Munch on Banchan

It's been quite a while since I've blogged about any new recipes. For the past few months I've been re-enjoying recipes that I've learnt over the past year.

One exception to this is a Korean banchan that I can't seem to get enough of.

It is a side dish made using dried boiled anchovies. Sound revolting? Well it's really not, it's freaking scrumptious!

First you chop up an onion, finely dice 3 cloves of garlic and 6 thai chillies. Sautee them for a few minutes in a little peanut oil before adding the anchovies

Matt is really not a fan of this recipe, he gets freaked out by the fact that you eat the whole fish, head, eyes n' all! Here's a close up.....

The fish are fried over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes (depending on how crispy you like them).
Then 4 tablespoons of red pepper paste, 2 tablespoons of honey and a tsp of dark soy sauce are added.

I allow my fish to cool for a few minutes before I add a dash of sesame oil. (I don't like heated sesame oil, it tastes strange)

The dish is served with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

I added it to my dinner of sichuan baby bok choy, watercress and enoki mushrooms. I used Kimchi as my second banchan. I also had a bowl of soybean paste soup with tofu and seaweed (It's a little like the Japanese miso soup, but the Korean soybean paste is more robust than the Japanese version.)

Nom nom nom....

You win some, you lose some...

 First some failures...

I have been craving some Korean food. Matt has been gone too often that I haven't been able to go with him to a Korean restaurant, so I decided to make my own!

I got 2 books from the library, armed myself with a lengthy (& relatively expensive) shopping list and headed to Cleveland Asia Market.

Korean meals are based on rice, meat and several side dishes known as 'banchan'.

My cookbook assured me that although the effort to make several banchan may at first seem overwhelming you can make several days worth in one go.

My first main dish was "sundubu jjigage" (spicy vegetable and tofu stew). I was very excited to try this dish, the cookbook says it is "a healthy, spicy stew that elevates tofu from basic to exciting. In this stew, the base of dried anchovies and kelp (which has got major umami flavor) lend a tremendous depth of flavor for very little effort.
However, boiling kelp and anchovies for 20 minutes seemed to produce very little depth of flavor for tremendous effort!!!!

The stew contains shitake mushrooms, watercress, leeks, zucchini, onion, chile pepper, scallions and tofu.

It sounded and looked great. BUT it was so weak, the leek seemed completely out of place and I was unable to find the magic umami flavor that I associate with a good Miso Soup.

I must point out that I was not able to find one of the ingredients, gochujang (a red pepper paste), but I did add extra gochugaru (a red pepper powder) in hopes that it would make up for any lack in strength. I failed.

The flavors of the ingredients neither came together nor stood out as contrasts. Very bland indeed. Bleurgh!

The side dishes were also a failure.

I tried to make Sauteed Carrots and Butternut squash (reminded me of grated carrots and parsnips we have with christmas dinner), Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sesame Sauce (the flavor of the sesame seed paste didn't seem to work with the texture of the potatoes. I've tried using this paste in a noodle dish and I wasn't pleased with that either, I think I need to try another brand of paste) and Cold Broccoli Salad (too much sesame oil)

I ended up throwing it all out, which drives me crazy. It's throwing money away. I just know that I wouldn't have eaten any of it. Very disappointing.

The Kimchi Jjigae with Tuna turned out fine. Although, I will cut the onion into smaller pieces next time. This is not a dish that you should try unless you already know that you LOVE kimchi! There is a LOT of Kimchi in this stew. The leftovers in the fridge smell delicious :D

Now on to some successes....

At the end of last week I had some left over brie and baguette so I did a little experimentation. 

A layer of brie, a layer of kimchi and 30 seconds in the microwave on high = ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!!!!

Not deterred by yesterdays abysmal failures, this evening I decided to tweak some previously cooked recipes.

The first was 麻婆豆腐 (Pock-Marked Mother Chen's Bean Curd)
I had cooked this dish before and it was good, but I wanted to make it excellent.

The recipe calls for minced beef, but I found myself enjoy the dish 'despite' the beef, not because of it. I am not a huge meat eater, I could quite happily eat a majority of vegetarian dishes and, in fact, when Matt is gone I rarely cook with meat.

