Chaoshan Beef Hotpot 潮汕牛肉火鍋

Okay, this one was a most pleasant surprise.  We took a trip to Chaoshan 潮汕 and were treated to the local food star the Chaoshan beef hotpot 潮汕牛肉火鍋.  When I first heard about this I have to admit that I rolled my eyes a bit.  Whatever.  I’ve had plenty of beef in hotpots before.  Delicious but how ‘special’ could a beef hot pot be?  

Well, I was totally sucker punched in this one.  We sat down to a Chaoshan style all beef hotpot and it was the most delicious beef hotpot we’ve ever had!!!  I had never even dreamed that beef could be so interestingly yummilicious, each beef cut brimming with flavor and its own unique texture.  It was a powerful food experience, one that I’ll never forget and am already longing to taste again.

Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup 八寶冬瓜盅

This spectacular traditional Chinese soup Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup 八寶冬瓜盅 is not only beautiful and decadently delicious but also most excellent for relieving of the summer heat.  The soup is made using all parts of the winter melon: the flesh as an ingredient in the soup and the hollowed out melon itself as the soup 'tureen'.  

With a large sized winter melon this soup makes for a knock your socks off presentation, soup served in a carved and hollowed out melon 'tureen', so cool!  For the home version you can nowadays find the mini winter melon at markets.  We used these to make individual soup tureens of winter melon soup.

Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Soda 話梅檸檬水

This homemade concoction has to be one of the most refreshing drinks ever!  One long slurp of this Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Soda 話梅檸檬水 and you'll be sighing out a long happy ahhhhhh...  It's sooo hot here in HK, endlessly hot, and I'll bet it's like that everywhere these days.  So try out this easy to make traditional southern Chinese summer drink and slough off some of that heat!

Butterfly Pea Flower Drink 蝴蝶豌豆花茶

Goshdarnnit, it's been so hot these days.  Not only in HK but everywhere...sigh.  No fear, HK Cookery to the rescue, here's a refreshing and beautiful drink for you to revitalize your body from the heat!

Are you not tempted?  Isn't this Butterfly Pea Flower Drink 蝴蝶豌豆花茶 just the most sublime color?  Just looking at it makes you feel a bit cooler, no?  This totally natural color is from the amazing butterfly pea flower 蝴蝶豌豆花.  This little blue flower provides color, is packed with antioxidants and is said to work as a mood enhancer, busting the stress and anxiety right outta your life.

Fermented Gooseberries

Okay, this whole food adventure happened because of a show about food that led me to a book that is all about fermentation!  The show that I stumbled on was "The Bear", the quirkiest, craziest show about chefs? restaurant business? food?   Umm...not actually sure but it was totally fun to watch.  

Anyways at one point one of the restaurant employees wanders in totally engrossed with a thick cook book in hand.  A quick screen grab and some furious searching later, I realized it was a real life cookbook, The Noma Guide to Fermentation.  Wow.  I had to get my grubby little hands on that book!

Once I finally managed to wrangle a copy of the book I gobbled away at it and here is our first 'making' from the book, fermented gooseberries, tangy little bursts of intense flavor and texture.  I've never pickled fruit before.  Aren't they beautiful?!

Mangosteen Fruit

Another fruity post!  I  know, I know.  We've gone completely fruity!  But how could I resist?  The  tropical mangosteen is in season now!  We've seen heaps and heaps of these ball shaped purple fruit with its cute green hat everywhere recently.  This small and humble looking fruit hides a most delicious taste sensation inside, delicate white juicy flesh, lusciously sweet and tangy, reminiscent of the flavors of peach, pineapple and lychee.  Taste buds say 'Wow!'

Homemade Passion Fruit Soda

Deliriously delicious passion fruit soda!  Heady tropical scent and flavors burst out in this most refreshing concoction and it's so easy to make!  The best thing to do with passion fruit if you ask me.  And super duper easy to make it right at home!

Homemade Passion Fruit Syrup

Ooolaalaa!!  We're really excited about this one!  The fruits of the warmer months are starting to appear on the store shelves and we're going completely fruity over it all!  On an impulse I bought some passion fruit (they smelled so good!) and then didn't know what to do with them cuz they were pretty sour to eat straight.  So I left the fruit in a basket until the other day when I had a 'lightbulb'.  Why not make a syrup like we do with pomegranate (see our fabulous grenadine syrup recipe)?  

And so we made passion fruit syrup (it was so easy!) and the result was just as fabulous than our previous favorite grenadine syrup!  Passion fruit syrup infuses with the heady, exotic and sexy tropical scent and flavor of the passion fruit into a gorgeous orange fruit syrup that is out of this world.  It's so good that I had quickly to scour the neighborhood for more passion fruit due to immediate strong consumer demand (i.e. my little girl's demands ;)  Ahh...the joys of fruit...

Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰

This smooth, creamy, ice-ilicious Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie 腐竹糖水沙冰 is the most unexpected delight.  Made with old style traditional Chinese ingredients, it is transformed with a modern method of treatment into a powerfully enjoyable and addictive treat.  

We discovered this neato drink at a local restaurant that serves HK traditional cha chaan teng 茶餐廳 foods.  But I'm pretty sure that this is no traditional HK treat.  But no matter, all is fair in love and food.  This smoothie was absolutely yummilicious, just the thing to cool off and soothe away a hot day.  We have recreated this Sweet Tofu Skin Smoothie at home for all our dear readers to enjoy as well.  Cold, sweetly creamy, tofu-y, this smoothie is really far out!

Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung Fun 葱花蝦米腸粉

Silky, slurpable rice sheets entangled with chewy sea sweet bits of dried shrimp, accented with the sparkle that is fresh fragrant spring onions.  Dressed in a light sweet and savoury sauce that just accentuates it all.  Did I successfully tempt you yet, dear readers?  

This oh so yummilicious treat is the Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung Fun 葱花蝦米腸粉.  This is one of the classic Cantonese versions of the steamed cheung fun 腸粉, delicate rice sheets wrapped around various yummy fillings, normally served at dim sum restaurants.  This might be my favorite cheung fun, actually.  So simple yet so darn marvelous.