Category: Mains
Paper Wrapped Chicken (Ji Bao Gai) That’s a Wrap! 纸包鸡

Paper Wrapped Chicken (Ji Bao Gai) That’s a Wrap! 纸包鸡

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This is another dish from the hubster that lands on the favorite list for all three kids and me, Paper-wrapped chicken (纸包鸡) aka Foil-wrapped chicken. Wes learned how to make Ji Bao Gai from his mom during medical school. It’s a dish rarely found in restaurants, a true Cantonese down-home dish.  So, if he wanted foil-wrapped chicken, he had to learn how to make it and that’s exactly what he did.

Cantonese Soul Food (Ji Bao Gai 纸包鸡)

Bite-sized pieces of chicken or beef are marinated in hoisin, sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a touch of sugar. The chicken is then wrapped in foil or parchment into little packets and baked or fried. Think, mini Asian papillotes. The foil locks in the juices and infuses the chicken with flavor. Half the fun is unwrapping each packet and popping each tasty morsel in your mouth. In our house, it’s a race to see who eats the most packets.

This is Where I Come In

Things have come full circle from Wes’s mom teaching him to Wes now teaching the kids. “Dad, how do I make Ji Bao Gai, how do you fold the packets, where’s the recipe?” Whenever they want to make Ji Bao Gai they call Wes (maybe it’s a sweet ploy to talk to us, lol).  They have yet to write the recipe down. All I can say is aiyah 🤦🏻‍♀️.  I guess it must be time to post it on 3Jamigos.  Now the kids don’t have to call each time they want to make a batch.

The Ingredients (as pictured in the banner photo)

Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs are perfect for this recipe as they remain juicy and tender, or use chicken breast if you like, but decrease the cooking time a bit.
Marinade: Contains Hoisin, and Chee Hou, umami-filled sauces made from soybeans, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry), sesame oil, and a touch of sugar. Add minced garlic and ginger for that extra zing.
Aromatics: Green onions and a few slices of fresh lemon for a hint of citrus.

Optional: Add sliced water chestnuts for texture.  Sprig of cilantro.

Foil: Use regular (Reynold’s)  aluminum foil to create the perfect cooking pouch is fine. Cut into 6” x 6” squares.

Riff:  Works with beef, use flank steak or skirt steak sliced thinly against the grain.

Prep, prep, prep your stuff

Step 1: Marinate the Chicken
Start by cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, sugar, minced garlic, and ginger. Toss the chicken pieces in this flavorful marinade, ensuring each piece is well coated. Cover and let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but for the best results, let it sit for 2-3 hours.

Step 2: Wrap It Up
Cut the aluminum foil into square sheets, roughly 6×6 inches. Regular-weight foil is fine.  Place 2 pieces (if pieces are small, use 3) of chicken in the center of each foil sheet. Add a slice of green onion and water chesnut or a sprig of cilantro (optional).  Fold the foil over the chicken, then fold the open edges over together, approximately 1/8  inch, twice, thereby creating a nice seal and ensuring no juices escape during baking.  Try to eliminate as much air from the packet as you fold.

Step 3: Bake to Perfection
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Arrange the foil-wrapped chicken parcels on a baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes, then flip packets and bake for 4 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and tender. The foil will puff up slightly as the chicken cooks, creating a steamy environment that keeps the meat juicy and flavorful.  In the good old days, the packets were deep-fried.  This created a crispier exterior on the chicken.  For crispier edges, bake at 400 degrees for about the same amount of time.

I would have taken a nicer photo except the kids ate them all before I could.

Step 4: Unwrap and Enjoy
Once done, remove the parcels from the oven and let them rest for a few minutes. Carefully open the foil, allowing the fragrant steam to escape. Serve the chicken with a side of steamed rice and your favorite vegetables.  Make sure to open the packets over your bowl or plate of rice to catch the drips of sauce.  Yum.

Tips for Success

Marinate for 2-3 hours, not much longer as the chicken will get too salty.
Sealing the Foil: Seal the foil tightly to prevent juice from escaping.
Experiment: Don’t be afraid to add your twist to the marinade. A dash of chili sauce or a sprinkle of fresh herbs can add a new dimension to the dish.

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Foil Wrapped Chicken: A Flavor-Packed Journey in Your Kitchen

This is a classic Cantonese Dish. Bite-sized pieces of chicken are marinated in a sweet-salty sauce, wrapped in paper or foil and cooked. Traditionally, the packets were fried, but baking as become the technique of choice.
Course dinner, One dish meals
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American, cantonese
Keyword cantonese cuisine, chee hou, hoisin, Paper-wrapped chicken
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2-3 Chicken breasts although we prefer thighs or thighs 4-5

Marinade

  • 3 tablespoons Chee Hou Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons whiskey (Seagrams) or Shao Xing Wine
  • 1 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 Green Onions diced

Instructions

  • Debone chicken and cut into small pieces.
  • Mix in ingredients and marinate for at least two hours. Wrap in foil to create a closed packet.
  • Deep fry medium-high heat around 1 minute until the chicken packets float OR
  • Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 5 minutes
Gochugaru Salmon with Crispy Rice-Yet Another Eric Kim Winner

Gochugaru Salmon with Crispy Rice-Yet Another Eric Kim Winner

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Another winner from Eric Kim, NYTcooking columnist, cookbook author, and writer.  Like many of his recipes, this one is very approachable, comes together quickly, and packs a one-two punch of flavor and texture.  The first time, I didn’t bother making the crispy rice.  MISTAKE.  The salmon and glaze are delicious but the crispy rice pushes it to the next level.

I have made so many of his recipes that I have an index of his recipes included in my post about his delightful pound cake.  If you love Sara Lee’s poundcake, you’ll love his version.  Here is the Eric Kim Hall of Food, so far…

Links are included for the ones I have written notes for so far.  One day, I will get through all of them, I hope.

Back to the Fish

Cooked rice-Make this dish when you have leftover rice.  Instead of making fried rice with it (come on, everyone makes fried rice with day-old rice), plan on making the crispy rice cake for this recipe. Short grain is stickier so works well for the rice cake.

The Star- 4 fresh salmon fillets, skin on.  Salt and pepper the fillets and fry until the skin is nice and crispy.  Try not to overcook the salmon,  it’s fine when slightly undercooked.

Before the fish gets sauced,  pan-frying for nice crispy skin.  Imagine that generic video everyone does running a knife over the skin to prove how crispy it is…yep.

