Braised Chu Hou Chicken Wings (柱侯雞翼)

Finding balance between a busy schedule and enjoying quality meals at home can be effortless with the right approach. This Braised Chu Hou Chicken Wings recipe delivers authentic Cantonese flavors with minimal time and effort, making it an ideal choice for quality-conscious home cooks.

If you love the classic Hong Kong hot pot dish, stewed brisket with Chu Hou paste (柱侯牛腩) like me, you will like this braised chicken wings.

The rich, savory, and slightly sweet notes of fermented soybean Chu Hou paste perfectly coat every piece of chicken wing, creating a deeply satisfying dish that pairs exceptionally well with warm steamed rice. Cooking does not need to be complicated to be nourishing. By streamlining the cooking process into a 15-minute quick stir-fry and braise, this recipe preserves simple ingredients while ensuring a balanced meal with added fresh peppers and onions. Embracing everyday grace through shared meals allows us to slow down and appreciate life's quiet moments. Simplify your routine, cook efficiently, and dedicate your saved time to what matters most.

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Pan Fried Fish Fillet (Hong Kong Style)

The fish fillet is pan fried perfectly and the sauce is just balanced. It is suitable for kids and seniors, and meat lovers of course, excellent with hot steamed rice.

This is one of my favourite homey dishes often cooked by my mother. I always feel that she’s the best in cooking it.

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Steamed Minced Pork with Preserved Mustard Greens

This steamed ground pork dish is a very popular homey dish in Chinese cooking that I grew up with. It’s one of my childhood favourite dishes throughout the year. This dish goes really well with a bowl of steamed rice and any Chinese vegetables.

Preserved mustard greens (called mui coi 梅菜 in Cantonese) don’t look appetizing before cooking. But it’s really tasty and perfectly pairing with meat. This dish can be prepared well ahead and chilled in your fridge. When you're ready, simply steam it in a wok.

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Curry Fish Balls with Radish (咖哩蘿蔔魚蛋)

Curry fish balls with radish is my favourite childhood street food in Hong Kong. It’s very tasty and easy to make it at home.

Curry fish balls with radish were my most favourite childhood street food in Hong Kong. The street hawkers often used the deep-fried fish balls and boiled them in delicious spicy curry sauce. I couldn’t help myself to buy some on the way back home after school.

Whenever these curry fish balls are served in any parties, they’d be gone very quickly. This batch was made for a family gathering. The weather was a bit cold. So I kept them warm in my vacuum pot.

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Steamed Ginger Milk Custard

Ever tried this steamed milk custard? It’s so smooth that even tofu fa (a kind of traditional Chinese dessert, aka soy milk custard) can’t beat it. It’s a perfect quick dessert after dinner.

The pungent aroma of ginger makes the silky milk custard so wonderful. My family loves its simplicity and silky texture. Ginger is widely used in Chinese herbal medication as it helps our blood circulation and treats indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea, and nausea.

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Steamed Beef Mince on Rice (蒸冬菜牛肉餅飯)

Ever tried this Hong Kong rice dish, steamed beef mince on rice? It's one of my favourite childhood steamed rice dishes. I especially love the grains because they absorbed all the beef juice and sauce. So tasty!

Sometimes you may need a recipe to let yourself be lazy for some reason, not wanting to stand in the kitchen too long or dine out. No matter what the weather is like, this delicious steamed beef on rice is perfect to ease your starving.

My mother used to make this rice dish in an electric rice cooker. Yet a wok or hot pot will do too. The end result is equally good. All you need is to prepare some cooked rice that’s a bit drier than usual because the rice will take up every bit of the tasty beef juice while steaming.

You can imagine how yummy the rice will be. Apart from making fried rice, you can turn leftover rice into another superstar on your dining table with this recipe.

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Scallion Pancakes

Scallion pancake (aka green onion pancake) is a classic Chinese snack, traditionally pair with a cup of soy milk. It's soft, tender inside and crispy outside. It'll make you want more for sure.

What’s your favourite for lunch?

