This is less of a recipe and more of a PSA about some of the health benefits of Chinese chrysanthemum tea. I’m no expert or in any way technicallyyy qualified to give health advice, but I was once a very very grumpy chrysanthemum tea drinker and have since become a pretty strong and zen believer […]
How to Grind Meat without a Grinder in Minutes
How to Grind Meat without a Grinder in just a few minutes. Sounds like a topic that will probably elicit a lot of questions from our readers. Like: Q: Really? Minutes? A: You betcha. Q: Noooo…You must be kidding? A: Not really! Q: Wait, why would you want do that in the first place? A: […]
How to Make Dried Tangerine Peel
How do you make dried tangerine peel (chén pí 陈皮)? Or maybe the question is, why would you want to? Here’s why: dried tangerine peel is one of the key aromatic ingredients in many Chinese dishes, like one of our favorites––Tangerine Beef. (I’ve compiled a more comprehensive list of recipes using dried tangerine peel at […]
How to Make Soy Milk at Home
I don’t know when it was exactly that my days of drinking a glass of milk with every meal ended, but I think it was around the same time that one of our family friends turned vegan and started solemnly telling us about how the body doesn’t actually need dairy (or any other animal products, […]
How to Make Homemade Chiu Chow Chili Sauce
As you’ve undoubtedly seen, we’ve returned, friends, to the mystical realm of Chinese condiments–i.e. SAUCE. Now that we’ve conquered the elusive Homemade Chili Oil and Ginger Scallion Oil (I believe the terms “elixir of life” and “condiment of the gods” were bandied about by some…), we can move on to more complicated and lesser known […]
Sichuan Hot Pot – Authentic, Fiery, and Spicy
Now that I’m back in the U.S., one of the things I miss most about my two-year stint in Beijing is a great spicy Sichuan hot pot meal. I miss the warm restaurants that you’d walk into in the fall and dead of winter, when your frozen fingers would immediately thaw in the presence of […]
How to Cook Rice Without a Rice Cooker
Rice. The ultimate side dish. A versatile accompaniment to everything from stir-fries to stews. One of the most important staple foods in China and the world over, and the one (very large) barrier to me going on a low carb diet. I’ve known how to make rice since I was in the second grade. I […]
How to Make Chili Oil – An Essential Chinese Recipe
If you hang around our blog, it doesn’t take long to realize that we are kind of obsessed with all things chili oil and hot sauce. From sriracha, to spicy bean paste, to chili oil, and, of course, the famous “lady sauce,” as we call it, spicy sauces and oils show up in our fried rice […]