Category Archives: By Ingredient

Pork, Lotus Root and Black Bean Soup

This healthy soup is so delicious, you’ll be begging for more!

lotus root and black bean soup

We were having dinner in a Chinese restaurant the other day. Nate wasn’t feeling very good and so he wanted some herbal chicken soup. But the waitress said they only had two soups for that day—one was a black chicken soup and the other was this lotus root and black bean soup.

I remember that the Chinese believe that chicken is not good when you are coughing. Strange eh? I also remember another friend who had recommended black beans as a cure for coughs. So we agreed and ordered it. I told her that Nate’s throat wasn’t feeling very good and she immediately pointed to the black bean soup.

When the soup came, the whole family drank it up in no time at all. It was seriously good! The pork bones and the lotus roots were tender, the black beans were creamy and the soup was just comforting in flavor besides being very delicious. Esther actually wanted some more soup at the end when we were all done. We tried to get her to do an Oliver and go to the kitchen with her bowl and ask for more but she was too shy 🙂

We didn’t want to order another big bowl just for her so I told her I would try to make the lotus root soup for her the next day. Good thing this restaurant was next to a grocery store so I picked up some black beans and lotus roots. I already had pork bones at home so I was good to go.

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Steamed Chicken with Salt Fish Recipe

Stuck in a rut, and looking for something new and tasty to do with chicken?

steamed chicken with salted fish

It was Sunday, and I was tossing ideas in my head of what I should cook. I had taken out some chicken drumettes from the freezer the night before with some idea that I would cook it tonight for dinner. The whole morning, I tossed some ideas around in my head. What could I do with those drumettes?

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Chicken with Cognac

Take a boring chicken and maximize the flavor with tons of aromatics and umami flavors…plus some delicious brandy.

chicken with cognac

I was at a friend’s house in Kuching a month ago and she served us a lovely chicken dish flavored with lots of lemongrass. It was cooked in homemade Chinese red wine, she explained, and she had added dark soy and shiitake mushrooms. It was delicious.

I decided that I would have to try to make it myself when I got a chance. However, I didn’t have any home-made red wine to use. What I did have was a bottle of really good cognac that had been left by the previous owner of our rental home. We don’t really drink too much liquor but I’ve always been able to use them in my cooking. Maybe this was a waste of really good cognac but let me tell you, this dish was the BOMB!

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Egg Fu Yong with Green Beans and Daikon

A simple, yet satisfying dinner dish.

house of annie egg foo young

When I was growing up, eggs were not just something you had at breakfast. As a matter of fact, we probably had eggs more often at dinner time than we did at breakfast. I love all types of egg dishes. And I don’t really care what people say about eggs—they are the most economical and perfect food. One day, when I have my own place, I plan to raise my own chickens and get me some fresh eggs everyday!

So anyway, getting back to egg dishes, my mom would make egg fuyong every so often and we loved it. As a matter of fact, the simplest recipe—sauteed slice onions with beaten eggs (onion egg fuyong) is still one of my favorite egg dishes today. And my kids wolf it down too everytime I make it.

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