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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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Dandan Noodles (擔擔麵)

We love noodles as light lunch meals. This classic Sichuan Dandan noodles (擔擔麵 in Chinese) is one of our favourites.

Dandan noodles (擔擔麵 in Chinese) is a classic Sichuan cuisine. The spicy sauce as the key element makes this noodle dish so addictively delicious.

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Shanghai Fried Noodles

Want a light and healthy meal? Here comes this classic Shanghai fried noodles that can be easily found in most Shanghai restaurants in Hong Kong.

If you like noodles as a quick and light meal, this is a must-try one. The upside of home cooking is that you can make the dish with anything left in your fridge or comes in handy. A side note, I added a secret ingredient to this Shanghai fried noodles and get my family hooked.

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Steamed Eggs 蒸水蛋 (Silky Smooth Tips + Video)

This silky smooth savoury steamed eggs dish is so easy to make. It goes really well with steamed rice.

Steamed egg is a very popular dish in Hong Kong cooking. It’s simple and nourishing. We love its silky smooth texture and savory taste that goes really well with steamed rice.

Armed with my Instant Pot, an electronic programmed pressure cooker, I don’t need to worry about the timing and temperature. Simply press the buttons and leave it on the bench doing the job for me.

I can be very confident to get the exactly same result every time, watching my family enjoying the silky smooth steamed eggs.

In the video below, you'll see how easy to make this dish.

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Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣湯)

No matter the weather is cold or hot, this classic hot and sour soup, originated from Sichuan China, is suitable for every occasion throughout the year. It’s tremendously appetising and delicious. No wonder this soup is well-liked and popular around the world.

Every family has their own version around different countries, using different ingredients though. Basically, this hot and sour soup contains wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots and tofu, sometimes pork blood (豬血) is added. Give it a go if you want, or dare, or you can find some pork blood at your local area.

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Braised Tofu with Roast Pork (火腩炆豆腐 + Video)

Chinese roast pork (Shao Rou 燒肉) is quite different in taste from the western one, although both have crackling skin on with tender meat under.

In Hong Kong, there are many siu mei shops (燒味店) to sell a variety of roast meats, including the roast pork, suckling pig and roast ducks. Whenever we buy roast pork from them,

I’d like to reserve some to cook this classic Hong Kong dish, Braised Tofu with Roast Pork that is one of our family’s favourite. Although the pork skin would be no longer crispy but the taste of it remains as yummy as it comes out fresh from oven. It goes really well with tofu. The dish is wonderful on a bed of Jasmine rice.

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Dumplings in Red Oil / Chilli Oil (紅油抄手)

This classic Szechuan dish - boiled dumplings in red oil (紅油抄手) is very easy to make. The silky smooth wonton skin is so adorable.

If you’re into something hot, these dumplings are for you. Even though spicy foods are not my most favourite, I’m so intrigued by the red-hue chilli oil in this classic Szechuan dish - boiled dumplings in red oil / chilli oil (紅油抄手).

The silky smooth wonton skin is so adorable. You won’t easily feel enough because the well-balanced chilli sauce helps cut through the meat wrapped in dumplings. Mind you that it might get you hooked.

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Wood Ear and Chicken Soup

Wood ear is a kind of edible fungus often used in Chinese cooking. Wood ear is black in colour, so looks not quite appealing to eyes. Yet, we can’t underestimate its value to our health. It can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

I often use wood ear in my cooking, like Chinese New Year traditional dish, stir-fry with chicken, make the classic hot and sour soup and imitation shark fin soup.  If you feel like having a vegetarian dish, wood ear will work with many vegetables. You can make this Stir Fried Bean Sprouts, Carrots & Wood Ear Fungus dish. When I make dumplings, I also like putting in some wood ear to add a texture in the fillings. Ever thought about making san choi bao (lettuce wraps) with wood ears? They taste really good with roast duck meat too.

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Asparagus, Chicken and Walnuts Stir Fry

Ever tried stir frying asparagus with walnuts? The crunchiness of walnuts and crisp asparagus stems are so enjoyable.

