Welcome dear reader! But hold on, first things first. Let's have the definition of the word 'cookery':
cookery [ˈkʊkərɪ]
n. pl. cookeries
1. The art or practice of preparing food.
2. A place for cooking.
So, dear friends, cook and eat well! Or as the Chinese say, 吃飯了！
Disclaimer: No food was harmed in the making of this food blog. All foods were made by us and eaten for dinner right away. (We're usually pretty hungry by the time photos are being taken!)
Dedication: This food blog is dedicated to our dearest little girl, so that when she grows up she can still have access to all the food memories that are unfortunately mostly lost to those of us growing up in these fast paced modern times so cynical of the passing on of traditions. Love you baby girl!
Background
I am an architect, children's book writer and illustrator. My other (better) half is a filmmaker and an artist.
Contact
Something to say? Give us an email at thehongkongcookery@gmail.com. Hear from you soon!
Yes! I'm so happy to have found your blog!! I was looking for red bean soup and made my way to hong sao rou, Chinese red cooked pork - I feel like I'm in my grandmother's kitchen! Thanks for documenting these recipes, I will be checking back here often!
ReplyDeleteThanks Irene, you made us smile! I agree, there's is quite nothing like dear grandmother's kitchen is there? - ellen
ReplyDeletelove your blog. since I have moved back to Hong Kong, I am so exploring the local ingredients and the local cooking. My grandma used to cook for the family a lot of cantonese dishes. I hope that you won't mind me adapting your recipes to find my grandma's ones again.
ReplyDeleteHi Island's Kitchen - Glad that you like our recipes! If you want to reference any of our recipes, just give us a link back to the original recipe. Thanks ~ellen
DeleteI stumbled upon your blog when searching for sweet rice dumplings - and I got more than what I searched for! Red bean paste? Stir-fry bamboo shoot? Da-yam! I'm in love with this blog. Keep up the great work! It is such a treasure trove of traditional Chinese recipes which are increasingly hard to find, and disappearing so quickly. I used to lament that I never bothered to acquire the recipes from my grandmother before she passed on but now there's your blog! Thank you :D
ReplyDeleteHi DL - Thank you, it's good to know that others like you know and appreciate exactly what we are endeavoring to do! It's a lot of hard work, but comments like yours make it all worth it! ~ellen
DeleteHello! I really enjoy your blog. I use to visit Hong Kong as a child with my mother. I miss the food and the culture there. Your blog brings back many great memories! And thank your for sharing so many amazing authentic recipes.
ReplyDeleteHi Cake Girl,
DeleteThanks for stopping by! Glad that we could bring back some happy memories for you. Food memories are the best, aren't they?! ~ellen
LOOOOOOOOOooooOve your blog! please continue to share your home cooking tips!
ReplyDeleteHi JM - For sure we will! Love straight back at you! ~ellen
Deletehi ellen! nice to find another hk cooking blog. keep up the delicious posts. maybe we can exchange some recipes :)
ReplyDeletejun & priscilla
Hey there jun & priscilla - Cool, nice to meet (sort of) other HKongers who love cooking like we do! ~ellen
DeleteThis blog is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI am a child of HK immigrants who moved to Canada in the 1950s and 1960s. Mom would make a selected number of dishes until the huge wave of HK immigrants in the 1980s resulted in a lot of cheap, tasty Chinese restaurants in Toronto "I'm not going to stirfry at home and make it smell like a wok kitchen, let's go out" she'd say. But now she's passed on and we want to make some of our childhood foods again (even if we could buy it at said Chinese restaurants).
Thanks for your blog. I'm starting with the hung dao sa (red bean soup) and want to try the tong yuan....didn't think the tong yuan would be quite so easy (at least up until you have to wrap and roll the little balls of sweet goodness). I don't suppose you have a recipe for braised dried oyster with black hair fungus (fat choy ho see) or tips on how to buy the good stuff. Grandpa used to trade in dried foods and preserved duck legs; he'd give my mom the biggest dried oyster......
Thanks, we love hearing stories like this! Gotta pass those food memories (and recipes!) onwards! You know what, we do have a recipe for fat choi braised oyster that I've didn't have time to write up last chinese new year. So let me dig it up and we'll get it out in time for the upcoming new year! ~ellen
DeleteThis blog is my entire childhood! Literally spent the night scrolling recipe after recipe of utter familiarity! Fried dace and black beans, fermented beancurd, candied ginger, red/green bean dessert soups--so much nostalgia/food lust to eat those things again! I also can't wait to try out your baked porkchop recipe as well as black sesame ice cream amongst so many other things! Cheers, and please continue blogging!
