I have taken over tomato duties from the hubby who has given up on becoming an urban farmer. We just haven’t had any luck with turning our garden into a summer veggie paradise. My bounty from 5 tomato plants so far has been a grand total of 4 tiny red orbs 🤦🏻♀️
FORTUNATELY, we have a wonderful farmer’s market in town.
My haul from last week’s farmer’s market included a variety of cherry tomatoes including Bronze Torch Cherry Tomatoes (pictured on the right above) from Live Earth Farm in Watsonville. We have been buying Live Earth produce since my kids were toddlers and they’re in their twenties now! The Bronze Torch Cherry Tomatoes are simply AH-MAZING. Sweet, tomatoey, delicious.
Tomato Trifecta
I am a big fan of Eric Kim. He writes regularly for New York Times Cooking and just published a wonderful cookbook, Korean American. It is hands down one of my favorite books. His recipes are easy and delicious and his writing is even better. You can also find him on YouTube making many of his recipes, he’s funny, personable, and charming. I went to his book signing at Omnivore Books in SF, fun, I’m such a food groupie.
I love his Grape Tomato Quick Kimchi which I make all the time. Serve as Banchan (side dish-pictured on the right above) one day and as a sauce over noods the next day. It is downright delicious. As soon as I saw his Cold Noodle with Tomatoes recipe I jotted it down on my MAKE ASAP list. It is so easy and incredibly delicious. It should go on your list too.
Start with cherry tomatoes, slice them in half, and sprinkle with salt. Let the tomatoes sit in the bowl while you put together the rest of the dish. No need to use a strainer as the juices from the salted tomatoes become part of the broth. Mince garlic, get out the rice vinegar, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and sesame oil, and toss it all in a bowl along with the tomatoes. Next, add cold-filtered or bottled water to the bowl (use water that tastes good). Add diced scallions, and slices of radishes (the little red ones) or cucumbers to the broth. Set the broth aside.
Here’s the Hard Part
How to cook your somen. DO NOT COOK YOUR SOMEN while you are getting the other components together. Make the broth and set it aside. Focus on the noods so you don’t overcook them. For somen (thin Japanese wheat noodles), start with plenty of unsalted water. Somen has salt in it. If you use too little water, the noods will absorb too much water because of the salinity. Watch them like a hawk, and stir them with chopsticks or tongs while cooking to separate the noodles, this takes 3-4 minutes TOPS. Remove from heat, rinse thoroughly under cold water and drain well.
Before serving, twirl noodles into a bundle and place them in a bowl. Add crushed ice to the tomatoes and pour it over your noodles. Garnish with additional scallions and sesame seeds. It’s so refreshing, the perfect summer meal. Carnivores, feel free to add shrimp or chicken or half of a hard-boiled egg. Serve asap on a hot summer day. Sooooooo good.
BONUS, Ottolenghi’s Charred Tomatoes and Cold Yogurt. Yes, my trifecta of tomato recipes. Tomatoes, roasted with thyme, cumin seeds, lemon, and garlic, served over yogurt or Labneh. It’s my go-to party appetizer, especially in the summer. It’s “lick the bowl clean” good. A showstopping, easy dish. Make it, you’ll thank me.
Refreshing, delicious, and easy to prepare, Eric Kim's Cold Noodles with Tomatoes
Course noodles, one bowl meal, pasta, Soup
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American, Korean
Keyword cherry tomatoes, Cold noodles, Cold Noodles with Tomatoes, soup
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 5 minutesminutes
Ingredients
The Star
2pintsripe cherry tomatoeshalved
2teaspoonskosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
The Noods
12 to 14ouncessomyeonsomen, capellini or other thin wheat noodle
Soup and Seasonings
¼cuprice vinegar
2tablespoonssoy sauceKikkoman, Sempio 501 or 701 or LKK Premium Soy
2tablespoonsgranulated sugar
1large garlic clovefinely grated
½teaspoonDijon mustard
½teaspoontoasted sesame oil
2cupscold filtered wateror bottled water of your choice.
1tablespoontoasted sesame seeds
The Garnishes
2radishesthinly sliced, or cucumbers work in a pinch
2scallionsthinly sliced at an angle
2cupscrushed or cubed ice
Omnivore Options
cooked shrimp or shredded chicken
hard boiled eggs, but not too hard-boiled lol
Instructions
In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes and salt. Let sit until juicy, about 10 minutes.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package instructions, drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside. See post for how to cook somen noodles.
Add the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, mustard and sesame oil to the tomatoes, and toss with a spoon until well combined. Stir water into the tomatoes and sprinkle the surface of the broth with the sesame seeds, radishes and scallions.
Right before serving, add the ice to the broth. Divide the noodles among bowls, and ladle in the broth and any unmelted ice, making sure each serving gets a nice sprinkling of tomatoes, radishes, scallions and sesame seeds.
I have a total backlog of recipes I want to share with you and this one is top of the list. I have made this as many times as I have made Eric Kim’s Quick Grape Tomato Banchan or Ottolenghi’s Charred Tomato and Cold Yogurt (so good) and that is saying a lot.
Do You Banchan?
Jangjorim or Soy Braised Beef can be served as banchan (those yummy little dishes that come with every Korean meal) or as a topping to a rice bowl or in a bento box.
I’m not a salad lover. Well, let me rephrase that, I’m not a salad maker…so much trouble. But banchan? Worth the trouble, I’ll make a batch of each, keep them in the fridge and pull ’em out for lunch and/or dinner. They go with everything, rice, noodles, or sammies. Want a little funkiness in your grill cheese, add kimchi (김치). Want crunch and spice in your noodles, add spicy cucumbers (오이무침). Pickled or braised veggies go so well with rice, maybe that’s why I like them.
