Ever wonder why the neighborhood Thai take out place always give you pad thai as the complimentary item if you exceed a certain ticket amount?  Because pad thai is so easy to make and the cost of the ingredients pretty darn low.  This is what they call it in business schools term, highly leverage items.  Low cost, low work, high flavor, high rewards.  The secret is really in the sauce.  Once you boil a vat of it, place it in jars and it will last forever, or at least till you run out. Everytime you feel like a pad thai, it will take you literally a few minutes to whip out the yummy dish.

Chef’s tip: Make it in small batches – no more than 2 servings at a time. You can sub the shrimp with meat of your choice.

Sauce:
2/3 cup tamarind concentrate
2/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup palm sugar
3 Tablespoons garlic powder
1/4 cup Sriracha chili sauce

Noodles:
1 lb dried rice flat noodles, soaked in warm water 30 mins, drained
½ cup canola oil
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cup firm tofu, cut into small ¼ X ½  X 1 inch strips
1 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
12 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
6 Tablespoons pickled sweet radish, chopped finely
1 bunch Chinese chives, cut into 2 inch length (substitute with green onions if unavailable)
4 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 cup roasted and unsalted peanuts, finely chopped

2 Lime, cut into wedges, for garnish

Prepare the sauce:
1.     Combine tamarind, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, salt, palm sugar, garlic powder and Sriracha in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until the sauce becomes thick, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
Prep mise-en-place:
2.     Separate all ingredients into 4 batches, including sauce and placed mise-en-place.
Cook noodles in batches:
3.     Heat a wok over high heat until smoking. Add a Tablespoon of oil and swirl to coat the sides. Add the egg and fry for 1 minute, move it to the side.
4.     Next, add the tofu and fry till it is golden.  Move it to the side of the wok.
5.     Next add another Tablespoon of oil, then garlic and shrimp.   When the shrimp is pink, add in the radish.
6.     Next, stir in noodles, followed by the pad thai sauce. Toss back eggs and tofu. Toss to coat noodles.  Let the sauce boil and cook the noodles.  Stir occasionally to prevent sticking, until the sauce is absorbed.  Do not over stir or else the noodles will fall apart.  Check the noodles for doneness. If they are not completely cooked through, add more sauce or water. Immediately remove the wok from the heat.
7.     Stir in half the beansprouts and half the chives. Toss together and transfer noodles to a large serving platter. Scatter peanuts on top.  Place remaining bean sprouts, chives, and lime on the side. Serve immediately.
8.     Repeat for subsequent batches.

Serves 8

Crispy rolls filled with chicken, mushrooms and glass noodles, with characteristically- Thai flavors of lemongrass and fish sauce.  This spring roll differs from their Vietnamese counterpart as it is sweeter and uses eggroll wrappers instead of rice paper.

Chef’s tip: Cutting off an edge of the spring roll wrapper means less pastry around the filling, and would allow the spring roll to thoroughly cook through faster.

2 Tablespoon canola oil
4 small garlic cloves, minced
3 coriander roots, about 2 Tablespoons, scraped and finely chopped (substitute: stems)
3 small shallots, minced
1 lemongrass, white part only, finely minced
1 Thai bird’s eye chili, seeded, finely chopped

6 oz ground chicken
4 oz shrimp, peeled, cleaned, chopped into ½ inch pieces
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon palm sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large egg

1 cup wood ear mushroom, fresh or reconstituted, tough stems removed, sliced thinly
1 cup shiitake mushroom, stemmed, small diced
½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 stalk green onions, thinly sliced
½ carrot, peeled and grated
2 oz cellophane mung bean noodles, reconstituted in water, cut into 2 inch length

