When it comes to cooking, it’s pretty clear that we’re big on tradition at The Woks of Life. But when we discover a quick and easy kitchen shortcut, we’re also eager to bring it to our readers’ attention! These mandarin pancakes, made with dumpling wrappers, are our latest discovery. What Are Mandarin Pancakes? Mandarin pancakes […]
Laksa Noodle Soup
Laksa. DELICIOUS Laksa. I am VERY excited about this post, not least because I now have a tried and true laksa recipe documented on the blog that I can come back to again and again! What is Laksa? Laksa is spicy, fragrant noodle soup found across Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It consists […]
Butterfly Shrimp with Bacon
Butterfly Shrimp with Bacon is a retro recipe that has graced Chinese restaurant menus going back to the 60s, before I was born. Similar to early Chinese American dishes like Egg Foo Young, Chop Suey, and Chicken Chow Mein, this recipe barely resembles anything you can find in China, but that doesn’t mean it’s not […]
Homemade Chili Bamboo Shoots
Chili Bamboo Shoots are a staple condiment/garnish/snack I’ve been eating all my life––from a jar. Until recently, that is! I have to say, now that I’ve gone homemade, I’m never going back to the jarred stuff! The Perfect Topping for Anything If you’ve ever found yourself short on time, but looking for lots of flavor […]
Cantonese Pork Soup with Carrots & Chinese Yam
This Cantonese Pork Soup with Carrots & Chinese Yam is a great example of a classic Cantonese soup, with a clean broth, rich flavor, and abundant health benefits. Trust me when I tell you, the Cantonese are very serious about their soup! Health Benefits of Cantonese Soups For Cantonese people, soups are wonderous tonics. There […]
Honey Sriracha Roasted Brussels Sprouts
When fall rolls around, I tend to fall back on classic tried and true seasonal flavors—think maple syrup, sage, rosemary, bacon—but sometimes you want a little zing in your meal. Well, these Honey Sriracha Roasted Brussels Sprouts with chili oil definitely deliver! A New Kind of Brussels Sprouts Side Dish Most dishes featuring brussels sprouts––especially […]
Chicken Lo Mein
Chicken Lo Mein is a classic takeout dish we’ve all probably enjoyed. We find, however, that it’s getting harder than ever to get a good lo mein these days! Hence the need for this recipe. A Personal Takeout Favorite Growing up, having Chinese takeout for dinner was an uncommon occurrence. Usually, my mom or dad […]
Chinese Tofu Sheet Stir-Fry (千张肉丝)
This dish is one of our family favorites! Fresh tofu sheets are sliced and fried with strips of pork, garlic, and peppers to create a beautiful stir-fry (qiānzhang ròusī, 千张肉丝) that’s also a well-known homestyle dish from Hubei province. It’s very special to me! What is Hubei food like? Having spent some of my younger […]
Our Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes (& Memories)
With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, we’re rounding up ALL of our family’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes shared on the blog over the years. In addition to hopefully inspiring your holiday menus, each of us also has a story to share about memorable Thanksgivings from days past, which we’ll add at the end. Let’s get started! […]
How to Fold a Chinese Dumpling (4 Techniques!)
Do you love eating dumplings? Let’s be real…who doesn’t? In this post, we’re going to show you how to fold a Chinese dumpling using four different techniques, ranging from incredibly easy up to the classic pleats. A Note On Our Dumpling Recipes We have several dumpling recipes on The Woks of Life, all of which […]
1-2-3-4-5 Ribs
1-2-3-4-5 Ribs is a dish that’s come in and out of my consciousness with an almost mystical quality. I didn’t know the origin of the name, nor had I ever tried it. But every so often, I’d hear of it again and wonder what everyone else seemed to know that I didn’t! So when I […]
15 Nourishing Chinese Soup Recipes
As a middle-aged Chinese woman, I’ve picked up some useful do’s and don’ts throughout the years. One major DO I’ve learned is to have more nourishing soups in one’s diet this time of year. We all love autumn for its beautiful foliage and comfortable weather, but as temperatures drop, the chill in the air is […]
Chinese Rice Cake Soup
This Chinese rice cake soup or niángāo tāng (年糕汤) is as delicious as it is comforting! Rice cake soup is also big in Korea. Indeed, when you search for “rice cake soup” on Google, nearly all the recipes are for Korean tteokguk. Well I’m here to represent how the Chinese make rice cake soup, and […]
Buckwheat Pancakes (Gluten-free!)
