Bandit Chicken Wings (土匪雞翼)

This is a signature side dish of a popular noodle restaurant in Hong Kong, very well-known and loved by local people. Believe me, the taste of these Bandit chicken wings is wonderfully good.

I have no clue how this dish name came up. The word of “bandit” might put some people off to try. The soul of this dish is the spice, cumin, that makes all the baked chicken wings smell pleasantly and take the whole dish up a notch.

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Molten Chocolate Cakes (Easter Dessert)

My favourite part of Easter is the chocolate desserts. Molten chocolate cake, aka lava cake or chocolate fondant pudding, is very popular around the world. It is even served in high-end restaurants and is suitable for all occasions. I personally feel that the bitter taste can resemble the remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and the sweet taste associates with the joy of the victory of His resurrection.

Back to the cake, it’s not that difficult when you actually roll up your sleeves to make this delicious chocolate cake. But producing the spectacular, oozing runny, lava-like chocolate inside needs a little experience of knowing how to work with your own oven. The prime principle is not to over cook the chocolate batter.

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Butter Pound Cake

This butter pound cake has a strong aroma of butter. Mind you, it's so addictively delicious. Its simplicity, without any fancy decoration, with the golden brown crust, buttery taste and rich texture, totally wins my heart.

Butter pound cake is my favourite childhood dessert. I remember how the strong aroma of butter made this traditional cake so addictive to me, feeling like never having enough of it.

Its simplicity, without any fancy decoration, with the golden brown crust, buttery taste and rich texture, totally wins my heart. You can’t stop eating after tasting the first slice. Mind you, if you’re on diet, make sure you can share with some other friends, or bring it along to any parties as finger food.

One slice of the butter pound cake, with a cup of tea or coffee, brings me enough enjoyment with no regrets.

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Baked Pork Chops with Rice (Classic Chinese Recipe)

This Baked Pork Chops with Rice dish is very popular and well-liked in Hong Kong. The melted cheese covering tasty pan-fried pork chops on a bed of fried rice makes everyone enjoy digging in.

This Baked Pork Chops with Fried Rice (焗豬扒飯) is a classic Cantonese cuisine that I started to eat when I was a little kid.

Even though my lovely daughter has adapted to Western foods, she loves this dish very much. Whenever we go into any Chinese café (茶餐廳 Cha Chaan Teng ), she would definitely order this dish. She’d never miss it at any time.

If you’ve tried this dish before, I think you would share the same feeling that this classic Chinese cuisine is very tempting.

This time I added some fresh mushrooms that most Hong Kong restaurants seldom use because fresh mushrooms are very expensive in Hong Kong. After stir-frying the mushrooms with other vegetables, I cooked the delicious tomato sauce.

The special part of this dish is the fried rice with the baked loin chops and melted cheese on top. When it comes out from the oven, both the flavor and color of the dish are very attractive.

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Baked Red Bean Coconut Cake (Chinese New Year)

The texture of this red bean coconut cake is a bit chewy, yet soft and smooth enough for easily digesting. The taste is so delicious. I especially love the crispy edges. This coconut cake is best served warm or hot out of the oven. 

During the busy Chinese New Year’s celebration week, we have lots of different cakes (gao 糕). Yes, we can’t celebrate without all the traditional cakes, radish cake, taro cake (aka yum cake), sticky rice cake and water chestnut cake.

Except for all these must-have cakes, I pretty like this baked coconut cake.

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Baked Coconut Sticky Rice Cake (Chinese New Year)

This baked coconut sticky rice cake (aka baked Chinese New Year cake) is absolutely tasty. It's a no-brainer recipe. You won't go wrong if you try. I often bake this coconut sticky rice cake for Chinese New Year celebration recently.

As Chinese New Year is coming around the corner, my daughter begins to ask me what I’m going to cook to celebrate. The first thing came up in my mind was this baked Coconut Pudding.

My dear friend, Vivian who came from Malaysia baked one to share with us some time ago. I was impressed because it was so delicious. Vivian told us that her family would bake this coconut pudding to celebrate Chinese New Year in Malaysia.

(My daughter likes eating coconut pudding with some fresh cream.)

During Chinese New Year, Chinese people would make all kinds of cakes or puddings for friends. I have tried a steamed coconut cake that is very popular in Hong Kong.

Honestly speaking, I like this baked one most.

So I plan to bake one in the coming New Year season. The delicious taste, fragrant smell and chewy texture will make it a hit in my family for sure.

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5-Ingredient Baked Pork Ribs (Video)

Here comes my favourite baked pork rib dish. You only need 5 ingredients to make it. Best of all, you don’t even need to marinate the pork ribs in advance. Simply mix all the ingredients together and pop into an oven. 

The pork ribs will become very tasty and tender after a slow-baking process without any fuss. They are best served immediately with salad or rice. Sounds good, right?

One simple secret tip on making tasty and succulent baked ribs you want to know. Cut the pork ribs separately beforehand. It’ll do the magic.

