Eight autumn recipes to make harvest lovers and Chinese grannies happy
Make the most of mushrooms and late-season tomatoes, and rustle up some warming Asian dishes now the nights are starting to draw in
As anyone who’s lived in Hong Kong for even just a few years knows, autumn here can be quite pleasant. While we don’t get the crisp, cool days that marks autumn in more temperate climates, at least the humidity drops below 90 per cent and so it feels less muggy.
Chinese grandmothers will advise us to dress more warmly and to eat certain foods to ward off the cold (even if it’s still 28 degrees outside). Here are some cool-weather dishes that will warm your body.
1. Thai duck soup and Chinese oxtail soup
This first recipe is something my Thai ex-helper used to cook often, simmering the duck carcass and breasts (the legs were reserved for another dish) with spices, then serving the savoury broth with rice noodles, herbs, lettuce and the sliced meat. Oxtail soup is a Chinese classic dish, and although the broth is quite light, the flavour is rich and hearty.