Chow Mein!

 I have been obsessed with Chow Mein since trying my local vegan restaurant’s version.  I was craving it, but they are not open today, so I tried my hand at it.  This recipe is quick and delicious!

You need:

Fistful of noodles - I used spaghetti, but you can also use ramen

1/2 bag of shredded cabbage and carrot from Trader Joe’s, or make your own

1/4 cup diced onion

Cubed tofu, I used about 1/2 cup

Scallions

For the Sauce:

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp peanut butter 

1 tbsp blackstrap molasses 

2 tsp seasoned rice vinegar 

1 garlic clove, finely minced

2 tsp sesame oil

First, boil the water for the pasta.  Begin to mix the sauce in a jar - whisk until fully immersed.  As soon as the water is ready, toss it in to cook and begin to heat up a pan. Throw a couple of dashes of water in the pan to cook onions first.  Once the onions are translucent, toss in the vegetable mix and tofu to the pan.  Mix until slightly wilted, cooking on medium heat.  

Once the noodles are cooked, drain and add them to the pan, turning up the heat to high.  Stir around for 30 seconds or so, and slowly add the sauce to the pan to reach desired consistency (I only used about half for 2 servings).  Let it begin to boil, so you can scrape the glazed bits off the pan as you fervently stir the mix.  Remove from heat and garnish with scallions.  Serve immediately.

If you make this, let me know!

 

Thai-inspired Pasta

I would call this Pad Thai, but I know better!

This simple dish takes no time at all and is light and healthful!

Ingrédients

Fistful of angel hair pasta
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup hot water Or You can use coconut milk
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp garlic, minced or powder
1/2 lime
Rd pepper flakes, if you desire
Tbsp brown sugar
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped finely
Drained and pressed firm tofu, cut into small cubes
 Chopped peanuts, to taste
 Cilantro, chopped

Bring pasta to a boil.  Mix together peanut butter, water, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, squeeze lime juice into mix, pepper flakes, sugar.  Mix until peanut butter is completely dissolved. Meanwhile, chop veggies, and add broccoli to boiling pasta. When done, drain pasta, and add celery, tofu and sauce.  Stir to mix well, top with peanut and cilantro, and serve.

Serves 2.

Spring Rolls

Delicious, simple, and healthy.

Rolls:
Spring roll papers, about 6
1/4 slab of extra firm tofu, rinsed, drained, and thinly sliced
Red cabbage, sliced
Red onion, minced
Green pepper, minced
Baby carrots, thinly sliced
Romaine lettuce leaves, rinsed and dried

Dressing:
2 tbsp peanut butter, smooth
1/3 cup water
Minced garlic, about 1/2 tsp (dried is fine)
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 soy sauce
1 tsp sugar, to taste

To assemble spring rolls:
Take the paper and lay in a pan of warm, not hot, water for 5 seconds.  The paper will be slightly malleable as you begin to work with it, but will become much gummier as you load it up.  Lay on a flat surface, load up the center of the paper with tofu and veggies, and begin to fold.  Fold the bottom first, then roll the contents (carefully) over and begin to roll and wrap until you have a tight burrito shape. Carefully lift off surface and store in Tupperware and refrigerate, or serve immediately.

Dressing:
Combine ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dress spring rolls upon serving.



:

Delicious and Easy Szechuan Sauce for a Quick Meal

Star Anise

1 cup chicken both, vegetable broth or water
4 teaspoons corn starch
4 tablespoons dry sherry
3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon black bean sauce (optional)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (unseasoned)
2-4 whole star anise
1 teaspoon dried red pepper (hand crushed dried chilis or crushed red pepper are both fine)
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

DISH INGREDIENTS
1 pound regular or soft tofu (not silken) cut into 1” pieces (or other protein of your choice)
2-3 stalks celery slivered, cross-wise
2 carrots, slivered cross-wise
1-2T peanut, coconut or olive oil
splash of dark sesame oil
** you can use whatever fresh vegetables you love or have on hand.  Beans, sugar peas, broccoli, napa cabbage, and any vegetable you would add to a stir fry would all be fabulous in this sauce.

