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Noodles

Kua Gai – Thai pan fried noodles

Oct 28th, 2009
by dave.
1 comment

Kua Gai

It’s been getting cold lately…and I don’t like it. I’m not ready for this yet after having rain in most of June and half of July. And now it’s raining again every weekend, 2 out of the 3 in October have been wet so far. Means that soon I’ll be spending some cold winter nights bundled up on the couch…bummer.

So this dish is another of those dishes I seem to get regularly at Rod Dee or S&I Thai. There’s not a whole lot to it really but it sure tastes good. And it feels pretty light, with most of the flavor coming from the noodles. Again, the biggest part of this is having fresh rice noodles, they make all the difference in the world!

I found that there’s a pile of different sauces that people have used (including this version at Appon’s Thai Food). It always seems to be a mix of a few ingredients : soy sauce, fish sauce, maggi seasoning, and oyster sauce. Just a word of warning though, if maggi is used, be careful of the saltiness!

Kua Gai

Serves 4
Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb flat wide rice noodles
- 1 lb boneless chicken breast, sliced thin
- 4 eggs
- 5-6 tbsp light soy sauce (or 3-4 tsp Maggi)
- 6 tbsp fish sauce
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1 tbsp ground white pepper
- 1-2 tbsp sugar
- 1-2 tbsp fried shallots
- Fresh lettuce to garnish

Method:
1. Heat a wok over high heat. Add oil and garlic, stir fry until fragrant.
2. Add chicken, stir-fry until chicken is cooked through (2-3 minutes).
3. Add noodles, toss, add eggs.
4. Add sauce, sugar, fried shallots, stir fry another 2-3 minutes.
5. Add scallions, season with white pepper, toss for another minute.
6. Serve over some freshly cut and washed lettuce.

Instant noodles, and some random stuff from the freezer

Oct 21st, 2009
by dave.
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Noodle Soup

Even though I try to make it a point to try new recipes and new techniques, there’s nights where I just want to get something on the stove quickly so that I can take care of other errands. And in the past, I usually would just eat takeout (Rod Dee among my favorites), definitely not healthy by any means.

One thing I’ve been trying to be good about lately is keeping enough food in the fridge/freezer that if I don’t have anything specifically in mind to cook one night, I can quickly whip something together like some frozen veggies, chicken, and rice. Lately, I’ve been putting together noodle soups out of the various things I had lying around.

To be honest, I had my share of instant noodles back in college and have been abhorrent to the stuff since. But lately, I’ve been finding a good use for the noodles at least (and discarding the sauce packets!). I’ll open a can of broth, mix some spices in, add in whatever I have in the freezer, boil some bok choy, and there you go, my version of instant noodle soup!

I’ve tried a bunch of different ingredients that worked out pretty well : Roast pork (char siu), Cha lua, fish/pork/beef balls, fish cakes, and wontons. Something that also adds a little flavor is a sunny-side-up egg.

Dukboki – Rice Cakes in Red pepper sauce

Oct 14th, 2009
by dave.
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Dukboki

So I’m now on a bit of a diet. I mean, that’s not necessarily going to stop me from eating what I want, but maybe just less of it. Just will have to work out more if I’m going to hit my goals =P

Here’s another pretty quick meal if you have the ingredients on hand. I bought two kinds of rice cakes at H-mart last week with the intention of making a couple different dishes. Dukboki is something I get every now and then at Misono Wok at Super 88 (Usually with ramen or japche mixed in there too) but I’ve never really had a whole ton of success making it myself. But then I stumbled on a couple nice cookbooks and an archived post on My Korean Kitchen and it was off to the races.

The main ingredient needed for the sauce (and it’s used a lot in Korean cooking, I’ve found) is Gochujang paste, or hot pepper paste. Gochujang mixed with a few other household ingredients nets a really tasty sauce that can be used in a whole bunch of different stir-fry dishes. So now I keep a tin of the stuff in my fridge at all times, just in case I need to put something together in a hurry (and without any kind of meal planning in advance).

Dukboki – Rice Cakes in Red pepper sauce

Time : 20 minutes
Serves : 4
Ingredients:
- 1 – 2 lbs rice cakes
- 3-4 fish cakes, sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 2-3 scallions, chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- Optional : Hot dog, hard boiled eggs, ramen, cellophane noodles
- Sesame seeds for garnish

Gochujang seasoning sauce:
- 4 tbsp Gochujang
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp Korean chili powder
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Method:
1. Boil rice cakes as instructions dictate. Usually a couple minutes to soften them up a little.
2. Heat a wok over high heat, add some oil, toss in the onions and green peppers and stir-fry for a few minutes.
3. Add in everything else but the scallions. Mix well. Stir fry for another 4-5 minutes or so.
4. Add in the scallions, give a final few stirs, then serve with some sesame seeds.

Linguine with Clams

Sep 2nd, 2009
by dave.
2 comments

Linguini w/ Clams

Last week, the roommate picked up 200 clams from a wholesaler on the waterfront for a BBQ. We ended up eating a little over half of them, leaving clams as this week’s special cooking ingredient!

