Hi there hello everyone! Tonight we're a fun pantry friendly version of a Sichuan sesame paste noodle dish called dan dan mian. This particular version is inspired by the version that you can find at Good to Eat Dumplings in Oakland, CA.

What makes Good to Eat’s version so unique is that it does not contain any meat whatsoever. In lieu of the more traditional ground pork, their version instead features crispy fried shallots with a fresh green onion finish. This makes for a super minimalist, pantry friendly, yet tasty and hearty dish that’s great to throw together for a quick meal. Hope you try it.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 small shallots

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp or (about 1 inch) ginger

• 12 oz Shanghainese round noodles

• 2 green onions

• sesame seeds

• kosher salt

• peanut oil to cook

• 12 oz high heat oil to deep fry

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 2 tbsp sesame paste

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 2 tbsp lao gan ma (chili oil)

• 1/4 cup stock

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1/2 tbsp sichuan pepper

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the Bay Area restaurant scene with a part 2 of our Spices 3 episode. For those unfamiliar, Spices 3 is a Bay Area local legend in downtown Oakland that sports a variety of both creative and traditionally classic Chinese and/or Sichuan dishes. More specifically today we’re taking a shot at their chou doufu or “stinky tofu,” which is a firm tofu that has been fermented in bean curd, then shallow fried and served with a dipping sauce.

At Spices 3 (as well as most stateside restaurants), you’ll often come across this dish as a shared plate, typically ordered with family style meals. But outside of the states, you’ll more often find them at Chinese and Taiwanese nightmarket stalls, where you can order this dish on the go, and eat it with kabob skewers (and no, i have no idea why you wouldn’t just eat it with a fork). The dish (as the name implies) is quite stinky and pungent coming from the 48 hour soak in fermented bean curd, and for what it’s worth, definitely ranks pretty high on my list of more adventurous dishes to try in Chinese cuisine, up there with chicken feet and pig’s blood popsicles (please don’t ask me to make those. I regret mentioning these already). Hope you try it

It will be out on Friday January 7, 2022, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to deconstructing Chinese American classics with a shot at yet another item from the PF Chang’s menu, which is their stir fried Chinese eggplant. For those not familiar in this series, we have been taking menu items from iconically Americanized cuisine like PF Chang’s or Panda Express, then taking apart these recipes, and reassembling them through the lens of more traditional Chinese wok cooking. Not too long ago, we took a look at PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef, their Singapore Chicken, and a few others as well. 

We’re going making use of some Chinese eggplant today, which is most notably longer and thinner than your more common globe eggplant found here in the states. They also have fewer seeds which makes them a little less bitter, and generally more appropriate for flash cooking like we do in a wok fry. Then we’ll also be pairing this with a “sweet chili soy glaze” as PF Chang’s describes it, which by my best assumption is referring to the use of sweet chili sauce for a sweet and spicy glaze. Then finally rounding this all out, i’m going to be making two creative additions to help bring this to life with some spicy black bean paste and Thai chiles, both of which should add some nice depth of flavor, umami, and complex heat that I personally think is absent in the PF Chang’s version of this dish. Hope you try it. 

The recipe will be out on December 31st, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 3 green onions

• 2 medium Chinese eggplants

• 4-6 Thai chiles

• corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch + water)

• peanut oil

• water

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp sweet chile sauce

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1 tbsp spicy black bean paste

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to deconstructing Chinese American classics with a shot at yet another item from the PF Chang’s menu, which is their stir fried Chinese eggplant. For those not familiar in this series, we have been taking menu items from iconically Americanized cuisine like PF Chang’s or Panda Express, then taking apart these recipes, and reassembling them through the lens of more traditional Chinese wok cooking. Not too long ago, we took a look at PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef, their Singapore Chicken, and a few others as well. 