The Sauce-pantry staples except for perhaps Gochugaru which is Korean chili pepper flakes (coarse ) or powder (fine). It’s spicy, smokey, and sweet. Find it at most Asian Supermarkets, definitely at H-Mart and Ranch 99. I recommend doubling the sauce, it’s that good.

The sauce comes together quickly. Key ingredient.  Allow it to come to a boil to caramelize the sauce.

Add cold butter to create a delicious, smooth, creamy emulsion.

Crispy Rice- Adds time and work to the dish, but it is so worth it!  The crispy rice adds a textural element.  The rice soaks up the flavor from the oil left in the pan from the fish.  Delish!

Serve this with sliced cucumbers, pickles, fresh kimchi, any banchan, or blanched spinach.

Enjoy!

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Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice

Another winner from Eric KIm, NYT Cooking columnist and author of Korean American. Gochugaru Salmon with Crispy Rice. Quick, Easy and Delicious
Course dinner
Cuisine Asian-American, Korean-American
Keyword crispy rice, gochugaru, maple syrup, quick and easy, Salmon
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 skin-on salmon fillets 6 ounces each
  • Kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal
  • Black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil I use peanut oil
  • 4 cups cooked white rice preferably leftover rice, and short grain which is a bit stickier so it stays together

Sauce

  • 4 teaspoons gochugaru powder or flakes is fine
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, kept whole

Garnish & Sides

  • Toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle on fish when done
  • Sliced cucumbers or pickles for serving (optional)
  • Any Banchan you like, kimchi, potato salad, spinach your choice

Instructions

  • Season the salmon on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high. Add the oil and sear the salmon fillets skin side down until the skin is browned and crispy, 2 to 5 minutes. The salmon will begin to turn pale coral as the heat slowly creeps up the sides of the fish; you want that coral color to come up about two-thirds of the way for a nice medium-rare.
  • Carefully flip the salmon and cook the second side until the flesh feels firm, another 1 to 2 minutes. When you press it, it should not feel wobbly. Transfer the salmon to a plate skin side down and keep the pan with the rendered fat over the heat.
  • Add the rice to the fat in the pan and spread in an even layer, packing it down as if making a rice pancake. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the bottom is lightly browned and toasted, about 5 minutes. You should hear it crackle.
  • Flip the rice like a pancake, using a spatula if needed. You may not be able to flip it all in one piece, but that’s OK. Cook until lightly toasted on the second side, another 1 to 2 minutes. Go longer if you want crispier rice, but the trifecta of crispy-chewy-soft tastes wonderful.
  • While the rice is cooking, stir together the gochugaru, maple syrup, rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • When the rice is done, divide it evenly among the plates. In the now-empty pan, add the gochugaru mixture and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it bubbles up and reduces significantly, 15 seconds to 1 minute. It should look pretty sticky.
  • Turn off the heat and add the cold butter, stirring with a wooden spoon or tongs until fully melted and incorporated into the gochugaru mixture. Pour this glaze over the salmon and serve with cucumbers or pickles.

Notes

You can find gochugaru, or red-pepper powder, at Korean or Asian supermarkets or online. Store in the freezer, it lasts a long time without degrading.
I use a non-stick skillet that doesn't brown or crisp food like a cast iron pan.  It may take significantly more time to brown and crisp rice.
Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)

Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)

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Brrrrr… getting chilly out there.  While I love summer, I do look forward to winter.  As the temperature drops I start dreaming of dishes that warm the body and soul.  Soup bowls and spoons that have languished on the shelf all summer are now front and center, waiting to be filled.  Soups, rice bowls, stews, nabes,  dumplings, noodles, and casseroles are always in the winter rotation.  Comfort food with a capital C.

Some of my favorite casseroles or soups don’t require hours on the stove, this is one of them, Jjim Dak or Korean Braised Chicken.  Jjim Dak is a hearty chicken, vegetables, and glass noodle dish that comes together in an hour.  It’s flexible in terms of ingredients (which mean any veggie you have hiding in your crisper is fair game), and filling due to the addition of potatoes and glass noodles.  A TikTok video for this dish caught my attention so I headed to my favorite Korean recipe site, http://Koreanbapsang.com.  A quick search of her site and bada bing, bada boom…I found her recipe for Korean braised chicken.

Let’s get to it…Bowl Food is Soul Food

This is a very flexible recipe. The foundation is chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms and chili.  Braise the chicken in soy sauce, oyster sauce, a bit of sugar and mirin.  This is an easy one-pot meal that comes together quickly and is guaranteed to chase the chilly weather away.

Use chicken thighs or drumsticks, preferably bone-in and cut into large bite-size pieces.  You can use boneless but you run the risk of overcooking the chicken while braising the vegetables.  You can find cut bone-in pieces of chicken at most Asian markets.  If you cut it yourself make sure to rinse the chicken after chopping for bone fragments.

Veggie So Many Choices, So Little Time…Cause I’m Hungry

Traditionally, this dish has the usual suspects, carrots, potatoes, onions, and scallions.  Feel free to add whatever you like and it will be divine.  I added mushrooms, Korean radish, and Korean radish leaves (so excited when I saw the tops on the radishes at the market).  Hands down yummy.  So add whatever you like, including KALE (nooooo, can’t believe I wrote that).  Cut the veggies in smaller bites due to quick cooking time.  In fact, if using boneless chicken, I would dump everything in at once and not cook the chicken first.  Make it in advance, if you can, to let the flavors develop.

The glass noodles take this over the top.  They add texture, flavor (the noods suck up the flavor from the sauce, chicken and veggies-yummo) and substance to the dish. You can find mung bean noodles or glass noodles at most Asian stores.  Do not confuse it with rice noodles or vermicelli.  Pre-soak noods to soften, drain well before adding.

The sauce ingredients are readily available. Use  Korean soy sauce or Kikkoman which are a bit more similar to each other than Chinese soy sauces.  I could go down a rabbit about soy sauces…. Oyster Sauce, as always, my go-to is Lee Kum Kee with the lady and boy in the boat label.

Don’t forget the bap 🍚!

There you go, a delicious one-pot meal.

