Eat Drink Asia

Situated in the eastern Himalayas, the kingdom of Bhutan has become synonymous with serenity and spirituality. In this episode of Eat Drink Asia, Post reporter Lisa Cam visits Bhutan to learn how locals preserve and promote their traditional culture through food.
Read more: https://sc.mp/vyukv 

Noodles with wontons, beef balls and shrimp roe as well as boat noodles are classic Hong Kong dishes, but where did they originate? In this episode of Eat Drink Asia, hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans are joined by Post reporter Lisa Cam to discuss how these noodle varieties made their way to Hong Kong. They also make an argument for why noodles are more emblematic of Chinese cultural heritage than rice. 
This episode is made with the support of Cathay Pacific.

Pineapple buns, cocktail buns and egg tarts are among the cornucopia of delectables ready to be sampled at bakeries across Hong Kong. In this episode of Eat Drink Asia, hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans explore the origins of these classic baked goods. They also speak with cookbook author Kristina Cho, who shares tips about making egg tarts at home and explains how Chinese-style bakeries in the United States compare with those in Hong Kong.
This episode is made with the support of Cathay Pacific.

The history of dim sum dates back thousands of years, but chefs in Hong Kong are taking the tradition to new heights. In this episode of Eat Drink Asia, hear how some restaurants in the city are putting their own spin on classic dishes. Hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans also sit down with Ho Lee Fook’s chefs ArChan Chan and Winson Yip to discuss the balance between preservation and experimentation when it comes to dim sum food culture.
This episode is made with the support of Cathay Pacific.

Sweet and sour pork is served around the world to diners who consider it among the most iconic and beloved of Cantonese dishes. Hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans sit down with Post reporter Lisa Cam to discuss its evolution including how it made its way from the Chinese port city of Shanghai to Hong Kong, and around the globe including on the menus of British-Chinese takeaway shops.

American fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC has found its way onto the Christmas dining tables of millions of Japanese families. Hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans explore how this surprising holiday tradition started. They speak with Tokyo-based chef Daniel Calvert, who is currently serving fried chicken at his restaurant and with Susan Jung, who wrote a cookbook about fried chicken in Asia.

Classic dishes including siu mai and har gow can be found in nearly every dim sum restaurant around the world. But where can you find quail egg siu mai, soup dumplings and preserved sausage buns? Journey with hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans to find out why these varieties of dim sum are endangered. Post reporter Lisa Cam has the story of a labour shortage the industry faces, and how a restaurant in Hong Kong is trying to revitalise these dishes before they go “extinct”.

Century eggs are often portrayed in the West with a tinge of disgust, but Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans are on a mission to demystify the traditional Chinese snack. Post reporter Lisa Cam also joins the Eat Drink Asia hosts on a journey to discover three Cantonese dishes made with century egg and crack open secrets about their health benefits linked to traditional Chinese medicine.

Wok hei is what differentiates an ordinary stir-fried dish from a perfect one. Hosts Charmaine Mok and Sam Evans speak with Post reporter Lisa Cam to discuss the art and science behind wok hei, and why it has become so beloved among Cantonese food fans. Hear from the cookbook author who first translated wok hei into English, and a Hong Kong chef who is breaking barriers by wielding the wok.

An SCMP archive special: the story of dumplings is the story of the globalisation of Chinese cuisine - take the journey from Beijing to Shanghai, Hong Kong and down the ancient Silk Road to discover who invented them - and how a traditional Chinese medicine cure evolved into a meal enjoyed around the world. Interviewees: Lu Hongbin; Du Yichu restaurant, Beijing; Hu Wei-I, Wan Shou Zai restaurant, Shanghai; Wang Hong Chun, Ah Cun Shandong Dumpling, Prince Edward; Dr Dai Zhaoyu, senior lecturer, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University; Meenu Tangilama Gurung, Annapurna Restaurant, Sheung Wan and Jin Lin Liu; Black Sesame Kitchen, Beijing; author of The Noodle Road.

Is this poached chicken dish served with various condiments originally from Singapore or Malaysia? It's a question that stirs up quite a debate between these two countries where eating and criticising the other side’s cuisine are national pastimes. In this episode we trace the origins of Hainanese chicken rice and find out how there's a lot more that goes into making this succulent dish fragrant and flavourful than meets the eye.
 

Tempura is an ubiquitous Japanese dish, with seafood or vegetables  coated in batter and deep-fried. But did you know that tempura originated in Portugal? Bernice and Alkira trace its origins back to the 16th century when Portuguese missionaries sailed to Japan and traded guns, tobacco and flour. They taught the Japanese how to use the flour to make tempura. It has since evolved into a high culinary art form in Japan. Featuring chef Eisaku Hara of Uchitsu Tempura, chef Rodolfo Vicente of Casa Lisboa, and UK-based food anthropologist Annabel Jackson. Produced by Carolyn Wright.

