• making wontons
    Food,  Recipes

    Wrapping up 2018 and wrapping up some Shanghainese wontons

    This is my last post for 2018, and as I wrap up the year, I’m going to share a very traditional recipe that also requires some wrapping up.  Today I’m sharing our family recipe for Shanghainese wontons.  It takes a bit of effort, but homemade wontons are much yummier than store-bought frozen ones, definitely worth the time.  We always make extra to put in the freezer for later as well. Leaving aside cantonese wontons for now, there’s usually two types of Shanghainese wontons:  small ones or big ones.  Literally that’s what they’re called in Chinese. Small wontons (小云吞)- usually filled with just meat and maybe some shrimps, these are “wrapped” as…

  • Braised pork belly
    Food,  Recipes

    Melt in Your Mouth Braised Pork Belly

    My Dad is a great chef and never follows a recipe.  So, in putting together these recipes, it’s my best attempt to extract the details from his brain and document them.  #DadsCooking It’s no secret that Chinese people eat a lot of pork and we are no different.  Growing up though, I wasn’t (and still am not) a big meat eater.  I prefer my veggies, I’m a self-confessed carbaholic, and have a big sweet-tooth.  Days go by where I haven’t had any meat at all, and I’m not even consciously aware of it.  My Grandma and Dad would make these dishes of soft, tender, braised pork chunks, and I’d be very…