Cake Wrapped in Paper (Hong Kong Cupcakes)

I used to go to an old café with my father to have afternoon tea when I was a little kid. The café was very cozy and would sell freshly baked cakes and breads around 3 to 4pm. Although the café was not big, their cakes baked in paper (纸包蛋糕) was very popular that attracted many customers. A long queue would line up in front of the entrance of the café.

Actually, cakes baked in paper are very popular in Hong Kong. You can easily get them from many bakery shops there.

If you have a chance to travel to Hong Kong, I recommend you to have a go for it. You won’t be disappointed except you buy the not-the-good ones. I guess you can’t find them anywhere else except in Hong Kong. Or you can bake some for yourself or your family at home.

See, the texture of the cake is very light and fluffy. It's very fragrant too.

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Chrysanthemum Tea with Goji and Longan (菊花杞子龍眼茶)

This Chinese tea, handed down from my mum, can help promote eye health. If browsing computer or reading a book for a while, we might feel our eyes itchy or dry.

This Chinese tea, handed down from my mum, can help promote eye health.

If browsing computer or reading a book for a while, we might feel our eyes itchy or dry. Sometimes when we work in an air-conditioned room for too long, our eyes also get dried as a result that our vision becomes not as sharp as it should be.

I often make this tea once or twice a week for prevention.

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Red Bean and Coconut Milk Soup (Pressure Cooker Recipe)

No soaking required, dried red beans can be turned into tender enough with “sandy” consistency just around an hour. Are you intrigued to try? If you are like me, here's a quick recipe for making red bean dessert with a pressure cooker. If you still want to make red bean dessert over stove top, please see the notes below the recipe.

Whenever I make our traditional Chinese red bean soup, I need to soak the beans for at least 3 hours or overnight before cooking about one to two hours, depending on how I like the consistency. I’m a big fan of all kinds of red bean desserts but couldn’t make any if without any planning ahead.

So I searched the internet high and low and tried to see if there’s a kitchen gadget that could help me out.

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Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry (Video)

Ever tried adding some crunchy cashews in your stir-fried dishes? I grew up with this traditional stir-fried dish, cashew chicken stir-fry. It’s good for a daily meal or even family gatherings. 

Cashews will add an interesting texture and make a contrast of the tender chicken meat. You can use any vegetables for the stir-fry instead of using celery. It’s very easy to make and flexible for you to add any vegetables you like.

In traditional Chinese cooking, cashews are often deep-fried in oil in order to make them crunchy. If you have an oven, simply bake them in an oven. Or pan-fry them in a pan without any oil. The result will be equally crunchy, and you can consume less oil.

As for chicken meat, I like using chicken thigh as the texture is good for stir-frying and the price is cheaper. You can use chicken breast if you want. It won't make any difference in taste.

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Cantonese Fried Noodles with Shredded Pork

Whenever I went to Yum Cha with my father, he used to order this dish, Fried Noodles with Shredded Pork. I loved the crispy fried noodles, accompanying with juicy pork and assorted vegetables.

This is a very popular Cantonese dish that you still can find it at any Chinese restaurants. The price is not expensive after all. That’s why my father liked to order it to feed us.

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Baked Honey Lemon Chicken Drumsticks

What we loved about these baked chicken drumsticks is their juicy and succulent meat with tasty lemon and honey sauce.

No matter tucking in with our clean hands or knife and fork, we felt the finger lick'n drumsticks are so good.

To make this dish, either for your family or party finger food, it won’t be wrong at all. One side note, either thawed (if frozen) or fresh drumsticks can be used to make this delicious dish.

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Chinese Dumpling Soup (上湯水餃)

The dumplings in soup (上湯水餃) are really flavoursome as you'll have more ingredients and more texture in the fillings if you enjoy it in a traditional Hong Kong noodle restaurant.

Every time I went into a noodle shop in Hong Kong, I’d definitely order either wonton or dumpling noodle soup. Are there any big differences between these two noodle soups? The fillings of both are mainly pork mince and prawns. But for dumplings in soup (上湯水餃), there are some extras, wood ears, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. More ingredients mean more delicious.

Wood ear has a crisp texture. So you can imagine how balanced the texture of each dumpling you’d enjoy of every bite. When it comes to making your own dumplings in soup, you can skip anything except the wood ears. I just feel wood ear is the signature ingredient that makes these dumplings so special.

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