This time, decided to go with something more Western, Italian in fact (Been cooking a ton of Asian food lately). I’ve got this big Italian cookbook, the Silver Spoon, which is supposed to be one of the best Italian cookbooks one can find. But I’ve only cooked 3-4 different things from it, lame right? So I figured now would be a good time to try another recipe.

So I jotted down this recipe and consulted with a reliable source, the Internet, to come up with a recipe I liked. Most recipes used a little too much butter for my liking so I cut that down and also added something I saw from Mario Batali’s recipe, pancetta! Now, I’m not one of those guys that always thinks adding things like bacon and other meats to an otherwise meat-less dish always makes it better, but in all honesty, pancetta sounded absolutely delicious and I thought it’d add a new dimension to the dish’s flavor.

I ended up using Colavita linguine but in all honesty, use whatever pasta you like best (I made this another time with Stop&Shop brand linguine =P) I wish I had time to run to Dave’s to pick up some fresh pasta but alas, I was already tired from running around all day and didn’t feel like trekking out to Somerville just for linguine. Maybe they should just open another store next door!

For the white wine, I used a chardonnay from Roche Winery, one of the many keepsakes from my visit to the West Coast.

Linguine with Clams

Time : 45 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
- 1 pound linguine
- 1/2 medium red onion, minced
- 1/4 pound pancetta, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 pounds clams, scrubbed and rinsed
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Method
1. Bring six quarts of water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.
2. In a large sauté pan, sauté red onion, pancetta and garlic over medium heat until onion is very soft and pancetta is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, clams, white wine and butter and bring to a boil. Cook until all clams have opened, and then set aside.
3. Boil the linguine in the prepared stock pot. While softened but still firm, drain and toss into pan with clams and stir gently to mix. Add chopped parsley and serve.

Notes:
Adapted from the Silver Spoon and Mario Batali’s Recipe
The pancetta can be removed if you like

Chicken Chow Mein

Aug 29th, 2009
by dave.
No comments yet

Chicken Chow Mein

Weeknights are tough for cooking. Getting home AT dinnertime and hungry just makes it worse. A lot of the time, I’m tempted by all of the take-out goodness in the Allston area and I give in, stopping by places like Rod Dee or the 88 food connection. As a result, I haven’t been cooking and as a side effect, I’ve been lazy with blogging. Which is bad. Terrible, in fact. Unforgiveable? Almost.

But I’ve promised to be better (rather than apologizing and posting nothing)! So I’ve set a goal for myself. I’m going to build a list of my favorite 100 recipes that take an hour or less to prepare. For a little perspective, I think I may have about a dozen (probably less) recipes that fit in that category and some of those might not make the final cut. That’s a lot of work in the coming months and (to me anyway) feels like a pretty daunting task!

The purpose for the whole “hour or less” thing is that I need something to cook on weeknights and that, in turn, will stop me from being lazy and getting take-out (though take-out once in a while would be ok, but let’s keep it at “once in a while” =P). And really, the time limit is more for prep/cook time, so after eating and cleanup, it could be more like an hour and a half to two hours. That, and it means I get to eat before 8pm.

So with my newfound project, I’ve been cooking away the past week and a half and hoping to maintain a head full of steam and cook at least 2-3 days during the week. I’m not quite sure I’ll be posting everything I cook (gotta save something for when I actually post the 100 favorites) but some of the more “interesting” experiments probably will make the cut =)

With that, the first thing to be cooked? Chicken Chow mein, courtesy of hzrt8w from eGullet. Simple? Check. Quick? Check. Easy? You bet. Fresh chow mein noodles from Russo’s (Or from your favorite Asian grocer, doesn’t matter, the same noodle company stocks most of the stores here in Boston), half a pound of chicken, a little bit of sauce? 45 minutes tops. And that included marinating the chicken and prepping the noodles.

Off to a good start!

Chicken Chow Mein

Time : 45 minutes
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
- ¾ lb Egg Noodle (Chow Mein)
- ½ lb Chicken Breast
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 stalks scallion, chopped (1 inch pieces)
- ½ cup bean sprouts, washed
- 3-4 tbsp oil

Marinade:
- Freshly ground white pepper (to taste)
- 2 tsp light soy sauce (Or Chicken Marinade)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp Shaoshing wine
- 1 tsp corn starch

Sauce:
- 5 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Shaoshing wine

Method:
1. Mix marinade and add chicken, marinate for about 30 minutes
2. Boil noodles and set aside, slightly undercooked if possible
3. Heat wok with 2 tsp oil, brown chicken and set aside
NOTE : The next 5 steps are very quick!
4. Add 4 tbsp to wok, heat until oil is bubbling
5. Add onions and green onions, and in 5 seconds, splash in 1 tsp Shaoshing wine. Since the oil is very hot, this may induce a flame, so be careful!
6. Add the soy sauce
7. Stir once, add noodles and bean sprouts
8. Stir and toss for a minute, add the chicken, toss for another minute and then serve

Notes:
Adapted from hzrt8w of eGullet

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