Braised Tofu With Green Onion

This is one of my family favorite vegetarian dishes.  It only has two main ingredients with few seasonings for braising.  Needless to say, this recipe is another one that is easy and simple to concoct when you don't have much time to cook.  My sister told me that she read somewhere in a Chinese newspaper saying that tofu should not be cooked with green onion.  It has to do with some kind of yin-yang energy balance in the body when the two ingredients are combined.  I have not heard from anybody else about it and we really love the taste and flavor of green onion tofu, so we still make this tofu whenever we have craving for it.  If I find out more concrete information about this issue, I will update this post accordingly.  In the meantime, my family will continue to cook and enjoy this simple and delicious dish.

Stir Fry Tomatoes with Eggs

The dish is a staple in many Chinese home cooking.  It is a great simple recipe for something quick, easy, and delicious; and requires very few ingredients that you might already have in your kitchen.  It is a vegetarian dish but contains protein in the eggs.  It has a bit of sweet and tangy flavor to it.

Chayote Squash with Vermicelli Noodle

This is definitely a comfort food for me.  My mom was a great cook and she made this dish on a regular basis at home many years ago.  I never had the exact recipe from her so I made up my own, especially on the amount of ingredients but this recipe is very forgiven, no matter how much ingredient you use, it still tastes good, in my experience.  To label it as a Chinese or Indonesian dish is a toss up, I don't exactly know the origin of it, perhaps it is a Chinese-Indonesian home-cook dish.  I do not remember eating it in any Asian restaurants as far as I know.  Chayote squash is also popular in Mexican or South American cuisines.  Again, it is a simple and very easy to cook recipe.  My family loves it whenever I make this dish.

  

Chinese Radish Cake aka Turnip or Daikon Cake

I have been missing from blogging for a couple of weeks now due to my cold/flu that is still lingering now, I can't wait until I am back to my normal health.  Every time I get really sick, I always appreciate it when I am healthy.  We always hear this saying - we take things, in this case - health for granted when we are well, and then realize what we are missing when we are sick.  Well, life goes on ...

In any case, here's a recipe for the radish/turnip/daikon cake.  For simplicity sake, I'll call it radish cake here.  It's typically served in Chinese dim sum in China, Hong Kong and overseas Chinatown restaurants.  This radish cake is also common in Chinese New Year celebration.  Like many Chinese food, there are symbols/meaning of certain food eaten at certain festivals, the same is true here but I forgot what why some Chinese eat the radish cake for New Year.  I will update this blog once I confirm it.  I try to make it once a year during Chinese New Year if I can.

It is usually cut into square-shaped slices and sometimes they are pan-fried before serving - to make the outside layer crunchy and soft on the inside.  This is a savory cake, nothing sweet about it.  It's delicious to dip it with a little hot sauce when it's ready to eat.

Taiwanese Pineapple Cake

It's square, it has pineapple filling inside, and it's delicious.  They are sold in many Chinese markets under various brands, most of them are made in Taiwan.  You can also find them from local Taiwanese bakeries, such as Sheng Kee but nothing can top the pineapple cakes made at home.  I am fortunate to have friends from Taiwan and have been introduced to various types of Taiwanese food, this pineapple cake is of them.  Even before I make them at home, my husband used to love this cake.  He occasionally bought them at the market.

To make this cake, you will need the square molds.  I don't have them at the moment so I borrow from a friend of mine, Olivia.  I am not sure if you can get the molds here in the States, Olivia got hers from Taiwan.  I have to admit that I don't make the pineapple filling from scratch.  They are sold "ready for use" in Taiwan in baking stores and I got them from friends (or their husbands) who regularly go back to Taiwan.  See photo below.  Again, I don't know if you can find them here for personal use.  Note: it's not pure pineapple - it's combined with some winter melon.  I am not sure why they add winter melon, perhaps to make a better filling texture?

Taiwanese Pineapple Cake

Chinese Steamed Chicken

Steamed chicken is popular in some Chinese homes, especially Cantonese.  It is one of the many comfort foods that I cherish since childhood.  My comfort food spans from Indonesian to Chinese cuisines due to the fact that I was born and partly raised in Indonesia in a Chinese home.  This recipe is healthy and versatile, you can delete any of the supplemental ingredients in the recipe below if you want to.  Furthermore, you can adjust the marinade seasonings to your taste as well.

Five Spice Tofu with Sesame & Chili Oil

Chinese five spice tofu is rich in nutritional value, especially iron.  This recipe is easy to make and delicious to eat with a bowl of rice.  It's also versatile - you can substitute the other ingredients with anything else that you prefer. Adding chopped cilantro provides a complimentary flavor.