ACCOMPANIMENTS
Garnish with chopped cilantro, green onion, sesame seeds or chili flakes
Serve over white rice or julienned cabbage

RECIPE
Prepare Tofu: Poach the tofu by gently sliding it into a simmering pot of water and keep it at a bare simmer while you make the sauce.  Drain and pat dry.

Make Sauce: In a small saucepan, bring the sherry (dry white wine or rice wine will work in a pinch), soy sauce, garlic sauce, ginger, garlic, star anise, red pepper and sugar to a simmer over low heat.  Dissolve the cornstarch in water while you are waiting for the sauce to simmer.  Once simmering, add the cornstarch mixture and stir until the sauce becomes glossy and thickens.  Turn off the heat.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
Heat a wok or heavy bottomed skillet to high heat until hot. Once hot, add a tablespoon or two of your preferred oil [this is where you add your meat if you are cooking with something like chicken or pork and you want to cook it completely in this step].  Now, carefully drop in the chopped veggies, stirring continuously.  Once the veggies have cooked for a minute or two, add the tofu and sauce. Turn down the heat to medium and bring your dish it to a simmer. Allow the sauce to simmer until it completely thickens. Once the Drain the tofu and gently add to the pot. Gently stir in the tofu and return the sauce to a light boil.  Once the sauce returns to a boil, remove from the heat and serve.  

(Please note that the star anise are not edible). 

Baked Salmon with Green Tea & Horseradish

Genmaicha (Green Tea with Roasted Brown Rice)

Genmaicha (green tea with roasted brown rice) is one of my favorites) and a staple of a Japanese kitchen.  A few years ago I picked up a nice salmon fillet from my local fish monger and wanted to do something unusual with cooking it.  Salmon is an oily and heartily flavored fish and I wanted something with a bit of brightness… green tea to the rescue.  I coated the fish with white horseradish, sprinkled it with a nice coating of genmaicha and baked it in parchment paper in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

The following recipe works well with any salmon, arctic char, meaty white fish or scallops.  Cooking times and processes are similar, but you'll want to check your fish to ensure it isn't over cooked or under cooked.  It should be flaky and moist at the end of baking.  It would also be good with a pile of root vegetables, although instead of cooking them in parchment, toss in olive oil, sea salt and pepper and bake in a glass baking dish over the horseradish and tea.

A note about cooking with fish:  I take sustainability very seriously and the health of my food even more seriously.  It isn't easy to know what fish is sustainably farmed, harvested and supplied to your fish monger (although hopefully they know) or which fishes are low in mercury and other toxins.  Seafood Watch has a simple guide that you can download here and a website packed full of great info.  Another tip:  I never cook fish with the skin on.  Skin (and bones) is part of a body's toxin elimination process and where most of the heavy metals are stored in the fish.  I like to remove the skin and bones when cooking to not leach any additional toxins into the meat.  You can always ask your fish monger to remove the skin and bones if you don't want to do it yourself.

INGREDIENTS (serves four)

1 1/2 - 2 pounds of salmon fillets
about 1T extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste
4-5 T horseradish
4-5 T genmaicha

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lay out a piece of parchment large enough to encase your fish.  Sprinkle the parchment with a layer of tea and a few dollops of horseradish.  Spread them evenly and lay your fish on top. Coat the top of the fish with horseradish and then tea and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Fold the parchment to make a packet around the fish and roll the top to stay sealed.

Bake in your 350 degree oven for around 30 minutes or until when tested with a fork the fish will flake apart and is still moist.

I like to serve this with roasted brussels sprouts or baked squash and a deep green salad dressed simply with mirin and rice vinegar.

Fried Wontons & Dipping Sauce

Once you break into that package of wontons to make soup, it's always a temptation to make fried wontons for little afternoon snack.  I stuffed these with leftover crab dip from The Fish Guys at Columbus' North Market ... they just melt in your mouth.  Oh, so easy and oh, so good.

WHAT YOU NEED
10-12 wonton wrappers
1/2 - 3/4 cup stuffing (I used crab dip)
~ 4 cups safflower or canola oil
small diameter saucepan, 5-6 inches tall
long insulated tongs
jelly, jam or preserves (whatever you have on hand)
dijon mustard
rice wine or cider vinegar
pinch of salt

MAKING THE WONTONS
[note: if you aren't comfortable working with very hot oil, ask someone to help you.  This oil will be about 350 degrees which can burn badly]

Fill a small diameter high edged saucepan no more than halfway from the top with your oil.  You want enough so that the wontons can float freely as they cook.  Heat over medium high until a drop of water dances on the surface of the oil.  While the oil is heating, stuff your wontons as follows.  This amount of oil can certainly make more wontons than the recipe calls for.

