What's not to love about Chinese baby kale (pronounced 'gai lan') except when you fail to buy it in season and end up eating them bitter rather than sweet and crunchy? I first tried this specific dish in a Chinese restaurant and thought to myself, 'This is good!' Too bad for most of us, that's as far as it gets. But replicating the same delicious dishes we enjoy at our favourite haunts is a cinch if we'd only stay off our phones and pay more attention to what we are actually

A big shout for beansprout this week! Well, technically, this one is not GREEN but the cilantro is and if you add enough to the dish, it can be quite green indeed. I sampled this dish for the first time at my godmother's home. She is in her 70's and has been cooking for decades but she's still quick as a flash so before I even made it into the kitchen that fateful Saturday evening to sneak a peek, she had already dished this out! I knew at first taste that this would be a win

​The bitter melon, pronounced 'fu gwaa' or 'leong gwaa', is (as you have probably guessed) bitter but it is more common on home dining tables than you many think. For those who are older or have finally acquired a taste for this extremely nutritious melon, you will find it almost addictive. The 'warty', lumpy melon is best when the bumps are long, big and wide and the colour is light green as opposed to the deep green. My strictly vegetarian godmother taught me this fail-free

​Hairy melon or hairy gourd (pronounced 'jeet gwa or mo gwa' in Cantonese...let that name sink in a little. It is the brother to the Chinese winter-melon and is eaten in its immature stage. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this melon has a cooling effect on the body so a good time to enjoy it is during the summer months, which really hits the spot in hot, humid Hong Kong. Hairy gourd can be used in soups, braised, sautéed or stuffed because of its versatility