20 pieces 8×8 inch egg springroll wrapper

8 cups canola oil

1.     In a sauté pan. heat oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic, coriander roots, shallots, lemongrass and chilies until fragrant, about 4 minutes.  Let cool.  Set aside.
2.     In a large bowl, add chicken, minced shrimp fish sauce, palm sugar, black pepper, and egg and mix to combine.
3.     Add cooled sautéed garlic mixture, chopped mushrooms, onions, green onions, carrots and bean thread, Stir until just combined.  Do not overmix.
4.     Cut off one corner of a springroll wrapper.  Moisten uncut edges with water.  With the cut corner closest to you, place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on the bottom third of the wrapper.  Shape the filling into a cylinder, about 3-inches long.  Fold the left and right side over the filling. Holding the sides in place, fold the bottom flap up and roll the roll up into a tight cylinder.  Lay the rolls flap side down on the moistened towel and cover with another moist towel.  Repeat folding the remaining rolls.
5.     Frying the spring rolls:  Heat canola oil till 330F.  Drop several spring rolls into the oil and fry till golden brown, about 5 minutes each.   Do not overcrowd. Immediately drain on a wire rack over a baking sheet.  Bring the oil back up to temperature and continue until all the spring rolls have been fried.

Serves 10

Gluten-free option: Replace springroll wrappers with rice paper wrappers for Step 4

1 lb package 8 inch round Vietnamese rice paper wrappers

3 Tablespoons sugar

4.     Line a baking sheet with a damp tea towel and have another damp towel ready to cover the rolls. Line a cutting board with a third damp towel.  Fill a large sauté pan with 2 inches of water. Add sugar, bring water to a boil, then turn heat to very low. Working with one sheet of rice paper at a time, dip half the disc into the hot water, holding one corner with your fingers or a pair of chopsticks. Let it sit for about 5 seconds. Quickly dip the other half and remove and spread out flat on lined cutting board.    Place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on the bottom third of the rice paper.  Shape the filling into a cylinder, about 3-inches long.  Fold the left and right side over the filling. Holding the sides in place, fold the bottom flap up and roll the roll up into a tight cylinder.  Lay the rolls flap side down on the moistened towel and cover with another moist towel. Patch any broken areas with small pieces of soaked, rice paper.  Repeat folding the remaining rolls.

THAI SWEET & SOUR DIPPING SAUCE

1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons Sriracha
2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 Tablespoon ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced

To make dipping sauce, place water, sugar, vinegar, and Sri Racha and fish sauce in a small saucepan. Heat over high heat until mixture boils, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling until sauce is reduced by half, about 8 to 10 minutes, and the sauce has thickened to maple syrup consistency.   Stir in the ginger and garlic.  Cool.

A really light noodle dish that is full of flavor- nutty sesame and peanut butter, and hot Sichuan chili cooled down by the cucumber and cold noodles.  You can make your own noodles or substitute with store bought egg noodles or even spaghetti.  And if you really want to do this in under 30 minutes, use store bought rotiserrie chicken.

Chef’s tip: Mung bean starch is easily available in Korean grocery stores.

Noodles:

4 cups + 2 Tablespoons water
¾ cup mung bean starch

Meat and marinade:
2 chicken breast, bone-in, skin-on
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon ginger juice
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon canola oil

Sauce:
3 Tablespoons tahini + 3 Tablespoons water (more if tahini is thick)
1 Tablespoon light soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Chinkiang or black Chinese vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan peppercorn or Sichuan peppercorn oil
1 teaspoon ginger, grated fine
1 clove garlic, grated fine
1 Tablespoon Asian chili oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 stalk green onions, green parts only, julienned into 1 inch strips
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon Asian chili oil
½ teaspoon sesame oil

Preparing the noodle
1.   Mix starch with 1 ½ cups of water till starch is fully dissolved.  Mix in remaining water.
2. Bring to boil, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens.  It’s easiest to stir from the center out. Stir until the mixture is clear and translucent.  About 4 minutes total.  Immediately pour mixture into a wet, glass or ceramic dish, about 9X12 inch, making a thin 3/8 inch layer.
3. Leave to cool for 45 minutes in the fridge or 2 hours at room temperature.
4.  When set, cut noodles into thin ¼ inch strips

Preparing the chicken
5.     Preheat oven 350F.  Mix chicken marinade ingredients together.  Place chicken breast on a baking sheet, rub skin with marinade.  Roast for 35-40 minutes until chicken is just cooked (190F).
6.  Remove the meat from the bones, discard skin and shred the chicken.

Preparing the sauce
7.   Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Preparing the garnish:
8.   Cut the green onions into 1 ½ inch section, then sliced lengthwise into thin shreds.  Put into cold water and drain well and pat dry before use.