Koreanbapsang’srecipe for Jangjorim is my starting point. First step, make the stock to cook the meat. The stock includes onions, scallions, garlic and Korean radish (mu,무). The radish gives the dish sweetness, I save the radish to serve with the Jangjorim. It’s delicious.
Shank-alicious
Next, cut beef into cubes and simmer in the stock. Use brisket, flank, chuck, or my favorite, shank. Shank is both flavorful and economical, win-win. For those not familiar with shank, it comes cut crosswise into pieces with the bone in the center. Remove the meat from the bone and cut it into pieces. Throw the bones into the cooking broth for extra flavor. I’ve also used pork shoulder or butt as a substitute with nods of approval from the fam. After simmering, remove the meat and place it in another pot along with 2.5 cups of the original stock and add the seasonings. Reserve the radish. Cook meat on medium heat for approximately 20 minutes. Then add shishito peppers, boiled, peeled eggs, kelp (optional), and the reserved radish. Cook for another 10 minutes or until meat is tender.
Shishito peppers can be a bit spicy, so if you have little kids or big kids that are spice averse, use bell peppers or Anaheim peppers, and cut into manageable bite-sized pieces. Cook eggs as you would six-minute ramen eggs. Chill eggs thoroughly before final braising to avoid overcooking the eggs. Normally, the eggs are hard-boiled but jammy eggs are my jam.
Jangjorim can be served at room temperature to warm as banchan or over rice. The meat can be shredded or sliced. It’s so flavorful, a little bit goes a long way.
Jangjorim or Soy braised Beef, adapted from Korean Bapsang, is a delicious Korean side dish that works well in a bento box too!
Course Meat, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Banchan, Korean, shishito peppers
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Ingredients
Da Stars
1.5poundsshank meat or beef brisketyou can sub pork shoulder or butt
10 to 12Shishito peppersor other fresh green peppers Use less and cut into halves if using large peppers
3boiled eggs*peeled
Da Stock
1/2medium yellow onion
2stalksscallions white part onlysave green parts for garnish
6ouncesKorean radish (about 1/4-1/3 of one radish)mu, cut into big chunks
7clovesgarlic
3slicesthin ginger about 1-inch round
1/2teaspoonwhole black peppersor ground peppers to taste
Da Sauce
5tablespoonssoy sauce
2tablespoonssoup soy sauceguk ganjang, 국간장 (or use more regular soy sauce)
3tablespoonssugar
3tablespoonsrice wine or mirin
1piece3-inch square dried kelpsubstitute a bay leaf
Instructions
Cut the beef into 2-inch chunks. This recipe is very flexible. You use brisket or flank. I love beef beef shank which is very economical. It has great flavor and texture. You could even use pork shoulder or butt. Delicious!
In a medium pot, bring 8 cups of water and Da Stock ingredients to a boil. Cover and continue to boil for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
Drop the meat into the pot. Bring it to a gentle boil, and remove the scum. Reduce the heat to medium. Boil, covered, for about 30 minutes.
Remove the meat. Strain the cooking liquid into a large bowl, and then add 2.5 cups of the liquid back to the pot. (You can save the remaining broth to make a soup or stew later.)
Add the meat and sauce ingredients to the pot. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, and boil, covered, until the meat is tender and the sauce is reduced to about ⅓, about 20 minutes. You can cook longer if the meat is still not tender enough.
Add the optional dried kelp, peppers and eggs and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Discard the kelp, and transfer everything else to an airtight container for storage. Cool before storing in the fridge. Shred the meat and pour some sauce over to serve.
Optional: Serve the radish and onions with this dish! Normally, the meat is shredded, and served with shishito peppers and eggs.
Notes
Refrigerate in an airtight container. It will keep for a week. If you want to keep it longer, boil the meat and sauce again after a few days. The meat will become hard in the fridge. You can soften it by leaving the shredded beef out at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, or microwave for about 20 seconds to soften.
From one of my favorite sites, Two Plaid Aprons, a vegetarian version of Unagi Don! Eel grilled with a sweet and savory sauce or “tare” is called unagi. Don is short for donburi, which refers to the bowl and rice that serves as the landing spot for toppings like unagi. Rice bowls, in my humble opinion, scream comfort food and this riff is no exception. If you are looking for some protein try a fam fav like Oyako Donburi, a Chicken and Egg Donburi.
Grilled and sauced unagi yields a smoky, savory-sweet, melt-in-your-mouth bite of deliciousness. Eggplant braised in the same fashion makes a great stand-in for the unagi. According to the hubster, the resident carnivore in my house, this will satisfy any meat-eater. The tare is made with soy sauce, Mirin (sweet sake), sake, and sugar; ingredients found in most Asian grocery stores. I like substituting dashi soy for the soy sauce which is a blend of soy sauce and fish stock that gives the eggplant a hint of brininess.
Anyway You Slice It
Leave the skin on the eggplant if you like. The other thing you can do is score the eggplant crosswise to mimic the striations on unagi. Fry the eggplant until nicely charred, lower the heat and pour in unagi sauce and green onions. Cover and let the eggplant braise for 5 minutes or until tender but not mushy. As the eggplant braises, it picks up the flavor of the sauce and becomes tender and soft like…eel. YUMMO.
Take the eggplant out and place it over your rice. Garnish with green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately. OR, take it over the top with a runny, sunny-side-up egg. Enjoy!
2Japanese eggplant or Chinese eggplantwashed, sliced in half lengthwise and crosswise if they are long.
4cupscooked white riceFeel free to use whatever grain you like, brown rice, farley, quinoa (not my choice but hey)
Da Sauce
4tbspsake
4tbsp soy sauce regular or low sodiumor Dashi Soy
4tbspgranulated sugar
2tbspmirin
2stalksGreen onion, sliced
1/8tspdashi powder or granules optionaluse with low sodium soy sauce
Da Garnish
Toasted white sesame seed, sliced green onions
Instructions
Unagi sauce:
In a small bowl, mix together sake, soy sauce, sugar, mirin and dashi if using. If you use Soy Dashi, skip the powder. Set aside until needed.
