All recipes

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hand-torn cabbage

Shou si bao cai is a Hunan restaurant classic that every Changsha family also cooks at home: cabbage leaves torn by hand, then flash-fried in a roaring wok with garlic and dried chillies and splashed with black vinegar until smoky, sweet and still crunchy. It goes alongside rice and a meat or tofu dish at dinner. The mistake is putting wet leaves into a lukewarm pan: the cabbage stews and goes limp instead of charring at the edges. Chef's tip: tear rather than cut, because the ragged edges catch the heat and the sauce better than clean knife cuts.

11 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Chinese walnut cookies

Hap toh sou are a fixture of Cantonese bakeries in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, sold loose by the catty or packed in red tins for Lunar New Year visits, when walnuts stand for family happiness. They are wide, crumbly and slightly sandy, with a cracked golden top crowned by a walnut half and a gentle sweetness that suits a pot of oolong or pu'er. Traditionally they are made with lard, which gives an extra-short crumble; this version uses vegetable shortening or neutral oil, so it is vegetarian. The top is brushed with beaten egg for shine; milk mixed with a little honey or golden syrup is an egg-free alternative. A common mistake is pressing the balls flat: leave them domed and they crack open naturally in the heat. Chef's tip: toast the walnuts before chopping; it deepens their flavour and keeps them crunchy inside the soft crumb.

45 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shou tao bao (longevity peach buns)

In Chinese tradition the peach is the fruit of long life, so birthday tables, from a grandparent's 80th to a child's party, carry a plate of shou tao bao: fluffy white steamed buns pinched into a peach shape, blushed pink at the tip and filled with sweet lotus seed paste. Children love helping to shape the creases and add the pastry leaves. This version is made without milk. It contains gluten. Chef's tip: steam over a gentle, not roaring, boil and wait 5 minutes before lifting the lid, so the buns stay smooth and don't wrinkle.

105 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pork floss bread rolls (rousong mianbao)

Every Chinese bakery, from Taipei to Guangzhou and the Chinese bakeries of Singapore, has a tray of pork floss buns, and they are a favourite thing for parents to buy at the school gate: pillowy milk bread with a sweet-savoury coat of mayonnaise and rousong, the dry, fluffy shredded pork. Children pick at the floss first. Home-baked, they make a weekend project and freeze well. They contain gluten (wheat), milk and egg. Chef's tip: let the buns cool completely before the mayonnaise goes on, or it melts and the floss turns soggy.

45 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ji dan gengSteamed egg custard

Ji dan geng is the first "real food" many Chinese children remember: a bowl of steamed egg so smooth it shivers, made by grandmothers from Shanghai to Chengdu for a toddler's lunch, a sick day or a quick side at dinner, and eaten with a spoon over rice. Eggs are beaten with warm water, steamed gently, then finished with a few drops of soy and sesame oil and some spring onion. Eggs are an allergen, and for toddlers under one, leave out the soy. A bowl is about 110 kcal. The most common mistake is using cold water and a fierce heat, which gives a pitted, spongy custard; use warm water and a gentle steam. Chef's tip: cover the bowl with a plate or cling film while it steams, so no condensation drips onto the surface and the top stays like glass.

17 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Garlic bok choy

Order a plate of greens in any home kitchen or small restaurant in Guangzhou or Shanghai and it will most likely be this: baby bok choy or xiao bai cai tossed in a smoking wok with a heap of chopped garlic, a pinch of salt and a splash of water, on the table in four minutes. The stems stay juicy and crisp, the leaves silky, and the garlic sweet. It goes with every meal. A portion is about 50 kcal. The most common mistake is a wet, crowded wok, which stews the greens to khaki; dry them well and cook in batches if your pan is small. Chef's tip: add half the garlic at the start and half at the end; you get both mellow, toasty garlic and a fresh punch.

9 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salted duck eggs

Gaoyou in Jiangsu is famous for salted duck eggs with oily, deep orange yolks, and at the Dragon Boat Festival they are hung in little woven nets around children's necks before being eaten with congee or rice. At home they are simple: clean duck eggs left in a strong salt brine for about four weeks, then boiled. Cracked eggs are the risk; use only uncracked, very fresh eggs, keep the jar cool and always cook them before eating. The common mistake is too weak a brine, which lets the eggs spoil; it must taste as salty as the sea and then some. Chef's tip: from week three, boil one test egg each week until the yolk is as firm and rich as you like.