ReplyDeleteThinking about your comments, I realized that this blog is really part of our way of telling my little girl the story of our childhoods. So glad we could inspire food lust/nostalgia for you, please let us know how the baked porkchops comes out! ~ellen
ReplyDeleteI just read your "about" section, and realized we have some things in common (!!!). I'm also an architect (intern) and my boyfriend is a filmmaker, and I want to write books. :)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are capturing all these food memories for your daughter.
Wow, what a quinky dink! So you're an architect too! Cool...by the way really like your photos! ~ellen
DeleteCool blog! I'll be sure to come back for more :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Saucy Spatula! ~ellen
DeleteRaised in Hong Kong, artist, illustrator, interior design, aspiring children's book writer and home cook. The coincidences are uncanny. Love your blog, have been following your recipes for some time now! Everything that you cook is pretty much what I grew up eating (our family is HK, Chinese, and Taiwanese), and now that I live in NYC, I can make all those yummy foods that remind me of home when I'm feeling homesick. Thank you!
ReplyDelete-Kim Z
Hi Kim - You're my doppelganger, or I'm yours! What a quinky dink indeed! And thanks so much for your encouragement for this blog. We love it that we can bring back those traditional home cooking recipes to everyone! ~ellen
DeleteI found your blog when I was finding a recipe for Soy Sauce Prawns. Your blog is very interesting! So many great recipes.I'm looking forward to reading more recipes. I can't wait to try your recipe for dinner tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline - so glad you found our blog, welcome, welcome! ~ellen
DeleteSipping through my sweet potato dessert soup and decided to google it out of boredom... and found your blog! What a delightful little blog - you've taken me trips back to memory lane and you're making me miss my parents more (they're living overseas in Hong Kong). Your recipes remind me of all the dishes my mum used to make (that I have forgotten, how could I), I can't wait to try them out. Thanks again for creating this blog! Love from Australia xo
ReplyDeleteHi Joyce - thanks! Hope that what we make can match up to your mum's cooking. Cheers from HK ~ellen
DeleteI'm so happy to have found your blog!! now i have a go to site to look up homey chinese recipes that I can read! i know, should of taken chinese school more seriously... You are a godsend! thanks for all the recipes !
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! ~ellen
DeleteHi, Ellen,
ReplyDeleteSome rice cakes have been hanging out in the freezer for a very long time, and I decided it was high time to liberate them and fix the classic nian gao recipe that we've eaten in Shanghai restaurants here in NYC. Could not find any decent recipes on line until I happened across your website. I made it as part of a family birthday feast (we're Chinese American, and I still have family in H.K.), and it was spectacular. My son says that I should open a food truck selling that dish! Now that I've had a chance to look at your other recipes, I know that I'll keep consulting your blog for inspiration and beautiful food. Can't wait to make your fresh strawberry mango jam and will definitely be sharing your recipes and insights with other foodie friends here in NYC! Thank you so much!
Hi Sylvia - Oh gosh, you had us tickled pink with your food truck image - if you do open a food truck selling fragrant stir fry nian gao we will by hook and crook scrape up the funds and be the first in line! Thanks so much for the vote of confidence! ~ellen
DeleteStumbled across your site looking for a recipe for candied lotus seeds for my daughter and ended up finding so many other recipes I want to try! I wanted to say how much I appreciate reading (in English!) about how to make some of these very traditional hong kong chinese foods I remember from my childhood. I learn so much reading about how you tried this and that, and your photos exactly answer the question in my mind at that exact point of the writing. I can't wait to get started and try to make some of your recipes. Thank you for sharing your cookery journey.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome and so glad you found us and very happy that we could help out with cookery journeys in any way! Le me know if you have any questions along the way ~ellen
DeleteHi. Was looking for a recipe for shrimp with ketchup and came across your site. I can't believe I haven't come across it. And doubly happy that you're still posting.
