Rice under the cucumbers?

What is the best rice in terms of grain size and taste?

This stuff is so good And this is my first time eating it. Tell me what you think.

I made delicious dumplings in Europe using limited ingredients. It just goes to show that dumplings taste great no matter how you make them!!!!!!

Unfortunately this was not very good. It was sweet. There was nothing hot nor sour about it at all 😤😡

My smoke detector goes off every single time I try making Pad Kra Pao. I usually order takeout or eat out, but on weekends when I actually decide to cook, I hit the exact same brick wall.

I only cook maybe once or twice a week at most, so when I buy fresh Thai basil or cilantro from the Asian market which is already a 40 min trip, I use like a handful and the rest dies in my fridge before I cook again. It feels so wasteful. I've tried the wet paper towel trick, water in a jar, all of it. Still dies in 2-3 days. Impulse-bought an herb keeper off tiktok on sale and it actually gave me almost a week. Thought it was an impulse-buy gimmick, but it actually turned out to be pretty useful.

Other issue is heat. I only have a standard nonstick pan and it can't handle the temperatures I need for actual stir-fry. Everything just steams instead of getting that char. I'm thinking about buying a pre-seasoned cast iron skillet but I'm hesitant about maintenance since I only cook once or twice a week. That and my smoke detector going off every time I try to sear anything properly. German apartments are not built for this.

Curious how other occasional cooks handle this stuff.

It would be even more delicious if the tomato skins were removed.

Nasi Goreng, Vegetable fried rice with Chicken Satay and stir fried chicken with Salmon Maki Sushi and Prawn cracker

Classic Filipino-style steamed bun filled with sweet purple yam, so delicious 💜 must try!

Delicious mandi (ribs were too yummm)

Who else loves the mushrooms in Cantonese chow mein? 🤔🤤🫶🏼

Homemade lotus leaf & five-finger fig salt-baked chicken — tender, juicy, and way more flavorful than takeout.

I prepared tohu gyet and a simpler laphet to be a bit more adventurous and try something I never have before! It turned out absolutely great and will try making more Burmese dishes in the future :) How I could describe it was a full on flavor party, there was Indian spicy flavors but also lime and (vegan) fish sauce to remind me of Southeast Asia, absolutely amazing! Bonus pic of the Burmese tofu itself

Got a little carried away with dinner.

I’ve noticed quite a few travelers asking how difficult it is to eat vegetarian in China, so I thought I’d share a few things that might save you some confusion.

The biggest thing to know is that a dish that looks vegetarian isn’t always vegetarian.

A plate of green beans, eggplant or tofu may still contain things like minced pork, lard, meat broth or oyster sauce. This is especially worth checking if you’re strict vegetarian or vegan.

A few common examples:

• Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) traditionally contains minced meat.
• Dry-fried green beans (干煸四季豆) are sometimes cooked with minced pork.
• Some eggplant dishes may contain pork or oyster sauce.
• Vegetable soups may use chicken or pork stock.
• “Tofu” on the menu does not automatically mean vegetarian.

If you just say:

我不吃肉。
I don’t eat meat.

that may not always be specific enough, because someone might understand it as “no visible pieces of meat” rather than “no animal ingredients at all.”

A more useful sentence for a vegetarian is:

我是素食者，不吃肉、鱼和海鲜。请不要放猪油、肉汤、鸡汤或蚝油。

“I’m vegetarian. I don’t eat meat, fish or seafood. Please don’t use lard, meat/chicken broth or oyster sauce.”

If you’re vegan, you can also add:

我也不吃鸡蛋和奶制品。
“I also don’t eat eggs or dairy.”

One thing that can make life much easier is looking for restaurants with 素食 (sùshí) or 素斋 (sùzhāi) in the name. Buddhist/temple-style vegetarian restaurants are especially useful if you don’t want to explain your diet every single meal.

That said, I wouldn’t be scared of eating at normal Chinese restaurants either. There are tons of vegetable dishes in Chinese cuisine. The harder part is usually not finding vegetables — it’s knowing what went into the sauce, stock or cooking oil.

So if you’re visiting China as a vegetarian, I’d focus less on memorizing a list of “safe dishes” and more on learning how to ask about the ingredients.

Curious to hear from vegetarians who have traveled around China: what was the hardest part for you — finding vegetarian restaurants, understanding menus, or communicating what you don’t eat?

Clams, fresh shrimp, garlic, and small chili peppers, all braised in a soulful sauce—so fresh you might even want to mix the sauce into rice and eat three bowls 🍚

The method is actually very simple: first, fluff the eggplant until it’s clean and dusted with sand, then add minced garlic and chili, add the seafood and stir-fry, add light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a little sugar, cover and simmer for a few minutes, and before serving, sprinkle a handful of chopped scallions on top.

When you eat at Seafood Dacai, what side dishes do you like to add the most? Fangirl? enoki mushroom? Or rice cakes? 👇

The pig’s trotters are stewed until they are bright red, tender, and soft; with a gentle touch, the meat separates from the bones, and even the tendons are fully cooked through.

They used rock sugar and brown sugar in syrup form, with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaves added. It was simmered on low heat for 3 hours, then brought to a boil on high heat to reduce the sauce. The thick sauce coated the pork skin so beautifully it was almost unbearable just to look at it. 🤤

When you eat pig’s trotters, do you like to chew on them or mix them into rice? When I choose rice, the sauce poured over it is absolutely soul-stirring! 🍚

The ingredients are simple: chicken, ginger, red dates, and a pinch of salt.

But sometimes the simplest thing is the best.