Category: Cooking

I had actually started a post called "Goodbye Alice"…. I had finally used up the last bottle of Park's Brand Kimchee Sauce, and made my last batch of Chicken Alice Fried Chicken. If you're wondering who Chicken Alice is, and what's the big deal about her fried chicken, you can read the Honolulu Star Bulletin article from 2005 here. And if you'd like to read about how much I enjoyed Chicken Alice's Fried Chicken my original post is here. Well enough of that….. this is part of what I thought my last batch of Chicken Alice's chicken looked like:

 
There's a certain crispy-sticky texture that the batter has. Courtesy of this:

And over the years, whenever I had visitors who asked me what I wanted…. I'd say Park's Brand Kim Chee Sauce…. boy did I get some really interesting responses……. of all the things I'd want from home, it was a second rate Kim Chee base. Needing refrigeration, I knew it was a hassle getting this for me, so I decided to stop asking…… and so I thought I'd made my last batch.

Until, on a recent visit to Marukai Gardena, I spied this:

I couldn't believe my eyes…… after making sure that I wasn't suffering from some sort of dementia, I bought three bottles. You see, I'd been less than pleased with my last couple of batches…. I still enjoyed the chicken, but it tasted a bit dated. Personally, I think people enjoy bolder flavors nowadays, and this recipe was starting to be a bit….. well, "Chicken Alice a la King"…. a recipe from another generation. Now that I had a decent stock on hand, I decided to experiment a bit. Recently. I've been updating my mochiko, and other chicken recipes replacing flour with rice flour, which creates a lighter, sweeter, a slightly more crisp batter. So my first shot was replacing the flour in the recipe with rice flour:

 
Based on the amount of water in the recipe, I should have known better…… the batter was too thin, and didn't adhere well to the chicken. I think I could have done some neato-Korean voodoo-Kyochon-double frying, and perhaps have gotten a better results, but I love the crunchy batter. In the end, the changes were minor. I added sugar, because I enjoy a tad more sweetness. I upped the garlic to one entire bulb. I added a teaspoon of Korean Red Chili powder for more heat, and the biggest change, to lighten up, and give me some good crispness, I added baking powder. Nothing like a bit more leavening to get things crisp and light.

Compare it to the first photo, and you'll notice a much more crunchy batter. One real serious item…… adding sugar means that these babies will burn if not tended right. I did end up double frying. The Missus, who is suffering from PPTSS (Post Poultry Tramatic Stress Syndrome, as detailed in this post), ended up taking most of the chicken to work. And I heard it went over well. 

Chicken Alice Fried Chicken revised
5 pounds chicken wings
Vegetable oil for deep frying 

Batter:
1/2 cup Parks brand kim chee sauce
1 bulb galic minced
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons salt
2-1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Korean Red Pepper powder (optional)

Combine kim chee sauce, garlic, salt, sugar, baking powder, and flour. Add water gradually, enough to make a thick batter, about the consistency of pancake batter.

Add chicken pieces to batter, mix well and marinate in refrigerator overnight.

Heat oil to 350 degrees.Deep-fry chicken pieces until chicken rises to surface and is light brown. Remove and cool for five minutes return to oil and fry until coating is deep brown, and chicken pieces float.It's important to keep the oil at this temperature in order to assure the perfect crisp coating.

When the Missus saw this recipe in Mastering the Art of Chinese Cookingby Eileen Yin-Fei Lo She wanted it made immediately. It seems, the Missus doesn't just love Okonomiyaki, but all types of pancakes.

 The Missus had eaten something like this before, but balked at the addition of peanuts, so I omitted them. In order to get a nutty flavor, I added sesame oil instead. So if you want to make the recipe as written in the book, you can add 2 tablespoons raw peanuts that you dry roast. The Missus thought zucchini would be pretty bland, so we bought what She called "water squash". I removed the seeds and just used the solid portions. It did add a nice mild sweetness. I also realized that this might be a tad bland so I added a bit of salt. I would also recommend that you follow the recipe's instructions and use peanut oil. Because of the rather delicate flavor, it will make a difference. Also, 1 1/2 cup of squash isn't much bulk, so I doubled the recipe, which made four decent size pancakes.

