We really loved the street food in Taiwan. On the island of Cijin that is part of the harbor city of Kaohsiung, we had very tasty oyster cakes. You could also call them fritters, because the oysters are deep fried … Continue reading Taiwanese Oyster Cakes
Our friend Marjolein makes great Asian style food, and we really liked this variation on the well-known Peking duck that she prepared for us. Usually Peking duck is all about the skin, but in Marjolein’s version it is all about … Continue reading Duck Breast with Hoisin and Pancakes
These oysters are a famous dish from Chinese restaurant Nam Kee in Amsterdam, because a book and movie have been named after them (and because they are so good). The oysters are steamed with a Chinese black bean sauce. You … Continue reading Steamed Oysters with Black Bean Sauce (Oesters van Nam Kee)
Haddock (schelvis in Dutch) is the lesser cousin of cod, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare a nice dish with it. Still inspired by our Taiwan trip, I decided to pan fry it and serve it with Asian flavors. … Continue reading Pan Fried Haddock, Asian Style
Whenever we tried vegetables in restaurants in Taiwan, they were always prepared quite simply: stir cooked (first stir fried and then steamed by adding water) with garlic and sometimes some additional ingredients like ginger, chilli, tiny shrimp, or a bit … Continue reading Taiwanese Stir Cooked Cabbage with Tiny Shrimp
As Taiwan is an island we traveled along the coast, it is not surprising that seafood was abundant and fresh. Squid was available as street food (recipe to follow in the summer) and stir fried in restaurants. At 旗后活海產 on Cijin … Continue reading Taiwanese Squid with Thai Basil and Ginger
During our vacation in Taiwan I discovered that I really liked the cuisine: high quality fresh ingredients, prepared simply but skillfully to allow the flavor of the ingredients to shine. Vegetables were often prepared very simply: stir fried with a … Continue reading Gai Lan
When choosing a restaurant in Taiwan, do not let the (lack of) decor fool you, as it does not say anything about the quality of the food. Besides, most restaurants look like this so you would probably starve if you … Continue reading Taiwanese Stir Fried Shrimp With Black Beans
In Taiwan we had a lot of fried rice. Every restaurant makes it in a slightly different way. Constant factors seemed to be green onions (scallions) and eggs. Often tiny dried salted shrimp were added. Sometimes diced ham or slivers … Continue reading Fried Rice
This is the first of a series of dishes that we really enjoyed in Taiwan and I wanted to recreate at home: dumplings that have soup in them, that will burst open in your mouth as you eat them. They … Continue reading Steamed Soup Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao)
Saté is Indonesian for a grilled skewer of meat or seafood. Popular versions are chicken and goat. Four years ago, Putneyfarm posted a recipe for a Singapore/American version of shrimp satay (saté udang) that I put on my list of … Continue reading Shrimp Satay (Saté Udang)
Teriyaki is a Japanese cooking technique in which fish or meat is broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, sake, and mirin (sweet sake). (Making your own teriyaki marinade is better than store-bought versions that include too many … Continue reading Salmon Teriyaki Sous-Vide with Bok Choy
When I saw black been beaf on One Man’s Meat, I knew at once I wanted to make a sous-vide version. Conor’s Asian recipes are always quick, simple, and full of flavor. Sous-vide takes the quickness out of it, but … Continue reading Black Bean Beef Sous-Vide
A couple of months ago, completely out of the blue, I received a message from Premshree of polkadotsocks.net. He mentioned he would be visiting Amsterdam, and wondered if I’d be interested in sharing a meal together. It’s always fun to … Continue reading Food Blogging International: Premshree’s Coconut Red Lentil Curry
Ladyredspecs aka Sandra has a great blog Please Pass The Recipe, which I have been following for years. Although geographically speaking India is about halfway between us, in terms of climate or familiarity with the cuisine, she is a lot … Continue reading Spinach Kofta in Tomato Gravy
