a series of dinner parties for my friends, my passion for Asian cooking was reignited. People told me, “You really make Chinese cooking look easy, like I could do it myself.” Feeling inspired and glad to be back in touch with my culinary roots, I quit my job, and my mother and I co-authored a Chinese cookbook together. From there, we started a Pan-Asian catering business called Double Happiness Catering.
In between our catering gigs, we were lucky enough to travel to China together to co-host a Food Network special called My Country, My Kitchen, as well as to New York for numerous appearances together on the Today show. The next natural step was to do a cooking show: we co-hosted the national PBS cooking series Double Happiness, a mother-daughter Chinese cooking show shot in Hawaii.
My mother was the toughest boss I’ve ever had (and believe me, I had some tough ones working in Hollywood all those years). She set the same standards for me as she did for herself, and I never felt like I was living up to her expectations. She would reprimand me, “Your egg rolls are not wrapped firmly enough”; “You should make double the pleats on that shu mai.” One time, on our cooking show, I said, “If you don’t have Asian hot sauce, you can use Mexican hot sauce instead. Right, mom?” Her deadpan response on camera was, “No.” I recognize now that she just wanted me to be the best I could be.
With my mother as commander-in-chief, and me as her willing apprentice, our catering business took off and we were soon doing star-studded parties and high-fashion events. She realized I would never learn to handle the cooking alone if she was always there to lead me, so she announced one day out of the blue that she was going to Europe for three months with a friend. I was left to my own devices and a deep fryer and was forced to figure things out on my own. That summer, I finally sprouted my culinary wings and flew from her bird’s nest soup.
On location in Guangzhou, China filming our Food Network special, My Country, My Kitchen.
To make Hoisin Lacquered Ribs like these, see page 89.
Picking out prawns in Guangzhou, China.
My twins Dylan and Becca having a ball making dumpling filling.
I retired from catering when I became pregnant with our own Double Happiness, twins Dylan and Becca, and focused my energy on my blog and cookbooks. Although she only knew them as toddlers, my mother left an indelible mark on my twins. To this day, their favorite foods are dumplings and noodles; instead of baking cookies, they’d rather be folding potstickers.
My mother passed away in 2010. She spent the last few years of her life visiting her son, her daughters and her grandchildren. She cooked her way across the country, filling our freezers with stir-fries and soups. To the end, food was the focus of my mother’s life. My sister Jeannie told me about my mom being taken away by an ambulance a few months before her passing. As they were lifting her into the ambulance, she called out to my sister, “Don’t forget to eat the spicy ground pork noodles I left in the fridge!”
Out of our amazing culinary journey, I treasure the times we spent alone together in the kitchen the most. In those quiet moments, rolling out dough for dumplings or gently simmering sauces for a whole fish, she’d open up and tell me about her life. She revealed sometimes difficult memories, from her childhood in China to assimilating as an immigrant to the challenges of being a wife and a mother, as well as a minority businesswoman—all things she didn’t want to burden us with as children. I realized she used cooking as an escape from her many struggles, and that’s where she found joy. Cooking was a kind of alchemy for her. This, and so much more about life, I learned in the kitchen from my mother.
I hope you enjoy this collection of Chin family recipes. Some are taken from my mother’s personal vault, like the time-honored classics she learned how to make in China, while others reflect our Chinese-American childhood. I’ve also included recipes that my mother and I developed together for our catering business, as well as some that I’ve developed more recently, inspired by her teachings. I’ve also woven personal recollections and anecdotes throughout this book. I wanted to share the inspiration behind some of the recipes, as well as fun memories from our childhood and later years of cooking and eating with our mother.
My pioneering mother instilled a passion for Chinese cooking in me, and I am so honored to carry on her legacy. She was revered for her ability to demystify Chinese cooking and simplify it for the everyday home cook. Carrying her torch, I hope I can show you how easy Chinese cooking can truly be. If I can do it, you can do it.
Thank you for keeping her memory alive by making the recipes in this book. I hope they bring some wisdom to your kitchen, joy to your taste buds and gratification to your bellies.
Happy cooking!
Understanding Chinese Ingredients
When my mother Leeann immigrated to Minnesota in 1956, she couldn’t find bok choy or oyster sauce, let alone fresh ginger, at the grocery store. She improvised and still managed to make incredibly delicious Chinese dishes for us (I am still baffled by this and her other magician-like powers in the kitchen). Today, much has changed: it’s not uncommon to find black bean sauce, Asian eggplant and cellophane noodles at the regular grocery store, or daikon radish and Chinese long beans at your local farmer’s market. The majority of the ingredients needed for the recipes in this book can be found at your neighborhood market, with some recipes requiring an occasional trip to an Asian store or some on-line shopping. In this section, I’ve compiled the key ingredients used in Chinese cooking. Over time, you’ll discover the ingredients you’ll want to keep on hand to make your favorite Chinese dishes.
Baby Corn These miniature ears of corn are often used in stir-fries. Harvesting the grain early, while the ears are immature, allows for the whole cob to be consumed. Baby corn comes canned and ready to cook. Best known for its cameo in the movie Big, it adds a unique texture to any stir-fry dish.
Bamboo Shoots There are the part of the bamboo plant that is harvested before it matures. Available fresh, canned or bottled, bamboo shoots are found in Asian markets and many grocery stores. Any unused bamboo shoots should be stored in water and kept in the refrigerator. Change water daily to preserve freshness.
Black Beans, Fermented These fermented, salted black soybeans have a distinctive pungent aroma, and add a very rich flavor when combined with garlic, ginger and other flavors. They come packed in plastic bags, or are made into a sauce and sold in a jar. If purchased in plastic bags, they should be rinsed in warm water before using to remove excess salt, and refrigerated after opening.
Black Mushrooms, Dried These are incredibly versatile, adding an amazingly rich flavor to stir-fries, soups and noodle dishes. They must be presoaked in warm water
