fried bean curd with napa cabbage and wood ear mushroom.

Ingredients:

• Dried fried bean curd (2-3 stalks)
• Dried wood ear mushroom
• Napa cabbage
• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Sugar
• White pepper
• Salt
• Corn starch
• Baking soda (optional)
• Vegetable oil

Recipe:

1. Soak the dried fried bean curd for two hours (could be less or more depending on the fried bean curd you buy. The packaging should have instructions specific to it. Mine was for two hours.) If it's still too hard, add 1/3 teaspoon baking soda into water and soak it for about 5 minutes. Be very careful it doesn't make it too soggy when you soak it. Wash the fried bean curd and make sure to drain water well.
2. Soak the wood ear mushroom in warm water and then wash and set aside.
3. Cut and wash the Napa cabbage into 2-inch strips (shown above). I used about half of one Napa cabbage head.
4. Heat some vegetable oil in wok, then stir fry bean curd, wood ear mushroom, and Napa cabbage together.
5. Add water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, white pepper, and salt (all to taste, not too much salt.) If there is too much water, add a tiny bit of water mixed with corn starch to the mixture.

zha jiang mian.

Ingredients:

• Baked firm tofu (The non-plain kind. The tofu has a dark brown skin on the outside. My mom prefers Furama brand. I used half of one pack for this recipe)
• Carrots
• Ground pork
• Onion
• Zucchini
• Mandarin Jah-Jan Sauce (preferred) or black bean garlic sauce
• White noodles (we love Beijing Noodle packs)

Recipe:

1. Chop the baked firm tofu, carrots, onion and zucchini into small, cube-shaped pieces.
2. Add vegetable oil into wok, then add chopped onions in. Stir fry until clear.
3. Add ground pork into wok (about 1 small bowlful or however much we want.)
4. Add carrots and stir fry.
5. Add baked tofu and stir fry.
6. Add enough water to cover the tofu.
7. Add at least 1 tablespoon of the Mandarin jah-jan sauce. You can adjust how much you want after you add the rest of the sauces.
8. Add soy sauce to taste.
9. Add sugar to taste.
10. Add corn starch mixed with a tiny amount of water to thicken into a sauce.
11. Add sesame oil.
12. Adjust flavor ingredients if needed.
13. In a separate pot of boiling water, you should have already have the noodles cooked. Serve on top of noodles, mix and enjoy!

xiamen-style spring rolls (popiah)

My favorite dish of all time that my mom makes is a Xiamen-style spring rolled, or "popiah" in Fukienese. There's a lot of recipes that have popped up online over the years, and to be completely honest, I haven't tried any of them because I'm a loyal fan of my mom's recipe. A few years ago, we made it together as I furiously took notes, but I never got around to posting it on here or trying the recipe myself. Yesterday, I finally took my first stab at it. I can't tell if my standards are just too high when it comes to this dish, but even though it was a decent first try, it definitely was far from perfect (in my eyes). My husband loved it, though.

Note-to-self #1: I needed to add a lot more salt, more soy sauce, and more sugar than I did initially. Although, in the end, I may have added too much salt.

Note-to-self #2: Easier to use a larger pot than what I used, since you can more easily adjust the flavor and stir.

Ingredients:

• Ground pork (I don't have an exact measurement of how much. My mom breaks up ground pork into balls so they're easy to grab from the freezer and defrost. I used three balls... lol.)
• Green onion (About 4; use only the white parts, chopped)
• Shrimp (2 lbs; de-veined and peeled)
• Cabbage (Half a head of a large cabbage)
• Carrots (3-4 big carrots)
• 1 pack of Plain baked tofu (Furama brand is one my mom always uses. Make sure it's plain baked tofu. The other ones are too salty for this dish)
• Canned sliced bamboo (1 can)
• 1 pack of Spring roll pastry (our favorite brand is TYJ Spring Roll Pastry by Spring Home) 
• Rice cooking wine
• Soy sauce
• White pepper
• Salt
• Sugar
• Wu xiang fen (五香粉)
• Corn starch (helps to soften the meat)

Recipe:

Prep work:

1. Vegetable prep:
• Grate the carrots into small, thin strips
• For the cabbage, peel off the outside layers and wash. If it's a very large cabbage head, cut it in half and wash. Remove the stem.
• Slice the cabbage into thin strips. The length of it should be about 2-3 inches. They will shrink when cooked.
• Drain and slice the bamboo into thin strips (you can cut these in half if you want)
2. Tofu prep:
• Slice the tofu into thin strips, about the same length as the bamboo strips.
3. Ground pork prep:
• In a bowl with the ground pork, mix together 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice cooking wine, 1 teaspoon corn starch, and some sprinkles of white pepper and wu xiang fen. Set aside.
4. Shrimp prep:
• Chop shrimp into small pieces.

