Jay's Dishes
Recipes, tips, and stories of Jay's dishesWhen helping his mom to recover after cancer treatment, Jay learned how important a balanced and nutritious diet could help that process. Since then, he has put a great emphasis on nutrition of ingredients he uses, recipe he cooks and food he consumes. For each meal, he likes to include sufficient carbs, protein, fiber, fat, mineral, vitamins…He has made effort to use less or readily accessible ingredients (seasonings) in food he cooks. He is also fond of recipes with simple processing (cooking techniques). He jokes that he has relearned how to eat. He feels everyone in the modern world has to do that too. When the pandemic hits and schools are closed, Jay spent more time to prepare food for kids. To cheer up kids’ spirit, he brougt more variations to his dishes. That really gave him different sense of cooking.
All in all, Jay wishes everyone could enjoy cooking, eating delicious and nutritious food, and ultimately staying away from health issues and have a balanced life.
Easy Salmon Pastry Puff (Salmon Wellington) 三文鱼酥皮卷
Among all animal proteins, I like fish the most, particularly wild caught ones. Salmon offers a good balance of cost, nutrition, and availability. I cook salmon in all kinds of ways: pan-seared, teriyaki, fried rice, to name a few. One of the recipes I cook less often...
清炖狮子头(淮扬) Chinese “Lion’s Head” Meatball Soup
“Lion’s head”, as local people call it, is a pork meatball dish from Huaiyang Cuisine in Eastern China. It got the name from the shape of the meatball which resembles the head of a Chinese Guardian Lion. “Lion head” has two versions: red (cooked with soy sauce) and...
Easy Spanish (Mexican) Rice 西班牙米饭
In my regular search for easy recipes with different cultural origins and using the search term, “Spanish”, I ran into this dish. It turned out a lot of “Spanish Rice” recipes are “Mexican Rice.” A lot of people think they are the same dishes. I later learned that...
Japanese Chashu (Braised Pork Belly) 叉烧チャーシュー
Chashu is a Japanese dish. It actually came from Cantonese food, Char Siu, which is very popular in Hong Kong and Guangdong, China. Both are pork dishes, but the cooking process and flavor are very different. Chashu uses simmer/braise process while Char Siu is...
Easy Duck Confit Recipe 法式油封鸭
Duck confit is regarded as a fine French dish. Most people would think it is pretty difficult to make at home. That’s what I thought before I decided to try this recipe which may not be considered the true “confit” process, but who cares as long as the cooking...
Gyudon(Japanese Beef Bowl) 牛丼
Gyudon means beef (gyu) bowl (don). It started in Japan about 150 years ago. While it’s cooked by many Japanese families, it is now wide spreading in the world too. It’s quick, tasty, inexpensive, and easy to make. Besides the seasonings, there are only two essential...
Chorizo Potato Stew 西班牙香肠土豆汤
This is a warm and somewhat spicy dish. I learned this recipe from a young Spanish chef. The chef mentioned, in Spain, people say “Con patatas, chorizo y vino se hace el camino”, which means “with potatoes, chorizo, and wine, you will make your way to the day”. This...
Napa cabbage and pork slice 五花肉片炖白菜ミルフィユ
This is another example of my fondness for recipes with simple ingredients and cooking techniques. The funny thing is I don’t even know how to name this dish. People said it originated in Japan. However, the two only ingredients (not including seasonings) are very...
Keto Almond Flour Banana Bread 杏仁粉香蕉面包
The keto diet has gained popularity in recent years. Even though I don’t practice any particular diet, I watch my carb (rice, bread, noodle, potato, sugar…) intake closely as my metabolism slows down with my age, so I am interested in playing with some keto recipes to...
Rare Blueberry Cheesecake 免焙蓝莓芝士蛋糕
I like cheesecakes, particularly light and rare cheesecakes. Both desserts were originally created in Japan. They are either mostly unavailable or pretty pricy in the US I followed some online recipes of light cheesecakes, but they all failed. The biggest problems...