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Gingerbread Men Recipe

Here comes a recipe that requested by my Chinese fan. She wants to make some gingerbread men cookies for a church gathering. It’s my pleasure to help of course, although it’s not my plan to make any bakery in such a hot weather in Australia. I have already got used to celebrate Christmas in warm weather, although I miss the chilly season’s atmosphere in my hometown.

Got two gingerbread men put on swimming suits. Ready to go with me !

Going back to our gingerbread men making, I can’t stress enough about the importance of the sugar choice. Try the best to get brown sugar. It adds an inviting sugar cane fragrance and beautiful brownish colour. On top of it, use molasses or golden syrup, available at supermarkets, that helps create delightful taste and lovely texture. If you can’t find any, you can replace it with honey.

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Cake Wrapped in Paper (Hong Kong Cupcakes)

Cakes baked in paper are very popular in Hong Kong. You can easily get them from many bakery shops there. Armed with this recipe, you can bake some for yourself or your family at home.

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.

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.

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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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Malaysian Satay Chicken

The taste of this satay chicken is so authentic and wonderfully delicious. The recipe was from a friend who was a chef in Malaysia. How could it be?

We held a Hong Kong style BBQ party some time ago, grilling foods on charcoal. The Malaysian chef bought some marinated satay chicken to share with us.

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Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs (One-Pan Dish)

These chicken thighs were cooked with lemon, garlic and my favourite herds, rosemary and thyme. My kitchen was full of the fragrant smell, increasing the appetite of the whole family.

I’m getting to love one-pan dish more and more. It’s handy and save up energy to do cleaning up, just like one-plate dish.

The taste of one-pan dish won’t be comprised at all, still very delicious.

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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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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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Creme Caramel (Valentine's Day Dessert)

My husband loves eggs. He loves every egg dish, no matter whether it’s savoury or sweet. For Valentine’s Day, it’s quite natural to make something simple and sweet. It’s a day to relax with minimum cooking time, if not dining out. So I prepared some crème caramel, a classic French dessert.

I often think crème caramel is quite similar to the Hong Kong steamed custard. The former is baked in an oven, whereas the latter is steamed in a wok. The highlight of the French dessert is the caramel – an elegant and sensational caramelized syrup. Super delicious.

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Baked Drunken Prawns (焗醉蝦)

To make this drunken prawns dish is very straightforward without any fuss at all. All the flavours are absorbed by the tender prawn meats.

Drunken prawns are very popular in Chinese cuisine just like drunken chicken dishes.

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Baked Lemongrass Prawn Parcel

This baked prawn dish is absolutely delicious as all the prawns (shrimps) are submerged in a rich-flavours and fragrant lemongrass marinade, enclosed and baked in a paper parcel. You can imagine how fragrant the prawns will be after the lemongrass aroma imparted into them.

Best of all, making this delicious dish is fuss-free. All you need is to marinate the prawns 15 minutes before popping them in a preheated oven.

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Char Siu Pastry (Cheater’s Version)

This char siu pastry (char siu sou) is a traditional dim sum, made with flaky pastry and juicy bbq pork. Armed with this easy recipe, you can make some and enjoy with a cup of your favourite teat at home at any time.

Char siu pastry (aka char siu sou, 叉燒酥 in Chinese) is easily found at Chinese yum cha restaurants in Hong Kong or overseas. The juicy char siu (BBQ pork) is wrapped inside flaky pastries made with lard or shortening. You can tell how delicious and awesome the pastry will be.

With this easy-to-make recipe, you can skip all the fussy steps and make some awesome and flaky char siu pastry on the go.

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Smoky BBQ Pork Ribs (Instant Pot with Slow-Cooked Effect + Video)

Ever thought to use a fast cooking method to produce delicious slow-cooked foods? I tried to make some smoky BBQ pork ribs in my pressure cooker and added one more step to take them up a notch tasting like those made from a slow cooker. Are you intrigued to try these tasty, sticky, smoky and juicy pork ribs?

The greatest benefit of using a pressure cooker is to cut down the cooking time. How to make pork ribs from a pressure cooker, like Instant Pot, that taste like those slow-baked from an oven?

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Traditional Mooncakes (廣式月餅)

Mooncake is a must-eat snack during Mid-Autumn festival (中秋節) that I grew up with.  Once you gather all ingredients needed for making your own mooncakes, you'll feel not that difficult as you thought.  

Mid-Autumn festival (中秋節) is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar every year. So we finished this year’s celebration two weeks ago. You might’ve wondered why this recipe comes so late. Actually, I've also juggled whether I post its English translation this year or keep the draft until next year since I posted the Chinese version.

Here you go, the traditional mooncake recipe that’s been sitting for a long time in my draft folder has come alive on this blog. As I need more time working on my cookbook project, the posting on this blog has been slow down a bit. Yet, I've been cooking and working very hard.

For the past few weeks, I uploaded a few batches of recipes and photos to my editor. Thank you all for bearing with me for such a slow posting pace recently.

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