Chinese Steamed Chicken Buns 雞包仔

Recently my 老公 decided that he doesn't want to eat 'red meat'.  Red meat like beef and pork.  Makes dinner kinda crazy sometimes cuz we have to cook his stuff and the regular stuff for us (he insists a growing girl, meaning my little girl not me LOL, needs her red meat.)  Teensie tiny eyeroll...I mean proteins are proteins, wherever they're from, amirite?  But I digress. 

Actually this limitation has challenged us in directions we probably wouldn't usually consider.  Like these Chinese Steamed Chicken Buns.  I myself grew up eating my grandma's Steamed Pork and Veggie Buns.  For quite a period of time it was my breakfast and after school meal.  This skinny little growing Chinese girl could gobble up 3 to 4 buns in one go!

I wanted my family to enjoy the same kind of bun fun so I decided to make these chicken buns so that everyone in our little family could enjoy them.  In the process I discovered that these Chinese Steamed Chicken Buns 雞包仔, with its juicily delicious, tenderly aromatic infused chicken pieces wrapped inside a soft pillowy bread is actually super yummilicious as well as quite easy to make!

Grandma's Chinese Steamed Brined Chicken 煎焗雞髀

I've been chatting to my mama 媽媽 a lot about food recently, as she's been both recovering from illness and stuck at home a lot ( and I mean A LOT! :) and thus doing quite a bit of cooking.  She reminded me of this special dish that my grandma 奶奶 (♥️!!) used to make and it's one of my childhood favorites!  

You know how there are certain foods eaten when you were young that you can clearly remember the taste, aroma, details of presentation and the eating of it, even all these long years later?  Well, this dish, for me, is one of those.  

A simple, humble home cooked dish is all Grandma's Chinese Steamed Brined Chicken 煎焗雞髀 is, just salt brined chicken panfried to crisp up the skin and then steamed with ginger and spring onion.  Simple, but boy oh boy, the moment my mama mentioned it, it all came crashing into my mind,  how ridiculously tenderly delicious it was...and how I always secretly hoped my gran would make it for dinner that day...and how I tried to sneakily eat as much of it as I could before my mama would slap my greedy chopsticks away from getting more.

Homemade Shrimp Ball Paste Steamed with Broccoli 手打蝦膠蒸西蘭花

Yumm...broccoli and shrimp...two of my favorite things in one easy dish!  Make this way easier than you think Homemade Shrimp Ball Paste Steamed with Broccoli for dinner and not only does it look good but it's a two for one (seafood and veggies) as well as super yummilicious.  

The key to this spectacular looking dish is the shrimp paste, or shrimp ball paste as I have called it to differentiate it from the intensely aromatic fermented shrimp paste 蝦醬.  This shrimp ball paste is made with fresh shrimps and it's surprisingly easy to make.  

Once you have the hang of making shrimp ball paste you can make plain ol' shrimp balls for your noodle dishes or hotpots, or smear it on all kinds of veggies to be steamed or fried to shrimpy deliciousness!

Steamed Chinese Cured Pork Belly Lap Yuk 蒸臘肉

Dear friends, it's time for those dishes that warm you up and provide you with the slow burning energy throughout these long chilly days.  I want to introduce the Chinese Cured Pork Belly, also known as Lap Yuk or 臘肉, a Cantonese preserved meat specialty that is sooo delicious and comforting to eat during the autumn and winter months.  Absolute perfection with a steaming hot bowl of rice.

If you've never had it before, it's vaguely reminiscent of bacon being from the same cut of meat but, I think, even better in its own unique luscious porky sort of way.

Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg 咸蛋蒸肉餅

A dear reader reminded us that we have not yet posted this classic Chinese dish, the Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg, or 咸蛋蒸肉餅 (thanks H Gotts!)  We make this all the time!  

Actually this comfort dish is probably prepared in Chinese family homes of the South on a weekly basis.  A quick easy to make dish full of strong savory flavors, filling to the stomach, with the delicious treat of salted duck egg on top.  A taste of Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg is a taste of home!

Steamed Giant Grouper Fish Head with Tangerine Peel 果皮蒸龍躉頭

People usually think of fish as something small. You know, something that can be held with a hand or two.   I know I've always thought of them as small (and delicious) things. But as I have delved more into the tremendous varieties of fresh seafood that the Hong Kong local wet markets make available I have realized that some fish are not small. Indeed, some fish are really big! 

Recently we made the delectable Steamed Giant Grouper Fish Head with Tangerine Peel, or 果皮蒸龍躉頭,  which we have made many times before. Except this time I started thinking about the size of the fish that must go with such a head and ended up realizing that we were eating a giant fish head! Imagine that, I never knew!

Steamed Lap Cheong Rice 蒸臘腸飯

A classic (and easy!) way to wrangle two delicious things to eat out of one pot!  If you've never tried Chinese Lap Cheong, or Chinese sausage, you are in for a treat.  These lovely dried sausages hung from hooks in pairs tied to colorful strings are so distinct in look, texture, taste and smell, just thinking of them reminds me of all the chinese groceries I have ever visited.  A happy memory indeed!  

So this is one for all the sausage lovers as well as all the rice lovers in this world, not only will you end up with a delectable dish of steamed Lap Cheong but also a heavenly pot of rice aromatically infused with all the sausage's flavors!  Steamed Lap Cheong Rice, or 蒸臘腸飯, is the perfect cold weather comfort two-in-one dish!

Steamed Sun Dried Dace 蒸臘鯪魚

The fact is that Hong Kong is an island, though sometimes this is easily forgotten living inside of Hong Kong's massive, soaring concrete jungle of a city.  And because of this island history there is a strong tradition of fishery, seafood, and also, to many a food lover's delight, a diverse and rich local history of many ways of preserving, preparing and eating that seafood.  