9.   Pan-fry the sesame seeds (without any oil) under medium heat till golden brown.

Assembly:

10.  In a bowl, place a heapful of noodles.  Pour sauce over the noodles and toss to coat. Place on top of noodles some shredded chicken, green onions and sesame seed.  Finish with a little chili oil and sesame oil.

Serves: 6

Sticky, chewy Chinese rice cakes are definitely a textural affair.  These Chinese gnocchi make a great base for many flavors – leeks with lamb, salted egg yolks with crab roe or simply in a clear soup.  This simple Shanghai-style stir-fry recipe, which I recreated from eating the nian gao that my friend Geraldine’s mom makes, is a truly satisfying comfort food.

Chef’s tip: Well, Mrs.Liu recommended the Korean-made rice cakes over the Chinese made ones since it doesn’t require parboiling or soaking.

Marinade:
4 pieces chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed of fat, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2  Tablespoon shao xing wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon oil

Sauce:
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon shao xing wine
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup chicken broth (and more if needed)

3 Tablespoon canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices ginger, thinly julienned
1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 cups napa cabbage, stems and leaves separated, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
16 oz rice ovaletts (fresh, refrigerated ones, preferably Korean made), toss to separate
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 stalk green onions, green parts only, thinly sliced

1. Marinade chicken strips with soy sauce, oyster sauce, shao xing wine, sugar, cornstarch and oil for 20 minutes.
2. Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Heat a wok or a non stick pan over high heat.  Add half the oil, when hot, add garlic and ginger.  Saute for 30 seconds until fragrant.  Add marinated meat and onions and brown meat, about 2 minutes.  Push to the side of the wok.
4. Add napa cabbage stems and red bell pepper and saute until limp, about 2 minutes.    Push to the side of the wok.
5.  Add remaining oil, then add the rice cakes.  Drizzle in part of the sauce mixture, being careful to not soak the rice cakes.  Toss all wok ingredients together.  Add in cabbage leaves.  When the sauce has cooked off, add remaining sauce in parts, each time being careful not to soak the rice cakes.  Continuously stir fry until the rice cakes are tender, about 6 minutes.
6.  Drizzle in the sesame oil, and toss with green onions.  Serve immediately.

Serves: 4

I probably should rebrand my site as the noodle blog!  Noodles are just a totally Asian favorite go-to fast food….almost in every Asian country east of India.  I love my noodles.  I guess you can take the girl out of Asia but you can’t take the noodles out of her…

The sukiyaki is really a dish, rather than a noodle dish.  Eaten with rice, but I like it just as it is — a big bowl of noodles.

Chef’s tip: To thinly slice the beef, pop the beef into freezer for about 20 minutes,

1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sake
2 cups water

1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 lb thinly sliced beef (rib-eye, sirloin)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 cups napa cabbage, thinly sliced
4 oz cellophane / glass noodle, soaked in cold water till soft
1 sprig green onion, thinly sliced

1. Mix the mirin, soy, sake and water together and set aside.
2. In a pan, heat the sesame oil, then saute the beef and onion till slightly browned.
3. Pour in the sauce mixture, add cabbage and.
4. Simmer till tender.  Add the noodles, bring till boil again.
5. garnish with green onions.

Serves: 4

Chef’s tip: The most critical ingredient to recreate the street flavor of Hokkien char mee is the pork cracklings and lard.  Without it, it’s just a regular noodle!  Thanks to David Chang, eating pork fat is now cool.  To find pork fat, you will need to go to an Asian or Mexican butcher and ask them specifically for it, and they may be able to slice off some fat for you.  Not a usual item, since they typically throw it out or process the fat into lard.  We need the whole piece of fat, not those that is already in a tub.

Another tip is to use fish sauce.  Some folks swear that if you add some dried “crooked mouth fish” flakes into the dish, you will get the authentic hokkien mee flavor.  Frankly, I don’t exactly know what’s the fish’s name is in English, I just asked for the crooked mouth fish in those dried seafood shops near the Central Market in KL.  So, back in San Francisco, I decided to add a dash of fish sauce.

Lastly, the ubiquitous dark soy sauce is critical.  The Malaysian version is thick and of the consistency of blackstrap molasses.  I looked at the label of my precious dark soy sauce my mom brought me from KL, and lo and behold, it doesn’t have soy in it.  Just caramel, salt and flavoring.  It’s a Malaysian version of molasses, I guess.  Use the Indonesian kicap manis, which is really sweeter than we need, but we can balance it with salt and soy sauce.

