Chiang Mai Noodles (Khao Soi)

Chiang Mai is a wonderful town, approximately 400 miles north of Bangkok. Its a really fantastic place, with milder weather than Bangkok and very tasty food. The food is influenced by Chiang Mai's proximity to Laos to the east and Burma to the north. The food is quite different from the usual fare you would find in Bangkok or southern Thailand.  It sure is tasty!

One of the best things I had when I was in Chiang Mai was this noodle dish. Its fantastic! Thick noodles are added to a curry, but somehow "curry and noodles" doesn't really do justice to this meal! I was lucky enough to take a cooking class in Chiang Mai and we made this version of it. Its really tasty! Note the Burmese influence with the curry powder and turmeric.

If making noodles from scratch is too much work, try and purchase fresh egg noodles. I usually find them at a Chinese store in Oakland's Chinatown. You can also look for them at Asian supermarkets like Ranch 99. If you have the freezer space, but a bunch of them and store them in your freezer. You can add them to boiling water frozen and they will turn out just fine!


Ingredients
Vegetable Oil
2 shallots, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon red curry paste
2 tablespoons curry powder
.5 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 pound chicken or beef, cubed
3 cups homemade chicken stock
3 cups unsweetened coconut milk
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lime, juiced
1 lbs fresh Chinese style egg noodles
1 potato, cubed (optional)
1 can straw mushrooms, drained (optional)

Garnish
10 fresh cilantro sprigs, chopped

Add oil to wok and slosh it around so the oil covers the wok thinly over moderate heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Stir fry for 20 seconds.

Add the curry paste, curry powder and tumeric.  Saute for 2-3 minutes.








Add the chicken or beef, chicken stock coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Simmer on low heat for 30-40 minutes, until the meat is cooked through, soft and tender.

In the meantime, prepare the noodles. Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan. Shake the noodles loose and drop into the boiling water. Cook until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Rinse in cold water and set aside.

Mix the noodles in the wok and serve in large Ramen bowls. Alternatively, add the cooked noodles to the Ramen bowls, and pour the curry over them.

Stir fry chicken with Thai basil

When I was traveling in Thailand, every stall had a version of this dish. Its a simple, staple stir fry dish and absolutely lovely. It works best if you have grown your own basil, but freshly picked basil from a friend's garden or purchased at a farmer's market works well too. As with all stirfrys, marinating the chicken in cornstarch and water for a few minutes really locks in the chicken's moisture.

Make sure your wok is really really hot before adding your ingredients. The key to this dish is really the basil and chili combination. You need lots of them. For a while, I would dumb down the chili because I thought it would be too hot, but the spiciness of the chilies brings out the sweetness of the basil!

Thai chili really makes this dish, but so far I haven't been able to find any here. I usually opt for the serrano, as it is more readily available here in the bay area (I get mine from the local Indian grocery store!)

Ingredients
1.5 teaspoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
1 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into slices 1/4 inch thick and 2 inches long
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon sliced garlic
1 to 2 teaspoons chili (Thai, serrano or jalapeno)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/4 cup homemade chicken stock (2 cubes)
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of fresh basil leaves, either Italian or Thai


Whisk together the cornstarch and water in a mixing bowl. Add the chicken and toss with a fork for a few times, so the chicken is completely coated. Set aside until ready to cook.

Heat your wok. Add a swig of oil to your wok, enough to cover it thinly and evenly. Wait till the oil gets really hot, almost shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and chili. Stir fry for 20 seconds.















Add the chicken. Continue to stir fry until the chicken begins to turn white, about 3-5 minutes. Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock. Continue to stir fry for 3-5 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked.

Toss in the red bell pepper and stir fry for 1-2 minutes more.

Just before serving, add the basil and give it a good toss. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Lamb Stew

This delicious lamb stew is great in winter. I make mine with barley and some toasted rustic bread. Its fantastic!