We love the super fresh and happening seafood we get at the wet market in Hong Kong and have posted many recipes of our favorite fresh and preserved seafood dishes.  

Today I want to introduce you to an amazing southern Chinese speciality, the Sun Dried Dace, or 臘鯪魚.  This sun preserved fish, also know as Mud Carp, is nowadays rarely to be seen, but we found some the other day at the market at one of our favorite stalls and snapped it up quick as a flash!

Steamed Garoupa Fish 蒸石斑

This Steamed Garoupa Fish, or 蒸石斑, originates from a story of lateness.  I have always been late in things and I'm not bragging about it.  A lot of times it has caused me no end of annoyance and I have always been of the opinion that being late a bit and a good worker balances out (even upends!) being on time and fairly useless in your work.  

But one thing that being late in has worked for me is being late in getting my a** to the wet market to buy fresh food.  So, oops, it's late, gotta go, grab my little girl, get her dressed and brushed, and off we go down the busy Hong Kong streets to the local wet market to see what the catch of the day is.  The thing about wet markets is that they close pretty early, around 7 pm-ish, or even earlier if they sell out their wares for the day (more likely of the fresh seafood vendors).  But let me tell you, being late to the wet market can have its advantages!

Abalone Steamed with Tangerine Peel 陳皮蒸鮑魚

Again we have to celebrate the glories of Hong Kong's access to fresh, fresh seafood!  Whenever we can we go to the Hong Kong local wet markets and are spoiled for choices and bargains amongst their amazing selections of fresh and live seafood.  It's always an interesting journey with the seafood varying day by day, depending on the fisher men's catch.  One day it may be a surplus of tenacled squid, the next a influx of deep sea shrimp and freshly shucked scallops.  

Today we found one of our favorite fish stalls awash in baskets of small fresh abalone and quickly grabbed a bagful for a great bargain.  It was time to cook Abalone Steamed with Tangerine Peel, or 果皮蒸鮑魚, an easy and delicious seafood treat!

Chinese Steamed Spareribs with Black Truffle Sauce 黑松露醬蒸排骨

We've heard all that jazz about Black Truffle, that great European gastronomic treasure, but for some reason or the other have never actually tried it.  (Too poor, probably and too busy eating yummilicious chinese food!)  Anyhow, recently someone gave us a bottle of Black Truffle sauce and suddenly there we were, at our virgin tasting of this famous food.  

Out of the bottle and onto crackers, it had a surprisingly sharp aroma (almost garlicky) that one could smell all over the house and an intense mushroomy, slightly earthy, yet delicate taste.  Surprisingly delicate really, I'd have thought black truffle would be something that grabs you by the throat and makes you swoon with lust.  To be honest, it was not what we expected.  But then I'm not sure what we expected...

Steamed Salted Sun Dried Fish 蒸南倉鹽鮮魚

For a long time I have fantasized about making my own dried salted fishes.  (Very sexy, I know!)  My 媽媽 keeps tantalizing me with stories about when my 爸爸 used to make his own dried fishes (which for some reason I can't remember at all).  She always describes my dad's homemade dried salted fishes as incredibly tasty!  All one would need is a simple mesh structure of some sort, with a door that you could latch securely.  Then, bam!: you could have an endless supply of tasty (and cheap!) gourmet adventures in dried foods.  

Alas for the one simple, sad fact:  we don't have a garden!  Not even a balcony, not in cramped Hong Kong where real estate is at such a premium.  Just a shoebox sized apartment bursting at the seams already with all of our stuff and a teensy tiny, itty bitty kitchen.  So we were very excited recently when my 老公's mother discovered this Salted Sun Dried Fish at the Aberdeen Fish Market.

Steamed Chinese Preserved Duck Leg 蒸臘鴨腿

As the winter winds finally creep into Hong Kong after the usual overly long hot summer heat, our minds (and tummies!) begin to drift towards the consideration of warming, comforting winter foods.  

This chinese preserved duck leg 臘鴨腿 is one of our favorites. Raw duck leg is first salted down with spices and chinese rice wine, then hung to slowly dry under the sun.  Wonderfully dense textured, intensely concentrated duck meat flavor, infused throughout with a delectably fragrant oil.  This is seriously good stuff!

Dried Shrimp Steamed White Rice 蝦乾蒸飯

One of the many gastronomic pleasures that living in Hong Kong brings is the ease and variety of the chinese dried seafood available.  One need only go to their local wet market or, better yet, to the long stretch of Des Voeux Road West in Sheung Wan which is known locally as 香港海味街, or Hong Kong Dried Seafood Street.  Fascinating to explore even if you aren't there for actual buying; one would never have imagined that there were that many things in the world to dry and eat!?

Chinese Steamed Pork Patty with Dried Anchovies 小銀魚蒸肉餅

It's one of those simple homey Chinese dishes that, in theory, seem like a breeze to whip up.  Which it is, really. I mean how hard is a dish like Chinese Steamed Pork Patty?  You just add some seasonings to the ground pork and steam it, right?  How easy is that?  Well, it turns out that Chinese Steamed Pork Patty is one of those tricky little dishes that is easy to make in a so-so sort of way and hard to make in a really good, tasty, lusciously melty sort of way.

Chinese Steamed Eggplant 蒜蓉蒸茄子

The beautiful purple...the wondrous color of both poison and eggplants.  This chinese preparation of the humble eggplant is simple but really good, resulting in a flavorful, creamily tender vegetable dish that makes you go back for more and more.  And versatile too.  If you're not the garlic type or nervous of the chilis, just take em out, no problem and you will still have a fine lip-smackingly delicious dish.