So without further ado…..

Chiu Chow Squash Pancakes

1 1/2 Cups Squash or zucchini sliced into 1/4" strips 
3 Tb sliced scallion
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 1/2 Tb premium soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp Shaoxing (drinking quality please)
4 1/2 Tb All purpose flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
dash of white pepper and salt
3+ Tb peanut oil.

– In a bowl combine dry ingredients
– In another bowl lightly beat egg and add soy sauce, sesame oil, and Shaoxing 
– Add sift dry ingredients into wet and combine into a batter.
– Add scallions and squash and mix until a batter forms.
– For about 30-40 seconds, heat a pan or wok over high heat.
– Add 3 Tb peanut oil, make sure the pan is fully coated.
– Using a large spoon or ladle, scoop up half the batter and pour into the pan.
– Using the spoon or ladle, gently spread the batter until a fairly thin textured circle is formed.
– Jiggle the pan and wok to ensure that the pancake is not sticking. Lower temperature to medium.
– When you can see the edges of the pancake is brown, flip the pancake over.
– Add more oil if necessary.
– When the pancake is browned, remove to a paper-towel lined plate.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know what to call this dish. It is truly an "ABCD" – American Born Chinese Dish….. It takes a bit from a bunch of different dishes I've eaten. I'd love to call it "Gan Shao Qie Zi"(干燒茄子), dry braised eggplant, but this really isn't that either. The dish was born from necessity. The Missus loves eggplant, but at the time…. almost twelve years ago, all we had was a lousy electric stove. Also, since eggplant is a real "oil sponge" we really didn't want to use very much oil, especially without high heat.

I'm sure most of you have created your own hybrid dishes born of necessity. This one is ours. Basically, the eggplant starts in a smoking wok, but once color is achieved, the heat is turned down to medium.

The eggplant is flavored during cooking with some of our favorite ingredients. Items are added as the various liquids are absorbed by the eggplant.

Once the eggplant has been cooked as desired an additional sauce is mixed with the eggplant.

It's one of the dishes that we've kept since our apartment days…… It may seem like a lot of steps, but like most things I make, it's pretty easy.

And though I'm still not quite convinced this is worth a post, I'm tired of looking at the photos. Maybe you all can share the recipes born of necessity that you've kept from your college dorm or apartment days. I'm sure you've come up with some pretty innovative stuff and I'd love to read about it!

Chinese Style Spicy Eggplant:

1 1/2 – 2 lbs Chinese Eggplant cubed
3-4 Dried Chilies
3-4 Tb dried shrimp
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tb granulated sugar
2-3 Tb soy sauce
2-3 Tb Chinkiang Black Vinegar
2-3 Tb Shaoxing – drinking quality
Water if necessary
Salt and White Pepper to taste
3-4 Tb Canola Oil

Sauce:
2-3 Tb Chinkiang Black Vinegar
2 Tb Soy Sauce
1 Tb Oyster Sauce
1 Tb Hoisin sauce
1-2 tsp Chili Paste
1 tsp sesame oil

Chili oil
Cilantro

– Mix sauce ingredients.
– Heat a wok until smoking
– Add canola oil and scald dry chilies
– Add eggplant and dried shrimp and stir fry.

– When the eggplant starts to color add Shaoxing and turn heat to medium.
– Add black vinegar, garlic, and sugar, and mix. Cover for 2 minutes to soften eggplant.
– Uncover and stir fry over medium heat until liquid is absorbed, and eggplant starts to turn "dry".
– Add soy sauce and keep stir frying.
– If eggplant has not softened add water 2 tablespoons at a time, mix, cover, and repeat, until eggplant is fully cooked through.
– Taste the eggplant, it should have some flavor even without the sauce.
– Using your Chinese spatula, manipulate the eggplant until the desired texture is achieved.
– Once the eggplant has reached your desired texture, add the sauce, mix quickly, and remove from heat.
– Add chili oil to taste, and garnish with cilantro.

