Drunken Noodle – Three New Ingredients

So as of late, I’ve been following a lot of chefs I like on Facebook and Instagram. I love their short videos and posts because they usually have one or two good tidbits on cooking and are just great fun to watch. There are many of these chefs and food personalities that have live feed sessions which I think are great. Even though I am watching a video, the mere fact that it’s live makes me feel like I am part of something big. One of the Facebook pages I love following is Chef Jet Tila (Go Team Tila!). During one of his live feed sessions, he did a quick demonstration on how to make his famous Drunken Noodle. Half of the ingredients I had already prepped up from cooking the day before. (I made 닭고기 냉채,  or Cold Mustard Chicken). The recipe was quick and relatively simple. However, the remaining ingredients were mostly ones I’ve never used: Thai Basil, Sweet Soy Sauce, and Fish Sauce. I love me some good Thai food and Vietnamese food, where these ingredients may be very common. However, I’ve never used them in cooking. And I am surprised I have gone this far without it.

Thai Basil is very fragrant, and I love it in Drunken Noodle, Green Curry, and San Bei Ji (or Three Cup Chicken). It has a very herbaceous quality and, personally, more fragrant than regular basil.

Sweet Soy Sauce was a new one for me honestly. I thought it would be more like a teriyaki sauce, which is what I’m used to when I think of a sweet soy sauce. However, it has a lot of depth and umami; it is more akin to oyster sauce than soy sauce in my opinion. It is very thick and has a lot of flavor. When I bought a bottle and tasted it, I immediately found the missing flavor I’ve been tasting in a lot of southeastern dishes.

The third one, Fish Sauce, I’ve naturally stayed away from when cooking due to the fright if my whole kitchen smelling like fish. But I love most dishes that uses fish sauce (even the pickled chili in fish sauce at Thai Restaurants). Korea uses fish sauce also, especially when making Kimchi, but it has been something I’ve never had to use. Fish sauce provides the salty and umami flavor in dishes. The aroma that fills the kitchen isn’t as fishy as I thought, or at least it doesn’t smell like a rotten fish.

I wish I could provide a recipe for Drunken Noodle, I did not write down the amounts of ingredients, especially the sauce. And honestly, I followed Chef Tila’s video that I wouldn’t take any credit for it. I eyed the amount for the sauce and adjusted it to my taste. Search for Jet Tila Drunken Noodle on Facebook to view the video. He also posted a link to his recipe somewhere on his page also.

One thing that this cooking session made me learn is why there is a strong emphasis in mise en place for cooking in general. Mise en place means “Everything in its place” in French and commonly refers to the prep work done before cooking. Cutting all the veggies into the correct shapes such as julienne really helps reduce the cooking time. I had onions, red bell peppers, garlic, and ginger already prepped from the night before’s cooking session. I was able to start cooking right away and the whole dish was done in 10 min.

Chef Jet Tila’s recipe came out great and it tasted amazing. Korean food has been about a lot of clean flavors that I tended to go simple with sauces and condiments. When I started cooking some Chinese food, I added Peanut Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Housing Sauce, and Tobin Djang to my arsenal to create depth of flavor and complexity. And now, I have added two more arsenals: Sweet Soy Sauce and Fish Sauce. There are times where I’ve been wanting certain flavor profiles that I couldn’t figure out and these two really help get me closer to bringing versatility to my cooking style. The drunken noodle is simple to to make but complex in flavors. It is more sweet, spicy  (I used a lot of serranos and Sriracha, not the rooster one), acidic (tomato), and is packed with umami (Fish Sauce, Oyster Sauce, and Sweet Soy Sauce).

I don’t think I will order Drunken Noodles outside anymore. No need. This is just so damn good.

Konnyaku – Nengmyun

I’m sorry for not posting after a week of declaring of posting 1-2 times a week. Work and life have been busy. But that does not mean I have not been cooking!

I will be posting a few back to back posts of my epicurean adventures.

For this post, I’ve decided to talk about konnyaku noodles. This isn’t my first time using it but I’ve never used the noodle version.

One day as I was at the market and I saw the konnyaku and had a thought, “What about konnyaku nengmyun?”. For those unfamiliar with Korean food, Nengmyun is a cold buckwheat noodle dish. The buckwheat noodles are served with a cold broth made of radish kimchi and beef stock. Konyakku, or yam cake, has zero calories and is a favorite item for dieters. I love the texture of konnyaku because it was a gelatinous texture and has almost no taste. It it best to blanch the konnyaku before using to get rid of the slight “sea water” taste. It is hard to explain to explain this taste since there is no word in English for it. However, the closest analogy to me would like drinking sea water.

Since the konyakku is very gelatinous and chewy, it has a very similar texture as nengmyun noodles. Since I was worried about the sea water flavor from the konnyaku, I decided to go with Chik nengmyun (칡냉면), or arrow root nengmyun, which has a spicy sauce topping (다대기). The spicy topping will help lessen the salt water flavor.