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Jjim Dak

Braised chicken with assorted veggies, perfect for dish for chilly nights
Course comfort food
Cuisine Korean
Prep Time 20 minutes

Equipment

  • Prep Time
  • 20minutes mins
  • Cook Time
  • 30minutes mins
  • Total Time
  • 50minutes mins

Ingredients

The Stars

  • 1 medium-sized chicken cut up (2.5 to 3 pounds of cut pieces)
  • 3 ounces sweet potato starch noodles dangmyeon, 당면
  • 2 medium white or yukon gold potatoes about 10 ounces
  • 1 medium carrot 1/4 inch slices on diagonal
  • 1/2 medium onion cut in half and sliced 1/4-inch thick
  • 3 - 4 mushroom caps rehydrated dried shiitake or fresh shiitake, white, or baby bellas
  • 2 scallions
  • 2 - 3 dried whole red chili peppers optional, mild use 1
  • 1 - 2 fresh chili peppers or jalapenos optional
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger

Braising Liquid

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce If unavailable, use more soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine or mirin
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar if unavailable, use regular sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons corn syrup Korean jocheong (rice syrup), Oligodang (oligo syrup), or 2 to 3 tablespoons honey Adjust to taste or agave would probaly work
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Finishing

  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Instructions

  • Soak the starch noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. Drain well before using.
  • Clean chicken and cut into small to medium-sized pieces.
  • Cut the potatoes in chunks (about 1-1/2 inch), soak them in water while preparing the other vegetables. Cut the carrot (1/4-inch slices), mushrooms, and onion into bite-sized pieces.
  • Add the chicken pieces to a large pot. Pour 3 cups of water over the chicken. (You should reduce the amount of water if not using the noodles.) Add the sauce ingredients except sesame oil and seeds. Bring it to a boil over high heat, uncovered, and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Skim off the foam.
  • Add the potatoes, carrot, mushrooms, onion, dried whole red chili peppers, garlic and ginger. Cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. There may still be a lot of liquid, but the potatoes and starch noodles will soak up a lot of it.
  • Stir in the green chili peppers (if using), and glass noodles. Continue to cook, uncovered this time, for an additional 3-5 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil. Garnish with sesame seeds, scallions. Serve immediately.
Scallion Mac and Cheese from Little Fat Boy

Scallion Mac and Cheese from Little Fat Boy

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I have been focused on cookbooks from the Asian Diaspora.  With the way the world is turning, on a definite lopsided tilt, I want to support my community.  Representation matters, and we need to see POCs, LGBTQ, you know, EVERYONE represented in all walks of life.  The gold standard should be human + compassion, empathy, and vision for a better, kinder, world.  A world you are proud to leave your kids.

Recently I dashed into the city for another book signing at Omnivore Books on Food.  Frankie Gaw, author of the long-awaited, First Generation:  Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home was in town and I couldn’t pass on his book signing.

A graphic designer by trade, his evenings were spent creating the blog, Little Fat Boy.  Stories, beautiful photographs, and recipes, woven together in this mash-up of his Taiwanese roots, midwest upbringing, and Southern ties to Memphis. His recipes are fun, a fusion of his upbringing and later West Coast migration.  His recipes make me happy.  Yep, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Mochi or topped with Pepples cereal, tell me you’re not smiling right now.

It’s VEGAN, yeah baby…More, Please

I LOVE mac and cheese. Frankie’s Vegan version is a riff on this much-loved dish.  Is it Mac and Cheese? Nope.  Is it delicious? YEP.  In place of butter, milk, and cheese you’ll find scallion oil, cashews, garlic, and my own little tweak, nutritional yeast.  Pureeing cashews into a creamy, lovely sauce, is really so good, this may become my go-to mac and cheese when I am feeling a little lactose intolerant, lol.

Not gonna lie, cashews are not diet food, just like a lot of nuts.  The upside is they do supply protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.  Plus, no animal products were used in the making of this..so there is that.  To offset some of the calories in this dish I reduce the pasta and substitute roasted or steamed cauliflower florets.  Yummos.

I like my mac and cheese super saucy so I decrease the amount of pasta, add more cauliflower florets and throw in some mushroom broth to extend the sauce.  The kid in me likes the macaroni cooked beyond al dente, really who eats mac and cheese that’s not soft and squishy?  This is two very generous servings, actually, I think it serves 3-4 people…see the calories won’t be that bad!

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Scallion Mac and Cheese

A delicious vegan version of mac and cheese with loads of umami from scallions, nutritional yeast and garlic adapted from Little Fat Boy
Course dinner, one bowl meal, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword Crazy good mac and cheese, scallions
Prep Time 17 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 425kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 4 scallions finely chopped white and green parts divided
  • 1/8 cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 11/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1/8 tsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 lemon, juice of
  • 1/2-1 cup water, or pasta water or mushroom boullion
  • 1 tsp hot sauce to taste optional

Toppings

  • 1/4 cup panko
  • 1 scallion, Thinly sliced

Noods

  • 4 ounces macaroni
  • 1 cup cauliflower florets or broccoli approx 4 oz

Instructions

Cashews

  • Before making dish, place cashews in a medium bowl and cover with water by 1 inch. Let the nuts soak for 2-3 hours.

Carbs & Veggies

  • Cook your pasta as directed on package. With about 3-4 minutes to go, add the cauliflower to the pot. Return to boil and cook until al dente (from original recipe-lol. In my book mac cheese needs pasta cooked beyond al dente). Drain and place back in pot. Set aside.

Sauce

  • In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add scallions and garlic. The oil should not be smoking but hot enough that the aromatics sizzle when added. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. The scallions should be soft and your kitchen should smell delicious from the scallions and garlic. Transfer all of it to a blender. Set skillet aside, do not wash! You will be using this to brown the Panko Crumbs!
  • Drain the cashews and add to the blender along with the lemon juice, paprika, salt, sugar, nutritional yeast, and water or pasta water.
  • BLEND til smooth. Add additional water or pasta water to desired consistency.
  • Add sauce to macaroni, and stir to combine. Pour into a casserole dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle Panko Crumbs and diced green onions on top, and serve immediately.

The Crumbs

  • The skillet used to fry the scallion and garlic will have residual oil to brown the Panko crumbs. On medium-high heat toss the panko in the skillet until toasty brown.

Notes

This recipe can be doubled for those times you are feeding a big crowd.  In fact,  the original recipe is double this, I cut it in half cause it's a lot of pasta.
Crying Tiger Beef (Grillin’ and Chillin’)

Crying Tiger Beef (Grillin’ and Chillin’)

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A reel for Crying Tiger Beef had me salivating until I read the words “recipe coming soon”.  Nooo, it looked so yummy I wanted to try it immediately.  But, I understand. How many times have I posted a dish on IG or FB with the same caveat?  Coming soon.  So I turned to a tried and true cookbook, Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen by Leela Punyaratabandhu, and found her recipe for Crying Tiger Beef.  It’s a great book for a “Thai food is not in my wheelhouse but I love it” person, like ME.  Her recipe for Pad Thai is my go-to.

