Rabbit Fish Congee 泥鯭粥

Here's a little something for comfort, guaranteed to hit the right spot, as the autumn weather turns chill, cool northern winds blowing tree leaves adrift.  This is a classic Cantonese type of congee, or rice porridge if you like, that infuses the wonderfully creamy soothing heat of rice porridge with the sweet tender meat of the rabbit fish.  

You can, of course, use other fish but this particular combination is a classic dish that you can, if you're lucky, still find in some of the grand ol' Cantonese restaurants that carry on in traditional fashion.  Or, shucks, if you can't find it, try making it at home, trust me it's worth the effort!  

Rabbit Fish Congee 泥鯭粥 is an easy enough dish to make at home, it just needs a bit of time to cook down the rice and soon you'll be slurping on a perfect dish of creamy fish congee, warming yourself from the tip top of your head right down to the bottom of your toes!

Hong Kong Style Mango Pudding 香港芒果布甸

One of the delights of the Hong Kong dim sum feast is the mango pudding.  Not just any old mango pudding, mind you, but the classic one developed by the ingenious chefs of dim sum who have been trained in the tradition of creating small, beautiful, delightful tasty treats that can be eaten as part of the buffet of tidbits that is the dim sum lunch.

While mango pudding has existed in many other permutations, this particular Hong Kong Style Mango Pudding, or 香港芒果布甸, is light as a feather, melting in the mouth, packed to the brim with the freshest mango taste and texture and creamy with an aromatic hint of dairy.  Now you don't need to come to Hong Kong for this dim sum treat, you can make it quite easily at home!

Chinese Black Bean Sauce Steamed Fish 豉汁蒸魚

In our many experiments cooking the lovely Antarctic Queen fish this last week, we found that our favorite way of cooking up this tender, sweet and mild fish was pairing it with the classic traditional Chinese Black Bean Sauce, or 蒜蓉豆豉醬.  

You must have tried Chinese black bean sauce before, it is a common sauce for many a Chinese dish and is popular at restaurants as an easy, flavorful way to prepare a dish with a minimum of fuss.  For myself black bean sauce was never a favorite, I found it too overpowering.  Never, that is, until we started making it at home.  

WOW!  Homemade black bean sauce is a different creature altogether, rich yet subtle, many layered, just delicious and completely different from the out of the can black bean sauce that is almost always used in restaurants.  Try our Chinese Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce 豉汁蒸魚 recipe yourself and see if you don't find it yummilicious as well!

Chinese Sweet Potato Ginger Dessert Soup 番薯姜糖水

Brrrrrr! All day long a chilly autumn wind has been blowing in through the crack in my window, outside its been raining on and off and the world is all wet and dreary.  On days like this there's nothing that warms you up better than a touch of the right kind of traditional Cantonese sweet soup.  

And the right kind of sweet soup, at least for me, is the kind of sweet soup with a bit of ginger in it, no, no, I must be upfront, a darn boatload of ginger in it.  Yummm...that delicious spiciness of ginger!  How good this Chinese Sweet Potato Ginger Dessert Soup 番薯姜糖水 is, soft comforting pieces of luscious yams floating in a sweet and fiery soup that warms you right through to the tips of your toes!

Chocolatey Chocolate Ice Cream

Yum, yum, yum, my favorite flavor of ice cream!  Chocolatey chocolate!  No matter how many new and exotic flavors appear on my ice cream horizon, I always float back lazily to that rich, velvetly, creamy, uniquely chocolatey taste of chocolate ice cream.  (Well, that, and also my other classic childhood favorite ice cream, Strawberry Ice Cream!) 

We always like to have some homemade ice cream in the fridge and this Chocolatey Chocolate Ice Cream 巧克力雪糕 is a great favorite of ours for eating and for dressing up to make fancy ice cream cones!

Clay Pot Wonton Chicken Soup 砂鍋雲吞雞

This really easy classic all-in-one Shanghai dish is a showstopper at the dinner table, bound to elicit oohs and ahhs of delight both for the awesome presentation and for the yummilicious flavor.  Tender melting chicken, flavorful wontons, delicious chickeny soup and broth cooked vegetables.  The real secret to this dish is how easy it is to make!  

You'll be pleasantly surprised just as I was the first time we made this, it just requires a few basics and then you kinda throw it all together and then, TA-DA!,  the beautiful, classy Clay Pot Wonton Chicken Soup 砂鍋雲吞雞 is sitting pretty at your dinner table.

Classic Chinese Steamed Fish 清蒸鱼

I've been meaning to write about the amazing Classic Chinese Steamed Fish, or 清蒸魚, for the longest time.  I mean, we have this fish dish all the time at home!  It's simple to make and a simply amazingly delicious way to prepare fresh fish.  

This is the great shining example of the spare beauty and elegance of the traditional Cantonese way of cooking.  Fresh, fresh food combined with specific precise cooking methods that allow the natural flavors of fresh food to blossom.  A dish that you can make at home with a minimum of fuss.  A super yummilicious, tender, sea sweet fish dish gently flavored with aromatics and a drizzle of fine soy sauce that will get you to eat delicious, healthy fish all the time!  This is simply one of the best fish dishes of all time!

Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean Stir Fried with Indian Lettuce 豆豉鯪魚炒油麥菜

A classic Cantonese Chinese dish is the Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean Stir Fried with Indian Lettuce, or 豆豉鯪魚炒油麥菜.  Even our jolly wet market vegetable guy had to admit, chuckling, that there's no way around it: if you're going to cook Indian Lettuce, or 油麥菜, there's nothing better to go with it than the fabulous Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean, or 豆豉鯪魚.  

It's soooo easy to make this delicious dish cause you just open up a can of Fried Dace and stir fry it with the lettuce and Voila!  Classic, yummy, delicious Cantonese Chinese fish and vegetable dish!