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New Year is literally just around the corner and what better way to celebrate the countdown than with chili. Sweet ones, of course, for a successful sweet year. I found these bright green chili in the fresh Japanese food aisle a few days ago. I wasn’t sure if it was amanagato or not. The salesperson was of no help. When asked, she replied, “It’s Japanese sweet chili!” That’s right. Not amanagato. Not arigato. Definitely not natto. But it’s Japanese sweet chili! With an exclamation, please.
Their long slender shape (except for the curly one in the picture) actually reminds me of Guindillas. The first time I had Guindillas was in Spain, naturally, in a Chinese restaurant. Nope, not a tapas bar. That would be Pimentos di Padron. Back then we made frequent trips to Spain and on one trip we were with Hubby’s colleagues who after many tapas meals and late late dinners demanded rice. We settled for a Chinese restaurant near the hotel. I was sure the food was going to be horrible. I was wrong. It was not bad at all. My favorite for the meal is pickled Guindillas stir-fried with pork. Call it fusion, necessity, confusion or whatever but it is the one dish that I think of now when people mention Guindillas. I knew I had to bring some back to Paris. I did. Only to find out later that Monoprix carries it, too.
Did I mention before the powers that be like to mess around with my life?
Back to the amanagato Japanese sweet chili!
At first I was just going to cook them pimentos di padron style – on a hot plancha (only it would be a flat-bottomed pan) with olive oil, charred lightly and sprinkled with sea salt. In the end, I figured I could chinesify it like the stir-fried guindillas. I added in fermented black beans – nothing better to cut through that sweetness than with the earthy and salty taste of fermented black beans.
Now that I have tried this, I am going to make some with anchovies next time. Or I might pickle some with Szechwan peppers……………
Ingredients:
100 grams Japanese sweet chili! or amanagato
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon soaked fermented black beans
Sea salt to taste
1. Put a pan on high heat. Wait for the pan to become very hot. Add in the sesame oil, swirl and coat the pan well. Put in the chili, toss and stir them until lightly charred. This should take only a few seconds.
2. Add in the garlic and fermented black beans. Stir and toss them together quickly.
3. Remove, sprinkle with sea salt and serve.
I have been meaning to make this dish for a long time. Somehow I didn’t until now. Funny that since it’s an easy dish — more about assembling than cooking. The banana flower is grilled, then mixed with the rest of the other ingredients. Just like that. Much like tossing a salad together……..oh, wait. It is a salad. Heh. The only other thing that needs to be cooked is the chicken unless shrimp is also added. But those are also a breeze walk, too.
Start by peeling away the outer tough red leaves and the small yellow flowers or baby bananas. They are inedible. Reserve a few leaves for decoration if you want. For a smoky flavor grill the banana flower on charcoal, if not, put it in the oven for 40 minutes at 200 C. When it’s done, it will be an unsightly grayish-black like this:
Peel away the two or three charred leaves and the baby bananas. Cut it in half and remove the core. Rub it lightly with lime juice to prevent oxidation. Cut into thin slices and set aside.
Next cook the chicken or shrimp or both in coconut milk. Remove and drain. When it’s cool enough to handle, shred the chicken and cut the shrimp into 1 cm pieces or leave it whole.
Mix the nam prik pao and lime juice together and toss in the banana flower, chicken, fried shallots, fried garlic, coarsely chopped coriander, and, if any, sawtooth coriander. Mix well. Taste and add more chili flakes, fish sauce, palm sugar, lime juice, or nam prik pao as needed.
Arrange on plate and serve.
See that was super easy, wasn’t it?
Ingredients:
1 banana flower
35 grams chicken meat (any part of your choice)
3 large shrimps (if using)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon dried shrimp powder
1 tablespoon fried shallot flakes
1 tablespoon fried garlic flakes
1 teaspoon chopped coriander
1/2 tablespoon sliced sawtooth coriander (optional)
1 1/2 roasted cashew nuts (I forgot to add mine when I took the picture.)
1 heaping tablespoon nam prik pao (Thai Chili Paste)
Juice of one lime
More chili flakes, fish sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice as needed.
Weeks ago I had this incredible Pumpkin & Chicken Curry at a hospital’s cafeteria. That’s right. At a hospital. In the cafeteria.
