If you happen to have one or more pomegranate trees in your garden that have produced a ton of fruit or just bought a bunch from a fire sale, making juice out of them is the way to go. Pomegranate fruits ripen in late fall/early winter here in Southern California and are typically available in the markets around this time. They are not cheap, often selling for up to $6 per pound, and that's why I grow them at home. We have a "Wonderful" variety of pomegranate that is extremel

Aji Amarillos are Peruvian peppers that are yellow when young but eventually ripen to a beautiful orange hue at maturity. I grow these in my garden and just 1 plant can yield an incredible bounty of 40-50 peppers during the summer growing season. They are on the medium-hot scale (30,000 - 50,000 Scoville units) with a delightfully aromatic fruity flavor. I like to blend the peppers into a paste and freeze them for use in recipes for classic Peruvian sauces, stews and ceviche.

I adapted this recipe some years ago from the Classic Turkey Gravy recipe in the December 2007 issue of Cuisine at Home . We usually have Thanksgiving at my sister's with her cooking the turkey, so I was looking for a gravy recipe that I could pre-make the day before and that didn't require using the drippings from a whole roasted turkey. This version uses turkey wings, necks, drumettes, and/or thighs. You can use one, all, or a combo of any of these parts, and the beauty of

I can't extol the deliciousness of rice dumplings enough. In Mandarin, they're called "Jung- dz" and in Taiwanese they're called "Ba tzang." There are many versions of Ba tzang, depending on where you hail from. Regardless of the individual spins on the recipe, it usually incorporates some kind of pork-based filling and is always wrapped in bamboo leaves before steaming.  As a kid, I used to watch my grandmother Ah-ma make Ba tzang, so I have some recollection of the ingredie

This dish is a staple from my childhood - it's a sticky glutinous fried rice that's sautéed with thinly shredded pork loin, dried shrimp, Shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, sesame oil, five spice powder, fried shallots, rice wine, sugar, and white pepper. Taiwanese comfort food at its best! My grandma "Ah Ma" made IMHO the best Yu Bung ever and, although I'll never be able to replicate her version exactly, here's my best shot.

When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I used to call these ebony-hued & ghoulish green-centered duck productions "Thousand-Year-Old Eggs." Not a diss, but simply the moniker that was passed down to me by the family elders. I have to admit I absolutely abhorred the taste of this seeming abomination of nature throughout my formative years. My grandma would always serve these eggs as an appetizer for Chinese New Year, and I always had to find a way to pretend that I ate them. B

This noodle dish is nostalgic for me because it is homey, familiar and, well, Taiwanese! Yellow (egg based) fresh noodles, pork, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, onion, garlic, cabbage and/or bean sprouts, soy sauce and vinegar are the typical ingredients. Both my mom and grandmother used to make their own versions and here's mine.

I adapted this spicy Szechuanese dish from Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbook  Every Grain of Rice. It makes for a great side or appetizer dish as it can be served hot or at room temperature. The chicken is optional, but if you happen to have some left-over rotisserie chicken on hand, it would be a great addition. Prior to coming across this recipe, I didn't even know that buckwheat noodles were utilized in Chinese cuisine since I've only eaten them in Japanese restaurants as cold Sob

Simple is good, and it doesn't get any simpler or 'gooder' than this dish. This is a traditional Shanghainese dish with the requisite dose of sweet & savory flavors. The noodles for this recipe are generally of the thicker, chewier variety (available fresh in most Chinese markets) or else you can substitute with the more ubiquitous Japanese udon noodles.

This is one of Gil's favorite stir-fried noodles and is one of the few things he could actually cook in the kitchen. I decided to tread into Gilbo's culinary turf and came up with this version. The only difference between mine and his is that I've added more chilies and shrooms (i.e., button mushrooms in addition to the shiitakes).