25 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hong you (Sichuan red chilli oil)

In Chengdu kitchens, a jar of hong you sits next to the stove and goes into almost everything cold: wontons in red oil, cucumber salads, cold noodles and the dressing for liang mian. Good chilli oil is a deep ruby colour, fragrant rather than burnt, with a warm, rounded heat and the tingle of Sichuan pepper. It is poured in two stages, hot then warm, so you get both toasted and bright chilli flavours. The mistake most people make is pouring smoking oil onto the flakes, which turns them black and bitter in a second; check the temperature. Chef's tip: mix coarse and fine chilli flakes, the fine for colour and the coarse for crunch and flavour, and let the oil sit overnight before using.

20 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Five-spice powder

Across China, from Cantonese roast meat shops to Sichuan home kitchens, five-spice is the blend that seasons red-braised dishes, tea eggs, roast duck and spiced tofu. Shop-bought powder loses its scent quickly; grinding your own takes ten minutes and gives a sweet, warm aroma with a gentle tingle from the Sichuan pepper. It is used by the pinch, not the spoonful. The classic mistake is grinding the spices raw or toasting them until they smoke; warm them just until fragrant. Chef's tip: pick the black seeds out of the Sichuan peppercorns before toasting, since they are gritty and bitter, and sieve the ground blend so it is silky fine.

10 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kao fu (braised wheat gluten)

Every Shanghainese family puts a bowl of kao fu on the table for Chinese New Year, and the city's temple canteens serve it all year as a cold dish. The spongy wheat-gluten cubes drink up a dark, glossy braise of soy and rock sugar, with crunchy wood ear, meaty shiitake and soft peanuts in every mouthful. It tastes better the next day, eaten cold or just above room temperature with rice or congee. Most people get it wrong by cutting the gluten with a knife; tear it by hand so the rough edges soak up more sauce. Chef's tip: squeeze the boiled gluten hard, like a sponge, before frying, or it spits in the oil and stays bland inside.

75 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hot and sour lotus root

Hubei is lotus country, its lakes around Wuhan full of the plant, and Hubei and Sichuan cooks dice the crisp root and flash-fry it with chilli and vinegar for a side dish that crunches like water chestnut. It is sour first, then hot, then garlicky, and it wakes up a table of rich braises in a Wuhan home or a Chengdu fly restaurant. Serve it hot or at room temperature with rice. The common mistake is cooking the lotus too long so it turns starchy and dull; it needs only a few minutes. Chef's tip: drop the cut pieces straight into water with a splash of vinegar, which stops them turning grey and rinses off surface starch so they stay crisp.

18 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shi xiang cai (ten-treasure vegetables)

Shanghai families make a big tub of shi xiang cai on the last days of the old year, and it sits on the table, cold, through the first fortnight of New Year as a fresh, crunchy counterweight to all the braised meat. Ten ingredients, each shredded as fine as matchsticks and stir-fried separately, are tossed together with soy, sugar and sesame oil: soybean sprouts, carrot, celery, wood ear, shiitake, lily buds, bamboo, pressed tofu, preserved mustard tuber and red pepper. Throwing everything into the wok at once is the mistake; each vegetable cooks at its own speed, and only separate frying keeps them crisp. Chef's tip: the finer and more even the shreds, the more it tastes like the real thing.

65 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fa gao (prosperity cakes)Steamed rice flour cakes

Fa gao is the little cake on every Cantonese New Year altar in Guangzhou and in Chinatowns from Kuala Lumpur to London: the word 'fa' means both 'rise' and 'prosper', and the deeper the cross-shaped crack on top, the luckier the year. This quick version uses rice flour, a little wheat flour and baking powder, steamed hard so the tops burst open, and it is egg- and dairy-free. The mistake that stops them smiling is a gentle steamer; the water must be at a fierce rolling boil before the cups go in. Chef's tip: fill the cups right to the brim, so the batter has to split as it rises.

