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Chinese Beef and Daikon stew

Dec 19th, 2010
by dave.
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Chinese Beef Stew

It’s been incredibly cold the past couple weeks here in Boston. Usually it ends up around the low 40′s high 30′s in December but we’ve already had our fair share of subzero Fahrenheit days already (three weeks ago it was 7 degrees out when I left for work in the morning!). I’ve been cooking up a lot of stews and other winter comfort food lately, but nothing really new or improved. More like “revisiting” a familiar wine =P

But I can’t say I’ve exactly been inactive though! I’ve got all my Christmas shopping done! Earliest I’ve finished shopping ever (It helped that most of it was done online, gotta love getting it done from the comfort of an armchair and a glass of scotch (A nice pour of Glenmorangie 10Yr). And that being finished, I celebrated by hitting some of Boston’s restaurants, some of the recent ones being Giacomo’s in the North End, Craigie on Main in Cambridge, Mistral in the Back Bay, and Neptune Oyster in the North End. Fantastic, all of them. The raw bar at Neptune Oyster is fantastic, over a dozen selections and mostly local too, which is a plus. And the burger at Craigie? I’ve been scoffed at, but I’d definitely go out of my way to enjoy the burger again. Even at $21, I think it’s a steal for dinner. Local freshly ground beef, homemade bun and condiments, local bacon, all cooked just right. Enough juice in the burger to make each bite tasty and the toasted bun just enough to keep from making a mess but not oversized for the pattie.

But anyway, onto today’s recipe. Even though I’ve been cooking a lot of the recipes built up over the past two to three years, I managed to cobble together a nice recipe for a homestyle Cantonese recipe: Beef brisket and daikon radish stew.

Chinese Beef and Daikon stew

Recipe adapted from Christina’s recipes.

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs brisket (more or less, up to you)
- 3 slices of ginger
- 3 whole star anise
- 3 tb Chu Hou Sauce
- 1 piece rock sugar (optional)
- 2 L water or broth (enough water to cover brisket)
- 2 carrots
- 2 tsp l. soy sauce
- 2 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tb starch + 2 tb water
- Bean thread sheets (optional)

Method:
1. Blanche brisket to get rid of some of the fattiness
2. In a pot, saute oil, ginger, chu hou sauce. Add beef and brown.
3. Add anise, sugar, and water/stock. Bring to simmer.
4. Stew for about 20-30 minutes
5. Add in seasoning (soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch, water), daikon and carrots. Add a little more Chu Hou sauce to taste.
6. Add in the bean thread sheets about 5-10 minutes before serving

Chicken Karaage Curry

Nov 9th, 2010
by dave.
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Karaage Curry

It’s been a while. No, no, I haven’t slacked (maybe I have) but I just haven’t had a whole ton of new stuff to post about. Maybe I should expand and post about some other stuff. I’ll figure it out.

Anyway, one of the local establishments in Boston (Porter Square in Cambridge specifically), Cafe Mami, is pretty well known for serving home-style Japanese food. Their signature items are a couple variations of hambagu and their curry (my favorite is definitely the curry). I think for the last year or two I’ve been going, I’ve always gotten the same thing, Tatsuta Curry (Deep fried chicken in curry). Yum!

cafe mami
Tatsuta Curry – Cafe Mami

I always wondered what the magic was behind the deep fried chicken part. I mean, it can’t be THAT much, can it? Turns out it’s not! After perusing the net and digging through a couple cookbooks, I came up with something (The recipe at Just Hungry was the original inspiration that I worked with). Add in some cheese, an egg, some vegetables…and I found myself with a nice cozy hot/spicy dinner on a cold-ish rainy night. Now if I had a fireplace and football was on, that’s be awesome (football was on but no fireplace sadly…and I had to sit through the “game” that NBC showed – Green Bay beating Dallas down. Game was over in 8 minutes. Ew).

