Longevity Noodles: A wish for a long and happy life.

Longveity noodlesAt birthdays, New Year’s and other milestones that mark time, the Chinese have many recipes to bring luck and prosperity… and as I thought about what to make for a Chinese-American friend’s baby shower, I looked to the Chinese tradition for ideas. 

I couldn’t help myself to take a play on “Bun in the Oven” to make char sui bao: roast pork buns.

Long strands of noodles symbolize long life.  Their length represents the wish for a long and happy life.  American spaghetti is not considered long enough, so try to find the Chinese egg noodles, alternatively, you can make your own from scratch.

In order to preserve the wish and symbolisms, it’s important to not cut the noodles when cooking or eating them; instead chew on the noodles when they are inside the mouth.  What a great excuse to slurp your noodles.

Longevity Noodles
Adapted from The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo


½ pound fresh egg noodles (available at Russo’s)

Chicken + Marinade
½ pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into thin strips
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp distilled vinegar
1 tsp shao-hsing wine or dry sherry
¾ tsp. corn starch
½ tsp soy sauce
Fresh ground white pepper

Mix together to marinate.

Sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp distilled vinegar
1 tsp shao-hsing wine or dry sherry
1 ½ tsp corn starch
1 cup chicken stock or broth

Mix together and set aside

Vegetables
1 tbs or more of plain (canola or peanut) oil
1 tsp fresh chopped ginger
1 tsp fresh chopped garlic
¼ pound snow peas, stringed and julienned
3 fresh water chestnuts, peeled and sliced
2 scallions, julienned
¼ cup bamboo shoots

1.    Boil noodles for 1 minute in salted boiling water (if using fresh Chinese egg noodles, otherwise, cook 1 minute less than package instructions).  Drain well, and set aside.
2.    Mix chicken with marinade ingredients
3.    Combine ingredients for the sauce
4.    Heat a large wok or skillet over high heat.  Add oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, or until it starts to lose it’s pink color.  Remove from pan and set aside. 
5.    To the same pan, return to high heat and add a little more oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the ginger and garlic, and cook for 1 minute.  Add the noodles, snow peas, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Toss to coat and add sauce and chicken.
6.    Continue cooking until sauce thickens.
7.    Stir in scallions and serve.

Rice Paper

Rice-paper-4

I arrived in Hong Kong at 6pm, bleary-eyed from a 24 hour flight but also fully aware that I should get a bite to eat and try to stay awake until 9pm. I headed down Wanchai Road in search of food and adventure.

I was intrigued since I had never seen such culinary action in the US. And so the quest began to learn how to make these two dishes. The la mein has been a long saga without a happy ending, so I won’t regale the details here. The rice noodles on the other hand…

I took two cooking classes during my trip to mainland China, but had to wait until my trip to Vietnam to see the rice paper/noodle in action. As I explored various cooking school options, I focused on a course that would teach me had to steam rice paper or rice noodles.

01 09_1820A woman in the Mekong Delta making rice paper

In the class at The Red Bridge Cooking School, we learned how to steam the rice paper for fresh summer rolls. The chef gave us instructions for making the batter… soaking raw white rice in water over night and then pureeing it with 4 parts water for 7 minutes. The batter was already made for the students to then steam on the steamer-contraption they had set up. Imagine a tambourine (without the jingle) with a taut, translucent fabric set over a steamer. The batter is poured onto the drum and smoothed out with a ladle; I made one rather successfully. As I started to make a second, the instructor stopped me… “No, no, no. Only make one.” I was disappointed but also felt I had enough resources to try again when I returned home.

Attempt #1 was an unmitigated disaster. I tried to fashion a steamer-drum using a cotton napkin and an extra-large rubber-band. I soaked the rice overnight and then put it in the blender to puree. And puree. And puree. The batter never became smooth enough to make the thin crepe-like batters, but I tried cooking a few anyway. The napkin smoldered around the burner, the batter seeped through the napkin leaving the grainy rice on top. I was defeated and didn’t think about it again until I saw the recipe for steamed rice rolls on Ravenous Couple’s blog.

For their batter, they used rice flour and tapioca starch. This seemed doable to me. So I set out again to make the rice paper. Making a steaming device remained the unresolved challenge. But then the flash of brilliance passed before me just long enough to realize that a silk screen (typically used for making art and t-shirts) might also work.

