Noodling Around

I made this up from what I had available in the kitchen.  You could easily alter the veg or add diced meat and make something just as delicious.

Vegetable Noodles with Cashews

Sauce:

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 teaspoons chili garlic paste

2 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 teaspoon ginger, chopped

¼ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

Thick noodles (Shanghai or similar) – enough for four servings

Broccoli florets (I used 3 medium heads)

1 medium carrot, chopped

½ cup cashews

2 tablespoon sesame oil

2-3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

Heat water for noodles and mix all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.

Boil noodles according to package directions.  Rinse well and drain.  Set aside.

Heat peanut or vegetable oil in wok or large heavy saucepan over high heat until just smoking.  Add carrots, broccoli, and cashews, stir fry for 30 seconds.   

Add noodles and sauce; stir fry for 1-2 minutes until veggies are crisp-tender.   

Transfer to bowl; mix in sesame oil.  Serve immediately.

Sez Who? Sesame, That's Who!

This couldn't be easier - some stuff in the blender, a few vegetables chopped, some noodles boiled - toss it all around in a pan, and there you go.  In fact, you could make the sauce the night before and heat it up when you get home from work to cut the cooking time a bit more.  It has a powerful nutty/salty/sweet flavour - I'd probably add more chili paste (perhaps double, because I like the spice), but do as suits you.  I also added some stir-fried snow peas - you could also try water chestnuts, stir-fried broccoli, or other veg.  Thin strips of beef cooked on the grill wouldn't go amiss, either...

Sesame Noodles with Peanut Sauce*
 

1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
10 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon chili garlic paste
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
Hot water

16 ounces noodles
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
4 scallions (green onions), sliced thin on diagonal
1 medium carrot, grated

Toast the sesame seeds in a medium skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes.  Reserve 1 tablespoon sesame seeds in a small bowl.  In a blender or food processor, puree the remaining 3 tablespoons sesame seeds with peanut butter, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili paste, and brown sugar until smooth, about 30 seconds.  If sauce is too thick, with the machine running add hot water 1 tablespoon at time until the sauce has the consistency of heavy cream – slightly  thickened but pourable.  Set blender jar or workbowl aside.

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Rinse noodles well and drain.  Put noodles either in a large bowl or the pot you cooked them in.   Toss noodles with sesame oil using tongs until evenly coated. Add scallions, carrot, and sauce; toss to combine. Divide among individual bowls, sprinkle each bowl with portion of reserved toasted sesame seeds, and serve immediately.  (May need slight heating in microwave)

*Errrr.... may contain peanuts...

Honey Glazed Chicken

My favourite types of Chinese dishes are the ones where the chunks of meat are battered and fried to crispiness before being coated in a tangy sauce (yes, I'm an unrepentant Panda Express orange chicken addict).  Needless to say these are also the messiest, most labour-intensive, and highly caloric and fatty dishes as well!  What's not to love?.... aside from the disaster it wreaks on your kitchen and the time it takes to make it?  This recipe is a good middle ground that I really liked the texture of as well as the taste, and it's easy to make and won't make a wreck of your kitchen.

 

Honey Glazed Chicken
 
2 lbs diced uncooked chicken breast
1/3 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup honey

4 cloves garlic, pressed
5 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons ground ginger 

Heat oven to 350F. 

In a shallow dish combine the flour, salt, and pepper.  Dip each piece of chicken in the flour mixture and coat evenly.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a shallow baking dish, large enough to accommodate the chicken in a single layer.  Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt remaining the butter and add the honey, lemon juice, soy sauce, and ginger.  Add garlic done through a garlic press.

After chicken has baked 30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 15 minutes, and then turn broiler on low until sauce consistency thickens and caramelises into a glaze, basting/turning frequently with a wide spatula.

Serve with rice or noodles.  Mmmmmm, noooodles.....

Ethnic Market Adventures

There's this amazing nondescript noodle factory in town - who knew?  And with fresh noodles for 99 cents a pound?  Hell yes!  I bought five pounds of medium and large-size stir-fry noodles.  I'll definitely be visiting Mei Mei again, as I have the most noodle-eatingest kid in the world.  And bonus: there's a fortune cookie factory next door.

 

Next was the Asian Food Center, a paradise of sauces and oils... (and a really pungent fish smell, but that generally comes with the territory)  Seriously, SO many brands of soy sauce, rice wine, marinades and oils and pickles and... just everything!  It was overwhelming, perplexing, and fascinating.  I'd have spent hours in there if I wouldn't have incurred stranger looks than I usually get...

And finally my introduction to the wonderland that is 99 Ranch market.  First stop was to do something I've thought about every time I visit Chinatown - what do those roast ducks that hang in windows by the dozen taste like?  They look delicious and smell divine, so they have to be good, right?  I ordered a half-duck, but what with the language barrier, the butcher thought my slicing motion meant that I wanted a whole one, cut up, and I thought better of trying to correct the misunderstanding...

And good news, everyone!  After 4 pm duck tongues are half price!

Some more roasted and barbecued meatnesses.

 Errrrrr.... I've had a bung gut before.  It's no fun.  And I wouldn't recommend porking during it.

What is this?  I don't even....

You had me at "yummy."  I should have got some of this.

The swag: about 7 pounds of various noodles, a 5-pack of garlic for 89 cents (!), snow peas, the accidental duck, mirin, sesame oil, chili oil, Char Siu sauce for pork, a can of coconut cream for macaroons, and a marvellous delight called coconut bread (incredible toasted with homemade cranberry orange marmalade).

Now, as to the duck - I was disappointed overall.  The amount of useable meat on it was only enough for one good-sized meal.  The thing was unpleasantly fatty.  Nonetheless - I tossed the carcass in a pot with chopped onion, garlic, and carrots, black pepper, star anise, and coriander to make stock that bubbled away merrily on the hob for a few hours, making the house smell amazing.  Refrigerating this overnight also gave me a beautiful layer of duck fat that I scraped off and have squirreled away for special dishes.  Culinary gold!

The meat I was able to wrest from the beast was a tad oily for my taste, so I shredded it and baked it in the oven a bit before doing a stir fry with noodles and snow peas with oyster, chili, and soy sauces.  Very flavourful and I enjoyed every bite!  Next time, though, I think I'd find a packaged duck breast if I wanted it again, and cook it myself without all the hoo-ha.