So this time I chose to leave the beef out. I also used a different type of tofu, a silken tofu. I was super happy with both these tweaks. This is a delicious spicy dish with a hint of vinegar and a great depth provided by some fermented black beans. I really prefer the mouthfeel of silken tofu.

The next dish I wanted to tweak was the scrumptious 鱼香茄子 (Fish Fragrant Eggplant)
The name is a little misleading, the eggplants do not end up tasting like Fish!!! Instead, they are cooked in a sauce that is often served with fish. It is pretty much the sauce that was served with what Joshua called "the best fish in the world!". It's a shame that I didn't cook this dish whilst he was still here, I have a feeling he'd have really liked it.

The recipe requires you to deep fry the pieces of eggplant before making the sauce. Eggplant is pretty much a sponge and so even though you can attack the fried pieces with a roll of kitchen towel there's still going to be a lot of oil in those suckers. The result is, not surprisingly, eggplant that has a wonderful buttery feeling in the mouth. The combination of the mouthfeel and the amazing sauce results in a dish that is to die for. I love it!!!

However, since starting all my Chinese cooking I have lost 20lbs and I don't want it to go back on, so I'm trying to find ways to make some of the higher fat dishes a little more on the lean side.

Tonight I skipped the frying stage and instead just cooked the eggplant in the sauce. From start to finish the dish took less time to cook this way.
The eggplant didn't hold it's shape as well as when fried, as it was cooked in the sauce for a longer overall time. But it did soften up and still had a lovely consistency.
I'm not going to lie, the version where you do deep fry first is better, but this version was still great! I won't feel like I'm sacrificing anything when I eat this dish.
Sorry the photo is blurry! I should also point out that when I first did this dish the eggplant retained the beautiful purple of its skin. I don't know if the frying preserved it or the shorter time in the sauce.
Also, this is using asian eggplants, they don't require salting prior to use!

Which came first.....

.... well in my case it was the Chicken!

The other day for dinner I cooked Chicken With Ginger. The chicken was a favourite with Joshua, although he wasn't too keen on the stir-fried bell peppers that I served with it.

The ginger is fried in large slices with the skin intact. This releases some mouth watering aromas and preps the oil for when the chicken is fried.

Shaoxing wine, chicken stock, chili flakes and a little light soy sauce combined with the greens of scallions added at the very last minute produce a chicken dish which is succulent and infused with ginger. 

Delicious! A single teaspoon of sesame oil was stirred through the chicken immediately prior to serving. This gave the dish an extra depth and complexity. I'm always weary of using sesame oil, I find it rather pungent and it can overpower other flavours. However, the Chinese apparently know how to use it very well indeed, when it is used it is mostly used cold and it really enhances flavours rather than mask anything.

The chicken and vegetables were served with some fresh (not dried, refrigerated) Shanghai noodles. I think I have a preference for these 'fresh' noodles. They are sooo fun to slurp up :)

Desert was Egg Custard Buns

Today I tried my hand at Tea Eggs.
Eggs are cooked in liquid to which a seasoning bag and a tea bag have been added. They cook for about 2 1/2 hours. After the first 20 minutes the shells are broken to allow the seasonings to infuse the egg.

This photo doesn't show the deep colour of the eggs very well.

Tonight I am going to make Boiled Beef Slices in a Fiery Sauce. As it's just Josh and I, I'm going to make 2 versions, one fiery, one not so much :)

Nothing fishy going on

Yesterday I had an experience that really reminded me why I love to cook so much.

I had decided that it was by far time that I cooked a whole fish for the first time. So I took myself to Cleveland Asia Market and picked out a nice looking strip bass. This was immediately followed by relief when the lady behind the fish counter went ahead and gutted the fish for me.... phew!!

Matt ended up staying late at work due to a last minute meeting and I contemplated holding off on cooking my fish. The only other person eating it would be Joshua, my 13 year old step son who thinks mac'n'cheese is delicious!!! He looked very dubious about the prospect of a yummy dinner after I showed him the fish, head and all.

But I decided to go ahead and cook it. And I am so glad that I did!!!