I used a boxed curry mix, the hot mix from S&B. I tried making a curry paste once and failed horribly (it was inedible) and I always thought the boxed curry tasted pretty good, so why not use it. Here’s a picture of it below:

S&B Curry

The only thing I was skeptical about was the frying part. I don’t like frying. It’s messy, smelly, and generally unpleasant for the kitchen (Would rather buy the fried food elsewhere) but I figured I’d give this one a try. I used a deep saucepan to try to minimize the splashing and used just enough oil to cover the top of the chicken while it was frying, no more than that. And for cleaning up, for the love of what’s good, please let the oil cool down and then soak it up with paper towels, wrap in a plastic bag and toss in the garbage. Don’t pour that stuff down your drain.

Chicken Karaage Curry

Serves: 4
Time : 1 hour – 1 hour 30 minutes (depends how well you multi-task =P )

Karaage recipe originally adapted from Just Hungry

Ingredients:
- 8 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed
- 1 box (700g) S&B Curry
- 2 carrots
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 6 cups water
- cornstarch for dredging
- eggs
- some mozzarella cheese (shredded or block is fine – I don’t like using fresh mozz)

Marinade:
- 1-2 inch piece of ginger, grated
- 4 tb light soy sauce
- 1.5 tb sake
- sprinkle of sugar
- dab of sesame oil

Method:
For the karaage:
1. Mix the chicken and marinade, set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Heat about 1/2 inch canola oil in a deep saucepan.
3. Lightly dredge chicken thighs in cornstarch.
4. Fry each piece until finished.

For the curry:
1. Add a little bit of oil to a saute pan.
2. Stir fry the onions and carrot until onions are lightly browned.
3. Add in the water, bring to a boil, and simmer until carrots cooked through.
4. Add in the curry mix, bring to a simmer again (If you have a bay leaf or two, feel free to toss them in)
5. When cooked to the right consistency, serve over warm rice.

Plating:
1. In a deep bowl, scoop some warm rice
2. Place some cheese along the top of the rice
3. Place a couple chicken karaage pieces on top of the cheese
4. Pour some piping hot curry over top.
5. Top with an egg, cooked however you like it.
6. Dig in!!!

Butter and black pepper chicken

Oct 6th, 2010
by dave.
1 comment

Butter Chicken

I never really think about this kind of thing but cooking the dish above got me started. When I cook or dine out, I usually think about a cuisine’s common ingredients, like basil in Italian cooking or say cilantro in Hispanic cooking. I tend not to think about what isn’t used in a particular style until I see a recipe that seems a little unusual.

In this case, it’s butter. I know, butter! It’s something I use almost on a daily basis but I can’t really think of any other time I’ve used butter in cooking Chinese food. The closest I can think of is when I use a tiny pad to keep an egg from sticking to a pan.

I haven’t been cooking a whole lot of new stuff lately so I apologize that posts have been far and few in between. Now that I’ve built up a decent binder of recipes I like, I’ve been going back to them fairly often. Maybe I’ll post a few more cooking catchups just with updated pictures =)

Recipe adapted from hzrt8w of eGullet

Butter and Black Pepper Chicken

Time: 35-40 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
– 1 – 1.5 lb Chicken breast, cubed
– 1/8 – 1/4 stick butter
– 2 – 3 scallions, chopped
– 5 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 tsp sambal olek or other chili sauce
– salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
– 1/4 cup chicken broth
– 1 tsp sugar
– 1 tsp white vinegar
– 1/2 tsp corn starch + 1 tsp water

Marinade:
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1/2 tsp white pepper
– sprinkle of salt
– 1 tsp soy sauce
– 1 tsp ShaoHsing Rice Wine
– 1 tsp corn starch

Method:
1. Mix the marinade with the chicken and set aside for about 20 minutes.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium high heat. Swirl in some oil. Tip in the chicken and let cook undisturbed for about a minute. Then turn to cook the other side for another minute or so. Remove once about 3/4 cooked.
3. Add in the garlic and chili sauce. Cook until fragrant, then add in some salt, the white parts of the scallions and about a tsp of freshly ground black pepper. Dash in 1 tsp vinegar.
4. Add the chicken broth, 1 tsp sugar, and corn starch slurry. Stir in and cook for about 30 seconds.
5. Add chicken back in, stir well to coat the chicken.
6. Add the rest of the scallions, 1 tsp soy sauce, and more salt and black pepper to taste.

