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I’m Sandy.

An inspiring menu developer as seen on the current series of MasterChef 2020 on BBC1

MasterChef: ‘Never seen that!’John and Gregg stunned as chef commits BBC first

sandytangst

🌟🌟🌟MAXIM's MOONCAKE GIVEAWAY [Entry close

🌟🌟🌟MAXIM's MOONCAKE GIVEAWAY [Entry closed] 🌟🌟🌟

As we are approaching my favorite festival of the year (Mid autumn festival that is, given I was born the day after 😎), I have teamed up with @freshasia_official to share the traditional treats - Double Salted Egg Yolk & Lotus Seed Paste Mooncakes by @maximsproducts , one of the most well-known bakery group in Hong Kong for its premium quality. They will definitely make yourself feel like home despite being miles away from home. Available to be purchase on Eggla.co.uk for your loved ones as well as your own indulgence this autumn.

To enter the price draw, you will need to:
1. Follow @freshasia_official and @sandytangst
2. Tag a friend in each comment. Max. 5 entries for each account.

End on 15th September midnight, TWO lucky winners will be announced the next day.

📸Photo: https://www.maximsproducts.com.hk/

Corn & Parsley & Sea Salt Ice Cream 🌽🍦 Chic

Corn & Parsley & Sea Salt Ice Cream 🌽🍦

Chicken Cornmeal Taco 🌮

Corn and Butter Crumble 🌽

Inspired by the sweetcorn choux I had last week @daterrarestaurant 🌟🌟

Just love the natural sweetness from corn, and its distinctive flavours that melts into your mouth.

#f52 #f52gram #icecrean #foodies #foodlover #dessert #freitaglover #chicken #freitager #comfortfood #foodblog #nomnom

Wonderful meal at @daterrarestaurant earlier this

Wonderful meal at @daterrarestaurant earlier this week. Walking around the hotel and the restaurant brings back the memory of my MasterChef experience. I still remembered an almost sleepless night in one of their hotel suite the night before our final cook-off. Lots of dreams and also uncertainties that we just couldn't foresee at the time.

Thank you @rafacagali @kooze and the team for taking me onto this splendid sensory journey. ❤️

Still thinking about the weekend Shanghainese feas

Still thinking about the weekend Shanghainese feast by @jason888li 🤤 with great companions who shared the same passion for food ❤️

Starter we had.... And the list shall go on 😋:

四喜五香烤麸
Shanghainese Braised Gluten, Shiitake Mushrooms, Black Ear Fungus
秘制香黄醉鸡
Chicken in Fermented Rice Brine and Goji Berries
凉拌有机木耳
Cold Dressed Organic Black Ear Fungus
桂花糯米莲藕
Lotus Root stuffed with Glutinous Rice in an Osmanthus Flower Glaze
南京盐水卤鸭
Nanjing Brined Duck

Main dishes:
梦上海生煎馒头
Meng Shanghai Shengjian Baos
咸蛋黄烧卖
Salted Duck Egg Siu Mai garnished with Black Truffle
豆腐三文鱼汤
Tofu Salmon Soup
红烧大排煮卤蛋
Red Braised Pork and Egg
酸菜鱼
Fish in Pickled Greens with Bean Sprouts
毛豆炒花蟹
Stir Fried Blue Crab with Edamame Beans
松江有机白米饭
Songjiang Organic White Rice

Dessert:
养生莲心红豆沙
Red Bean Sweet Soup, Lotus Seeds

Catch me this Friday noon time at London Syon Park

Catch me this Friday noon time at London Syon Park with @foodiesfestival 🎉

Will be cooking a classic Macanese dish 😜 Can you guess?

Weather forecast looks promising for now so I look forward to get a (and first actually of this summer) glass of Pimm's and enjoy the sun while it lasts.

My heart stays with you, just not my mooncakes thi

My heart stays with you, just not my mooncakes this festival... But perhaps something else?

@journey.to.the.west.uk

Cardamom, Pistachio, Rose Water Gelato [no churn]

Cardamom, Pistachio, Rose Water Gelato [no churn]

To the almost over English summer 🌹☔ Inspired by the gelato I had at @cookingwithmarla, she served it with pink peppercorn shortbread as well...it was a delightful treat

Shrimp Paste Fried Chicken Lollipop with Butter Pa

Shrimp Paste Fried Chicken Lollipop with Butter Parsnip Puree, Fried Shallots
蝦醬雞 | 歐防風蘿蔔泥｜炸蔥頭

Origin: Singapore & Malaysia (if someone can tell me where about exactly much appreciated), parsnips obviously from the UK!

