Stir Fried Korean Noodles/ChapJae

Recently I've noticed in my neighborhood there are quite a few Korean restaurants serving authentic Korean cuisine. Seems to me it is getting quite popular, not sure if it is after the popular TV drama, Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace). It is a period drama of a palace maid who became the palace chef and later becoming the first female royal physician of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea.
Anyway, this dish is sometimes serves as an accompaniment with your main course. ChapJae is a transparent noodle cook with meat, vegetables and a piquant sauce of garlic, soy sauce and sesame seed oil. The noodles are made of potato starch and mung bean so it tends to absorbs the other flavors of the other ingredients. The noodle can be easily purchase in Asian or Korean supermarkets. This is my version I've added other ingredients.
Ingredients:
1 packet sweet potato noodles (use only half)
¼ lb chicken, beef, pork, or prawn (optional)
2 shallots, sliced thinly
5 pips garlic, chopped finely
1/2 lb. baby bok choy, cut in strips
1 bag baby spinach (optional)
2 medium-sized carrots, peeled and julienned
1 bunch scallions, chopped finely
8-10 dried shiitake mushrooms, presoaked and sliced thinly
3-4 pieces cloud ear fungus, presoaked and sliced thinly
1 cup firm tofu, cut in thin strips
cilantro for garnishing
Seasoning:
3 Tbsps. vegetable oil
3 Tbsps. sesame seed oil
3 Tbsps. light soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp. tsp. honey
2 Tbsps. sesame seed
salt and pepper
Method:

1. Squeeze out most of the water from the mushrooms and cut into fine strips. Do the same with the cloud ear fungus.

2. Wash and cut vegetables in 2" lengths and julienned bamboo shoots. 

3. In a large pot put enough water to boil over high heat. Cook half of the noodles according to the package instructions. The noodles should be soft and transparent when cooked. Rince in cold water a couple of times. Set aside.

4. In a small skillet, add some 1 tablespoon of oil and brown tofu on both sides. Keep aside.
5. In a large skillet or pot heat oil over medium heat and fry shallots and garlic till soft for about 2-5 minutes. Add in mushrooms and cloud ear fungus and fry for 10 minutes, adding about 2 tablespoon of warm water to let it simmer for another minute.

6. Add the rest of the mushroom, clood ears, tofu, vegetables and cook for another 10 minutes.
Remove from heat.
7. Mix sesame seed oil, soy sauce, and honey together. Season to taste. In another smaller saucepan, simmer the seasoning sauce on low. Add a little more salt or sugar if needed. Remove from heat.

8. To serve: Reheat noodles simply by running noodles in warm water and drain as it tends to stick together. Toss noodles into a larger serving bowl. Using a pair of kitchen scissor, cut noodles to shorten the length. Add in the vegetables followed by the seasonings. Using two spoons toss noodle and vegetables to mix. Season well to taste.
9. Toss in sesame seeds and garnish with cilantro. I love mine with Sriracha hot sauce.

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Pickled Vegetables/Acar Awak

Acar Awak is a classic Peranakan (Nyonya) pickled vegetable relish accompaniment commonly served on the dinner table. It is spicy with a sweet and sour taste and the flavor intensified overtime. This dish is perfect with curries and yellow glutinous rice and it keeps well in the refrigerator. I usually make enough to give away as gifts.

Ingredients:
½ lb french beans or Chinese long beans
3 carrots, peeled
2 daikons, peeled
2 cucumbers (discard center)
2 fresh red chillies, remove seeds
½ cup peanuts, fried and ground in smaller pieces
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp. tumeric powder
½ cup sugar (adjust to taste)
salt to taste
3 Tbsp. oil
Chilli Paste (pound finely):
4 chillies
1 tsp. curry powder
2 inch fresh tumeric (or 1 tsp. tumeric powder)
5 pips garlic, peeled
Method:

1. Cut all vegetables into 2" lengths, keep them in separate containers. Slice fresh chilles in fine strips for garnishing.