It was made without coconut milk and came topped with sawtooth coriander or pak chee farang (ผักชีฝรั่ง) in Thai. At first I wasn’t quite sure if I was seeing it right until I took a bite. I was surprised how the strong coriander taste goes so well with the sweet pumpkins. The soup itself wasn’t as thin as I thought. It was hearty, if I can use that word. The bits and pieces from the pumpkin had thickened it without being heavy. And the best part was the curry was mildly spicy. Not the mild kind you find in Parisian traiteurs but mild for Thais. It was perfect for me. I never like fiercely explosive spicy food that numbs the tongue, deafens the ears and make the temples throb. Plus, Hubby has orders to cut down down on fat — cholesterol problem. So this was the perfect curry for us. I ordered some to go.
Yea, I took home hospital food.
But back home, I did start to look for a recipe. All I found were those made with coconut milk. The ones without used lemon basil. I might try that next time but nothing included sawtooth coriander. In the end I used a Pumpkin & Chicken Curry recipe from one of my Thai cookbooks. Of course, I omitted the coconut milk, used less garlic, more shallots, added sawtooth coriander and a small knob of cumin. The recipe I have uses red curry paste from Suphanburi. And I found out why the curry is mild in taste — it uses prik bang chan (พริกบางช้าง), large chili peppers that are mildly spicy. Why the cumin? I am sure the hospital used it. Really. The white plate and utensils were tinged yellow and there was a slight astringent flavor. A case of the cafeteria messing around? Or did it use curry powder? Or just leftover stuff that the chef just threw in for fun???????
Whatever. The sawtooth coriander was the star that gave the curry an extra notch.
This also marks the first time that I made curry paste from scratch (!!!!!). Quite an experience I must say. Especially for my elbows.
Ingredients:
20 grams prik bang chan
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
20 grams galangal
5 grams cumin
20 grams lemongrass
5 grams kaffir lime peel
3 grams coriander root
35 grams garlic (I used Thai garlic which are about 2 cm long but pack more flavor than the large varietal)
30 grams shallots (Used small Thai shallots. More flavors.)
20 grams fermented shrimp paste (kapi กะปิ)
2 tablespoon rice bran oil or any other frying oil
Fish sauce
500 grams pumpkin (cut into 2″ by 2.5″ pieces)
12 chicken wings (wings are my favorite part of the chicken. Feel free to use other parts.)
Sawtooth coriander
1. I started by slicing the first nine ingredients, except for the sea salt, thinly. This makes it easier to pound them into a fine paste. Then I put the chili and salt, which acts as a grinder, into the mortar and pound them into a fine paste. (I ended up using more chili than what is seen in the picture.)
When making curry paste from scratch, chili and salt are always pounded first. Then the next hardest ingredient is added in and pounded into a fine paste before the next hardest ingredient is added in and pounded. Confused? I have been told it’s easier to pound everything into a fine paste if each ingredient is added in one at a time.
2. Next, I added the galangal and pounded into a fine paste. Afterwards the cumin is added and pounded into fine paste. See the pattern here?
It didn’t seem like a lot of work but by now my right elbow is sore.
3. Next the lemongrass is added in. Keep pounding, Right Elbow.
I have to admit the lemongrass was the most time consuming part. Not sure why. Must be all that fiber. Or the mortar is getting fuller and makes it more difficult to pound. At this point, I switched hands. But since I am right handed, my left elbow wasn’t bringing down the pestle hard enough on the lemongrass. It took me a good ten minutes. My left elbow stopped talking to me.
4. I switched back to my right hand, added in the kaffir lime peel and pounded it into a fine paste with the rest. All this time, my right elbow cursed me nonstop. Honestly, I did thought about dumping everything into a food processor.
5. Next comes a “soft” ingredient — coriander root. I lifted my arm to pound it but my right elbow threw a tantrum and refused to move. I had to bribe it with a massage.
6. Three more ingredients to go! As I added in the shallots, I heard Right Elbow say:
Are you doing this for your blog? Don’t tell me you enjoy this! USE STORE BOUGHT PASTE!
Why, that would be cheating.
7. Next I added in the garlic and started pounding feverishly. All the while, ignoring Right Elbow’s wailing.
8. Lastly, (did I hear Right Elbow shout HURRAY), I put in kapi and mix everything together into a paste.
Voilà! It wasn’t as difficult as I thought. 
Both my elbows haven’t talked to me since.
9. Finally, we get to make the curry! I poured in two tablespoons rice bran oil into a large pot on medium heat. Added in the chili paste and stir-fry until fragrant. Next, I added in the wings. Give it a quick stir and added in 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil. When the wings are cooked, add in the pumpkins. I let it come to a boil again, and turn the heat down to low for about 20 minutes. Taste and season with fish sauce.
