Category Archives: In the news-reviews, articles

A popular New York Times recipe

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Last week in the April 1, 2017 edition of  The New York Times digital feature “Our Ten Most Popular Recipes Right Now” I was surprised to find Stir-fried Pork and Pineapple from The Hakka Cookbook (page 92). A friend had alerted me to the publication. The recipe had come from an article that Mark Bittman had written in 2013 after he had visited my kitchen to cook with me from The Hakka Cookbook. Here’s the original story.

I had eaten this easy dish in a Hakka tea house in Taiwan. Stir-fry pork strips with fresh pineapple chunks, bits of crunchy black fungus, and hot chile slices. The dish reminds me of a purer, leaner, fresher take on sweet and sour pork. Give it a try.

Learn the secret to moist chicken breasts

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Last week my friend Lorraine Witte at The Chinese Lady posted a youtube video of the two of us cooking together. We cooked Steeped Chicken Breasts (page 22) with Fresh Ginger-Onion Sauce (page 66) from The Hakka Cookbook.

The recipe uses an easy Chinese steeping technique uses residue heat to gently cook chicken so the meat remains moist and juicy. Learn how to do it in this video. The zesty sauce of minced fresh ginger and green onion also uses a Chinese technique with boiling hot oil that preserves the fresh flavor of the ingredients but tames their harsh raw bite. Add these techniques to your go-to cooking secrets.

If you would like to see my other food videos check out the ones I have on grokker.com . I demonstrate how to cook Chinese dishes, some are Hakka. There is a free 14-day trial period if you register. Afterwards, use my personal discount code– lindaa9monthly –to get the reduced price of $9 a month. You are not limited to my recipes. There are almost 1700 food videos from 52 experts that teach baking to healthy cooking. Also if you are a yoga or fitness devotee, there’s over 80 teachers and1800 videos to choose from with a monthly price cheaper than a single yoga class.

Hakka pork-stuffed tofu

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pork stuffed tofuLast weekend, Lorraine Witte, The Chinese Lady and author, invited me to her kitchen to cook some dishes from The Hakka Cookbook. We cooked a famous Hakka classic, stuffed tofu (niong dou fu). This dish was invented as a result of migration. When the Hakka migrated to the south, they wanted to make the dumpling they had eaten in the north. They could not find the wheat flour needed to make the dumpling wrappers so they improvised and stuffed the meat filling into chunks of tofu.

You can watch us cooking pork stuffed tofu here. The full recipe appears on page 33 of The Hakka Cookbook and originally came from Natalie Com Liu who taught me in her kitchen in Lima, Peru.

IMG_3774There are many variations to stuffed tofu. The original filling was pork because the Hakka lived inland. As they migrated to the coasts, they often added seafood. The tofu could be steamed, deep-fried, poached, or pan-browned and braised. This steamed version is one of the simplest. Feel free to embellish the ginger-scented pork filling to your tastes.

New York Hakka Conference

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IMG_0728When I attended my first Hakka conference in Toronto in 2008, a feeling of belonging overwhelmed me. It was the first time I was in the company of so many Hakka, guest people like me. All my life I lived mostly in a Western world, feeling different than most Chinese who spoke Cantonese or Mandarin. I knew few Hakka.

The feeling of finding family came again when I attended the first New York Hakka Conference last weekend. Reclaiming our Hakka heritage was the theme. Co-chairs Dr. Keith Lowe and Paula Madison Williams succeeded in bringing Hakkas together to learn about their shared roots and history. From the evening of October 16 to October 18, attendees immersed themselves in Hakka culture, often with a Jamaican vibe since many of the attendees had Jamaican roots.

We listened to speakers discuss how to find our Hakka roots through Chinese names and cemetery records. We learned about the Chinese success as shopkeepers, bakers, and businessmen in the Caribbean. We saw photos of Hakka earth buildings and Hakka food. Revealing films took us into the lives of Hakka searching for their long lost families in China, growing up in China, and living in India.

The Hakka are one people with a shared history. Find your Hakka heritage at next year’s Fifth Toronto Hakka Conference, July 1 to 3, 2016.

New York Hakka Conference

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nyc Hakka“Reclaiming our Hakka Heritage” is the theme of the first New York Hakka Conference. This conference aims to educate people of Hakka and Hakka-Chinese descent in retaining and adapting their traditional culture. Any interested person can attend. The conference starts Friday night October 16 and ends Sunday October 18, 2015.

A festive Friday evening reception at the Museum of Chinese in America kicks off the conference with The Nation Music of Jamaica’s Bryon Lee.

On Saturday and Sunday film screenings, panel discussions, and presentations will be held at the Cantor Film Center at New York University. View the documentary film, “Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem. Learn about Hakka earth buildings, Hakka Migrations, Chinese names and Hakka generations, Chinese success as shopkeepers and entrepreneurs, and much more.

I will be sharing a slide presentation on Hakka cuisine on Saturday afternoon. Register NY Hakka Conference now and join me for a weekend of discovery.

The Cleaver Quarterly

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the cleaver quarterlyJust received my comp copy of issue 4 of The Cleaver Quarterly. I found my interview  on page 73. Click Dandelion Cuisine to read. I love the way the article looks with my brother’s (Alan Lau) colorful art. The article shows what the book might have looked like if the publisher’s budget could have afforded the use of 4 color in the book.dandelion cuisine

A few months ago a message landed in my inbox, “We would love to interview you in our magazine, The Cleaver Quarterly.” I was impressed with their unique interview questions that indicated they had read The Hakka Cookbook thoroughly. I had never seen the publication so did a web search. Since it is a print-only magazine, I couldn’t find articles online but got a taste of their mission.

