stir-fry « DinnerCakes

At First You Don't Succeed – Baby Bok Choy Stir Fry with Garlic and Ginger

January 19th, 2009

by Chef Edwin

At first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s how the saying goes and for me, applies no better than in the world of cooking. I was not blessed with any innate culinary skills. I have burnt many a baked good, and overcooked many a meat until tasteless. It is a hobby that is sometimes bittersweet (though I love it all the same).

Bok choy is something I’ve been trying to become comfortable with and the ride has been… educational. I wanted something light to accompany future asian dishes and for some time this vegetable did not want to cooperate. However, eventually progress was made.

Bok choy is a cheap healthy vegetable also known as chinese cabbage. This simple dish would go well with a heavy stir fry to balance out the meal.

Baby Bok Choy Stir-Fry with Garlic and Ginger

1 to 1 1/2 pounds baby bok choy
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 large loves of garlic; minced
1 tablespoon and one teaspoon of ginger; minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (use regular if you don’t have any)

Cut the bottom end of the baby bok choy and separate the leaves. Rinse and dry.

Mash the garlic with the salt briefly to get more of the flavor out. Put a wok or large pan on high heat. Immediately, before the wok heats up, add both oils along with the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant; approximately one minute.

Add the bok choy leaves along with the soy sauce. Continue tossing to coat and stir-fry until green ends begin to wilt and the tougher base is crisp but hot and slightly tender.

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Little Bit of Spice or a Lot – Mild Drunken Noodle with Many Veggies

January 15th, 2009

by Chef Edwin

There’s just something about rice noodles that seem so…. cool to me. Maybe it’s because they’re so different from the standard flour-based noodles I grew with under my German and Italian parents. The texture is so much more flimsy that the first time I had them it blew my mind. “These are noodles? Seriously?”

I don’t cook with rice noodles that often and perhaps that’s what keeps it special for me; absence making the heart grow fonder and such. For New Years Eve I decided to cook my lady friend a special dinner of one of her favorite dishes: drunken noodle with thai iced tea. Both were a big success, but I felt the drunken noodle had room for improvement. It needed more veggies (reoccuring theme in my life), so I decided to give it another shot with my own spin. The second time around was an improvement but I still wanted more vegetables so I’ve modified the recipe accordingly. My new best friend cauliflower is making another appearance.

Drunken Noodles get their name not from the inclusion of alcohol but for the vast amounts of liquid you’ll need to get through the heat. As I mentioned in my last post, I can’t handle much spice in my food so I really brought this one down in intensity. Thai chiles are friggin’ HOT and I made the folly of trying a piece after chopping a few. This….. did not go well. If you’re more manly than I am then just up the amount of these you use; up to a 1/4 cup (maybe more? good lord). The same goes with the Tien Tsin chiles. If you don’t have these, then don’t bother buying them just for this recipe. Just substitute in more thai chiles. This dish is great because you can adjust the amount of heat to your liking with little effort. I will definitely be coming back to this.

Mild Drunken Noodle with Many Veggies
adapted from Epicurious

1 12 ounce package of rice flakes

4 tablespoons peanut oil
1 anaheim/cubanelo chile; cut into strips
2 green bell peppers; cut into strips
8 cloves of garlic; minced
1 Thai chile; chopped
4 Tien Tsin dried chili peppers
1 head of broccoli; cut broken into florets
1 head of cauliflower; broken into florets
1 large carrot; peeled and into small planks
1 pound ground chicken

1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1/4 cup “regular” soy sauce (feel free to use low sodium. I did.)
1 tablespoon sweetener (splenda works but so does sugar)
1/2 cup fresh Thai or regular basil leaves

Cut the broccoli and cauliflower florets into small, roughly equal size pieces. The larger florets you’ll quarter, the mediums you’ll cut into thirds, etc.

Under high heat, heat two tablespoons of oil in a hot wok then add the bell peppers, cubanelo chile and thai chile. Stir fry until softened; about 1 minute. Add the dried peppers and half the garlic and cook briefly until fragrant, about 20 seconds, followed immediately by another table spoon of oil along with the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Continue to stir fry until vegetables begin to soften; 3-4 minutes. Move everything out of the wok into a bowl.

Bring the wok to medium-high heat. While reheating bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Heat the remaining table spoon of oil and garlic together until fragrant but not burning; one minute or less. Add the ground chicken and cook until “browned.”

At the same time you add the chicken to the wok, throw the rice flakes into the boiling water, stirring occasionally, these should only take a few minutes to boil; roughly the same time it takes to brown the chicken. These will stick and clump together very easily, so be sure to stir on occasion and add to the stir fry immediately after straining.

Once the chicken is ready, raise to high temperature and return the vegetables to the wok along with the rice flakes, sauces and sweetener. Cook until everything is heated and coated and the sauces have enough so the dish is wet but not runny. Once ready remove from heat

Serve with some chopped basil and tall glass of your beverage of choice.

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Little Bit of Indian Spice – Indian Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Chickpeas

January 12th, 2009

by Chef Edwin

Are you getting tired of cauliflower yet? No? Good, because strap in for some more of its nutritious deliciousness.

