Salsa Verde inspired by Roy Choi

 My son wanted to have tacos for his birthday dinner, so I asked him if he would like Korean tacos. He said yes and I went back to look at the chef show. I also bought Roy Choi's book to look at his salsa verde recipe. I didn't have the exact ingredients, so I made an approximation.

Boy does it taste good.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup mirin vinegar

1 lime juiced

1 medium sweet onion

2 jalapeño

8 cloves garlic

1 dried ancho chili

1 dried pasilla chili

1/4 cup min leaves

1/4 cup cilantro

1 tsp salt

2 Tb avocado oil or canola oil

3 plum tomato / heirloom tomato

2 Tb toasted sesame seeds

Start by preparing the dried chili. Remove the seed the dried chili and bring it to a boil with 1 cup of water. Turn off the heat and let it steep for 15-20 minutes. Drain the water after it's steeped.

Cut the onion and tomato in half. Remove the seeds from the jalapeño pepper. Roast the onions, tomato, jalapeno and 3 cloves of garlic at 375F for 25 minutes or until the onion starts to char a little.

Put everything in a blender and puree for a few minutes on high.

Finally a successful Pho

 For 15 years, I've been trying to make pho. Over the years, I've tried at least 50 times. They generally taste good, but they didn't taste like pho. Making Pho is an art and I've watched enough youtube recipes to loose count. From food bloggers in vietnam to home cooks, I've tried all sorts of variations. There was always something missing, but I finally got a recipe that works for me.

1 lb beef bones

1 lb ox tail

1 lb chicken bones

1 large cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp cumin seed

5 star anis

5 bay leaves

3 inch piece of ginger

1 large onion

1/2 cup Nuoc mom fish sauce

1 tsp sichuan peppercorn (optional)

5 cloves

1 piece of rock sugar

2 tsp sea salt

Roasting the bones

Preheat the oven to 350F

Put the ox tail, chicken bones, ginger, onion and cinnamon stick on a baking sheet and roast it until the oxtail browns. Take it and let it rest for 15min and then rinse. Wash off the scum to get a clear broth.

Cooking the broth

Put the beef bones, ox tail, chicken bones, spices and rock sugar in a large stock pot and fill it 3/4 full. Slowly bring it up to a boil on medium and then turn it down to simmer. The reason for going slow is to keep the broth clear. If you bring it to a boil too quickly, the broth will become cloudy. Let it simmer on medium/low 12-18 hours.

Once the broth is done, carefully strain it through a fine sieve. Discard the bones and spices. At this point, you can store it in the frig or use it immediately to make pho.

I used thinly sliced lamb, onions, scallions and thinly sliced pork belly for my toppings.

Heirloom tomato with pork and doubanjan

 My wife's been growing heirloom tomato this summer and a couple of them were ripe. Last night I was watching liziqi and got a craving for hand pulled noodles. Tonight, I made stir-fry hand pulled noodles with heirloom tomato and doubanjan pork.

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup diced heirloom tomato

1/2 lb ground pork

2 Tsp doubanjan

2 Tb soy sauce

1 Tb shaoxing rice wine

1 Tsp salt

2 cloves garlic

4 stalks scallion

4-5 servings of hand pulled noodles

1 Tb corn starch

4 Tb water

1/2 Tsp chili powder or gochugaru korean chili powder

Get the wok or frying pan ripping hot, add 2 Tb cooking oil and 2 Tsp doubanjan. Fry it for 15 seconds, and add the garlic. When the garlic starts to brown, add the ground pork and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add 1 Tb soy sauce, 1 Tsp salt, chili powder and rice wine. Stir fry until the pork is cooked. Add the chopped scallion and tomato. Turn the heat down to medium and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. In the mean time, combine the corn starch and water.

Add the hand-pulled noodles and stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Add 1 Tb soy sauce, the corn starch mixture and cook until the sauce thickens. 