Tomatolly Off on a Thai-gent

The dipping sauce for  Crying Tiger Beef in Simple Thai is a variant.  Instead of the traditional one made with toasted rice and tamarind, this one has roasted cherry tomatoes.  Since tomato season is upon us and I am a tomato FREAK, this was a no-brainer.  Glad I did, it’s delicious.  I will include both recipes for you to try.  I expect a report on which version reigns supreme in your house.

Where’s the Beef?

The marinade and sauce work with different cuts of beef.  Wanna get fancy? Ribeye or NY strip steaks.  A quick weeknight meal, flank steak, or skirt steak gets the 👍.  Flanken-style short ribs would work well also.

I opted for the family-friendly flank steak, lean but flavorful and a great cut to barbecue.  First, marinate your flank steak in a simple blend of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and oil.  It’s amazing how it flavors the meat.  I have both Chinese and Thai oyster sauce.  I used the Thai version but the Chinese Oyster Sauce by LKK, with the lady and kid in a boat would be perfect and you really don’t need to go out and get Thai oyster sauce which will be much harder to find.  You (West Coast peeps) can find LKK at major grocery chains, Costco, and most Asian grocery stores.

Sauce Me Up

As your meat marinates, make your sauce.  Broil tomatoes, garlic, and shallots until soft with charred spots.  Transfer tomato mixture to a food processor or mortar and pestle (shades of being a pharmacist).  Pulse or pound until the mixture becomes a chunky sauce.  Don’t purée!  Pour the sauce into a bowl and add fish sauce, lime juice, chili flakes (to desired heat level!!), sugar and cilantro. I absolutely love this sauce, so much umami.  I generally double the sauce recipe, it’s that good.

Palm Sugar-feel free to use brown sugar if you don’t have palm sugar.  But if you want to, palm sugar comes in little squares or egg-shaped pieces, very dense.  My recommendation would be to pulverize those little suckers (very cathartic) before using it.  It would take forever and a day to melt.  You’re welcome.

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Crying Tiger Beef with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Easy and delicious Thai dish, Crying Tiger Beef. Grilled steak is topped with a spicy sauce made with roasted tomatoes, shallots, and garlic and seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce, red onions, and cilantro.
Course bbq, dinner, main dish
Cuisine Asian, Thai
Keyword cherry tomatoes, Crying Tiger Beef, grilled beef, pad thai
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Marinade

  • 1 tablespoons neutral oil
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground white or black pepper
  • 1 flank steak, about 1 ⅔ pounds total This recipe works with steaks too. So if it is date night...2 nice ribeyes would be perfect!

Dipping Sauce

  • 4 ounces cherry tomatoes
  • 1 large shallot (1 oz) halved
  • 3 large garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes I have never used over 1 teaspoon!
  • 1/2 teaspoon packed light brown sugar or palm sugar
  • 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and stems

Garnish

  • 1 tbsp Glutinous or sticky rice, raw optional, but recommended
  • Handful cilantro sprigs coarsely chopped, for garnish
  • sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

Instructions

  • For the beef, in a wide bowl or square pan, stir together the oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and pepper. Add the beef and turn to coat all sides.
  • Prepare a medium-high fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill to medium on one half and medium-hot on the other half. Heat source shold be indirect. Place flank steak in center of grill. Grill about 4 minutes a side for medium rare. Remove from heat. Let meat rest about 5 minutes before slicing.
  • Slice beef against the grain into 1/4-1/2 inch slices then arrange on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the ground toasted rice (optional) and garnish with the cilantro. Serve with the sauce.

Sauce

  • Place tomatoes, unpeeled shallots, and garlic on a small sheet pan and broil, turning often until charred and squishy. This should take about 7-10 minutes.
  • While the beef rests, finish the sauce. Squeeze shallot and garlic out of their skins. Using a mortar and pestle or bowl and fork, smush the shallots and garlic into a rough paste. Add the tomatoes, and blend to form a chunky sauce. Don't puree the tomatoes. Transfer to a serving bowl and stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, pepper flakes, sugar, and chopped cilantro. The sauce should have the consistency of a chunky salsa. Let it sit a few minutes, then taste; add more lime juice, fish sauce, and pepper flakes, if needed. The sauce should taste primarily sour and spicy and then salty with a hint of sweetness.
  • You could make this in a food processor, just don't overprocess the sauce! Use the pulse button only to avoid this.

Toasted Rice Powder

  • Place raw glutinous rice in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Swirl pan continuously until rice is golden brown and has a nutty aroma. This will take about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a mortar or small bowl. Set it aside to cool. Once cooled, grind in the mortar or in a small food processor, until rice becomes a powder.
  • Sprinkle this on your meat right before serving.

The traditional sauce is delicious too. It’s a little more difficult finding tamarind.

Tamarind is tangy and adds a sweet and sour flavor profile. You can find it as a paste or pulp to make a paste. Get the paste for convenience.  The other component is toasted sweet rice powder.  You can probably buy this but I always have sweet rice (glutinous rice aka sticky rice) on hand. The raw rice can be toasted on the stovetop and ground in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

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Crying Tiger Beef with Tamarind Sauce

Course bbq, dinner, lunch
Cuisine Thai
Keyword Crying Tiger Beef, Thai

Ingredients

Marinade for Beef

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 2 x 200g 7 oz ribeye steaks (or any other steak cut you prefer)
  • vegetable oil for brushing
  • steamed rice or sticky rice to serve

Spicy Dipping Sauce-Nahm Jim Jaew

  • 2 tsp raw glutinous rice also known as sticky rice
  • 1 tbsp tamarind concentrate
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp chilli flakes
  • 1 small red shallot sliced into fine wedges
  • 2 tsp finely chopped coriander cilantro

Instructions

  • Combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar. Pour the mixture over the steaks and use your fingers to massage the marinade all over the steak pieces. Allow to marinate while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
  • For the spicy dipping sauce, toast the rice in a dry frying pan over high heat until golden brown and fragrant (it should smell like popcorn). Use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder to grind to a fine powder. In a bowl, combine the tamarind, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chilli flakes and toasted rice powder. Mix until well combined. Then stir through the shallot and coriander. Transfer to a small serving bowl and set aside until ready to serve.
  • Heat a large heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Brush with oil. When hot, add the steaks and cook for 2-3 minutes, turning the steaks every so often until you get a nice charred colour. Then turn the heat to low and continue cooking (and flipping the steaks) for another 2-3 minutes (for medium rare) or until cooked to your liking. Before slicing, transfer to a cutting board and allow to rest for 3 minutes.
Miso-Honey Chicken with Asparagus Sheet Pan-tabulous!

