THE Pot Sticker Pan

Love Pot stickers? Me too! Have a family too feed? Me too! And for us this means cooking several batches of Pot stickers. This is such a slow process in a frying pan when it only fits 8-10 pot stickers. In Taiwan they had a large deep griddle that they cooked pot stickers on. For a long time I could only find A. too shallow of a griddle, B. a deep griddle with a small incline to drain grease or C. a deep Griddle with no lid. Since pot stickers are both steamed and fried, this means an even surface area that can hold water and a lid to cover it is essential.

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Red Bean Paste Step by Step

1 lb. Adzuiki beans

1 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup real butter

Rinse and soak adzuiki beans in water overnight (or, immerse in cold water, bring to a boil, turnoff heat and soak 1 hour). Drain and discard water. Add 8 cups of water to beans and cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 1 1/2 hours until beans are soft. Strain the beans, pushing the beans through a fine mesh, discard the skins.

Place the strained beans in a cheese cloth bag and squeeze to get out excess moisture. Put the strained beans, butter and sugar in a pan and cook until almost all the water has evaporated stirring the beans continuously  so they stick to on the bottom of the pan .  After refrigerating the bean paste should be thick enough to form into balls。

This method produces a really smooth silky bean paste which is my preference. If you like your red bean paste chunky omit the straining and cheese cloth step.

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锅贴酱汁配方 Four Sea's Dragon Copycat Potsticker Sauce

Some of you have been asking me for a pot sticker sauce like you have had in restaurants. Authentic crispy and tender juicy pot stickers dipped in that amazing sauce is one of life's great indulgences. Sadly the majority of recipes found online and in cookbooks don't come close to resembling what you get at the best pot sticker restaurants in Asia. Searching in Chinese I ran into the same problem. So many many different pot sticker sauce recipes but none anything like what we were aiming for. So determined, we turned to the Japanese. Japanese recipes are where its at? Those recipes were the key to helping us recreate out favorite pot stickers dipping sauce as we had tasted in Taiwan. 

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肉末茄子 Sweet Crispy Eggplant and Pork

If you keep walking past that bright purple vegetable in the Asian section of your grocery store why not pick it up next time you are out and give this recipe a try. It is absolutely delish. Your kids will have no clue they are getting a serving of vegetables. This tastes a little like chunky french fries in a sticky sweet sauce tossed with delicious bits of caramelized ginger, garlic and crispy pork. I love to add a garnish of fresh green onion and cilantro to compliment the sweet ginger sauce and step the dish up to "oh my Gosh!". My dish turned out a little too crispy due to me snapping at least 100 photos during the cooking process, and it was still absolutely to die for. 

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腊味萝卜糕 Golden Crispy Sausage Diakon Radish Cakes

I discovered Diakon cakes while living in Taiwan at the very delicious, ever so popular and plentiful breakfast shops found at almost every corner. I couldn't get enough of this rich, moist and flavorful savory cake with it's golden crispy crust and soft springy inside. Shop owner's were often very surprised and quite amused when I asked for Diakon Cakes instead of one of their many Western influenced dishes. There amusement always put a smile on my face and I would think "who can resist, who can resist..". Does this picture make you want to makes some and eat it right now or what?

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叉烧酥 Cantonese BBQ Pork Pastry- A Dim Sum Favorite

What is your favorite Dim Sum dish? or are you so overwhelmed by the variety of choices that you don't know even where to begin. Crazy about Chinese Food Chelsey here to help. Let me break it down for you bit by bit starting here with one very popular pick to get your mouth watering - Barbecue Pork Pastries with a buttery flaky crust and sweet and savory filling. Only this time you can make it yourself, save your money and get the sense of DIY satisfaction. Then once you have mastered making it at home an outing to a Dim Sum restaurant with friends and family is still worth a just because if only for the sensory and socially marvelous experience that it is. It's is not just about the food right...or is it? He He

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蛋挞 Cantonese Egg Tarts with a Secret Ingredient

Custard Tarts with Portuguese pastry were introduced into Hong Kong in the 1940's by Cha Chaan Teng, a Hong Kong Based Canto-western Restaurant by way of the Portuguese colony of Macau. Hong Kong Egg tarts are an adaption of Pastel de Nata found in Macau. I love how flaky and delicate the shell is with a rich smooth slightly sweet custard. Love at first taste!

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