Chinese Glass Noodles with Shrimp, and Guest Posting at Ang Sarap

Have you ever tried fen si, or Chinese glass noodles?  They're not to be mistaken for the more common rice vermicelli, or mei fun.  I'm guest-posting today at Ang Sarap, and chose this childhood favorite when Raymund invited me over.  Can I say how thrilled I was at his invitation?  I'm constantly impressed by the range of cuisines Raymund makes and posts, not to mention the volume of them.  Too often I see Asian recipes lumped in one category, their distinctive characteristics muddled together.  But Raymund brings us his native Filipino dishes, along with Vietnamese and Japanese recipes, and cuisines beyond Asia.  Ever wondered about Kiwi cuisine?  Raymund's got a recipe.

To find out the difference between fen si and mei fun, and to get the recipe for Chinese Glass Noodles with Shrimp, visit Ang Sarap.  You'll probably wind up staying there for a while, checking out all Raymund's cooking.

Shrimp, Scallion and Lap Cheong Omelets

This was inspired by a childhood favorite of mine.  Mom often made these omelets with shrimp, but no scallions or vegetables because my picky childhood palate wouldn't tolerate anything green.  When I was older I added the scallions.  Still not a lot in there, but I'm not a fan of diner-style omelets with a pound of cheese and filling.  The freshness of the scallions was great with the crisp and briny bite of fresh shrimp.  You can add soy sauce or oyster sauce like my brother does, or hot sauce like my dad.  And Mom always served these with rice.

To add another twist to the omelet, I used lap cheong (widely known by that Cantonese pronunciation, and called la chang in Mandarin).  You'll find these Chinese sausages in the refrigerated section of your Asian grocer, though Mom buys me some fresh from the butcher when I visit her.  If anybody can recommend a good prepackaged brand, since lap cheong vary in flavor and sweetness, I'd appreciate a suggestion in the comments!

Mom's Shrimp-Stuffed Eggplant

New photo updated Oct. 2012. 

You might think shrimp and eggplant are an odd combination, unless you've had this dish at dim sum.  I love it.  Mom still finds it weird to have me snapping shots around her and trying to note every little detail, but I got the recipe!  In exchange, I showed her how to make sweet potato biscuits, which I'll be posting soon.

The eggplant is sliced on the diagonal, and then sliced again (but not all the way through) to create a pocket to hold the shrimp.  The slices are then filled with shrimp, and browned in the pan.  Because eggplant sucks up oil like a sponge, eggplant dishes can be greasy.  Mom uses the Chinese method of quickly frying for color and flavor, then steaming the rest of the way through to avoid more oil absorption.  The dish is finished off with the usual oyster sauce, and Mom's addition of mirin adds complexity.  Use Japanese eggplants, which are slender and long, rather than the short and bulbous Italian variety.

Feta, Shrimp & Vegetable Orzo

I didn't intend for this to look like fried rice, but between the wok and the shape of the pasta it couldn't be helped.  I've been eating this dish a lot lately, since it's nice and light for summer and uses up goodies from the farmers market.  I based it on a linguine recipe I found online years ago, but have long since ceased using a strict recipe, and I chucked the white wine (go ahead and add some if you really want to).  Lately I've been using orzo and adding various squashes I find from the market.  It's quick, fresh, and delicious.

As for my own produce, my tomatoes are still taking their time ripening.  I did harvest my first eggplant of the season today, and I've been snipping some flowers from the yard.  This apricot rose starts out as this pretty orange, then as it opens it changes to shades of pink and red.  The white hydrangeas look nice and rustic in my ice cream machine bucket.

Got Leftovers? Make Fried Rice!

 

That's what I did after two days of eating Christmas ham. You can only eat so much leftover ham! After all, fried rice is a dish of leftovers -- throw in whatever meat and vegetables you have in the fridge. The rice, in fact, must be at least a day old or you get gluey fried rice. So save the white rice from your takeout order, or make a pot of rice the night before.  Then throw it all together, and you've got yourself a new meal.  If you don't have or don't eat ham (or shrimp), try chicken, roast pork, or your favorite vegetables.  I was also only too eager to break in the new wok I got for Christmas, and I've been wanting to cook more Chinese food (you know, heritage and all).