Miso-Honey Chicken with Asparagus Sheet Pan-tabulous!

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Sam Sifton’s What to Cook column in the NY Times is my usual starting point for what should I make for dinner during the week.  I found Yossy Arefi’s Sheet Pan Miso-Honey Chicken and Asparagus in his column a little while ago and bookmarked it.  Like so many others, I have jumped on the sheet pan meal train.  I love a cooking method that includes hashtags like #quick, #easy, and #delicious.  This recipe was simply yummy and had me licking my plate clean at the end.

Da Sauce

The flavor from the marinade manages to hit every note-sweet from honey, and spicy from chili sauce.  Eartiness and salty from the miso.  The ginger and garlic create an added one-two flavor punch.  It is absolutely delicious.  Reserve half of it to serve at the table for those who just can’t get enough of it, like me!

Most of the ingredients for the marinade are items that you probably have in your pantry or fridge, especially if you like Asian cuisine.  For those not familiar with miso-the star of this marinade, miso is a cornerstone in Japanese cooking.  It is made from soybeans that is fermented and it is responsible for that salty, slightly funky flavor and umami.  It comes in two basic types, white and red.  White miso is milder and if I could only have one miso, this would be it.  Here is a primer on miso from Spruce Eats.  Look for it in Asian grocery stores and many of the larger supermarkets.  There really isn’t a substitute so if your local markets don’t carry it, try online.

Improvising for the lack of asparagus, I grabbed a head of cauliflower from my crisper and I was in business.  I prefer bone-in chicken so I slathered the marinade on bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and opted to roast it.  Roast the chicken and cauliflower in a 425-degree oven for approximately 25-30 minutes until the chicken is crispy and browned, and the cauliflower is tender and golden.  It would be tough to broil bone-in chicken and have it cook through, high-heat roasting works well.

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Sheet-Pan Miso Honey Chicken with Asparagus

An easy and delicious one-pan meal. Chicken thighs are marinaded in honey, miso, and soy sauce elevated with the addition of minced garlic and ginger. Delicious!
Course Main Course, Meat
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword Chicken thighs, gochujang, NYTcooking, sheet pan meal
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

Marinade

  • 3 tablespoons white miso
  • 3 tablespoons mild honey
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated garlic
  • 2 teaspoons chile-garlic sauce or other hot sauce
  • 1 tablespoon neutral oil + 1 tablespoon water for marinade

The Stars

  • 1 Pound large bunch asparagus trimmed
  • 2 teaspoons neutral oil for asparagus
  • 1½ to 2 pounds chicken thighs boneless, skinless (although I like leaving the skin on

The Garnish

  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced

Instructions

  • Make the marinade: In a bowl, whisk together the miso, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, chile-garlic sauce, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon water. Refrigerate half the marinade for serving.
  • Place the chicken in a shallow dish or zip-top bag and pour the remaining marinade over the top. Toss the chicken until coated and let marinate in the refrigerator for up to 30 minutes.
  • When you are ready to cook, heat the broiler with a rack set 6 inches below it. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. * See notes for directions to roast chicken instead of broiling.
  • Remove the chicken from the marinade, scraping off and discarding any excess. Place the chicken in a single layer on one side of the baking sheet, with the flatter side up. Place the asparagus on the other side. Drizzle the asparagus with remaining oil, then season the asparagus; toss to coat.
  • Broil until the chicken is cooked through with some charred spots and the asparagus is browned, about 10 minutes.
  • To serve, top the chicken with a drizzle of the reserved marinade and a sprinkle of scallions.
  • Serve with rice, if desired.

Notes

A variety of vegetables can be substituted for asparagus such as bok chop, broccoli, or chard. I had a head of cauliflower in my crisper and thought, why not?  I was in business.  Too lazy to debone the chicken I slathered the marinade on bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and roasted the chicken and cauliflower in a 425-degree oven for approximately 25-30 minutes until the chicken was crispy and browned, and the cauliflower tender and golden. Just know the bone in chicken will take approximately 35 minutes to roast so cut your vegetables to a size that needs the same amount of time.
Corned Beef & Cabbage (Let’s Hash It Out)

Corned Beef & Cabbage (Let’s Hash It Out)

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I feel if I am going to eat a meal that is associated with a holiday I ought to learn a little bit about that particular holiday and its significance to the culture or country of origin.  The extent of my knowledge regarding St. Patty’s Day is corned beef and cabbage.

So Friday as I was pulling my corned beef out of the fridge, I googled St. Patrick’s Day.  In a nutshell, Patrick, before he became a saint, is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day is the day of his death.  A folktale credits him with driving the snakes out of Ireland, symbolism for pagan religions as there are no snakes in Ireland.

Corned Beef and Cabbage is not the chosen celebratory meal in Ireland but rather came about here in America.  Corned beef and cabbage were both relatively cheap and out of necessity became the meal of choice for the poor Irish immigrants striving to make a new life here.  In Ireland, you are more likely to have Irish Stew and Soda Bread.

Shortcut Corned Beef

I will admit, I make this once a year.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Corned Beef, I just don’t make it at home…except on Saint Patty’s Day.  As a kid, my favorite breakfast was Corned Beef Hash by Mary’s Kitchen.  Yep, hash out of a can, I thought it was delicious.

Two things I did differently this year.  On a whim, I splurged on Wagyu Corned Beef Brisket from Costco.  Second, we pulled out the Instant Pot.  With two unknowns it’s hard to know if the Waygu or the IP was responsible for just how delicious the corned beef came out.  It was tender, moist, and delicious.  A variety of recipes found online served as my guide with a shout-out to Simply Recipes.