I was surprised that a few folks wanted to know what we did with "Daikon-zilla".

 Other than a bit for oroshi, we decided to make Turnip Cakes, which well, isn't made from turnips…perhaps it once was, but nowadays, radish is used. Funny thing, over the years my post and recipe for turnip cakes has been pretty popular.

I realized after shredding the daikon, that this was going to make a whooooole lotta turnip cakes. Meet mount daikon:

 
  After simmering the daikon, and waiting for it to cool……

I went to owkr on the other ingredients. I decided to use twice the amount of dried shrimp and lup cheong this itme around. I also added dried shiitake mushroom that had been soaked for about twenty minutes or so.

This time, instead of soaking the shrimp in water, I started the stir fry with the sausage and shrimp in about 2 tablespoons of oil, and added a a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom soaking liquid before adding the mushrooms. Scallions go last. I stir-fried the whole thing until the liquid evaporated….

I ad the cilantro directly into the batter before steaming. Man, this made four pans of turnip cake……

We gave some of it away…. but we'll be eating this for a while.

Of course the Missus needed something for lunch…… so I made some Karei Karaage.

So easy it doesn't deserve a recipe…. potato starch, sea salt, shichimi togarashi……

Oil at 350……

Fry away……

Turn once…..

 
When the bubbling starts to slow down…..

It's ready, freddy……

I cut slits in the fish….. this allows the bones to cook, making them crunchy and edible. Afterall, one must get their calcium, right?

So what did I eat? (yes, the Missus ate both of these) I had some of the lup cheong, shrimp, and mushroom mix, and made an omelet…. man was that good!

So what did you eat this past weekend?

The Missus has been requesting these for a while, so today I thought I'd take a shot at making them.

You may not recognize the name, but once you look at them you'll realize that these are the sweet-savory-sometimes spicy potatoes that are delivered to your table as panchan.

This wasn't much of a problem as I had all the ingredients at home….. except for the potatoes. I wanted it a bit spicier than I usually get them so I added red pepper powder and kochujang. Another easy recipe, but quite good.

A couple of notes; the "mulyeot" I use is malt syrup, not colored corn syrup, which is cheaper, but at least to my palate doesn't taste the same. The Kochujang I use usually has glutinous rice powder and soybean in it. There are versions that use other ingredients.

Gamja Jorim:

2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" – 3/4" cubes, rinsed to remove excess starch.
1 small onion sliced thin
6 cloves garlic sliced thin lengthwise
Red Pepper Powder to taste (optional)
2 Tb Canola Oil
Sesame Oil to taste

The sauce

1/4 Cup light soy sauce
1/4 Cup water
3 Tb Mulyeot (Malt Syrup)
3 Tb granulated sugar
1 Tb Kochujang
3 cloves garlic finely minced

– Mix the ingredients for the sauce, and set aside.
– Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil.
– Add the onions and garlic(and red pepper powder if desired), saute until translucent.
– Add the potatoes and saute.
– When the potatoes start to brown, add the sauce and bring to a boil.
– Turn down the heat to a low simmer, and cover.Stir every 2 minutes or so until the potatoes are cooked through.
– You may add more liquid if necessary.
– When the potatoes are cooked through, remove from heat and add sesame oil to taste, and stir to incorporate.
– Cover and let sit until cool.
– Serve at room temperature or cooler.

It sure was nice to have a sunny day…… and San Diego always looks much better after a good rain has scrubbed the skies. While the Missus wanted to sleep in, I thought I'd take a drive, and ended up at Presidio Park. The Missus and I used to go there regularly when we lived in the Mission Valley area,  often packing a nice bento or sandwich lunch. Since we've moved, we haven't been back very often. But on days like today, it sure is a beautiful, and tranquil place.