Ribeye Steak

Sep 22nd, 2010
by dave.
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Ribeye

I love steak. Especially ribeye steak. So what if it’s one of the fattiest cuts. Doesn’t make it less good in my eyes =)

And what a way to kick off the Fall season (And football season). It’s just about time to switch over to heavier cooking once again (read: meatloaf, mac&cheese, roasts, hot pot, etc) which’ll be a nice change. Weather has been fantastic lately though…where was this earlier this year? (70 degrees and sunny)

Seriously though, a well-seasoned medium-rare ribeye steak is probably one of my favorite things to eat. And it’s ridiculously easy to do. I’ve done it on the grill, on a frying pan, and most recently in a cast-iron pan (which I think is the best way to cook it anyway).

Note: I think I’ve posted about Ribeye at least two to three times already but I thought this deserved it’s own post since I used a cast iron pan this time. Made a huge difference!

Ribeye Steak

For a steak about an inch thick.

Ingredients:
– 1 lb Ribeye steak
– salt & pepper
– canola oil

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. On each side of the steak, season with salt, pepper, and some canola oil. Rub into the steak well.
3. Heat the cast-iron pan until almost smoking hot. Add a little oil and add the steak. Let sear for 3 – 5 minutes and then turn over and sear the other side for the same amount of time. Can sear a little longer if you want it a little crispier.
4. Move cast iron pan to the stove and bake for another 10-12 minutes, depending on how rare you like your steak. 10 minutes should probably keep it in the medium rare range.

Note: Times will differ based on the steak thickness

Pork Katsu-don revisited

Sep 8th, 2010
by dave.
2 comments

Pork Katsudon

Recycling an old recipe today…I’ve been making a lot of the sub 20 minute meals lately and Pork Katsu-don is a classic. The cutlets, sauce, and rice can all be prepared beforehand, making this dish pretty simple to assemble (just need to chop an onion and scallion and you’re good to go). I also have a bag of Japanese pickles that I’ve been meaning to use, which helped in the decision making too =p

Not much to mention today though, been super busy (I know I know, tons of other bloggers are incredibly busy but manage to maintain, upgrade, AND post a lot. I, on the other hand, am a slacker).

Probably will start posting about some local restaurants again sometime. I just went through a year’s worth of pictures and there’s a lot to write about!

Pork Katsu-don

Ingredients
4 Pork cutlets (boneless pork chops – about 3/4 a pound)
2 medium onions, sliced
8 eggs, lightly beaten (can use more if you like)

Sauce
3 tbsp sake
3 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp mirin
4 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 cup water
1/3 tsp Dashi flakes

For Dredging
Flour
Panko Breadcrumbs
More eggs, beaten

Method
1. Use a meat tenderizer to flatten out the cutlets.
2. Dredge the cutlets first in the flour, egg, then breadcrumbs.
3. Pan fry until almost cooked through, set aside.
4. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil and then add the sake, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. Return to a boil, add the dashi and simmer.
5. Pour 1/4 of the sauce into a small frying pan and bring the sauce to a simmer under medium heat. Add 1/4 of the onion.
6. Slice a cutlet along the width (try to maintain the shape of the cutlet) and place in the pan on top of the onions. Then pour 1/4 of the eggs on either sie of the cutlet. Cover and simmer for about a minute or so.
7. Remove cover and serve over rice.
8. Repeat 4-7 for the rest of the cutlets.
9. Top with some chopped scallions

NOTE: If you really like sauce, you can add 50% more to the recipe or even double it.

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