Lay a wonton wrapper flat on the cutting board.  Imagine the wrapper in two triangles divided along the diagonal -- you will fold the filled wonton along that diagonal line.  Moisten the edges of the wrapper using your fingers or a pastry brush.  Put about a teaspoon of the filling in the upper right corner, about 1/2 inch from the edge.  Fold over and press firmly to seal the wrapper.  Bring the long corners together and pinch together to seal.  Set aside on a plate and repeat until you have made as many as you like.

Once the oil is hot, carefully place 3-4 wontons in your pot, using your tongs.   They should immediately bubble up and begin cooking.  Watch carefully to make sure that the oil is hot enough that the wontons are cooking well and not burning.  You may need to adjust the heat.  The trick is not to add so many wontons that you cool the oil, don't crowd them.  While the first batch is cooking, line a plate or baking sheet with paper towels.  Once the wontons rise to the top of the oil and are slightly browned, remove them from the oil one at a time using your tongs and set them on the paper towel.  Continue cooking the wontons 3-4 at a time until the batch is finished.  It is fine to stack them -- just be sure to add a couple of paper towels between each layer.   Set aside to cool and drain.

THE DIPPING SAUCE
Start with 1 tablespoon each of jam, dijon mustard and rice wine vinegar.  Add a few grains of course sea salt (or a tiny bit of fine sea salt).  Adjust the components to suit your tastes.

Serve and enjoy!

Thai WonTon Soup (with homemade Apple-Ginger Broth)

This is a terrific, fun and very forgiving recipe.  I came up with it this fall for my October soup party thinking of the wonderful butternut squash soup I would have at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Cleveland, Sun Luck Gardens.  The important broth ingredients are the onion, ginger, apple, soy bean paste and wontons.  If you have access and familiarity to lemongrass, you can use that instead of lime.  The important technique is to continuously taste the broth to insure a balance of salty, sweet, hot and sour. Everything else is a party-in-your mouth bonus.  Although there are many steps, it really is not a complicated recipe.  Kids of all ages have a great time helping make the wontons.

DRIED MUSHROOMS
You can get interesting dried mushrooms today, even at your neighborhood grocery.  Buy a small pack and cover them in warm water to rehydrate.  Set them aside until you are ready to make the final soup.

THE APPLE GINGER BROTH
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, roughly chopped to 1" pieces
5 stalks celery, roughly chopped (I usually use tired-old celery for this)
4-5 inches of fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped in largish-pieces
1 1/2 apples (I like gala, but you want a sweeter apple here) quartered
1 1/2 T black soy sauce (it's very thick and DO NOT USE regular soy sauce)
1 1/2 T soy bean paste
1 1/2 T rice wine or cider vinegar
1/2 bunch parsley, stems and all
1/2 cup basil leaves, whole
1 lime quartered
1 t turbinado or honey
1 pinch of salt
water
pinch of ground cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil on medium low in a large dutch oven or stock pot.  Add the chopped onions and celery at any time.  In order to wilt the vegetables, add a small pinch of salt and saute about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring.  Now, put in the ginger and apples and saute for a couple of minutes.  Pour in just enough water to cover the vegetables and bring to a simmer.  Add the black soy sauce (you can find this at any Asian Market), soy paste and allow to simmer for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Now add the rest of the ingredients.  Add a bit more water (perhaps doubling the volume) and bring to a boil.  As the mixture heats, taste it frequently for flavor balance as it heats to ensure it isn't too salty, sour or sweet. Remedies:

• Too salty: add more apple, cider vinegar, and water
• Too sweet: add a bit more soy sauce, perhaps more cayenne
• Too sour: add more apple and maybe a small pinch of sugar

Remember that is important to ensure the taste is balanced as you like it before it comes to a boil.  Allow the broth to simmer for about 45 minutes and add water if you feel it is getting too strong.   Turn the heat off and cool the broth to room temperature.  Strain through a cheesecloth or tea towel into a container (I lay my towel across a colander and have a second stock pot into which I strain it).

