• Add together peanut butter, hoisin sauce, hot water, and sambal chili paste into a bowl.
• Microwave for 30 seconds. Then mix well and serve.

• Drain canned tuna and set aside.
• Meanwhile, prep lemon zest, lemon juice, and set aside.
• Finely dice celery and onion.
• Combine tuna with lemon zest, lemon juice, celery, onion, black pepper, and mayonnaise. Mix well. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

• Combine rolled oats, oat milk, yogurt, almond extract, and dried shredded coconut. Place in refrigerator overnight.
• Prep other ingredients: toast pecans for 4 minutes, then roughly chop them. Slice bananas and wash blueberries. Set aside.
• Place oatmeal mixture into a serving bowl. Then place toppings by row: chopped pecans, shredded coconut, blueberries, then bananas. Optional: add a drizzle of agave or honey for additional sweetness. Serve cold.

• Take a large stockpot and fill it with 2 quarts water. Place on high heat to boil When water has boiled, add in pork bones and parboil for 5 minutes to allow impurities to cook out into the water.
• Then pour out the liquid from the pot and run the bones through running water. Using your hands, scrub off and rinse off all impurities. Set clean pork bones aside.
• Add pork bones back into the pot. Fill the pot with 1 quart chicken broth, jujubes, ginger, 3 quarts water, salt, and sugar. Turn on stove to high and bring water to a boil. Once the mixture is at a boil, allow to simmer for 2 hours.
• While pork broth is simmering, place raw peanuts into a pressure cooker and fill with 1 quart of water. Close the lid and heat the pot on high until the pot begins to whistle. When it begins to whistle, turn the heat to the lowest setting and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, place the pressure cooker under the kitchen faucet and rinse with cold water until the lid has de-pressurized. Then open the lid.
• Strain the liquid and remove cooked peanuts. Add peanuts into the pork bone broth.
• Prep lotus roots. First peel the skin off of them. Then cut off the end pieces. The roots have dark end pieces with rough fibers. Using your knife, peel these ends off as well as any dark parts of the lotus root. Cut the lotus root into 1/4 inch slices. Then add in lotus root pieces to the pork bone broth and allow to simmer with peanuts for at least 1.5 hours.
• When the lotus root is just tender, add fish sauce to taste.

Pork Belly

• Marinate pork belly slices with garlic, taco seasoning, garlic powder, orange juice, lemon juice, bay leaves, oregano, salt, and onion salt. Marinate at least 2 hours but overnight is best.
• Place the pork belly and all the marinade into a baking dish. Cover with foil and braise 60 mins at 350 degrees. Then remove liquid and allow pork belly to cool completely.
• When pork belly is cooled, cut into 2 inch pieces. Pan fry on medium low heat for 3-5 mins each side until crispy. No oil necessary because the pork belly will start to release its fat when heated.
• Set aside crispy pork belly.

Pickled onion

• Boil 2 cups water. Then add in salt, sugar, vinegar, and mix thoroughly until sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Then add in onions. Allow to sit in the pickling liquid for at least 1 hour. For best results, refrigerate pickled onions overnight and serve the next day.

Assemble Tacos

• Serve pork belly on warm tortillas. Top with pickled onion, avocado, cilantro, and salsa.
• Heat a frying pan on medium heat. When hot, add in tortillas one at at time, allowing them to soften and become very light brown. Remove them from the pan and place onto a covered plate to keep them soft and moist.
• Assemble tacos: place down a tortilla, then top with a few pieces of crispy pork belly. Then top with jarred salsa, cilantro, avocado, and a few slices of pickled onion.

For Snow Fungus

• Take 1 bunch/handful of dried snow ear fungus. Soak it in drinking water for 10 minutes, submerging it completely in the water.
• Once snow ear fungus is rehydrated, cut the stem off the bottom and discard. It is the darker orange base at the bottom of the bunch of snow ear fungus. Then add the remaining snow ear fungus into the pressure cooker and add 2 quarts of drinking water and rock sugar.
• Closed the lid of the pressure cooker following the instructions of your pressure cooker. Then boil on high heat until the pressure cooker begins to whistle, about 15 minutes. At that point, reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Allow the simmer in the pressure cooker for a total of 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes, remove pressure cooker from stovetop, and rinse the top with cold water. When the pressure cooker depressurizes, you may remove the lid safely.