The flavor was inspired by two videos. The first is hand pulled video by liziqi

The second video is life of tomato

My goal for tonight's dish was to high light the flavor of the heirloom tomato and avoid over powering it. I love spicy food and usually get a little heavy handed with lots of spice. Normally, I use an entire bulb of garlic for dinner and many of my dishes have 8-12 spices.

For this dish, I only used two garlic cloves and scallions to highlight the freshness of the tomato. For the pork, I would normally add 1-2 Tb of doubanjan with sichuan peppercorn, white peppercorn and gochugaru. From experience, I know that many spices would over power the tomato. Reducing the doubanjan to 2 Tsp and only adding a sprinkle of gochugaru helped round out the flavor with a little bit of heat. The other ingredients supported the fresh tomato as if they were lifting it up to the sky.

Taiwanese style Daikon Cake 蘿蔔糕

Last december I watched Angel Wong's daikon cake video and decided to make some. Here is my recipe inspired by angel.

My recipe is a little different. Taiwanese sausage is a bit too oily for my taste, so I substitute it with a small amount of pork belly or bacon.

4" piece of pork belly or 5 strips of uncured bacon

3 Tb dried shrimp

2 Tb fried shallots

1/4 cup chopped shitake mushrooms

1 clove garlic minced

1/2" ginger minced

1 Tsp chinese white pepper powder

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp sugar

1 bag of rice flour

4 cups water

2 lbs Daikon turnip

1 Tb soy sauce

1 Tb sesame oil

1/2 Tsp five spice

1 fresh shallot

2 hour before you start, soak 3Tb dried shrimp in water. If you use dried shitake, soak them in water too.

In a large mixing bowl combine rice flour, salt, white pepper and sugar. Stir to mix the ingredients and add 2 cups of cold water. Follow Angel's video for this step and prep the batter before you start the other steps.

Peel and grate the daikon. Cook the daikon with 2 cups of water in a pot for 15-20 minutes. While the daikon is cooking, you can start on the meet mixture.

Mince the ginger and garlic. Julienne the pork belly or bacon. Chop the dried shrimp and shitake mushroom. Get a wok or frying pat hot and fry the garlic and ginger for 15-20 seconds until fragrant. Add the pork and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the fat starts to render out. Add the chopped shallots, five spice and shitake mushrooms. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked and turn off the heat.

When the daikon is cooked, add the meat, fried shaoots and mix thoroughly before adding the rice batter. Next add the rice batter following Angel's directions. Steam for 30-35minutes and let it cool. When you're ready to eat, cut slice and fry them in a pan.

five spice recipe

My five spice is inspired by sichuan flavors, so it varies from the regular five spice you get at the grocery store.

1 tsp corriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
1 tsp green sichuan peppercorn
1 tsp red sichuan peppercorn
1/4 tsp fennel

Toast the spices in a dry pan until it is fragrant. Then grind to a fine powder with 1/4 ground cinnamon and 1 tsp salt.

Garlic Chili Chicken

For father's day today I wanted something spicy and savory. That got me thinking. One of my favorite flavors is salt & pepper on shrimp and chicken. Usually I try to keep the heat down, since the kids and wife don't like it too spicy.

Ingredients

1-1.5 lbs boneless chicken thigh
1 tsp five spice
1 tsp salt
1Tb doubanjian
2 Tb corn starch
1 bulb of garlic sliced to 1mm thick chips
24-30 dried chili
3 Tb cooking oil
1 Tb sesame oil

Prep

Cut the chicken thighs into cubes and put them in a mixing bowl. Add the salt and five spice and mix thoroughly. Let this sit for at least 10 minutes.

On medium low heat in a dry wok fry the dried chili until you start to get black specs. Remove from the heat and set it aside

Heat 3 Tb oil in a wok and add the garlic chips. Cook it on medium heat until they turn brown. Remove garlic from the wok and set it aside. Turn the heat to high. When it starts to smoke, add doubanjian, chicken and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the chili and stir fry for another 3-4 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked. Add the garlic chips and toss for a minute. Transfer the chicken to a plat and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Serve hot with some rice. If you want it more spicy, add more dried chili. For me, this is a nice medium heat.