I followed the Fish Braised in Chili Bean Sauce from my Land of Plenty authentic Sichuan recipes cookbook.

I am going to include the full recipe here as it was so good! It takes 30 minutes from start to finish!

You will need:
1 carp, trout or sea bass (1 1/2 lbs)
peanut oil
salt
1-2tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or medium dry sherry)
4tbsp Sichuanese chili bean paste
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 1/3 cup chicken stock
1 tsp white sugar
1-2 tsp light soy sauce
1 1/4 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp Chinkiang vinegar (black chinese vinegar)
3 scallions, green parts only, finely sliced.

1. Use a cleaver to make 4 or 5 shallow diagonal cuts into each side of the fish & pierce its head. Rub inside and out with salt and Shaoxing rice wine. Allow to marinate.

2. Season the wok and then add 1/3c of peanut oil over a high heat until smoking. Dry the fish with paper towels and then fry briefly on each side to crispen the skin. Set fish aside. Rinse and dry wok.

3. Using 4tbsp of fresh oil fry chili bean paste for 20-30 seconds. Add ginger and garlic then fry for another 20 seconds. Pour in the stock and bring to boil. Add soy sauce and sugar to taste.

4. Gently place fish into wok and spoon sauce over it. Turn down heat, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes, turning over once.

5. When done, gently transfer fish to a serving dish. Add corn starch to sauce in wok and stir until thickened. Add vinegar and scallions and stir a couple of times before pouring the sauce over the fish.

The fish fell apart a little bit as I transferred it to the serving plate, I don't think I used the ideal utensil to do so!

Both Josh and I were a little nervous before trying any. It had a very peculiar smell, not unpleasant, but an aroma that I have never apparently smelled before. It was tangy, vinegary and ever so slightly fishy.

One mouthful was all it took. Josh and I spent the whole meal with Mmmmm's and Aaaaaahhhs. The flavour, like the aroma was something that I have never had before and I don't know how to describe it.

The sauce was delicious. Joshua ladled some over his rice bowl and we both dipped our bok choy and mushrooms in it.

We ate the whole thing......

..... and then realised we hadn't saved any for Matt!!!! Matt came home at 8.40pm to a cheese and turkey sandwich and had to sit through Josh and I telling him how amazing the fish tasted! Sorry Matt, I will make it again this week :)

As I mentioned mac'n'cheese earlier I figured I share a little 'moment' I had last week. I had made a pork belly dish which used pork belly with the skin on. The belly that I got also had 2 nipples on it. We had a bit of a laugh at it as it really was rather strange to see. HOWEVER, later that week I made some mac'n'cheese for Josh and his friend Alexa. The sight of the BRIGHT ORANGE 'cheese' powder and the nutritional information on the box really freaked me out, especially when you think how much of this 'crap' kids eat.
It made me smile to think that I wasn't disturbed by pig nipples, but a box of mac'n'cheese gave me chills. Just thought it was kind of amusing, not something I'd ever thought I'd smile about :)

"Lotus Eat"

Yesterday I tried my hand at steaming Chicken and rice wrapped up in Lotus leaves.

I got the recipe from my Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook.


The first thing to do is soak the dried lotus leaves in hot water for about 5 minutes.

The chicken was cut into large slices and then marinated with some thinly sliced pork belly in Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, freshly chopped ginger and scallions.

Some long grain and glutinous rices were toasted in a dry wok with some star anise until they were brittle and yellow. The smell was amazing!

The meat and rice were mixed together with a little water, divided up among the lotus leaves and wrapped into neat parcels.

The parcels were steamed for 30-40 minutes. When they were done they were served with a stir-fry of baby shanghai bok-choy, lotus root, enoki mushrooms and scallions.

The aroma when you unwrap the parcels is wonderful, it really gets your salivary glands going!
I will definitely make this again, but I will use smaller pieces of chicken (like they did in the restaurant) and will add some shrimp too.

There is also a different lotus leaf recipe for me to try in my Land of Plenty cookbook.

Desert was some custard buns; delicious steamed buns that have some sweet custard in their middles. YUMMY!

