Wontons are not hard to make but are slightly labor intensive because they are on the small side and you have to make so many of them (2 lbs. of filling will yield 50-60 wontons, which is about the number of wrappers you'll get in a typical package of wonton wrappers). If you have an hour or more to spare though, it's totally worth the effort. Come to think of it, that's probably why my mom decided to have kids. I have 'fond' memories of my sis and I back in the day having oo

For years I've been obsessed with the idea of cooking up and hosting a grand Chinese New Year banquet in the tradition of those 10+ course feasts that my grandparents used to make for the occasion back in Taiwan. Both my grandpa (Ah-Kung) and grandma (Ah-Ma) were fabulous home cooks, so emulating their dishes has always been a totally daunting task. Their main courses always included steamed whole fish with scallions, ginger and garlic, sautéed jumbo prawns in a sweet and sou

This is my take on a recipe made famous and ubiquitous by the PF Chang restaurant chain. I prefer to use ground pork rather than ground chicken in this preparation and the sauce is a tad less salty than the PFC version. The fresh lettuce leaves are perfect wraps for the flavorful meat filling.

This recipe is my version of a dish my grandfather used to make. Can be served at either room temperature or cold out of the frig.

This is my take on a Chinese-style spicy cucumber salad. I had some leftover veggies in the frig (daikon radish, carrots and a red bell pepper) and didn't want them to go to waste, so decided to add them to this dish. Super easy and even better after marinating for at least 24 hours before serving.

This sweet and sour pickled cabbage is a traditional condiment in Taiwan. There's no oil and just a hint of chili for a very mild spice kick. And for those in the know, it's also a staple and must-have side with stinky tofu. Green cabbage, readily available in most supermarkets, works great for this recipe. But if you can find "Taiwan" green cabbage in an Asian market, I'd go with that. Very refreshing and yum!

A great summer appetizer since cucumbers taste great whether cold out of the frig or at room temperature. I adapted this recipe from Huang Sau Yen's Chinese Culinary Arts for Today , one of my mom's Taiwanese cookbooks from the 1970s, which she bequeathed to me when I came to California in '83 .  The Szechuan peppercorns are what distinguish this dish with their unique, aromatic, slightly tingly peppery flavor.

I adapted this recipe from two sources: Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking and Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook . It's a classic cold dish/appetizer which consists of sliced fresh cucumbers, minced garlic, chili oil, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and soy sauce with the addition of ground Szechuan peppercorns, which make the flavors distinctively 'Szechuanese.' The peppercorns are uniquely 'spicy' with a numbing rather than chili-hot quality to them.

This dish is a popular item on the Dim Sum menu. They are not beef balls a la Rocky Mountain oysters, but rather steamed meatballs made from finely minced ground beef that has first been marinated in baking soda (helps to tenderize), then seasoned with, amongst other things, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, pepper, minced ginger, cilantro, and a small amount of grated orange peel. The addition of cornstarch, egg white and water makes the meatballs extra smooth, moist, lig

A traditional Taiwanese dish, the three main ingredients (other than the chicken) are sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine. The name "Three Cup" suggests that you should use one cup of each of these ingredients. But in my version (for 2-3 lbs. of chicken) I actually use 1/4 cup regular soy, 1/4 cup dark soy, 1/4 cup rice wine, and 1/4 cup of sesame oil. IMHO, one cup of any of these in this recipe maybe too much of a good thing...To die for served over steamed white rice! Pre-

This Cantonese-style/Southern Chinese dish is either ingeniously delicious in its simplicity, deliciously simple in its ingenuity, or just plain simple and delicious (I opt for the latter). It's essentially a poached wine, salt, sesame oil-rubbed whole chicken that's sliced or perhaps hacked is a better term (I'll explain later) and served with a ginger-scallion-oil dipping sauce. Yup. That's it. No more, no less. The typical way of serving this dish is to literally hack the

My maternal Grandpa (Ah-kung) used to make this dish to perfection. I can't quite replicate it, but here's my best rendition. Ah-kung was originally from Fujian province in China, and tended to use a liberal amount of vinegar, soy and sugar in his cuisine (spice was not part of the regimen). I have such fond memories of his perpetually happy countenance and super cool laid-back personality. I miss him dearly.