For Asian pear dessert soup

• Place a large stockpot on the stove to boil on high. Add in 3 quarts of water. Then add in Asian pear, rinsed jujubes, and rinsed goji berries.
• Bring the water to a boil, then simmer on medium low for about 30 minutes, until the Asian pear is fork tender.
• Turn off the heat for the Asian pear dessert soup.

Combining the two

• Combine the snow ear fungus mixture with the Asian pear mixture. Make sure that the heat is off. Then add in honey to taste. The dessert soup should be just slightly sweet and not overly sweet.

  Optional: add in agave

• Bring a 6 quart pot of water to boil. Then add in 1 tbsp of salt. Add in cut potatoes. Boil for approximately 8-12 minutes, or until just fork tender. Do not overcook the potatoes. You want them to stay intact.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and add in 1/4 cup oil.
• Once potatoes are just tender, drain all the water from potatoes. Cover the pot with a lid and shake the potatoes vigorously for 10 seconds, or until there is a layer of fluff surrounding each piece of potato.
• Then place the potatoes onto one layer on the baking sheet. Make sure each piece of potato makes contact with the baking sheet and oil. The potatoes should be sitting in a shallow pool of oil. Add more oil if necessary as they will be frying in the oven.
• Roast potatoes for 40 minutes or until the underside of the potatoes are golden brown. Once the underside is golden brown, flip the potatoes to allow the other side to brown for another 15-30 minutes, depending on your oven. This is assuming your heat source is at the bottom.
• Once potatoes are golden brown on both sides, remove from oven and onto paper towels. Immediately sprinkle remaining 2 tsp of salt on the potatoes. Serve immediately.

• Cut corn off of the cob.
• Heat a skillet on high heat and add butter and oil. Once butter is melted and well incorporated with oil, add shallots and red pepper flake. Saute for 2 minutes on medium heat or until shallots are softened.
• Add corn and continue to sauté on medium heat for ~10 minutes or until corn becomes slightly golden brown. Stir frequently as it will stick.
• Add garlic and scallions and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Continue to sauté for another 3-5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and adjust seasoning to taste.
• Optional: add a little splash of fish sauce for extra umami.

Lemon Ricotta

• Using a zester, zest 1 whole lemon. Set aside the zest. Then juice 1/2 of the lemon and add to the zest, removing any seeds.
• Add together lemon juice, lemon zest, ricotta, vanilla bean paste, and sugar. Place mixture into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Pancakes

• Combine dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix them together using a whisk to break up any clumps. Set aside.
• Melt butter in the microwave -approximately 30 seconds. Set aside and allow to cool. When butter is cooled, combine with other wet ingredients: egg, milk, and vanilla bean paste. Combine until well mixed.
• Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Combine with a whisk, but do not overmix. If the batter is too dry, add extra milk. Set aside at least 30 minutes.
• Heat a skillet on medium. Add in oil. When the oil becomes somewhat shimmery and loose, use a clean paper towel to wipe off excess oil. Then turn heat to low. Add in a ladle or 1/4 cup of pancake batter into the pan. After about 1 minute, when the surface of the batter begins to bubble, flip your pancake onto the other side. Allow to cook another 10 seconds, and then remove from the pan. Repeat until you have finished the batter.

Assembly

• Serve a generous dollop of lemon ricotta on top of the stack of pancakes. Using a sieve, dust powdered sugar on top of the pancakes. Then top with fresh blueberries. Serve with real maple syrup.

• Drain chickpeas with a colander. Then soak up excess water by gently dabbing them with paper towels.
• Place chickpeas onto a roasting sheet. Add in oil, onion salt, garlic salt, and smoked paprika. Mix well.
• Place into a 350 degree F oven and roast for 45-50 minutes, tossing with a spoon every 15 minutes.
• Allow chickpeas to cool completely. Then serve.