Asparagus is regarded as a classy vegetable and you have to pay more than other vegetables in restaurants. Lucky me, I’d find some fresh asparagus, available at a bargain price in supermarkets every now and then through out the year.

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Tofu and Pork in Chilli Bean Sauce (Video)

Tofu is an inexpensive nutrient-rich food. You can make lots of delicious dishes with it. Here’s one of my favourite tofu dishes - tofu and pork in chilli bean sauce (魚香豆腐).

The savoury and spicy taste of the whole dish is very appetizing. This dish goes perfectly with a bowl of steamed rice.

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Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle (雞蛋仔 Original Flavour)

The egg waffle shaped like an egg, in Chinese it’s called 雞蛋仔 (literally means little eggs), one of the long standing popular street foods in Hong Kong. It’s one of my favourite childhood foods. I remember that I ate a whole packet after school nearly every weekday. 

After moving to Australia, I miss this delicious snack very much, yet hardly tried to make any at home, simply because I don’t have the mould specially designed for making this snack. After posting the recipe of waffle (Hong Kong Style), many readers sent me emails asking for the recipe of 雞蛋仔. My dear readers you get it now after a long wait. One of my fans of my Chinese food blog, Anne Yeung wrote a guest post sharing her recipe. Anne and I share the same love of this unique Hong Kong hawker food. Many thanks for her time and generous sharing.

Origin of Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle
The Hong Kong style Egg Waffle is a unique street hawker food in Hong Kong. Piece by piece they come in a golden coloured honeycomb shape and gives out a rich aroma of cake flavour. It is in fact hollow in shape … it gives one an extraordinary experience when biting on it as it has a distinct texture of having a crispy shell with inner softness.

In accordance to information available, the Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle is originated in the 1950s. In an effort of making use of some cracked eggs, an Asian grocery shop’s owner made an attempt of developing this egg batter. Sugar, flour and evaporated milk were added to an egg batter and was poured into a honey-comb metal plate to cook into waffle. Traditionally, the Hong Kong Egg Waffles are made over charcoal flames. However, most people nowadays use electric stove tops due to cost efficiency and safety reasons. (Information gathered from https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/雞蛋仔).

Nowadays, the Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle has its original formula improved to also come in an array of different flavours and they include chocolate, strawberry; original flavour with shredded coconuts, black sesame, etc. However, the original flavour still remains as the majority out of all.

My special feel with the Hong Kong Style Waffle
My childhood is like many others ... I grew up with the ‘companionship’ of the Hong Kong Style Egg Waffles …

I can never forget about that special bond I had with the Hong Kong Style Egg Waffles … perhaps I should have said I am reluctant to have forgotten about it, probably due to the fact that the deep rich egg aroma has concealed within it my personal growing up memories in Hong Kong.

My son is already the generation which is born overseas … it is not possible for him to fully understand that feeling that I have with the Hong Kong Egg Waffle. But what a mother can do is to learn making so at home, at least to give that tiny little chance to my next generation the opportunity of tasting that rich egg aroma over the other side of the world.

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Elegant HK Zha Jiang Noodles (炸醬麵) | Secret 20-Min Recipe

In the hustle and bustle of city life, we are often chasing time, forgetting to pause and feel the warmth that food brings. These Hong Kong Zha Jiang Noodles are my favorite "soul food" during busy days. Unlike the salty, heavy northern version, the soul of the Hong Kong style lies in the perfect balance of sweetness and spice.

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Seaweed, Tofu & Pork Mince Soup

This seaweed, tofu & pork mince soup is very quick to make. It's simple, tasty and nourishing, suitable for serving all year round.

Seaweed is commonly used in oriental cuisine like Japanese, Korean and Chinese. I often use the seasoned seaweed to add flavours in soup, sometimes cook soups with the unflavoured ones, that normally comes in dried sheet form.

Just soak a sheet of seaweed in water until it softens. After rinsing thoroughly, it’s ready to cook with other ingredients I like.

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