The broth was just store brought. If you go to a Korean market, they sell the broth separately so there is no need to buy the whole package set. It is best to keep it frozen and slightly thaw when using. I love having some ice cubes of the broth to keep it cool. And I, I love chewing the ice.

Overall, it came out as expected. I couldn’t eat a lot of it as I would with regular nengmyun for two reasons. First, there wasn’t as much depth as a regular nengmyun. I think it was due to the “salt water” quality of the noodles. This, konnyaku is very filling. My guess is this is a big reason why it’s great for diets. Zero calories and very filling. I still prefer real nengmyun but this will satisfy me when I’m on a diet.

Parsley – An Attempt to Make Chimichurri Sauce

So believe it or not, other than ingredients such as pig’s feet or chicken feet, there are many other BASIC ingredients I’ve never used. Take for instance, Parsley. To me, parsley was always the garnish on meals you don’t eat. So it never come to my mind to actually buy it and eat it.

There are two types of parsley usually found in markets. Parsley (or Curly Leaf Parsley) and Italian Parsley (or Flat Leaf Parsley). Flat Leaf Parsley is the one you use for cooking.

Although today was not meant to be a cooking day, I decided to do another new ingredient cooking by making a Chimichurri sauce. For those who aren’t familiar with Chimichurri, it is a sauce originating from Argentina. It is usually an accompaniment for grilled meat, or also known as Asado. Chimichurri is tangy, acidic, and can be a little spicy. It is a great sauce to have with steak as the Chimichurri helps cut the fat of the meat. It does not overpower the meat like the steak sauces found in the US. Chimichurri usually consists of white vinegar, parsley, oregano, garlic and oil (olive oil or vegetable oil). There are endless variations to the sauce and can be found in many restaurants in LA. A lot of New Californian restaurants that serve a grilled meat has one dish that includes Chimichurri or Mint Chutney (which may be another sauce I may attempt at a later time). Chimichurri can also be used as a nice salad dressing since it already has herbs, salt, oil, and vinegar.

Chimichurri in a heartbeat

The greatest thing about Chimichurri is that it is quick and easy to make. All you need is a blender to make the sauce. All you need to do is dice or mince the ingredients and throw it in the blender or food processor.

I have made a variation of a recipe I have found on Chowhound and got ideas from the A.O.C. Cookbook. I used Serrano chili instead of a Jalapeño mentioned in the A.O.C. because of the heat profile I wanted in the sauce. And instead of using white vinegar or red wine vinegar, I used plum vinegar (found in Korean markets). I find plum goes really well with beef.

Recipe here

I wish I could say how exotic parsley is as an ingredient. However, this exercise was not about cooking exotic food or creating something very unique. It was to understand an ingredient that I’ve never used and building a confidence with ingredients. I may cook the leftover parsley in a pasta and try other simple dishes involving parsley. However, for now, Chimichurri is perfect because the main ingredient is parsley.

매운닭발 (Spicy Chicken Feet)

I know what you’re thinking. Chicken feet? And no, I’m not trying to have my own Bizarre Foods-esque blog here. Truth is, throughout most of Asia, chicken feet is not really considered all that exotic. If you go to a dim sum restaurant and look around, most tables with have chicken feet.

As I stated on my last post, I am challenging myself, at least for the time being until I find a better idea, to cook using an ingredient I have never used before. So why not make my first post with something I love eating but never thought to make at home?

To start off, I guess I will describe the difference between Chinese and Korean style of chicken feet, at least from a taste point of view. Chinese chicken feet, commonly found in dimsum restaurants, are sweet and savory. They sometimes are cooked with some black bean sauce. Korean chicken feet are usually fried or made super spicy. It is more common as a bar food. There are other variations, including a soy sauce based version, but I thought I’d generalize them to give you a better sense of regionality.

Chicken feet has no meat on them as is mostly consisted of collagen and tendons. The skin becomes almost gelatinous and has a textural similarity to Pork’s feet. (Yes. Pork’s feet. That may have to be a separate post, considering how odd that may sound to most Americans) Actually, I made modified a recipe I found to better reflect the similarities between chicken feet and pork feet. I used similar spices to when I make my pork feet. The spicy sauce is actually the same sauce used to make Spicy Pork Feet. (Go figure huh?)

I won’t get too detailed on the recipe because I wrote the recipe on Yummly. But I thought I’d share the experience with you.

Experience
(recipe here)

To start, I have time say, raw chicken feet is not easy to look at if you’re not used to it.

Draining the blood of chicken feet

Worst of all is the feel of them. I feel like I am holding a dead baby’s arm when working with the chicken feet. No I don’t know what it feels like to hold a dead baby’s arm but I imagine it would feel similar.

You start off by draining the blood in cold water for an hour. Then comes the cleaning process. You scrub the chicken feet well with a coarse salt like Kosher salt. This help remove any impurities on the skin. Then you rub the chicken feet with flour to remove any unwanted smells. (I’ll get to that a little later)

Removing the smell of "meat" by rubbing it with flour

After rinsing the chicken feet thoroughly, you boil them with onions and ginger to further remove pungency.