Sambal:
10 red Fresno chiles
2 Tablespoons roasted belachan
2 limes, cut into wedges

Sauce:
6 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 Tablespoons light soy sauce
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
6 cups chicken stock

Pork marinade:
1 lb pork tenderloin, sliced
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

½ lb pork fat, cut into medium dice

10 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb medium-sized shrimps, deveined, shelled
1 lb squid, cleaned, cut into ¼ inch rings
1 lb Chinese mustard “choy sum”, cut into 2 inch length

4 lb fresh thick yellow egg noodles (Shanghai style, udon-thickness)

Preparing the ingredients

1.     To prepare the sambal condiment, grind chile with a food processor till fine paste.  Add belachan and mix well.  Set aside with the lime wedges.
2.     Whisk sauce ingredients together in a bowl.   Set aside
3.     Marinade the pork tenderloin with the cornstarch, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.   Set aside.
4.     In a wok, render the pork fat till crackling forms.  Remove the cracklings and reserve.  Ladle out and reserve the lard.
5.     Bring a pot of hot water to boil.  Drop noodles into the boiling water, stir to separate the noodles and boil for 2 minutes or until noodles are cooked but not soft.  Remove and drain.
6.     Place the remaining ingredients mise-en-place, and roughly divide each ingredient into 4 portions

Cooking the dish – 2 servings at a time

7.     Heat wok on high heat with 1 Tablespoon lard.   Add 1 teaspoon garlic and a portion of shrimp and squid and saute until shrimp turns pink. Remove from wok and set aside.
8.     Add 1 Tablespoon lard and 1 teaspoon of garlic and 1 portion of the pork.  Sauté 1 minute until pork is browned, then add the sauce mixture and bring to a boil.
9.     Next, add the vegetable and noodles. Toss till noodles are well coated.  Cover to simmer on medium heat for 2 minutes or until all the sauce is absorbed.
10.  Uncover, turn back heat to high, add back the shrimp, squid and pork cracklings and toss to combine.
11.  Drizzle on a tablespoon of lard to finish.  Serve immediately with sambal and lime.

Repeat for each serving.  It is very important that the dish is cooked no more than 2 servings at a time for maximum “wok hay” (wok’s breath)

Serves: 8

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I used to sell toothpaste in China. We were introducing the Colgate Red into China and I was tasked with the “smaller” markets — those cities with less than 5 million population.  On our launch into Chongqing, I remember walking the slopes of the city (it’s as hilly as San Francisco), supposedly to check out the toothpaste market, but I was mesmerized by the spice markets.  Mounds and mounds of chili and peppers — bright red, dark red, fiery red everywhere.  The air was even spicy! Then we came across this street peddler who was dishing out Liang Fen.  Using a hand grater, he “grated” noodles out of a basin of rice jello, and ladled on a red spicy sauce on top.   That was totally ingenious the way he made the noodles.

Liang Fen is a great starter dish and my favorite Sichuan dish.  Slippery, cool and slightly springy, it’s the canvas for the fiery and numbing sauce.  Sichuan or more commonly misspelt Szechuan cuisine is distinctly unique for its use of hot, numbing spices and lots of fresh vegetables as the province is the vegetable bowl for China.  The Sichuan peppercorn is really a prickly ash, not at all related to regular black pepper.  It has a floral and woody aroma, but its most outstanding feature is how it gives a numbing feeling to your mouth.  One may wonder why in the world would you want that feeling in your food, I find it hard to explain or describe but it does give a nice kick, and an addictive one indeed.  Once banned from the United States, you can now easily find the spice even in your local Wholefoods, or at least local to the Bay Area, thanks to a fusion foods fad a couple of years ago pushing the spice to a ranking in the top 10 must try for the year by Bon Appetit or one of those magazines.

Chef’s tip: Mung bean starch has good nutritional value.  You can easily find it at Korean grocery stores.  To cook it, make sure you stir continuously till it become translucent, otherwise, it will still be raw.  I prefer to use the Sichuan peppercorn oil, too.  It gives the same effect without the coarseness of the peppercorn.  You can omit the tahini for a cleaner tasting sauce.