We’re going making use of some Chinese eggplant today, which is most notably longer and thinner than your more common globe eggplant found here in the states. They also have fewer seeds which makes them a little less bitter, and generally more appropriate for flash cooking like we do in a wok fry. Then we’ll also be pairing this with a “sweet chili soy glaze” as PF Chang’s describes it, which by my best assumption is referring to the use of sweet chili sauce for a sweet and spicy glaze. Then finally rounding this all out, i’m going to be making two creative additions to help bring this to life with some spicy black bean paste and Thai chiles, both of which should add some nice depth of flavor, umami, and complex heat that I personally think is absent in the PF Chang’s version of this dish. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday December 31, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the sundubu jjigae from the FX series “The Americans.” For those unfamiliar, the stew that the Jennings family are eating here is a classic Korean kimchi and soft tofu stew, prominently featuring the Korean chili powder “gochugaru,” which is a fairly mellow form of spice (not unlike the chili powder found here in the states). Sundubu jjigae also leans very heavily into fishy and brine-y umami with its use of a dried kombu sea kelp and anchovy stock, not unlike the rabokki recipe that we did a few months back as well.

While our gochugaru certainly does give the stew a deeply red color that looks quite spicy, I honestly think that this is a bit of a mislead, and it looks a little spicier than it actually is. Lastly, the final note that I’ll mention is that a truly classic sundubu jjigae is made using a Korean dolsot stone bowl. Apart from being a super iconic part of how this dish is plated, it also allows to you cook the stew directly in the stove in the bowl that you’ll be eating out of, which (as we’ll see in a moment) ends up being a super important part of how our poached egg turns out. I don’t own a dolsot stone bowl, so I’m gonna run through my best approach to work around this today as well. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on December 24th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 3-4 green onions

• 1lb (1 block) soft tofu

• 6-8 shrimp

• 1/2 cup kimchi

• 3 eggs

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine (or 1 tbsp each rice vinegar and fish sauce)

INGREDIENTS (stock)

• 1 sheet dried kombu kelp

• 1/4 cup dried anchovy

• 6 cups water

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the sundubu jjigae from the FX series “The Americans.” For those unfamiliar, the stew that the Jennings family are eating here is a classic Korean kimchi and soft tofu stew, prominently featuring the Korean chili powder “gochugaru,” which is a fairly mellow form of spice (not unlike the chili powder found here in the states). Sundubu jjigae also leans very heavily into fishy and brine-y umami with its use of a dried kombu sea kelp and anchovy stock, not unlike the rabokki recipe that we did a few months back as well.

While our gochugaru certainly does give the stew a deeply red color that looks quite spicy, I honestly think that this is a bit of a mislead, and it looks a little spicier than it actually is. Lastly, the final note that I’ll mention is that a truly classic sundubu jjigae is made using a Korean dolsot stone bowl. Apart from being a super iconic part of how this dish is plated, it also allows to you cook the stew directly in the stove in the bowl that you’ll be eating out of, which (as we’ll see in a moment) ends up being a super important part of how our poached egg turns out. I don’t own a dolsot stone bowl, so I’m gonna run through my best approach to work around this today as well. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday December 24, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of Asian fusion cuisine with a shot at a miso glazed fish taco. For those following along, we have now done a few very fun and creative dishes in this series, including a Chinese lap cheong sausage carbonara, and of course our fried rice burrito earlier last month. 

More specifically, today we’ll be making use of my absolute favorite cut of fish for pan searing, which is some skin-on salmon fillets. This is gonna pair nicely with the shallow fry method that we’ll be using, which works particularly well in our round bottomed wok that i’ll be using, which we’ll dive into as well.  The thin skin of the salmon here is gonna crisp up nicely in our wok fry, for a super crispy, but also still super tender piece of salmon. We’ll be pairing that with a rich miso based glaze, some fresh avocado, lime juice, and finally, a quick slaw done with some Taiwanese cabbage, shallots, and my personal favorite, some Chinese red vinegar. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on November 5th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb salmon (skin on)

• corn tortillas

• 1 avocado

• 1/2 lime

• peanut oil

• parchment paper

INGREDIENTS (glaze)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp miso paste

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp mirin

INGREDIENTS (slaw)

• 1/2 head Taiwanese cabbage

• 3 medium shallots

• 2 tbsp red vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2oz (1 bunch) cilantro

• 1 tbsp white sugar

• pinch kosher salt

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re adding to our series dedicated to the Bay Area restaurant scene with a shot at the newest menu item on the Woo Can Cook pop up menu, which is a Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly, or “lu rou fan,” (I’m allowed to feature my own restaurant in this series…right? Idunno. Doesn’t matter, I make the rules anyway). For those unfamiliar, a lu rou fan (or often more colloquially, just simply “roufan”),is a classic Taiwanese comfort food that features a slow cooked pork belly which has been braised in dark soy sauce for a deeply rich, tender and savory piece of pork.

