Recipe Index (by Ingredients)

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Recipes that include cornstarch

Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

For the last few months, my brain cells were being lost to lack-of-sleep so needless to say, having a newborn around is not one’s most creative time. Luckily, we have thousands of recipes to fall back on. I also look for new recipes to try, ones that take less time to make! Since Remi was born (he’s four-and-a-half months already!), this is the best recipe I’ve tried: Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings! Holy cow, are these delicious. Not surprisingly, it’s from the owner of the famous Thai restaurant, Pok Pok, in Portland. I adapted the recipe to suit my tastes and stuck with his super easy three ingredient marinade, just fish sauce, sugar, and garlic. It’s so simple, yet unbelievably good. It’s pure genius!

Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings title pic

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Taiwanese Ro Gung

Friday, November 30, 2012

This Taiwanese specialty called Ro Gung seems to be a lesser known dish as I couldn’t find anything in my google search. (Does anyone know if this is known by another name?) The gist of this soup is that it’s a cornstarch thickened soup with soft pork and fish paste dumplings… ok blobs. That probably doesn’t sound enticing to those that don’t already know it (though I can hear my Taiwanese peeps cheering). On top of that, it’s not an attractive dish. (That cilantro garnish was my only hope for color.)  What it is, is delicious! Seriously, one of my favorite foods! And for food geeks, it is a flavor profile that is unique to Taiwanese food.

Taiwanese Ro Gung with Title

 

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Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

One of the most common misunderstandings of Chinese food is that soy sauce is in everything. It’s not! Further, nearly everyone that talks to me about making fried rice thinks there’s soy sauce in that (even if they know soy sauce is not in everything). There are many different types of fried rice so while the minority may contain soy sauce, the classic/basic version and most do not. Where does the brown color come from? It comes from frying the rice which browns it.

One of my all time favorite kinds of fried rice is Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice. Please do not put soy sauce in it.

salted fish chix

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Pork Stuffed Fried Tofu

Saturday, September 4, 2010

We’ve been living at my parent’s house as our kitchen undergoes renovation. Yes, the kitchen re-do is finally under way! While under normal circumstances, I would dread the inconvenience, it just so happens that right now, it’s the best thing for me. If I was my normal, overly busy self I’d be annoyed that my commute to the city is longer.  With morning sickness still lingering, I’ve limited making plans anyway.

At first I imagined being frustrated by not having my whole wardrobe here with me.  Only later to realize I only fit into five outfits. (We’re planning on putting up a picture of my little bump soon.) Of course, the cherry on top is that my mom is doing all the cooking. I have a stockpile of nutritious foods at my fingertips and my mom lovingly makes anything I want.

Pork Stuffed Fried Tofu with Soy Bean Sprouts

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Soy Beans, Snow Cabbage, & Tofu Skin Ribbons

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

People always talk about the weird cravings pregnant women have but what about the strange aversions. It’s so odd to suddenly be repulsed by your own favorite foods. I can’t believe that I’ll turn away a plate of slender crispy fries, a cup of smoky dark chocolate ice cream, or even a garlicky bowl of linguine with clams.  Like many others with morning sickness, I had a really hard time eating meat and fish in general. I still tried my best to eat some because I knew I needed the protein, iron, B6, and other good stuff. Oddly enough the one I hated the most was chicken, the one I would think was the lightest of the meats.

My sweet mom has been catering to me every day, asking me what I would like to eat, or more what I can stand eating. There is a tendency to just carb-load on plain breads, rice, and noodles so for some more nutrition, I asked for a vegetarian dish. This Shanghainese dish of Soy Beans, Snow Cabbage, and Tofu Skin Ribbons is light yet packed with protein.

Tofu Skin, Salted Veggies, and Soybeans 5

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Chinese Beef and Peppers

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Growing up, meals were almost always Chinese family style. Everyone gets a bowl of rice and a large plate to fill-up with goodies. On any regular weeknight, 4 to 6 different dishes would be set in the center, and we’d take first, seconds, and thirds, to our hearts’ content. Sometimes we’d end with soup, and always fruit. As I got older, I realized how impressive it was that my mom, who worked full-time, put this spread on the table night after night. It was always different too. (You can tell by now, my mom’s got quite a roster up her sleeves.)

One of the tips/tricks that makes this possible is offering a mix of dishes she already made ahead of time with one or two that can be thrown together really quickly. She might have marinated cucumbers in the morning as we got dressed for school. A variety of “red-cooked” meats, egg, or bean curd was probably made on the weekend. When she walked through the door, she’d whirl around the kitchen: steaming a fish and stir-frying another two like it was as easy as skipping. This led me to some wrong assumptions. I thought that every mother in the world did that and I thought it was no-sweat, easiest thing ever. I know now, I was so wrong.

Beef and Peppers

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Vegetarian Yellow Sparrow

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Soo Hwang Chue sounds a little better in Chinese than it does translated into Vegetarian Yellow Sparrow, and like the Lion’s Head Casserole, these don’t really look like birds. Naming issues aside, it’s a fabulous dish. It takes a little prep work and a bit of finesse, so it’s one of those dishes that you want to make for your special vegetarian friend to show them that you went the extra bit for them. It’s full of so many nutritious ingredients like shitake mushrooms, black fungus, and lily buds, all considered to have medicinal properties to enrich good health. The edamame, dry bean curd, and  bean curd sheets round-out this dish with an abundant source of protein. In my opinion, this is the perfect vegetarian dish.

Vegetarian Yellow Sparrow

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Lion’s Head Casserole

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Lion’s Head Casserole is a simple dish of pork meatballs and napa cabbage. The meatballs supposedly look like lion’s heads, which is a stretch, I know, but that is the name. Last week, I wasn’t feeling that great and got in that I want my mommy mood. (Yes, I’m 30.) I whined and asked my mom to make me a pot of this umami-powered dish that feels so nurturing. It feels mommy-made. I took pictures and notes, not remembering that I already posted this dish over a year ago.

I decided that it was worth re-posting for the new pics and some added thoughts. It’s interesting to compare the notes since my mom does not ever use recipes. It’s amazingly similar in making the meat mixture, but you’ll notice that you can vary the size of the meatballs if you want.

Lion's Head Casserole 2

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West Lake Beef Soup

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Lon’s grandma Rose loves Chinese food. Her favorite course is soup and her most favorite Chinese soup is Egg Drop Soup. Her doctors want her to lay off the sodium so Lon’s family hasn’t been taking her to the Chinese restaurants she used to frequent; and of course, that made her sad — I think we can all relate to being told not to eat something. So this week, when I went to cook with my mom, I asked to learn one of my favorite soups: Shi Hu Neo Ro Gung. This translates to West Lake Beef Soup.

I thought Grandma Rose would like to try this authentic Chinese soup (rarely known by the non-Chinese) because it has a white egg drop in it, as well as little bits of beef, so she can get a little more nutrition. We made it low sodium for her and packed individual containers that could be heated easily in the microwave.

East Lake Beef Soup in stacked bowls 2

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Basic Mei Fun

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Since I don’t have a kitchen, I’ve been spending lots of time in my mom’s kitchen, which explains all the Chinese recipes up recently. Every time we get together to write down one of her recipes, we discuss which one we’ll do next time. As we brainstormed, my mom started thinking we shouldn’t do certain recipes because she felt like my non-Chinese audience might not like it. Things like tripe, pig feet, duck feet, pig ears, or innards might be unappetizing to some. Dishes with fermented flavors or unfamiliar textures might be hard to handle. I thought about it and decided that I want to share as much as I can, and you can decide which recipes you want to make, right?

plate of basic mei fun

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