Cooking852

TRARORO’s new podcast — swapping articles for audio. Cantonese cooking vibes, kitchen stories, food memories, and food-culture chats, with a twist: it’s produced using AI-generated voices and modern production. Season 1 is all about pot-based dishes — the clay-pot classics every Cantonese family grew up on.

Follow along on @traroro on Instagram too.

Episodes & Cooking Notes

Click play to listen to each episode. Below every player, our kitchen has put together a real, researched method for that episode’s dish — not a transcript, but a genuine way to cook it at home.

S1 EP27: 鹹魚雞粒豆腐煲 (Salted Fish, Chicken & Tofu Claypot)

Traroro’s method: Pan-fry firm tofu cubes until golden, then set aside. Fry a small piece of salted fish (yellow croaker works well) until fragrant, then stir-fry diced chicken thigh marinated in light soy, Shaoxing wine, white pepper, and cornstarch. Combine everything in a clay pot with chicken stock, simmer, thicken with a cornstarch slurry, and finish with white pepper and scallions. Salted fish is intensely salty, so go easy on any extra soy sauce.

S1 EP26: 瑤柱雜菜煲 (Dried Scallop & Mixed Vegetable Claypot with Glass Noodles)

Traroro’s method: Rehydrate dried scallops (conpoy) in cool water for at least 20 minutes, then shred by hand — the soaking liquid makes a flavorful stock, so save it. Soak glass noodles separately. Fry ginger, garlic, and shallots, add the shredded scallops, then layer in mixed vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, or choy sum are classic) and the noodles. Simmer in the clay pot with the reserved scallop stock until the noodles are tender and the vegetables still have bite.

S1 EP25: 魚香茄子煲 (Fish-Fragrant Eggplant Claypot)

Traroro’s method: Despite the name, there’s no fish in it — “fish-fragrant” (魚香) refers to a Sichuan-derived sauce of garlic, ginger, scallion, doubanjiang (spicy fermented bean paste), sugar, and black vinegar, originally used for cooking fish. Pan-sear or deep-fry Chinese eggplant until soft, then braise it with minced pork in the sauce inside a clay pot until silky, thickening lightly with a cornstarch slurry.

S1 EP24: 猴頭菇豆腐煲 (Monkey Head Mushroom & Tofu Claypot)

Traroro’s method: Soak dried monkey head mushrooms (lion’s mane) for about 3 hours, changing the water every 20 minutes and squeezing them dry between soaks to remove bitterness. Braise the mushrooms with soft tofu, oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce, and a little sugar in a clay pot, thickened with a cornstarch slurry and finished with a drizzle of sesame oil.

S1 EP23: 臘腸雞煲仔飯 (Claypot Rice with Chinese Sausage & Chicken)

Traroro’s method: Marinate diced chicken thigh in soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, cornstarch, sugar, and white pepper. Cook rice directly in the clay pot with stock over low heat; once the water is mostly absorbed, layer sliced lap cheong (Chinese sausage) and the marinated chicken on top, cover, and keep cooking on medium heat — never high with a clay pot — until the rice forms a crispy crust on the bottom. Mix everything through and garnish with scallions.

S1 EP22: 淮山田雞煲仔飯 (Claypot Rice with Fresh Yam & Frog Legs)

Traroro’s method: Marinate frog legs briefly in ginger, garlic, light soy, and Shaoxing wine. Cook rice in the clay pot until the water has nearly evaporated, then fry the frog legs with ginger and garlic in a hot wok before transferring them onto the rice along with diced fresh Chinese yam (淮山). Cover and finish over low heat until the rice crisps at the bottom — a few drops of dark soy sauce for color is traditional.

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