I was feeling very ambitious last week while at the local asian supermarket. I was buying ingredients for a drunken noodle recipe I was preparing for someone as a New Years meal before the festivities and decided to purchase a few vegetables that I can’t get at my regular grocer: chinese eggplant. I’m really not a huge fan of eggplant in general, actually. However, about a year ago I took a cooking class and learned to make an amazing sezchuan stir-fry with chinese eggplant so I felt bold. The results were…. disappointing.

It can be very frustrating to put a lot of time and effort into something only to end up with failure. But, as the saying goes, you learn more from failure than success. Fortunately Heather came to my rescue a few days later with this recipe from the New York Times. My indian food repertoire is quite limited so I was excited to try this and it didn’t hurt that I’ve been having good luck with cauliflower lately.

I’m not a fan of spicy food. In fact, I’m quite the wuss in that area so I dialed down the heat and added a bit of my own variation to the spices. On top of that I felt it needed some protein so I included chickpeas. Overall, I was quite satisfied with this recipe and may bring back a bit more of the spice when I do it again.

Indian Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Chickpeas
adapted from New York Times

2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
1 large head of cauliflower; broken into florets
1 cup dried chickpeas; cooked and drained (or one can of cooked chickpeas)
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 can diced tomatoes
1 serrano chile; seeded and minced
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger; minced
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic; minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ancho chili
1/2 teaspoon hot curry
1/2 cup cilantro; chopped
lime

Steam the cauliflower for 10 minutes until just tender. Remove from heat and immediately rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Then cut the florets into equal sizes; probably quartering the larger florets and halving the medium sized ones. Set aside.

Combine the minced ginger and garlic with a pinch of salt and mash it together by scraping your knife against it several times into you have something similar to a very chunky paste. Don’t try to overdue it. Just scrap it a few times. Set aside.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the additional table spoon of oil with the cumin, coriander and curry for about 20 seconds then follow with your ginger-garlic paste, chile and bell pepper; sauteing for approximately one minute. Add your chickpeas and stir-fry for one minute. Follow with the rest of the rest of the spices, cauliflower and tomatoes; stir-fry for five minutes until fragrant and some of the juices have reduced down. Add the cilantro, toss and cook for 30 seconds and then serve.

Add a spritz of lime before eating.

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The Wonder of the Wok (Sorta Simple Chick Stir Fry)

November 11th, 2008

by Chef Edwin

Growing up in a German and Italian family (and being quite “American”), we never did Chinese food at home much. Maybe this is why it always seemed so special, so exotic, so friggin’ tasty. Nowadays in my kitchen the ethnic variety is subject only to my cravings. Yes, nowadays, the Asian cuisine is much more prolific. I love my wok, but oh it was a journey (and still is). First there was the frozen stir fry in a bag phase, the half frozen, half vegetable phase (worse. idea. ever.), the non-stick wok routine…. you get the idea.

Much more refined these days, but still much to learn. I really enjoy Tigers & Strawberries as a resource to not only learn recipes of all kinds of Asian cultures, but also the fundamental cooking techniques of those cultures. I do find her stuff to be a bit challenging at times and her recipes will definitely tax the supply of your local non-international grocery store. This recipe, with a marinade and custom sauce, isn’t the simplest of choices; but won’t overly tax your skill set or ingredient needs.

Couple things worth noting for stir fries. First, don’t go non-stick on the wok. Woks are an exception to the “you get what you pay for” rule. The simple cheap woks are often the best. Carbon steal is a nice choice. Second, uniform size. You want all your pieces of a particular vegetable to be of the same size (roughly. this doesn’t have to be exact) so it all cooks in the same amount of time. Third, HEAT. Wok cooking is fast cooking. Using fresh ingredients and a hot wok, the time from when the first ingredient hits the oil to the time it’s ready to serve is in the span of 10 minutes. There is much much more to learn about wok cooking, and I strongly recommend Wok Words at Tigers & Strawberries as a good starting point. Now on to the recipe!

Sorta Simple Chicken Stir Fry

1/2 pound chicken breast; cut and sliced into thin strips.
1 celery stalk; cut into thin strips
1 head of broccoli; stalk optional. Cut the heads in halve and the stalks in thin strips.
1 inch ginger; minced
4 tablespoons oil (peanut, canola, vegetable)

Marinade:
1 egg white
1 teaspoon corn starch
2 teaspoons rice seasoning (or rice wine)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Seasoning
1 teaspoon chili oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon corn starch
3 tablespoons water or stock (chicken, preferably)
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Prep: Mix the marinade together and combine with chicken. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Be sure to mix the seasoning as well before moving on.

Parboil the celery and broccoli in a pot of water for about 30 seconds. Drain and set aside.

Wok Action: Heat the wok to high (if you’ve got a non-gas stove, you’ll probably never lower the temp). Once hot, add two tablespoons of oil and swish around (carefully!) until wok is coated approximately 2/3 of the way up. Add the chicken and “stir fry” (toss) for about 2 minutes, until the chicken is firm. Remove to a plate.

Let the wok reheat and throw in another two tablespoons of oil. Recoat and throw in the veggies, chicken and seasoning. Combine until everything is coated with a light glaze; a few minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

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