Cantonese Sticky Rice Dumplings (Video 廣東鹹肉糭)

When I first learned to wrap sticky rice dumplings (鹹肉糭) for celebrating Dragon Boat festival, this was the easiest method I went for. It's so much fun. The dumplings tasted so great.

Sticky rice dumpling (Zongzi 糭子 in Chinese) is a classic Chinese food often eaten for celebrating Dragon Boat Festival. It’s mainly made of glutinous rice, stuffed with seasoned pork belly, salted duck egg yolks or many different fillings, then wrapped in bamboo leaves, cooked in boiling water.

My family especially loves the Cantonese sticky rice dumplings and would love to have them all the time through out the year, either for breakfast or lunch.

There are two camps of how to eat these dumplings, dipping with soy sauce or going with white sugar. So, guess which way my family loves to go for? Sugar. In fact, either way is fantastic and delicious.

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Salt and Pepper Tofu (Classic Chinese)

This humble tofu dish will surprise you. It's very delicious. You'll easily find it served in Chinese restaurants. Now you can make your own at home in just 15 minutes.

Salt and pepper are great partners as seasonings. I have made different Chinese dishes with salt and pepper, like prawns, chicken wings, quails, pork chops. All these dishes are simple and delicious.

These two humble condiments, salt and pepper, are very versatile, not only going so well with meats, but also tofu. You can’t imagine that a bit of salt and pepper will turn the blank tofu into amazingly tasty food.

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Chocolate Chiffon Cake

This is a very light version of chiffon cake with minimum sugar, using olive oil instead. The texture is light, soft and fluff. I have made this cake for many times. Recently I made one for my church friends.

To highlight this humble, soft cake, I decorated it with whipped cream, dressed a bit of chocolate sauce on top. The fresh strawberries really popped up and contributed a fresh taste and feel. 

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Snow Fungus, Papaya and Lotus Seeds Dessert Soup

I grew up with this traditional Chinese dessert, Snow Fungus and Papaya dessert Soup. You still can find it in some Hong Kong dessert restaurants or Chinese Dim Sum restaurants. This dessert dish is very delicious and will bring an amazingly soothing and nourishing effect on our body. 

Snow fungus has many different names, like white fungus, silver ear, snow ear or silver ear fungus, 雪耳/銀耳 in Chinese. Snow fungus is just like other kinds of edible fungus, tasteless on its own. Its smooth and gelatinous texture after boiled is quite nice though. Snow fungus contains dietary fibre and helps lower cholesterol and keep our skin look younger.

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Baked Salmon with Herb Crust

This baked salmon with herb crust is served with a very delicious sauce, perfect paired with salad or noodles.

Do you like eating salmon? Not only salmon tastes good, but also provides us with many unique health beneficial substances, like Omega-3 fatty acid that help improve our memory.

Speaking about cooking, it’s very easy and quick to cook salmon. You can eat it raw, pan fry it, boil it, steam it or bake it.

This time I baked salmon coated with a layer of herb crust. Thus the fish fillet won’t be dried up easily in an oven. The salmon fillet will keep its moist. A very tasty sauce is served with the salmon, taking the whole dish up a notch.

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Long Yan and Goji Tea

It is a traditional Chinese natural cure for insomnia handed down from generations. I love the sweet fragrant smell of long yan. It’s very appetizing and comforting.

Long yan (also known as longan, “gui yuan” 桂圓 in Chinese) is a popular tropical fruit. The flesh is very sweet and juicy. I and my family like to eat it fresh, even though it’s quite pricey here in Australia.

The dried ones, dark brown in colour, are less expensive, good for making Chinese soups, desserts and teas.

In Chinese medicine, long yan is a natural cure for insomnia. Goji (aka wolfberry, or Goji berries, 枸杞 in Chinese) is also found good for eye health, giving your a feeling of calmness and quality of sleep.

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Satay Beef with Vermicelli Noodles

Satay beef with vermicelli noodles are traditionally cooked in an earthen pot (clay pot), a very popular dish on many Chinese restaurants' menu.

This dish can be made in an earthen pot (clay pot), or any kind of deep pots, very simple and easy to make. The vermicelli noodles took up and absorbed all the flavours of the delicious satay sauce, beef and vegetables.

I’m particularly fond of consuming the noodles and don’t need any rice at all, yet it’s a dish perfectly going with a bowl of steamed rice. Making this dish is very flexible. You can add as many vegetables as you like.

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