I try to provide recipes that preserve most of the traditional flavors with as little work as possible.  In classic business terms, a high ROI in the kitchen, and in simpler language, making ethnic food accessible.

This is a quick, modern version of the beloved Thai Panaeng beef curry.  Since we have access to quality beef here, the traditional slow simmer turns into a quick stir-fry, and you will have a very tasty curry in a matter of minutes instead of hours.  In addiition, instead of  boiling peanuts, and grinding them down to make the paste base, I reached for freshly ground pure peanut butter that you can find in many grocery stores these days.

Chef’s tip: “Cracking” coconut milk means separating the cream into its oil, and using the oil to fry the spices.  Unfortunately, canned coconut milk is homogenized and is a hard nut to crack (pun!).  And fresh coconut milk is almost impossible to obtain here in the Bay Area. To achieve a similar effects, you can add a tablespoon of coconut oil to the coconut cream.

Sauce:

2 cups unsweetened coconut milk, separate into 2 parts
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 Tablespoon ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon Thai red curry paste
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1/2 Tablespoon curry powder
1/2 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground
6 kaffir lime leaves, tough middle stem removed, torn into large pieces

2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2 Tablespoons palm sugar

10 basil leaves, whole

2 lbs grass-fed beef steak  – Chateaubriand, NY Strip or rib-eye, trimmed, cut into ½ inch thin strips

1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Garnish:
1 sprig basil
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely chiffonade
¼ cup coconut cream

1.     In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat, add half the coconut milk, ginger and garlic and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the oil starts to separate aka crack.
2.     Add curry paste, tomato paste, peanut butter, curry powder, paprika, cumin, coriander and kaffir leaves and sauté, stirring, 1 minute, or until fragrant.
3.     Add fish sauce, and palm sugar and remaining coconut milk.  Stir together.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes until thick.
4.     Slice the meat at an angle against the grain, about ½ inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.
5.     Raise the heat on the curry sauce to moderately high, add the meat to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Cook for another 2 minutes for medium rare or longer for more doneness.
6.     Taste for seasoning, adding more fish sauce or palm sugar as needed.
7.     Remove from heat. Stir in the basil leaves.  Transfer to a serving bowl.
8.     Drizzle with reserved coconut milk. Garnish with a sprig basil and kaffir ribbons.

Serves 6

Ma Po Do Fu is probably the most popular (or at least the gentrified version is a permanent item in the Chinese take out menu) of Sichuanese cuisine. As many of you know, the “ma” refers to the hot and numbing spice, not some old lady with pock marked face, which the dish is sometimes referred to.  It’s truly a Chinese comfort food.

Chef’s tip: The steps below may look laborious but frankly, I am just trying to line out in great detail the steps in wok cooking.  It literally takes about 5 minutes or less to cook the dish.  This dish employs the classic steps in working with a wok.  The wok is designed so that the hottest part of the pan is the bottom part, that’s where you brown the meat, etc.  The sides of the pan serves as the in between placeholder, where you park parts of the dish while you cook the other parts, before tossing them all back together.  That way, ingredients that need different cooking times get their own special treatment and you come out with the perfect crunch and tenderness.

8 oz ground beef
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 lb silken tofu
4 tablespoon scallions, white part, chopped

Sauce
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon chili bean paste
1 tablespoon fermented black beans (optional)

1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar

½ tablespoon cornflour, plus 2 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons scallion, green part

Preparing the meat
1. Mix ground beef with 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce and shaoxing wine.  Set aside

Preparing the vegetable
2. Dry fry the Sichuan peppercorn. Lightly grind peppercorns
3. Chop scallion (white part), ginger and garlic finely, set aside separately
4. Cut bean curd into 1 inch cubes.