Noodles

4 cups + 2 tablespoons water

¾ cup mung bean starch*

Sauce

3 tablespoons tahini + 3 tablespoons water (more if tahini is thick)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground toasted Sichuan peppercorn, or Sichuan peppercorn oil

1 teaspoon ginger juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Asian chili oil

½ tablespoon sesame oil

1 stalk green onions, green parts only, julienned into 1 inch strips

Finishing oil:

1 teaspoon Asian chili oil

½ teaspoon sesame oil

Preparing the noodle

1. Mix starch with 1 ½ cups of water till starch is fully dissolved.  Mix in remaining water.
2. Bring to boil, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens.  It’s easiest to stir from the center out. Stir until the mixture is clear and translucent.  About 4 minutes total.
3. Immediately pour mixture into a wet, glass or ceramic dish, about 9X12 inch, making a thin 3/8 inch layer.
4. Leave to cool for 45 minutes in the fridge or 2 hours at room temperature.
5. When set, cut noodles 6 X ½ X ¼ inch strips

Preparing the sauce

1. Mix together the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Assembly:

1. Pour sauce over the noodles and toss to coat.  Finish with a little chili oil and sesame oil.  Garnish with green onions.

Serves: 6

Note: To make your own chili oil, use the recipe below:

Chili oil with chili flakes

½ cup of dried chili flakes

2 cups of peanut oil

1. Put chili flakes in a glass preserving jar (or pyrex)
2. Heat the oil until smoking hot
3. Allow to cool 5 mins
4. Pour into the jar

* Can be found in Asian stores

I read in this month’s Saveur that Penang is having its international food festival this week where the celebration is Penang’s foodways.  First of all, in food-obssessed Penang, every day is a celebration of food.  In the same blurb, it described the local specialty, Assam Laksa, as aromatic, tamarind-based fish noodle soup.  Hard to imagine with such a description what the dish really is – except for those in the know.  My mouth starts to water at the thought of the tang, sour, saltiness and spicyness of the beloved noodle dish.

Chef’s tip: You can find fresh tamarind in the pods at Asian, Indian, Latin markets and Whole Foods.  To prepare tamarind, peel off the tough outer skin of the tamarind pod.  Place the flesh, seeds and veins in a bowl and add some warm water.  Using your hands, gently massage the tamarind to dissolve it.  Sieve.  You can also find tamarind in the block at Asian markets, which is essentially the peeled version.  Tamraind concentrate in the bottle is a lot more sour than fresh tamarind, so start with half the amount.

Ingredients:

1 lb bluefish (Traditionally mackerel, otherwise, any oily flaky fish)

Spice Paste:
6 dried Japanese chilies or 3 fresh red jalapeno
2 pieces of lemongrass
5 shallots
1 tablespoon roasted belachan
¼ cup of canola oil for frying

Soup:
1/2 cup tamarind pulp (including seeds) + 1 cup warm water
6 cups water or fish stock (use fish bouillon if necessary)
5 pieces of dried tamarind slices
4 stalks laksa leaves
Salt to taste (at least a few pinchfuls of salt)
2 teaspoons sugar

Toppings:
1 cup of shredded English cucumber
1 red jalapeno
½ red onion
1 cup of fresh pineapples
1 cup of mint leaves, whole
2 tablespoons laksa leaves, finely minced

12 oz thick fresh rice noodles (lai fun) or 6 oz dried rice vermicelli

1 lime, preferably calamansi
2 Tablespoon haeko

Preparing the fish
1.    Steam the fish until opaque and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Reserve fish stock.
2.    When cooled, remove bones and skin, coarsely flake the fish with a fork.
Preparing the spice paste
3.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
Preparing the laksa soup base
4.    Peel tamarind.  Mash tamarind flesh in 1 cup of warm water.  Remove solids, reserve juice.
5.    Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste. Cook, stirring constantly, until the red oil separates from the spice paste about 8 to 10 minutes.
6.    Lower the heat, slowly add tamarind paste, water, fish stock, tamarind slices and laksa leaves and bring to a slow simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for at 20-30 minutes.  Add salt and sugar to taste.  Remove tamarind slices and laksa leaves. Just before serving, add the flaked fish.
Preparing the vegetables
7.    Finely julienne cucumber, jalapeno, slice the red onion and cut pineapples into small wedges.
8.    Mince the laksa leaves.
Preparing the noodles
9.    Bring a pot of water to boil.  Add salt and oil.  Blanch rice vermicelli quickly – a few seconds.
Assembly
10.    In a small bowl, mix hae-ko shrimp paste with 2 tablespoon warm water
11.    Place a serving of noodles and vegetables in bowls and ladle laksa broth over.
12.    Serve with halved limes and a dollop of hae-ko.