2. In a big pot or deep pan add enough water to cook vegetables. Add half of the vinegar, tumeric powder, salt to the water. Bring to a fast boil. Blanch and drain the vegetables for about 5-8 minutes in this order: daikons, carrots, french beans, and lastly cucumbers. Drain and remove excess water from vegetables.

3. In a clean pan, add oil and fry grounded spices over medium heat till fragrant and oil exudes from chilli mixture. Add in all the vegetables and red chillies and mix in well.

4.Season to taste with sugar and vinegar. Stir in the grounded peanuts and sesame seeds and remove from heat. Serve hot or cold, when cool store in sterilized jars and keep in the refrigerator.

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Stir Fried Spicy Sweet Potato Leaves

Sweet Potato leaves (Ipomoea batatas) remind me of my childhood growing up in Malaysia. Behind the house next to the outhouse, the sandy plot was covered with rows of sweet potatoes. When it is time for harvesting we had sweet potatoes almost everyday, boiled, steamed, baked, or fried. The leaves are good forage for pigs and other domestic animals, so eating this is much looked down upon in some areas as food of the poor. My mother would picked through the leaves and keep the young shoots and stems for cooking. The taste is bland so it is often cooked with a spicy sauce or sambal. I've tried making a curry with this and it's not too bad.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of sweet potato leaves
3 dried chilles, presoaked
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 shallots, peeled
1 Tbsp. dried shrimps, washed and presoaked
Method:
1. Pick and strip the leaves from the branches, keeping only the young shoots and stems. Cut it into 2" strips. Washed and drain well.
2. Bring a large pot of water (filled halfway) to boil on high heat. Blanch the leaves for about 5 minutes. Remove and rinse with cold water. Drain and keep for later.
3. Pound or chop the chillies, garlic, shallots, and dried shrimps finely.

4. In a large skillet, heat some oil over high heat. Add the chilli mixture and fry over medium heat till fragrant. Add the greens and season to taste. Serve hot with rice.

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Shepherd's Pie

Shephard's Pie is one of John's favorite dish to prepare whenever he feel like cooking. It is an English dish with meat, vegetables, and topped with mashed potatoes. I called this a casserole of leftover meat, dressed the next day with vegetables and mashed potatoes. You can used leftovers from your next Thanksgiving dinner, i.e., turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. For added flavor, I've added some of my favorite spices, cumin, and turmeric.

Ingredients: (serves 4-6)
1¼ lbs ground lean beef
4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 Tbsp. butter, softened (for potatoes)
1 onion, chopped finely
½ cup carrots, chopped
½ cup peas (optional)
½ cup corn
½ cup celery, chopped
1 cup milk (or beef stock)
1 cup shredded mozarella cheese (optional)
½ cup tomato sauce
1 cup tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbsp. worchesthershire sauce or A-1 sauce
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. rosemary
olive oil for cooking
salt and pepper
9" x 13" baking dish
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook potatoes in salted water until soft (about 20-30 minutes).
2. Sauté onions in some oil until softened. Add carrots and celery and fry for about 10 minutes.
3. Add beef and cook until meat is slightly browned, but not burnt. Add spices, tomato paste, tomatoes, worchesthershire sauce and simmer on low heat for about 8-10 minutes. Lastly stir in the peas  and/or corn and cook for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add more milk if you like it to be more moist. Set aside.

4. Drained potatoes and mashed finely with butter, season to taste with pepper and some salt.
5. Spread beef mixture in baking dish, then layer the mashed potatoes on top followed by shredded cheese, if used.

6. Bake in oven until cheese is bubbling and/or potatoes are golden brown (about 30 minutes).
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Crème Anglaise with Seasonal Fruits

Crème Anglaise is a light custard sauce made with eggs, milk and sugar. We had this sauce with soufflé and it just fabulous! It is so dreamy and light that it is great with any seasonal fruits or plain cakes. This recipe is inspired by Julia Child's, The Way to Cook. I cut the sugar down to about ½ cup instead of 2/3 cups, and I used Grand Marnier liqueur instead. As for the eggs, they are from our hen, Ruby.
Ingredients:

6 fresh egg yolks

2/3 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla paste or vanilla extract

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. liqueur (rum, cognac, optional)
1½ cups hot milk
Method:

1. Whisk the egg yolks in a saucepan, adding sugar by the spoonsful stimultaneously. Continue beating the egg and sugar mixture until it is pale yellow and thick. Gently stir in the hot milk (not boiling) into the mixture to mix. Note: Do not beat the mixture to create foam!

