Tag: shanghainese food

Ji Cai Wonton (Shanghainese Shepherd’s Purse Wontons)

Ji Cai Wonton (Shanghainese Shepherd’s Purse Wontons)

There’s no food that screams ‘home’ quite like ji cai wontons. It could be that nobody else’s wontons taste like mom and dad’s. It could also be because we spent many-a-weekend folding dozens and dozens of these wontons to stash in our freezer. It may 

Hong Shao Rou (Shanghainese Braised Pork Belly)

Hong Shao Rou (Shanghainese Braised Pork Belly)

This dish is deeply personal. It’s something my mom would make for us. Comfort food. But more importantly, it’s something that her grandma made for my mom. I never knew my grandparents, so it’s only through food that I feel a close connection with them. 

Cai Fan (菜饭) – Rice with greens and Chinese sausage

Cai Fan (菜饭) – Rice with greens and Chinese sausage

I have memories of my mom making this in our old house in our trusty rice cooker, usually during the winter. She would tell me things like “winter bok choy is the tastiest” and “Canadian sausage is the best”. While I didn’t manage to find 

Scallion Oil Noodles (Cong You Mian 葱油面)

Scallion Oil Noodles (Cong You Mian 葱油面)

Fun fact: I don’t like scallions. But I love scallion pancakes. And as a kid, I loved scallion oil – emphasis on the oil, not the scallions. Every time my mom would make scallion oil, I would diligently pick out every single scallion before mixing 

Sticky Rice Shu Mai

Sticky Rice Shu Mai

Unlike the HK-style shu mai you see at dim sum and yum cha that’s filled with meat and shrimp, Shanghai-style shu mai is stuffed with sticky rice mixed with ground pork, shiitake mushrooms, and dried mushrooms. However, more often than not, I never make it 

Stir-fried Rice Cakes (炒年糕)

Stir-fried Rice Cakes (炒年糕)

As a kid, whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant, especially a Shanghainese restaurant, we would always order stir-fried rice cakes (chao nian gao, 炒年糕) of some sort — sometimes with cabbage and other times with shepherd’s purse. Since being in New York, I haven’t