I flossed today

I'm super excited to have found pork floss at the Cleveland Asia Market today.

It is dried pork meat that has then been shredded into floss like texture. It has a lovely rich flavour.

I used some for lunch with my congee. I also had it with some roasted unsalted peanuts and kimchee.

It was delicious!

Tonight I'm going to try making sticky rice and chicken steamed in lotus leaves. It's one of Joshua's favourite foods from the Chinese restaurant we frequented in Omaha and I now have a recipe from one of my cookbooks.

I LOVE Chinese food...

.... and I'm not talking about 'American Chinese' food (General Tso's, Sweet n sour chicken, beef lo mein). I'm talking about the authentic Chinese food, that Chinese people eat in China.

The Chinese food I have been cooking is from Chinese cook books full of recipes straight from China and full of ingredients that I can only find at the Chinese market. AND IT HAS ALL BEEN DELICIOUS. I'm sure to a native of China it probably doesn't taste quite authentic, but I feel confident that it's pretty close!

I am currently on vacation in Las Vegas. I drove here from Cleveland, which is a 33 hour drive away and obviously haven't been doing any cooking during this time. And my tummy has been suffering!!!!

So yesterday I was super excited to find that the Bellagio has a restaurant called Noodles that serves some good authentic Chinese food (as well as some of the expected American Chinese dishes and other dishes from Japan and Korea). I had congee for lunch yesterday, congee again for lunch today (with edamame and kim-chee) and a wonton soup tonight for  dinner, which had shrimp dumplings that were to die for. And my tummy is already feeling a lot better.

Yummy congee:

Here is a photo of tonights soup:

I LOVE CHINESE FOOD!!!

Pita patter

Yesterday I decided to try making my own pita breads.

They turned out ok, but a bit thicker than I would have liked.

3 cups of flour were mixed with 1 1/2tsp salt, 2tbsp olive oil, a packet of dry fast action yeast and 1 1/2 cups of water.

After sitting for 90 minutes the dough was split into 8ths and allowed to rise for another 20 minutes. These balls were then rolled out (too thickly!) and baked at 420F for 10 minutes, flipping over after 5.

Good taste, but too thick.

I served the bread with an olive, tomato, mozzarella, avocado and basil salad.

 We also had some homemade lamb and chicken kebabs hot off the outside grill. I had marinated the lamb and chicken in cumin, paprika and Cavender's greek seasoning.

Put it together and whaddya got? Bibbity bobbity yummy pita pockets boo.

Writing a Wee Bit Regarding Red Wine...

... try saying THAT quickly 10 times after a few glasses!!

Ok, so I'm writing this blog entry in hopes that a reader will be able to help :)

I am a fan of red wine. In the past I have particulary enjoyed big mouthy reds, the ones that punch you in the face with their tannins and yell "TASTE MY DEPTH" at you.

But recently they've become too much. Especially some of the new world wines, they are too fruity, almost candy-like.

Last June while we were in Vegas we stopped at a place in The Venetian to have some wine with meats and cheeses. I had a glass of a 2008 Mongrana. At first I was not at all impressed; it had very little tannins and the mouth feel of warm water.

BLEURGH! was my initial response...... until...... it really allowed the cured meats and smelly cheeses to shine!

Ever since that night I've been looking for something similar (can't find Mongrana in stores for the life of me). Malbecs just don't cut it anymore. They remind me of a cupcake with too much frosting in a glass!

I've tried Beaujolais: that was great on the tannins, but had an acidity that hung around afterwards.

Tonight I headed to Whole Foods and asked the lady working in the wine section for some suggestions. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about and she gave me some samples to try. She was spot on with the tannins, but the acidity was still too much.

Anyway, after about 10 minutes with her I decided on a Pinot Noir from Oregon. I told her that I had been told somewhere else to stay away from New World wines (not because they are bad, but because they're not what I'm looking for in a wine). She was able to tell me that due to the climate in Oregon it won't have the same candy-ness. I didn't sample this wine, so who knows how it'll taste.

So here is the bottle (and 2 super cute dogs):

Time to open the bottle....