Hmm shrimp paste. Something I loved but worried that if I cook full on with it, the neighbours might call the police thinking that someone dig out a corpse. Literally it is soooo fermented that the smell can be off putting for many. With that being said, it becomes a lot more subtle after cooking. I marinated the deboned wings with shrimp paste, ground coriander, ground turmeric and ground black pepper overnight. Deep fried it with a chili flour coat on, taste bomb👌💥

Blossom Beef in Chicken Consomme 福建牛肉羹

Blossom Beef in Chicken Consomme 福建牛肉羹

Origin: Fujian, China

As ordinary as it seems, this is another interesting technique to prepare beef apart from 'velveting' , by mixing the meat cutlets with lye water (sodium hydroxide) and a mixture of tapioca flour plus water. This gives you a very tender and bouncy texture of beef. Lye water basically breaks down the muscle tissue, while the excessive mixing with tapioca flour (I used my kitchenaid at low speed for 15 minutes) which acts like a roux glue the tissue back together again.

Throw back to couple weeks ago, preparing a tastin

ᴡʜᴏ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʙᴜʙʙʟ

ᴡʜᴏ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʙᴜʙʙʟᴇ ᴛᴇᴀ?✨
Earlier this week, I was invited to @mooboo_uk 's newly open store at Knightsbridge, London! 🇬🇧 [pr invite]

I tried out one of their specials - Creme Brulee with tapioca and Matcha with jelly ball. Speaking of toppings, my rule of thumb is always pairing fruity toppings with fruit based tea and tapioca/pudding with milk based tea. Just ask for the staff's recommendation if you're not sure!

Not London based? They also have 40 stores around the UK nationwide, just check out their website to find the nearest one to you if you would love to try them out 😉

#bubbletea #london #drinks

I was craving for tteokbokki tonight (Korean spicy

I was craving for tteokbokki tonight (Korean spicy rice cake) but rice cakes was out of stock at home, so... and since Instagram has been trending on shoving gochujang in everything. I opted in for pelmeni (Russian meat mince dumplings) instead, because I can 🤪

I undertook few other barbaric acts:
A. Using fish sauce instead of anchovy broth 💦
B. I used homemade inverted sugar instead of corn syrup (I mean they are essentially just monosaccharides, which gives that glossiness in your sauce)
C. I was impatient, so I thickened it with corn starch.

However, I pledged not guilty, because it was very tasty and mouth-flamming good.

99.9% I don't look that good in the kitchen 😅

99.9% I don't look that good in the kitchen 😅

I love this set of photos from my interviews and shoots with @ngplusmedia, it was a great one as I learnt a lot more from @aliciainmacau about various Macanese entrepreneurs working in their area of interests and passion. I also happened to find the perfect branding designer for one of my projects, which is the big bonus 🤪

If you are interested in our conversation, (yep it's in Chinese) check out the link in my bio!

📸: @anpexproduction

Happy Dragon Boat Festival 🐉 Indulging myself w

Happy Dragon Boat Festival 🐉 Indulging myself with a handmade zong zi 粽子 by @by_elyse_li (check out their other goodies like pineapple pastries)

I need to confess, it is one of those festivals that haunt me as a child. Not entirely because of the folk tale about a poet drown himself in the river (it is said that the locals dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of his body, which is said to be the origin of zong zi) but the experience of having zong zi as breakfast, lunch and dinner for... a whole month. Not exactly a traditional ritual that people have to follow, just my mom became CBA when the weather got really hot I supposed. 🥵

Then I was off to the UK, so no more zong zi was offered in my English host family. And that's when I actually started to appreciate this scrumptious rice dumpling wrapped in flat leaves. Food always taste better when it makes you feel nostalgic, isn't it?

#dragonboatrace #zongzi

I have been doing it WRONG! A note on dried shiita

I have been doing it WRONG! A note on dried shiitake mushroom 🍄

Fresh is usually better when it comes to ingredients, but there are several occasions when it isn't. Cured ham, dry aged steak, sun dried tomatoes and of course mushrooms. The sun-drying process intensifies the umami-ness by breaking down its protein molecules. Great things happen and lots of glutamate are formed.

In the past, I soaked dried shiitake mushrooms with hot water (absolutely savage) in order to speed up the hydration process. Obviously, it works but I learnt something new from my mom when I was cooking in her kitchen back in Macau. She questioned why I didn't braised my dried mushrooms beforehand. And I tried a couple of the ones she stored in the freezer, braised with sugar, oyster sauce and the water which the mushrooms are soaked in- it was mind blowing.

So keep this in mind and thank me later. During the braising process, sugar has been added which works really well to balance the earthiness and bitter taste of the mushroom.

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in a water bath with a pinch of sugar overnight (creating a hypotonic solution) so the mushroom gets all plumped up.

2. Remove the mushrooms to a boiling pan, filtered any debris from the water bath and add the solution back to the pan.

3. Add oyster sauce, sugar and a pinch of ground white pepper (and some black vinegar if you wish to balance the sweetness) . Bring it to boil, then lower the heat so it just simmers. Keep cooking until all liquid has been evaporated/ fully caramelised.

