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611 recipes

Hua dan xia ren (shrimp with silky scrambled egg)

Hua dan xia ren comes from Guangdong and the Hong Kong cha chaan teng, where it is spooned over rice for a quick lunch or set in the middle of a family dinner: prawns folded into eggs that are barely set, glossy and soft as custard. The classic error is stirring the eggs like a breakfast scramble over a high flame, which gives you dry little curds. Because the eggs are only just set, cook them a little longer for anyone pregnant, very young, older or vulnerable. Chef's tip: a spoon of cornflour slurry and a little oil in the beaten eggs keeps them silky even if you overshoot by a few seconds.

14 minChineseFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Dragon and phoenix cakesLotus seed paste wedding pastries

In Guangdong and among Cantonese families in Hong Kong and overseas, a groom's family sends boxes of 'lung fung beng', dragon and phoenix cakes, to the bride's relatives ahead of the wedding, and the cakes are shared out among guests as a token of the match. The dragon stands for the groom and the phoenix for the bride, and the cakes are stamped in red with the two creatures or the double-happiness character. Inside the many-layered, flaky crust is smooth, sweet lotus seed paste, sometimes with a salted duck egg yolk, served with tea. Older bakeries often use lard; this version uses butter and vegetable shortening, so it is vegetarian. Chef's tip: roll the laminated pastry lightly and evenly; uneven rolling is the common mistake that leaves thick patches of raw dough and torn, leaking sides.

138 minChineseBaking
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 minChineseBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Qing jiao rou si (shredded pork with green pepper)

Qing jiao rou si is one of the first dishes a home cook in China learns, made in a few minutes from Sichuan to the north-east: thin strips of pork loin, velveted with a little cornflour, flashed in a hot wok with green pepper and garlic. This is a pork dish, and the marinade uses a splash of Shaoxing rice wine, which cooks off only partly; an alcohol-free swap is given below. The mistake most people make is cutting the pork too thick or overcrowding the wok, so the meat stews and toughens. Chef's tip: half-freeze the pork for 20 minutes before slicing and you can cut matchstick-thin strips easily.

23 minChineseMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Zhacai rousi mian (pork and pickled mustard noodle soup)

Zhacai rousi mian is a breakfast and late-night bowl from Chongqing to Shanghai noodle shops: plain wheat noodles in a light seasoned broth, topped with shreds of pork stir-fried with crunchy, salty zhacai, the pickled mustard tuber from Fuling. This is a pork dish. The mistake to avoid is salting the topping before you taste it; zhacai is already very salty, and rinsing it briefly saves the bowl. Chef's tip: season the empty bowls with soy, sesame oil and spring onion first, then pour the hot stock over, the way noodle stalls do.

22 minChinesePasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tomato and egg drop soup

Tomato and egg drop soup, fan qie dan hua tang, is one of the first soups Chinese home cooks learn, made from Shanghai to Chengdu in the ten minutes before rice is ready. Tomatoes cook down into a light, sweet-sour broth and beaten egg is poured in to set into fine yellow ribbons, finished with spring onion and sesame oil. The mistake that makes it cloudy is pouring the egg into a rolling boil and stirring hard; you want a gentle simmer and a slow, thin stream. Chef's tip: fry the tomatoes in a little oil before adding water, so the broth turns rosy and full of flavour.

17 minChineseSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moo manao (pork in lime and chilli dressing)

Moo manao is a drinking snack and dinner side from central Thailand, served in Bangkok bars and at home with sticky rice: thin slices of pork, blanched until just cooked, laid on ice-cold cabbage or lettuce and drowned in a fierce dressing of lime, raw garlic, bird's eye chilli and fish sauce. This is a pork dish. The mistake is boiling the pork for too long, which makes the thin slices tough and dry; poach them only until they turn white all through. Chef's tip: plunge the cooked slices into iced water for a few seconds, so they stay tender and take the dressing well.

17 minThaiMeatGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarta de coco y dulce de lecheCoconut and dulce de leche tart

Ask Argentinians for their favourite tart at a family birthday and this one often wins: a crisp shortcrust spread thickly with dulce de leche, then covered with a coconut, sugar and egg topping that bakes into a golden, chewy crust. Bakeries from Córdoba to Mar del Plata sell it by the slice for the merienda with mate or a café con leche. It is very sweet, so the slices are thin, and it is a good keeper for a few days. Ordinary spreading dulce de leche is the mistake: it runs and bubbles out at the edges. Use the thicker pastry-style kind, sold in Argentina as 'repostero'. Chef's tip: chill the case with the dulce de leche spread on it for 15 minutes before adding the coconut, so the two layers stay distinct.

75 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fideos con mantecaButtered noodles with cheese

Ask anyone from Buenos Aires to Córdoba what they ate when they came home late or felt poorly as a child, and the answer is often fideos con manteca: short pasta tossed with butter and a snowfall of grated queso rallado. It is the plainest dish in the Argentine home kitchen and the one people cook for themselves on a tired weeknight. The mistake that ruins it is draining the pasta bone-dry and adding cold cheese to a hot empty pan, which leaves greasy strands and clumps; a splash of cooking water makes a light, creamy coating instead. Argentine reggianito and Parmesan are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. Chef's tip: grate the cheese very finely, like dust, so it melts on contact.