Tossing in as many Vietnamese herbs I can find from the only organic Asian vegetables vendor at the farmers markets in San Francisco Bay Area – Phan Organics Farm of Elk Grove (Civic Center Farmers, SF – Wed and Sun, Berkeley- Tue, Alemany – Sat), this super light noodle salad gives lots of exploding flavors.  It’s a great introduction to the world of Vietnamese herbs.

Chef’s tips: To chiffonade herbs, stack several leaves and roll them tightly.  With a sharp knife, slice the roll finely.  Fluff the sliced herbs to separate them.

Ingredients

Meat:
1 lb ground lean chicken or pork or turkey
2 stalk lemon grass, white part only, very finely sliced
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
Juice from 1 lime
1 Tablespoon rice flour, roasted

6 oz dried  rice vermicelli

Herb:
5 Thai chilies, deseeded and chopped finely
1 cup cilantro, chiffonade
½ cup green onions, sliced thinly
½ cup rau ram, chiffonade
½ cup shiso perilla leaves, chiffonade
½ cup mint leaves, chiffonade
5 kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
Lime zest from 2 limes

Dressing:
Juice from 1 limes
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup fish sauce
½ teaspoon brown sugar
Cilantro or mint sprigs for garnish

Preparing the meat:
1.    Heat a non stick pan under high heat, add the ground meat, chopped lemongrass, 2 Tablespoons each of fish sauce and lime juice.  Cook 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through, while stirring constantly.  Transfer the meat to a large bowl.  Drain off excess liquids.  Cool.
2.    Dry-fry the rice flour (without any oil) under medium heat till golden brown. Add to the meat mixture.
Preparing the rice noodles:
3.    Bring a pot of salted water to boil.  Add rice noodles.  Bring back to a boil, cover, remove from heat and let noodles sit for 15 minutes in hot water.  Drain.
Preparing the herb and dressing:
4.    Slice and chiffonade the herbs.  Toss all herb ingredients together. Set aside.
5.    Mix dressing ingredients together.
Assembly:
6.    Toss the meat, noodles, herb and dressing together to combine.  Let sit for 10 minutes for the flavors to come together.
7.  Garnish with mint sprigs and cilantro.

Serves: 6

Chef’s tip: Make a jar of the shallot oil, it keeps for a few weeks. You can drizzle it on top of vegetables, tofu, or even add to a salad dressing.

Shallot oil:
2 shallots, sliced thinly
½ cup canola oil

Spice Paste:
4 fresh red Jalapeno
6 shallots
1 inch fresh turmeric
1 inch galangal
1 inch ginger

Spice:
¼ cup of canola oil for frying
2 sticks cinnamon
1/2 star anise
1 teaspoon fennel, ground
½ teaspoon cumin, ground
1 Tablespoon coriander seeds, ground
1 Tablespoon curry powder

Broth:
2 cups coconut milk
4 cups chicken broth
2 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons kosher salt, to taste
2 Tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 ½ cups mashed sweet potatoes

16 oz fresh egg noodles

Topping:
8 oz shrimp, peeled, tails-on
12 fried tofu puffs, sliced thin
1 cup mungbean sprouts
3 eggs, hard boiled, sliced
1 cup English cucumber, shredded
1 red jalapeno
Cilantro
1 lime, wedges