35 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Peanut cookies (hua sheng bing)

Lift the lid on a Chinese New Year snack tray in Guangdong, Penang or Singapore and there will be these pale golden domes, so short they crumble the moment they touch your tongue. They are nothing but roasted peanuts ground fine, flour, icing sugar and oil, and this version skips the usual egg wash, so they are vegan. The mistake is over-grinding the peanuts into a paste, which makes the dough greasy and the cookies flat; stop while it is still a fine powder. Chef's tip: let them cool fully on the tray before moving them, because they are fragile until set.

40 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ají amarillo pasteYellow chilli paste

In Lima's markets ají amarillo is sold fresh all year, and most Peruvian cooks keep a tub of this paste in the fridge the way others keep tomato purée: it is the golden base of causa limeña, ají de gallina, papa a la huancaína, chupe and the sauce for tiraditos. The chillies are seeded, de-veined and blanched in three changes of water, which tames the heat and the raw grassiness, then peeled and blended with oil into a thick, silky, saffron-orange paste. It tastes fruity and sunny, almost like apricot and passion fruit, with a rounded, medium heat. Abroad, buy whole frozen ají amarillo from Latin grocers; dried ají mirasol, soaked, gives a darker, earthier paste. Common mistake: skipping the peeling; the thin skins leave papery flecks and a bitter edge. It is ready when it is completely smooth and holds a soft peak like thick hummus. This is a low-acid paste: keep it in the fridge for a week or freeze it, never on the shelf. Chef's tip: freeze it in an ice-cube tray; one cube is about a tablespoon, just right for a pot of ají de gallina.

40 min

Peruvian Basics

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Dousha bao (red bean buns)

All over China, from Beijing breakfast stalls to Shanghai school bags, dousha bao are the sweet buns people grab in the morning and tuck into a lunch box for later: fluffy white yeasted dough wrapped around smooth red bean paste and steamed until springy. They freeze beautifully, so families make a big batch on Sunday. The mistake is opening the steamer lid as soon as the timer goes; the sudden cold makes the buns wrinkle and collapse. Turn off the heat and wait five minutes before lifting the lid. Chef's tip: chill the bean paste and roll it into balls before wrapping; a firm filling is much easier to seal neatly.

55 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Suan rong xilanhuaGarlic broccoli

Garlic broccoli is on the menu of almost every Chinese home kitchen and family restaurant, from Guangzhou to Shanghai, as the quick green dish at a weekday dinner. The florets are blanched just until bright, then tossed in a hot wok with a big spoon of minced garlic and a splash of water, so they stay crisp, glossy and full of garlic flavour. Serve with tofu, fish or eggs and a modest portion of rice. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 90 kcal and 8 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is adding the garlic to very hot oil before the broccoli, where it burns and turns bitter. Chef's tip: add a few drops of oil to the blanching water; it keeps the broccoli shiny and green.

15 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shānyào ní (Chinese yam purée)

Chinese yam (shānyào, the long, hairy-skinned root sold in bundles in markets from Beijing to Guangzhou) is valued in Chinese homes as easy on the tummy, and steamed shānyào ní is one of the classic first purées offered at six months. Once steamed, the crisp, slippery flesh turns floury and pale, and pressed through a sieve it gives a smooth, slightly sweet, potato-like purée. Nothing else is added: no salt, sugar or honey for babies. It is free of the major allergens. Chef's tip: wear gloves or oil your hands before peeling; the raw sap makes skin itch, but cooking destroys it completely.

25 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

DouchiFermented black beans

Yangjiang in western Guangdong and Liuyang in Hunan are the two great douchi towns, and both traditionally make their fermented black beans in the dry season, when beans can be moulded indoors and dried in the sun without spoiling. Cooked black soybeans are covered until a yellow-green koji mould grows over them, then washed, salted, packed and fermented for weeks before drying. The result is wrinkled, soft-chewy beans with an intense salty, savoury, almost chocolate-dark flavour. A spoonful steamed with spare ribs or a whole fish, stir-fried with bitter melon or pounded into Hunan's chilli dishes seasons the whole plate. At home, buying koji spores (Aspergillus oryzae) is far more reliable than waiting for wild moulds. Common mistake: letting the beans sit wet or warm in a sealed container during the moulding stage; they must breathe at 28–32 °C. Good koji smells sweet and chestnut-like; discard any batch with black, pink or bright coloured mould, slime or a rotten smell. Keep the salt as given. It is ready when the beans are dark, wrinkled and dry outside but supple within. Store dried douchi in the fridge for 1 year. Chef's tip: rinse and lightly crush the beans before cooking.

