State media says Osaka, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur also popular, while tourism insiders highlight Hong Kong’s ease of access as an advantage.

‘We will face any scenario,’ says Naim Kassem, while Israel’s defence minister tells troops ‘we will employ all our capabilities, this includes you’.

You can cook fried rice with just about any ingredients, and making them with eggs is the simplest way. But taking your fried rice to another level requires some tricks. The choice of rice can make a huge difference: try cooking it with long-grain rice, a type of rice mostly used in southern China and Southeast Asia. It’s less sticky than short-grain rice and helps fluff up your fried rice. Adding ingredients like shrimp gives your rice that extra umami as well. And just a splash

Tomato and egg stir-fry is a classic Chinese dish everyone can master. There are just two main ingredients - tomato and eggs. Today, it’s seen as one of the most iconic Chinese dishes, but the recipe is actually only 100 years old. It wasn’t until the 1900s that Chinese people cooked with foreign produce like tomatoes. Over the years, cooks in different parts of China tweaked the recipe to suit their palate. The northern Chinese, who are known to

Mapo tofu is one of the most well-known dishes from Sichuan in southwest China, made of tofu, minced pork, and spices. A plate of well-cooked mapo tofu is aromatic, soft, and numbingly spicy. That fiery sensation, which is quite addictive to some, comes from peppercorn, a local spice from the region. Fermented bean paste, or doubanjiang, adds umami to the dish.The area is known for being humid, so people eat spicy food to get rid of the damp feeling in

In Hong Kong and the Guangdong region of southern China, wonton noodles is one of the most popular go-to foods. Wonton noodles comprises thin egg noodles in a bowl of hot broth, topped with dumplings stuffed with fresh shrimp and pork.This recipe is part of the Goldthread series "A Basic Chinese Dish" that teaches you how to cook classic, simple dishes from China that are so easy to make, they're like learning your ABCDs.

There are reasons why red braised pork belly, or wai po jia hong shou rou, is called a "grandma's dish" - the meat is so tender even elderly people can eat it, and it is a dish every Shanghainese grandma should know how to make. Chinese people around the world love making and eating red braised pork belly. To them, the dish reminds them of home. It's a plate of tender and juicy pork covered with a thick, glossy coat of sauce that pairs well with

With this fun and customisable recipe, you can make and enjoy  snowy skin mooncakes of any colour any day, and not just during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Start with the salted egg yolk custard filling. Then try a different filling, such as ube halaya jam.This recipe uses cooked salted duck egg yolks, easily found in the frozen or refrigerated sections of Asian food stores or online in vacuum-sealed packages.Note: you will need a mooncake mould press with a capacity of 50g to 10

Butadon, which features sliced pork and onions, is a quick donburi (rice bowl) to make, and the recipe varies from cook to cook. I’ve seen versions without onions, for instance. Once the rice is cooked, the rest of the dish takes less than 15 minutes to prepare. You don’t need to marinate the meat, and the pork and onions are cooked together in one pot.I like to use skinless pork belly, which, because it’s so layered, stays

If I prepare a dish where the shrimp or prawns are de-shelled, I save the heads and shells and store them in the freezer. When I have enough - at least 250 grams (9 oz) - I make a batch of shrimp (or prawn) oil.