Artisanal Shrimp Paste 廣興隆蝦醬

As promised, our post on the amazing artisan shrimp paste that we discovered in Macau.  

We recently returned to Macau for a short trip.  It was our first time out of Hong Kong in 3 years!  We had missed Macau in the interim, its charming streets, gaudy casinos, the grand old buildings from another time... There was so much to rediscover!

But you know what we quickly realized that we had missed most of all?  That’s right, it was the food!!

So we ate and ate.  And got slightly chubby.  So much yummy food!  Food is life!  Even in the midst of this feast we had to stop by and pick up a jar of our favorite artisanal fermented shrimp paste: 廣興隆 Kong Hing Loong Shrimp Paste.  It’s simply the best shrimp paste we’ve ever had.

Stir Fried Tung Choi with Shrimp Paste 蝦醬炒通菜

Ahh!  This dish is so fragrant that you can scent it from outside of a restaurant!  That is because this classic vegetable stir fry uses the redoubtable Chinese fermented shrimp paste 蝦醬 as the flavoring component.  

In this Stir Fried Tong Choi with Shrimp Paste 蝦醬炒通菜 the briny, pungent, funky shrimp paste clings lovingly to the tender leaves and crunchy stems of the Chinese Tong Choi, thoroughly flavouring the leaves as well as providing the base for the scrumptious sauce.

Raspberry Charlotte Cake

We love cake!  Any kind, really, but especially the fancy, good to look at and eat kinda cakes.  For our birthdays I always make a fancy cake.  This particular cake, a most delightful Raspberry Charlotte Cake, came out really well and I wanted to share this straight forward to make but spectacular to look at cake with our dear readers.  Just in case you need a 'wow' cake to impress and celebrate.  Or just to eat and enjoy!  Cuz, you know, cake ❤️!

Pssst:  This is the perfect cake to make for Mother's Day!  

Quail Egg Siu Mai Dim Sum Dumpling 鵪鶉蛋燒賣

We continue with our Dim Sum series today with this classic Quail Egg Siu Mai dumpling 鵪鶉蛋燒賣.  It’s seldom offered in dim sum restaurants nowadays, not sure why cuz these are the most delightful and delicious little dumplings.  

The Quail Egg Siu Mai features the same fragrantly savoury pork and shrimp filling of its much better known cousin, the iconic Siu Mai 燒賣 dumpling, but it has the added lovely surprise of a perfectly cooked little egg wrapped inside.  I still remember my wonder and delight the first time I ate one of these, it was so perfect, the combination of the smooth slippery egg and the luscious juicy meat!

Hong Kong Made Cola 香港製造可樂

We discovered this neat-o soda recently, selling at a favorite restaurant of ours.  A Hong Kong made cola?  How terribly interesting!  Of course we had to try it!  

This hong kong made cola, called Ma Wan Cola 馬灣可樂, is new on the market I believe.  It is made in Hong Kong (yay!) and originally produced especially for children, having only healthy ingredients.  But healthy cola can be enjoyed by everybody, amirite?!

White Bean Paste Dough | Nerikiri Dough

This innocuous looking piece of dough is much more interesting than it looks.   This, dear readers, is the not really famous but totally should be famous Japanese white bean paste dough.  Also known as White Bean Paste Nerikiri Dough.

This versatile dough made of white bean paste and mochi becomes an edible dessert 'clay' with which you can make so many yummilicious as well as gorgeously shaped and textured sweet desserts.  It's amazing, really, the wonderful shapes that can be made: flowers, leaves, pumpkins, animals, etc.  The limit is your imagination and ingenuity.

White Bean Paste Nerikiri Bunny

It's time for Easter and we're letting the bunnies out!  We recently discovered and have been exploring 'white bean paste', a mild sweet bean paste that turns out to be very versatile in the making of all kinds of desserts.  Check out our first dessert made with white bean paste, our Chocolate Raspberry Tang Yuan, so yummy!

We've pushed on exploring white bean paste and discovered the wonderful things that the Japanese have done with it.  Namely they have made white bean paste into an edible "clay" or "dough" that can then be modeled and shaped into all kinds of amazing little sweet treats called "nerikiri" or "nerikiri wagashi."

Our first try at making and shaping a "nerikiri" was to make this simple bunny in time for Easter celebration.  We were all delighted by the results.  Our White Bean Paste Nerikiri Bunny turned out super duper cute, with soft white fur and little pink ears, twinkly black eyes and a round fluffy tail.  Bunny's all ready for some Easter fun!

Candied Winter Melon Tea 冬瓜糖涼茶

As the season turns and the days grow warmer it's time for some "cooling teas" also known as 涼茶.  Chinese believe that the food that they eat balance and nourish the body to good health, especially with respect to the needs that seasonal changes bring to the body.  Cooling teas help to dispel the heat, or 熱氣, caused by warm weather.

This particular cooling tea caught my eye because the main ingredient is one of my favorite fruit candies, the candied winter melon 冬瓜糖.  We've actually made winter melon tea before from fresh winter melon and it was plenty delish.  So now we got to try it with candied winter melon. 

The results were most satisfying and a lot easier to make. The candied fruit provided an intense but totally light vanilla sweetness with grassy notes and a touch of smokiness to a most delightfully refreshing Candied Winter Melon Tea 冬瓜糖涼.  This fragrant herbal tea was a cinch to whip up!

Shanghai Braised Vegetarian Chicken 上海紅燒素雞

Did you know that the Chinese have the most delicious vegetarian fare?  There are even vegetarian restaurants which serve a throve of ‘meat’ entitled dishes entirely made from tofu!  But note that, despite the names of the dishes, the ‘meats’ don’t actually taste like meat, they just taste veggie-licious!

We recently discovered a source of Shanghai style vegetarian chicken and so were able to make this truly yummilicious veggie dish.  This Shanghai Braised Vegetarian Chicken 上海紅燒素雞 is deliciously creamy and tender and soaked thru with the five spice infused savory sauce.

Homemade Pandan Extract 自製香蘭精

Have you ever passed a bakery and wondered what that wonderful vanilla-y, grassy, oh so comforting floral aroma floating thru the air was?  Or passed by the windows of a South Asian restaurant and wondered what the tempting green tinted desserts were made from?  

Well, you wouldn't be the first.  Rare in the west but common in Asia, the distinctive flavor and aroma of pandan is a delightful surprise to the uninitiated.  

Pandan is also used to flavor savory rice and curry dishes in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia as well as used in that fan favorite, Thai chicken wrapped in pandan leaves.  Oh, man, those chicken morsels are so delicious!

The pandan extract can of course be bought in bakery supply stores but you can also quite easily make it at home.  If you can access fresh pandan leaves then you can very easily make homemade pandan extract 自製香蘭精!