  • Various recipes I looked at called for a 2.5-pound chunk of corned beef. I don’t know about you, but after cooking,  it shrinks quite a bit and that wouldn’t be enough, not in my family at least. There would be little left for my fav breakfast hash (not acceptable in my book).  The piece I bought was 4 pounds and fit nicely in my 6-quart Instant Pot.  This was enough for dinner, the next day’s lunch, and a generous skillet of hash for that leisurely weekend breakfast.
  • Rinse corned beef thoroughly before placing it in the pressure cooker, helps keep the salt at bay.
  • Place the corned beef on the metal trivet that comes with the Instant Pot, makes it much easier to lift out when it is done.
  • Add 1 quartered yellow onion and a couple of cloves of garlic to the pot.  Sprinkle the seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar on the surface of the meat.
  • Add 4 cups of liquid to the pot.  It may not completely cover the meat, and that’s okay.  The liquid can be all water, water, and beef stock 1:1, or a can of stout and water.  The Wagyu beef was on the salty side.  So be careful with the stock, use low sodium or homemade.

Let’s Get to the Easy Part

Seal your Instant Pot and set it to high pressure for 85 minutes and go relax, but tell everyone you are making dinner, they’ll never know.

Once the cycle is complete, turn off the Instant Pot and allow the corned beef to natural-release for 15 minutes before taking it out.  If it has not completely depressurized, vent the pot before taking off the lid.  Add your potatoes, carrots, and cabbage (that you prepped while it was cooking, oops, forgot to mention).  Place potatoes and carrots into the pot first, then the cabbage on top. Seal the pot and set a timer for 5 minutes.  Quick release when it is done.

Slice corned beef against the grain.  Serve with honey mustard and veggies on the side or if you are like the Hubster, make a sandwich…yum.  Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

But What About Breakfast?

I like corned beef, I LOVE corned beef hash.  The remaining corned beef became Sunday breakfast.  I pulled out my cast iron skillet, the remaining beef and potatoes, chopped some onion and bell pepper, bada-bing-bada-boom, hash.

Feel free to add other vegetables or change the proportions.  This can easily be a veggie-focused hash, more potatoes, throw in the leftover cabbage, add some mushrooms…it will be delightful and perfect for a weekend relaxing breakfast.

Beautiful board made by 3jamigos woodworking.

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Corned Beef Hash and Eggs

What to do with leftover corned beef? Hash of course!
Course Breakfast, Brunch, lunch
Cuisine American, Irish-American
Keyword cabbage, Corned beef, corned beef hash, potatoes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Equipment

  • cast iron skillet

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion finely chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 1/4 green or red bell pepper or pepper of choice!, chopped
  • 2 to 3 cups cooked corned beef finely diced or chopped
  • 2 to 3 cups chopped cooked potatoes from dinner 🙂
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Chopped fresh parsley or scallions
  • Eggs one per serving

Instructions

  • Heat butter in a large skillet (preferably cast iron) on medium heat. Add the onion and pepper and cook a few minutes, until translucent.
  • Add corned beef and potatoes. Spread out evenly over the pan. Increase the heat to medium-high and press down on the mixture with a heat-proof spatula.
  • Do not stir the potatoes and corned beef, but let them brown. If you hear it sizzling, that's a good sign.
  • Use a spatula to peek underneath and see if they are browning. If nicely browned, use the spatula to flip sections over in the pan so that they brown on the other side. Press down again with the spatula.
  • If there is too much sticking, you can add a little more butter to the pan. Continue to cook in this manner until the potatoes and the corned beef are nicely browned.

Egg-a-licious: Your choice, hash is good with eggs cooked any style

  • Or cook eggs like Shashuka. When hash is close to being done, create depressions in the hash and crack an egg into each spot. Cover skillet for a couple minutes until egg is cooked to your liking.
  • Remove from heat, top with chopped parsley or scallions. Season with freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.
Happy Chicken Pot Pi Day!

Happy Chicken Pot Pi Day!

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Here in California, we have been battered by some extreme weather…more rain, snow and high winds than we have seen in a long, long time.  I hope folks are staying safe, warm and dry.

So we are having a somewhat subdued, quiet Pi Day.  Especially since we haven’t had power all day!  That’s not gonna stop me, pi golly.  I adore pies, sweet or savory, by the slice, as a potable hand pie, you get the pic. So Pi Day is just an excuse to make pie.  A day of cold, wet, blustery weather calls for comfort food so what better dish than Chicken Pot Pie?  

I LOVE Pot Pie.  As a kid, it was a special treat if mom pulled out Swanson’s Chicken or Beef Pot Pies for dinner.  Little did I know, it meant an easy meal for her.  As I got older and my taste became more refined I left behind those Swanson’s pies.

I discovered Marie Callendar’s Pot Pies!  So good, more crust, bigger pie, yum.

My love of pies logically led to making my own pies and this includes savory pies, top on the list is Chicken Pot Pie.   

The Elephant In the Room

Not everyone wants or has a compelling need to start from scratch and that’s OKAY!  It’s perfectly fine to start with cooked chicken (a Costco rotisserie chicken comes to mind), commercial low-sodium chicken stock AND a premade pie crust. Making a Chicken Pot Pie is a labor of love.  If any step, homemade PIE CRUST comes to mind, gives you anxiety, use a shortcut. There are great frozen pie crusts dough and puff pastry doughs that can be used to make a fabulous pot pie. Hate prepping veggies?  Frozen WORKS, really.  But if you want to go the whole nine yards…read on 🙂

For novice pie makes, this is a good recipe to make over a couple of days so it doesn’t seem overwhelming.  Make the pie crust and throw it in the fridge to chill. You could do this up to a couple of days before.  This also applies to poaching the chicken and making the filling too.  The chicken can be shredded, the stock reduced, and the filling made and kept in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the pie.

Pick your favorite veggies, I like mushrooms, carrots, celery, broccoli, potatoes, and peas.  Pretty classic aside from the broccoli.  Blanching the veggies ensures they will be nicely cooked in the pie.  Blanch 10 minutes, the goal is al dente + so they don’t get too soft.  The veggies should be cut roughly the same size for even cooking.  The exception to this would be mushrooms, saute’ these before adding to the sauce.

Sauce Me Up

What holds everything together is a simple bechamel sauce of butter, flour, milk,and stock.  Start by making the roux .  Sauté onions with the butter for flavor and add the flour. Cook this for a couple of minutes before adding the chicken stock and milk.  Simmer sauce until it is thick like gravy, stir constantly.  Season well with salt and pepper.  