In addition, rou fan is also most often accompanied in its braise by a wide variety of toasted spices to achieve its fragrant and aromatic nature as well. Today we’ll be doing this with a classic licorice-leaning combination of star anise, cinnamon, and Sichuan peppercorn (or in other words, any or all of the spices found in Chinese 5 spice, which fun fact, is not actually limited to five spices).  In addition to our pork belly, we’ll also be taking advantage of our long dark soy sauce braise as an opportunity to make some brown “tea” eggs by throwing in some soft bowled eggs during the braise. Then finally finishing this all off with some crispy low and slow cooked caramelized shallots for a tasty sweet finishing garnish. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday December 17, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re kicking off a BRAND new series, and diving into the wonderful, weird, and surprisingly delicious world of pan-asian fusion cuisine. More specifically, today we’re taking a crack at a recipe inspired one sent to me by reddit user u/Juno_Malone for an Italian Pasta Carbonara that most prominently strays from its traditional carbonara origins with its inclusion of a Chinese pork “lap cheong” sausage. For those unfamiliar, a traditional carbonara makes use of guanciale “pork cheek” (or here in the states, usually pancetta or bacon) that has had its fat rendered into liquid form, and is then combined with spaghetti and an egg and parmesan slurry for a simple but delicious creamy pasta. 

Today we’ll be omitting that guanciale in favor of a Chinese “lap cheong” sausage, then incorporating two of my very favorite forms of subtle heat, a bit of dried toasted Tian Jin peppers, and a healthy serving of lao gan ma chile crisp oil. Hope you try it.

Bookmark the recipe here (out August 27th!), bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 8oz (about 4 links) lap cheong sausage

• 16oz bronze die cut spaghetti

• 4oz parmesan cheese

• 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

• 2 tbsp lao gan ma

• 6-8 dried Tian Jin peppers

• kosher salt

• peanut oil

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. aToday we’re getting back to our series on local Hawaiian classics with a shot at one of my favorite pies from my childhood, which is the chocolate coconut “haupia” cream pie found at the legendary “Ted’s Bakery” in Oahu. For those unfamiliar, Ted’s bakery is a local institution dating back to the mid 80s on the North Shore of Oahu, and is well known for sporting a wide variety menu items to serve to local surfers and beach goers, but by far their most legendary item is their “chocolate haupia” pie. For those unfamiliar, the haupia chocolate cream pie is a multilayer cream pie with a thick and rich dark chocolate cream bottom layer, a coconut cream “haupia” center layer, and a whipped coconut cream topping.

We’ll be making use of favorite flakey pie crust recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit, but of course if you’re looking for shortcuts, premade crusts are always ok in my book. Finally as with pretty much every baking adventure on this channel, there were MANY mistakes made in my attempts, which we’ll absolutely be touching on as well. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday December 10, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re kicking off a brand new series inspired by the MANY requests that I’ve gotten for vegetarian and/or veggie friendly recipes, particularly those involving the use of tofu. If you’re like me, I have always been really frustrated with how tofu is used in most American vegetarian recipes, mostly because they involve using tofu as a meat substitute. There ARE many many uses of tofu throughout Asian and Chinese cuisine in particular that are built around tofu as the central ingredient (rather than a substitute), which means that the approach involved is much more conducive to creating a tender, toothsome, and tasty piece of tofu. 

