Recipes

Baked Mushrooms with Basil Pesto

Earthy, flavorful mushrooms play an important role in both Western and Chinese cuisines. With thousands of varieties to choose from, the white St. George’s mushroom (Calocybe gambosa) is one of the most popular. Its thick caps are hearty and tender, and can be fried, stir-fried, boiled, or baked, infusing any combination of ingredients with a ...

Nspirement Staff

Mushrooms with basil pesto.

Salt and Pepper Prawns Recipe

The following recipe is inspired by a Chinese cooking show called Daydaycook on YouTube. If you are a seafood fan and love cooking, then this Salt and Pepper Prawns recipe might be just what you have been looking for. The video below even includes a step-by-step guide to preparing the dish. We are greeted by a ...

Hermann Rohr

Salt and Pepper Prawns.

Food Facts: Star Anise

During my formative years in Germany, star anise was the flavor of choice to add to plum jams that we cooked and preserved for the winter. The spice gave the jam a fragrant, licorice-like fragrance, which we were so fond of. I have kept this family tradition since moving to the United States. I have ...

Armin Auctor

Thirst-Quenching Fruit Vinegar

Legend has it that fruit vinegar, now a popular Chinese snack, was first created during the Tang Dynasty by Yang Guifei, a beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong. Yang loved to eat lychee fruit. Whenever they were ripe, the emperor would order some to be sent by horse from Southern China to their palace in the ...

Nspirement Staff

Baked Potatoes With Mushrooms

From French fries to salad, the potato is a well-loved and versatile staple, if somewhat plain. We’ve upped the excitement factor on this familiar standby by reinventing the classic baked potato. With savory wild mushrooms, sweet roasted tomatoes, and a touch of white wine, baked potatoes with mushrooms is a flavor-packed twist on an old ...

Nspirement Staff

Baked potato with mushrooms.

The Yin-Yang of Foods

It is important to understand the yin-yang of foods. In an earlier article on food for health and wellness, you learned about the Japanese dish yuki nabe, or “snow” hot pot, made with daikon and tofu. This article is about why a dish of fish and burdock root, known as gobo in Japanese, is a ...

Raven Montmorency

Shanghai Smoked Fish

Most people have heard of the masterpiece Dream of the Red Chamber, one of China’s four great classical novels. Yet, few may realize that the dishes described in the novel are Huaiyang cuisine, which originates from China’s Jiangsu Province. This region was a transportation hub for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, wealthy ...

Nspirement Staff

Pumpkin Seeds Pack a Punch

Every year, come late November, cooks in small towns and big cities all over America scoop out precious pumpkin seeds and toss them away, with only the very committed cooks setting the seeds aside to serve later as snacks. This is because most Americans are unaware that pumpkin seeds, Cucurbitae moschatae semen, in Latin, or ...

Jessica Kneipp

pumpkin seeds

Delicious Eastern Spaghetti Recipe Using Soba Noodles

Few know that pasta originates from ancient China. After spreading throughout Asia, it’s said that Chinese noodles found their way to Italy around the 8th century. In this recipe, Japanese buckwheat soba noodles saddle up for a new twist on an Italian favorite — spaghetti. Enjoy it with a Sergio Leone film and call it ...

Emma Lu

A soba noodle dish in a black bowl.

Mediterranean-Style Grilled Fish

The Mediterranean diet features many disease-preventing foods, and people who live in that region have fewer instances of heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol. This Mediterranean-style grilled fish recipe offers many of these health-giving ingredients. Tomatoes, for example, can reduce the oxidation of cholesterol, decrease heart disease, and have anti-cancer effects. Garlic can lower cholesterol ...

Nspirement Staff