Two Pie Camps

There are 2 kinds of pie people in my book, those who like crust (ME) and those who like filling (Can’t even imagine who that is).  So I’ve searched far and wide for a pie crust I like.

I love Dorie Greenspan’s pie crust recipe. It’s buttery and flaky, and best of all, it makes a generous amount of dough, enough for a two-crust pie and a small single-crust pie. That’s a lot of crust.  Which is exactly what I want.

Make the crust by hand or in a food processor.  Be extra vigilant that you don’t overprocess the dough.

This is what your dough should look like coming out of the food processor. 

Gather it up into a disc shape and chill.  Roll out 2 crusts one for the top and one for the bottom.  Follow my tweak below or line your baking dish with the bottom crust and chill again.

Let’s Get to the Bottom of the Pie

Bake your chicken pot pie with a top crust only.  What Deb?!  That’s less crust!  Hold on now…here is the tweak.  Roll out the pie dough for the bottom crust then cut out circles or squares from this sheet equal to a serving of your pie.  Bake them separately.  When it’s pot pie time, place one of these buttery, flaky rounds on the bottom of each plate then topped with a generous wedge of your baked pie over it.  Buttery, flaky, crispy, crust on the top and bottom. This, my friends, is chicken pot pie nirvana.

Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before serving!

So, Happy Pi Day, now go make some pie! Check out my IG Reel for Chicken Pot Pie!

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Classic Chicken Pot Pie

Ultimate comfort food. This is the classic Chicken Pot Pie. Buttery, flaky crust with a thick, velvety Bechamel filled with chunks of chicken and veggies. A keeper!
Course comfort food, dinner, One dish meals
Cuisine American
Keyword Chicken, chicken pot pie, comfort food, food for the soul, made from scratch, pie, pot pie, savory
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 minute
Servings 6 servings

Equipment

  • 1 food processor

Ingredients

The chicken and stock:

  • 1 3 1/2-pound whole chicken (approximately 3 cups of cooked chicken, shredded or cubed) Shoretcut 1: Sub chicken parts for whole chicken Shortcut 2: Costco Roast Chicken Yeah, you read that right
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1 small onion halved
  • 2 teaspoons salt or 1 t salt and 1 tablepsoon Better Than Bouillion Chicken Base

Simply Irrecrustable: or Dorie's MoRe CrUsT RecipE

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup 1 stick chilled unsalted butter, diced into 1/2-inch cubes (best to chill cubes in the freezer for at least 15 minutes before using)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening chilled
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

It's All About the Filling

  • 3 med carrots sliced about 1.5 cups
  • 2 stalks celery sliced about 1 cup
  • 3/4 cup green peas frozen or fresh
  • Use any veggies you like broccoli, squash, potatoes. You want about 3 cups of vegetables sliced or chopped.

Da Sauce: This is a generous amount of sauce so you can increase your veggies if you like.

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 cups yellow onion (you have leeway use 1 med or large onion which yields 1 cup to 1-1/2 cups diced onions diced
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock reserved from cooking chicken
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
  • 2 teaspoons salt to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • For the egg wash: optional
  • 1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Da Chicken: A whole chicken in a large stockpot with water to make a chicken pot pie casserole. Yep, you read that right.

  • Combine the chicken, carrot, celery, onion and salt or chicken base into a large stock pot. Add cold water until just covered and bring to a boil over high heat.
  • Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool for 15 minutes. While the chicken is cooling, continue to boil the remaining water and vegetables in the pot.
  • When the chicken is cool enough to touch, strip away as much of the meat as you can. Place the meat on a dish, set aside. Shred chicken or cube. You should have about 3 cups.
  • Return the chicken bones to the stockpot and continue to boil, on high heat, until the stock has reduced to a quart or quart and a half.
  • Set aside 2 1/2 cups of the stock for this recipe. Freeze remaining stock for a rainy day.

All About the Crust: Simply Recipe Yields only 1 crust. You will need to double it or make Dorie's omitting the sugar

  • Combine the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the chilled butter cubes and pulse 5 times to combine. Add the shortening and pulse a few more times, until the dough resembles a coarse cornmeal, with some pea-sized pieces of butter.
  • Slowly stream in ice water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the dough sticks together when you press some between your fingers.
  • Empty the food processor onto a clean surface. Use your hands to mold into a ball, then flatten the ball into a disk. Sprinkle with a little flour, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days, before rolling.

Filling It Up

  • Blanch prepped carrots, celery, potatoes, broccoli (if using) in water for about 10-15 minutes. Veggies should be al dente but cooked through. Set aside.
  • In a large skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they're translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, one minute more.
  • Whisk in 2 1/2 cups of the chicken stock. Whisk in the milk. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often until thickened and creamy.
  • Add the chicken, thyme, sherry, peas, blanched veggies, parsley, salt and pepper and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Pour into prepared baking dish(s)

Pieformers: Assemble

    Bake: Preheat oven to 375

    • Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a little less than a quarter-inch thick.
    • Roll roughly to the shape and size of your baking dish. A little bigger so you crimp the edge. Lay pastry over filling and dish.
    • Fold the excess dough under itself and crimp edge of pie.. Cut a 1-inch vents into pie. Use a pastry brush to apply an egg wash to each pie.
    • Line a baking sheet with foil, place pie on baking sheet. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbling. If the edge gets too dark, cover with foil.
    • Let cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.
    Mille-Feuille Nabe Blooming Delish!

    Mille-Feuille Nabe Blooming Delish!

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    I’m sure I saw this on TikTok or an IG Reel.  It looked so delicious I knew I was going to make it, if not today, definitely tomorrow.  Jackpot, making it today, why?  As most of you know I stop at grocery stores so often I should be classified as a professional food shopper.  The beauty of being a “pro”, I generally have the ingredients for any dish found on the internet, lol. This is a perfect example, a quick perusal of my kitchen and I was in business.

    Thinly sliced pork – check. From Asian Market. I always keep some in the freezer, ALWAYS.

    Napa Cabbage – check. Picked up a head at the Hankook Market last weekend, cause you never know when you might need some cabbage…

    Mushrooms – check. My fridge qualifies as a certified mushroom farm most days.

    Dashi or Broth – check. I pulled my bottle of Shiro Dashi from the fridge. Literally concentrated dashi that you dilute with water, VERY good, stupid easy. For a detailed run down check out Guide to Shiro Dashi

    OR I can make Dashi with packets from Japan that I keep squirreled away in my pantry.  Again, VERY good,  a bit more work than Shiro Dashi, still super easy.

