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• Cooking with Bah Kut Teh Spices
  on Apr 1, 2013 in zBlog
  One of the key ingredients in making Chinese Pork Ribs soup (aka Bah Kut Teh) is the spice mixture.  A concoction of fragrant spices like grounded peppercorn, salt, star anise, cinnamon, and cloves are combined and cooked with the soup.  These spic...
• Pork Ribs Tea – Bah Kut Teh (肉骨茶)
  on Apr 1, 2013 in Soup Recipes bean curd skin dong qaui easy to make goji wolfberry hearty or creamy herbs kid-friendly popular soups pork seasonal: spring seasonal: summer seasonal: winter solomon seal warming soups yu zhu
  If you have traveled to Singapore or Malaysia, one famous Chinese soup you are bound to have heard of is Bah Kut Teh. This soup, which literally translates to “Meat Bone Tea (肉骨茶)” from the Teochew language, is a deeply flavorful po...
• How to Make Homemade Baked Pumpkin Seeds
  on Sep 24, 2012 in zBlog
  If you purchased a pumpkin for cooking or decorative carving, save the seeds! The seeds are tasty when roasted, and they offer valuable minerals like zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, and many others. Making your own homemade pumpkin seeds is very easy.
• Herb: Huang Jing | Siberian Solomon’s Seal
  on Sep 19, 2012 in Common Ingredients
  Huang Jing (Siberian Solomon's Seal) is a medicinal herb that comes from the rhizome of the polygonatum plant. It has a bland sweet taste and feels a little soft and sticky to the touch. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Huang Jing nourishes the yin...
• Herb: Dried Tangerine Peel
  on Sep 10, 2012 in Common Ingredients
  Dried tangerine peel is a food ingredient used in Chinese cooking and medicine. It is cherished for their distinct bitter and fragrant taste. The best and most valued Dried Tangerine Peel is from a region in China called Xinhui (新會), as they ar...
• West Lake Beef Soup – Gratifying and Flavorsome
  on Sep 3, 2012 in Soup Recipes beans / tofu beef budget-friendly cilantro easy to make egg green onions high fiber kid-friendly light or brothy low calorie low fat low sodium neutral soups popular soups
  Besides the Hot and Sour Soup, the West Lake Beef Soup (西湖牛肉羹) is probably the next most common soup found in Chinese restaurants in the US. Although the ingredients for this soup are simple, the West Lake Beef Soup is both gratifying and...
• Tofu Skin Water Chestnut Soup with Mushroom & Black Moss
  on Feb 3, 2012 in Soup Recipes
  I am heading down an experimental path with my cooking lately.  It started with the purple sweet potato I used to re-create a traditional rice dumpling (tang yuan) dessert in my last recipe.  This week, I am using an ingredient that I have never co...
• Purple Sweet Potato Dumpling (Tang Yuan)
  on Jan 19, 2012 in Soup Recipes budget-friendly dessert soup dried figs easy to make fruits ginger root kid-friendly light or brothy low fat low sodium root vegetables seasonal: fall seasonal: summer seasonal: winter sweet potato
  Sweet rice dumplings, or Tang Yuan, is a traditional Chinese sweet dessert that is similar to the Japanese mochi in appearance. Like mochi, Tang Yuan is made out of glutinous rice flour and water to form a smooth al-dente dough which is rolled into...
• Double Steamed Asian Pear Almond Dessert Soup
  on Jan 9, 2012 in Soup Recipes bitter and sweet almond budget-friendly dessert soup easy to make fruits functional: clear heat & cool functional: moisturize ginger root herbs high fiber kid-friendly light or brothy low calorie low fat low sodium mushrooms / fungus seasonal: fall seasonal: winter vegetarian white fungus ya li pear
  This is a delicious classic double steamed Chinese dessert I love. It has a delicate sweetness that is lightly contrasted with a smooth gingery zing that sits over a lovely mellow tone of almond fragrance and fresh pears. This dessert is good year...