Preparing the shallot oil:
1.    In a small pot, heart ½ cup canola oil.  When warm, add sliced shallts and cook until golden brown.  Remove from heat.  Set aside.
2.    Preparing the spice paste:
3.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
Preparing the soup base:
4.    Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste, cinnamon sticks and star anise.  Cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.  Add the remaining spices – fennel, cumin, coriander and curry powder.  Saute until the red oil separates from the spice paste about 5 minutes more.
5.    Lower the heat, slowly add coconut milk and chicken stock and bring to a slow simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for at 20-30 minutes.  Add tamarind, sugar and salt to taste. Whisk in peanut butter and mashed potatoes.
Preparing the noodles:
6.    Bring another pot of salted water to boil and blanch egg noodles till tender but still firm.  Rinse egg noodles under cold water to remove the starch.
Preparing the topping:
7.    Bring a pot of water to boil. Separately blanch shrimp, sprouts, and tofu puffs.
8.    Finely julienne cucumber and jalapeno.
Assembly
9.    Place a serving of noodles, and top with sliced tofu, shrimp, bean sprouts and ladle some broth over.   Garnish with cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro, sliced eggs and a teaspoon of fried shallots and a little shallot oil.
10.    Serve with quartered limes.

Serves: 4

A favorite street food in Malaysia. When I used to wait for my fried kuey teow at my favorite kuey teow hawker stall, I was always fascinated by the lightning speed that the dish is prepared in. The trick is to wok fast and use high heat. The kuey teow master wok so much, his spatula was ground down to the shape of the wok.

Chef’s tip: It is very important that the dish is cooked one serving at a time for maximum “wok hay” (wok’s breath).

Ingredients:

Sauce:
6 tablespoons dark soy sauce
9 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
9 tablespoons water

4 lb fresh flat rice noodles
10 cloves of garlic, minced to make about 10 teaspoons of minced garlic
20 oz shelled uncooked medium-sized shrimps
12 oz Chinese chives
12 oz / 4 cups bean sprouts
4 Chinese sausage, thinly sliced

20 tablespoons/ 1 ¼ cup canola oil, in a squeeze bottle
Sri Racha chili sauce (optional)
10 eggs

Preparing the ingredients:
1.    Mix soy sauces and water together.  Transfer to a squeeze bottle.  Set aside.
2.    Place the remaining ingredients mise-en-place, and roughly divide each ingredient into 10 portions
Cooking the dish – 1 serving at a time:
3.    Heat a cast iron pan or a wok on high heat
4.    Add 1 tablespoon oil, add 1 portion (1/10th of the ingredient) of Chinese sausage and sauté 1 minute till fragrant.  Push to the side of the wok.
5.    Add ½ teaspoon of garlic and a portion of shrimp and saute until shrimp turns pink. Push to the side of the wok.
6.    Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil and another ½ teaspoon of garlic and for spicier option, add ½ teaspoon Sri Racha.  Sauté 30 seconds, add 1 portion of noodles.   Drizzle 2 tablespoons soy sauce mix over the noodles, toss on high heat till noodles are well coated. Push to the side of the wok.
7.    Make a well in the middle, add 1/2 tablespoon of oil.  Break in an egg, drizzle in a teaspoon of soy sauce mix, let it cook like a sunny side up, until eggs are whit but still slightly runny, then scramble the eggs into the noodle mixture.
8.    Add 1 portion each of bean spouts and chives.  Toss to mix.
9.    Serve immediately.

Repeat for each serving.

Serves: 10

This recipe is adapted from a recipe from my friend, Tammy Kang, whom I used to work with in Kuala Lumpur.   We used to love seeking out all the best “makan” joints -  street foods being on top of our list.   Laksa is really the king of street foods.   Laksa Johor is my all-time favorite of the laksa family.  We use many different kinds of fragrant herbs like kaffir lime leaves and if you can get it, bunga kantan, a pink ginger flower bud, and of course, laksa leaves, or more commonly known in the US as Rau Ram.

Chef’s tip: Instead of using a ikan kurau masin (salted dried fish), I use the bacalhao salted cod which is more easily found here and offers just as much sweetness and umami flavors.