More specifically today we’ll be taking a shot at a Chinese stir fry classic “wu siu tofu” or a braised firm tofu that has been shallow fried with veggies, and tossed in a dark soy sauce and oyster sauce braise. It’s one of my absolute favorite tofu dishes because the fry and braise method gives us a toothsome but also deeply flavorful piece of tofu. To add to this, it’s also a little bit more approachable than the similar “hong shao tofu” that recipe we did a little while back, since this involved a light breading and deep fry, which is a little bit more labor intensive. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on December 3rd, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 14 oz (1 block) firm tofu

• 6-8 shiitake mushrooms

• 2 medium carrots

• 3-4 green onions

• 2 tbsp corn starch

• water

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp black vinegar

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 2 tbsp chile crisp oil (lao gan ma)

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re kicking off a brand new series inspired by the MANY requests that I’ve gotten for vegetarian and/or veggie friendly recipes, particularly those involving the use of tofu. If you’re like me, I have always been really frustrated with how tofu is used in most American vegetarian recipes, mostly because they involve using tofu as a meat substitute. There ARE many many uses of tofu throughout Asian and Chinese cuisine in particular that are built around tofu as the central ingredient (rather than a substitute), which means that the approach involved is much more conducive to creating a tender, toothsome, and tasty piece of tofu. 

More specifically today we’ll be taking a shot at a Chinese stir fry classic “wu siu tofu” or a braised firm tofu that has been shallow fried with veggies, and tossed in a dark soy sauce and oyster sauce braise. It’s one of my absolute favorite tofu dishes because the fry and braise method gives us a toothsome but also deeply flavorful piece of tofu. To add to this, it’s also a little bit more approachable than the similar “hong shao tofu” that recipe we did a little while back, since this involved a light breading and deep fry, which is a little bit more labor intensive. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday December 3, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Tonight we're having one of my favorite Thai noodle dishes of all time, which is a Pad See Ew. For those unfamiliar, Pad See Ew is a noodle dish that leans heavily on the use of kecap manis or dark soy sauce for its signature dark brown color. Dark soy sauce is also a bit sweeter and thicker than regular soy sauce, which gives the dish a nice hint of molasses and sugar.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 chicken breast

• 2 heads broccoli (or gai lan/Chinese broccoli)

• 12 oz wide rice noodles (chow fun noodles)

• 1 tbsp ginger

• 4 cloves garlic

• 2 eggs

• 6-8 Thai chili (optional)

• peanut oil (or vegetable oil)

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)

• 1 tbsp white pepper

• 1 tsp corn starch

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp black vinegar

• 4 tbsp fish sauce

• 2 tbsp sambal oelek

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re getting back into our series dedicated to foods from the wonderful restaurant scene here in the Bay Area with a shot at a really interesting mapo tofu found at Spices 3, in Oakland, CA. More specifically today, we’re going to be taking a shot at at their stinky mapo tofu, which is (as the name implies) a pretty typical Sichuan mapo tofu (or spicy ground pork and tofu stir fry), with the added twist that the tofu included is not your more typical soft tofu, but a Chinese fermented “chou doufu,” or more colloquially, “stinky tofu.” 

For those unfamiliar, chou doufu is is a Hong Kong street food classic featuring firm tofu that has been aged in a fermented bean curd, which gives it a uniquely pungent and “stinky” quality. More typically in Chinese cuisine, you might see this deep fried and served as a small plate with a light sauce on the side. For our version today however, we’ll be skipping that deep fry, and instead dropping our chou doufu straight into our wok fry for an interestingly complex quality to our tofu that you generally would not otherwise come across in a more standard mapo tofu. Finally to round this all out, it seemed appropriate to take a shot at our own chili oil today as well (since we are paying homage to Spices 3), so, we’ll be taking a look at how that stuff is made (and more importantly), if it’s worth the effort, since you can absolutely just buy that stuff in a jar. Hope you try it. 

The recipe will be out on November 26th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 clove garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 3 green onions

• 2 tbsp corn starch + water

• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (chou doufu)

• 1 block tofu (soft or firm)

• 4-5 pieces fermented bean curd

• 4 cups water

• 2 tbsp Chinese rice wine (baijiu)

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

INGREDIENTS (chile oil)

• 6-8 Thai chiles

• 4-6 Tian Jin peppers

• 1/4 cup peanut oil

• *optional* can be subbed with 2 tbsp of lao gan ma chile oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 2 tbsp doubanjiang

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 8oz ground pork

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re getting back into our series dedicated to foods from the wonderful restaurant scene here in the Bay Area with a shot at a really interesting mapo tofu found at Spices 3, in Oakland, CA. More specifically today, we’re going to be taking a shot at at their stinky mapo tofu, which is (as the name implies) a pretty typical Sichuan mapo tofu (or spicy ground pork and tofu stir fry), with the added twist that the tofu included is not your more typical soft tofu, but a Chinese fermented “chou doufu,” or more colloquially, “stinky tofu.” 