Ingredients
1 lbs lamb, cut into chunks or cooked meat from lamb stock.
Coriander seeds
Fennel Seeds
Roasted Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 of 1 Star anise

Cloves
1/4 stick of cinnamon, or a few slivers of a cinnamon stick
Onions
Garlic
Celery or Fennel
Carrots
1 or 2 bay leaves
Lamb Stock

Take the lamb bones from the lamb stock. If you just made the stock, the bones will be hot, so use heat treated gloves. With a pairing knife, remove the meat from the bone. Since you had just made lamb stock, the meat should come off very easily. Separate the meat and put it aside.

Heat a heavy iron skillet until hot. Reduce heat and add coriander seeds and fennel seeds. Roast the seeds for a few minutes until their aroma is released. Stir the seeds constantly so they do not burn.
Remove from heat and place in a small bowl. Add the roasted Sichuan peppercorns to the mix.

Add oil to a large stock pot. Add the seeds mixture you just roasted and stir fry for 2 minutes.

















If you have raw lamb chunks, salt and pepper then, then add them to the stock pot and stir fry for a few minutes until they are no longer pink.
















At this point you can either make the rest of the dish in a stock pot or in a slow-cooker. Either way,
add the onions, garlic, celery, fennel, carrots and bay leaves. If you are using a stock pot, stir fry the vegetables for a few minutes before transferring them to the crockpot.

Add lamb stock, enough to cover all of the meat and vegetables. If you are using cooked lamb from the lamb stock, add it at this time.










Cook in the stock pot for 1 hour on low heat or 3 hours in the crockpot on low heat.


Season with salt and pepper and serve with rustic bread or barley!

Lamb Stock

Oh yes! I found some lovely lamb bones on sale at Ver Brugge in Oakland a while back and had them in my freezer. I thought it was high time I did something with them, so I made a big pot of lamb stock. Those of you who are familiar with my blog, know I am a big fan of homemade stock. It is really cheap to make and it tastes far better than anything you can buy at a grocery store, and far less expensive! I got these for a steal-$5 for a big o' bag of lamb bones! I also had some extra pieces of lamb bones from some lamb ribs I made, and some shoulder blades that I had braised and cut the meat off when the meat was very soft. The good thing about using primarily bone is that the meat will usually stick to the bone until you cut it off-so you don't have little particles of lamb floating around in your stock. Which means you don't have to strain your stock so much.


Ingredients
Onions, red or white-quartered (unpeeled)
Garlic, a few cloves to half a head (depending on how much you like garlic)
Ginger, unpeeled, sliced think
Roasted Sichuan Peppercorns
Dried Mikan Peel
Star Anise
lamb bones, preferably with a little meat on them. I used about a large ziplock bag filled with bones.
Dried Onion Peel


For any stock, it is perfectly fine to just cut an onion up and not peel it-the heat of the pan will take the layers off for you! Same goes for garlic-just pop it in whole.



Also, I like to use dried onion peel in stocks. When I am cutting an onion, I will peel off the outermost layer of skin (its paper thin) and just store it in your onion drawer or in a zip lock bag. After a while you will get a drawer full of dried onion peel. You have to be careful about this--make sure it is just the outermost layer on the onion, and make sure it is completely dry when you store it. Otherwise, you will get mold on the skin and will have to throw it out. That would be a waste!








Add a little oil to the stock pot and swish it around to coat the pot evenly. Heat for a few moments, till the oil gets hot, but not smoking.Add the roasted peppercorns and the dried mikan peel. Stir fry for a few minutes until their aroma is release.

Add the onions (and not the dried onion peels) and stir fry for several minutes until the onion begins to separate into individual peels. Add the garlic (also unpeeled) and stir fry for a few minutes. Add the ginger and continue to stir fry. The mixture should become quite fragrant.

Continue to stir fry until the onion have separated into individual peels and have browned a little. Add the star anise.

Add the lamb bones and continue to stir fry for a few minutes.

Add the onion peels, give it a good stir and shut off the heat. Transfer the stock pot to the sink and add water to the pot until all the bones are submerged in water.