Ingredients:

Meat:
½ lb salted cod
½ teaspooon kosher salt
1 lb cod

Spice Paste:
10 dried Japanese chilies or 5 fresh red jalapeno
10 shallots
1 inch of ginger
1 inch of galangal
1 inch fresh tumeric
1 tablespoon roasted belachan
5 candlenuts
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked
3 tablespoon toasted desiccated coconut

Broth:
¼ cup of canola oil for frying
3 cups coconut milk
3 pieces of lemongrass, bruised
5 stalks laksa leaves
3-4 cups fish or chicken broth
1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Toppings:
1 cup of shredded English cucumber
1 red jalapeno
½ red onion
1 cup of fresh pineapples
2 eggs
1 cup of mint leaves, whole
2 tablespoons laksa leaves, finely minced
1 Tablespoon ginger flower, finely minced

8 oz spaghetti, some salt and olive oil
1 lime, quartered

Preparing the salted cod:
1.    Soak the salt cod for a couple of hours.  Change the water if needed.
2.    Remove the bones and mince the fish fine. Soak the dried shrimp for at least an hour.
Preparing the fish:
3.    Salt the fish.  Steam the fish until opaque and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
4.    When cooled, remove bones and skin.  Coarsely flake the fish with a fork.
Preparing the spice paste:
5.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
6.    Grind dried shrimp, salt cod, and toasted desiccated coconut into fine flakes.
Preparing the laksa soup base:
7.    Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste. Stir constantly, until the red oil separates from the spice paste about 8 to 10 minutes. Add fish mince.
8.    Lower the heat, slowly add coconut milk, lemon grass, tamarind slices, laksa leaves, chicken broth and bring to a slow simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for at 20-30 minutes.  Salt to taste.  Remove tamarind, lemongrass and laksa leaves.  Add flaked fish.
Preparing the vegetables:
9.    Finely julienne cucumber and jalapeno. Slice the onion. Cut pineapples into small wedges.  Chiffonade the laksa leaves and ginger flower.
10.    Beat eggs with a pinch of salt.  Make thin omelets. Slice them into ¼ inch strips.
Preparing the noodles
11.    Bring a pot of water to boil.  Boil spaghetti till el dente.  Drain.
Assembly
12.    Place a serving of noodles, vegetables, herb, eggs in bowls and ladle laksa broth over.
13.    Serve with quartered limes and sambal.

Serve: 6

There are many different kinds of laksa.  Generally speaking, laksa is a spicy broth, frequently made with a coconut cream base, served with a variety of meats and herbs.  In this simpler version of curry laksa, more commonly found in the hawker centers of PJ, it’s usually just chicken and “kerang” cockles.  I have substituted the blood-y shellfish with oysters or shrimp to be more acceptable to folks this side of the Pacific!

I always like my laksa noodle “yin yeung” ie a mix of egg noodles and rice noodles.

Chef’s tip: The last drizzle of coconut milk gives a smooth, rich flavor to the broth.

Ingredients

Topping:
1 large boneless chicken breast or thigh, about 1 lb
8 pieces of shucked oysters or shrimp
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered

Spice Paste:
10 dried chilies or about 5 fresh red jalapenos
10 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 lemongrass
2 tablespoon roasted belachan (substitute 2 tablespoon fish sauce)
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
1 inch of galangal
1 tablespoon dried tumeric powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup of canola oil for frying

Broth:
2 cups coconut milk, reserve ½ cup of cream
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of water
Salt to taste (at least a few pinchfuls of salt)
12 fried tofu puffs

6 oz egg noodles
6 oz rice vermicelli

Vegetables:
1 cup mung bean sprouts
Cilantro

Preparing the meat:
1.    Steam chicken breast until cooked, about 20 minutes. Tear or cut into ½ inch thick slices
2.    Drain the oysters, keep refrigerated.  If using shrimp, blanch shrimp.
Preparing the spice paste:
3.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
Preparing the laksa soup base:
4.    Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste. Cook, stirring constantly, until the red oil separates from the spice paste about 8 to 10 minutes.
5.    Lower the heat, slowly add coconut milk, tofu balls, chicken stock and bring to a slow simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for at 20-30 minutes.  Salt to taste.
Preparing the noodles:
6.    Bring a pot of water to boil.  Add salt and oil.  Blanch rice vermicelli till tender.
7.    Using the same water, blanch egg noodles.  Reserve.
Assembly:
8.    Place a serving of noodles and rice vermicelli, vegetables, chicken, and oysters in bowls and ladle laksa broth over.  Drizzle a teaspoon of coconut cream.  Garnish with cilantro.
9.    Serve with quartered limes and sambal.

Serves: 4