Before plant-based meats and oat milk there was tofu. It's a popular staple in Asian cooking that was first written about before the Sung dynasty in 960 AD. Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank look at how tofu made its way to America in three waves that started with Benjamin Franklin, Asian immigrants in the 1800s, and finally during the hippie counterculture in the late 1960s. Featuring Renee So of Kung Wo Tofu Factory, Jenny Yang of Phoenix Bean in Chicago, Bill Shurtleff, founder and president of SoyInfo Center and Matthew Roth, author of 'Magic Bean, The Rise of Soy in America'. Produced by Carolyn Wright. 

Cantonese egg tarts are hard to resist with their silky egg custard filling and flaky pastry crust. Found in bakeries and eaten at the end of dim sum, the egg tart is a sentimental dessert in Hong Kong and across southern China, but its roots are not native to the region. It’s believed the British first brought custard tarts to southern China in the 1920s, where local chefs adapted the recipe before it was brought to Hong Kong. To uncover the full history of the egg tart we travel all the way back to medieval England to find out how the first custard tarts were made, and how over the course of nearly 500 years - and two countries - the Cantonese egg tart was born. Presented by Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank, produced by Caroline Wright.

Xiaolongbao - or soup dumplings as they are known in the West - are delicate parcels of pork and broth that are served piping hot in a bamboo steamer. In this episode Alkira Reinfrank and Bernice Chan uncover the origins of this golf-ball sized dumpling, tracing it back to a district on the fringes of Shanghai, China. They speak to the daughter of a xiaolongbao master to find out what makes the perfect soup dumpling, and find out how Din Tai Fung began in Taiwan selling cooking oil then made xiaolongbao a global phenomenon.  

Jjapaguri, or ram-don, as it is known in the Academy award-winning movie Parasite, is a super easy and cheap dish that simply mixes two kinds of instant noodles together. In this episode of Eat Drink Asia, we look into the food references in the film and how a dish only known to Koreans quickly became something global audiences salivated over.

Vicky Cheng, chef and owner of one-Michelin-starred VEA tells us how to turn a humble pack of instant noodles to a glorious okonomiyaki — a classic Japanese pancake.

As popular and ubiquitous as curry is around the world, the word ‘curry’ doesn’t actually exist in India. In this episode we look into butter chicken – not curry – a dish that balances the smokiness of the meat and the silkiness of the sauce like no other. We traced it back to the grandson of the inventor of this iconic dish, who told us its origin story of hard work, resilience, and hope.

Sound effects from Klankbeeld, digifishmusic, SoundLover16 on Freesound.org.

This is a quick coconut fish stew recipe that will make you look like the chef of the house. It's shared by chef Palash Mitra, who helms the Michelin-starred restaurant New Punjab Club in Hong Kong.

How to make it:

1. Cut the fish into manageable pieces and season with salt, turmeric, crushed peppercorns, and curry leaves (optional).
2. Heat some coconut oil and add in mustard seeds, chopped shallots, tomatoes, and a bit of ginger.
3. Sautée till transparent and add the fish, lightly fry and finally add coconut milk and lemon or lime juice. Simmer10 minutes. Check the seasoning. Serve with steamed rice.

Listen to top chefs in Hong Kong describe how they cook their favourite comfort dishes at home. Today's recipe from chef Barry Quek only requires three ingredients: instant noodles, an onion, and a hard cheese, like cheddar or parmesan.

How to make it:

1. Slice about half an onion into thin slices then heat oil in a pot and saute the onions until they turn light brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the seasoning packet from the instant noodles and stir for about a minute then add enough water to cook the instant noodles and add them in.
3. Cook the noodles until half done if you are putting it in the oven, if not then cook a bit longer.
4. Put the noodles in a bowl and generously shave parmesan or cheddar cheese on top. If you have an oven, set on broiler to melt the cheese or use a blowtorch.

When it comes to fried chicken, almost every country has their own take on it.

The Philippines has Jollibee, South Africa has Nando’s, Japan has Karaage... but no country has made the competition more intense than South Korea.

So for today's episode, we are going to take a look at two equally iconic KFCs — Kentucky fried chicken and Korean fried chicken. How are they made? How did they influence each other? 

And we are looking further than that — to the Korean war, the first cookbook documenting the making of fried chicken, the Atlantic slave trade, and even the origins of the bird itself.

We’re following all the breadcrumbs along the path of this golden gastronomic achievement of mankind. 

The dish was born in a time when Vietnamese weren’t even allowed access to wheat flour, making it hard to imagine the sandwich would become world famous. Banh mi is still sold in Vietnam as a cheap snack, but it is now also a hit around the world. 

American icon became popular during the war and managed to stick around.Your junk email is named after the canned meat, by the way.

We tried KFC’s spicy chicken mooncakes so you don’t have to.From the end of the Yuan Dynasty to modern Hong Kong, mooncakes have been the bearers of political messages.

Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank analyse the cultural appropriation, and fascinating history, of Sichuan cuisine. They delve into the chemistry of the Sichuan pepper and unpack the components of a traditional meal.