10. Just before serving sprinkle with sawtooth coriander cut into 1 cm pieces or just tear them into small pieces.
I tried some the next day with lemon basil and it was just as good. Next time I will make it with both the sawtooth coriander and lemon basil………….that is when my elbows stop pouting.
I suspect the Goddess of Baking likes to play tricks on me. Earlier today, I made brownies with a recipe from Saveur magazine. I swear I followed the instructions word for word. And what do I get for being so square? My brownies came out dry and floury. Very.
Ok. I used 1/4 less sugar but that shouldn’t cause it to be dry. Should it?
??????????????????????????????????????????
To say I was UPSET was putting it very lightly. I was making it for my loving 8 year old niece. She has been asking (countless times) me when I will make brownies again. Usually I make Cheesecake Brownie and she would scrap off the cheese part. She was with me when I was mixing everything in the kitchen and I could just see the anticipation in her eyes. When I popped the thing into the oven, I told her 40 minutes and the brownie would be ready. She gave me a big smile and skipped back to watching TV.
Well, forty minutes later, I ended up with a dry, flour-y, chocolaty mass. Luckily, my niece went home for lunch. I don’t think I could bear to see the disappointment in her eyes. Ever have big round watery eyes stare at you? So I figured I’d make up for it with Avocado & Chocolate Chips Cupcakes. (Ran out of chocolate to make more brownies.)
The only thing is I don’t have any recipe for it. I wanted to use almond meal and crème fraîche. All the recipes I found have either one or the other. Being me, I thought I could just use a basic cupcake recipe, add or substitute a few things and……ta-ta-daaaaa, taaaaaaa-daaaaaaaa…..the cupcakes will wow my niece. At least, they should make her forget about the brownies.
But my parents forgot to ask the Goddess of Baking to bless me when I was born. It took me a while to get it the way I want. I was in the kitchen from noon till late evening. I don’t even know what I am going to do with the flopped cupcakes.
More food for nephew’s goldfish?
My very first mishap started with the avocados. I had bought two and one of them was all brown and fiber-y inside. Of course, I discarded that one but I had already mixed all the other ingredients together. Ingredients enough for two avocados. Well, I could only halved it and used the other one for plain Chocolate Chip cupcakes. Everything should work fine, right?
But no, no, no, NO! The Goddess of Baking smirked and the first test batch came out wet. Extremely wet. I guess in substituting some parts of the flour for almond meal and adding mashed avocado made the mixture, well, wet. The damn thing was I had already filled the rest into cute little cupcake paper cups. Yup, I scooped them out again. Weighed the whole thing again, gave it a rough estimate and added more flour. Then I scooped everything back into those cute tiny cupcakes that were beginning to annoy me.
Why can’t I just use larger cupcake paper cups? Oh. I remember. I BOO-BOOED on a test batch and only have so much left. Enough to fill only two large cupcakes. Imagine two avocado cupcakes after hours in the kitchen? So, nine small cupcakes they are.
I did the same thing for the plain Chocolate Chip batch and filled everything into large cupcake paper cups. By now I was hungry and tired. My legs were sore. I must have overfilled the paper cups because……..
the blob returned! Well, more food for the goldfish, again.
But in the end, I am happy with the Avocado & Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. It was moist and the almond meal gave it a nutty and slightly dense flavor. The avocado also gave it a creamy and buttery texture which marries very well with the sweetness from the chocolate chips. I am not sure if my niece likes avocados or not. But at least she can always pick out the chocolate chips.
The recipe below is for Avocado Chocolate Chip Cupcakes only. Initially, I was going to top it with cream cheese frosting but ran out of cream cheese. Then I thought a coconut milk glaze would be just as decadent but I was tired………and if it failed the goldfish would be pissed. I topped each with chocolate chips, instead.
Ingredients:
100 grams crème fraîche
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon allspice
120 grams flour
40 grams almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
55 grams sugar
60 grams chocolate chips (and a few more for decorating)
100 grams butter (softened)
1 avocado (mine came to 120 grams when mashed)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Combine the first four ingredients together. Mix well.
3. In another mixing bowl mix together the flour, almond meal, sugar, baking soda and baking powder. Pour into the mixture in number one and mix well.
4. Mash the avocado with the lime juice. Add in the softened butter. Mix well and pour into mixture number two. Add in the chocolate chips and mix well again.