Cooking the dish
5. Heat the wok over high heat.  Add the peanut oil followed by the marinated meat.  Drizzle remaining shaoxing wine around the side of the wok.  Fry for 1 minute until meat starts to brown.  Push the meat to the side of the wok.
6. Add chili bean paste, fermented black beans, and fry till the oil is separated, about half a minute.
7. Add chopped garlic, ginger and scallions (white part).  Fry till fragrant – about 30 seconds.  Toss with the meat.
8. Add broth, soy sauce, and sugar
9. Add tofu, stir lightly and bring to boil.  Then lower the heat and simmer 5 minutes.
10. Combine cornstarch with water to make a slurry, add to the sauce, toss to cook until sauce thickens.
11. Add chopped green scallions and crushed Sichuan peppercorns, toss to coat.
Serve immediately.

Serves: 6

Of the many different types of curries in Malaysia, the rendang is the most loved.  The rendang is always the star of any kenduris (wedding ceremonies) or raya (Id) festivities.  It’s a very dry curry with sweet tones of toasted coconut.  Slow cook it till it’s fork-tender.

Chef’s tip: To toast coconut, use a dry skillet and toss it frequently over medium heat.  Alternatively, pop it into a 350F oven for 5 minutes.

½ cup of finely shredded desiccated coconut

Spice paste:
10 red jalapeno chilies
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
3 stalks lemon grass
1 inch ginger
1 inch galangal
2 candlenuts

Whole spices:
1 cinnamon stick (about 2 inch)
3 cloves
4 whole star anise
2 cardamon pods
2 pieces daun salam

¼  cup canola oil

2 lbs beef cubes – cuts for stewing, briskets, cubed

2 cups thick coconut milk

1 slice of asam gelugur* tamarind/ ½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
4 pieces of kaffir lime leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt, to taste
1 tablespoon sugar

1.    Toast coconut till golden brown in an oven or in a pan.  Set aside.
2.    Using a food processor, grind all spice paste ingredients into a paste
3.    Heat oil on medium high.  Fry paste and  whole spices till fragrant, red and oil has separated, about 5-7 minutes
4.    Add beef  and fry for about 3 minutes till brown.
5.   Add coconut milk, finely shredded kaffir lime leaves, tamarind slice, salt and sugar, and braise uncovered on low, stirring occasionally, until beef is tender and gravy has thicken, about 2 hours depending on beef cut till fork tender.
8.    Mix in toasted coconut.

Serves: 6

I love kalbi but find it a bit of a work to work around the sinewy parts of the short ribs.  Using a juicy piece of tenderloin solves that problem while still allowing me to enjoy the sweet grilled beef.

Chef’s tip: While testing for beef doneness is most accurately achieved with a meat thermometer, a quicker way of testing will be to feel the meat with your finger tips and then comparing it with the softness of the area of your palm between your thumb and the base of your hand.  With one palm opened, take your index finger of the other palm and press on this area.  That’s how raw meat feels like.  Next, with that opened palm, bring the index finger to gently meet the thumb like you are doing an “ok”; that’s how “rare” would feel like.  When you switch the index finger to the middle finger, you will begin to encounter some resistance, but it’s still soft; that would be “medium rare.”  For “medium”, bring your ring finger to the thumb, it will feel springy.  And lastly, for “well-done”, bring your pinkie finger to meet your thumb and your palm will feel pretty firm.  You never want to cook your tenderloins well done.

Marinade:
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons vermouth or sake
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoons frozen pineapple concentrate
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon ginger, grated
3 Tablespoons green onions, white parts only, finely sliced

4 6-oz tenderloin
1 cup kim chee

1. Whisk all the marinade ingredients together.
2. Immerse the tenderloins in the marinade, cover tightly and leave to marinade overnight.
3. Slightly oil a grill, and heat it.  When hot, sear the meat, both sides.  Cook till desired doneness.  Let steak sit for a few minutes before serving.
4. Bring remaining marinade to boil.
5. Serve steak with drizzled with cooked marinade with white steamed rice and some kim chee on the side.

Serves: 4

Succulent morsels of sweet, savoury and lots of umami beef that literally melt in your mouth.  Bo Luc Lac – Shaking Beef – gets its name from the noise you make when you sear the beef in a wok.  This is an absolutely delicious dish that is so simple to prepare.  Except for the long marinating period, you can easily outdo Rachel Ray’s 30 minutes.