If you are into Chinese food, The Cleaver Quarterly is for you. This year-old publication, headquartered in Beijing, figure more people eat Chinese than any other cuisine. Their focus is to connect people through their passion for Chinese cuisine. This indie publication—sort of like a Chinese-focused version of Lucky Peach—seeks to tell stories through long-form writing. Yeah! Such sentiments are almost unheard of in this age of short bites of text. Irreverent art, photo essays, and illustrations add visual punch to the pages.

In the same issue on page 76, you will also find “Can-Do Attitude,” an interview by Winston Chang, who grew up in a Hakka shopkeeper’s family in Trinidad. Read more about him in The Hakka Cookbook.

Since the magazine is not supported by ads, it is priced higher than glossy ad-supported mass media publications.  Visit their website to see where to buy or get a subscription. I have seen the magazine at Omnivore Books in San Francisco.

The Chinese in San Francisco

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San Francisco MagazineCheck out this month’s issue (April 2015) of San Francisco. It’s a special issue on the Chinese city in San Francisco. I haven’t read the whole magazine yet, but wanted you to check it out before the issue disappears. The editors and writers reveal a fresh insider’s view on the Chinese community, politics, language, the workplace, education, and so much more. I have discovered so much in just the few pieces I have read.

Linda-S.F.Mag.04.15+2For foodies, read the section on Delicacies. Want to know how the soup gets in XLB (xiao long bao) and where to taste the best? Where to buy the best Chinese pastries? Read the illustrated dim sum guide by Asian Dumplings author, Andrea Nguyen. Get the lowdown on where to buy a wok. Learn about hot spots for Chinese regional cuisine. BTW, you will find my comments on the Hakka Restaurant in the article on page 49 and page 56.

Cooking class in San Mateo

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Learn about Hakka history, my global journey to find my Hakka identity through food, and Chinese New Year traditions. Check out my new slide presentation for this special event at
San Mateo County Libraries located in San Carlos, Foster City, and Millbrae on February 25, 26 and March 4. The event is called Cooking Asian with Linda Anusasananan.

Ingredients Mustard green soupI will follow with a cooking class showing how to cook three easy dishes: Fresh Ginger-Onion Noodles, Mustard Green and Pork Soup, and a seasonal vegetable stir-fry. Recipes included. A tasting and book sale follows.

This event is free, but spaces are limited and you need to register in advance. Click on the highlighted links for details. Hope to see you!

 

World recipes Expo Milano 2015

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To make lui cha, pound tea leaves, nuts, and seeds in a bowl with a stick.

To make lui cha, pound tea leaves, nuts, and seeds in a bowl with a stick.

My recipe for the popular Hakka pounded tea (lei cha or lui cha) was published on World Recipes for the Expo Milano 2015 website. The original recipe is from The Hakka Cookbook on page 99. This version from Taiwan is often served in Hakka tea houses with sweet condiments. I simplified the recipe for the Expo site.

Since the Expo’s theme–Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life–focuses on food, they have built a global community and collection of recipes that keeps growing. Currently there are more than 125,000 recipes and 57 countries represented. Check it out.

Chinese cooking videos

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grokkerAs much as I try to convey foolproof directions through written recipes, comprehension soars when a person can actually watch the process. See it and the technique becomes instantly clear.

So when a new food and fitness video website grokker.com asked me to demonstrate Chinese cooking for their videos, I agreed. They take care of the production; I provide the recipes and demo. It’s a new challenge for me. I am still learning how to talk, look at the camera, and cook in front of the camera–all at the same time without an accident.

We shoot five recipes in one day of intense production. It takes a long time just to set up the lights. There’s also the camera angle, food set-up, and action.  So far, we have shot about 20 recipes. They recently released eight new videos that we shot a few months ago.

To see the videos, you will be asked to register (free either through email or Facebook.) Then you will be able to see previews or limited videos free. If you become a paid subscriber, you have complete access to cooking videos on many cuisines and subjects such as gluten-free, techniques, and baking. There is also a wide selection of yoga and fitness videos.

Here are my newly released cooking videos. Some are Hakka dishes.

Hakka Chinese Noodles with Pork and Mushroom Sauce comes from a meal I ate in Singapore. The dark earthy flavors of the pork and mushroom sauce taste distinctively Hakka. It’s an easy dish to put together for a weeknight meal. Recipe also on page 104 of The Hakka Cookbook.

broccoli beefHealthy Broccoli Beef, a popular Chinese restaurant offering, is easy to make at home. Also it is healthier and fresher tasting. Use readily available ingredients to make this quick dish that is likely to become a family favorite.

Homemade Potstickers with Ground Pork and Vegetables shows how easy it is to make these pan-browned dumplings.

Steeped Chinese Ginger Chicken in Little Lettuce Cups demonstrates an effortless Chinese technique to cook chicken breast so it maintains its succulence. Shred the meat and serve with a fresh ginger sauce. Serve in lettuce leaves for an appetizer. This variation is based on Steeped Chicken Breasts (page 22) and Fresh Ginger Onion Sauce (page 66) in The Hakka Cookbook.

Sweet and Sour PorkChinese Sweet and Sour Pork shows my light and healthier version of a popular take-out classic. I skip the deep-frying step and use fresh pineapple for a fresher taste.

Healthy Chinese Cashew Chicken with Peas is an easy stir-fry combining lean chicken breast and crunchy pea pods.

Sichuan Hot and Sour Soup unravels the mystery of the complex flavors of this soup. It’s easier to make than you think.

Spicy Sichuan Green Beans with Ground Pork adds zesty flavors to green beans.