Suzanne of apuginthekitchen recently posted about a coconut cauliflower soup that looked great, and so I wanted to try making it as well. With roasted cauliflower, coconut milk, and Thai red curry paste it promised great depth of flavor. As … Continue reading Cauliflower Coconut Soup with Ginger and Turmeric
My recent short trip to India inspired me to try and cook some more Indian food. After the success of Shahi Salmon, I decided to try my hand at Lamb Korma. It is similar because it also has a creamy … Continue reading Lamb Korma
With as much cooking experience as I have, most new dishes I try turn out well the first time I make them. And so what you read on this blog is mostly successes. But to allow you to learn from … Continue reading Oyster Sauce: Don’t Try This At Home
We’re on a wine discovery vacation in Spain, and so there have been a lot of posts about Spanish wine lately. Although I do intend to write more about wine than I used to, this will remain primarily a cooking … Continue reading Five-Spice Duck with Napa Cabbage and Noodles
This is not an authentic Thai dish, but my own creation that was heavily inspired by Thai cuisine. Plaice (Dutch: schol) is a flatfish that is very common in the Netherlands. I had some rawit (Thai red chillis), galangal, and … Continue reading Thai Style Fish Mousse and Napa Cabbage
My friend Melvin is great at cooking Asian dishes, and recently he made tom yum goong for us. This is a sour (from lime) and spicy (from chillis) Thai soup with shrimp. We liked it a lot, so I wanted … Continue reading Thai Sour and Spicy Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Goong)
Recently I posted a recipe for goat satay, saté kambing, prepared sous-vide. This had turned out to so well that I wanted to make it again soon, but this time with chicken. Unlike goat (or lamb) shoulder, chicken meat is tender … Continue reading Chicken Satay (Saté Ajam)
Blade steak or flat iron steak is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef that when you cook it sous-vide becomes more flavorful than many more expensive cuts of steak, and just as tender. Look for steaks with a lot of … Continue reading Blade Steak Sous-Vide with Shii Take Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce
I’ve never been to India and I’ve never even eaten at an Indian restaurant. But I was curious about the cuisine, and so it was a great pleasure that two natives, Vinod and Seema, were willing to cook for me … Continue reading Introduction to Indian Cuisine
I’ve just had this for dinner and it was so good that I wanted to blog about it straight away! Satay is Indonesian for a grilled meat skewer. Saté babi is pork, saté ajam is chicken, and saté kambing is … Continue reading Saté Kambing (Lamb or Goat Satay with Peanut Sauce)
I love recipes that use all parts of an ingredient. When I saw the recipe for deconstructed duck fried rice on Simon’s blog Stranded on the Island, which uses the duck breast, skin, and fat from the skin, I decided straight … Continue reading Duck Fried Rice
Doesn’t this salmon look amazing? Believe me, it tastes as tender and juicy as it looks! That is because it has been cooked sous-vide at 43C/109F. What makes this dish even more mouth-watering, is that the salmon has been cooked … Continue reading Salmon Sous-Vide with Thai Green Curry Paste and Bok Choy
Shrimp and mushrooms are a classic combination in stir fry dishes. In this Chinese-style dish, I’ve added another layer of flavor by braising dried shii take mushrooms in oyster sauce first. It is a bit more work, but worth it. … Continue reading Stir Fried Shrimp with Braised Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce
Char Siu is pork that is marinated in a sweet spicy red sauce, and then cooked while basting with the marinade until crispy on the outside. When the pork is cooked sous-vide, the result is even more spectacular because of … Continue reading Char Siu Sous-Vide (Chinese BBQ Pork)
Panang is a Thai curry made with meat and red curry paste enriched with peanuts, cumin, and coriander. It does not contain vegetables, except that it is garnished with chiffonaded kaffir lime leaves and thinly sliced red chilli peppers. I’ve … Continue reading Thai Panang Curry Pork Belly Sous-Vide
