This beautiful recipe is from my sister! After listening to her say making coffee creamer at home was so easy and not believing it for years, it was a little funny to finally give her recipe a go and discover that she was not wrong. (Sorry, little sister! I should have believed!)
I'm a big fan of all things Korean, but I've got a somewhat North American aversion to soft tofu - sometimes I like it, oftentimes I don't. As a result I've adapted Maangchi's and The Korean Vegan's kimchi jjigae recipes to drop the tofu and up the potato, which resulted in a new family favorite! (If you enjoy a bit of jiggly tofu in your life, then follow the links and you'll get squared away.)
When I moved to northeastern China I quickly discovered that as a foreigner I was supposed to really like kung pao chicken (宮保雞丁 / gōngbǎo jīdīng in Mandarin), which was news to me as I couldn't even remember if I'd had it before! I grew up with Cantonese food and stereotypically Chinese-American food, but we moved enough during my childhood that I really couldn't say whether or not kung pao chicken made an appearance on my plate when we were in North America and Hong Kong - if it did it certainly didn't stand out. Despite all this I caved to the pressure to try the kung pao chicken in Manchuria and was a little embarrassed to realize I did indeed really like kung pao chicken!
Voltaire once said of the Holy Roman Empire that it was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire," and I must say that I have a similar feeling whenever I come across "Mongolian" barbecue, "Mongolian beef," et cetera, when in North America. I have never had the privilege of visiting Mongolia, but I did live next door to it for years and my favorite cousin has actually lived there for quite some time, so I do have an idea of what Mongolian food is...and this recipe isn't it!
This recipe is largely based on Arman Liew's excellent recipe, but with a couple of additions to spice up the end result. This honey-forward dessert brings back warm memories from three continents for me, I hope it brings similarly warm feelings to you if you give it a try!
Once upon a time I lived where my books live, including the dear booklet of family recipes my paternal grandma helped make before she passed. I'm hoping one day to share that recipe here, but until that's possible I've been using my adaptation of Olga's great recipe. My main changes have been to make the recipe more aromatic and fragrant with the addition of the cardamom and orange blossom water, but the original is definitely worth a try too if you don't like either of those. Whatever you do, enjoy!
Green borscht is a much less well known part of the borscht family, one I've long wanted to give a try! I wasn't able to source all the authentic ingredients where I live, so I've written my recipe with the necessary substitutes. If you want to check out original recipes from actual Ukrainian cooks (Ukraine is the home of borscht after all!), then check out Nataliia or Iryna's great recipes!
Here is my preferred recipe for fluffy North American-style pancakes. Enjoy!
This comforting, hearty recipe is my adaptation of Old Northeastern Cuisine's great recipe for northeastern Chinese braised squash with pork (肉片炖板栗瓜 / ròupiàr dùn bǎnlì guā). The original recipe is worth a try, but I've made some adaptations to make the dish match one of my favorite lunches from my days teaching at public schools in Manchuria. That version also had pork (pork knuckle) and often had chunks of corn on the cob too, but I've gone for a somewhat simplified dish easy to make on any weeknight. If you're wanting that extra bit of protein, then replace the vegetable oil in my recipe below with some ground pork, sautéing it until it's thoroughly cooked through before proceeding with the recipe. Whatever you do though, I hope this comfort food favorite of mine hits the spot for you too!
Kimchijeon (김치전) or savory kimchi pancakes are a beautiful dish and have long been a family favorite. My recipe is largely the Korean Bapsang recipe with a touch of influence from Maangchi's version. I usually make my jeon in a wok and tend to make them on the smaller side (I really enjoy the crispy edges!). Even so, about three kimchijeon fill me up if I'm making a meal out of them. I've also seen larger, pizza-sized jeon as well though, so do as you feel led, and enjoy!