    I won’t go into making my own Dashi cause that would defeat the dinner in a few minutes mantra.

    Korean radish – check.  You don’t need it, I just happen to have some so why not?

    Staples – check.  Green onions, sesame seeds, soy sauce S&P…Hello? Would not be caught dead without any of these.

    Pot- check. Y’all know I didn’t have to list this but I wanted to mention the tiny Donabe I bought at the MANRESA fire sale.  It gives me JOY.  I also used my gorgeous Staub pot for the family-sized version.

    So that’s it, all you need to make this scrumptious, perfect when it is cold and wet outside, quick and easy dish.

    Let’s Goooooo!

    This is super easy, TRUST ME.  Have I ever steered you wrong?  Start with your Napa Cabbage, wash and separate the leaves.  You only need 1 head of cabbage and you won’t use all of it, unless you are feeding a cast of thousands, then you’re on your own.

    Take out your thinly sliced pork, I’m sure this would work with beef also. Use any protein cut for Shabu Shabu or Hot Pot.  I know you are thinking, 🤔, can I use bacon?  My inclination is no, as much as I love bacon, the flavor may be too much and too salty for this Nabe.  But if you are feeling bold, try it.  Definitely REPORT BACK to me!

    Layer the pork on the Napa Cabbage, covering most of the leaf. Continue layering until you have a stack of 3-4 leaves.  Cut crosswise into 3-4 sections, and try to match it up with your pot.  Each section should be about 2-2.5 inches in height. Definitely not taller as you will need to cover the pot when cooking.  Continue circling the pot with the sections until you reach the center.  I finished with slices of Korean radish surrounding a bouquet of mushrooms smack dab in the middle, totally optional.  But so good.

    To finish, add dashi to barely cover the cabbage, cover, and cook.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, the beauty of thinly sliced meats and veggies.  Dinner is served! BACK to the dashi.  Dashi is a fish-based stock, used in many yummy Japanese dishes.  There are ka-zillions of ways to make dashi.  Skip the traditional and time-consuming options.  I use Shiro-dashi alot.  It is a seasoned concentrated fish stock that comes in a bottle.  Dilute Shiro-dashi 10-12 fold for soups and casseroles, EASY PEASY.  The other way is using dashi packets, kind of like tea bags.  Drop it into the water, let it sit to infuse the flavor from the packets, and presto dunzo.

    CAVEAT: The Shiro Dashi is seasoned with salt and sugar while the dashi packets just impart the fish flavor.  You will need to add salt or soy if using the dashi packets.

    That’s it!  Serve it up with bowls of hot, steaming rice, maybe fry an egg or if you have Mayak Eggs or Ramen Eggs yum. So damn delicious it is criminal.  Or use the flavorful broth on a lovely bowl of noodles, udon noodles would be delicious.

    A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words…check out my Instagram for a reel on Mille-Feuille Nabe!

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    Mille-Feuille Nabe

    Japanese Hotpot with Napa Cabbage and thinly sliced pork belly arranged in layers in a donabe of casserole. Dashi serves as the cooking broth that turns this into a lovely dish perfect for cold weather.
    Course dinner, Main Course, One dish meals
    Cuisine Asian, Japanese
    Keyword Mille-feuille, napa cabbage, Pork Belly, soup
    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 15 minutes

    Equipment

    • 1 donabe If you have one, but any casserole type pot will do.

    Ingredients

    Main Ingredients

    • 1 napa cabbage medium size should do
    • 1-1½ lb Thinly sliced pork belly smaller the pot the less you will need
    • 1 bunch of mushrooms like enoki or shiimeji optional
    • Korean Radish or Daikon, thinly sliced optional

    Dashi

    • 1 knob ginger 1 inch, 2.5 cm
    • 5 cups dashi See post for dashi options!
    • 2 Tbsp sake cut in half or omit if using Shiro Dashi
    • 1 Tbsp soy sauce cut in half or omit if using Shiro Dashi
    • ½ tsp kosher salt Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt

    Finishing Touches

    • green onions, diced for garnish
    • Chili oil or Shichim Togarashi at the table
    • Rice to serve with hot pot or boil some noodles to have with the flavorful broth!
    • Any kind of eggs-Ramen, Mayak or raw that you crack and cook in the broth

    Instructions

    • Remove leaves carefully from the base, wash and drain well. Don’t throw away any leaves that naturally came off while rinsing. We’ll use these leaves later on. If you happen to get a ginormous cabbage cut in half or quarters lengthwise. I usually buy small ones so I use the whole leaf. Pat them dry before next step.
    • Layer the pork belly and napa cabbage by placing one slice between each of the leaves. Cover leaves with pork belly, trim if necessary to fit. Repeat 3-4 times depending on size of pot.
    • Cut each napa cabbage wedge into 3-4 pieces each about 2 to 2½ inches (5-6 cm) long. Each section should not be taller than your cooking pot. Try to keep the layers of napa cabbage and pork belly neatly stacked as you slice.
    • Next, start stacking the ingredients in a donabe, hot pot, or regular 10-inch pot. I used a shallow Staub pot with the grill top. Turn the stacks on their side as you pack them so the pink and green layers are visible. Start from the outer edges of the pot and work your way toward the center. Place the thicker cabbage leaves near the outside edge and the tender leaves in the center. Make sure that you pack the pot tightly as the layers will become loose once the ingredients start to cook.
    • If you don’t have enough layers to pack the pot tightly, consider using a smaller pot or place other ingredients in the center. I Like to stuff enoki mushrooms or shimeji mushrooms in the center. Or use slices of radish to surround the mushrooms.
    • Make you dashi. Don’t reduce the salt If you are using dashi from packets since the napa cabbage will release liquid during cooking and dilute the soup. If using Shiro Dashi that is seasoned omit half the soy sauce and sake. Taste your broth, it should not be too salty.
    • Pour the broth into the pot with the napa cabbage and pork belly. Start cooking on high heat. Once boiling, skim off the foam and fat on the surface using a fine-mesh skimmer. Then, reduce the heat to medium low and cook covered until the napa cabbage is tender and the pork belly is cooked through, roughly 8-10 minutes.

    Garnish

    • Garnish with chopped green onion/scallion, have shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) on table or sprinkle on top of dish. Serve while hot with rice or boil up some noodles to serve in the delicious broth!
      I like adding a ramen egg or a Mayak egg t round it out.