Bak Chang (or Zongzi), meat enclosed in glutinous rice filling, is traditionally eaten in June for the Chinese. It stemmed from the Dragon Boat Festival which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Of course, in this day and time, eating Bak Chang is more of a “seasonal food” though it is not uncommon to see Bak Chang being sold all year round.

I have been brought up to eat Bak Chang made by my parents and for me, our homemade Bak Zhang is incomparably delicious. Many of our relatives will ask for a couple of these southern-styled Bak Zhang whenever they hear my parents making them. Our family Bak Zhang is closely related to the Nyonya Bak Zhang in taste though the presentation is a little different. The pork is cut into bits rather than cubes (which are more common with Cantonese-Styled Bak Zhang) and freshly-toasted coriander seeds (also known as Ketumbar) which are blended into powder are used.

Just like our family Popiah recipe, our Bak Zhang recipe is also lengthy and labourious but the hardwork comes with immediate satisfaction as these delicious dumplings are savoured over a cup of chinese tea. When I was in my teens, I could eat about 4 of these Bak Zhangs in one sitting! There were even times when I had them for breakfast and lunch and had to be stopped from eating them for dinner on the same day because mum was worried about my over-indulgence!

Anyway, this will be a 3 part series on Bak Zhang. Following up from this post will be an exclusive video on wrapping Bak Zhang expertly performed by my parents. It’s nice to see my dad and mum combining their skills to create these delicious Bak Zhangs. The finale will be the unveiling of our family’s secret recipe for bak zhang in the hope that it can be passed on to the rest of the world. So, do watch this space!

This is another dessert recipe which I was unable to find the right name for it. So, I will call it the 8 Treasures Dessert because in the dessert, you will find 8 ingredients, though only 6 are visible. Anyway, the name is not all that important because what is more important is the deliciousness of this dessert - especially when eaten cold.

This dessert is really cooling, and I don’t mean just because it is served chilled. With a combination of white fungus, ginkgo nuts, lotus seeds, honey dates, red dates and sea coconut served in a chrysanthemum and sugar-based soup, you will clamour for bowl after bowls of this nutritious dessert. I would recommend that you cook a substantial portion to share because it saves you the effort and your guests are likely to ask for seconds. This is a dessert which is great for parties and hot days.

A point to note. The gingko nut and lotus seeds need to be prepared for cooking by removing its inner core. For the gingko nuts, you will see one end which may show a tiny shoot just about to sprout. Poke the other side using a pointed toothpick. Do not poke at the end which the shoot can be seen. As for the lotus seeds, the technique to remove the inner core is similar.

This is the recipe for 8 Treasures Dessert Read the rest of this entry »

I once ate something similar from a chinese take-away and decided to give it a try. The Napa Cabbage used in this dish is also known as Chinese White Cabbage (大白菜) or similar to Kimchi. It is longish and sweet in taste and widely used in East Asia. Though I usually stir fry this dish or use them in soups, this is my first attempt at steaming them after rolling them up like popiah.

There are 3 main steps to this dish. Preparing the stuffing, softening the cabbage and steaming the cabbage rolls. This recipe makes about 10 to 12 rolls with each roll using a single napa cabbage leaf. Actually, the stuffing can be left to your creativity. I used pork and prawns here. You can use fish paste, chicken meat or even beef or lamb mince depending on the seasoning applied.

The result was good and I was happy with how it turned out. The stuffing was nice and firm (and does not crumble) whilst the napa cabbage leafs were not overcooked and retained a slight resistance when bitten. Rather healthy dish, I must say. Tasted great with steaming white rice and a favourite with the kids. I should cook this for Chinese New Year Eve Dinner 😀

This is my recipe for Napa Cabbage Rolls Read the rest of this entry »

I was ecstatic to say the least when I noticed some traffic referral coming in from 9Rules blog. Then I remembered that I had submitted this blog for consideration into the 9Rules community during the 24 hour submission period sometime early this month. You see, 9Rules is an exclusive blogging network which only accepts blogs which are of certain (high!) qualities - 9 to be exact. When it dawned on me that this blog has been accepted into this network, you can’t imagine how elated I was (not also to mention that this morning, the feed subscribers have shown an all time high of 422 readers - if you have not subscribed, I urge you to do so. It’s free). Despite the current round of acceptance, there are only 7 Malaysian sites in this network including mine and Hochiak is the only food-related site.

So, what will happen to Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food since it is now admitted into 9Rules? As quality is in essence, you should expect higher quality posts (especially photos) to be featured. You will also notice the beautiful 9Rules leaf logo on this site. Notwithstanding the promotion into 9Rules, I will still remain as friendly as ever to you - my readers. Afterall, it’s your repeat visits which make this venture truly meaningful and exciting.

For those of you who have just arrived here from 9Rules, a big warm welcome to you and I do hope you will feel free to surf around for some useful and delicious asian recipes.