Lisa Lin

Air Fryer Green Beans

One of my favorite vegetable side dishes is Chinese garlic green beans, which I learned to cook from Mama Lin. The beauty of that dish is the irresistibly soft texture and vibrant green color of the ...

What’s in Season: March Produce Guide

Written by Diann Leo-Omine & Lisa Lin, Photos by Lisa Lin The arrival of spring means the arrival of produce that you’ll only find this time of year. Consider it the season of limited edition ...

Mixed Mushroom Cheung Fun (雜菌腸粉)

Cheung fun (腸粉, rice noodle rolls) is something that my family always orders at dim sum. Typically, we get cheung fun with shrimp or minced beef wrapped inside a thin and soft rice noodle sheet. ...

What’s in Season: February Produce Guide

You’ll notice a list dominated almost entirely by citrus this month! That’s because winter is indeed the best time for so many varieties of citrus, especially in the Sacramento area. I’ve said it ...

Baked Nian Gao

Nian gao (年糕) is a steamed cake that people make to celebrate Lunar New Year. In Mandarin, 年糕 is pronounced nian gao, and the pronunciation in Chinese is neen go. “Nian gao” is the most common English ...

What is Lotus Root (蓮藕)?

WHAT IS LOTUS ROOT? Lotus root is a rhizome of the lotus plant (蓮藕/莲藕 in Chinese; 蓮根/れんこん or renkon in Japanese). According to Diane Morgan’s Roots (2012), this aquatic plant is native to Asia, the ...

Toisan New Year Rice Cakes (迎年圓)

Lunar New Year celebrations aren’t complete without a batch of Mama Lin’s 迎年圓, literally “rice cakes to welcome the new year.” In the Toisan dialect (台山話), it's pronounced ngan nan zyuan (note that ...

Dried Shrimp (蝦米/海米)

Dried shrimp is a very common ingredient in Asian cuisine. In Chinese, it is called 蝦米/虾米 (traditional vs simplified characters) and pronounced xia mi in Mandarin or ha mai in Cantonese. Another ...

What’s In Season: January Produce Guide

Written by Diann Leo-Omine & Lisa Lin, Photos by Lisa Lin Happy new year! This January produce guide is coming a little late this month because I've been busy moving into our new house! It's ...

Fat Goh (Fa Gao, 發糕, Chinese Prosperity Cake)

Every Lunar New Year, Mama Lin will steam fat goh (發糕, also known as fa gao), lightly sweet cakes that open up and blossom once they’re steamed. As a matter of fact, many Chinese families steam fat ...

How to Make Shan Tofu (Chickpea Tofu)

Thank you to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post! Over the years, I’ve received many inquiries about tofu substitutions for people who are allergic to soy. In the back of mind, I’ve thought ...

Savory Tang Yuan (Glutinous Rice Balls, 鹹湯圓)

Many of us think about the winter solstice merely as the shortest day of the year, but in Chinese culture it is a very important festival. Dongzhi (冬至), which literally translates to “the extreme of ...