This is another of mom’s ‘whip it together’ classics, made from ingredients normally found in the fridge. I should say, normally found in her fridge which, in all fairness, is more well-stocked than most. It’s called Pot Sticker Tofu because you get that crispy edge from pan-frying like you do with a pot sticker dumpling. But unlike real pot stickers, this dish is veggie-friendly and super super quick and easy to make.
chinese recipes
Bean There, Done That
This may seem like a healthy veggie dish… but as my mom reveals, all is not as it appears.
Zha Jiang Mian (or Chinese Spaghetti)
There are many names for this classic Chinese dish – Zha Jiang Mian, Chinese Fried Sauce noodles, Spicy Pork noodles, 炸醬麵, etc. Growing up in the Jeng family, however, this dish was most commonly known as Chinese Spaghetti.
Noodles and meat sauce? What’s not to love?!
Spam Fried Rice
Once upon a time, Mom used to make her darling little daughters something she coined Hot Dog Fried Rice. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Not until years later than we’d like to admit did we realized that this wasn’t actually a real dish in Chinese nor American culture.
Winning Pork-and-Shrimp Wonton Recipe
This is one of my favorite Chinese dishes to make because a) it’s relatively easy and fun to do with a group, b) once you assemble them, there are multiple ways to serve them (more to come later) and c) look how cute!!!!
Saucy Sauce Wonton Recipe
I’ve shown you how to make/fold wontons and how to cook them in a soup. Now it’s time to show you how to prepare them my favorite way. This type of wonton is served ‘dry’ (aka not in a soup) with a sesame paste concoction. The direct Chinese translation of what our family calls this? Saucy sauce wontons. So let’s go with that.
No, YOU don’t need a recipe for wontons
“You don’t need a recipe for wontons.”
– Mom, and the reason we need this blog
Five-spice pork over rice
Six. That’s how many phone calls it took to extract this recipe from my parents.
Five-spice pork over rice (or Lu Rou Fan) is a classic and popular Taiwanese dish. But as I’ve grown up, I’ve learned the Lu Rou Fan I’ve always known is actually pretty unique to our family. I like to say that it’s ‘fully-loaded’. On this cold winter’s night, I’m attempting to re-create this warm and savory dish with the help of my parents who are just a quick phone call away. Of course one quick phone call quickly spiraled into many as I tried to make sense of their piece-meal instructions:
Introducing… Noms From Mom
This blog is a love letter to my mother’s cooking, from the perspective of an American-born Taiwanese girl. Growing up as a first-generation American, I didn’t always appreciate my mom’s amazing culinary skills. Like any other American kid, I was more into hot dogs than hot and sour soup.
It wasn’t until I grew up and moved out that I started to cherish the meals my mom would make for us every night: mostly Chinese dishes but often with a twist – her twist – and never with a recipe. Until now.
Noms From Mom 