Eggplant Prep
Cut off stem of the eggplant and peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, this is optional, if you like skin, save yourself a step. Cut the eggplant in half crosswise, then slice each half evenly lengthwise. Lightly score eggplant crosswise every 1/8-1/4 inch, don't cut thru! This makes it look more like unagi.
Cookin' It
In a 10-inch shallow pan over medium high heat, add a couple tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, place eggplant flat side down and sear until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip eggplant and sear the other side for a minute or two until golden brown.
Stir the prepared unagi sauce and pour it into the pan. Reduce heat to medium/medium-low to keep the sauce at a simmer. Place a lid on the pan and cook eggplant slices for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove the lid and flip eggplant slices to their flat side. Add half of the sliced green onions to the sauce and continue simmering for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the eggplant slices are tender and the sauce is reduced to a thick glaze. Remove pan from heat.
To Serve:
Scoop a serving of hot rice into each bowl.
Place two slices of eggplant unagi flat side up on each bowl of rice. Garnish with the remaining green onion and sesame seeds. Bowl food is soul food!
Scrambled Eggs and Beef over Rice (The Slippery Slope of Waat Dan Fan)
Waat Dan Fan (滑蛋飯) is one of my absolute all-time favorite down-home Cantonese dishes. The literal translation is Slippery Egg Rice. This version includes beef so it’s called Waat Dan Gnow Yuk Fan (滑蛋牛肉飯). Although it comes together quickly, it can be a little tricky to get the texture of the eggs right. Don’t let that put you off though, it is well worth it. It may take a couple of tries, as it did with me, but the return is HUGE. You will be rewarded with a homey, satisfying, tasty dish of stir-fried beef nestled in a pool of silky, scrambled-swirled eggs flavored with scallions and ginger. Soooooo good! 真好吃!
Don’t Slip Up on the Mise on Place
Everyone thinks stir-frying is quick and easy, although the cooking portion is quick, it’s the prep that takes time. Everything has to be ready for the stir-frying to look effortless. This dish is no egg-ception.
Slice and marinate your beef and put it in a bowl to the side. Note, the oil in the marinade goes in last AFTER the beef has sat for 15-20 minutes and absorbed the marinade.
Crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk them with a pinch of salt. Set it near the beef and close to the stove.
Slice your green onions and set them aside.
Have your 1/2 cup of stock to which you have added the sugar and salt along with the slurry of cornstarch and water ready.
Place the prepped ingredients next to the stove.
You’ll thank me
This is a classic Cantonese dish, the epitome of soul food. I love serving it in a bowl with a spoon. Looking for a vegetarian rift? Try Tomato & Egg Rice. Enjoy!
4ouncesFlank steak, flat iron or sirloin, thinly sliced
2largeeggscan use extra large or jumbo
1/2cupwater or chicken stock (low sodium)
2tbspsliced green onions
1/4tspsalt
1/4tspsugar
peanut oil
1tspcornstarch + 3 tbsp waterMIx in a small bowl and set aside
Mainade for Beef
1tbspsoy sauce
1/2tbspoyster sauce
1-2slicesfresh ginger, julienned
1tbspsugar
dash of white pepper
1tbspShaoxing wine
1tspcornstarch
1tbsppeanut or vegetable oil
3tbspwater
Serve over hot rice or rice noodles
2-3cupsof steamed white rice
Instructions
Slice the beef to 0.2 mm thick, add the marinade ingredients except for the oil, marinade for 20 minutes. As the beef sits it will absorb alot of the water. Add oil after the beef has sat. Set aside.
In a small bowl, beat eggs with a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add beef, stir-fry until it is no longer pink. Remove the beef and set aside. If beef has a lot of liquid, pour it into a strainer placed over a bowl to drain.
Pour the broth or water into the pan used to stir-fry the beef, add salt and sugar, and bring it to a boil.
Add the cornstarch water mix, and bring to a boil again. The mixture will thicken to a thin sauce consistency. Lower the heat to medium-low.
Pour the eggs into the sauce in a stream moving around the pan. Let it set a bit and then stir gently to allow eggs to continue to cook and set a bit more. It will still be very loose and the stock slurry will still be visible.
Add the beef and sliced scallions and cook for 30 seconds to one minute, stirring gently to blend the sauce and eggs. The mixture will be saucy.
Spoon cooked hot rice into shallow bowls large enough to hold 1-2 cups of rice. Pour the beef and egg mixture over the rice. Garnish with additional sliced scallions and cilantro. Serve immediately.
I LOVE fried rice. Posted on 3Jamigos are my favorites, my Dad’s Fried Rice and Kimchi Fried Rice. Until now, I was very content with these two recipes until…..I came across a video from Lucas Sin, chef/owner of Junzi’s Kitchen in New York/New Haven for Golden Fried Rice. Golden Fried Rice? Say what?
The key to this dish and why it is called Golden Fried Rice is uncooked egg yolks are mixed into the rice BEFORE cooking. The egg yolk surrounds each grain of rice, like a protective rain slicker. When the rice is cooked the grains stay separate, and take on this wonderful satiny loose texture and light golden hue. It’s nuanced but mind-blowing, and that’s coming from a fried rice freak.
Young Guns Breaking the Mold
I follow more than a couple of Asian-American chefs, cookbook authors, and bloggers on the scene now. I’m so impressed with not just their cooking but their ability to utilize social media and non-traditional avenues to highlight Asian cuisine. They have found ways to navigate and adapt to the pandemic. I’ve posted about many of these kids and their work.
