Of the five dishes from the “Namie” pop-up, I would say this was probably the one with the least amount of true Asian influence. While I took more inspiration from Halal/Middle Eastern flavors, it would be a stretch to say that it took influence from Halal-Chinese food, when it was more Jordanian with sprinkles of…
Tag: tuile
“Husk of the Black Forest”: a plated dessert
So when I was conceptualizing different desserts that would use salted duck egg, one of them that I had in mind was with injeolmi, which is a roasted grain mix from Korea, similar to misugaru, but with a less earthy flavor profile. I was first introduced to injeolmi by my friend, Ann, who ordered it…
Jade Fairy: a petit gateau
So this dessert went through several phases because I was not 100% sure where I wanted to go in terms of the flavor profiles. I knew it had to be green, and that I wanted to feature pistachio and chrysanthemum tea. For those unfamiliar with it, chrysanthemum tea is a popular Chinese/Taiwanese drink made from…
Chrysalis: a plated dessert
During my senior year of college, I made a plated dessert called “Sanagi” – sanagi is the Japanese word for chrysalis, or cocoon. The dessert itself was matcha pate choux with spun sugar, made to resemble a little caterpillar crawling into a cocoon, hence the name of the dessert. I wanted to do a more…
Chocolate and kinako blanc manger
This was honestly one of the simplest desserts I have made in a while. Mostly because I made it to get rid of some spare ingredients I had lying around. I love blanc manger, which is a set milk-based mousse, similar to panna cotta. The key difference is that blanc manger uses starch to set…
Sunburst: a plated dessert
I named this dessert ‘Sunburst’ after a Tobu and Itro song that came out a while ago of the same name. And also for my Chinese namesake, which translates to Winter Morning Sun. I had to use sesame since it is a favorite ingredient of mine, and I paired it with sea buckthorn to add…
Semolina cake with chocolate-Turkish delight ice cream
Truth be told, this recipe was directly inspired by controversial MKR contestants, Sonya and Hadil, and a dish that they prepared during the Cole’s ice cream challenge, where they made chocolate-Turkish delight ice cream with semolina cake and pistachio biscuit. I know that several people hate them because they got ejected from the show for…
Goodnight Meteor: a plated dessert
I have been listening to an artist group called HarmonicBlend for a while now, and I just love their music. They have songs that really tell stories and follow themes, and their most recent album, Dreaming Children, features quite a few songs that I’m inspired to create desserts from. One of those desserts is named…
Mussels with Latin flavors
This dish was originally inspired by the Mediterranean, but forcibly took a detour into Mexico when I could not find the right kind of chorizo and just went with it from there. Going to school in Boston, you come to love shellfish and seafood. I love eating and cooking mussels, because they plump up in…
Golden Milk-Tofu Ice Cream with Activated Charcoal-Tofu “Sugar” Cone
I only ever heard about golden milk when I went with my sister to Pressed Juicery and was introduced to a sample shot of it there. I heard that it had a lot of great health benefits, including boosting your immune system, clarifying your skin, blood purifying, being a liver tonic, having anticancer properties, and…