This dish is popular in Cantonese cuisine and one of my favs! The core seasonings and ingredients are usually scallions, bean sprouts, dark & regular soy sauce, Shaohsing wine, and a pinch of sugar. In my version, I also use sesame oil, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, thinly sliced white onion, fresh shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choy. As the Chinese name "Gan Chao" implies, the noodles are "dry fried", but the addition of a savory sauce adds just enough moisture to the dis

Taiwanese stir-fried rice noodles are a staple in Taiwanese cuisine and my grandmother Ah-ma made what I think, in my totally biased opinion, is the best ever rendition of this dish, although my mom's does come in at a very close second. The key ingredients, along with the rice noodles, are shredded green cabbage, onion, scallions, garlic, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, fried shallots, pork, soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. My version incorporates all of th

Lo Mein is a Chinese stir-fried noodle dish consisting of egg noodles, an assortment of meat, veg, and a savory sauce that always includes soy sauce. In this version, I use chicken and shrimp for the meat, bok choy and carrots for the veg, and soy and oyster sauce for the sauce. The ingredients are flexible so feel free to add or substitute with whatever's in your frig, e.g., bean sprouts, mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, snow peas, red bell pepper, etc. High heat is es

My mom is a master with this dish - she makes it for all of our birthdays and often with long life noodles on the side. This is my first crack at it, and it turned out surprisingly delish: just a few ingredients and the cooking method is very similar to that which I use for making braised pork bellies. The key is to cook it low and slow until it's super tender. The onion, carrot, and tomato aren't traditional, but they definitely lend a nice boost of flavor to this dish.

Really good sweet & sour pork should not be laden with tons of eggy, floury batter. Sadly, that's what you'll get at a lot of Chinese fast-food joints. The pork should be marinated in a soy-egg yolk-sesame oil-rice wine mixture and then tossed in a light coating of cornstarch just before frying. And you should also double fry the pork to get the absolute best texture (i.e., fry the pork 3 minutes the first time around, remove & drain, then fry it a second time for another 3-5

If you're a sauerkraut aficionado, then you'll love these Chinese pickled mustard greens, sometimes labeled as "Sour Cabbage" and easy to find in most Asian markets. In Taiwanese, they're called "Giam Tsai" (i.e., "salty vegetable"). They're a staple in home-style cooking in Taiwan and mom would usually stir-fry them with sliced pork, minced garlic & ginger with a pinch of sugar and white pepper. She would also add them to a clear broth to make a light soup with sliced pork a

If you love garlic, then this is the dish for you. Vampires will not be visiting you anytime soon after you've partaken of this garlic palooza. I think there are a couple variations of the sauce for this recipe, one of which is classic Taiwanese and reminiscent of what my mom makes- basically just very finely minced garlic with soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and water. Another sauce is spicier with the addition of sliced fresh chilies and/or chili oil (a Szechuan version). Pork be

Ok. There's absolutely not a whit of fish, fish sauce, or anything fishy in this Szechuan dish, so why is it fish flavored? According to legend, a local Szechuan woman had some leftover sauce comprised of garlic, ginger, scallions, wine, chili sauce and vinegar that  she had always used for cooking fish and one day decided to use it in a different preparation. It was so delicious that the rest is history. Nowadays, "Fish'flavored" sauce is used to cook a variety of different

Szechuan Pickled Vegetable ('Zha Tsai') is a delicious and versatile ingredient which can be used in everything from stir-fries to noodle soups, and as a condiment over cold tofu & thousand-year-old eggs, wontons in chili oil and congee (rice porridge). This "pickle" is essentially the swollen stem of a type of mustard plant that is salted, rubbed in chili spices, pressed and then preserved-traditionally in some type of earthenware jar. Nowadays you can buy these in convenien

This traditional dish from Beijing consists of shredded pork marinated in soy, rice wine, sugar and cornstarch which is then sauteed in a sauce of sweet bean paste, sesame oil, and rice wine, then poured over a bed of thinly sliced scallion before serving. Great served with steamed white rice or wrapped in a "bing" (Chinese wheat flour pancake).