• Lunar New Year Gift Card GIVEAWAY – $100 Total Value
  on Dec 26, 2011 in Sweepstakes zBlog
  To celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year for 2012, Kee Wah Bakery (奇華餅家) is generously sponsoring me to GIVEAWAY 3 e-GIFT CARDS totaling $100 value redeemable at www.keewah.us. Kee Wah is a time-honored family-operated bakery founded in Hong...
• Protected: Lunar New Year Gift Card GIVEAWAY – $100 Total Value
  on Dec 20, 2011 in Uncategorized
  There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
• $50 Amazon Gift Card GIVEAWAY for My Readers
  on Dec 17, 2011 in zBlog
  The holidays are just around the corner, and I would like to GIVE AWAY a $50 Amazon gift card to thank my readers and followers! This site is less than a year old, and I am fortunate to have received some very kind and encouraging feedback from some...
• GIVEAWAY & New Foodie Web App – Smorgie.com
  on Dec 17, 2011 in zBlog
  I recently had a chance to try out a new free social web application designed to help foodies like me remember and share my favorite eating places.  It is called Smorgie.  This site lets you create personalized lists of eateries, add restaurants to...
• Moisturizing Asian Pears Herbal Soup with Dried Figs
  on Dec 15, 2011 in Soup Recipes bitter and sweet almond chinese yam dried figs easy to make fruits functional: moisturize ginger root herbs high fiber kid-friendly ladybell-adenophora-root lily bulb low calorie low fat low sodium pork seasonal: autumn seasonal: summer seasonal: winter vegetarian white fungus ya li pear yu zhu
  As we are in the midst of the dry cold season, I was reminded of a delicious moisturizing soup that my mom likes to make during this time of year.  This soup, made with ya li Asian pears, dried figs, and a few simple Chinese herbs, is a gentle nouri...
• Lily Bulb Herb
  on Dec 14, 2011 in Common Ingredients
  Lily bulb, 百合, is a health benefiting crispy edible root vegetable that grows from the Lily flowering plant. They provide protein, calcium and several other vitamins. As a Chinese herb, dried lily bulbs help relieve coughs, dry throats, clear h...
• Ingredient: Yu Zhu
  on Dec 9, 2011 in Common Ingredients
  Ingredient Name: Yu Zhu.  玉竹 (yù zhú ) (also called Solomon’s Seal Rhizome, Polygonatum Root, or Polygonatum Odoratum as the botanical name ) Description: Yu zhu is the dried edible rhizome of a Solomon’s Seal flowering plant that...
• Ingredient: Adenophora Root (Lady Bell Root)
  on Dec 6, 2011 in Common Ingredients
  Adenophora Root (沙參), also called Lady Bell Root or Nan Sha Shen, is grown throughout the mountains and lowlands of China, Japan, and Korea. It is an herb used to ease dry coughs, help expel yellow sticky phlegm, and to moisten the lung and thro...
• Ingredient: Dried Figs
  on Dec 5, 2011 in Common Ingredients
  Dried fig is the soft and sweet edible fruit of the tropical ficus tree. Many varieties exist although the dried white fig (Chinese Dried Fig) is the type commonly used in Chinese cooking. Figs are one of the highest plant source of calcium and fib...
• Revitalizing Dong Quai and Red Date Tea
  on Dec 2, 2011 in Soup Recipes autumn soups dong qaui easy to make gluten free goji wolfberry herbal teas herbs high fiber low calorie low fat low sodium popular soups red date spring-time soups vegetarian warming soups winter soups year-round soups
  This revitalizing Dong Quai and Red Date tea is a traditional recipe in Chinese food therapy. Although typically drank by women, it is consumed by men also. For women, this tea has been used for centuries to replenish the blood supply after a menst...
• Ingredient: Dong Quai (Radix Angelica Sinensis)
  on Nov 30, 2011 in Common Ingredients
  Dong Quai is an important medicinal plant indigenous to China. Sold in pre-cut slices and whole root forms, this herb is used to relieve symptoms of gynecological conditions such as menstruation pain, recovery from childbirth, menopause, and fatigue...