ReplyDeleteHi Shirley - Welcome and so happy that you found us! ~ellen
DeleteThrilled to have found your blog. Brings up fond memories of my family and flavours I’ve been missing since relocating to UK. I stumbled across your site after failing to find suitable, authentic Chinese cookbooks on Amazon. Have yet to try recipes but can’t wait. I’ve bookmarked a quite few already. Thank you, keep it up! : )
ReplyDeleteHey BC - your very welcome and so glad that you like our blog! ~ellen
DeleteThank you so much for this site. I've been looking for you for a long time!
ReplyDeleteI was born in HK but moved to Australia 30 years ago as a teenager. Your recipes bring
Me back to my childhood when I used to cook for my family every day after school as both parents worked. I remember learning from my aunt making stuffed eggplant and capsicum. I have been obsessed with fried fish skin (sadly can't get it in Sydney so rely on trips to hk).
Just found your site so will explore. One question. I remember as a kid eating savoury fried milk in restaurant. Is it still something you can get in HK restaurants? Do you have a recipe?
Keep up the wonderful work and thanks!!!
Dear fridando - so pleased that we could find each other! I'm so happy that you like our recipes! You bet we know Shun De fried milk...it's sooo delicious but sadly not that often available in HK restaurants these days. Fried milk has been on our list of to-dos for a long time and we're going to bump it up to the top of the list now so look out for it. Thanks for your lovely thoughts and good (chinese) cooking! ~ellen
DeleteHello, my heart feels a little tingly warm when I read your bio bit where it says you are doing it partly so you can pass some of these Chinese gems to your daughter. I feel the same. I taught my kids to make Tong Yuan, and they completely love it now.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to stumble across your treasure chest, aka recipe collection. I have a ton of recipes using tea in our tea business website and hope you would be ok for me to quote a few of your recipes with full credit to your site plus link to your recipe pages. (Hope I can use the photos while referring to your recipes, but if not, I won't do it)
Thank you :)
Hi Salina - Thanks for checking out our blog! We'd love it if you want to try our recipes but please use your own words to write it up as well as including a link back to our recipe pages. And please use your own photos. ~ellen
DeleteHello Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI just found your website. I was looking for a fish soup recipe. Just want to say Thank You. Your recipes inspire me to cook and learn more. Thank You!
You're very welcome! ~ellen
DeleteHi Ellen - I just saw your website and spent almost 2 hours browsing on Mother's Day. Love it. Thank you
ReplyDeleteHi slee - hey there, so glad you found us... By the way where is oc anyways? ~ellen
DeleteJust came across your fantastic blog and made the soy sauce chicken wings last week. They turned out great and were really delicious. Thank you so much for the wonderful resource you've compiled of all the foods I remember eating as a child but don't know how to cook!
ReplyDeleteHey Wendy - soy sauce chicken wings is one of my personal favs! So glad that our recipes can bring you back to your childhood foods! ~ellen
DeleteHi Ellen, I was searching china winter dates and so happened to come across your blog. Interested in your Chinese Pear Herbal Tonic Soup and will boil it for my son cox he is having bad cough. Once again, thank you for sharing your recipes. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome:) and be sure to also try the Chinese Preserved Limes 咸檸檬 recipe on the blog, that also works a treat for coughs! ~ellen
DeleteI'm so excited to have found this blog. Going to spend the day going through it now GL
ReplyDeleteHi GL - Welcome to our blog! So glad that you found us! ~ellen
DeleteI grew up with my grand mother in Shanghai in the late 80s and moved to France later on. My biggest regret in my life was that I didn’t ask my grandma for all her recipes. As a child you don’t always realize how precious these memories will be. I am so grateful for your blog and the recipes, it’s all my childhood coming back through those recipes. I made 蝦仁豆腐 for my own baby today and he ate all of it.
ReplyDeleteHey ShanghaiGirl - I'm so happy to hear your comment cuz that's exactly how I feel about this blog, that it's powered by love for my grandma, your grandma and all the other grandmas and moms that made all those yummilicious and precious food memories for us. Because they loved us. And now we can pass that love on to our babies...♥️ellen
DeleteHi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI stumbled on your blog while I was searching for a pineapple bun recipe. So happy to find you have also posted so many other HK recipes! I have been living in HK for the past 13 years till I relocated to Texas last November and boy how I miss HK and Asian food!! There’s not a good Asian restaurant where I live and all the pineapple buns I found are stuffed!!! I’m going to make the real ones for my daughter who loves it!
