In my parents’ Chinese restaurant, we used to make three soups every day without fail, and it was always the first thing we would do when we opened the restaurant. Wonton soup, hot and sour soup, and egg drop soup––the classic trio offered on every Chinese menu. Making these soups during the winter months would help […]
Chinese Tomato Egg Stir-fry
Hi everyone, Sarah here. This Chinese tomato egg stir-fry is something you’ll find on many Chinese home dinner tables. It’s fast, easy, cheap, and made with very simple, everyday ingredients. You’ll really be surprised at how tasty it is. The tangy tomatoes, mixed with rich scrambled eggs, a hint of sugar, and flavorful sesame oil […]
Beef and Broccoli
Beef and Broccoli is one of the most popular dishes on Chinese restaurant menus. It also happens to be one of our family’s favorite takeout dishes. When my parents owned a Chinese takeout restaurant years ago, we had to crank out beef and broccoli orders every single day, so I’ve had plenty of practice making […]
Typhoon Shelter Shrimp
If you like shrimp, you’re going to want to try this Typhoon Shelter Shrimp recipe. Crispy panko breadcrumbs are tossed in aromatic shrimp oil, along with fried ginger, garlic and chili. This mixture is then tossed with fragrant fried shrimp. With that description alone, I don’t think I need to tell you how wonderful it […]
Kung Pao Chicken
Kung pao chicken exists both in the traditional Chinese repertoire and Americanized takeout menus alike. When we lived in Beijing, I was actually surprised to see how popular Kung Pao Chicken was among restaurant goers. At certain restaurants that featured family-style cooking, I’d often see kung pao chicken on one out of every three tables. […]
Chinese Roast Pork on Garlic Bread
Chinese Roast Pork on Garlic Bread was a sandwich made popular in the 1960s and 70s in the Catskills region of upstate New York. Known as the Borscht Belt or “Jewish Alps” back in the day, towns in the Catskills would swell during the summer with resort and camp vacationers from New York City. Meals […]
Chinese Hot Mustard
Chinese Hot Mustard is one of those condiments you might not think of making yourself, but it’s quick and easy to prepare at home. Many of you have probably seen Chinese mustard served alongside sweet duck sauce in Chinese restaurants with crunchy fried noodles as an appetizer. Admittedly, general hot sauce mania means that hot […]
How to Make Duck Sauce
This homemade duck sauce recipe is fresh, preservative-free, and you can customize it to your own tastes. Best of all, it’s made with real ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup, and much more flavor than those little packets! Chinese duck sauce, hot mustard, a bowl of crispy fried noodles, and a pot of hot tea […]
Penne Alla Vodka with Crispy Sausage
Penne alla vodka is a creamy pasta dish made with vodka, tomatoes, and usually heavy cream. It isn’t quite everyone’s favorite pasta dish, but it’s pretty darn close. It’s certainly one of my all-time favorites. You just can’t go wrong with light pink pasta sauces. Whenever I see it on a menu, I tend to […]
Cantonese Soy Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles
We first published this Cantonese soy sauce pan-fried noodles recipe in December 2013, a few months after we started The Woks of Life. Since then, it has become one of the all-time favorite recipes on the blog. In fact, the very FIRST post that launched our blog was a recipe for Simple, Spicy Stir-Fried Noodles. […]
How to Make Sticky Rice (Foolproof Method!)
Sticky rice is a versatile ingredient used in many forms of Asian cooking. In addition to many savory dishes you may be familiar with, like zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) or shumai, sticky rice (also called sweet rice or glutinous rice) is also used in dessert recipes. Our family loves sticky rice. Near or far, we […]
Mexican Rice
Mexican rice is the anchor of many excellent Mexican spreads, and having recently posted our recipe for Chiles Rellenos, I’m back with the perfect Mexican rice to go alongside. I’m a big believer in the accoutrements that come with food—the sides, the sauces, the extras, the add-ons, the toppings—the trappings that make the dish a […]
Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
Growing up in the Catskills, the first time I saw this Chinese BBQ pork, or char siu, was at the Holiday Inn of all places. My father, the hotel restaurant’s head chef at the time, used a closely guarded recipe of Chinese sauces, lots of garlic, and spices to make his classic char siu. While […]
Chiles Rellenos
I have no idea why, but my mom has been HOUNDING me to make Chiles Rellenos for a long time now. There’s something about those fried cheesy stuffed peppers served with fresh salsa that she loves, so she roped me into making my take on smokey, cheesy Chiles Rellenos this past weekend. With Cinco de […]
Hot and Sour Soup
Hot and sour soup can be found on any takeout menu or Chinese buffet line in the US. It ranges in quality and flavor from awesomely delicious to lukewarm, tasteless, and gloopy. There was a time when I never thought to make it myself and resigned myself to the luck of the draw when it […]
Easy Shortcut Scallion Pancakes
