Cooking with Alison

Archive for the ‘Asian’ Category

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Steamed Whole Fish

In Seafood on February 23, 2010 at pm

In Chinese cooking, white fish are often steamed whole (in restaurants and in peoples’ homes).  Steaming fish until it’s Just cooked is incredibly easy, healthy, and gives you a Very moist fish.  It’s my favourite way to eat fish.  By the way, the cheeks are the best part of the fish so you should definitely try it if you haven’t already.

Note that the fish in the picture below is missing its head.  Normally the fish is steamed whole, but when I caught this fish ice fishing at the Winterlude Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, the people running the event gutted the fish and removed the head.

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Hoisin Baked Pork Ribs

In Meat and Eggs on February 22, 2010 at pm

Hoisin sauce is a very popular Chinese sauce that goes really well with chicken, pork, or beef.  It is also the dipping sauce for peking duck and deep fried dough sticks wrapped in rice noodle.  I use it on baked pork ribs more than anything else.  Although marinating the ribs makes the meat more flavourful, the hoisin sauce has enough flavour that you really don’t have to.  So this is the perfect quick and ridiculously easy meal that doesn’t require any pre-planning and only requires 2 ingredients.  I make this often for guests too, because I’ve yet to meet someone who didn’t like them.  If you don’t like/eat pork, hoisin baked chicken is really good too.  When asked what he wanted me to make for Valentine’s Day dinner, 2011, Ed requested these hoisin ribs.  🙂

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Siu Mai Recipe

In Dim Sum on February 9, 2010 at pm

I love dim sum and I was ecstatic when I started making it successfully at home.  Dim sum refers to various types of small dishes that are served with tea during the meal, yum cha (“drinking tea time”), which starts early in the morning and ends between noon and 3 pm, depending on the restaurant.  (Check out the other dim sum recipes that I have posted in the Asian – Dim Sum category.)

Siu mai is one of the simplest ones to make.  You can make a large batch at once because they freeze nicely.

Below left:  Siu Mai after being cooked.

Below right:  Siu Mai before going into the steamer.

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Shrimp Dumpling (ha gow)

In Dim Sum on February 2, 2010 at pm

I never thought that I would be able to make chinese dim sum from scratch.  I am so glad that I tried  🙂  because I love love love shrimp dumplings (ha gow) and now I can enjoy it without the MSG.  Dim sum refers to various types of small dishes that are served with tea during the meal, yum cha (“drinking tea time”), which starts early in the morning and ends between noon and 3 pm, depending on the restaurant.  (Check out the other dim sum recipes that I have posted in the Asian – Dim Sum category.)

Ha gow (shrimp dumplings) are a bit time consuming to make but you can make large batches and freeze them.  Photo instructions for how to wrap ha gow are at the bottom.

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Pork and Shiitake Mushroom Steamed Buns

In Dim Sum on February 2, 2010 at am

Chinese steamed buns are such great snacks and are often eaten at brunch or lunch.  These are really simple to make and although slightly time consuming, you can make large batches and freeze them.  I think it’s worth the effort to make these from scratch because the frozen ones, although delicious, contain MSG, preservatives and too much sodium.  You can buy pre-mixed steamed bun flour or you can make the buns from scratch; instructions for both have been provided below.  Photo instructions for how to pleat steamed buns are at the bottom.

Photos Below:  Left – Pork steamed buns after coming out of the steamer; Right – Before going on the rack in the steamer

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Turnip Cake Recipe (lo bak go)

In Dim Sum on January 29, 2010 at am


When I discovered how easy it is to make taro cake (link here), it only made sense to try turnip cake next.  This is very similar to the dim sum they serve in the restaurants. Personally I like turnip cake much more than taro cake.  I revised this recipe and improved it for Chinese New Year, February 2011.  (The original photo that was posted is at the bottom of this post.)  If you have leftover daikon radish, see here for a list of other recipes.

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Taro Cake

In Dim Sum on January 29, 2010 at am

My mom really likes taro so I tried making taro cake from scratch.  It is very easy to make.

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Preserved Duck Egg and Kraft Dinner

In Other Asian Foods on January 27, 2010 at pm

I caught a really bad flu in the winter of 2009.  Maybe it was the 3 day fever, but I had a huge craving for preserved duck egg and macaroni and cheese.  You might not be so impressed, but at the time I thought I had come up with an ingenious combination, haha

When working with preserved duck eggs, there’s no need to cook them and remember to wash them very well before serving.