"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are," said French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. It is a motto that many food lovers take to heart, and highlights the deep links between identity, culture and food. Now, particularly against the backdrop of growing food security concerns, many more people are waking up to the possibilities of taking cuisine into their own hands, with a lively online cooking scene springing up to discuss dishes and share a passion for food. The Global Times spoke to three Shanghai-based food bloggers who have risen to prominence, and asked them to share their favorite recipes.  

Nutri-licious dishes

Health food expert Yang Li started writing her food blog (blog.sina.com.cn/xixiyangli) in 2010, and now has over 400,000 Weibo followers. She was one of the first people in Shanghai to be awarded an International Registered Nutritionist Certificate.

Yang is fond of exploring recipes aimed at women that she says are good for beauty, weight loss and pregnancy. "The key points in making a good dish are a good knowledge of ingredients, cooking methods and, most importantly, a heart of gratitude," Yang said.

Hailing from Hunan Province, Yang's previous roles include piano teacher, cosmetician and lecturer in nutrition. After having a baby in 2008, she became a full-time housewife, which saw her devote more time to cookery. Her days are now consumed by experimenting new recipes, photographing her dishes, and blogging. As a culinary columnist, freelancer and book author, she often finds herself writing articles deep into the night.

"Delicious food, for me, is an expression of gratitude and happiness. I hope that each of my recipes can evoke a feeling of family, and encourage more people to return to the kitchen to share their love," Yang said.

With a special interest in Hunan cuisine, as well as fusing Chinese and Western flavors, Yang recommended her original recipe of beef with mango and medlar.

 

Ingredients:

200 grams fillet mignon, one mango, 10 blueberries, two strawberries, some medlars, one tablespoon red wine, two tablespoons oyster sauce, one tablespoon cornstarch, salt, soy sauce.

Method:

Pat the fillet mignon then cut into cubes. Cut the mango into cubes

Mix the oyster sauce, red wine, soy sauce, cornstarch and salt. Add the beef cubes and leave to stand for about 10 minutes

Heat some olive oil over a medium flame, add the beef mixture and fry for about five minutes, adding the medlars as you go. Add the mango pieces about 10 seconds before the end

Spoon the mixture onto a plate, add the blueberries and strawberries as decoration.

Italian delight

Daniela Ingrosso is the owner of popular food blog www.expatcucina.com. The Shanghai-based blogger comes from Lecce, southern Italy. When Ingrosso moved to China five years ago, she started blogging about food to give advice to other expats on how to source ingredients and make Western dishes.

Ingrosso has her grandmother to thank for teaching her the basics of cooking and passing on her family's culinary traditions. "It is the greatest gift anyone could have bestowed upon me and now I want to share that gift with others. My grandmother was a terrific cook. I was always fascinated by watching the way she made food. Growing up, I decided to try my own hand at cooking," she said.

Ingrosso spends whatever free time she can find experimenting in the kitchen. At weekends she immerses herself in her passion, working out new recipes, teaching cooking classes, training kitchen staff and consulting for restaurants. "Food is everything for me and cooking makes me happy. I love trying new things and new ingredients," she said.

With specialties including desserts and pasta, Ingrosso chose to share her original Caprese pasta salad.

Ingredients:

160 grams short cut pasta, 300 grams ripe cherry tomatoes, two garlic cloves, two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, two tablespoons chopped fresh basil, 100 grams mozzarella.

Method:

Cook the pasta according to package instructions

Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes, slice up the mozzarella and chop the basil

In a skillet, heat up the extra virgin olive oil and sauté the garlic and tomatoes for about five minutes on a medium-high heat. Add one tablespoon of the chopped basil

Add pasta and mix well

Transfer to a plate. Gently lay the sliced mozzarella on top and add remaining basil.

Fresh approach

Before Xu Di started her own food blog in 2008, she often browsed others to get inspiration when cooking for her family. Later, encouraged by many online friends active in food blogging, she began creating her own dishes and sharing them online. Now with over 13,000 followers of her blog (blog.sina.com.cn/xudi888888), Xu still modestly puts her success down to chance.

"For me, the point in cooking is to be able to offer healthy and delicious food to my family," Xu said. "Freshness is the priority, and the simplest cooking methods and minimal use of seasonings can still give excellent results. A devoted and attentive heart is an important attribute of a cook."

Xu is an expert when it comes to Shanghai-style homely dishes, and here shares an original cool tofu dish, ideal for the warmer weather.

Ingredients:

50 grams Chinese toon, 15 grams cooked pine nuts, a box of tofu, salt, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil.

Method:

Pick the leaf buds of the Chinese toon and discard its thick stems. Boil the leaf buds, then cool them with cold water

Squeeze the water out of the cooled leaf buds and cut into small pieces. Mix with the cooked pine nuts, salt, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil
Put the stirred mixture on the cut tofu, and mix before eating.