5. Line cupcake paper cups on a baking tray. Fill in the cupcake mixture and top with chocolate chips.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Check if done by sticking a toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes. If it comes out clean, then it’s done. If not, continue baking for a few more minutes.
When I see Chinese rape mustard I often think of egg noodle soup topped with char siu, shrimp wonton, and, of course, blanched Chinese rape mustard. At least in Thailand, that’s how it’s often used. In Chinese restaurants you can find it stir-fried with oyster sauce. And in Japanese restaurants, it frequently comes drenched in dashi and soy dressing. Apart from these, I can’t think of any other way it is cooked. (Aside from the pork and rape mustard dumplings I made a few times in France.)
Really, it’s not something I usually buy but I picked up a bunch with beautiful bright canary yellow flowers yesterday. My plan was to snip off the flowers, blanch them and make a spicy salad or yum (ยำ) in Thai.
The whole thing should have taken less then 10 minutes. But I had these large sweet shrimps that I need to use asap….and the thin slices of pork belly has also been in the fridge for a while now….might as well also add the crunchy stalks. One thing lead to another. Before I knew it, I ended up with this:
It definitely took longer than 10 minutes. But I loved it. It reminds me of kale salad (yum kan kana ยำก้านคะน้า). Only I get to eat bright yellow flowers.
I didn’t use the leaves. Didn’t think they would work well for this dish. Feel free to add them if you like.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup Chinese rape mustard (flowers and stalks only)
1/2 cup pork belly (sliced thin and fried crispy)
3 large shrimps (skin peeled and deveined)
1 tablespoon fried shallots slices
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoon coconut cream
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons nam prik pao (Thai chili paste)
Juice of 1 lime
Fish sauce
1. Peel and discard the skin of the rape mustard stalk. Cut into 2 inch long pieces. In boiling water, blanch the stalks and flowers. Remove and put in ice water immediately to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
2. Put the coconut milk to a boil. Cook the shrimps in it until just done. Remove and set aside.
3. Mix the first two dressing ingredients together. Taste and add fish sauce as needed. Keep in mind each nam prik pao (home made and store bought) is different. May need to add more lime juice or palm sugar. Mix well and set aside.
4. Put the rape mustard and shrimps into a large mixing bowl. Add in the dressing. Taste and see if need more adjustments (more lime, sugar, nam prik pao….). Mix well and put onto a plate. Top with pork belly and fried shallots. Drizzle coconut cream over it and serve.
Note on coconut cream: Coconut cream is the cream that you get from the first pressing of fresh coconut meat, which can also be pressed without adding water. If using coconut milk in a box, put it in the fridge for about an hour (if living in a cold country, this step won’t be necessary). Cut open the box and scoop out only the top part which is the “cream”.
When I was growing up, I went to a school that served a lazy butt clever version of Son-in-Law’s Eggs or Kai Look Koey in Thai (ไข่ลูกเขย). The “real” way to make it is to boiled the eggs and then fried them crispy on the outside. Instead, my school cafeteria just simply fried the eggs and pour the sweet and sour tamarind sauce over it. I had all but forgotten about it.
Until yesterday I saw someone making it on TV. And it was called Fried Son-in-Law’s Eggs or Kai Dao Look Koey (ไข่ดาวลูกเขย).
I haven’t had this version since high school. Back then my friends used to make all kinds of jokes about someone’s eggs. Especially fried sunny side up. Jokes aside, I never get a satisfactory answer as to the origin of the name. Some claim it was invented by a mother-in-law who hated her son-in-law. (Chowing on his private parts would be an apt way to appease the anger, I guess.) Others say the dish originated in a Thai palace. No idea as to why the palace would come up with such a name.
And now someone is mad enough to fry those eggs. (Ha. Ha. Ha. Sorry. I couldn’t resist making this bad joke.)
But whatever the name, this is an easy and delicious dish to make. The only trick is to balance three ingredients: palm sugar, tamarind paste, and fish sauce. This dish is best served with fried chilis and a plate of hot white rice. Cut a piece of the egg and put it on top of a spoonful of rice. Slowly savor the perfect melange of the sweet, sour, and salty. Then take a bite of the fried chili and let the spiciness cut through that perfect balance of the three flavors. Hhhhhmmmmmmmmm………….
Yummy!
I tweaked this dish a little by adding cilantro paste (cilantro roots, garlic, and pepper.) It’s optional but I find that it lends so much more taste than just sweet, sour, and salty…….