The new guard includes Lucas Sin, Deuki Hong, Eric Kim, Brandon Jiu, Cynthia Chen McTiernan, Joy Cho… The old guard, who paved the way, include Roy Choi, David Chang, Eddie Huang, and Joanne Chang. They are not just making great food but highlighting social and environmental issues that impact all of us.
It has been a difficult time compounded by the anti-Asian sentiment in this country, it’s good to see Asian Americans use their platforms to support the community and bring to light many of the issues that folks of color, not just Asian American faces. I’m proud to be Asian-American. #veryasian
Going for the Gold-en
I don’t even need to do a rundown of the recipe if you watch this video! But I will.
Mise En Place is the name of the game.
Get all your ingredients prepped before you get near your stove. This holds true for any stir-fried dish. Make sure you have all your ingredients cut, and prepped, and your seasonings on hand. Stir-frying is that point of time where Scotty takes us into warp speed. So you better be ready to go.
Rules of the Game
After Mise En Place. Use a large, flat-bottomed pan to stir-fry. Face it, most of us don’t have stoves that generate enough BTUs to do real wok cooking, a flat-bottom maximizes the surface area in contact with your flame.
The very basic dish is rice, egg, and the flavor trinity of ginger, onions, and garlic. Oh, and of course, salt and peppa.
Add-itionally
Most people aren’t purists, at least not all of the time. Let’s talk adds. Anything goes with fried rice, any veggie, any protein, any condiment..it’s all good, which tells you just how perfect fried rice is. I am no exception, my favorite additions to fried rice are Lop Cheung (Chinese sausage), bbq pork, and shiitake mushrooms. All adds should be at least partially cooked before adding to the rice. Because you will add your options right before you plate the dish. Your fried rice is just about done and boom, hit it with diced veggies and protein, give it a minute or so of frying to heat everything through, and you’re done. That is unless you are adding sauce (catsup (my fav), hot sauce, XO Sauce, Buffalo Wing Sauce per Lucas) which you would add NOW.
Fried rice taken to a new level with the addition of egg yolks to the rice before it is cooked.
Course One dish meals, Rice
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American
Keyword eggs, Golden Fried Rice, Lucas Sin
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 7 minutesminutes
Servings 4servings
Ingredients
4cupschilled cooked short-grain white ricecan use long grain, preferably day-old rice
4large eggsyolks and whites separated
4Tbsp.vegetable oildivided, plus more for drizzling
Asian Trinity Plus
½small yellow or white onionfinely chopped
1 inchpiece gingerpeeled, finely chopped almost minced
3clovesgarlic finely chopped
4scallionswhite and pale green parts separated, finely chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced,
Flavor Adds
1tspKosher saltto taste
1tspsugarto taste
1/8tsptumericif you want to enhance the golden color of the rice, this is the trick
white pepperto taste
The Options: Sky's the Limit
1cupBbq pork, shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, shrimp, peas, any diced vegetables-squash. Last night's roast chicken, diced. Any of these should be diced and at least partially cooked. This is your chance to clean out the fridge! Add right before the rice is done and stir fry any adds for a minute to heat and combine distribute evenly in the rice. To preserve the texture of the rice, your additions should not be too wet, which is also why you should use pre-partially cooked items..
Instructions
Separate egg yolks from whites, placing yolks in a medium bowl and whites in a small bowl. Add rice to bowl with yolks and mix to break up any clumps and coat each grain with yolks (take your time with this as any clumps will cook together); set aside.
Stir 2 Tbsp oil into egg whites and season lightly with salt. Heat a dry large nonstick skillet over high. Add egg white mixture and cook, pushing around constantly with chopsticks or a heatproof rubber spatula, until gently set, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out skillet if needed.
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in skillet over medium-high. Add ginger, stirring, until very fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add yellow onion, season with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 1 minute (remove from heat if onion starts to go past golden brown). Add reserved rice mixture, sprinkle with sugar, and season with salt. Toss to combine, then cook, undisturbed, until rice is beginning to warm and crisp underneath, about 1 minute.
Push some of the rice to the side to clear a few inches in skillet. Drizzle a bit of oil into the clearing. Add scallion white and pale green parts and garlic and cook, stirring, until just softened and fragrant, about 45 seconds. Toss into rice mixture and cook, tossing occasionally, until warmed through and rice is crisp and chewy, about 3 minutes. Return cooked egg whites to pan and cook, tossing and breaking up with spatula until distributed.
Now is when you would add extras...veggies, protein, and then condiments. Stir fry additional minute to combine and heat through.
Special Shout Out to my favorite: catsup or ketchup, add it now. Start with at least 2-3 tablespoons and then add to taste. Fry to heat and incorporate catsup throughout the rice.
Divide among plates and top with scallion greens.
Notes
Note in the video, Lucas mentions a 2:1 ratio of salt to sugar. I started with even amounts or a smidge more salt, taste, and season to your preference.This fried rice does not use soy sauce at all. Most likely due to the color impact of adding soy sauce. I grew up with fried rice that was coffee with a bit of milk color. My Dad used soy sauce in his rice, a trick he probably picked up from Chinatown chefs. A simple variation of fried rice starts with butter or rendered chicken fat with dark and light soy to color and flavor the rice...so, so yummy.
I created 3jamigos to chronicle our family’s food adventures, recipes, and stories, for my kids. In college, I often called home to ask my dad how to make homestyle Cantonese dishes I grew up eating. Dishes like fuzzy melon soup, congee, and steamed pork patty, were the connection to my family, a sure-fire remedy to my homesickness. Things have come full circle, I’m now on the receiving end of the “how do you make…?”. When I come across a simple and delicious dish, and I think the kids would like it, I make a mental note to put it on 3jamigos.