2. Set the saucpan over moderately low heat, stirring slowly with a spoon, from the bottom and the sides of the saucepan. The sauce should come near to, but not the simmer. Be careful not to overheat the sauce as it will scramble the yolks, just heat it enough so that it thickens. Note: It is almost ready when you see surface bubbles starts to subside, and a whiff of steam rising. It is done when it coats the spoon with a light creamy layer thick enough to hold when you run your finger across it.

3. Beat in the vanilla, butter, and liqueur if using. Serve it warm or cold with seasonal fruits, cakes, or soufflé.

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Soufflé, A Cooking Mess-ups!

Whenever I think of Soufflé, it reminds me of Dominque and Claude, a family-owned French restaurant that we would dine on special occasion. They made the best Grand Marnier Soufflé--unfortunately the owners had retired and sold their business four years ago. One weekend John and I made this dessert--which turned out to be a disaster! We were a little zealous and had overworked both the egg whites and overcooked the anglaise sauce. In addition to that, the rim of the dish was covered with a 5-inch high foil wrap, as I had anticipated that the soufflé would puff up in all its glory. Now how do you expect the heat to penetrate through this "Great Wall of China?" The end results: only half heartedly puffed up soufflé; a curdled crème anglaise that poured out in lumpy fashion! If there is a Guinness Book of Records for cooking disasters--we'd top the charts with the highest mark! We can't change what had happened--might as well laugh about it. :) Lucky for us our daughter made us a perfect soufflé with the superb crème anglaise last weekend. Here's some of the pictures of my mishaps--If you have a similar story, I love to hear from you.



Escoffier said "kings wait for soufflés; soufflés do not wait for kings."

Beef Stew with Red Wine

                                     

      

           

I have the house all to myself today, so I've decided to stay home, cook and perhaps catch up with my knitting. Today's recipe is inspired by Julia Child's famous beef bourguignon. I served this with kale and boiled potatoes as a side dish.

Ingredients:

1¾ lbs. lean stew beef, cut into small cubes
4 cups cabernet sauvignon
beef stock (optional)
½ cup carrots, cut in small chunks
½ cup celery, sliced (optional)
2 cans whole tomatoes
1 small onion
1 cup mushrooms
10-20 small whole white onions, peeled
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
3 Tbsp. flour
Butter for cooking
salt to taste
Method:
1. Wash beef and dry well with a clean towel. Heat 1 Tbsp. of butter in heavy skillet on high and browned the meat on both sides. Transfer browned meat to a deep pot or casserole.
2. In same skillet, add some butter and fry onions till soft, fry carrots and celery (if used) till it absorb most of the oil. Add a little wine to it to deglaze the pan. Pour this to the pot with the meat. Add bay leaf, thyme, garlic, mushroom, tomatoes and stir in to mix. Add wine and enough liquid or stock to cover the meat and vegetables completely. Bring this to a boil, cover and simmer till meat is tender, about 2 hours.
3. In another skillet, add 1 Tbsp. of butter and heat on high, stir in flour and using a spatula mix the flour with the butter will it resembles a thick brown paste. Add some warm water and continue stirring till it is smooth without lumps. Set aside.
4. Clean the skillet, add 1 Tbsp. butter and heat on high, add white onions and brown on both sides, add a little stock and simmer for about 15 minutes. Set aside.
5. Remove the bay leaf and thyme from stew, reheat on medium heat. Stir in the flour paste (roux) and the caramelized white onions. Season to taste if needed. Serve with boiled potatoes or rice.
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