Now you can cool it down then pop them in the fridge/ freezer. Make them in bulk, and trust me it's a game changer.

#打開東菇的正確方式
#shiitakemushrooms

♥ 过油肉拌面 Guò yóu ròu bàn miàn ♥

♥ 过油肉拌面 Guò yóu ròu bàn miàn ♥

Guò yóu ròu = Deep fried meat
Bàn miàn = Mix noodles

This is one of my most-favourite dishes that I would often order (again and again) as a solo traveler in Xinjiang. It is not as well-known as other sharing plates like 大盘鸡 Dàpán jī, but Ban Mian or as they call it 拉条子 Lā tiao zi are often served at casual eateries and might be the most satisfying food among the locals. Noodles are chewy and richly sauced.

Different from Biang Biang Mian or Lanzhou Lamian, Xinjiang Ban Mian has the thickness of a chopstick and served with various types of 拌菜 (Mixing dishes), ranging from tomato and egg, mushrooms and meat to lamb and onions.

I managed a cheeky detour to the Toksun County as they were famous for their Ban Mian as well as free noodle top-up policy across the county. They fed me very well, and I learnt a trick or two to recreate this dish back in London.

RECIPE serves 2

- 200g Lamb leg, marinated with 1/2 tbsp ground cumin, 1/2 chilli powder, 1 tsp salt, 10g whole egg
- 1/2 Red onions, sliced
- 1 Red bell peppers, chopped
- 40g Romaine lettuce, chopped
- 40g Black Ear Fungus, soaked with water and sliced
- 5 Dried chillies, soaked with water and chopped
- 200g chopped tomato
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp of chilli oil from @sunwahfoods (so good!)

To make Ban Mian:
- 200g All purpose flour
- 100g water
- Pinch of salt

#guoyouroubanmian #过油肉拌面 #noodles #food #foodie #foodporn #instafood #foodphotography #foodstagram #yummy #foodblogger #chinesefood #delicious #foodlover #asianfood #homemade #noodle #dinner #foodgasm #lunch#foodies #spicy #tasty #homecooking #foodiesofinstagram/

🌸𝑫𝒊𝒎 𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒄

🌸𝑫𝒊𝒎 𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉 🌸

Handsdown this is the prettiest dim sum you can have at home from @mykidsarehungry8 🙌
They taste as delicious as they look as well!

We ordered sets of 3 for basically all types of dim sum they have. They come in frozen, so it's really handy to steam and serve on a lazy Sunday morning like this.

What we had this morning:
Scallop Tobikko Siu Mai
Pork Siu Mai
Har Gow and Chestnut
Spinach prawns chicken
Fresh crabmeat and prawns

We also ordered a vegan range so stay tuned and will let you know if they are equally as good!

#dimsum #dumplings
#hargow #siumai #chinesefood

𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐛 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐌𝐨

𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐛 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 ☀☀☀

There were days when me and other colleagues go to a local Nepalese pub on a Friday evening. You get the best of both worlds - a pint of pale ale and momos. The word Momo '馍馍' in Northern Chinese dialects refers to steamed buns, which later the name spreads to Tibet, and Nepal and usually now refers to filled buns or dumplings.

A good chutney provides the perfect complement to these dumplings and you will often see timur berry (aka timut pepper/ thingye/ yerma) on the recipe. It is a Nepalese spice or pepper, which has the cold spiciness of, but not to be confused with sichuan peppercorn, with its remarkable hints of grapefruit.
In fact, it is related to the Sichuan pepper, but neither is from the same family as the black pepper everyone is familiar with. Both come from the zanthoxylum family, which helps explain the distinctive tongue-tingling taste shared by both timur berry and sichuan peppercorns.

ᴄᴏᴄᴏɴᴜᴛ, ᴘɪꜱᴛᴀᴄᴄʜɪᴏ,

ᴄᴏᴄᴏɴᴜᴛ, ᴘɪꜱᴛᴀᴄᴄʜɪᴏ, ᴄʜᴇʀʀʏ

#homeiswheretheheartis

MY LAST SUPPER BEFORE I HEAD OFF TO SOMEWHERE ELSE

MY LAST SUPPER BEFORE I HEAD OFF TO SOMEWHERE ELSE 🐚

I decided to take my parents out for 'popping clams’ in Shunde. (I drove all the way up this time as I applied for a Chinese driving license with my UK license). And it was definitely worth the journey! Fresh clams cooked in a bone broth made every morning, the owner really takes pride of. He was so patient, trying to explain to me the various types of clams on the menu. Some are massive but probably not as flavourful as the smaller ones...

Apart from fresh clams, we ordered some oysters, prawns balls, lots of tofu and beancurd rolls which absorb all the goodness from the broth.

Me and my parents really enjoyed it, and what a great meal to share one more time together... they will be missed for sure

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