For those unfamiliar, chou doufu is is a Hong Kong street food classic featuring firm tofu that has been aged in a fermented bean curd, which gives it a uniquely pungent and “stinky” quality. More typically in Chinese cuisine, you might see this deep fried and served as a small plate with a light sauce on the side. For our version today however, we’ll be skipping that deep fry, and instead dropping our chou doufu straight into our wok fry for an interestingly complex quality to our tofu that you generally would not otherwise come across in a more standard mapo tofu. Finally to round this all out, it seemed appropriate to take a shot at our own chili oil today as well (since we are paying homage to Spices 3), so, we’ll be taking a look at how that stuff is made (and more importantly), if it’s worth the effort, since you can absolutely just buy that stuff in a jar. Hope you try it. 

It will be out on Friday November 26, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hello hi everyone! Welcome back to Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful weird world of Asian fusion foods with a request from the r/gifrecipes subreddit for a wok fried garlic noodle. For those not familiar, the concept of “garlic noodles” appears throughout MANY different food cultures, including but not limited to Chinese cuisine (it is, after all, not a very complicated concept). This of course gives us an endless amount of leeway for creative interpretation, so, for our version today, I’ll be drawing some inspiration from the Italian pasta dish “Pasta Aglio e Olio,” or more colloquially, pasta with garlic and olive oil (you may also recognize this as the pantry pasta dish from the movie “Chef”). 

This dish is most iconically done with spaghetti, red chili flake, parsley, and a whooole bunch of garlic that has been cooked on low heat in olive oil for an aromatic finish. For our version today, we’ll be borrowing this low and slow technique for our garlic, but then swapping in a few classic elements that you’ll likely recognize from more traditional Chinese wok cooking, which are some dry toasted Tian Jin peppers and Sichuan peppercorn (in lieu of our red chili flake), some thinly sliced green onions (in lieu of our parsley), some toasted sesame oil (in lieu of our olive oil) and finally, some super thin fresh noodles that we’re gonna wok fry for a wonderfully crispy quality that you’ll likely recognize from a lot of classic Chinese take out. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on November 19th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 16 oz Hong Kong Style Thin Egg Noodles

• 12 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 4 green onions

• 8-10 Tian Jin peppers

• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn

• 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

• 1/4 cup peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp lao gan ma chile crisp oil

Hello hi everyone! Welcome back to Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful weird world of Asian fusion foods with a request from the r/gifrecipes subreddit for a wok fried garlic noodle. For those not familiar, the concept of “garlic noodles” appears throughout MANY different food cultures, including but not limited to Chinese cuisine (it is, after all, not a very complicated concept). This of course gives us an endless amount of leeway for creative interpretation, so, for our version today, I’ll be drawing some inspiration from the Italian pasta dish “Pasta Aglio e Olio,” or more colloquially, pasta with garlic and olive oil (you may also recognize this as the pantry pasta dish from the movie “Chef”). 

This dish is most iconically done with spaghetti, red chili flake, parsley, and a whooole bunch of garlic that has been cooked on low heat in olive oil for an aromatic finish. For our version today, we’ll be borrowing this low and slow technique for our garlic, but then swapping in a few classic elements that you’ll likely recognize from more traditional Chinese wok cooking, which are some dry toasted Tian Jin peppers and Sichuan peppercorn (in lieu of our red chili flake), some thinly sliced green onions (in lieu of our parsley), some toasted sesame oil (in lieu of our olive oil) and finally, some super thin fresh noodles that we’re gonna wok fry for a wonderfully crispy quality that you’ll likely recognize from a lot of classic Chinese take out. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday November 19, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Chinese breakfast foods with a shot at a very simple but also deceptively difficult breakfast snack known as a “shao bing.” For those not familiar, a Chinese “shao bing” (roughly translating to Chinese “biscuit”) is a popular flakey and yeasted snack item that can be served in many different forms. Often times, you will come across it stuffed with sesame paste, green onions, eggs, Chinese pork floss, or even just served simply on its own. Today we’ll be doing our version with a few of my favorite additions, which is a simple wok fried egg, green onions, and some black and white sesame seeds for a colorful finish. While at the surface this one may seem like a fairly simple one to take on, the most challenging task today will be about achieving those flakey layers to our biscuits, without the inclusion of butter, which you would more commonly come across in European baking. I’ve got some user friendly solutions for this, as well as some more challenging tricks that take a bit more elbow grease and effort that we’ll dive into as well. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday November 12, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series on Panda Express Hacks with a shot at their string bean chicken, which we’re gonna deconstruct, and then see if we can’t amp it up a bit with some of my favorite additions drawn from more traditional Chinese wok cooking. For those not familiar, Panda Express’ string bean chicken features (as you might guess) string beans (or green beans, depending on who you ask), sweet white onion, and a bit of chicken breast done in a fairly mild “ginger soy sauce,” (or at least, that’s what they call it). To me of course, ginger and soy sauce are in most Chinese stir fries already, so that sauce could very well be really anything.