Cooking Malaysian with Mom

So I finally made it back to New York for a long weekend with the family, and did I eat well!  I had Dominican steak and plantains with my sis and her roommate in Washington Heights, brunch out with sis and mom, and a stroll around Chelsea Market.  I also had dinner at Locanda Verde with Bao, who's written some food pieces for the New York Times City Room blog and suggested a three-course dessert at Chikalicious.  I said, "Twist my arm, why don't you?"  I tried steak tartare for the first time and liked it, along with our fritto misto, pumpkin agnolotti, and halibut saltimbocca.  And it was fun to see the dessert chefs prepare my darjeeling gelee with pear sorbet; warm chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream; and coconut marshmallow, spice cake petit four, and lavender chocolate truffle.

Watching bread bakers at Chelsea Market

Brunch starters

But I did some cooking as well, with my mom.  She showed me how to make some Curry Shrimp and a Shrimp and Roast Pork Mei Fun.  Some mei fun versions are soy sauce-based, and others, like this one, use a curry sauce.  I love to eat both.  Like lots of old-school Chinese cooks, she doesn't measure or time things, write down recipes, or make them the same way every time.  So I estimated measurements and took notes, helping out when asked and snapping photos.  She wasn't used to the last part, but seemed amused by it.  So I've decoded my garbled notes and estimates, and hopefully when I make the dishes on my own I'll have gotten them all right!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Potstickers!

I get asked a lot why I don't make more Chinese food. Well, I learned to cook after I left home, and there were far more resources on Western cooking. But one thing I did help make as a kid were won tons, so this potsticker challenge seemed very doable. But unlike some other bloggers, this isn't really representative of cuisine in Hainan (the island in China's south), Malaysia, or Singapore -- the places of my grandparents' and parents' birth. It's just what my family used to fill won tons and then tweaked by me. It's delicious, is what it is!

I've never made wrappers from scratch before, but I've got to thank Jen of use real butter for making it mandatory for the challenge! Once I got the hang of making them, it was relatively easy. I tried my hand at pretty pleats, but they were ugly so I proceeded with a simple fold-over. So the result was plain, but our cleared plates were testament to the tastiness!

My Filling:

It was funny measuring ingredients for this recipe. If your mom is like my mom, she measures and times nothing because she just has the instinct. That's led to some unsuccessful re-creations of her recipes (is "a little" a pinch or a teaspoon, ma?), but I always managed with this!

½ lb ground pork

½ lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tsp ginger, grated on the microplane or minced

5 scallions, chopped

1 tbs sesame oil

1 tbs soy sauce

½ tsp black pepper

2 tbs cornstarch

Pulse everything in the food processor until you get chunky bits. Or finely chop the larger ingredients and stir everything together. That ice-cream-like-scoop you use for cookie dough is useful here, too. Thanks to Lisa-Is-Bossy for the suggestion on using a pestle as a mini rolling pin! I was confused a bit at first on how thick and long to roll the dough logs, but if you have a scale, each dough chunk and rolled-out wrapper should average out to about 25 grams.

These get fried a bit so you get crunchy undersides, and then they sizzle in steam so they cook the rest of the way through:

The Challenge: Chinese dumplings/potstickers (aka gyoza in Japanese)

Reveal Date: June 14th! Good luck, Daring Cooks - woohoo!
It's a basic concept: a filling inside a dough wrapper, sealed, and cooked. This delicious theme runs through many cultures and is among the more popular bites at Chinese restaurants - especially dim sum. The recipe I provide is based on my family recipe. There is a lot of wiggle room and I encourage you to explore. If you've made them before - great! Now try something different!

The process goes a little like this:

You can (and should) reference instructional photos and discussion on my blog post here.