Did you know that silk is flame-proof? I learned this in the Arab markets in Jerusalem. If the salesperson claims the fabric is pure silk, ask if you can take a match to it. If they say okay, they know that the silk won’t catch fire. If they say no, then fabric is probably made of polyester or other flammable material.    This was a useful factoid to remember as the silk of the steamer dangled precariously above the burner.

Rice-paper-1

At the local craft store, I bought a sheet of silk (though I could have also bought the whole silk screen set up, the size didn’t seem right for me) and a large rubber band. I wrapped the silk around the bamboo steamer. Success #1.

I then made a filling of pork and mushrooms to go inside the eventual rice papers. Pretty straightforward, and another check in the success column.

Batter… Easy. I measured out the flours and mixed with water. Check.

Cooking the batter was a bit of challenge, but after a few attempts I was able to successful ladle the batter onto my steamer-drum, fill it with the pork and roll it up.

Rice-paper-2

As I was photographing the final dish, I thought to myself, “Self, this was good, but I don’t think it’s good enough to go through the effort. Glad I tried it.” And then I tasted it and thought, “Well, okay. That was pretty damn tasty. Let me think of an occasion when it would be appropriate.”
Rice-paper-3
And then I started to clean the kitchen….

Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls with Ground Pork

4 oz. rice flour
3 1/2 oz. tapioca flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups water
plain oil
filling (see recipe below)
dipping sauce (see recipe below)

1.  Mix together flours, salt and water.
2.  Put silk-steamer over a water bath.  Bring water to a boil.
3.  Brush oil over silk.  Brush oil over cookie sheet.  Brush oil over spatula that will be used to turn noodle.
4.  Ladle a scant quarter cup over silk-drum.  Spread the batter so it's very thin.  Cook for 2 minutes, or until it begins to look translucent.
5.  Sprinkle pork on top of noodle, and use the spatula to roll it up, starting from the edges.
6.  Gently remove from steamer and placed on greased cookie sheet until ready to serve.
7.  Serve with dipping sauce, garnish with scallions and fried shallots.

Filling

1/2 lb ground pork
8 shiitake mushrooms, steams removed, caps chopped
1 shallot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
1 tbs fish sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. oil
pinch salt and pepper

1. Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When oil is hot, add shallots and garlic.

2. Season pork with salt, pepper and sugar.  Add to the pan, breaking up the meat.  Cook until there is no more pink.

3.  Drain excess fat.  Season with fish sauce.

Dipping Sauce
2 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. fish sauce
2 tbs. mirin
2 tbs. rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, smashed
1/4 lime juiced

Mix Everything together.

One for the Road (Recipe: Chap Jae)

The (holiday) travel season is upon us.

Boarding Passes? Printed.

Luggage? Packed.

Food?

Most airports highway rest-stops are food-challenged. Though driving offers more flexibility, the last thing I want to do is divert my route for decent food when I still have 5 hours to go. Whenever I travel, I pack a picnic.

Menu planning takes into account the obvious that I want to satiate my hunger and eat healthy. It needs to travel well and pack light.   But perhaps most important, the meal must stave off any cravings I might have for crappy food along the way — I’ll admit I’m enticed by the aroma of Cinna-bons in the airport or fried chicken at highway rest-stops.

My picnic basket usually includes snacky foods like carrot sticks and whole wheat crackers. To satisfy my (limited) sweet tooth, I buy a bag of Stacy’s Cinnamon Pita chips. They aren’t the healthiest, but certainly better than the other sweet options.

For my main meal, I usually pack something that requires a fork (but no knife), so I feel like I’m really eating a meal.

Chap Jae, a Korean noodle dish, is a wonderful complete meal – with vegetables, starch and protein. It has plenty of umami from the dried mushrooms and soy sauce, which makes it extra satisfying. Like many Asian stir-fries, it’s also a great way to use up bits of left-over vegetables in the pantry. In my case, I gleaned a few leaves of kales, celery and scallions from the garden.

What's your go-to road-food?

Chap Jae
½ pound sweet potato noodles (found in Asian Markets) or vermicelli
½ pound boneless chicken or beef, cut into thin strips
5 dried mushrooms, rehydrated in warm water
3 scallions
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce + extra for seasoning
1 tablespoon sesame oil + extra for cooking
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
1 onion, peeled and sliced thin
Extra soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar for seasoning.