So, I’m taking a bit of liberty with my attempt here, and adding a couple of ingredients to bring out a little bit more savory umami and heat, with a couple of ingredients that you’ll likely recognize from some of our more traditional recipes. This is mainly gonna be done with the addition of dark soy sauce, black bean paste, and my favorite combination of heat elements, some Chinese doubanjiang, and spicy chili crisp or “lao gan ma.” Hope you try it.

Bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 medium chicken thighs

• 6-8 oz green beans

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp (about 1 inch) ginger

• 1/2 medium sweet white onion

• 2 tbsp corn starch + water (corn starch slurry)

• peanut oil or vegetable oil

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce

• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• pinch kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 2 tbsp black bean paste

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp doubanjiang

• 1 tbsp lao gan ma

• 1/4 cup stock

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of Asian fusion cuisine with a shot at a miso glazed fish taco. For those following along, we have now done a few very fun and creative dishes in this series, including a Chinese lap cheong sausage carbonara, and of course our fried rice burrito earlier last month. 

More specifically, today we’ll be making use of my absolute favorite cut of fish for pan searing, which is some skin-on salmon fillets. This is gonna pair nicely with the shallow fry method that we’ll be using, which works particularly well in our round bottomed wok that i’ll be using, which we’ll dive into as well.  The thin skin of the salmon here is gonna crisp up nicely in our wok fry, for a super crispy, but also still super tender piece of salmon. We’ll be pairing that with a rich miso based glaze, some fresh avocado, lime juice, and finally, a quick slaw done with some Taiwanese cabbage, shallots, and my personal favorite, some Chinese red vinegar. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on November 5th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb salmon (skin on)

• corn tortillas

• 1 avocado

• 1/2 lime

• peanut oil

• parchment paper

INGREDIENTS (glaze)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp miso paste

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp mirin

INGREDIENTS (slaw)

• 1/2 head Taiwanese cabbage

• 3 medium shallots

• 2 tbsp red vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2oz (1 bunch) cilantro

• 1 tbsp white sugar

• pinch kosher salt

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of Asian fusion cuisine with a shot at a miso glazed fish taco. For those following along, we have now done a few very fun and creative dishes in this series, including a Chinese lap cheong sausage carbonara, and of course our fried rice burrito earlier last month. 
More specifically, today we’ll be making use of my absolute favorite cut of fish for pan searing, which is some skin-on salmon fillets. This is gonna pair nicely with the shallow fry method that we’ll be using, which works particularly well in our round bottomed wok that i’ll be using, which we’ll dive into as well.  The thin skin of the salmon here is gonna crisp up nicely in our wok fry, for a super crispy, but also still super tender piece of salmon. We’ll be pairing that with a rich miso based glaze, some fresh avocado, lime juice, and finally, a quick slaw done with some Taiwanese cabbage, shallots, and my personal favorite, some Chinese red vinegar. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday November 5, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here.Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to deconstructing Chinese American classics with a shot at the PF Chang’s Singapore Black Pepper Chicken. For those new to the series, we have actually done a number of Chinese American classics already, (including a shot at the Mongolian Beef from PF Chang’s not too long ago). What we’ll be doing today is deconstructing what makes these dishes “tick,” and then identify what are the Americanized aspects going on, and try and reconstruct the dish through the lens of more traditional wok cooking. Now, fortunately for us, PF Chang’s has actually published this recipe for us to take a look at, and it’s honestly, pretty bland looking (mostly a combination of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar), so I’m feeling pretty confident that we can do…decently better. 

