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8 Chinese New Year Recipes Ideas for a Lucky Year!

2/6/2021

Chinese New Year 2021 is Friday February 12, 2021 and it's the Year of the OX!

It's a longstanding Chinese tradition to have a nice family gathering for dinner on CNY Eve, complete with lucky red envelopes and symbolic Lunar New Year foods.

Below are my 8 recommendations for what you should consider adding to your menu.

(✿ For a video preview of these recipes, check out my video for 8 Chinese New Year Recipes for You.)

1. Chinese New Year Cake (sweet sticky rice) | 年糕 Niángāo

A very traditional sweet dessert made from sticky rice, the name of this cake literally means "higher year". Steamed, then served as is, or lightly pan fried, this dish tastes like warm sweet mochi.

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15 minute ♥ Instant Pot Boba - Easy Make At Home Recipe!

3/31/2020

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Hello again! It's been a while since I've posted and a lot has changed in this world. There's a pandemic and things have come to a standstill for most people as we shelter in place. For me personally, it's been hard to balance taking care of my elderly grandparents, while still taking the time to relax and practice self care. It's during these times, that I often crave a comforting cup of bubble tea to break up the day. : )

Bubble tea always seems to put a smile on my face so I wanted to share my favorite way to make boba at home using my Instant Pot Mini Duo. Cooking boba (aka tapioca pearls) isn't hard, and with the help of an Instant Pot, this recipe makes cooking boba easier. Let's start with the Boba.

I'm using a bag of Premium Tapioca Pearls from Bolle brand. The ingredients in the boba pearls themselves are listed on the package as just Tapioca Starch, Water, Caramel, and Maple Syrup Flavor. Once the bag is open I keep them stored tightly in a glass mason jar, but the key is to keep the boba dry in an airtight container (no refrigeration needed).

For one serving of boba (this is enough for 1 cup of bubble tea) I use about 1/4 cup of the dry pearls. Fill up your Instant Pot (IP) with a generous amount of water, and activate the saute feature on the IP so the water comes to a rolling boil. Add the boba and quickly give it a gentle stir so the pearls won't stick to the bottom. I like to stir 3 times waiting in between for 20 seconds or so, and usually by the end of the 3rd stir, the pearls are floating by themselves.

Next, cover and seal your IP and set the Pressure Cooker to 15 minutes on HIGH (Normal) setting and allow it to rest for 15 minutes in keep warm mode after it's done cooking. My Instant Pot reads L015 (representing 15 minutes in keep warm mode). Quick release (if needed), then remove the boba to rinse and drain.

Important Step: You must use cold water to rinse and drain to stop the cooking process and make your boba chewy! Don't be shy here!

Instant Pot Boba - Cooked

After draining, you can sweeten your boba with brown sugar (1 tsp.) and let it sit to absorb the sugar. Boba is best eaten fresh (so cooked and consumed within a few hours). Enjoy!

Watch my Full Video Tutorial for How to Cook Instant Pot Boba

Instant Pot Boba

Bring water to rolling boil, add boba
15 minutes Pressure Cook (High, Normal)
15 minutes keep warm, then quick release

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How to Make Taiwanese Shaved Ice (礤冰) at Home

5/12/2018

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One of the most satisfying traditional Taiwanese desserts on a hot summer day has got to be 礤冰 or Shaved Ice. My first memory of eating shaved ice was actually in Monterey, California more than 20 years ago. My family was visiting a friend and she took us to a popular shaved ice shop. There were so many toppings to choose from (mostly Asian toppings that looked unique) and I got my own bowl topped with a generous amount of sweetened condensed milk!

Since that day, I seek and crave Taiwanese Shaved Ice whenever the summers are hot, or whenever I travel back to Monterey or Taiwan. For the times in-between, I get my shaved ice fix preparing this dessert at home.

The key to making Taiwanese Shaved Ice, is the Shaved Ice Maker which needs to make light fluffy snow (a hallmark of really good shaved ice) and the Asian toppings. Luickly, when I set off to make shaved ice at home, I came across a really good and inexpensive shaved ice machine from Hawaiian Shaved Ice (retails on Amazon for under $35). I was worried the ice shavings might not be fluffy enough, but those worries were put to rest after testing it out using the ice moulds to make ice 'pucks'. If you're wondering, it's also okay to use regular ice cubes in this machine, but the texture of the shavings won't be as soft.

Hawaiian Shaved Ice Maker

You'll also want to prepare your toppings. Popular toppings in shaved ice include barley, boba pearls, taro, boiled peanuts, red bean, mung (green) beans and many more, all usually topped with sweetened condensed milk.

I found the easiest was to prepare most of the ingredients in advance and store them in small containers in the fridge. The ones that kept best overnight were the barley and the mung beans. I made both of these by cooking in a pressure cooker for 20-35 minutes each. The length of time really depends on the texture you want. I still like the toppings to have a bit of firm texture to them so they aren't mushy.