15 minArgentinianPasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

TopfengolatschenSweet quark puff pastry squares

A Topfengolatsche is what Viennese office workers grab from the bakery on the way in, and what grandparents order with a Melange in a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon. The corners of a puff pastry square are folded over a lemony, vanilla-scented filling of Topfen (Austrian quark) with plump raisins, and the top gets a thin white glaze. It is flaky, light and not too sweet. Raisins are sometimes soaked in rum; warm water or orange juice works just as well, and the recipe below is alcohol-free. Wet quark is the classic problem, because it turns the filling runny and it leaks out in the oven. Chef's tip: hang the quark in a sieve lined with a clean cloth for an hour, or squeeze it, until it is as thick as soft cream cheese.

57 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pad thua ngok tao hoo (Thai bean sprouts and tofu stir-fry)

This plain, fast stir-fry is a fixture of home kitchens and made-to-order rice stalls across central Thailand, where it is eaten as one of two or three dishes shared over jasmine rice at dinner. Firm tofu is browned first, then the sprouts go in for barely a minute so they stay juicy and snap when you bite them. Thai cooks often season it with oyster sauce and fish sauce; this version uses soy and a mushroom-based sauce so it is vegan. The mistake almost everyone makes is cooking the sprouts too long, which turns them limp and watery. Chef's tip: pick off the stringy tails of the sprouts if you have five spare minutes; it makes the dish noticeably crisper.

11 minThaiVegetarianVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moo tod kratiem (Thai garlic pepper pork)

Moo tod kratiem is a one-plate dinner sold at made-to-order stalls across Bangkok and the rest of Thailand: slices of pork marinated in garlic, white pepper and soy, fried until the edges caramelise, then showered with crisp golden garlic and served over rice with a fried egg and cucumber. This is a pork dish. The mistake is frying the garlic on high heat; it burns in seconds and turns bitter, so fry it gently and take it out when it is pale gold. Chef's tip: pound the garlic, pepper and coriander root together rather than chopping, so the paste clings to the meat.

22 minThaiMeat
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 minChineseSidesVeganSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cucumber and egg stir-fry

Huang gua chao ji dan is a ten-minute dish from northern Chinese home kitchens, made in summer when cucumbers are cheap and nobody wants to stand over the stove. Soft, fluffy scrambled egg and thin cucumber slices are tossed with garlic and salt for just a minute, so the cucumber stays cool and crisp against the warm egg. Eat it with rice or steamed buns. The mistake is cooking the cucumber too long, which turns it watery and dull green. Chef's tip: take the eggs out while they are still a little wet; they finish cooking when they go back in.

10 minChineseVegetarianGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tao hoo tod (Thai fried tofu with sweet chilli peanut dip)

In Bangkok and towns all over Thailand, tao hoo tod is sold from street-side woks in the late afternoon, scooped into paper bags with a little bag of sweet chilli dip and a spoon of crushed peanuts for snacking on the way home. Done properly, each cube has a thin, blistered, crisp skin and a soft, almost creamy centre. The mistake that ruins it is frying wet tofu in oil that isn't hot enough, so it soaks up fat and never crisps. It makes a good starter or a light supper with sticky rice and cucumber. Chef's tip: press the tofu under a heavy pan for 10 minutes while you make the dip; drier tofu crisps faster and spits less.

22 minThaiSnacks & StartersVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khai luk khoei (son-in-law eggs)

Khai luk khoei, son-in-law eggs, is a central Thai dish made for family meals and temple fairs, and a favourite way to turn a few eggs into dinner: boiled eggs fried until blistered and golden, halved and spooned over with a sticky tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce sauce, then finished with crisp shallots and chilli. It contains fish sauce, so it is not vegetarian. The mistake is frying wet eggs in oil that isn't hot enough; dry them well and the skin puffs and crisps instead of spitting. Chef's tip: boil the eggs for 7 minutes for a jammy centre; give 10 minutes and fully set yolks for anyone pregnant, very young, older or vulnerable.

27 minThaiSnacks & StartersGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salpicón de aveCold chicken salad

Salpicón de ave is the cold supper of Argentine summers, made in Buenos Aires flats and on estancias alike when it is too hot to cook much, and a favourite way to use the chicken from a puchero or Sunday roast. Shredded chicken is mixed with diced pepper, tomato, spring onion, sweetcorn and boiled egg, bound with mayonnaise sharpened with lemon and mustard, and served chilled with crusty bread or on lettuce. The common mistake is dressing it while the chicken is still hot, which melts the mayonnaise into an oily puddle; let everything cool first. Chef's tip: dress the chicken with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt before the mayonnaise goes in, so the meat itself is seasoned, not just its coating.