So for our version today, we’re gonna stay fairly true to the original with the inclusion of some flash cooked sweet white onion, green bell pepper, and red Fresno peppers. But then we’ll be deviating a bit by tossing that in a bright, umami forward dark soy sauce base, and finally rounding all of that out with what I think is the most iconic part about this dish, which is some steamed chicken, for some of the most tender, aromatic, lacy, and juicy bits of chicken that you will ever create. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on October 29, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 2-3 medium chicken thighs

• 2 Fresno chile peppers

• 1 green bell pepper

• 1/2 medium white onion

• 1/2 cup cilantro

• 4 cups water

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• black pepper

• 1 tbsp corn starch

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here.Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to deconstructing Chinese American classics with a shot at the PF Chang’s Singapore Black Pepper Chicken. For those new to the series, we have actually done a number of Chinese American classics already, (including a shot at the Mongolian Beef from PF Chang’s not too long ago). What we’ll be doing today is deconstructing what makes these dishes “tick,” and then identify what are the Americanized aspects going on, and try and reconstruct the dish through the lens of more traditional wok cooking. Now, fortunately for us, PF Chang’s has actually published this recipe for us to take a look at, and it’s honestly, pretty bland looking (mostly a combination of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar), so I’m feeling pretty confident that we can do…decently better. 

So for our version today, we’re gonna stay fairly true to the original with the inclusion of some flash cooked sweet white onion, green bell pepper, and red Fresno peppers. But then we’ll be deviating a bit by tossing that in a bright, umami forward dark soy sauce base, and finally rounding all of that out with what I think is the most iconic part about this dish, which is some steamed chicken, for some of the most tender, aromatic, lacy, and juicy bits of chicken that you will ever create. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday October 29, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into the wonderful world of Thai street food with a pad gra prow inspired by the Hangover Part 2 Bangkok street food night market scene. Most commonly, these street food dishes are associated with the drinking culture that is commonplace in Bangkok, and are usually purchased from stalls coming right out of the wok after a night of heavy drinking, then eaten outside on the street while you (hopefully) sober up a bit. For those following along, we have done a handful of noodle dishes originating from Thai street food already, and have also touched on the similar cultures of Taiwanese street food, korean street food, AND hong kong street food. 

More specifically today we’ll be cooking up a Thai stir fry known as pad gra prow which, for those not familiar, is a stir fry that prominently features a minced meat, stir fried with veggies (today we’ll be using green beans), and then tossed in two iconically Thai aromatics, some Thai chiles and Holy basil. Then we’ll be tossing that in a rich dark soy sauce and fish sauce base, and finally, rounding everything out with a lacy wok fried egg, for a classic Thai finishing touch. Hope you try it.

Bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 8oz ground chicken (or pork, beef, or turkey)

• 4-6 Thai chiles

• 1 cup holy basil (or Thai basil)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 1 shallot

• 8oz green beans

• 2 eggs

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp black soy sauce

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

• 1/4 cup stock (chicken or veggie)

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of asian fusion with a shot at the very popular “Crispy Kimchi Bacon Fried Rice” found at the Woo Can Cook pop ups all around the California Bay Area. For those unfamiliar, earlier this summer, we launched a fried rice pop up here in Oakland, serving many of the fried rices and dishes from this series. The kimchi fried rice that we’ll be taking a shot at today is a staple of the Woo Can Cook menu, and features crispy bacon bits, fermented korean “kimchi,” a sweet and savory gochujang and hoisin sauce, and finally, a 2 minute wok sear for a wonderfully crispy finish to the rice. 

We’ll also use this as an opportunity to take a look at how we cook this at the pop up when we’re cooking on 200,000 BTUs of wok burner heat, and then take a look at how to adjust this approach to accommodate for the more moderate BTUs of home burners like the ones you all probably have. Hope you try it.