Julienne of Vegetables, which can include any or all of the following:
Carrots
Red Peppers
Kale
Celery
Bamboo Shoots
Broccoli
Green Beans

1. In a bowl, combine the thin strips of meat and mushrooms with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic and scallions. Let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. If using sweet potato noodles, cook for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Toss with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. If using wheat vermicelli, cook according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Toss with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.
3. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add sesame oil and onions. Cook onions until soft. Add chicken and mushrooms and continue cooking until meat is cooked through. Add vegetables. When vegetables are tender, remove from heat.
4. To the same pan, add another bit of sesame oil. Stir fry noodles over high heat for 2 minutes. Stir in the vegetables and meat.
5. Adjust seasoning with extra soy sauce, sesame oil and/or sugar.

Pad Thai Obsession

Pad_thai_bbt2l
The national dish of Thailand… there are as many variations as there are temples in Bangkok. My quest for the perfect pad Thai began after I tried the noodle dish for the first time (about 12 years ago). I lived in the Fenway and there were at least 4 Thai restaurants within a 1 block radius. Within a week, I had tasted them all and picked Bangkok City’s version as my favorite. Though the restaurant’s other dishes were not as good, the pad Thai was far superior and that was all I needed.

The obsession continued as I tried to refine the dish at home. I went on-line and found hundreds of recipes. Though I had never studied Thai cuisine (save a one hour lecture in culinary school), I could decipher the pattern of sweet, salty, sour and hot. I created a little spreadsheet that laid out all the variations. Based on intuition and further research, I decided that fish sauce was more authentic than soy sauce, and ketchup just had no place at all. And so I began testing recipes. My friend Paul Sussman, who owned Daddy-O’s, let me use his prep kitchen during dinner service to test out recipes. At the end of the shift, I served his staff oodles and oodles of noodles. Though they were delighted, I was not pleased with my results – the flavor was always a bit off, and the texture of the noodles was never right either.

After many failed attempts at trying to unlock the secret of good pad Thai, I realized the only solution was to travel to Thailand and take a cooking class. I had been forewarned that Thai pad Thai was very different than American pad Thai.

While vacationing, I ate noodles at most every meal – at street stalls, at restaurants and cafes. Each one a little different – most used the fresh rice noodles, some were spicy, some were not. In the cooking class, the mystery of the cooking technique was revealed. After a brief pan frying, the noodles were softened with the addition of water. The sauce, I was surprised, did in fact have soy and oyster sauces.

When I got home, I experimented a little more with the sauce, and ultimately, omitted the soy sauce altogether, but kept the oyster. I call my version “Pad Thai – Type A” (and I’m sure you can guess why…). This is what I came up with:

Pad Thai – Type A

7 oz. dried rice stick noodles

Sauce
3 tbs. “prepared” tamarind pulp
2 tbs. palm sugar
2 tbs. oyster sauce
2 tbs. fish sauce
1/4 tsp. (or to taste) thai chili powder or cayenne

3 tbs. oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 oz. firm tofu, diced, dried well on a paper towel
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 shallot, dice (opt.)
1 tbs. ground preserved turnip
6 oz. shrimp or chicken or combination (opt.)
4 scallions, cut into 2” pieces
¼ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely ground
1 ½ cup bean sprouts, soaked in cold water
1 lime quarter
1. Soak the dried noodles in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain.
2. To make the sauce: combine tamarind with palm sugar, oyster sauce, chili powder and fish sauce.
3. Heat 2 tbs. oil. Add drained tofu, and cook without stirring for 2-3 minutes, until tofu develops a brown crust on the bottom, and doesn’t stick. Add garlic and shallots, and stir fry until soft. Add shrimp/chicken (opt) and preserved turnip.
4. Add noodles. Stir fry for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup water to soften noodles. Stir fry until the water has evaporated. Add sauce, scallions and peanuts, and stir fry.
5. Push noodles to the side of the pan, and push that part of the pan off the heat. In the open space, pour in the eggs. Let eggs set for 1 minute before stirring into the noodles
6. Cook until noodles are soft and pliable. Add in sprouts and toss.
Garnish with lime and remaining sprouts.