Ingredients:
6 duck eggs (It’s best with duck eggs but chicken eggs are fine, too.)
40 grams of sliced lengthwise shallots
Enough oil for frying the shallots (It should come up to 1 cm from the pan)
80 grams palm sugar
45 grams tamarind paste
1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
6 fried chilis
Cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)
For the cilantro paste (optional):
2 cilantro roots
3 small cloves of garlic (I used the small Thai variety. They are about 1-1.5 cm in length)
6 peppercorns
1. In a mortar and pestle pound the cilantro roots, garlic and pepper into a fine paste. Set aside. (If you don’t want to add cilantro paste, omit this step.)
2. Fried the shallots. Remove, drain and set aside.
3. In the same pan of oil, fry each egg until crispy on the outside. You can fry them sunny side up but they are best when crispy. Drain and set aside.
4. Pour out the excess oil and reserve about 1/2 tablespoon. On low heat, add in the tamarind paste, sugar, fish sauce and cilantro root paste. Mix well. Taste. Add more of the first three ingredients as needed until the sauce is a good balance of sweet and sour with a hint of saltiness.
5. Pour the sauce over the eggs. Top with fried chilis, fried shallots and cilantro leaves.
Lastly, if you want cute, make them with fried quail eggs.
When I was in Taiwan this past summer, my aunt invited me to her house for Oyster Vermicelli — a common street food, especially in night markets. It is made with a kind of reddish-brown super thin rice vermicelli or mee su-ah in Taiwanese. The best are hand-pulled several meters long and dried in the sun. The ones destined for making Oyster Vermicelli are steamed after being sun-dried and then dried again. Somehow this process gives it the distinctive reddish brown color as well as a slightly toasted flavor.
I have always thought it was such a complicated dish especially since it’s often made with stock that has been boiled down for many hours. Then there is that whole preparation with the pork intestines, if added. Yet, my aunt whipped it in 20 minutes flat. She made it fuzz-free without the intestines. Instead of stock she used good ol’ plain tap water. I like that it is simple and straightforward, allowing the sweet fresh oysters to shine through.
But best of all was just being in the kitchen with my aunt. I love, love, luuurrrrvvvv watching her and people from her generation cook. They have no professional training but have so much tips and techniques from years of waltzing in their home kitchens. My aunt belongs to the generation of home cooks who still buy just enough grocery for the day everyday. She hardly keeps anything frozen. Meat is often bought to be eaten on that very same day, especially seafood which is often still alive. She often wakes up early just to get the best catch. Maybe that is why I always have such a feast chez Auntie.
As I recreate this dish back home, I remember how she has such grace and sureness in the kitchen. Like it was her playground. Blindfold her and she would still be able to cut, chop, slice, add this and that, stir, taste………..and before you know it, set the dish in front of you.
I am long out of my mee su-ah supply. But I recently found these super thin egg noodles that have similar texture as mee su-ah. It lacks the toasted flavor but it’s a good substitute for me. Until my next visit to Taiwan, that is.
While I can’t dance my way through any dish yet, I made sure to get the freshest plump oysters I can find……..at the nearest supermarket. One day, I will learn to wake up at 5 AM just to get food. One day.
Ingredients:
150 grams fresh oysters
100 grams red mee su-ah or the thinnest rice vermicelli available
1 tablespoon sliced length-wise shallot
Oil for deep frying the shallots
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon julienned ginger
1 tablespoon potato starch (or corn starch)
1 cup water
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 cups water
Soy sauce
Cilantro to sprinkle on the noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Wash and rinse the oysters until clean. Set aside.
2. Mix the potato starch with 1 cup water and set aside.
3. Heat up a pan on medium heat. Add in the oil and fry the shallots until golden brown. The oil should be about 1 cm from the pan. Remove the shallots, drain on paper towel and set aside. Pour out the oil, leaving in the pan about 1 tablespoon.
4. In the same pan, add in the sesame oil. Fry the ginger for a few seconds until it is fragrant, not golden brown. Add in the fried shallots (reserve some to sprinkle on the noodles later), rice wine, and soy sauce. Add in the 3 cups water. When it’s boiling add in the oyster and potato starch water. Stir quickly to prevent clumps from forming. Mix well and taste. Season as needed. Set aside. Do not cook the oysters too long or they will become tough.
5. Cook the noodles in boiling water. If you are using mee su-ah, it should take only a few seconds. Remove and put into a bowl. Pour oyster mixture over. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and fried shallots. Serve immediately.
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