180 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Guihua jiangOsmanthus syrup

When the osmanthus trees around West Lake in Hangzhou and along the Li River in Guilin bloom in late September and October, the whole town smells of apricots, and families shake the tiny gold flowers onto sheets to preserve them. Guihua jiang, sweet osmanthus sauce, is the result: a loose, amber syrup thick with petals that is drizzled over glutinous rice cakes, sweet lotus-root stuffed with sticky rice, tangyuan in fermented-rice soup and plain congee through the Mid-Autumn Festival and all winter. It tastes floral, honeyed and faintly fruity, with a clean sugar sweetness and a soft, slippery petal texture. The flowers are salted briefly first, which takes away their green bitterness and helps them keep their colour. Common mistake: boiling the petals hard in the syrup, which turns them brown and flattens the perfume; add them only once the syrup is ready and let them barely bubble. It is ready when the syrup coats a spoon and the petals are evenly suspended rather than floating. Chef's tip: dried food-grade osmanthus from a Chinese grocer works well out of season; soak it for 10 minutes and use a third of the weight of fresh.

35 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hong suan tangFermented tomato sour soup base

In the Miao and Dong villages of Qiandongnan, south-east Guizhou, small wild 'hairy' tomatoes and red chillies ripen together in late summer, and every household fills tall jars with them to ferment into hong suan tang, the red sour base of the region's famous sour-soup fish and sour-soup beef hot pots. The fermented paste is bright scarlet, sharply sour, fruity and fiery, with a funk from the ferment that ordinary tomato never has. People say three days without sour and you walk unsteadily, and it goes into soups year round. Outside Guizhou, use cherry tomatoes, which have a similar high acidity. Common mistake: fermenting with too little salt or with wet produce, which goes mushy and off; dry everything first and weigh the salt. Normal signs: bubbles, a sour, wine-like fruity smell and liquid rising. Bad signs: fuzzy coloured mould, pink or black patches, or a rotten smell; discard. It is ready after 2–3 weeks, when it tastes clearly sour and the raw tomato taste has gone. Then keep it in the fridge for 3 months or freeze it. Chef's tip: fry a few spoonfuls in oil with ginger before adding stock; it turns a deeper red and smells richer.

60 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pixian doubanjiangFermented broad bean chilli paste

Pixian, now part of greater Chengdu, has made doubanjiang since the 1600s: broad beans are moulded into a koji, chillies are chopped and salted in high summer, and the two are combined in huge open clay vats left in the courtyards to sun by day and breathe by night, stirred every morning for a year or more. The paste darkens from bright red to a glossy red-brown and becomes salty, savoury, deeply fruity and only moderately hot. Fried in oil until the oil turns red, it is the foundation of mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork and boiled fish in chilli oil. This home version takes about three months. Use koji spores for a clean bean ferment, and do not cut the salt: homemade bean pastes are low-acid, and the high salt (about 15%) is what makes them safe. Common mistake: sealing the jar airtight in the warm months; it needs air and daily stirring, so cover it with a cloth or loose lid. Normal: darkening colour, a winey-savoury smell, a little liquid. Discard if fuzzy mould spreads or grows coloured (green, black, pink) patches, or it smells putrid. It is ready when the paste is red-brown and tastes rounded, not raw. Chef's tip: fry it slowly in oil until it smells toasty.

105 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Qingchao jiaobaiStir-fried water bamboo

Jiaobai (water bamboo, Manchurian wild rice stem) is a summer and early-autumn vegetable of the lakes around Suzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou, and 'clear-fried' jiaobai is how Jiangnan home cooks show off its sweet, juicy crunch. The pale stems are cut into thin slices or strips and stir-fried briefly with garlic, a splash of soy and a pinch of salt, so they stay crisp and taste faintly like bamboo shoot and corn. Serve with tofu, fish or eggs and a little rice. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 60 kcal and 6 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is overcooking, which makes it soft and loses the crunch; two or three minutes is enough. Asian grocers sell it fresh or vacuum-packed. Chef's tip: choose plump, white stems with no black specks inside, which show an older stem.

13 min