How to Prep toppings in a Pressure cooker:
Add the dried beans (or barley) to your pressure cooker and a generous amount of water. The water doesn't need to be exact, but you'll need plenty of water so there's room for the toppings to boil and cook. I was testing out a new pressure cooker machine (the Cuckoo Multi Cooker which is similar to InstantPot) and used the Vegetables setting for 20 - 35 minutes. Discard the water after cooking is complete and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. If you like your toppings on the super soft/ mushy side, go closer to the 35 minutes, otherwise I recommend 20-25.

Toppings like frozen mochi balls or even tapioca pearls can be prepped the day of making this treat as they don't keep well and are best eaten freshly cooked or made an hour before.

If you want to watch how I made Taiwanese Shaved Ice dessert at home, check out my video recipe/ tutorial I posted on YouTube. Happy Shaved Ice Making!

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Bubble Tea in San Francisco | Asha Tea House & Boba Guys

8/3/2017

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This summer I've been traveling a lot and being the bubble tea lover that I am, I jump on the opportunity to try new boba places.

During my last few trips down to California, I tried several bubble tea shops in San Francisco and these are my two favorites. Asha Tea House near Union Square, and Boba Guys. Boba Guys having several locations throughout the Bay Area.

Both shops had great reviews on Yelp in addition to having modern and clean looking store aesthetics. Which one was better?

I really liked the interior of Asha Tea House (17 Kearny Street, Financial District). It was close to Union Square and as a visitor to the city, it was nice to walk around, sightsee, window-shop and somewhere in between take a break from all the walking and sip on your favorite tea drink. 🍵

There were a few tables so you can chat with your friends and a handful of barstools to sit at in the back. Of the times I was there, most of the seats were almost full, so you may need to wait or sit at the barstool counter.

Interior of Asha Tea House

I waited 30 minutes in line for this drink from Boba Guys.

How about the BOBA?

I think Asha had better boba compared to Boba Guys, plus the taste of their tea was great.

That's not to say Boba Guys wasn't good as I liked how their stores were sprinkled throughout town which makes it convenient for a solid cup of bubble tea when you have those cravings, I just found that the drinks on the days that I went were slightly watered down and the lines were surprisingly extra long (15-30 minutes) which compared to Asha (barely any wait) made it less appealing to go.

Both places allowed you to customize your drinks (sweetness level, milk alternative options) and both took credit cards (which is great when you don't carry cash). While there were a good amount of different bubble tea shops in downtown SF, I always found myself going back to Asha and Boba Guys. If you're traveling in the area, and you love 💕 bubble tea, I highly recommend swinging by these two.

How about you guys? What's your favorite BBT place in SF or Northern California?

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Tiger Tacook IH Rice Cooker & Giveaway!

8/17/2016

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Rice Cooker Giveaway (details at bottom of blog post)

A side of rice is a staple in my home whenever I cook Asian food, so this small kitchen appliance is like my best friend.

It's been over 10 years since I've upgraded my rice cooker, so I was really excited when Tiger Corporation reached out to see if I would test their latest Induction Heating Tacook Rice Cooker. I opted to try out their 5.5 cup model (JKT-S10U) instead of the larger 10-cup model.

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My Taiwan Trip & Video Vlogs ~ 2016

4/16/2016

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I just got back from a fun 3 week trip to Taiwan where I spent most of my time in the main city of Taipei. It has been 5 years since I last went back to visit, but the food scene was still as good as I remembered it. I filmed a few Vlogs when I went back, so do check those out if you're interested in the culture and travel, and when I get settled back into my normal routine, I'll try and post photos and addresses of my favorite foodie places in case you guys wanted to try those out for yourself the next time you're in Taipei! 😁

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Breakfast Sausage Fried Rice ♥ Holiday Gatherings Made Easy

12/16/2015

If you're in charge of cooking this holiday season and want to spend more time with family and friends, consider my entree of choice for large gatherings:

• Breakfast Sausage Fried Rice •

It's easy to make in big batches and if you have rice at home, you will most likely have the other ingredients on hand. It's perfect for those last minute family visits and potlucks.

Holiday Kitchen Favorites & Subscriber Giveaway!

12/7/2015

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(click to watch the video)

I love looking for new kitchen gadgets and tools! This month, I had a lot of fun shopping for neat gift ideas for my Holiday Edition Kitchen Favorites video.

This month's favorites features 10 products, some small enough for stocking suffers and some already boxed for gifting. If you haven't watched the video yet, check it out here.

♥ Interested in entering my Kitchen Favorites Subscriber Giveaway?

Giveaway Closed:
Congratulations to Nicole Nguyen!

I'll be giving away the super cute Silpat Macaron Kit. It comes with everything you need to make your own macarons at home:

piping tips
piping bag
Silpat macaron baking mat
food coloring gels
recipes
candy thermometer
and more!

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