Doubanjian Lotus root and Taro

I was inspired by youtuber liziqi to make a more complicated dish today.

Since I love Taro and my wife loves lotus root, I decided to combine both with Sichuan flavors. Unlike Liziqi, I don't do everything from scratch. She is a great source of inspiration.

1-2 lbs of cubed Taro root
12 slices of Lotus root
1.5 inches minced ginger
2 cloves of garlic
3 scallion
1 jalapenio pepper
4 dried red chili
1 tsp green sichuan peppercorn
1 Tb doubanjian

Sauce
3 Tb shaoxing rice wine
3 Tb soy sauce
3 Tb mirin

Start by combining the sauce ingredients and mixing it in a bowl. Set this aside. For the dish I actually used sauce I saved from braised chicken feet and pig's ear. It's this thick gelatinous sauce with chicken, pork, five spice and a bunch of other aromatics.

Steam the taro for 15 minutes until it's just soft, but still holds the shape. Take it off the heat and let it cool down. In a wok, fry the taro pieces until it browns a little and the skin is crispy.

In a pot, boil the sliced lotus root for 4-6 minutes. You want them cooked, but still with a nice crunch. Once they're cooked, set it aside and let it cool.

In a dry wok, fry the dried chili on medium heat until it starts char. Add oil, minced garlic, minced ginger, sichuan peppercorn, scallion whites chopped, sliced jalapenio and doubanjian. Once the doubanjian becomes fragrant add the lotus root and stir-fry for a minute. Add half the sauce and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the taro and rest of the sauce. Stir-fry until everything is hot and garnish with the scallion greens.

Thyme ramen biscuits

Saturday I made my weekly ramen. As I was straining the ramen stock from the instantpot, I had an idea. "What if I made biscuits with the fat?"

Normally I make chili oil with it, or I dump it down the drain. The oil is infused with all of the herbs and spices I put in my stock. Yesterday's ramen stock had my usual ingredients with the addition of Kombu and scallions. I used beef bones and pigs feet. I skimmed the fat and put it in the frig overnight. This morning, it was a nice solid block and about 1/2 cups worth.

Ingredients

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup cold pork ramen fat
1/2 cup cashew yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp baking powder
1-2 Tb dried thyme
1 Tbsp sugar

Directions

Preheat over at 400F

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir to mix it well. Cut the ramen fat into cubes and add it to the flour. The fat is just replacing butter, so use the regular biscuit technique to mix. I like to use my hands and mix until there's no more big chunks.

Next I add the thyme, stir and add yogurt and milk. Mix it until it just forms a cohesive dough. Don't over mix it. Cut the biscuits into the shape you want and bake for 13-16min.

What does it taste like? At first you taste the thyme and yogurt. Then it changes to a subtle umami flavor. If you didn't know the fat came from ramen stock, you wouldn't know it.

Oaxacan inspired mole beans

Growing up in LA, I ate a lot of taco bell after ditching school and going surfing. After I graduated from high school, I discovered real Mexican food. Lately I've been watching youtube and netflix shows about mexican cuisine. Oaxacan cuisine is pretty amazing and this is my instantpot dish inspired by their flavors.

Ingredients

1 cup dried black beans
1 cup dried south american red beans
2 Tbsp dried oregano
1 can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp corriander seeds
1 Tsp cumin seeds
1 onion diced
5-6 cups water
4-6 cloves garlic
1 cube dark baker's chocolate
2 bay leaves
chili powder to taste
1 tsp salt

I use instantpot to make the dish, since it's faster and less work. I start by toasting the corriander and cumin seeds in a pan until it gets fragrant. Then I grind it to a fine powder in a spice grinder.

I start by frying the diced onion and garlic in the instantpot. Once the onion is translucent and sweated, I put everything except for the salt and cook on high pressure for 50 min. For the chili powder, I use korean gochugaru, since I don't have access to oaxacan chilis.

I let the instantpot depressure naturally and then I add the salt to taste.