About the pungency, or pungent meat flavor. When it comes to a lot of Asian recipes, especially Korean, a lot of what goes into the recipe is to remove what we would call it “pungent meat” smell and taste. In western cooking, a lot of what we attribute to flavor in meat, is considered undesirable in Korean cooking. Koreans like simpler and cleaner flavors. The removal of these unwanted smells and flavors make more sense when you consider recipes that call for cooking the meat for long periods of time. A bone marrow soup cooking for more than 8 hours will really concentrate the flavors and the unwanted smells will become a lot more apparent when not dealt with properly. Western cooking deals with this also, usually by use of dry rubs, use of garlic, herbs, cooking in high heats for short periods, etc. Koreans will do everything to get rid of any trace of the unwanted pungency. We drain the blood in cold water, we cook with alcohol to evaporate the smells, add onions, garlic, peppercorn. Another thing that is commonly done in Korea to get rid of these smells actually can be told in the next step of the recipe.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, with onions, garlic, and ginger. I added some other spices (star anise, cloves) that I use when I boil the water for pork feet.

After boiling the chicken feet for 10 min., rinse the chicken feet under cold water to clean the surface of the feet and cool down the meat.
This boiling and discarding the water process is crucial to get rid of the unwanted smells.

After all that is done, I trimmed the tip of the fingers to remove the nails. Most recipes call for it to be done early on, but I thought it would be easier to remove when it was slightly cooked and no blood was running.

Then I stir-fried the green onions and garlic, then added the chicken feet with soy sauce, sake, and ginger. This is to remove any last hints of pungency. Most recipes call for making the sauce first before stir-frying. However, due to the high heat cooking and that the ingredients are prone to getting burnt, I decided to build the sauce as I stir-fry. This was a “know-how” I saw on TV by a famous Korean chef who specializes in Chinese Cuisine. This method came from his way of making chicken feet.

I added the veggies at the end so I can keep the crunch.

Once the stir fry is done, I wrap it around in aluminum foil and cook it in the oven for 10 more min. at 400 degrees. I like this because it gives a better textural quality that I love.

After taking it out of the oven, I plate it on a large dish and serve right away.

All in all, the dish came out exactly how I wanted. I learned a lot while researching different ways to cook chicken feet. I always thought they battered the chicken feet and stir-fried the chicken feet in sauce. I realized that the skin just has that quality after cooking this recipe

recipe here

A New Start

It has been too long since I have touched this blog. I have come to a realization. A lot of restaurants I love eventually close down. That’s no bueno for me.

I decided to update this blog and journal my love for food in a different way. For some time, I have been wanting to cook different things and decided on a simple yet daunting task: Cook with an ingredient you have never cooked with before. It started off initially as an idea to try new cooking methods. I decided to poach an egg one day and make hollandaise sauce also. With the leftover egg whites, I researched what I could make and found I can make a meringue with what I have in the kitchen. This process got me thinking. I have mostly cooked certain ingredients a particular way and never broke out too far out of my comfort zone. The idea evolved into picking one ingredient and seeing how many different ways I could cook it during a week. Alas, I already knew that would be setting myself up for failure as I barely even cook twice a week for myself.

Salmon Benedict with hollandaise sauce

Twice a week. That sounds like a better plan. Finally the final idea came to be a simple one but more easily reachable. That idea is what I decided to start keeping record of. Cook with an ingredient I’ve never cooked with about 1 – 2 times a week. I may try multiple recipes of one unique recipe like my original idea, but no promises.

I may even fill in old recipes from time to time. I wanted to keep a somewhat replicable recipe of my cooking so I can pass onto others. I never measure anything. All my cooking consists of eyeing the amounts. I can tell you what goes in it, but I cannot tell you how much to put in it. So I decided to also backtrack and cook some old recipes but with measurement.

Why you may ask? As to I only have one answer. Why not? It keeps my creative juices flowing and in the process I can have something to look back and feel a sense of accomplishment.

So let’s see how this turns out. 🙂

Meringues from leftover egg whites

Salt and Pepper Chicken (소금 & 고추 치킨)

 So this is just my take on a chinese dish. (Yes, the dish itself is not very chinese at all) The idea came from a chinese dish where it’s a salt and pepper seasoned fried chicken. It’s spicy, simple, and damn good.  And I just liked the idea of the minimal number of ingredients. Especially when compared to other dishes where there are too many herbs and spices to count to create a complexity that’s never fully understood. I was bored one night and wanted to delay studying for my Architectural exams.. so I decided to open up the fridge.

Portuguese Sausage Stir Fry

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So one night, my friend Joyce calls me and saying

“Let’s cook! I’ll grab some things from my house and bring it”.

I didn’t realize she meant she’ll bring whatever she can grab on her way out; so in her brown bag, she hands me the following:

– Orange Bell Pepper
– Zucchini
– Onion

I just stared at her as she asked me to make something from that. Luckily, I remembered I had Portuguese Sausage that my friend Jacklord brought over for me one time, and I had an idea. I started puling out random condiments from the pantry and started cooking. The result? A Portuguese Sausage Stir Fry.