Soul food for my family is Cantonese food (Roots, Baby), but over the years has expanded to other Asian cuisines. Nowadays, you are just as likely to find Bulgogi, Japchae, and Teriyakion our dinner table. My latest find is the cookbook, A Common Table by Cynthia McTernan, it speaks to the melting pot we are. Absolutely one of my favorites. It’s beautifully written, gorgeously photographed, and filled with delicious user-friendly recipes. I have also come to depend on blogs and websites for Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese recipes that are now part of the family meal rotation.
This quick and easy, Stir-Fried Pork Belly with Bean Sprouts has become a family favorite. Adapted from the blog, Korean Bapsang, it is a quick meal on a busy weeknight. A couple of minutes of prepping and cooking is all it takes. Before you know it you’ll be sitting down to a bowl of steaming hot rice topped with a generous scoop of yummy pork and sprouts…yep, bowl food is soul food.
Check It Out Now-Sprout Soul Sistah
Slivers of pork belly stir-fried with bean sprouts, onions, and scallions seasoned with soy sauce and oyster sauce, it’s simple and delicious. Use thinly sliced pork butt or shoulder instead of pork belly if you like. Thinly sliced beef is also an option. IN A PINCH, use regular thick-sliced bacon. This would add that characteristic smoky flavor of bacon, which would be okay in my book 😉.
Sprouts
The only thing you need to know about the bean sprouts for this recipe…don’t overcook them! Keep them crunchy! That’s it, folks. Make sure you pick sprouts that are white and shiny, with a nice yellow tip. I also threw in a thinly sliced, de-seeded Serrano or Thai pepper, for a little spice.
Stir-fried pork belly and bean sprouts-Samgyupsal sukju bokkeum
A quick and easy stir fry of pork belly and bean sprouts.
Course Meat, One dish meals, Vegetable
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Pork Belly
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Ingredients
8ouncesthinly sliced/shaved pork bellyor other thinly sliced pork or beef
1tbspsesame oil
10ouncesbean sprouts
1/4medium onionthinly sliced
2teaspoonsminced garlic or 2 -3 plump garlic cloves
2-3 scallions or 2 ounces garlic chivescut into 1 inch segments, if they are large, cut in half lengthwise first
2tablespoonssoy sauce or oyster sauceUse 1 T of each
1teaspoonsugar
salt and pepper to taste
1fresh red chili pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly
Instructions
If you are using pork belly, cut each slice into 1 inch segments, for other meats thinly sliced into bite sized pieces
Give the bean sprouts a quick rinse, and drain. Thinly slice the onion, and cut the scallions (or garlic chives) into 2-inch pieces.
Heat a large pan over high heat. Add the sesame oil to the pan and then the pork, stir-fry quickly until no longer pink.
Add the onion and stir fry briefly 30 seconds. Add bean sprouts chili pepper (if using) and scallions, continue to stir fry until the bean sprouts have wilted slightly but are still crunchy.
Add the soy sauce and/or oyster sauce, garlic, sugar and pepper to taste. Stir-fry quickly. Season with salt to taste if necessary. Serve with a big bowl of rice (although this would go well with noods too). Enjoy!
Notes
You can find a variety of extra thin cut meats in your local Korean/Asian markets. If you want to thinly slice the meat yourself, freeze the meat until it's firm, but still sliceable. With a sharp knife, slice the meat as thin as you can.
I appreciate our backyard now more than ever as it has served as an escape during the quarantine. While it’s not very big and there aren’t any bells and whistles, we do have an umbrella, a table, and a grill. The essentials. The hubs strung lights for those warm summer evenings, and this has really added to the evening ambiance, it’s a nice escape. It’s amazing how just a mere 5 feet beyond my backdoor makes a world of difference. This refuge has made COVID quarantine a little easier to handle and I feel very fortunate.
Let’s Start At the Very Beginning
Banh Mi go time. We start by grilling some Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken, the recipe can be found here. Chicken marinated in lemongrass, fish sauce, shallots, garlic, and ginger, an explosion of flavors, delicious on its own and perfect for Banh Mi.
Classics
The marinade is a mash-up of recipes found in Mai Pham’s The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking, and Nicole Routhier’s Foods of Vietnam. Nicole Routhier’s classic book was probably one of the first books published on Vietnamese cooking way back in the early ’90s, it’s a classic.
All the fixins’ for Banh Mi
The Bread: Light and crispy on the outside, soft and airy on the inside defines the French rolls used for Banh Mi . A crunchy exterior is imperative. A crusty baguette might be your best option or a 12″ hero sammie roll. Bake it in the oven for a couple of minutes to get the outside nice and crisp. Or if you are like me, you will drive to the Vietnamese Grocery store to buy the rolls.
Mayonnaise: Best Foods of course or for a sweeter mayo, Japanese Kewpie mayo. Slather both sides of the roll. Not a mayo fan? Use BUTTER, which is the OG spread for these sammies.
Hot Sauce: Don’t have Jalapenos? Want additional heat? Squirt some Siracha on your roll.
Maggi Sauce: According to Andrea Nguyen, this is a must-have on a Bahn Mi. Sprinkle on both sides of the roll. In a pinch, you could use soy sauce.
Grilled Chicken: Sliced and layered on bread. You could use pork (traditional), meatballs, ham, char siu, whatever protein you like. It’s your sammie.
Pickled Daikon (radish) and Carrots: I love the pickled veggies! Sweet, tart, and refreshing. I adapted a quick pickle recipe from NYT and Melissa Clark. The classic ratio of carrots to daikon is 2:1, adjust to your liking. The recipe is below.
Cucumbers: Sliced, added crunch and so refreshing, crazy for cucumbers.
Herbs: Pile on the aromatics, basil, mint, cilantro, sliced jalapenos, thinly sliced red onions.
