When I offered to host vegan friends for our weekly TV night this seemed like an exciting challenge! I combined the recipe for Mark Bittman’s Faux Pho with a couple recipes I found online to create the amazing broth. I made a double-batch for our dinner party, and served it up with all the fixins, many picked up at my local H-Mart Asian Grocer:

• Mung bean sprouts
• Thai Basil
• Cilantro
• Sliced Jalapeño
• Five-Spice Tofu, cubed
• Napa Cabbage
• Pea Pods
• Fresh Lime Wedges
• Hoisin Sauce
• Sriracha Sauce
• Thinly sliced steak for the carnivores

The recipe for the wonderfully rich vegan broth follows behind the cut. This made 8 dinner servings for my dinner party but could easily be cut in half. It was an enormous hit and I’ll definitely be making it for another dinner party in the future!

Vegan Pho Broth

• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp ginger (I minced some fresh and the rest I used from a jar)
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  
• 3 star anise pods
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 4 bay leaves
• 12 cups water

In the bottom of a stock pot heat up your peanut oil. Sauté the garlic and ginger until just softened. Add the soy sauce, coriander and nutmeg and stir to combine. Let cook for 1–2 minutes and add the water, star anise, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves.

Bring to a rolling boil and let cook for 10 minutes. Remove the star anise and cinnamon sticks or the flavor runs the risk of becoming too strong. I let my broth sit for 3–4 hours (made it at lunchtime, served it at dinner time) so the flavor of the broth could really develop.

Serve the broth over Vietnamese rice noodles (prepare to package directions) and garnish with fresh veggies and condiments as listed above.

]]> http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/529/feed 0 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/455 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/455#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:32:51 +0000 Tiara Lynn http://www.shortcutchef.com/?p=455 QUICK TIP: Just Say No to LaChoy. Look, I’m sorry; I know there are plenty of wonderful people out there who work for LaChoy and all, but if you want real Asian, Chop Suey ain’t it. (I feel the same way about American-brand Mexican food). Now, bear in mind that this is coming from a person who had LaChoy Chop Suey as a staple while growing up. My taste has evolved as I’ve grown up, and this is my recommendation to you: Lee Kum Kee.

Lee Kum Kee’s prepared sauces are about the same price (often less expensive, depending where you go) as the super-salty-low-on-flavor LaChoy selections, but here’s the difference: great big in-your-face flavor. The Spicy Garlic Eggplant sauce is one of my absolute favorites for restaurant-quality food at home AND, unlike many LaChoy products, is MSG-free.

Plus, it’s so easy to make! I like to peel my eggplant first (not a fan of the skin), but leaving the skin on adds a cool purple color to the dish. I also add onions, whatever pepper I have in the house, and this time the rest of some broccoli rabe that I bought for stir-frying a couple weeks ago.

I’ve made this with pork and, as I did last night, with chicken and tofu, and it never disappoints. Stick with the American brands if you’re cooking for kids or those without a sophisticated palette, I suppose. But if you’re cooking Chinese, buy the brands the Chinese use.

CONFESSION: I am hugely skeptical about tofu that claims to be something else. Unless it’s made by Quorn. Then it’s cool.

That said, it’s not a surprise I’m not terribly impressed with Smart Strips Chick’n Strips. They simply tried to make them too much like chicken, which is awesome in its own way, I guess, but I kind of wanted a tofu product. However, I will continue to sing the praises of one of my favorite things, the House Tofu Cutlet.

This stir fry is loaded up with onion, sugar snap peas, orange pepper, yellow squash, bamboo shoots, oyster mushrooms and pea shoots, one of my new favorite vegetable finds thanks dinner with some Chinese friends who knew just what to order in Chinatown.

For the sauce I just used the leftover JES Korean BBQ Sauce from last week’s Boolgogi and served it over brown rice.

I’m not afraid to mix my Asian cuisines. Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai—if it comes from Mitsuwa it all overlaps in my kitchen. Trader Joes also has pre-marinated Korean Boolgogi (or Bulgogi), but I prefer the stuff from our favorite Asian grocer.

Again using the peppers and onions from the taco party, I stir fried the marinated beef. I also added broccoli and half a jar of JES Korean BBQ Sauce, because I like my stir fries saucy.

As a munchie to go with it I steamed some frozen edamame shumai.

We served this over brown rice and I ate it with my new favorite chopsticks. They’re lime green and sparkly and make me unreasonably happy.

The Bandai Futomaki Maker has arrived, and as expected it’s kind of fun, kind of a pain in the ass, and going to feature quite the learning curve, but it was a start. We made the “it’s almost a heart” sushi (the purple in the picture) and figured out how to make it actually a heart, but I only made enough rice for dinner. This will require rice for experimentation.

I did, however, discover the sheer awesomeness that is colored sushi, featuring rice tinted with McCormick Neon Food Coloring. HOLY CRAP IT’S AWESOME. I learned that by putting the colors half & half (I had  a little more green than purple left) you get a sort-of-but-not-really-a-yinyang shape, and that purple and green sushi might be the coolest thing ever.

QUICK TIP: If you’re planning on making a sushi dinner on a work day, make your rice before you leave for work. It’ll be JUST FINE in your rice cooker all day and when you get home you’ll have already cooled rice ready for mixing.

Want my sushi recipe? Check it out here. I shall reserve judgment on the Futomaki maker for when I actually get some time to play with it properly.