Return the stock pot to the range, put the heat to high. Allow the stock to come to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

Cook for 2 hours on low heat. The stock will take on a dark brown color.

Remove from heat and let the stock rest till it comes to room temperature.

Strain the stock and freeze in ice cube trays (see my post on chicken stock).

Chinese Steamed Fish

This is a quick, simple and delicious meal that can be prepared with any sort of fish cut. It works very nice with Monk fish, or any fish fillet.

Ingredients
Banana leaf
Fish-any white fish as a fillet, or with head removed.
Vodka
Soy sauce
Garlic, minced
Cilantro (stems and leaves), minced
Red chili peppers or green chilies, minced (optional)
Leeks, minced
2 tablespoons Raiyu
Soy Sauce, 1/4 of a cup






Marinade the fish in a little vodka for a few minutes.

In the meantime, take a banana leaf and thaw if frozen. Once thawed, take the banana leaf and place it under open flame on low heat for a few seconds. This will activate all the natural oils in the leaf and give it a wonderful flavor. Make sure not to burn the leaf!

Line a bamboo steamer with the banana leaf. Drain the vodka and place the fish on top of the banana leaves. Fold over the banana leaves so it completed covers the fish. Steam the fish in the bamboo steamer for several minutes.


Mix the garlic, cilantro and leeks in a small bowl.

Check on the fish after several minutes. Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the steamer and place on a serving platter. You can pick up and move all the banana leaves with the fish in it.



Spoon the garlic, cilantro, leek mix on the fish.





Heat 2 tablespoons of Raiyu and 1/4 cup soy sauce in a separate pan. Pour the sauce on the fish.










Serve with freshly cooked rice or steamed broccoli

Roasted Beets

I love beets. I remember when I was a kid, we would go to a restaurant called The Brown Derby, which was ostensibly a steak house with a family atmosphere. One of the things I loved about that restaurant was the salad bar, where you could dress up a dull, boring salad with all kinds of treats. The ones I loved best were the sliced beets that you could put on top of the salad. I could eat a bowlful in a few minutes! My mom hated it because it was messy and stained everything.

I learned later on that there are actually different types of beets, and they come in different colors. We found these at the farmer's market, and they are just a delicious color!

Ingredients
Beets
Minced garlic
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

Rinse the beets off, removing any residual dirt. Slice the beets (no need to peel). Warning, the beets might stain your counter, clothes and cutting board!

Line a baking dish with aluminum foil. Drizzle some olive oil in the foil and spread with your fingertips so it coats the foil evenly.

Lay the beets on the aluminum foil and distribute them evenly, so they are in a single layer.
Drizzle some olive oil over them and salt and pepper generously. Add the minced garlic and mix the beets so the garlic and olive oil get over all the beets.

Pop them in the oven and cook at 375 F for 20-30 minutes. If a fork can go into them easily, they are done.

Spicy Peanut Sauce

This sauce is great with grilled chicken or on Thai bbq pizza! It also works great on any grilled meat.

I prefer to use peanut butter, partially because my fiancee is a huge fan of peanut butter so we always have a lot in the house. You can grind your own peanuts to make peanut butter, but we usually will get our peanut butter at Whole Foods or Berkeley Bowl, where they will grind it for you fresh (don't forget to bring your own container!). Most health food stores will also have fresh peanuts which they can ground for you.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon red curry paste
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Sugar to taste

Heat the oil in a wok. Add curry paste and turmeric, and stir often for 1 minute, till the turmeric incorporates into the curry paste. Add the peanut butter, coconut milk, water, fish sauce, lemon juice and sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir constantly with a whisk or heat proof spatula for 3 minutes. As the mixture starts to come to a boil, remove from heat and continue to stir. Adjust the seasoning to get the blend of sweet, salty and spicy that you are looking for.

Thai BBQ Pizza

I am not a big fan of fusion food. I never thought Thai food and pizza would go together. My fiancee and I went to California Pizza Kitchen one time in Hawaii (CPK as it is called in Hawaii). Their Thai chicken pizza turned out to be quite tasty, although I didn't like the crust too much.