Yay!!! It's delicious! Smooth, round, not too sweet, very little acidity!!!! :D

But please readers, if you have any suggestions of other wines I should try (with the characteristics I'm looking for) please let me know!

And here is a photo of the best wine ever. It also helps that I had great company too, Matt and I had some wonderful conversation that evening :)

I'm super excited that I get to go to Las Vegas again for my birthday :D I bet they won't still have the Mongrana, but I'll enjoy going back to that restaurant anyway :)

Noodley Noo

Matt often calls me Noodley Noo :)

Earlier today I made my  congee. At the same time I figured I'd make a start on dinner too.

For dinner I made Changde Rice Noodles with Red-Braised Beef.

The beef had to cook for 4 hours, so that's why I started it around lunchtime.

Stewing beef was put in a saucepan of water and then brought to boiling point. I had to skim off the scum as it came to the surface. As soon as the water started boiling I removed the beef and set it aside.
In a large pan I heated some peanut oil and then fried some dried chili peppers, star anise and ginger in some chili bean paste. Yummy smells indeed!

I then threw the beef back in and covered it all with water that had boiled with the meat. I then left it on a low burner for about 4.5 hours.

When I was ready to eat I quickly blanched some baby bok choy, heated some rice noodles and chicken stock.

Beef + noodles + stock + a sprinkling of green onion = one delicious dinner! The meat was sooooo tender, it melted in the mouth. Matt would have loved it!

The picture doesn't really do it any justice. But the flavour of beef was splendid, it had absorbed the flavours from the sauce it was cooked in and had a nice kick to it. I think next time I will try and thicken the sauce up a bit just before serving. Today I didn't really serve any of the sauce as it was too watery, I just took the meat.

Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow :) I'll probably have the beef with the congee!

Congee For The Soul

I have a dodgy tummy at the moment.

However, I saw it as a good chance to try my hand at making congee, the chinese equivalent of Chicken Noodle Soup. It's supposed to have restorative properties and can be eaten plain, or highly seasoned and with a variety of meats.
I chose to make a plain version and add some freshly boiled egg.

It's super easy to make although it does take a while, so not as easy as cracking open can of campbells.

1 cup of rice was cooked in 2 cups of chicken stock and 2 cups of water. Start cooking on a high heat until the water starts boiling, then turn it down to low. Apparently the longer it cooks the better, it allows the rice to break down more. Mine cooked for about 2 hours.

You can make it as thick or as runny as you like. If it's getting too dry for you, just add some boiling water.

Here is a shot of my final product.

It was delicious! It's a good job I like it, that one cup of rice made about 8 cups of congee.... I had best go search the internet to see if congee freezes well!

Puffy Bean Curd

Tonight for dinner I cooked one of the dishes that I didn't get around to cooking the other night. It was Zhangguying Red-Braised Bean Curd Puffs.

Bean curd puffs are deep-fried pieces of bean curd. Once fried they take on a spongy consistency which are great at absorbing flavours. I bought the puffs pre-fried in the refrigerator section of the asian market.

I fried some garlic and ginger in a little peanut oil until they were lovely and fragrant. I then added 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, some soy sauce, salt siracha and chili flakes (the siracha and chili flakes were my own addition).
I cut the bean curd puffs in half and then threw them in the wok too and let them simmer for 8 minutes before adding some sliced green onion and long chili.
Just before serving I put a small amount of potato flour mixed with water to the wok. It thickened the sauce a little and adds a lovely gloss to the food.

The finished dish was absolutely delicious. The puffs really did absorb the flavours and juices extremely well. The naughty westerner in me imagined doing a dish with butter and garlic and these yielding puffs!!!
I look forward to experimenting with the puffs. I'd like to add more veggies next time.

If you're in a time crunch but want a hearty feeling stew I'd recommend using these guys, they are really good in the mouth and absorbed the flavours so quickly (8 minutes of cooking time). Plus one serving (2oz) is only 100 calories with 2g of fat. They're also low in protein though too :(

There's no one here to kiss this cook tonight. Matt is in Orlando this week and then in Norway the week after.
But make sure you kiss YOUR cook!

Chinese Feast

This week I got two Chinese cookbooks from the library. They both claim to be 'authentic' chinese cook books.