Across from the park area was the location of Fort Stockton, and the monument to the Mormon Battalion.

 
Here's the view on one side…..

And even though the Missus decided on sleeping in, I was by no means alone……

It made for a nice little diversion…..

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Xin Nian Kuai Le, Cung Chúc Tân Xuân (or is it Chúc Mung Nam Moi maybe someone can tell me?), Happy Valentines Day, and happy President's Day, all rolled into one! That's one heckofa holiday weekend that much is for sure. As is usual for us, we're kinda laying low, and will have our big meals a bit later on….. or perhaps the Missus actually believes me when I say, "but honey, every day can be Valentine's day!" Hmmm, probably not…..

Still, the Missus gets whatever She wants to eat today, and what She wanted was a BLT with thick cut bacon and sprouts on sourdough, and a potato salad! Huh? I can however, understand Her thinking….. the temperature today was in the mid-seventies, more like late spring than mid-February weather…. so you want a BLT, fine! Of course the potato salad wasn't going to be your basic potato-mayo combination salad. The Missus was thumbing thru Wanda Adam's The Island Plate II (I really can't say reading, because She's just looking for photos), and saw the recipe for Beau Soleil's Aegean Potato Salad. Which is sorta what She wanted…. I'll say sorta, because of course there were adjustments…..

The Missus wanted to use Blue Cheese instead of Feta, and told me to lose the Italian Parsley, but add scallions. I was interested in making the salad because it used both capers….

and mint….

 
Items that I've never used in a potato salad. Also the lack of mayo was something different for me as well. In order to have a reasonable portion for the Missus and I, the amount of potatoes was cut in half, but the amounts of other ingredients have been kept the same (or increased), since the salad sounded a bit bland to me, and my hunch was right. I really enjoyed the salad, the flavor of the mint was faint(if you were a poet, you could say, it was a "hint of mint"), and if you didn't know it was in the salad, your mind might be asking you, "what is the flavor, it's familiar, but I can't place it."

What was an even bigger coincidence was that I was born and raised in Kaimuki, and I have taken food to go from Beau Soleil when it was located on Waialae Avenue! Sorry to say, Beau Soleil moved back to Manoa, then closed down a couple of years back.

Blue Cheese Potato Salad with Capers and Mint.

1 1/2 lbs red potatos cubed
4 tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2-3 tb Red Wine Vinegar
1/3 Cup crumbled blue cheese
3 tb capers, rinsed, drained, and coarsely chopped
1/2 medium red onion minced
2 tb chiffonade of mint leaves
4 tb chopped green onions
Salt to taste

– Cook potatoes in salted water until tender.
– When potatoes are tender enough to pierced with a skewer, drain in a colander. Rinse immediately with cold water to stop cooking and remove excess starch, and drain.
– While potatoes are still warm, gently mix together all ingredients. Don't forget to taste, and adjust seasoning. Also, remember that flavors will be more intense after the salad "sets".
– Serve at room temperature or cooler.

So while the Missus had Her BLT and potato salad….. I had me some refreshing Cold Sichuan Noodles (Sichuan Liang Mian):

And I made this…..

Can you guess what it is????

Would you believe that it's dog food??? Yes, it's true, I cook for Da' Boyz, and for the next 4-5 meals it's be lean chopped pork and carrot rice with their kibble. We've noticed that since we've started cooking rice… usually rice with white meat chicken for Da' Boyz, Sammy's fussy stomach issues have not been a problem. Of course it could be that they are Asian Mutts! Still, for some reason I find the fact that Sammy and Frankie consume Three Ladies or Buddha Brand Jasmine rice, or Koshihikari rice a bit strange……

I hope everyone is having a great multi-holiday weekend!