Dear readers, a Wandering Eats post!  We took our little girl to Tokyo this summer, her first time.  What a city, a city amongst cities, a queen bee for sure!  The Blade Runner energy of it all was something to feel and see!

And the eats. Omgosh, we ate and ate and then ate some more.  Everything was so frick'in-liciously good.  One of the highlights was the grilled wagyu beef restaurant that we found one late night.  Oh my, oh my, seriously AMAZING just melt in the mouth beef-y feast of the ages!

Dubai Chocolate Mooncake 杜拜朱克力月餅

Yeah, yeah, I know.  It's Dubai Chocolate again.  Obssessed much, lol?!  But, seriously, how could I resist?  After successfully making homemade kadayif noodles, pistachio cream and then the gorgeous Dubai Chocolate Mousse Cake, we were pretty much over the moon with how well our efforts came out.  And with our favorite festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節, just around the corner, well, isn't Dubai Chocolate just the perfect match for a mooncake filling?!  

Our Dubai Chocolate Mooncakes 杜拜朱克力月餅 are filled with nutty, crunchy pistachio kadayif cream at the heart of a chocolate flavored bean paste, all encased in delicate traditional patterned mooncake skins.  So pretty and oh so delicious!  My little girl ate all my first batch already, hehe!

Dried Krill Seaweed Soup 銀蝦紫菜湯

Chinese soups are wonderfully healthy and yummy.  Did you know that there are all different sorts of Chinese soups?  There are the long cook kinds of soup where a lot of ingredients are slowly simmered over many hours to a rich, health enhancing and savoury perfection.  So good!  There are also the nourishing soups that are specific to tweaking the balance of your body.  And then there are the soups that you can make quick and easy, on a daily basis, to augment your daily meal and comfort your soul.

This soup one is one of the latter.  Fast, super healthy and yummilicious.  And so satisfying!  My hubby's crazy easy to make but oh so super delicious Dried Krill Seaweed Soup 銀蝦紫菜湯.  Total soup-iliciously nom nom territory!

Dubai Chocolate Mousse Cake

We took the elements of the trendy Dubai Chocolate Bar and transformed them into a most fabulous Dubai Chocolate Mousse Cake!  Two special fillings, a layer of crunchy, nutty vibrant pistachio kadayif cream and a layer of airy, rich chocolate mousse are encased inside layers of a moist chocolatey chocolate cake, all of which are lovingly frosted with a chocolate ganache frosting.  OMgoshdarnit...can you tell that we love, love, love our chocolate, lol?!

Homemade Kadayif Noodles

Round and round and round we go...  These are the delicate paths we follow to the making our own Homemade Kadayif Noodles!  And just what are these kadayif noodles, you may be asking?  

Well, have you ever heard of 'Dubai Chocolate'?   Ever tasted the creamy, crunchy pistachio filling in a Dubai Chocolate?  Well, you need these fine kadayif noodles if you're going to get that exquisite crunch!  My little girl introduced me to Dubai Chocolate and we quickly became hooked onto that incredibly nutty, creamy, crunchy pistachio filling inside the chocolate.  We wanted to try making it at home!

We soon realized that, while pistachio is fairly easy to obtain, pre-made kadayif noodles are 1) hard to obtain and 2) kinda expensive.  Luckily, after some research, we realized that these delicate kadayif noodles can be made at home with a wee bit of effort and time!

Pistachio Kadayif Cream Filling

Can you guess what this is?  It's something that you've definitely heard of before, if not seen, if not tasted!  This is a part, the most important part IMHO, of the latest, greatest food wave that's been going, well, around the world really.  I was hesitant at first to try it, thinking it was just a fad that would fade before two blinks of the eye.  But it didn't, of course, and my darling little girl finally persuaded me to spend a pretty penny to buy a bar of the famous "Dubai Chocolate."  This pistachio filled chocolate bar was, to my surprise, really quite unique and OMgosh totally delious!

And what is the most important part of the Dubai Chocolate Bar?  Well, it's the utterly unctuous Pistachio Kadayif Cream, of course, as shown in the photo above.  This gorgeously green creamy filling combines the buttery, nutty, slightly sweet lusciousness of ground pistachio nuts in a delightful contrast with the crisp crunch of the fine kadayik dough strands.  This nutty and creamy filling is the heavenly contrast to chocolate that makes the Dubai Chocolate so irresistible!