I decided to make an evening of it, to cook one dish at a time, nibble on it and then start the other.

The first dish I cooked came the "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook; recipes from Hunan province". The dish was 'Fire-Baked Fish Stir-Fried with Bell Peppers'.

Noodle fish were salted and soaked in a little rice wine: (the black dots are the eyes!)

They were then drained and tossed in flour before being deep fried in peanut oil:

When they had crisped up they were removed from the oil. Most of the oil was poured out of the wok before frying some ginger, chili pepper, bell pepper, chili flakes and spring onions.
When these had become lovely and fragrant the fish were thrown back into the wok to be coated with the peppers. The finished dish was lovely!

I was very excited about trying the next dish 'Roasted Peppers with Preserved Duck Eggs'. I see these preserved duck eggs every time I got to Cleveland Asia Market and I've always wanted to try them, but haven't had a recipe to do so. With the cookbook from the library I was now armed with a recipe. Here are the eggs in their box:

The eggs are a lovely blue colour, with some black spots.

To start, I charred some red bell peppers under the grill (broiler) and then peeled away the skins. 

It was then time to shell a preserved egg (also known as century eggs). My apologies that the photo is not very clear, but I hope you can see that the egg inside the shell is solid and black. It has what I assume to be denatured protein in snowflake like patterns on the surface. It smelled somewhat like wet dog, although the smell was not overpowering. The eggs have been preserved by burying them in salt, tea leaves and rice husk, covered with sodium bicarbonate and left for 40-50 days.

The thought of trying the egg meant it was time for a quick drink of wine ;)

I got to wear the dress that my big sister had made for me when she was living in china 10 years ago. I'm happy that I can still fit in it :)

So back to the preserved duck eggs..... They were sliced open using some cotton thread (apparently you shouldn't do it with a knife) and then served with the peppers drizzled with some vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and sesame oil. 2 of my language partners told me that these eggs are best served with vinegar but as I didn't know how the peppers were going to turn out I added some good ol' kimchi to the plate so that we'd have some vinegary food that we definitely like on there.

I was brave and took the first bite of the preserved eggs. You can definitely tell that they are eggs, but they have a distinct flavour. It was not super pungent and not offensive at all, just different.
However, recently I cooked a rice dish that had hard boiled egg chopped up in it. It was yummy, but when I reheated it in the microwave it caused the white of the egg to get a couple of brown spots which held a very pungent liquid in them. I ended up throwing the reheated leftovers away because of the smell and taste of that brown liquid. I assume that the microwave had denatured the protein even more in the egg white and the result was the nasty brown stuff.
The preserved eggs had a milder version of that taste/smell. I think that I had I not previously had the horrible reheat incident I would have been able to appreciate the preserved eggs more. But unfortunately they reminded me too much of that other meal :( They did go well with the kimchi, but that aftertaste still made its way onto the palate.

The next dish was a 'Cantonese-style Roast Duck and Cucumber Slices with Salt and Pepper' from the "Everyday Easy Chinese" cookbook. The name pretty much tells you how to make it :

Penny showed particular interest in this dish too :

Next dish (from the same book) was Sichuan salt and pepper squid. I made a dipping sauce using fat free mayo and siracha. It was good, but not great.

The final dish of the night was Matt's favourite (and it's also known to have been Chairman Mao's fave too!): 'Red-Braised Pork'

Pork belly was blanched for 4 minutes:

It was then chopped into bite size pieces and stewed for a couple of hours with sugar, shaoxing wine, ginger, star anise, dried red chiles, cinnamon, soy sauce and dried mushrooms.

The result was a lovely fragrant dish with very succulent meat. I personally couldn't eat the huge chunks of fat, but I thanked them for making the sauce ultra yummy. I served it with a little bit of rice.

So all in all the night was a good success. I had another 2 small dishes (tofu and vegetable) that I wanted to try but it got too late. I started cooking at 6pm and we didn't finish eating the pork stew until 11pm.

I really enjoyed trying some new food and I'm glad that Matt was willing to do it with me :)

As always, don't forget to kiss your cook!!