The veggies and herbs really take this sandwich to another level. My first Banh Mi was a revelation, been eating them ever since. Enjoy!
Options: If you gotta have it, choose a mild Pate, chicken, or pork and spreadable. A recommended pate’ is by Flower, Pork Liver Pate in a can from Canada.
From Munchies: Andrea Nguyen making her version of Banh Mi
In a bowl, toss together the carrots, daikon, vinegar, sugar and salt and let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Notes
Melissa Clark's original recipe calls for 3/4 cup carrots, 1/2 cup daikon (radish) and 3/4 cup thinly sliced cucumbers. I increased the carrots and daikon to pickle and used fresh-cut cucumbers on the Banh Mi. Your choice.
I am the happy owner of Anyday Cookware, a set of bowls designed for the microwave. A podcast junkie, I am hooked on “All Things Chang”. That is Dave Chang, chef, restauranteur, face, and creator of the Momofuku Empire. He has waxed poetically about microwave cooking and I figure if it is good enough for him…why not?
What I really wanted to do was adapt well-loved dishes to the microwave. Lucky me, dishes that I normally steam, microwave beautifully. Bonus, not only is the cooking time shortened, but the process is simplified. No messing with steamer racks, or a large wok or pan to steam in. You cook in the same bowl you use to prep the dish. How cool is that? If you hate washing dishes like me, this is a HUGE.
I adapted a recipe from the site Made with Lau. Inspired to archive his chef father’s cooking, Randy Lau created Made with Lau featuring videos of his chef-father cooking classic Chinese dishes, in particular Cantonese dishes.
The Lowedown on Lau
His are the dishes of my childhood. The videos are easy to follow and more importantly, the recipes work. His father speaks in Cantonese, so I get to brush up on my Chinese skills, while learning how to make a great dish, win-win! My family is from the same region in China and listening to him feels like being home with my grandparents, aunties, and uncles. Randy does a yeoman’s job translating his Dad’s cooking wisdom and his recipes into English.
The Wrap
After each cooking session, the family gathers around the table to enjoy the fruits of Daddy Lau’s labor. They give the background and history of the dish and additional cooking tips. It is the perfect way to round out each segment. Made with Lau is a gem and I hope you check out their site.
The Dish
Black Bean Spareribs is a family favorite which until now, we only have when we are out for Dim Sum. The spareribs are steamed with chilis, fermented black beans, which have lots of umami, and seasonings. As soon as Made with Lau posted the video recipe I jumped at the chance to try it. My biggest deviation was cooking it in the microwave instead of steaming. Worked like a charm.
Use pork spareribs cut into bite-size pieces or you can cheat and use boneless pieces of pork. Both are equally tasty. Chinese markets carry ribs cut into 1-inch segments so if you are close to an Asian market go for it…don’t cut them yourself. It’s a lot of trouble and invariably you will have shards of bone in the cut ribs-no fun. For boneless, use pork belly or pork butt for this dish. It shouldn’t be too lean, the fat contributes both flavor and tenderness to the dish.
Fermented black beans can be found in Chinese grocery stores. Salted and fermented black soybeans are pungent and full of umami. A little goes a long way but it does keep well in the fridge. There is a black bean sauce in a jar that might be a suitable sub, you would need to adjust for salt and some of the seasonings. I haven’t tried it yet.
This is Cantonese soul food. Serve with steaming bowls of rice and a green veggie dish like stir-fried pea sprouts.
Cantonese dish generally served at teahouse for Dim Sum. Microwaved instead of steamed! Fast, easy and delicious.
Course dim sum, Main Course, Muffins
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Black beans spareribs, Cantonese cooking, dim sum, steamed pork with black beans
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Ingredients
1lbspare ribs (baby back ribs)cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces or sub 1 lb. pork belly or pork butt cut into bite-sized pieces.
1tbspcornstarchfor rinsing ribs
Bowl 1
0.50tbsplight soy sauce
1tbspoyster sauce
1/2tbspShaoxing wine
1/4tspsalt
1tspsugar
1-2 tbspwater or low sodium chicken stockAdd if using microwave to cook
Bowl 2
1tspdried mandarin orange peeloptional, small thumbnail sized piece
1clovegarlicminced
1tspgingerminced
Bowl-3
1tbspfermented dried black beansrinsed and dried, smooshed
1tspsesame oil
1tbspcornstarchfor pork
0.50tspvegetable oil
Garnish
red chili pepper, deseeded and deveineda few slices, optional
2green onionssliced
Instructions
Place our fermented black beans in a bowl, and rinse them under running water for 15-20 seconds. Gently massage the beans as you do this. Drain the water, and set the bowl aside to let the beans rehydrate for a couple of minutes then smoosh them with the back of a spoon. Set asideSoak orange peel in warm water, set aside for 10-15 min. Once soft, dice.
Slice red chili pepper and green onions. Set aside
Rinse and dry ribs and place in bowl. Add cornstarch to the ribs, and massage the ribs around to evenly mix the cornstarch around the surface of each rib.
Rinse the ribs in running water for 1 to 2 minutes, massaging the ribs as you go. Pour out all of the water, and press and squeeze the ribs against a colander to get rid of excess water.
Wrap the ribs in a thick paper towel, pressing and patting to absorb moisture.
Place ribs in a large microwavable bowl. Make marinade.
Combine salt, sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine in a small bowl. Mince garlic, ginger, orange peel, and add to a second bowl.
Add soy mixture and ginger-garlic mixture to bowl of ribs. Mix and massage the bowl of ribs well. Approximately 45-60 seconds to blend.
Add black beans to the bowl of ribs, mix well.
