Salt and Pepper Tofu (Classic Chinese)

This humble tofu dish will surprise you. It's very delicious. You'll easily find it served in Chinese restaurants. Now you can make your own at home in just 15 minutes.

Salt and pepper are great partners as seasonings. I have made different Chinese dishes with salt and pepper, like prawns, chicken wings, quails, pork chops. All these dishes are simple and delicious.

These two humble condiments, salt and pepper, are very versatile, not only going so well with meats, but also tofu. You can’t imagine that a bit of salt and pepper will turn the blank tofu into amazingly tasty food.

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Pumpkin, Mushroom and Chicken Rice

The grains absorb all the flavours of the chicken, mushroom and pumpkin. It's so delicious and nourishing.

Pumpkin, mushroom and chicken are nutrition packed ingredient individually. I tried putting them together to make a one-pot rice dish, and it turned out deliciously nourishing.

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Beef Brisket Rice Vermicelli Soup (Hong Kong Cuisine)

Here comes another popular Hong Kong noodle soup, Beef Brisket Rice Vermicelli Soup. The tender beef brisket goes really well with any noodles soup, including ho fun (aka flat rice noodles 河粉), rice vermicelli or egg noodles. It's perfect served as a light meal.

You might have known the wonton soup already. Ever tried this beef brisket noodle soup before?

The stewed beef brisket is so tender and goes really well with any noodles, egg noodles or rice vermicelli. As I shared previously, my mother-in-law is an expert in cooking beef brisket stew. I used her tricks to cook the beef brisket beforehand, then pop them in my fridge.

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Seaweed, Tofu & Pork Mince Soup

This seaweed, tofu & pork mince soup is very quick to make. It's simple, tasty and nourishing, suitable for serving all year round.

Seaweed is commonly used in oriental cuisine like Japanese, Korean and Chinese. I often use the seasoned seaweed to add flavours in soup, sometimes cook soups with the unflavoured ones, that normally comes in dried sheet form.

Just soak a sheet of seaweed in water until it softens. After rinsing thoroughly, it’s ready to cook with other ingredients I like.

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Stewed Chicken Wings with Chestnuts

Ever tried this popular homey Chinese dish? The chicken wings absorb all the flavours and they are really tasty.

Stewed chickens with chestnuts is quite popular in Hong Kong and a typical Cantonese home-cooking dish. It’s hard to describe how delicious this dish is.

In Australia, we don’t often have fresh chestnuts available. Luckily, I found fresh chestnuts were on sale at a nearby supermarket.

Frankly speaking, this dish is quite easy to cook except the job of cracking the nuts and removing the papery skin. There are some frozen chestnuts without any skins available at Asian grocery stores if you would like to save time on cracking the nuts. Very handy.

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Pineapple Ginger Prawns

Here comes another delicious and nutritious pineapple stir fry dish. This pineapple was grown by one of my friends at his backyard. It’s totally organic for sure. This dish is very refreshing and very delicious.

The pineapple I used was not too large, just big enough for making this dish. It’s fresh and sweet.

I like adding a secret ingredient to take this dish up a level. You might’ve known what it’s if you’ve viewed the previous pineapple dish, a bit similar to this one. Yes, it’s pickled ginger, that’s the one you enjoy at a Japanese sushi restaurant. Pickle ginger goes really well with pineapple.

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Glutinous Rice Balls with Peanuts & Sesame Seeds

This Glutinous Rice Balls dessert (糖不甩，sounds as “Tong But Luck” in Cantonese) is a common snack in Hong Kong and many Chinese people like to make some for Chinese New Year. 

Basically, they are sticky rice dumplings, not in syrup, but with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds sprinkled on top, syrup drizzled as much as you like. It's so addictively delicious.

Tong But Luck literally means undetachable sugar. I don’t know how and where this name came from. These cute little sticky rice balls are symbolic of completion, happiness and fulfillment and that’s why it is also served in many festive seasons or celebrations.

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