Dumpling For You, Dumpling For Me October 8, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Recipes.Tags: basil, beef, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, dumplings, ginger, pork, rice paper, scallion, sesame oil, shitake, sirachi, tamari, wanton wrappers, wasabi
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What do you get when you combine homemade dumplings and spring rolls, wine flowage, and tequila shots to boot? Our house on Saturday night. Oh. Yeah. And I’m not going to lie to you people, the food was banging. Even C said the food seemed easy enough to make at home and her culinary skills peak at choosing a stinky cheese and a dope wine – not that thats anything to laugh about. I can’t taste the difference between merlot and shiraz but give me a blind pork test and I’ll school you. Anyway, make these things at your house to impress your friends.
Steamed Pork and Scallion Dumplings
1/2 lb of ground pork
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup of tamari
3 tbs of sesame oil
dash of vinegar
fresh pepper
wanton wrappers
Makes about 12.
Mix the first 6 ingredients together. Drop a spoonful of mixture on to the center of the wrapper. Wet the exposed edges with water. Grab all the corners, bring to the middle and scrunch together. Steam for 20 minutes. Dipping sauces below.
Steamed Ginger and Beef Dumplings
1/2 lb of ground beef
1/4 cup of finely chopped ginger
1/4 cup of tamari
salt and fresh pepper
wanton wrappers
Makes about 12.
Mix all ingredients together. Drop a spoonful of mixture on to the center of the wrapper. Wet the exposed edges with water. Grab all the corners, bring to the middle and scrunch together. Steam for 20 minutes. Dipping sauces below.
Fried Cabbage, Shitake and Carrot Dumplings
1 carrot, diced
1/4 cup of white cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup of shitake mushrooms, diced
wanton wrappers
veg oil for frying
1/2 cup of water
Makes about 12.
Dice your carrot, cabbage and shrooms and combine in a bowl. Drop a tablespoon or so (you’ll begin to feel it out) onto the wrapper. Guess what you do here. That’s right. Wet the edges, grab the corners, bring together, scrunchy scrunchy. Here is what is different. Heat a frying pan and add a bit of veg oil for frying. When very hot, place your dumpling to fry for 5 minutes. When they have a nice crispy brown bottom, pour in a 1/2 cup of water and cover immediately to finish cooking through with a nice steam bath. Let it do its thing for 5 minutes. Should be ready at this time. Dipping sauces below.
Fresh Spring Rolls
1/2 carrot, julienned (that means cut into thin strips at about 3 inches)
2 scallions, cut down the middle middle and cut at about 3 inches
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/2 bunch of chinese or (uh, american? or italian?.. dunno) basil
rice paper rolls
Cut your veggies and clean and dry your herbals. Add the rice paper to a bowl of very warm water and let it soften for about 30 seconds. Make sure you get all the edges under the water so it doesn’t roll up and crack. When the paper is soft, very gently pull it out and lay flat on a cutting board. Throw a bit of each of your ingredients into the center towards the bottom of the wrapper. Begin to roll the fatty towards the center. Halfway up, grab the right and the left and fold over the rolled half. Then continue to roll up. As soon as the paper dries, it will stick to itself. To serve, use a very sharp knife to cut 2 or 4 slices and stand up if possible.
Dippin Sauces
sirachi
wasabi paste with tamari
chopped ginger in tamari
sesame oil with red pepper flakes (or without)
Let me mention that I particularly like the wasabi with the beef and the sesame oil with the spring rolls. Let me also mention that these are damn easy to do, cheap as all get out and fun to eat. I am not afraid to cater your next dumpling affair. Gimme a date and a time and I’ll be there. You provide the tequila.
Rooftop Dumplings August 5, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Restaurants.Tags: beef, cabbage, chicken, dumplings, mushroom, pork, sirachi
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Asian again. R and I had dumplings from Eton yesterday for dinner with a cold bottle of white wine on the roof of our apt building. It was such a brooklyn moment that i had to take pics. Plus, much props to Etan, the newly opened dumpling place in Carroll Gardens. The dude that owns it was a personal chef prior to opening his store. The mostly take out place, although he has about 3 tables, dons a hot plate for cookin. A HOT PLATE. He uses a hot plate to make his dumplings. Love how this guy can take like 6 bucks and open a place in bk, hire a few dudes to throw his dough around and make his dumplings from his recipes. $3.50 for 5 dumplings is a deal. Also found out he does catering. Go there.
We had pork and beef, chicken and mushroom, and veggie cabbage. Sauces included a duck sauce, caramelized vinegar, chili oil and Sirachi, all of which here homemade, except for the Sirachi. (remind me to do a whole post on this special sauce.)