Add sesame oil and cornstarch. Mix the ribs to evenly coat each rib with cornstarch. Spread out evenly in bowl. Sprinkle chilis on top and drizzle with remaining 1/2 tbsp of oil. Cover with lid, open the vent on lid if it has one, or leave lid slightly ajar on bowl.
Microwave on full strength for 5 minutes. Remove, careful it's hot and stir mixture. If it seems dry or the sauce is too thick add 1-2 tablespoons of water or stock. Scatter green onions on top. Place lid back on and microwave for anouther4-5 minutes.
Remove from microwave and allow to stand for 30-60 seconds. Serve with lots of rice.
Notes
Heat wok on stove, placing a steamer rack in the center of the wok. Add enough boiled water so that it just barely covers the entire steamer rack. Transfer the ribs into the plate you'll be steaming with, being careful not to let any ribs be covered by one another. Add the chili pepper slices, and pour vegetable oil on the ribs.Cover the wok, set the stove to its highest heat setting, and steam the spare ribs for 20 minutes.After 20 minutes, turn the heat off, uncover the wok, garnish with the green onions and serve.
One of our favorite lunch outings is going for Dim Sum or Yum Cha. Dim Sum refers to the dazzling array of bite-size dumplings and morsels while Yum Cha means to drink tea. Yum Cha is a uniquely Chinese experience. In the good old days (pre-COVID), after being seated (after an interminable wait), a procession of carts appear and snake their way around the tables. Each cart holds steamer baskets of dumplings, plates of fried dumplings and egg tarts, chicken feet, black bean spareribs, noodles, and greens.
Let the games begin.
Start by waving your hand to get their attention and then point to the dishes you want. A running tab is kept, stamped for each dish placed on the table. Which, if you have hearty eaters, can run as much as going out for sushi!
Hyatt Regency Hong Kong
In the sweepstakes of little dishes that end up on our table when we go for Dim Sum, Cheung Fun or Rice Noodle Roll is an automatic ticket punch. The noodles have a soft, silky, smooth, texture and are neutral in flavor. This lends itself well to a variety of fillings like shrimp, bbq pork, or minced beef, and sauces. Filled noodle rolls are topped with a sweet, salty soy sauce while rice rolls without fillings are topped with sesame or Hoisin-based sauce (my favorite). These are known as Chee Cheung Fun (猪肠粉). (Funny story, the literal translation is Pig Intestine Noodle owing to their resemblance to said pork anatomy).
Never in a zillion years would I have thought of making Cheung Fun at home UNTIL I came across a recipe to make the noodles in the microwave. I was sold.
Game ON
The first hurdle is the ingredients. The rice noodle batter is a combination of:
Rice flour-plain rice flour NOT glutinous or sweet rice flour! Bob’s Red Mill at Whole Foods or Asian stores will have rice flour
Tapioca starch– also known as tapioca flour (I know, confusing!), derived from the starchy pulp of the cassava root. Used as a thickening agent like cornstarch.
Potato starch– is made from just the starch grains of potato and is NOT the same as potato flour which is cooked whole potatoes, that are dried and ground into flour. Potato starch is used as a thickener like cornstarch. It is used in gluten-free flour blends to provide texture and structure (straight from Bob’s Red Mill site, lol). Bob’s Red Mill sells potato starch as does most Asian markets.
No wheat products…gluten-free, ta-da!
This is How We Roll
Having Some “FUN”
Combine the flour and starches in a mixing bowl, add liquid, stir…dunzo. How easy is that?
The batter has a thin consistency and the starch and water will separate as it sits. Stir or whisk the batter well before pouring it into the cooking dish. I used two microwavable dishes to make the noods. A rectangular 9×6 glass pyrex dish and the shallow round Cook Anyday Microwave-ware bowl. The rectangular dish is the perfect shape to make rolls but doesn’t have a vented lid. You can use the plastic lid but keep it ajar when cooking to allow moisture to escape.
Lightly oil the bottom and 1/4 inch up the sides of your dish to prevent sticking. Brush the dish as needed, you may need to each time you make a roll. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter into the 9×6 dish ( a little less for the round bowl) to create a thin layer on the bottom. The round bowl needed only a generous 1/4 cup to cover the bottom of the bowl.
Microwave Magic
Place vented lid on top and microwave at full strength for 2 min and 10 seconds. My microwave is small and rated at 700 watts, you will need to find your microwave wattage and adjust accordingly either reducing the power or shortening the cooking time on a more powerful microwave. If your microwave has a turntable, use it. I found the noodles cooked more evenly when using the turntable. The noodle is done when it looks translucent and has some bubbles. Cracks in the cooked noodle are caused by either overcooking or using too much batter. Remove from the microwave and place in a cold water bath to cool. It will only need a couple of minutes but makes it much easier to roll.
Using a spatula or dough scraper, start on one edge and lift and roll the sheet to make a roll. For filled rolls, scatter filling on one side of noodle, lift noodle, and roll to cover the filling. The noodle is pretty forgiving so just push, roll. Don’t worry, the rolling hides a lot of imperfections. A bench scraper is the perfect size for the rectangular Pyrex dish, score another point for the Pyrex pan.
The Bling, Fillings and Toppings
Rice noodles are neutral in flavor so it is the perfect foil for lots of different fillings and sauces. Favorite fillings include barbecue pork, shrimp, or a medley of fried egg, Chinese pickles, green onions, cilantro, and bbq pork. Use your imagination, leftover roast duck, roast pork, or go vegetarian, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, corn, the possibilities are unlimited. I have added SPAM in a pinch! Top rolls with a sweet soy sauce, don’t skip it, you could add some chili oil, that’s copasetic. For a little crunch, I top the rolls with fried shallots or onions, totally optional.
