Featured posts | Soy, Rice, Fire

This tasty salad wrapped in lettuce leaves is something I enjoy making all year round, especially in the summer.

Avocado, tomato, and green soybean salad in lettuce leaves

Cucumber ribbon salad

This cucumber ribbon salad is a simple, beautiful way to transform the humble cucumber into an elegant dish that’s suitable for any occasion.

Cold noodles with shredded chicken (鸡丝凉面) are a favorite in many Chinese households.

Cold noodles with shredded chicken (鸡丝凉面)

Steamed egg custard with spinach and shrimp

This smooth egg custard, with spinach and shrimp, makes a perfect one-dish meal.

One of my favorite Chinese greens, choy sum has thinner stems, darker leaves, and sometimes yellow flowering shoots.

Cantonese-style blanched choy sum (白灼菜心)

Youpo wontons (油泼馄饨)

Here, boiled wontons are served youpo (油泼) style. My recipe is inspired by youpo mian (油泼面) or “oil-splashed noodles,” which is an iconic dish from Shaanxi (陕西), a northwestern province in China with a long and rich history and fascinating culinary traditions.

This dish is so named because the fluffy egg whites resemble the white flowers of furong

Furong shrimp (芙蓉虾仁)

Steamed pea shoots with shiitake mushrooms

Pea shoots are the immature tips of young pea plants, which include leaves, tendrils, and stems—all deliciously tender and crisp with a fresh pea flavor. Here, they are mixed with garlic and fermented tofu and steamed briefly atop shiitake mushroom caps.

In Chinese cuisine, these vegetable-in-rich-broth dishes, labeled shangtang (上汤), are popular both at home and in restaurants.

Broccoli in rich broth (上汤西兰花)

Gong Bao chicken (宫保鸡丁)

The authentic version of this Sichuanese dish uses only chicken and peanuts as the main ingredients. The optimal ratio of sugar, Zhenjiang vinegar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce creates balanced and layered flavors.