This past Friday, the chef many believe was responsible for creating the titanic Chinese-American favorite, General Tso’s Chicken, passed away. Contrary to the ever evolving lore around General Tso’s Chicken being an old and authentic Hunan dish made for some storied ancient general, Peng Chang-kuei supposedly invented the dish in Taiwan in the 1950s. (Read
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Category Archive: ‘Vegetarian’
Last week, I posted a recipe for Easy Braised Turnip Rice Bowls because this is the time when Chinese turnips (aka daikon radishes) are being harvested in the chilly final days of fall. Mustard greens are another great fall vegetable. There are many different varieties of mustard greens. The variety we use in this recipe is
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This Ma Lan Tou Spiced tofu dish is a Shanghainese dish through and through. The dish in Chinese is called Ma Lan Xiang Gan (马兰香干) or liang ban xiang gan ma lan tou (凉伴香干马兰头), which literally means “cold tossed fragrant tofu and ma lan tou.” The key vegetable used, ma lan tou, is very fragrant,
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When it comes to preparing lunches for the week, the name of the game is speed. Having grown tired of $12 salads for lunch, I’ve been almost exclusively making and bringing in lunch to work for the past few months. I’ve actually been able to set up a pretty awesome arrangement with one of my
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Di San Xian (地三鲜) is a well-known Shandong dish consisting of stir-fried eggplant, potatoes, and peppers. The dish’s poetic name is roughly translated to “three earthly bounties.” Many of you are not new to Shandong’s lu (鲁) cuisine. If you have tried my Braised Glass Noodle with Pork and Napa Cabbage, for example, you have already had
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Shanghai scallion pancakes were one of our favorite breakfast street foods among the many choices we featured in our recent Shanghai Breakfast post. I’ve eaten many a scallion pancake in my life, but what Judy and I had in Shanghai was by far the most decadent we have seen and also without a doubt the
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Well, you don’t see this dish everyday! It’s weird-looking and not particularly appealing at first glance, but this wood ear mushroom salad dish is literally on every menu in China. One of Our Favorite Mushrooms I wouldn’t have dared to share this Wood Ear Mushroom Salad recipe a few years back, as very few people
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One of the things I like about visiting different parts of China is that you can always find new things to eat. Cao Tou, or edible clover, is one of the new wild vegetables I discovered during a recent visit to Shanghai. The clover has a sweet, slightly grassy flavor, cooks very quickly and is a popular restaurant vegetable
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