A recipe special!
At the start of 2021, I wrote a story called Love in the Form of Taiwanese Dinner...
At the start of 2021, I wrote “Love in the Form of Taiwanese Dinner,” an essay about being home during the pandemic, eating my father's food and thinking about how little things make life just a bit more bearable. A few months passed, and I found myself crying in the shower because the piece had been picked up by Roxane Gay for her Emerging Writer Series. The essay was published in The Audacity this past Wednesday, and I can think of no better way to end the year than to share “Love in the Form of Taiwanese Dinner,” with you.
I’m so grateful for all the kindness and love this essay has already been met with. I’m also so grateful for all of you, who’ve decided to make space for this newsletter in your inbox. As a small thank you, I’ve asked my dad to share a recipe for the scallion pancake and cabbage and pork soup featured in my essay. Contrary to my father’s attentiveness to cooking, his written recipes are much more free-form. In his own words:
So please note that this dish may require some experimentation and/or trust in one’s own cooking intuition!
Given that, let’s start:
Crunchy and Soft Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients: flour, water, a good amount of scallions, and oil. Spoiler alert, step #10 is the real recipe.
Mix flour and water until the dough that forms does not stick to the hand.
Rest the dough for 20 minutes.
Roll the dough into a large, thin rectangle. Dough should be thin but not so thin that it rips.
Sprinkle salt over dough.
Spread the oil over dough.
Chop scallions and spread the scallions over dough.
Roll the dough and then twist it into a circle so that it becomes a tight ball.
Cover with plastic wrap and press to flatten. Roll until the pancake is a quarter inch thick.
Pan fry with oil, flipping every 30 seconds.
Refer to this video for accurate measurements and instructions before you begin.
Cabbage and Pork Soup
Ingredients: 300 grams of sauerkraut, 2 quarts of water, frozen sliced pork belly, salt
Boil water.
Add sauerkraut to the water until it tastes sufficiently tart. You may decide to add more than 300 grams. In our household, the more sour the better.
Wait for the water return to a boil.
Add sliced pork belly to the water, as much as desired.
Wait for the water to boil again. Let it boil for three minutes. The pork belly should be fully cooked by then.
Add salt to taste.
Add mushrooms for good health. We like enoki and shimeji mushrooms.
Enjoy!
Lastly, a big thank you to Roxane Gay and my editor, Brooke Obie who helped guide my essay to its final form. The work that Roxane and her team at are doing for emerging writers is truly something else! If you’re not familiar with The Audacity, you can find it here.