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Salt and Pepper Smelt at Kent’s

Salt and Pepper Smelt at Kent’s Kitchen in Vancouver

I recently posted an introduction to Kent’s Kitchen in Vancouver’s Chinatown when I featured their very delicious Pork Hock with Lotus Root. I am very sorry I couldn’t have made more visits to the place and worked my way through more of their very interesting menu as I really enjoyed their food despite the rather cafeteria like ambience. The fried Smelt you see pictured above were especially pleasing.

Shrimp and Pork Balls

In: Little Plates

Shrimp and Pork Balls

The recipe for making these Shrimp and Pork Balls is the very same as that used for the Shrimp and Pork Stuffed Mushrooms I featured in a recent post. If you have read that post, you will recall that I only used a portion of the filling mixture, reserving the remainder for other uses. Often, I use this same filing for making dumplings, steamed, boiled, or ‘Pot-sticker’ style, but making ‘balls’ from the Shrimp and Pork mixture allows you to have Keto-friendly, skinless ‘dumplings’, which can be served in a variety of different ways.

Squid Tentacles Deep-Fried at the Chinatown Restaurant in Halifax

Squid Deep-Fried at Chinatown

In: Dim Sum Gallery

Squid Deep-Fried at the Chinatown Restaurant in Halifax

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Chinatown Restaurant in Halifax the first time I ate there, mostly because the service is too slow, but the food isn’t all that bad, all things considered. I have, over the course of my visits there, actually had a few Dim Sum specialties that were truly excellent, but the Deep-fried Squid dish you see pictured above didn’t make it into that category, being mediocre at best.

Scallion Garlic Pesto Recipe

In: Pickles & Condiments

Scallion Garlic Pesto Recipe

Some years ago, a blogger friend posted a recipe for a Pesto she made using Ramps. I was dying to try it but, to this day, I have yet to see this interesting sounding ingredient in any markets close to me. I was inspired, however, to try something similar using Scallion, buttressed with lots of garlic, and the Pesto you see above was subsequently born. It is a pleasing alternative to the popular Genoese style Pesto made with Basil, and it is every bit as versatile.

Inside the Ham Sui Gok at the Chinatown Restaurant

Ham Sui Gok (鹹水角) at Chinatown

In: Dim Sum Gallery

Ham Sui Gok (鹹水角) at the Chinatown Restaurant in Halifax

I have previously posted other examples of Ham Sui Gok in the Dim Sum Gallery, including one detailing those served at the Chu Shing Restaurant in Ottawa, in which I give a brief overview of this common Dim Sum delicacy. The Chinatown Restaurant in Halifax is not my favorite local establishment for Dim Sum, but their version of 鹹水角 were the best I have ever had up to that point.

Shrimp and Vegetable Korma

In: Main Plates

Shrimp and Vegetable Korma

In Indian cuisine, a Korma (which can be spelled many different ways, including Qorma, Khorma, or Kurma), is a braised dish to which either stock, yoghurt, cream, or coconut milk is added, to yield a smooth and rich finished dish. There are all sorts of variations on the basic theme, and, though the end-result can be quite fiery, in restaurant versions they are typically very mild. The version pictured above rendition, using shrimp, cauliflower and carrot, falls into the mild category.

Hunan Dumplings at the So Good Restaurant in Ottawa

Hunan Dumplings at So Good

In: Dim Sum Gallery

Hunan Dumplings at the So Good Restaurant in Ottawa

Calling Boiled Dumplings in a Peanut Sauce ‘Hunan Dumplings’ seems to be a regional thing, limited mostly to Montreal and Southern Quebec. I have also come across them in Ottawa (which is just across the Quebec-Ontario border, of course), and a very notable version I had was at Hunan Dumplings at the Oriental House. The ones you see pictured above were served to me at the now closed So Good Restaurant in Ottawa’s Chinatown. They were actually even further removed from the cuisine of Hunan than most, but they were still nicely prepared and very good.

Pepper Steak prepared with pre-Grilled Flank Steak

Pepper Steak with a Twist

In: Main Plates

Pepper Steak with a Twist

Beef stir-fried with Peppers probably has roots in China in one form or another, but it has long been a classic in Westernized Chinese restaurants. It seems to be falling out of fashion these days, but it still fairly popular and there are many variations on the basic theme. The dish you see above represents a twist on the usual methods used for the classic in that it uses Flank Steak which is first marinated in Lemon juice, then grilled before being sliced and used in the final stir-frying.

Pork Hock with Lotus Root

In: Notable Restaurant Dishes

Pork Hock with Lotus Root at Kent’s Kitchen in Vancouver

It is not easy to make out in the above picture, but the Pork Hock with Lotus at Kent’s Kitchen in Vancouver’s Chinatown was served in what is essentially a Styrofoam Coffee Cup. The restaurant, as you might guess, is not one of your high-end, up-market sort of establishments, but, ambience aside, the food was excellent, and the Pork Hock dish in particular very satisfying and tasty.

Preserved Radish – An Introduction

In: Ingredients

Preserved Radish – An Introduction

The item pictured above may look rather alarmingly the ‘leftovers’ from an ancient Egyptian sex change operation, but it is, in fact, a type of very large Radish that has been preserved by salting. This type of Radish in question is most commonly known by its Japanese name ‘Daikon’ these days, but you can also find it in supermarkets as ‘Lo Bok’ (the Cantonese name), or ‘Mooli’.

Daikon is preserved by a variety of different techniques all across Asia, especially by lactic acid fermentation, but the most basic method is by salt curing the flesh to dehydrate it and prevent microbial spoilage. The result, using this particular technique, may not look all that appealing, but it is actually a versatile and tasty ingredient in all sorts of dishes.