30 minArgentinianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khanom kleeb lamduanFlower shortbread cookies

Named after the lamduan, a fragrant cream-coloured flower with three curled petals, these tiny Thai shortbreads are a classic of the royal-style Thai sweets once made in palace kitchens and now sold in Bangkok's old dessert shops and given at weddings and merit-making. Each flower is three teardrop petals around a ball, pale and fragile, and they melt like sandy fudge. Their perfume comes from tian op, a special scented dessert candle: it is lit, blown out, and left to smoke inside a closed container with the cookies. If you cannot find one, a little jasmine water in the dough gives a different but lovely scent. The mistake is baking them hot or long; they should stay ivory, never golden. Chef's tip: candle smoke is real fire and smoke, so do it in a metal or ceramic pot, well away from curtains and children, with the flame blown out before the lid goes on.

78 minThaiBakingVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Torta de ricotaLemon ricotta tart

Italian families brought ricotta tarts to Buenos Aires and Rosario, and torta de ricota is now as Argentinian as mate: every panadería has one in the window, with a lattice of sweet, crumbly masa frola over a pale, lemon-scented ricotta filling. It is cut into wedges for the merienda, the late-afternoon snack, or for a birthday where nobody wants a heavy cake. The texture is light and slightly grainy rather than silky, and the pastry tastes of butter and vanilla. Wet ricotta is the biggest risk, giving a weeping, soggy tart. Chef's tip: drain the ricotta overnight in the fridge in a sieve lined with a cloth, and add a few raisins only if they have been soaked, or they draw moisture from the filling.

90 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Dong gua tangWinter melon soup

In the sticky summers of Guangzhou and Hong Kong, a big pot of winter melon soup is on the stove in many homes: slabs of the pale green gourd simmered until translucent and almost melting, in a clear broth. Cantonese families believe it cools the body and drains the "dampness" of the season. Usually it is made with pork ribs or dried shrimp; this version uses dried shiitake and ginger for a deep, savoury vegetarian broth, seasoned only with salt and white pepper. A bowl is about 40 kcal. The common mistake is cutting the melon too thin, so it disintegrates; cut it into 2 cm slabs and simmer gently. Chef's tip: keep the soaking water from the mushrooms and add it to the pot; it is full of flavour.

35 minChineseSoupsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Liangban fuzhuTofu skin and cucumber salad

Fuzhu, the dried sticks made from the skin that forms on simmering soy milk, are a pantry staple in Guangxi and Sichuan and in Buddhist vegetarian kitchens across China. Soaked until soft and chewy, they are tossed in this cold dish with cucumber, carrot and wood ear in a dressing of garlic, vinegar and sesame oil, served in summer with rice or noodles. It is high in protein and very satisfying. A portion is about 170 kcal. Soak the fuzhu in cold water for 2–3 hours or overnight, not counted in the times. The common mistake is soaking in hot water, which leaves the outside mushy and the centre hard. Chef's tip: blanch the soaked sticks briefly; it cleans off the beany taste and makes them softer and juicier.

20 minChineseSaladsVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bai zhuo xiaPoached prawns

Bai zhuo, "plain poaching", is how Cantonese cooks treat seafood they think is too good to sauce, and a plate of whole poached prawns is on the table at almost every family dinner and wedding banquet in Guangzhou and Shunde. The prawns are dropped into boiling water with ginger and spring onion for barely two minutes, then peeled at the table and dipped in a sizzling sauce of soy, chilli and spring onion. They are sweet, springy and very light. A portion is about 130 kcal. In Guangdong the prawns are often bought live; this recipe uses fresh or thawed raw shell-on prawns. Discard any that smell of ammonia, have black heads or slimy, soft shells. The common mistake is overcooking, which makes them rubbery and hard to peel; take them out the moment they curl and turn pink. Chef's tip: plunge the cooked prawns into iced water for 30 seconds; the flesh firms up and shrinks slightly from the shell, so they peel easily.

15 minChineseFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Liangban mu'erWood ear mushroom salad

Every noodle shop and dumpling house in Beijing and Harbin has a fridge of liangcai, the cold dishes ordered alongside the main meal, and liangban mu'er is one of the most popular: black wood ear fungus, which grows wild in the northeastern forests, blanched and tossed with black vinegar, garlic, chilli and coriander. It has almost no taste of its own but a lovely crunchy, bouncy bite, and it soaks up the tangy dressing. A portion is about 60 kcal. The common mistake is soaking the dried fungus in hot water to save time; it comes out limp. Use warm water for 15 minutes, or cold water for an hour, for the best crunch. Chef's tip: plunge the blanched fungus straight into iced water; it firms up and stays snappy.

18 minChineseSaladsVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Zicai dan hua tangSeaweed egg drop soup

Zicai dan hua tang is the soup that a busy Chinese home cook can make while the rice is cooking: dried laver seaweed, which dissolves into silky dark green ribbons, and egg swirled into simmering water seasoned with a little soy, white pepper and sesame oil. It is on canteen trays in every Chinese university and on family tables across the country. Many cooks add a few dried shrimp; this vegetarian version leaves them out and uses a pinch of mushroom powder or vegetable stock instead. Eggs are an allergen. A bowl is about 50 kcal. The common mistake is stirring as soon as the egg goes in, which makes it cloudy; wait 10 seconds so it sets into flowers. Chef's tip: tear the seaweed into the bowls, not the pot, and pour the hot soup over; it stays tender and doesn't overcook.

10 minChineseSoups
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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