Category Archives: Techniques

Spring into Spring Bamboo Shoots

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: May 16, 2013
Oil Braised Spring Bamboo Shoots

Oil Braised Spring Bamboo Shoots

A Chinese children fable called “Spring Bamboo Shoot and the Pebbles” (春筍與亂石) tells a story of a spring bamboo shoot aspiring to burst through the soil, but is halted by a group of pebbles above him. He politely asks the pebbles to let him through but to no avail. With shear determination he pushes through between the pebbles and grows out of the soil. The pebbles are so impressed that they start celebrating him as a superstar. I’m actually not quite sure what the moral of the story is. But “success through determination” is so typically Chinese and very tiger-mom like. Regardless of the moral though, the story does tell of how bamboo shoots surge forth every spring to produce one of the most delicately delicious ingredients in Chinese cooking.

Also posted in Braise, Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | 3 Responses

My Father’s Island Paradise

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: May 3, 2013
Steamed Crab with Ginger Vinegar Sauce

gulangyu-crab-sauce

Across a very narrow strait from the downtown waterfront of Xiamen (廈門) sits the island of Gulangyu (鼓浪嶼), a hilly outcrop smaller than Central Park in New York City and dotted with colonial-era European style buildings. Warren and I took the short five-minute ferry ride to this island last month while we were in Xiamen. Gulangyu occupies a very special place in my heart because my father spent his formative years there attending the Anglo-Chinese Middle School in the 1930’s.

Also posted in Recipes, Seafood, Steaming | Tagged , , , | 3 Responses

A Love Affair with Pan-Fried Noodles

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: March 18, 2013

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

My family is originally from the coastal Chinese province of Fujian. Traditionally our noodles are cooked in soup, boiled unadorned except for seasonings, or stir-fried in a wok with a thin sauce. When I was about ten years old my family went to a Cantonese dim sum house in Singapore, which at that time was an exotic excursion for a family accustomed to mostly eating Fujianese food. We were served a pan-fried noodles dish of delicious seafood vegetable sauce dripping all over thin golden brown crispy noodles. That was the beginning of my life long love affair with Hong Kong pan-fried noodles.

Also posted in Chicken, Moist Stir-fry (滑炒), Noodles, Recipes | Tagged , , | 4 Responses

Short Order Lunch with Fried Eggs

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: February 7, 2013
Fried Eggs Over Rice

Fried Eggs Over Rice

Writing a book is a fulltime job. This I discovered last fall once I started to earnestly concentrate on completing my cookbook. What with my commitments in restaurant consulting and teaching, I have no time at all to prepare lunch. To utilize my time efficiently I buy commercial cold cuts, sliced cheeses and wheat bread to make sandwiches. But I yearn for the occasional comfort Chinese lunch that invariably sooths my anxiety about writing the book. So I need a new lunch plan.

Also posted in Deep-Frying, Recipes, Snack Food | Tagged , | 4 Responses

Breaking Bread with Barry the Berry

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: January 24, 2012
Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice

Precariously balancing an overly full tray of pineapple shrimp fried rice I got off the elevator and entered a high ceiling open space loft in the Soho district of New York City. Workstations with flickering screens were everywhere, and a meeting room hides behind walls rising half way up to the ceiling. In another open space I saw the original painting of Barry the berry on a horse back looking out onto a valley, which is the same picture attached to the about page of gojee.com. Although I have no idea what is the significance of this picture I knew this had to be the right place. I was in one of the communal office spaces of the New York City’s many technology startups. It was the home of the team behind gojee.com, a recipe search site with thousands of recipe listings from the best food bloggers.

Also posted in Dry Wok Stir-fry (煸炒), Recipes, Rice Dishes, Seafood | Tagged , | 5 Responses

Project Yunnan

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: January 11, 2012
Stir-Fried Abalone Mushrooms with Purple Basil

What happens when the cooking of China collides with that of Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam? The result is a fresh cuisine full of bold and explosive flavors. This is precisely what you’ll find in the cooking of Yunnan province of southwestern China. I’ve been researching and developing recipes from this region during the last three months. Indeed I took a trip to Yunnan in November last year to get a better understanding of the region’s foodways. Why the sudden interest in this cuisine? I’m glad you asked. I have great news to tell you about my involvement in the imminent opening of a Yunnan restaurant in Tribeca.

Also posted in Dry Wok Stir-fry (煸炒), Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | 13 Responses

Turkey Another Way

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: December 31, 2011
Stir-Fried Turkey Over Rice

During Christmas, or Thanksgiving for that matter, many Chinese immigrant families like mine face a dilemma. Should we serve turkey or just simply make a Chinese meal? Turkey has always been an iconic American foods that the Chinese never embraced. Jeff Yang wrote in a Wall Street Journal blog post that his family serves both the big bird and “a long buffet line” of other Chinese dishes. This seems to be the most common solution for satisfying both the family’s preference for Chinese food and our desire to assimilate into the American culinary tradition.

Also posted in Dry Wok Stir-fry (煸炒), Recipes | Tagged , | 4 Responses

No Bones About It

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: November 1, 2011
Steamed Pork Ribs with Fermented Black Beans

“Why don’t they remove the bones before they serve the fish?” is a common question I hear from friends whenever we go to Chinese restaurants. In fact on one occasion after finishing a steamed striped bass at a popular Cantonese seafood restaurant in Chinatown a fellow diner jested that the remains of our dish looked like Felix the Cat had swallowed the fish whole and pulled out a completely cleaned skeleton with just the head and tail left on. So why do the Chinese like to keep the bones in the dishes they cook?

Also posted in Pork, Recipes, Steaming | Tagged , | 21 Responses

Dumpster Diving for Radish Greens

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: July 19, 2011
Pork and Radish Greens Buns

Now that farmers’ market season is in full swing we are spoiled by an abundance of fresh produce. Lettuces, summer squashes and radishes cram the stalls of just about every green market. Sold in a variety of rainbow colors, radishes are especially plentiful, and they’re almost always sold with their greens attached. Most Americans, however, routinely ask the vendors to cut off the greens or they discard them at home. It’s unfortunate because these greens are delicious and nutritious. In northeastern China the slightly peppery leaves are used in many different ways, including in stir-fries, salads and steamed buns.

Also posted in Pork, Steaming, Vegetables | Tagged | 16 Responses

Red Cooked Pork Revisited

By Kian Lam Kho | Published: June 21, 2011
Red cooked pork with buns

A month ago Sabino from Baltimore submitted a comment on the Red Cooked Pork Redux post. It was a comment like I have never seen before. Not only was it voluminous it was also very insightful. He asked detailed questions on cooking and serving red cooked pork. I’m gratified that my readers are actually making authentic Chinese food and are sharing their experiences along the way. I feel compelled to devote an entire post to address the issues brought up in his comments. So here I am writing my third post on the subject of red cooked pork.

Also posted in Pork, Red Cooking | Tagged , , | Series: | 17 Responses

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