Expect a dumpling recipe to come.
FINALLY. Grilling Meat Almost Directly In The Mouth. August 5, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Restaurants.Tags: beef, kimchi, korean bbq, tofu
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(disclaimer: crap pictures taken with a phone.)
Sunday evening we went with 7 friends to a restaurant in Korea Town called Shilla and had Korean BBQ. The meal was so amazing I thought I would make you drool a bit.
We sat around a large table with 2 grills in the center. This is where the main meat dishes would get cooked. Before the raw meat got to the table, the waiters delivered like, 8 or 22, I don’t know, small bowls of tastiness. I asked my friend who took us there whether they were to be considered apps or condiments (eat now or later, basically) and I think he was being polite when he said to eat them now cause he didn’t eat them to till the main food came. Guess what the rest of us did. View empty bowls here:
After the first round of OB beers were drank and most of the small dishes were consumed, they brought over large platters of raw pork and beef. The pork looked exactly like thick cut bacon. The dude put the slabs on the hot grill and a minute later used large scissors to cut into bite size pieces. Then he took handfuls of kimchi and raw garlic and put on the edges of the grill so when the pork fat was rendering, the golden juices would stroll down and cook the kimchi and garlic.
The beef seemed to be marinated in a sweet sauce which tasted like teriyaki (excuse my ignance) and was grilled also over the garlic. Accompanied by large romaine leaves, the beef was delish rolled in them with a fermented bean paste.
We also ordered Kimchi Stew. This is a steaming hot bowl of pork chunks (I’ve also had it with pulled pork, which I think is better), tofu squares, rice cakes and, as you can guess, kimchi. This. Was. The. Bomb. You can expect to see a recipe for this in the coming weeks cause I must learn how to make this.
And finally, I must give props to the sides dishes because they were each so delish (except for the mayo apples – ew.) They brought dried and salted tiny tiny fishes (cursing myself for not having a picture of those suckers), whose heads kept falling off, but were really cute. Kimchi, spicy daikon, spicy zucchini, pickled zucchini, salt in sesame oil (cleary a condiment), a mayo potato salad with apple chunks, spicy salad greens, broccoli heads in a spicy red sauce, and… what did I forget… anyone?
Now, you know me by now, I love me some pork and spice and oily goodness, but this was, in the end, a bit much for my body. My mind said yes but my stomach said, Oh hell no. I need a Korean remedy for uncloggin my arteries, too. Can anyone suggest one?
(You know I’ll be back in K-Town soon though, right?)
She comes for the Beef, stays for the Yoke: Ramen July 6, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Recipes.Tags: beef, egg, kimchi, noodles, ramen, scallion, shitake, sirachi, soup, spicy, zucchini
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C came over for lunch cause I wanted to show her my Ramen. I promised her beef to trick her into eating kimchi – totally worked. My obsession for spicy noodles was launched about a year ago, and I still want to eat them all day long. This is also my favorite dish to cook because it is damn cheap (see the receipt below), quick, easy, filling, and CAN BE healthIER when adding fresh ingredients.
The fanciest part of this whole recipe is the poached egg, which for me, has become an absolute essential item. I learned this from David Chang, which I guess everyone knew except for me for the longest. Thanks guys.
Check it. Cook it. Eat it.
3 packets of original flavored Ramen, whichever brand
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
10ish dried shitake mushrooms
1/4 lb slices roast beef from the deli
kimchi (mine’s homemade, that’s for the next post, you can buy it at most specialty food shop these days)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 eggs
a dash of vinegar
optional:
snow peas, frozen greens of any kind, bean spouts, cubed uncooked tofu… um, anything you want really.
The longest part is reconstituting the mushrooms. Boil 2 cups of water, add to mushrooms and cover. Let sit for 20 minutes. When done, remove the mushrooms to slice, and reserve the newly created mushroom broth.
Cook the Ramen according to the packet’s directions. For 3 packets, you will need 6 cups of water. Additionally, add the 2 cups of reserved mushroom broth and bring to a boil. Add the Ramen noodles, mushrooms, zuccini and any of the optional ingredients you desire.
Simultaneously, bring a deep frying pan to boil with a dash of vinegar for poaching your eggs. At a soft boil, crack your eggs directly into the water. They should congeal and turn a solid white. After about 2 minutes, the eggs and noodles will be ready.
Add the noodles to a huge bowl for eating lots. With a slatted spoon, grab an egg for each bowl and float on top of the servings. Divide the sliced beef and add to the steaming bowl of noodles. Garnish with kimchi and scallion. For added spice, I recommend using Sirachi, not some vinegar-based hot sauce like Tobasco.
And?.. You’re welcome.
