This hot Szechuan chicken recipe gets its firing spiciness from peppercorns and red chillies. To par-poach the diced chicken in hot oil helps to keep the tenderness of the meat. Ok, if you could handle “the hot stuff", then a few more Szechuan peppercorns would make the dish more enjoyable, with some cold beer.

1. Cut the chicken into inch cubes. Place them in a bowl, and add in egg white, salt and cornstarch. Set aside for 30 minutes. In a small bowl, place all the ingredients for the sauce and mix well.
   
2. Heat some oil in a pan or wok to 200C/400F. Add chicken and fry 30 seconds. Remove and drain. Leave one tablespoon of oil in the pan, stir in chillies until fragrant. Add peppercorns and spring onions, stirring and tossing together.
   
3. Return the chicken to the pan, stirring briefly, add sauce mixture and cook, stirring, just until thickened. Remove from heat and sprinkle with nuts.

Schmand is a dairy product, which is manufactured by fermentation of the cream by different Lactobazillus cultures, a variety of sour cream similar to crème fraîche. It usually contains at least 20% fat.

1. In a mixing bowl, place together the almond meal, flour, baking powder, and sugars. Cut in the cold butter and rub until the mixture resembles the bread crumb. Add in the beaten egg and mix until a ball of dough forms. Transfer the dough to a 28cm square baking form and press the dough evenly over the bottom and 3cm up against the sides of the pan. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork and freeze it for 30 minutes.
   
   
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Rinse, dry, halve and pit the apricots. Set aside. Stir together the sour cream and Schmand in a mixing bowl. Sift in the pudding powder and vanilla powder. Mix well. Add in egg yolks, 100 grams of sugar and stir to combine. Beat the egg whites with the rest of sugar until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the batter until incorporated.
   
3. Remove the crust from the freezer and sprinkle the chopped walnut on the bottom of the crust. Arrange the prepared apricot on the curst, then pour in the cream mixture and bake for 50-60 minutes in the center rack of the preheated oven. Remove and cool the cake completely. Dust with icing sugar if desired.

Teriyaki is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which the food are being basted with a sweet soya marinade and then grilled. To make teriyaki sauce, you need soya sauce, mirin, and sugar. If you don't have mirin, you can substitute it with sake and sugar. If you want the dish with the beautiful shiny look, then get the sweet rice wine - mirin!

1. Clean and cut the fish filets into chunks. Mix the fish with marinade for 30 minutes. Heat up enough oil in a pan until very hot.
   
   
2. Dip the marinated fish into the egg mixture and thinly coat with cornstarch. Deep-dry them until crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain and place them in a plate.
3. Heat up a sauce pan, add in plum sauce, (and a pinch of salt if you like), cornstarch and water. Cook until it thickens. Pour over the fish and serve immediately.

"Streusel" is a crumbly topping made from a mixture of butter, flour, golden sugar, and ground cinnamon. The word 'streusel' comes from the German word "streuen" which means 'to sprinkle' or 'to scatter'. "Streusel" was originally used as a topping for the "StreuselKuchen" but you can use "Streusel" for any coffee cakes, muffins, tarts, dimsum bread, etc. etc. .
This recipe was inspired by Spiked-blueberry-crumb-bars@Cooking Canuck and Kuchen vom Blech@Dr. Oetker

1. Line a 30cmx25cm rectangle baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
2. Combine the gooseberry, blueberry, lemon juice, half of the sugar and 2 tablespoon of flour in a mixing bowl.
   
   
3. In another bowl, mix together the remaining of the sugar, flour, salt, ground cinnamon and baking powder. Cut in cold butter and rub until coarse crumbs form. Add in the egg and vanilla extract.
   
4. Pour half of the mixture into the prepared baking tray. Spread on the berry mixture and cover with another half of the flour mixture. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until the surface has become golden and crisp.

This thick creamy Satay sauce is widely used in Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines. It is a peanut-coconut based sauce, a balance of hot (from chilli), salty (soya sauce), sour (fish sauce), and sweet (brown sugar). if you love peanut butter, then don't miss the satay sauce.
Satay sauce is typically paired with grilled chicken, pork or beef skewers. This rich creamy sauce is just for the meat dish, but also perfect for making tofu, and vegetable dishes.