I used that recipe as my inspiration for this thai bbq pizza dish. I must say, it is very tasty! This recipe is for one pizza, but it can easily be doubled!

I will usually make this dish after roasting a chicken, using the leftover meat from the bird on the pizza.

Ingredients
Freshly made pizza dough (1 round)
BBQ sauce
Cooked chicken, chopped or shredded from a roasted chicken
Purple onion, cut into slivers
Red bell pepper, cut into dice
Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Spicy Peanut Sauce
Freshly cut cilantro



Sprinkle and spread corn meal on the pizza stone and distribute it evenly. Place pizza stone in oven, on the middle rack and preheat the oven to 375.

Flour your working service and roller pin. Roll out the pizza dough into a circle. Give the dough a 1/4 turn clockwise every couple of rolls, in order to get a round, even pie.

Sprinkle corn meal on your pizza peel. Gently transfer the rolled pizza dough onto the pizza peel, laying it on the roller for easy transport.

Once on the pizza peel, drizzle a layer of olive oil over the top and spread around with your hands.

Next, take the BBQ sauce and spread it around the pizza, leaves a half inch to an inch untouched (you will roll that part of the dough inward to create the crust).























Add whatever topping you want to your pizza. Put the cheese on last, as this will help seal in all the moisture.

Finally, pour a little olive oil in a cup, dip a pastry brush (I prefer one with plastic bristles) in the olive oil and paint the outer crust of the pizza with the olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil on top of the pizza too.

Place the pizza peel on the pizza stone in the oven, and angle the peel upwards so the pizza slides off the peel and gently onto the pizza stone. Do this gently, as you do not want to have the pizza dough fall off the pizza stone.

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 375, or until done.

Garnish with a dabble of the thai peanut sauce and freshly cut cilantro! Delicious!

Japanese Curry

My fiancee and I were in the mood for curry. Not the usual Indian or Thai curry (delicious as they may be) but Japanese curry, or カレー, which is slightly different from either its Indian or Thai cousins.

In Japan, Japanese curry is a stable and is served with tonkatsu, chicken katsu, tenpura of various imaginations-the list goes on. I love Japanese curry. It perfect for a late night snack or on a cold winter night.

I scoured the internet for recipes. My fiancee landed upon this one, by the Japanese Food Report, which is an excellent blog on all things relating to Japanese food. This recipe is really good, and the curry turned out perfect. I think the addition of the roux is what really made the dish!

As with all beef, I highly recommend you get it from a good place. I have found good deals at Whole Foods and Marin Sun Farms.


Ingredients
1 white or yellow onion, large, cut into slivers
10 grams ginger, finely grated (about 1/2 tablespoon)
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into wedges
Beef or Lamb, 1/2 a pound, cut into stir fry chunks
Salt & pepper for the beef
2.5 tablespoons butter
5 cups beef or lamb stock
1 tablespoon salt
300 grams potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces

For the Roux
4 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons curry powder (I used Vietnamese curry powder, but Japanese or Madras curry powder would work)
2 tablespoons garam masala


Procedure

Season the beef with salt and pepper.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and stir fry for a few minutes, until the onions wilt and turn soft and yellowish.

Add the garlic, ginger, carrots and beef. Stir fry for around 5 minutes, until the beef browns, and the onions become translucent. Add the stock and salt, and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, make the roux.  In a skillet, melt the butter and add the flour. Stir constantly with a whisk until the butter and flour mix entirely, around 20 minutes. Its important to continue stirring, otherwise the roux will burn! Now, when I made my roux, my butter began to clump up, but it still turned out okay! After 20 minutes, add the curry powder and garam masala. Stir for another 30 seconds, until their aroma is released. Turn off the heat. Add a laddleful or 2 of stock to the pan and mix to incorporate. The mixture should appear like a paste. 

Add the roux to the stockpot and stir to combine. Add the potatoes and simmer on low heat, uncovered, for 1 hour, or until the beef cooks and becomes soft and the curry thickens. Give it an occasional stir. When the potatoes are cooked through and soft, the curry is done!