The recipe will be out on October 22nd, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp (about 1 inch) ginger

• 1 cup kimchi

• 4 strips bacon

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• kosher salt

• 2 green onions

• 2 cups leftover rice

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp gochujang

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce

• 1/4 cup kimchi brine

Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to the wonderful, weird world of asian fusion with a shot at the very popular “Crispy Kimchi Bacon Fried Rice” found at the Woo Can Cook pop ups all around the California Bay Area. For those unfamiliar, earlier this summer, we launched a fried rice pop up here in Oakland, serving many of the fried rices and dishes from this series. The kimchi fried rice that we’ll be taking a shot at today is a staple of the Woo Can Cook menu, and features crispy bacon bits, fermented korean “kimchi,” a sweet and savory gochujang and hoisin sauce, and finally, a 2 minute wok sear for a wonderfully crispy finish to the rice. 

We’ll also use this as an opportunity to take a look at how we cook this at the pop up when we’re cooking on 200,000 BTUs of wok burner heat, and then take a look at how to adjust this approach to accommodate for the more moderate BTUs of home burners like the ones you all probably have. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday October 22, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!

Hi there hello everyone! Tonight we're a fun pantry friendly version of a Sichuan sesame paste noodle dish called dan dan mian. This particular version is inspired by the version that you can find at Good to Eat Dumplings in Oakland, CA.

What makes Good to Eat’s version so unique is that it does not contain any meat whatsoever. In lieu of the more traditional ground pork, their version instead features crispy fried shallots with a fresh green onion finish. This makes for a super minimalist, pantry friendly, yet tasty and hearty dish that’s great to throw together for a quick meal. Hope you try it.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 small shallots

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp or (about 1 inch) ginger

• 12 oz Shanghainese round noodles

• 2 green onions

• sesame seeds

• kosher salt

• peanut oil to cook

• 12 oz high heat oil to deep fry

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 2 tbsp sesame paste

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 2 tbsp lao gan ma (chili oil)

• 1/4 cup stock

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1/2 tbsp sichuan pepper

hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the Korean street food dish “rabokki,” inspired by the Netflix series “Squid Games.” For those unfamiliar, Tteokbokki in its simplest form features a Korean rice cake or “tteok,” which is then tossed in a quick gochujang and gochugaru sauce for a super quick, sweet and spicy, and carb heavy meal. This dish is commonly found in Korean nightmarket stalls and food booths to be eaten on the go, and here in the states, is also commonly found in Korean BBQ restaurants as a side dish or shared plate. 

It can be elaborated on in endless variations, including additional elements like fish cakes, onions, scallions, hardboiled eggs, kimchi, cabbage, ham, carrots, cheese (that’s a weird one). For our version today though, we’re going with my personal favorite variation, which is a dish that’s colloquially referred to as rabokki, or essentially, tteokbokki with ramen added. Then we’ll be rounding it out with a homemade broth made from anchovy and dried kelp (or, if this is too intimidating for you, I have a handful of slightly simpler options as well). Hope you try it. 

The recipe will be out on October 15th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 10-12 tteok (korean rice cakes)

• 8 oz (2 bricks) ramen

• 1/2 medium white onion

• 2 green onions

• 4-6 oz (about 2 sheets) fish cake

• 4 eggs

• sesame seed

INGREDIENTS (broth)

• 4 cups water

• 1/2 oz (about 2-3 sheets) dried kelp

• 1/2 cup dried anchovy

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp gochujang

• 1 tbsp gochugaru

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 4 cloves garlic

Hi there hello everyone! Tonight we're making a Shanghainese dish called "Lion's Head Meatballs." This was one of my favorites when I was a kid. “Shizitou” is a Chinese wok seared meatball braised in an oyster sauce base, and sauteed with veggies.

Bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp ginger (about 1 inch)

• 1/2 medium white onion

• 3 medium chicken thighs

• 3 medium russet potatoes

• 2 large carrots

• 1/2 cup stock

• 2 cups water

• 3 tbsp curry powder

• 1 tsp turmeric

• peanut oil

• 1/4 tsp corn starch

• corn starch slurry

• kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce

• 2 tbsp mirin

• 1/4 cup dry sake

• 2 tbsp miso paste

• kosher salt