1. Clean the mushrooms and slice. Soak the dried mushrooms in water. Drain and cut into small pieces.
   
   
2. Heat up a skillet with some oil. Add in garlic, onion and dried mushrooms and stir until fragrant. Add in sliced mushrooms. Stir briefly. Sprinkle rice wine, satay, salt and chicken powder. Stir until the mushrooms are coated with the sauce. Serve immediately.

"Dorayaki" is a popular tea snack or dessert in Japan, which consists of two spongecake-like pancakes sandwiched typically with a red bean filling. You may also use other beans, or nutella, jam, cheese as a filling.

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Sift and set aside. Whip the whole eggs and sugar until creamy and lemon white in colour. Sift the flour mixture into the whipped eggs. Fold to combine. Mix in milk and caramel syrup. Cover it with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
   
   
2. Set a nonstick frying pan over medium heat and swab on some vegetable oil with a paper towel. Drop in about 1-2 tablespoons of the batter. Cook over the low heat until brown and the tiny bubbles appear on the pancake. Flip and cook another side for about 30 seconds. Transfer to a serving plate. Continue the same with the rest of batter.
3. Spread some bean paste onto a pancake and top with another pancake. Serve with a cup of hot tea.

Jiaozi or pot sticker is a type of Chinese dumplings. They typically consist of ground meat, seafood, or vegetable fillings wrapped into a thinly rolled round of dough, which is then sealed by crimping. They can be steamed, boiled or pan-fried.
A dipping sauceangiesrecipes made of vinegar and soya sauce makes a tasty accompaniment to the Jiaozi. Flavour the sauce with sugar, sesame oil, chilli oil, maggi, chilli flakes, spring onions for a more flavourful treat.

1. Stir the salt into the flour. Slowly stir in the cold water to make a dough and knead until smooth. Cover the dough and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
   
2. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling ingredients. Combine ground meat and seasonings and mix. Dissolve ginseng powder in warm water. Gradually add into the meat mixture, stirring in one direction until it becomes a paste.
   
3. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a long roll and cut into ½-inch slices. Roll each piece out into a circle about 8-cm in diameter. Place a small portion of the filling into the middle of each wrapper. Fold and seal in your desired pattern.
   
4. To cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in a bit of oil and add in some dumplings. Bring the water to a boil, and add 100 ml of cold water. Cover and repeat. The dumplings will be done when they float to the surface. Drain and remove. If desired, they can be pan-fried at this point. Serve with a mix of seasoned soya sauce and black rice vinegar.

Before starting the recipe, I want to address my appreciation to Heather aka girlichef for giving me this special award. Thank you! Heather, for your support, your hard work and your friendship! (p.s. the drawings on the stamp means "Thank You" in Chinese.)
A Biscuit Roulade, or Jelly Roll, is a type of form cake, which baked in a sheet pan and then rolled around a filling, like whipped cream, jam, peanut butter, nutella, or ganache.

1. Line a 40 x 30 cm rectangular baking tray with baking paper and lightly butter the paper. In the large bowl of the standing mixer, whip the egg whites and water at medium speed until frothy. Add the white vinegar, increase the speed to high, and continue beating until the whites form soft peaks. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, whip until they form stiff peaks.
2. Fold in egg yolks, one by one, until blended. Gradually sift in the cake flour, cornstarch, baking powder and vanilla powder. Quickly but gently fold to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 200C /400F for about 14 minutes until golden on top.
   
   
3. Let the cake rest in the tray for 1 minute. Flip it out onto a clean tea towel that was sprinkled with powdered sugar. Brush the paper lining with water and let soak 1 minute before peeling it off the cake. Trim dry edges from the cake if needed. Roll the cake up tightly with the towel, rolling away from you and cool on a rack 30 minutes or more.
4. Carefully unroll the cake and spread it with a thin layer of black currant jam and tightly re-roll the cake and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours before slicing. With a wire cake leveler, gently slice the cake roll and serve.