Cooking:

1. On medium heat, add vegetable oil into the wok.
2. First stir fry the cabbage until cooked but not too soft. Add just enough salt to flavor the cabbage. You'll have to figure out exactly how much salt by tasting it.
3. Remove and place into a large pot. Depending on the size of the wok, you may need to stir fry the cabbage in two rounds.
4. Add more vegetable oil into the wok, now stir fry the carrots. Again, add just enough salt to add flavor, to taste.
5. Remove and place into the large pot with cabbage in it.
6. Add some vegetable oil and the chopped white parts of the green onion into the wok. Then add the ground pork. Since the ground pork has corn starch in it, the meat will clump naturally. You'll need to break it up into smaller pieces again. (My mom uses chopsticks first until the meat is cooked, then switches back to a spatula to continue breaking it up.)
7. Add some soy sauce, rice cooking wine, and sugar to the meat, also to taste.
8. Cover up the wok and let it cook for a bit more over low heat (about 3-5 minutes.)
9. Once the ground pork is cooked, add it to the pot with everything else.
10. Add more vegetable oil to the wok, then stir fry the tofu. Add a little bit of water and some soy sauce, to taste. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 5 minutes to soak in the flavor.
11. Add in the sliced bamboo to the wok and stir fry together. Remove and add to the big pot.
12. Add more vegetable oil and the rest of the chopped green onions to the wok, then cook the shrimp. Add salt (no soy sauce this time).
13. Towards this step, turn on low heat for the big pot and mix up the mixture inside to let cook. Add the shrimp in, mix and let cook until it starts simmering. This is when you can adjust the flavor by adding salt, soy sauce or sugar. Make sure the cabbage are cooked soft enough too!
14. Serve by wrapping the filling in the spring roll wraps. (Tips below)

Tips on how to prepare your spring roll:

• The spring roll wraps dry out easily. Keep them "hydrated" by putting them on a plate between two moist paper towels.
• For the filling, we use two spoons to make sure we squeeze out as much liquid as possible, since the wraps are very delicate and tear easily.

moo shu pork.

So I'll be honest, I had no idea that this is what "moo shu pork" was. I always thought it was some made up Americanized Chinese dish, but apparently it's a Northern Chinese dish. I almost titled this entry "wood ear mushroom, egg and pork dish" until my mom told me the real name. Anyway, this is a dish my mom used to make me a lot growing up, apparently very easy to make too.

Ingredients:

• Wood ear mushroom
• Pork loin
• Eggs
• Green onion
• Oyster sauce
• Sugar
• White pepper
• Soy sauce
• Rice cooking wine
• Corn starch

Pork loin

Seasoning stuff

1. My mom's wood ear mushroom comes dried, so she first soaks in water until it expands and gets soft.
2. Wash wood ear mushroom 3-4x (water should be clear with no sand/dirt).

3. Chop pork into thin slices.

4. Add oyster sauce, sugar, white pepper, soy sauce and rice cooking wine to taste.
5. Mix together.

6. Add one teaspoon corn starch.
7. Add water and then mix together, massaging the meat.
8. Let meat sit and marinade for 20 minutes.

9. Add salt and sugar to egg. Use mom's trick of tiny dashes of salt per yolk to measure. Add only a bit of sugar.

10. Beat egg, then add green parts of chopped green onion to egg. Save white parts for later.
11. Once marinade is ready, add oil to wok. More oil is required because of the eggs.
12. When oil is hot enough, add white parts of chopped green onion.

13. Add meat once green onion is cooked.14. When the meat is 75% cooked, put egg in. Stir fry everything together.

15. When egg and meat are mostly cooked, remove from wok.
16. Add a small amount of oil back into wok.
17. Add wood ear mushroom, add a small amount of water, and a small amount of soy sauce and sugar.
18. Mix together, cover and let sit for a few minutes to let cook. The water should mostly be gone when it's ready.

19. Add eggs and pork back into wok, mix everything together. 
20. Optional: add more rice cooking wine and white pepper for aroma.

easy stir-fried shrimp.

Here is another easy dish with shrimp. My mom is also very particular about gutting and cleaning the shrimp before cooking, so I've included her instructions on that as well. As always, no specific measurements since everything is "to taste"!!