Ji Cheung Fun is my favorite rice noodle roll. Roll the noodle into a cylinder since Ji Cheung Fun does not have a filling. Top with sauces, Peanut Sauce, and Hoisin Sauce, a play on sweet and salty flavors. Sprinkle peanuts or sesame seeds on top to add a nice crunch. I also hit it with Chili Crunch Oil…BAM, straight to Yumsville.
Comfort Finale
I rolled my last noodles intending to make a plate of Ji Cheung Fun but I really wasn’t in the mood for it. Instead, I had soup noodles on the brain, so I cut each roll into 1/2 inch wide noodles, placed them in a bowl, and turned my attention to the soup. Luckily, I had heirloom tomatoes from the market, a little bit of beef, and a couple of eggs in the fridge. A warm bowl of Tomato Egg Drop Soupwith Rice Noodles was ready in minutes and hit the spot.
A favorite dim sum dish, steamed rice noodles filled with bbq pork, shrimp or minced beef, served with sweet soy sauce. Made easy in the microwave!
Course Appetizer, dim sum, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Cantonese cooking, Cheung fun, dim sum, ji cheung fun, microwave, rice noodles
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
Cook Time 3 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Batter
1cuprice flour140g
1/2cuppotato starch90g
1/2cuptapioca starch/flour70g
1tablespoonsugar
1/2teaspoonsalt
1tablespooncanola or vegetable oilplus more for brushing
2cupsroom temperature water470ml
2cupsjust boiled water470ml
Adds-ins
3tablespoonsthinly sliced scallions
3tablespoonschopped cilantro
Toppings
red pepper flakes
toasted sesame seeds
chili oil
Sweetened Cheung Fun Soy Sauce
2-2.5Tbsp light soy sauce adjust to taste
1/4cupwater
1½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp chicken powder
¼ tsp sesame oil
Hoisin Sauce
0.5Tregular soy sauce or dark soyreduce agave to 1/2 t if using dark soy
1.5THoisin Sauce
0.5TSesame oil
1-2Twater
1tAgave syrup or sugar
Peanut Sauce
1tbsppeanut butter1 generous tablespoon
2Twater
1/2tagave or sugar
1/2tsesame oil or chili sesame oil
Cheong Fun Sauce Simplified (variation of Sweetened Cheung Fun Soy Sauce)
1/2cuphot water
2tablespoonssugar
3tablespoonssoy sauce
1/2teaspoonsesame oil.
Instructions
Batter
Whisk together all the flours, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and 2 cups of room temperature water to the batter and stir to combine. Some of the flour will clump up. Don’t worry–keep stirring and the flour will loosen eventually.
Gradually add the boiled water to the batter. Pour the water in a steady stream with one hand and stir the batter with the other hand. Place a towel underneath the bowl to steady it while you pour and stir.
Set the batter aside. The flour will settle to the bottom in just a few minutes. Make sure to stir the batter before each time you are ready to pour a sheet of cheung fun.
MIcrowave directions:
1 9x6 or 8x8 glass pyrex dish
Rectangular Pyrex ~9x6 glass container, 8x8 glass container or Large shallow Cook Anyday Bowl
Brush bottom and 1/4 inch up sides of glass container or pan with vegetable oil. Stir batter and pour approximately 1/3 cup of batter into Pyrex pan. Loosely cover with lid. Place in microwave and set time for 2 minutes and 10 seconds, full power. (For reference microwave I have is ~700 watts, the low end of power for a microwave)
Set up a pan with cold water large enough to fit Pyrex container you are using to microwave.
When cooking is complete, remove from microwave and immediately place in pan of cold water. Allow pan to sit for a couple of minutes to cool. The rice noodle sheet should look transparent with a couple of bubbles. If there are opaque spots where it still looks white, microwave for additional 15-20 seconds.
Remove container from water bath. Using a bench scraper, run it around the edge of the noodle to loosen. Starting from the edge (short or long) nearest to you, use a bench scraper or spatula, lift and roll the rice noodle away from you. Keep lifting and rolling. Divide the rice noodle roll in to the length desired. For Ji Cheung Fun the pieces are approximately 2 to 2.5 inches in length.
For filled Cheung Fun: Pour batter into dish, scatter a line of filling at about 1/3 line of batter in the pan , from the edge you will begin to roll. See video.
Fillings
Go crazy, rice noodles are very neutral and will compliment almost anything you pair with it.
Have approximately 1/2 pound of filling for this recipe. But if you come up short, make non-filled noods, cut them up for nice big bowl soup.
Shrimp
Use medium sized shrimp, peel and deveined. Toss the cleaned shrimp with 2 tablespoons water, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda. After the shrimp have been coated, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. After 2 hours, rinse the shrimp under a gentle stream of cold running water for 5 minutes to wash away the sugar and baking soda and pat thoroughly dry with a paper towel. This step is sort of optional. The texture is greatly improved but your prep time is increased. But, if you want snappy shrimp-just do it. This is from Woks of Life, boss site.
Marinate the shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil, a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch, and 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper. Cover and return to the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Pre-cook your shrimp so they will be ready when you make your noods. Lay the shrimp out in a single layer in a microwaveble dish, the shallow Anyday Bowl works, cover and microwave on full power for 4 - 5 minutes until the shrimp are opague, pink and cooked through. AS always, adjust time for your microwave. These numbers are for my 700 watt Spacesaver, adjust accordingly.
Other stuff
BBQ Pork- Dice or julienne. You can mix in green onions if you like.
Dried Shrimp, found in Asian grocery stores, soak to soften before using.
Shiitake mushrooms Use dried or fresh. Rehydrate dried and dice. Fresh shiitakes should be seasoned sitr fried.
Egg-Straight from wathching the Joe's Rice Roll Video. Scramble an egg and use with the batter. Add 1 -2 tablespoons of egg after pouring batter into pan. Nice effect and great with bbq pork and green onions!
Microwave Magic