While I consider myself a somewhat healthy eater (though I do enjoy a good heaping bowl of pork belly), I’m not one for eating healthy food only for the sake of being healthy! So for me, Buckwheat Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfasts not just because they’re healthy, but because they’re a win-win on […]
Perfect Yellow Cake
Our family has experimented for years to pin down the perfect yellow cake recipe. Well by George, I think we’ve finally done it! Defining the Perfect Yellow Cake First, let’s get on the same page about what we look for in the perfect yellow cake. For us, an ideal cake has the following qualities: A […]
Soup Dumplings (Xiaolongbao)
Chinese Soup Dumplings, or xiaolongbao (小笼包), are perhaps the most perfect single bite of food ever conceived by man. This tantalizing, dreamy snack is probably the most famous dish to come out of the Jiangnan region of China. It is often associated with the city of Shanghai (the largest city in the region by population, and […]
Tempura Donburi
This Tempura Donburi is loaded with light, crispy shrimp and vegetable tempura. With a side of miso soup, plenty of dipping sauce, and a cup of Japanese Sencha tea, you might forget you’re eating at home! What Is Donburi? Donburi in Japanese translates to “bowl,” and is any dish served over rice (and, true to […]
Ginger Chicken
Ginger Chicken is a homestyle Chinese dish made with lots of fresh ginger, garlic and scallions, cooked down into a sticky brown sauce great over rice or noodles. I first heard of Ginger Chicken at a Chinese restaurant in Rochester, NY, where I waited tables. In the kitchen, the Cantonese chefs referred to this Ginger […]
Bacon in a Wok & After School Sandwiches
The sight of sizzling bacon in a wok is an image that’s stuck with me since childhood! It also happens to be a great way to cook bacon, with the perfect mix of chewy and crispy. Growing up, Sarah and I had a nanny for a brief stint who would whip up bacon sandwiches as […]
Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
Chicken with Black Bean Sauce is a standby dish on both Chinese takeout and restaurant menus. It’s one of the tastiest stir-fries you can make, and if you never or rarely use Chinese fermented black beans, this dish is the perfect introduction! The Magic of Fermented Black Beans This no-brainer, everyday stir-fry is elevated with […]
Steamed Pork Buns (Baozi)
Everyone has staples in their freezer––a pint of ice cream, a box of waffles, or a bag of frozen peas. The freezer staples I can’t do without are frozen rice, frozen man-tou, frozen dumplings and finally, some sort of savory bun, like these steamed pork buns (baozi, 包子 in Chinese). They’re my emergency meal source! […]
Vegan Ramen
Ramen, one of the most beloved bowls of hot soup in the world. Traditionally, ramen gets its flavor from rich bone broths made with pork or chicken. But what about a vegan ramen that delivers a comparable level of umami punch, from all vegan ingredients? That, my friends, is what we have on offer today. […]
20-Minute Congee (皮蛋瘦肉粥)
BREAKING NEWS!!! You can make delicious congee with slow-cooked flavor––from scratch––in 20 minutes. I’m not talking about using an Instant Pot or pressure cooker either. The extremely exciting technique I’m revealing in this post will cut the usual congee cooking time by at least two thirds, if not more. Anyone who has made congee before […]
Fried Brown Rice
When we say Fried Brown Rice, we don’t mean white rice fried in a classic brown sauce, we’re talking about actual brown rice fried rice! Why Brown Rice? When you eat white rice, the tough outer husk, bran and germ have been removed for a pearly white grain with great texture, but it doesn’t deliver […]
How Cook Brown Rice: 2 Easy Methods!
Brown rice has become a popular alternative to white rice. Though it seems simple, cooking brown rice can be hard to get right if you don’t make a couple important moves. That’s why today, we’ve got all the tips you need for how to cook brown rice perfectly, either: On the stove In a rice […]
Five Spice Chicken
When we bought our first house over twenty years ago and money was tight, we were always looking for good deals at the local supermarket. The Chicken leg quarters at $0.39/pound sounded pretty good. This oven-baked five spice chicken is an easy dinner we used to make on school nights, because it was easy to […]
The Ultimate Asian Vegetable Stock
We have many soup recipes on The Woks of Life that can be adapted for vegans and vegetarians. The only problem was, we never had a high quality Asian vegetable stock or Chinese vegetable stock recipe we could recommend. Most vegetable stock recipes were either Western/European-style stocks, and many of the Asian vegetable stock recipes […]
Easy Peking Duck with Mandarin Pancakes
Ever since we left Beijing to come back to the US, one of the things we really miss is the abundance and variety of the authentic foods China had to offer, including authentic Peking Duck. What Is Peking Duck? Peking duck (as it’s commonly known in the U.S.) is a famous, centuries-old dish hailing from […]
Grass Jelly Dessert
My earliest memory of grass jelly is from my Cantonese neighbor who lived above us way back when I lived in Shanghai. We all called her Ah–Mou, a respectful way to address an elderly woman in Cantonese. I still remember what she looked like, and the stainless steel plates of varying sizes that she used […]
Chinese Winter Melon Soup with Meatballs
Now that the air’s beginning to turn crisp, it’s time for us to share this Chinese Winter Melon Soup recipe with meatballs. Winter melons are grown in summer and harvested in late summer through early winter, making this a great summer/fall transition recipe! (Plus, who doesn’t love meatballs?) A Light, Nourishing Winter Melon Soup You […]