THE WONTONS

1/2 pack of wonton wrappers (usually found in the dairy case of your grocer near the tofu)

2 cups of minced stuffing (butternut squash, white button mushrooms, shrimp, tofu, whatever suits you)

1/4 -1/3 cup red curry paste

1/4-1/3 cup coconut milk

1 dish of water for brushing on to the wonton wrappers

I find that approximately equal amounts of red curry paste and coconut milk works best for my palate.  Use what you like, here.  Mix thoroughly in a bowl and adjust to your desired sweetness or heat.  Roughly chop your filling on a sturdy cutting board in your most sturdy place in the kitchen.

After roughly chopping, you will mince the filling.  You must use the Namwhan approved Thai method of mincing the filling until it is a pulp.  Grab your best chefs' knife.  With the knife in your dominant hand and your other hand behind your back, bring that knife's sharp edge down hard onto the filling ingredients, whacking it swiftly, hard and continuously until it is completely cut to a pulp.  Remember your Thai grandmother, smile and enjoy: She would tell you, "If you are too weak, you will never get a husband." Take that filling to task with a gleeful look in your eye (and keep that free hand behind your back).  Place the minced filling in a bowl and mix your curry-coconut sauce through it until the minced filling is nicely coated.

Your wonton wrappers should be still in the package and close to room temperature.  Remove half from the pack and set on the cutting board or counter top along with a bowl of warm water, a pastry brush, the filling, and a plate onto which you can set the formed wontons.  Pull one wrapper out and look at it.  It is basically square.  You are going to fold the wonton on the diagonal and seal the filling into the triangle.  So, imagine: you are going to put your filling in one corner of the wonton shell.

With your pastry brush, or your fingers, moisten the edges of the wrapper.  With a teaspoon, drop a blob of filling into the upper right hand corner, inside the moistened edges.  Fold the empty side over the filled side and press the edges together very firmly.  It's okay if you squeeze a little filling out -- no worries -- just clean it up and press it together.  After the triangle is formed, you can press the long corners together to make a little crown.  Bring the points together and press them together firmly.  Set the cute little things aside on a plate.

You may freeze the extra wonton wrappers for later use.

THE SOUP

1 cup sliced button mushrooms

1 bunch of scallions, chopped; chop the dark green ends in 1" lengths discarding rough edges

wontons, filled

dried mushrooms, rehydrated

apple-ginger broth

fresh cilantro leaves

Bring the broth to a rolling boil if it is too concentrated, add water 1 cup at a time until you are happy with the flavor.  You may add the mushrooms at any time.  Once the broth is boiling, place the wontons into the broth one at a time, carefully and rapidly.  Add the scallions and return to a boil.  As the wontons  cook, they will rise to the top of the pot and the broth will return to a rolling boil.  Allow to boil for a couple of minutes and your soup is done.

Top with fresh cilantro leaves and enjoy!

Pad See-oo

Pad See-oo, Sweet Thai Dish

This simple recipe will appeal to those who like sweet dinners. It is a very common dish in Thailand, according to my Chef friend who gave this recipe to me. This is a GREAT recipe for vegetarians who are needing extra protein.

Flat noodles, cut before cooking if not already cut
2 cloves garlic, minced
head of broccoli, chopped
2 eggs
8 oz. extra firm tofu, drained and diced

Sauce
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons white distilled vinegar
2 teaspoons fish sauce (I don't use this, but I hear it is better with than without)
[editor's note: you can deliciously replace fish sauce with "Maggi Seasoning" available in the Asian of some groceries or at any Asian market]
3 teaspoons brown sugar

Mix sauce to taste. You may have to adjust, depending on the sweet to vinegar ratio. Set aside.

Place noodles in boiling water and cook. In a pan, drop two tbsp. of oil, and fry the garlic on high. Move garlic to one side of pan, drop in eggs, and scramble them. Once eggs are completed, add tofu and broccoli, cook until broccoli is bright green. Add 3/4 sauce on top, lower heat, and simmer. Add noodles, add rest of sauce, and mix together until sauce is absorbed.

Serve hot!