Chef’s tip: If you don’t want to wait overnight to get the beef marinated and truly keep this dish under 30 minutes, use an instant marinator.  The instant marinator works by removing all the air from the beef when you create a vacuum with the pump.  When you release the valve, the marinate then oozes into these empty cavities in the beef, bathing the beef with the seasonings of the marinade.

Marinade:
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 stalks lemon grass, finely 2 inches of the white portion
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil

1 1/2 lb beef tenderloin, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes.

Dressing:
1 red onion, finely sliced
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch of watercress

Preparing the Meat:
1.    Whisk together marinade ingredients
2.    Cut meat into 1 1/2 inch cube.  Marinate meat for at least a half hour, preferably overnight.
Preparing the salad:
3.    Slice onions thinly and place in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes.  Drain and pat dry.
4.    Toss together remaining dressing ingredient.
5.    Just before serving, toss watercress and onions with the dressing
Cooking the beef:
6.    Heat a cast iron pan or a wok on high heat.  Add oil and quickly sear the beef until it develops a brown crust.  About 2 minutes or less if you prefer your beef rare.
7.    Place hot beef on tossed watercress salad.  Drizzle in any pan juice.  Serve immediately.

Serves: 6

Yummy herbed-infused kofta burgers. Instead of ketchup, we use a lemony tahini.

Chef’s tip: Chilling the meat makes it easier to form patties. If you want all your burgers to be of a standard size, use an ice cream scoop.

Ingredients

Burger:
½ pound ground lamb
½ pound lean, ground beef
¼ cup panko breadcrumbs, soaked with water, squeezed dry
½ small red onion, grated, and squeezed to remove liquid (reserve the other half for condiment)
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ egg
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground fennel
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½  teaspoon ground chili/ cayenne

¼ cup parsley, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
2 Tablespoons mint, chopped
½ cup roasted pistachios or almonds, chopped finely
¼ cup crumbled feta
2 Tablespoons canola oil

Tahini:
1 small shallot, peeled and quartered
1 small clove garlic, peeled
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ Tablespoon cumin, ground
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup tahini paste, at room temperature, stirred if separated
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Cilantro leaves
1 tomatoes, sliced
3 pieces of Iceberg lettuce
½ small red onion, sliced
10 mini brioche buns

Preparing the burger patties
1.    Combine the burger ingredients together. Chill for 5 minutes in the freezer.
2.    Mince the parsley, cilantro, mint and chop the nuts.  Mix into chilled burger mix.
3.    Form meat into golf ball size balls. Using your finger, make a hole into the patty, add a small half teaspoon of feta, and form the meat around the feta.  Gently form into 2-inch patties.  Using your thumb, make a small dimple in the middle of the patty.  Place on a slightly oil baking sheet.
Cooking the burger
4.    Preheat oven to 375°F
5.    Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat.  Working in batches, sear burgers 1 minute on each sides, drain on paper towels then transfer to a sheet pan.  Transfer the burgers to the oven to finish cooking, about 4 minutes for medium rare.
Preparing the tahini
6.    Mix together all ingredients in a blender, and pulse till it forms a smooth paste
Assembly
7.    Split and toast buns.  Assemble burgers with tomatoes, onions, lettuce and a smear of tahini sauce.

Serves: Makes 10 mini burgers

The Advieh is a Persian spice mix of cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, cloves and rose petals.

Meatballs:
½ cup long grain rice
½ cup yellow split pea, soaked 1 hour
2 cups water + ½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ lb ground lamb
½ lb ground beef
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon yogurt
1 small red onion, grated, and squeezed to remove liquid
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup dill, chopped
1 cup chives, chopped
1 cup cilantro, chopped
½ Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon Advieh (Persian spice mix: cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, rose petals)
Some oil for the baking tray
Sauce:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup crushed tomatoes (or 2 fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped)
1 Tablespoon sumac
½ teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup beef or chicken broth
Thickener:
1 cup parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch saffron threads
½ cup blanched almonds

