Ants up a Tree 螞蟻上樹: Spicy Pork Noodles

Mmmm…spicy. Super fast Sichuan Chinese noodle dish. 

A note on mung bean noodles: they come in different sizes and shapes, not unlike Italian pastas. I ran out of the thin skinny kind, which is traditionally used in this recipe. Personally, I rather like the thicker, more al dente texture of the thicker noodles. Random cultural lesson: in Taiwan, they call this chewy bite “Q”. Like mochi is Q. Or gummy bears are Q. Insert extra Q for added f.o.b factor: “these noodles are so QQ!”

Anyway. Mung bean noodles are awesome because they are made out of beans. And therefore gluten free! It’s got a brittle dry texture pre-soak. Stiff and slightly slimy post-soak. Wonderfully Q when cooked. Stole a picture of the thin kind from google:

On to our recipe! Not including soak/marinating time, takes 10 minutes max to cook. I heart me some fast stir fry.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 3 batches of mung bean noodles
• 1/4 lb ground pork
• 1 tsp hot bean sauce
• soy sauce
• 1 slice fresh ginger, julienned  (or 1/2 tsp ground)
• 2 stalks green onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• corn starch
• cooking oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Soak mung bean noodles in cold water for 1 hour+. Drain and set aside. 
2. Marinate pork in 1/2 tsp corn starch dissolved in 1 tbs soy sauce and ginger for 30min-1 hour. Discard ginger.
3. Dissolve ~1 tsp+ corn starch in 1 cup of cold water and set aside.
4. Heat 1 tbs oil in wok/large saute pan on high. When pan is smoking hot (smoKING), add meat. Using the edge of the spatula, break up the meat as small as you can. When evenly brown and cooked through, remove from heat and set aside. NOTE: I used a sharp pair of kitchen scissors to cut meat up even smaller after cooking.
5. In remaining oil over medium high heat, fry garlic and green onion until fragrant ~ 1-2 min. Add ~3 more tbs soy sauce, HALF the corn starch mixture, and stir. When mixture starts to bubble, add meat back in and stir evenly.
6. Add noodles. COVER and let it steam for 3-5 min. If not enough liquid to steam noodles, add more corn starch mixture. (this is not meant to be a soupy dish, just enough liquid to cook the noodles is fine). Remove from heat.
7. Top with fresh chopped scallions and serve.

They love me! They really LOVE me!!

Look, Ma! I’ve got a tiny following on the interwebs!

• pinterest
• chowhound

Alright, perhaps “love” is too strong a word. I feel rather guilty for neglecting this baby of mine (189 posts and counting!). But after a longggg four years, with one blog hiatus after another (and a boot from yelp elite due to inactivity), I finally got my doctorate degree in eyeballs. I suppose this means from here on out, I’ll either have a LOT more time for this food obsession of mine, or a lot less…

On to my residency in New York City! Many more epicurean adventures await.

*Almost as excited as I was eating giant oysters in New Orleans :O –>

Lemon Thyme Meatballs 2.0

Citrus-y meatballs, TAKE TWO! This time I managed to take photos before total consumption… 

INGREDIENTS: (makes 16-17 meatballs)

• 3/4 lb ground pork
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or other hard, sharp cheese
• ~1 tsp dry sage
• ~1 tsp dried thyme
• ~1 tsp parsley
• 1/2 medium onion, minced
• 1 Meyer lemon
• salt/pepper
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbs butter
• <1 tsp corn starch

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Heat 1 tbs oil over high heat. Saute onions until just brown (5 min). Salt generously. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix meat, panko, cheese, cooled onions, seasoning, ~1.5-2 tsp kosher salt, several cranks of black pepper, zest from 1 lemon, and 1 egg. Mix with hands until just combined. Roll into racket ball sized meatballs.
4. Bake meatballs in oven on a greased aluminum lined pan ~ 15 min or until cooked through. It’ll be browning slightly on the top.
5. SAUCE: Melt butter in small sauce pan over medium heat. When completely melted, slowly add 1 tsp corn starch/flour. Stir continuously until evenly incorporated. Add white wine and reduce on med/high heat. When wine is mostly cooked off (you can smell it cook out) and 1/2 cup chicken stock slowly. Continue to stir and reduce liquid by half. Add a pinch more thyme and sage. Stir in more chicken stock if necessary to reach consistency of your liking. Reduce heat.
6. Add meatballs into sauce. Toss to cover, serve.

Healthy Cuban Spiced Chicken and Rice

I loooove this recipe. Have made it twice, still perfecting it. You kind of can’t go wrong with chicken and rice, though. My main problem is figuring out the right timing for brown rice. But use white rice if you want to simplify your life. Adapted from Bon Appetit 

MARINADE:

• juice and zest from 1 lime
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 jalapeño, minced
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• salt/black pepper

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 lb chicken legs/thighs, bone in, skin on
• 1/2 lb chorizo flavor seitan (1 pkg Upton’s)
• 1/2 small bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cups brown rice, *soaked in water AT LEAST 1 hour*
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 15oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 15oz can of chicken broth
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric for color
• 1 pinch chili pepper flakes
• 1 Piquillo or pimiento pepper. chopped (I get these from the olive bar)
• salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Generously salt/pepper chicken. Place in large ziplock bag. Add marinade ingredients. Shake to mix and coat evenly. Refrigerate 8 hours+ (morning of for dinner, or night before for lunch). Turn bag occasionally. Remove chicken and set aside, reserving marinade. 
2. Heat 1 tbs oil in medium dutch oven on medium high heat. Brown chicken skin side down. Do not crowd. Do in batches as necessary. 5 min per side. Set chicken aside.
3. Pour out excess fat from chicken. Add onions and saute until soft, 5 min. Salt generously. Add bell pepper and garlic, saute another 3 minutes or until just soft. Add chorizo, breaking it up in the pot.
4. Drain and add brown rice. Stir in and mix. Stir in canned tomato, chicken broth, paprika, turmeric, chili pepper flakes and rest of the marinade. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, cook for ~20-30 min. Add more broth if rice dries out. (***Do NOT over stir rice. It’ll make it goopy).
5. Salt rice generously and stir once. Place chicken skin side up on top and push into the rice. Reduce to simmer, cook 15 min.
6. Add piquillo pepper on top of chicken. Cover and cook until rice is cooked through, 10 min or so.

