Chinese Donut

The latest edition of Saveur magazine was covering Donuts of the world!!! Chinese Donut is one of my favorites, but did you know you can eat them not only by itself but pair with Congee, Soy Milk, & very thin Rice Wrap?

Chinese Donut fresh out of the fryer
a quick dip in the hot oil, the 3 inches gluey stretchy dough turns into this golden yummy donut 8 times its original size. It's hot, crunchy on the outside, soft & little chewy on the inside, with slight savory taste.

Cut into 1 inch pieces ready to add to the simple Congee

Plain Congee - with scallion and roasted peanuts sprinkled on top

Congee with Thousand Year Old Egg and salted Pork - this is my favorite congee or porridge  when I was growing up in Hong Kong, and it still is after I moved to Los Angeles, I make them at home & seek this out in the restaurant as often as I can... 

Another way to eat the Chinese Donut is adding it to a bowl of Hot & Sweet Soy Milk! My family LOVES Soy Milk, a classic Shanghainese and Northern China breakfast, also popular in Taiwan.

An elaborate breakfast set up with Hot Savory Soy Milk, Chinese Donut, Pork Floss, Scallion, Pickled Turnip, & Chili oil to turn up the heat...

Wrap it with a thin layer of Rice Paper and a little soy sauce instantly transform the ordinary donut to something heavenly: soft pillowy feel and crunchy & savory goodness burst in your mouth all at the same time....mmm so good!

There you have it! A nice, comforting Chinese Breakfast. Hope you like it or want to try it...Enjoy!

Pineapple & Chicken Salad

My college kids are home for the weekends, something refreshing, sweet, & quickly prepared. Very simple ingredients, no time to cook the chicken...no problem. Trader Joe has this grilled chicken that's very moist, just warm it up in the microwave for one minute and it's ready to go on top of the salad. Add a dash of freshly ground pepper and ready to enjoy!

Fresh Pineapple & Chicken Salad

 put together with the help of:

Fresh pineapple

Steamed chicken

Iceberg lettuce

Persian cucumbers

Heirloom baby tomatoes

Hawaiian onion

White button mushroom

Dash of ground pepper

Champagne Pear Vinaigrette

This dressing is not bad, you can use any vinaigrette based dressing you like, I find this one pretty light & has interesting bite of Gorgonzola cheese & fresh flavor of pear that's not too sweet.

Beef Vegetables Soup

Getting a little sick of salad, feel like something hot and comforting. And voila! not fattening at all :)
Enjoy!!!

Beef Vegetables Soup

put together with the help of:

beef stew meat

onion

garlic

celery

carrots

yukon gold potatoes

tomatoes

cabbage

cilantro

sour dough toast

chicken stock
tomato paste

red wine

bay leaf

thyme

rosemary

peppercorns

salt & pepper

<use hot house tomatoes if you can, get a nice crusty baguette, add a glass of fine wine, and your dinner is served!>

Another Salad

cobb salad seems easy enough as it turns out, not quite easy, but I'm glad with the result for a first timer.

Cobb Salad

put together with the help of:

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Avocado

Mushroom

Soft boiled egg

Poached chicken tender

Turkey bacon

Blue cheese

& Champagne vinegrette

<get the uncured, all natural, no preservative turkey bacon if you like>

<Poaching liquid for chicken tenders: chicken broth with Xiao Xing wine, thyme, bay leaf, Xi Chuen peppercorn, regular peppercorn, & one star anise)

Japanese Salad

Second day without having to get up and work at a job, feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder...and found energy to make food :)  at the end of the meal, my vege salad hating daughter cleaned up the bowl except the tomatoes :)

Japanese Salad

put together with the help of:

iceberg lettuce

japanese cucumber

daikon sprouts

cherry tomatoes

& miso ginger dressing