Nom, nom, nom, and just like that we were hooked!  But, woozer, the 'Dubai Chocolate' anythings sure are expensive!  So we found out, with a bit of research, that you can make Pistachio Kadayif Cream at home with just a wee bit of time and effort.  (And with that creamy filling we went on to make a Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Cake, omgoshdarnitall, to die for, check it out!) 

Shallot Infused Oil 红葱油

This simple flavor infused oil is something that we happened upon accidentally as a consequence of making my favorite cold Chinese noodle dish, the deceptively simple yet delicious Shanghai Spring Onion Scallion Noodles 葱油拌面.  Omgosh, how I love, love, love these noodles!

Anyhoo, after making these noodles we were left with the oil used for frying the spring onions and shallots.  And discovered to our delight how utterly fragrant and yummilicious this infused oil was! 

Ever since then we've kept a jar of either spring onion or shallot infused oil in our kitchen at all times!  Today we're making Shallot Infused Oil 红葱油, a subtly sweet, garlicky and oniony fragrant oil that we use to drizzle over finished dishes to add that final extra flavor layer or simply to make the most delicious stir fry with.  Oh man, oh man what a game changer this shallot infused oil is!

Homemade Green Plum Wine 自制青梅酒

As a result of our recent food shenanigans into the making of homemade Huamei Preserved Plums 話梅, we were left with an extra mound of the little green plums 青梅 that inspired it all.  These are immature plums, plucked from the Chinese Plum Tree, also known as the Prunus Mume Tree, in their green and seriously sour stage.  

With this extra mound of green plums we decided to make our first ever plum wine!  Well, not really a wine, more like a fruit liqueur of sorts.  Based loosely on both the Chinese and Japanese style of making plum wine, this fruity concoction is super easy to make, requires a rather long waiting time, and results in a lusciously fruity and smooth wine/liqueur that captures the essence of spring and summer all in one!

Chinese Huamei Preserved Plums 話梅

Every Chinese kid has eaten these preserved fruit treats when they're little, I think, and puckered up with glee at the deliciously sweet, salty and sour taste.  These Chinese Huamei Preserved Plums 話梅 or 酸梅, and also known as Li Hing Mui 旅行梅, are usually found in a dried state but, since we made these fruit candies at home, we have left them swimming in their delectable syrup .  Same taste, with delicious syrup to boot! 

Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding 薑汁撞奶布丁

Recently we made the smooth and creamy Double Skin Milk Pudding 雙皮奶 and were so delighted with the lusciously milky results that we determined to further explore the "Milk-y Way"!  To that end we decided to make this traditional oh so easy to make treat that originates from Panyu 番禺, Guangzhou 廣州: the Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding 薑汁撞奶布丁, also known as Ginger Milk Curd.

This pudding is really magical because its puddingness is set thru the interaction of fresh ginger enzyme and hot milk!  And that's it!  Milk with a touch of sugar is heated in a pot and then poured, bang!, into the freshly squeezed ginger juice.  Then a wait and, tada, the pudding is made!  

Delicate, milky, ginger-ly spicy, smooth and oh so comforting is this super duper easy to make Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding.  Try it, you'll see!

Vegetarian Mushroom Ramen Soup Noodles 素食蘑菇湯拉麵

Savory, rich, filled to the brim with lip-smacking, noodle slurping, umami yummy-liciousness!  Dearest noodle lovers, we're making a bowl of veggie ramen noodles today for all those plant lovers out there!  A bowl of chewy but firm ramen noodles topped with meaty aromatic shrooms and just cooked tender veggies, nestled in a hot and savory umami packed veggie soup.  M oh man, we love us our noodles!

Homemade Ramen Noodles 自製拉麵

Going noodle-crazy here at The Hong Kong Cookery!  After making homemade udon, and having so much fun, we decided to march right on and try making ramen at home!  Turns out that it's not hard to make at all and homemade ramen is sooo good!!  

Darn it, wish that someone had let me know about making ramen years ago...