(excuse the bad photo, I was too excited to eat it after)

Ingredients:

• Shrimp
• Salt
• One egg
• White pepper
• Sugar
• Corn starch
• Vegetable/cooking oil
• Chopped green onions
• Bamboo or carrots (optional)

To clean the shrimp:

1. Slice down middle, pull out the intestine.

2. In a bowl, pour salt on to shrimp and mix around to clean, then rinse twice.

3. Use paper towel to dry shrimp.

Now to prep:

1. Put a small amount of egg whites into shrimp mix (not all of it), then add a small amount of salt. (Just enough salt to cover the surface of the shrimp in the bowl).

2. Add a small amount of white pepper and sugar.

3. Add half a teaspoon of corn starch.

4. Mix together, then cover with clear plastic wrap and put into fridge for 20 minutes.

Finally, to cook:

1. Once shrimp is ready from sitting in the fridge for 20 minutes, add cooking oil to the wok. Make sure oil is ready (mom uses the point of a wooden chopstick to test if the oil is bubbling when it touches the bottom of the wok.)

2. Add shrimp and stir fry on medium to medium high heat.

3. Remove shrimp from heat once cooked and set aside in a bowl.

4. Add white pepper to shrimp.

5. Add more vegetable oil and chopped green onions to wok.

6. Add bamboo or carrots to "add color" to the dish, but it's optional.

7. Add a small amount of water, salt and sugar for the sauce/flavoring.

8. Add back shrimp once vegetables are cooked.

saucy fried fish!

I have no idea what to call this dish so I shall dub thee saucy fried fish! Super easy fish dish, and quick!

Ingredients:

• Any fish from the market, ask them to fry it for you
• Vegetable/cooking oil
• Chopped green onion
• Soy sauce
• Some kind of Chinese vinegar (see photo below)
• Sugar
• Ketchup
• Bamboo or carrots (optional)
• One tablespoon corn starch mixed with two tablespoons water

(how the fish looks fried from the market)

(the vinegar my mom used)

1. Add vegetable oil to wok on high heat.
2. Add chopped green onion to wok.

3. Add some water, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar to taste.
4. Add ketchup to taste.

5. Once sauce is boiling, add fish. Turn heat to low then cover for 5 minutes.
6. Flip fish over, cover and cook for another 5 minutes.

7. During this time, you can add bamboo or carrots to the wok. (optional)

8. After the fish is done, add more water if there isn't enough leftover sauce (depends on your personal preference.) If you add more water, make sure to readjust the sauce for taste. Add more soy sauce, vinegar and sugar as needed.
9. Add green part of your chopped green onion.

10. Slowly add a little bit of corn starch mixed with water to the sauce to thicken the sauce.
11. Serve the fish with sauce on top. Voila!

imitation shark fin soup.

Shark fin soup was a favorite staple for me growing up. Whenever my parents had a Chinese-style banquet to attend, this was the one thing I looked forward to. (Despite needing to lay down in my mom's lap afterward due to my allergic reaction to the MSG in the soup. Yes, what Asian is allergic to MSG?! Me.) My mom makes her own version of this soup. It's not exactly the same, but I love soup and I love mom so it's all good in my eyes. Plus, no MSG! Next time, I'd like to try adding clear noodles and dried mushrooms.

Ingredients (served 3 people with leftovers):

• Chicken broth (freshly made, or one can)
• Imitation shark fin ("fried conger pike maw" package pictured below)
• Crab (my mom used packaged crab like the one pictured below)
• Dried bamboo insides (?? still figuring out what this is, my mom didn't know how to translate it to English, but it seems optional)
• Celery, chopped
• Green onions, chopped
• Canned corn
• One egg, beaten
• One tablespoon corn starch mixed with two tablespoons water
• Salt
• Sugar
• Rice Vinegar
• White pepper

1. To prepare, soak imitation shark fin in warm water until soft, then chop into small pieces.
2. Soak bamboo insides in water until soft (optional ingredient)

3. Bring chicken broth to boil
4. Add shark fin and crab into soup when broth starts boiling, then bring down to light boil.
5. Add salt and/or sugar to taste
6. Add celery and corn.

7. Add beaten egg (hold high and use chopsticks to let it pour in using a circular motion), mix in until "flowered".

8. Add corn starch immediately after.

9. Add green onions, let simmer for a minute or two, then serve!
10. Serving tip: in individual bowls, add white pepper and rice vinegar to taste.