In many Asian snacks, you often see a lot of sweet and savory flavor combinations, such as corn and seaweed snacks or this furikake Chex mix. I love this play on sweet and savory flavors and wanted to develop a snack recipe that does the same. The inspiration for these furikake rice krispies treats comes from some of my favorite childhood snacks: rice krispies treats, rice crackers, and toasted seaweed sheets. I combined rice krispies cereal with crescent-shaped rice crackers and added furikake for more umami flavor. These furikake rice krispies treats have a lovely sweet and savory flavor an ..read more

Growing up in a Chinese household, I always found Asian rice cracker snacks stashed away in the cupboards. The subtle toasted rice aroma in these snacks made them irresistible to eat. As much as I love snacking on various types of rice crackers, I never thought about cooking with them until I was shopping at 99 Ranch Market the other day. I walked past a display of Bin Bin rice crackers (可口賓賓) and thought, “Wouldn’t they make amazing breadcrumbs?” That sudden lightbulb moment inspired to rework my baked butternut squash mac and cheese recipe and add rice cracker crumbs. TESTING DIFFERENT RICE ..read more

Whenever my I make Mama Lin’s nian gao (年糕, new year’s cake) for Lunar New Year, I usually pan fry the cake to give the cake crispy edges. A few years ago, someone suggested that I turn the nian gao into waffles. It sounded like a fantastic idea, and I don’t know why it has taken me so long to actually try making them. When I finally cooked a batch of nian gao waffles the other week, I was blown away by how delicious they tasted! The waffle iron gives the nian gao lots of nice crispy edges, while the center stays soft and chewy. I loved biting into the waffle and tasting the contrasting textu ..read more

When I was a little kid, I was very afraid of black sesame desserts because I didn’t understand how food could turn dark like ink. Fortunately, Mama Lin helped me out of that phase by preparing delicious treats like her sesame candy and black sesame soup (芝麻糊). Now, I love incorporating black sesame into desserts, using the whole seeds in sesame cookies or grinding them into a paste for sesame tang yuan (芝麻湯圓, sesame glutinous rice balls).  Recently, I discovered Rooted Fare’s crunchy black sesame butter, which is an all-purpose spread. Although I haven’t tried that product yet, I liked ..read more

Thank you to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post! Whenever I visit my family in San Francisco, I always make treats for them to enjoy. My family generally has a sweet tooth, but they’ve had to watch their sugar intake in recent years due to health issues. That’s why I try not to prepare foods that are too sweet. These ginger and sesame cookies are just the kind thing my family will enjoy. They’re crispy, nutty, slightly sweet, and have a bit of zingy ginger flavor.  In San Francisco, there is a Chinese bakery called 小麥田 (Fancy Wheat Field) that sells thin sesame cookies topped with l ..read more

When I was a teenager, I would often come home from school feeling incredibly hungry. There weren’t many snacks in my house, but I could always find packets of instant mashed potatoes that my family bought from Costco. So I cooked these instant mashed potatoes and added sautéed Chinese sausage and onions for more flavor. Eating mashed potatoes while watching the Golden Girls became an afternoon ritual. As a nod to the culinary adventures of my youth, I made mashed potato waffles with Chinese sausage. I love how the waffle iron creates thin and crisp pockets that contrast nicely with the soft ..read more

‘Tis the season for gatherings, food, and panic about what to bring to a holiday potluck. If any of you are scrambling to figure out what to bring to a party, look no further than these pumpkin spice rice krispies treats. They are easy to make and will be a crowd pleaser! I’ve packed a lot of spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves) in this recipe so that you can taste all those lovely warm flavors with every bite. Mama Lin trying one of the test batches of treats. She approves.COOKING NOTES FOR PUMPKIN SPICE RICE KRISPIES TREATS USING MORE CEREAL This pumpkin spice rice krispi ..read more

When the weather starts to get a little chilly, I feel the urge to cozy up to a bowl of congee. I find so much comfort in a warm bowl of savory rice porridge. In Chinese, congee is called 粥, and it’s pronounced jook in Cantonese and zhou in Mandarin. I’ve published several congee recipes in the past: one version made with dried seafood and a vegan version made with shiitake mushrooms, lemongrass, and ginger. I wanted to develop a congee recipe that incorporates fall and winter flavors, so I made this kabocha congee, which uses kabocha purée. Not only does the kabocha purée add a subtle sweet ..read more

Sweet rice cakes with red bean paste filling are something that Mama Lin makes often for gatherings. They are flat “cakes” with a chewy mochi-like exterior and smooth red bean paste in the center. In Chinese, these cares are called 糯米餅. The phrase 糯米 means glutinous rice and 餅 generally refers to circular and flat prepared foods. This may include scallion pancakes, cookies, or cakes like you see in this recipe.  My mom showed me how to make these sweet rice cakes a while ago, but it has taken me some time to practice and streamline the recipe. In her recipe, my mom bakes the rice cakes ..read more

After publishing my spicy eggplant stir fry recipe, quite a few people asked if there was a way to prepare the eggplant with less oil. In that recipe, I shallow fry eggplant in 3/4 cup of oil, which softens the eggplant nicely, while preserving the lovely purple hue of the skin. Admittedly, I don’t cook food regularly with that much oil either. That’s why I developed this air fryer eggplant recipe, which is more practical for everyday meals.  It uses much less oil, and the eggplant has a nice soft texture once it’s cooked. Simply brush the eggplant with oil and pop into the air fryer. I ..read more