If it were up to me, I would give this scallion pancake recipe a more descriptive name. Something along the lines of… “Ridiculously-Easy-Delicious-And-Crispy Scallion Pancakes.” Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but that was literally my first thought when I first chowed down on these shortcut scallion pancakes––which took just minutes to make. I’m super […]
Japchae: Korean Glass Noodle Stir Fry
Seasoned simply with soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar, japchae is a noodle dish perfect for a light lunch or dinner–i.e., when you want something satisfying but not too heavy, and/or are tired of an endless parade of salads. In fact, if you were to pack these noodles up in a few containers for the […]
Matzo Ball Soup
It’s almost Passover, so naturally you’d expect your friendly neighborhood food blogging family at The Woks of Life to have a Matzo Ball Soup recipe ready for the occasion. Welllll…while we probably aren’t the first food blog you’d think of when looking for a matzo ball soup recipe, you may be surprised to learn that […]
Seafood Pan Fried Noodles
Seafood Pan Fried Noodles is a favorite Cantonese dish we enjoyed at Sunday dim sum growing up. Also called Seafood Chow Mein on some Chinese menus, it’s a cornerstone dish my sisters and parents loved. After our first round of dim sum plates, my parents would call the waiter over, and add a Beef Chow […]
Baked Whole Chicken with Vegetables
Baked whole chicken with vegetables is a meal prep miracle. Roasting a chicken on top of a bed of vegetables not only makes for a one-pan meal (chicken, veggies, potatoes, oh my!), it also allows the vegetables to soak up all the beautiful flavor of the chicken and ensures that none of that flavor goes […]
Chicken Egg Foo Young
Egg Foo Young is a classic––some might say retro––takeout dish that was transformed when Chinese chefs brought the dish to the US. I have to admit, I’m not sure what the original dish looked like or tasted like in Asia, but I can say that I do know how to cook up a classic Chinese […]
Chinese Ginger Tea with Red Dates
I’ve watched plenty of Chinese TV dramas to know that this Chinese Ginger Tea with Dates (姜茶 – jiang cha or 姜汤 – jiang tang in Chinese), is a much relied-upon home remedy for a cold! Every time a main character gets caught in the rain without any rain gear, a parent or love interest […]
Simple Wonton Soup
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I’m always happy with a bowl of this wonton soup. Wonton Soup is something that seems familiar to a lot of us. Take the wonton soup from your local takeout place…$2.25 for the small, $4.25 for the large. The most dipped-into pot in the Chinese buffet line. Those giant rubbery yellow […]
The Best Lo Mein Recipes
When it comes to finding the best lo mein recipe, we know better than anyone that it can be tough to replicate the carton of lo mein that your favorite greasy takeout spot is slinging. But we’re pretty sure that after years and years of *careful* research and observation on what makes a great lo […]
Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls (Shrimp Cheung Fun or “Ha Cheung”)
No exaggeration, having finished this Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll recipe or xiā cháng fěn in Mandarin (虾肠粉), I feel like I just finished a triathlon lasting many years, except all the pedaling (with whisks), running (around the stove) and swimming (in endless bowls of liquid rice mixtures) took place right here in our kitchen. […]
Hong Kong Milk Tea
Hong Kong Milk Tea is a magical, highly caffeinated, wonderfully smooth morning drink that I had for the first time in its true glory on our trip to Hong Kong. Always served piping hot and perfectly sweetened, it has just the right amounts of evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. It gives you a jolt […]
Portuguese Custard Tarts (Pasteis de Nata)
Portuguese Custard Tarts are a deliciously flaky dessert that migrated to Macau and became a local favorite. This custard tart recipe yields buttery, sweet tarts with an aromatic custard that gets baked until it’s just scorched on top. Portuguese Custard Tarts in Macau The first time I tried Portuguese Custard Tarts, or pasteis de nata, […]
Easy Rough Puff Pastry
This easy rough puff pastry made from scratch is buttery, flaky and so delicious that after your first batch, you’ll be thinking of countless ways to use it. Your homemade puff pastry will have a richer, more buttery flavor that will beat store-bought puff pastry any day, and you won’t have to worry about eating […]
Hot Dry Noodles (Re Gan Mian, 热干面)
I can’t talk about Hot Dry Noodles, or 热干面 (pinyin: rè gān miàn), without getting a little personal. During the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, my parents left home and traveled to vocational schools in poor villages near Wuhan, 武汉 (capital of Hubei Province, 湖北). Those schools promised potential students three meals a […]
Easy Irish Soda Bread with Raisins
We’re bubbling up this easy Irish Soda Bread recipe originally published by Kaitlin in 2014, re-tested and re-photographed five years later––on St. Patrick’s Day 2019. We’ve also updated it with metric measurements. Enjoy! With the frenzy of green food coloring and corned beef & cabbage sweeping the food blogging community in this yearly moment of […]