Hey there SYL - So happy we could help! I'm impressed that you're so dedicated to your love of HK food that you are making it in the deep south that is Texas!! You go girl! ~ellen
DeleteHi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog by accident. I'm really really surprised for all these dishes and recipes here. All of these remind me of my childhood and the warm-homemade dishes made by my mother. I grew up and live in Panama, i want to learn how to prepare all these traditional Chinese dishes for my family and give them a homey warmth like my parents were. A request, would you be grateful if it includes a section on Chinese medicinal soup and Herbal Tea? It is a very essential part of the culture and tradition that every Chinese should know how to do. The medicinal herbal flavor in soups warms the heart and calms any tired soul. Saludos from Panama! ^_^
Hi Feng - so happy that you found us! And isn't it wonderful how food can connect us into the same culture even though we all live all over the world? I think it's pretty neat. We already have a few tonics and medicinal soups in our Drinks/Tonics section and our Soup section, please check them out. But you're right about doing more, as it's a very important part of Chinese culture and cuisine. 你好 from Hong Kong! ~ellen
DeleteHi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI've found your blog randomly on google after searching for a pineapple bun recipe and I've been making your pineapple buns non stop since lockdown in UK and they are just amazing!
I've never really attempted bread products before and now I'm addicted to making them. My 3 yro son also loves to help make these pineapple buns. I've been sharing some of my Chinese baking on my instagram @lucylovestoeat if you fancy taking a look :)
Thanks again,
Lucy
www.lucylovestoeat.com
Hey Lucy, thanks for your vote of confidence on our pineapple buns!! So sweet that your son helps you! ~ellen
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen, loooove your blog. I have been looking for banana mochi rolls(香蕉糕 )recipes.i try couple of onlineand youtube recipes, nd they don't tast the same as I remembered. Do you happened to have a recipes that actually work and taste like the one I brought in hong kong bakery when I was little. Thank you
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support! I know the rolls you're talking about! Let me see if I can find something... ellen
DeleteThanks for posting these recipes! It’s great being able to recreate classic Hong Kong favourites at home.
ReplyDeleteDear Ellie - So glad that folks are still into making these foods. Thanks for your support and much food love! ~ellen
DeleteWhat nice blog! Im glad its still running in 2021. ♡ a great way to continue my culture and surprise my parents with some dishes hehe.
ReplyDeleteHey Nat, thanks for your support! Happy to hear that your parents are enjoying your cooking😜~ellen
ReplyDeleteawesome! thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteFrank from SG
Hey Frank - Cheers and thanks for visiting!😆ellen
DeleteEchoing all the others who happily stumbled upon your blog whilst googling a recipe (mine was the Chinese picked garlic!). Love the way you write and the nostalgia it evokes straightaway (even though I'm still living in HK...at home...😊😆). Can't wait to try out all your recipes eventually! X
ReplyDeleteHey J - ❤️😊 thanks for the shout out!! ~ellen
ReplyDeleteHey Ellen,
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat it is to be able to follow you on your Hong Kong culinary adventures! My parents grew up in Hong Kong and I have such fond memories of all the good food I got to eat as a child growing up in North America. I currently live in Scandinavia and I find myself longing for the comforting flavours of my parents' home. I've mostly been focusing on learning how to make simpler recipes with ingredients that are accessible for me and I stumbled on your blog while searching for a recipe for Macau almond cookies (hopefully I can find mungbean somewhere!). Can't wait to try a few of your simpler recipes this Chinese New Year! Thank you! :)
Hey there- thanks for writing in and what a wonderful example of the power of home cooked food! I wish you good cooking and a Happy Chinese New Year! 😋 ellen
ReplyDeleteThank you so so much!!! Your recipes from way back when have been a godsend - well instructed, easy-to-understand and super delicious! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteYour most welcome❤️ 😁 🥰 ! ~ellen
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to have found your blog. Your disclaimer is so sweet. My grandma would have approved your recipes. Those are very authentic! Tried one recipe from you the other day, tastes like what she used to make for me when I was living with her in Hong Kong. I still miss her dearly. Your recipe brings all the great memories back. Thank you,
ReplyDeleteDear Nikki - Wow, so proud to get you grandma's approval! We try our best to live up to the food our grandmas and moms and dads and granddads cooked for us as we grew up and hope we can remake the magic for our own little girl!😋 ~ellen
ReplyDelete