Olive Fried Rice

I didn't know that they used olives in Asian cooking but evidently Keith's mom makes this a lot.  The preserved olives can be found in Chinese supermarkets. They don't really taste like olives so don't try to replace them with normal olives.  They're salty and replace the soy sauce you normally add to fried rice.

1 1/2 cups leftover cooked rice
4 tbsp preserved olives
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 eggs
1 tsp garlic oil
1 tsp ginger oil
1/2 tsp dried chiles slices
6 oz desired protein (shrimp, squid, pork, chicken, beef, bacon), cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp XO sauce to garnish
1 tbsp+ 1 tsp Chinese cooking rice wine
vegetable or some other kind of neutral oil


1. Beat the eggs with 1 tsp of the rice wine and a pinch of fine grained salt.  Scramble them over medium heat until cooked through and set aside.  Once cool, roughly chop the egg into bite size pieces.
2. Add a tsp of oil to a large frying pan or wok over high heat. add in the garlic, dried chiles, and onion, stir fry until fragrant. add in the protein and stir fry until cooked through (if you are using bacon you should pre-cook it).
3. Add in the rice, olives, garlic oil, ginger oil,and 1 tbsp rice wine. Stir fry until the protein and aromatics are thoroughly integrated and the rice is heated through.  Stir the cooked egg in an serve with a bit of xo sauce if you like.

Pepperoni Pasta

Keith came up with this and we eat it a lot. You can use normal pepperoni and thats how Keith likes it but I think it's a little nicer to use some special salami. Using some salami from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats makes this extra good.


8 oz spaghetti
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 onion diced
2 oz pepperoni or salami,
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp sliced red chilies/red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic oil (optional)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. boil pasta in salted water (it should taste like ocean water) until al dente. you can add some olive oil to the boiling water to prevent foam overs.
2. in a separate pan add the olive oil, butter, garlic, onion, chilies, and italian seasoning fry for about 2 minutes or until fragrant.
3. add in the pepperoni/ salami and continue to fry until the meat takes a bit of color.
4. turn down the heat down to low and toss in the pasta. mix the ingredients and pasta well for a minute. turn off the fire and add in the parmesan. stir well and serve. add extra cheese if desired.

Rose Toad

In Singapore they make a drink flavored with rose syrup and calamansi, a citrus fruit I've never heard of before.  In place of calamansi, I used a lemon/ lime combo.  They're garnished with holy basil seeds that, when soaked in water, look like tadpole eggs.  Since the alcohol makes this an adult drink, I decided to garnish it with an adult frog (actually it's because I got a frog-shaped candy mold for christmas and wanted to make frog shaped ice cubes).  You by no means need the frog ice to make this drink delicious but it certainly makes it cuter.

1 tbsp rose syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 lime

1/4 lemon

1/2 clementine/mandarin orange*

1/4 cup orange juice

gin or vodka to taste

*This blew my mind but evidently clementines are simply a type of mandarin orange, weird huh? Never thought of clementines as exotic.

1. Muddle the lime, lemon, and clementine.

2. Add the orange juice, water, rose syrup, and gin/vodka.

3. Strain and serve in an old fashion glass and serve on the rocks, and on the rocks here means frog shaped rocks.

I know it's cheating but I couldn't think of a good trick to make the ice cubes green so I use food coloring.

Stir Fried String Beans

I had this the first time when Keith took me to Grand Szechuan.  The food was great and I spent the whole lunch shoveling food into my mouth making Keith translate what all the Chinese NYU students were saying at the table around us, but i digress.  Keith recreated this dish for my parents and this is what he came up with.  It was pretty good, though the xo sauce which is made from scallops I believe might tip the scales to the too fishy side for some people, so if you're worried about that, I'd leave it out but definitely keep the dried shrimp in.  In other news, I have no idea why there is a photo of a cucumber in the picture.

1 lb string beans
5 tbsp vegetable oil (or any other neutral oil)
1 lb minced meat (of choice)
2 tbsp dried baby shrimp chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 teaspoon dried chilies/red pepper flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp chinese cooking rice wine
1 tbsp chinese xo sauce (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil


1. cut the string beans into 1-2 inches in length and wash thoroughly. fry in pan over med/high heat with 4 tbsp of oil for over 5 minutes until fragrant and you notice that the beans get a little brown and wrinkly. remove and drain the oil.
2. heat the remaining 1tbsp of oil in pan and fry garlic, dried chilies and baby shrimp for about a minute. add in meat, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and xo sauce (if using). stir fry until fragrant and till meat is cooked.
3. add in cooked string beans and continue to stir fry for about 3-5 minutes. serve with rice.