Serve with Japanese rice and a side of fukujinzuke, or Japanese red pickles.

Coconut Chutney

I usually serve this chutney with Idly or Dosa. It also mixes well with Sambar. I would definitely recommend buying grated coconut, as it is time consuming process to grate your own coconut. Most South Indian and South Asian stores will sell frozen grated coconut. Just cut off a chunk as you need it. Be sure not to use American shredded coconut-that is usually sweetened and would ruin this dish!

Ingredients
6 tablespoons freshly grated coconut
4 tablespoons fried gram dal (Besan flour)
6 green chilies
a bunch of small coriander leaves
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and grated
a marble sized tamarind ball
salt to taste

Masala
2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp black gram dal
1 dry red chili, halved
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida powder
a few fresh curry leaves


Fry the gram dal in hot oil for about a minute or so, until it forms clumps.


Transfer to a stone mortar. Add green chilies, coriander leaves, ginger, tamarind and salt. Grind into a fine paste, adding water if necessary. Alternatively, you can grind all the ingredients in a food processor.

In a small saucepan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the remaining masala ingredients. When the mustard seeds start to sputter and pop, add the ground chutney. Mix well and remove from heat.

Idly

Idly with Coconut Chutney

Idly are a steamed cake made out of fermented rice and black lentils (which have been dehusked).
I grew up eating Idly. I remember as a kid, we would have them on the weekend. I had (have?) a sweet tooth, so I would dip them in sugar. I don't crave them sweet much more, I rather prefer them with a nice curry or coconut chutney.

Making Idly is relatively simple, but you need some equipment.

First and foremost, you need an idly mold. You can find them at south Indian stores, but they can be a little difficult to come buy. Basically, it is a small metal plate with four round molds in it, with holes at the bottom. Usually, you can buy an idly "tree", with four or five of these metal plates stacked one on top of the other.

Second, you need idly batter. Making idly batter from scratch can be a real pain if you don't have the right equipment, so I opt to purchase pre-made batter.

If you want to make it from scratch, you will need a really powerful electrical blender, a stone grinder and depending on your local climate, a warming oven. You will need de-husked black lentils, which can be purchased at an Indian store. Next, you will need to ferment the lentils and rice, usually accomplished by soaking them in water overnight. The next day, you need to grind the rice and lentil into a paste. Traditionally, this is accomplished by a purchasing an electric stone grinder (imagine you Kitchen aid with a massive stone grinder as an attachment). Needless to say, I have not found any of those here in the US. My aunt shipped one over from Kerala when she was there one summer. My mom found a massive powerful blender, the BlendTec, which works wonderful! Next, you have to let the batter ferment overnight. In a tropical climate like south India, that is easily accomplished by placing a cloth over the batter and leaving it out overnight. If you are in a colder environment, you will have to put the batter in an oven or a warming oven for a few hours at extremely low heat.

Third, a large 16 quart stock pot, preferably with a glass or clear lid. My fiancee went to India, and found an idly mold, which came with its own pressure cooker pot. The problem with it was that the lid was on so tight after steaming, that it really was a pain to take the lid off. Also, it was difficult to check when the idlys were done. I found that adding water to a stock pot and placing the idly molds in them is a better way to go, as you can check to see if the idly are done, and add water as necessary.

Again, try your local Indian store, but most will have pre-made batter that comes in yogurt sized tubs. It works really good! You could also try some dry idly powder mixes, where you simply add water and then steam. These work okay.

I find the magic number is to fill a large stock pot with 6 cups of water. Grease the molds. Traditionally, you would use a bit of ghee, but if you don't have ghee, a little bit of vegetable oil works fine (or even PAM in a pinch). Place the idly batter in the molds, place the molds in the stock pot with the water, making sure that the water doesn't enter into the filled molds and steam for 11 minutes. After 11 minutes, you can check on the idly by pressing your finger into it. If it appears spongy, then your idly is done!

I usually have my idly with coconut chutney.