Recipes

Fluffy-Like-A-Cloud Chiffon Cake

"From the late 1930s to early 1940s, Ah Ma, my paternal grandmother, learned culinary secrets from restaurants in Vietnam. She passed down only one written recipe, a lemon chiffon cake recipe that I always turn to and treasure. I use about half of the ingredients she used in her recipe (she used 10 to 12 eggs!), and instead of lemon, this regal cloud of a cake is tea-flavored and will serve as the perfect sweet treat or gift during Lunar New Year." Bio: About Kat Lieu - the doyenne and Queen of Asian baking, Kat Lieu is the founder of Subtle Asian Baking and modernasianbaking.com. Her debut cookbook is Modern Asian Baking at Home. Currently, Lieu is a full-time author, activist, and recipe developer. Follow Subtle Asian Baking @katlieu “Excerpted from Modern Asian Baking at Home. © 2022 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. Text © 2022 Kathleen Lieu”

Roast Chai Pecan Pie

15 min

This pecan pie is not too far from the classic, but brings in a whole new world of flavor. We've spiced it with our Roast Chai to give it depth of flavor and temper the sweet. The chai blend is a toasted combination of warm spices like clove and cinnamon along with coriander and black pepper. They compliment the caramelized pecans and bring everything together with an unbelievable spicy aroma.Filled with a mix of cane syrup, brown sugar, and butter to create the chewy gooey texture we all love. A mix of pecan halves and pieces will create texture differences in every bite, and they combine with the spice to make this pie a winner.

Chinese Five Spice Fudge Pops

Make these fun and flavorful fudge-pops for any occasion, they are a festive treat! Chinese Five Spice is sweet with fennel and star anise and sassy with cloves and Sichuan pepper. Cinnamon is the fifth ingredient and when you bring it all together with dark chocolate it's a match made in heaven. The base comes together easily on the stovetop and we used small paper cups for the molds. You can decorate with toasted sesame seeds and gold luster dust like we did, but there are so many options! Try chopped peanuts, sprinkles or toasted coconut. Tiny but mighty in flavor, these creamy pops will satisfy your sweet tooth and are fun to make.

Chinese Five Spice Plum Sauce

When life gives you plums, make plum sauce! And plum cardamom bread, but that's another story. Plum sauce is a traditional complement for grilled meats in Asian cuisine and is a wonderful pairing with duck, pork, chicken or salmon. It is easy to make and is an ideal way to preserve a bumper crop of plums. This sauce is delightfully complex and balances all the flavors on the palate. The sweet plums are paired with Chinese Five Spice, onions, garlic and shallots with a kick of ginger to round it out. One batch yields several pints so be ready to can it or freeze it to have on hand year round and there will still be plenty left over to gift some. We took our inspiration from Hank Shaw at Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook and really appreciated the time saving tip of freezing the plums to make them easier to pit. It was a breeze!

Pecan Sandies

Our favorite secret ingredient for baking, Kashmiri Garam Masala, infuses these cookies with subtle flavor in every bite. The cookies have a delightful texture that falls apart in your mouth and not on the plate just as it should be. The recipe makes extra spiced nuts that you can serve or gobble up while the cookies bake.

Havanese Pork Loin (with White Rice)

Cuba is a vibrant, bold and colorful country that is full of life. Fascinated by its people and their endlessly delicious home-cooked cuisine, friends Dan Goldberg and Andrea Kuhn have been visiting this hypnotic country for the past five years. Dan, an award-winning photographer and Andrea, an acclaimed prop stylist and art director, along with renowned food writer Jody Eddy, bring the best of Cuban food to home kitchens. Trying any of these delicious dishes will make any meal a memorable one, especially if you make this Havanese Pork Loin.From the Author: "This recipe sounds complicated and luxurious but it's actually a breeze to prepare. It's one to keep in mind when you want to impress your guests without having to fret over a complicated recipe. Consider it the grown-up version of pork and beans, Cuban style, with a little Chinese influence thrown in for good measure. The secret is to keep spooning the marinade over the pork as it cooks, allowing it to absorb until it finally transforms into a sticky glaze--a "can't get enough of it" kind of finish."

Chinese Five Spice Apple Cake

This simple apple cake was baked by my great-grandmother on a wood stove over 100 years ago, and I'm happy to still be cooking it today. This recipe is timeless, rustic and highlights the flavors of both the apples and the spice. This old family recipe was one of the first that I adapted to experiment with the amazing world of spices and I'm thrilled to share it.

Chinese Five Spiced Apple-Carrot Pie

Tender carrots are surprisingly sweet when baked in a brown sugar syrup, especially when united with perfect Washington apples and plump little raisin gems. The fresh ginger is a classic pairing with the carrot, and is highlighted perfectly by the Star Anise in our Chinese Five Spice. The all-butter crust recipe I've included is a long-time standby of mine, and produces some of the flakiest and best pastry I've ever tasted. It will definitely be making an appearance at my Thanksgiving table this year!