Note: In this recipe, brown rice takes at least 45 min to an hour to cook, with the soak.

It’s worth the trouble to have brown rice and seitan instead of white rice and sausage! Just think of how many more servings you can have because of those changes? (I keep my chicken with skin for the flavor. thAT I’m not giving up (: )

Lamb Meatballs w/ Eggplant + Figs

Recipe to be finalized. To be honest I made this up as I went and I was already drunk from too much red wine. Never open up your bottle too early! Anyway, tastes great. I just don’t remember the exact measurements of the ingredients… so I’ll have to try it again some other time. (:

• 1 lb ground lamb
• 0.5 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• ~7 indian eggplants
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp corriander seeds, grounded
• 1/2 tsp mint
• 5 dried figs
• 1 cup red wine
• 0.5-1 cup beef stock
• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes (i used 1 can regular)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 tsp sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 390F.
2. Line baking pan with foil. Rub eggplant with olive oil, place on foil and bake 20 min or until wrinkly and soft.
3. Mix cumin, paprika, corriander, mint. Add half the seasonings to the meat along with 1 tsp kosher salt, half the minced garlic, 2 figs minced finely, and breadcrumbs. Combine gently. Form into golfball sized meatballs. In a medium sized dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium high heat, add meatballs, and brown evenly. Remove and set aside. Drain excess fat. 
4. Add onions, the remainder of the garlic, and seasonings. Add a pinch of salt. Saute until onions soft and translucent ~10 min.
5. Deglaze pan with 1 cup red wine. Reduce to half the volume. Add 2 cans of tomatos, sugar, 3 figs sliced up, and beef stock. Salt to taste. Return meatballs and eggplant. Cover and simmer, 30 min or until meatballs cooked through.
6. Serve over grain to sop up sauce. (I made plain quinoa.)

“Healthy” Chicken Korma

Or my version of it. Love the creamy nutty flavor of the sauce. And these white sweet potatoes are growing on me. I bought one by accident once and I really like how they are the perfect balance between white potatoes and sweet potatoes. One, they’re healthier than white potatoes… but they also have a denser, drier texture than sweet potatoes. Mushy sweet potatoes are no bueno, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem with its paler cousin.

This was totally a throw together after work kind of meal. Since I made it up as I went, I’ll have to clean up this recipe in the future when I try it again….Curry is hard to mess up though. Creative liberty is encouraged (:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 chicken thighs, yields ~1.5 cups cubed
• 1 large white sweet potato
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp whole coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbs curry powder
• ~3/4 cup greek yogurt
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup roasted salted pistachios
• 1/4 cup cashews
• optional: 2 tbs ghee
• frying oil
• salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preparation: Cut chicken in to 1.5 inch cubes. Cut sweet potato into 1 inch cubes. Grind nuts in a blender to a fine powder.
   
2. In a large bowl, combine all spices and half the ground nuts. Add chicken and yogurt. Mix and coat evenly. Set aside and marinate (do this ahead of time if you’d like. I did not marinate longer than 30 min and it was fine.)
3. In a 3.5qt dutch oven or pot, heat oil over high heat. Add onions, salt generously, and saute until soft and caramelized (~15min or so. Add a dash of chicken stock to speed up the softening processes).
4. Add chicken and more oil if the pot is dry (or ghee if you have it). Stir often and let chicken brown for 5 min.
5. Add chicken stock, deglaze bottom of the pan, and let it come to a boil. Add sweet potatoes and the rest of the nut mixture. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 30 min. Optional: add 1-2 tsp corn starch to some cold water, stir to dissolve, and pour into curry to let it thicken.
6. Add raisins, continue to simmer 10 min or until potatoes are fork tender.
7. Serve over rice, with naan, or if you’re trying to be healthy like me, over a big bowl of steamed broccoli. (:

Healthy Eggs Benedict + Wilted Spinach and Truffle Salad

Weekends = real breakfast.

EGGS BENEDICT:

• 1 multigrain English muffin
• 2 eggs
• white vinegar (or any non colored vinegar)
• 4 slices canadian bacon
• shredded cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill a small sauce pot half way with water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add 1 tbs vinegar. Carefully crack eggs into hot water (or crack into individual small ramekins and dip ramekins into water and slide out egg). Cover pot and set aside ~4 min. 
2. Halve and toast English muffin.
3. Heat small frying pan on medium high. Add a tsp or so of oil and fry canadian bacon until crisp on edges, flipping as needed.
4. Remove bacon from pan onto each slice of toasted English muffin. Top with cheese. Return to toaster oven, set on broil, and let cheese melt. (If you dont have a toaster oven, put cheese on bacon while it’s still in the frying pan and let it melt with heat on medium).

.
WILTED SPINACH and TRUFFLE SALAD

• 2 handfuls of clean baby spinach
• 1 shallot, sliced
• truffle oil

In remaining bacon fat, fry shallots until soft. Add spinach and a pinch of salt. Toss until just wilted. Remove and plate. Drizzle a few drop sof truffle oil on top.