½ cup yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced

Preparing the meatballs
1.    Bring the rice and split peas together in 2 cups of salted water to boil.  Once it has boiled, cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes.
2.    Combine the remaining meatball ingredients (lamb, beef, egg white, yogurt, red onion, garlic, chopped herbs, Advieh, salt and pepper and the cooled rice and split pea mix) together until combined.   Using your hands, form into balls about 1 ½ inch diameter.  Place on a lightly oiled baking tray, and bake in a 400°F oven until brown about 12 minutes.
Preparing the sauce
3.    In a heavy bottom, oven proof pot, heat olive oil on medium high.  Add sliced onions and cook till golden brown, about 7 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, sumac, tumeric, saffron, salt and pepper).  Pour in the broth.  Bring to boil.  Taste and add salt if needed.
4.    Transfer the meatballs back into the pot, add more broth if necessary to cover the meatballs, and bake covered, in a 400 °F oven (alternatively simmer on low on stove top) for 10 minutes. stirring once or twice gently.
5.    In the meantime, put the parsley, garlic, salt, saffron, and almonds in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until well chopped. Add mixture to meatball pot after 10 minutes, stir gently, and return to the oven and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.
6.    Mix the yogurt with the garlic, drizzle over the meatballs and serve.

Serves: 6

This is a very tasty Vietnamese appetizer and part of the famous “bo 7 mon” Vietnamese menu of eating 7 different types of beef dishes. Beef 7 ways. No holy cow here. The skewers of little green parcels of beef make a lovely presentation.

La lot is a type of Asian herb – a large shiny heart-shaped leaf which gives a peppery, pungent and aromatic taste. Also called wild betelnut leaves or daun kadok in Southeast Asia, it is a vine and is related to the pepper family. La lot looks somewhat similar to betelnut, a member of the palm family, which is used like chewing tobacco in some parts of Asia. La lot lacks the narcotic content that betelnut gives. Even without the addictive content, the bo la lot is pretty addictive by itself!

Chef’s tip: Use double skewers when skewing the meatballs. That way, you won’t have it pivoting around the skewer.

Ingredients:

Nuoc Mam Cham Sauce:
1 red Thai chile, finely minced or 1 teaspoon sambal olek
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons sugar
1 lime, juiced to make ¼ cup
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
½ cup water

24 La-Lot leaves (sub: perilla, shiso, grape leaves), blanched

Mirepoix:
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 large shallots, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons lemon grass, finely minced
3 La-lot leaves, chiffonade

Meatballs:
12 oz ground beef (15-20% fat)
2 Tablespoon fish sauce,
1  teaspoon Asian five spice powder
½ teaspoon tumeric powder
1 teaspoon palm sugar (sub: brown sugar)

8 bamboo sticks, pre-soaked
Some canola oil for brushing

Preparing the sauce:
1.    Mix all dipping sauce ingredients together (chile, garlic, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar and water).  Set aside.
Preparing the leaves:
2.    Remove the hard stem from the leaves.
3.    Bring a small pot of salted water to boil.  Drop in 24 leaves, wait 5 seconds and immediately remove and plunge into a bowl of iced water.  Drain and pat dry.  Leave whole.
Preparing the meatballs:
4.    In a small sauté pan, heat the canola oil.  Add the chopped shallots and fry till translucent, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in minced garlic, chopped lemongrass and chiffonaded la-lot leaves. Let cool.
5.    In a medium bowl, mix together the meatball ingredients (beef, fish sauce, five spice powder, sugar, and pepper.) Add the cooled mirepoix.  Mix together to combine.
6.    Lay out a piece of leave, shiny side (top) up.  Take about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture and form into a small log.  Place the log on stem end of the leave.  Fold in the sides and slowly roll tightly to enclose the log.   Set on a baking tray. You should have about 24 rolls.
7.    Using 2 skewers in parallel, about ½ inch a part, skewer 3 logs per skewer.  Brush the logs with oil.
8.    Place the skewers on a grill rack, and cook about 3 minutes per side, till the leaves are slightly charred.
9.    Serve with the nuoc mam cham dipping sauce.

Serves: 4