My lunch tomorrow is going to be so badass… In reality it’s at least a lunch-and-a-half, but still…

CONFESSION: Campbell’s taught me how to cook. The first cookbook I ever used regularly was Campbell’s Quick and Easy Cookbook. While my dad has a lot to do with my love of cooking, this was the first cookbook that taught me how to shortcut through recipes and how to begin experimenting with the possibilities of everyday foods.

The Beef & Broccoli recipe was one that I absolutely lived on when I was first living on my own. I make a few changes when I make this, adding some Chinese Five-Spice to punch up the flavor, and I marinate the beef in teriyaki or soy sauce.

When I told my husband that the sauce was made with Campbell’s Tomato Soup he looked at me like I was crazy. Two servings later, he was a believer.

I diced the tofu into 1/2-inch cubes, which went a lot further than I anticipated. Then I added in a can of seitan and we were in business.

What’s seitan? It’s wheat gluten, which doesn’t make much sense to me. I fell in love with it at Flat Top Grill’s Mongolian BBQ, and now I use it to add great texture and sweetness to my Asian cooking.

For this dish, I used a prepared Mo Po Tofu Sauce form the Asian grocer, some Hoisin sauce to give the sauce some body and tame the flavor, some onions and multicolored sweet peppers. I served it all over brown Asian rice. The texture of the tofu was simply perfect for this, and with the seitan too it was easy to forget we were eating vegetarian.

All of my panic was for naught, and tonight’s dinner, while it was made with not so traditional ingredients simply because I didn’t have the “right” veggies available, was absolutely restaurant quality.

Here’s what I used.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 package of Chantaboon Rice Noodles (1 bundle of noodles)
• 1 shallot
• 1 clove
• Handful of baby carrots, julienned
• 2 small chicken breasts
• 1 Tofu Cutlet (one of my favorite products on the planet), julienned
• 1 bottle Pantainorasingh Pad Thai Sauce
• 1/2 very small head of cabbage (1/4 normal head, shredded
• 1 sweet red pepper, sliced thin
• 1 egg

To make the noodles: Soak in warm water for 10 minutes. The noodles will be pliable but not cooked.

To make the stir fry: Stir fry garlic, shallot, chicken, tofu, and vegetables until cooked down. Add in drained noodles and jar of pad thai sauce. Begin to stir everything together. Use a pasta fork if you’ve got one, it makes it easier to control the noodles. When most but not all of the liquid is dissolved, push everything aside to make a space to scramble one egg. Fold the egg in with everything else and toss until everything is well-mixed and the liquid is absorbed.

If you’ve got it, crush up some peanuts and garnish with peanuts. Would also be great with fresh sprouts, bok choy, spring onions and other veggies.

QUICK TIP: Don’t skimp on the fish! Spend the money and get high-quality fish, because there’s nothing worse than fishy-tasting sushi. If you can find one, go to an Asian grocer. I won’t make sushi with fish from anywhere but Mitsuwa for my sushi fish and other Asian ingredients.

There are lots of ways to make su-meshi, sticky sushi rice. This is my method.

INGREDIENTS: TIARAMAKI (Tiara’s maki rolls)

• 2 cups Calrose Rice, Sushi Rice, or Brown Sushi Rice. I swear by Kagayaki Brown Sushi Rice.
• Rice Vinegar, 3 tbsp
• White sugar, 7 tsp
• Sanrio Hello Kitty Furikake … wait, what?

I came across this at first because it was adorable. Then it became what I consider my signature ingredient that makes my Tiaramaki special. The Hello Kitty brand includes dried bits of 7 different vegetables in all: broccoli, tomato, radish, green pea, spinach, pumpkin, seaweed and carrot. You can also use the seasoning packet that comes with most brands of roasted nori, the seaweed for rolliing.

I prepare my rice with my Black & Decker Handy Steamer, adding a little extra water. Mix the rice vinegar with the white sugar and set aside. When the rice is cooked, put into a mixing bowl. Add the vinegar and sugar with two packets of the vegetable furikake.Put in the fridge until cool, at least 30 minutes.

More on the recipe behind the cut…

To make the rolls, you will need:

• 1-2 small pieces of sushi-grade fish; I use tuna or salmon for my dinner parties
• 1 package roasted seaweed nori
• 1 small zucchini, sliced julienne style
• 1 small carrot, sliced julienne style
• 1 bunch spring onions
• 1 avocado, sliced (how to slice an avocado)
• Mayonnaise
• Sriracha Thai Chili Sauce
• Pickled Ginger
• Penzey’s Wasabi Powder
• San-J Premium Tamari Soy Sauce (don’t skimp on the soy sauce… this is by far the best I’ve tried)
• Sushi mat

Slice the fish thinly across the grain and set aside. Mix 3 tbsp mayonnaise with a small squirt of the chili sauce. This will be your spicy mayo, so make it as mild or spicy as you’d like. Mix the fish with the mayonnaise until coated.

You can find many YouTube videos and step-by-step instructions for making maki rolls; this is how I do it. Lay your sushi mat in front of you with the slats laying horizontally. Place a piece of nori on your sushi mat, the shiny-side out. Using a rice paddle or wet fingers, take a bit of rice and put it in a thin layer across the entire piece of nori. This is the part that takes the most practice, so don’t be alarmed if it seems like your first few rolls are too thick or skimpy. About 1″ from the bottom, layer in a thin line some fish, one line of julienne carrots and one line of zucchini, 1–2 spring onion segments, a slice of avocado and a layer of coated fish. Using your mat to help you, begin rolling the nori by folding the first bit over and pressing down. Continue rolling the sushi, keeping pressure on the roll. Again, this will take practice. Set aside and make the rest of the rolls.

Chill the rolls for at least 10 minutes. You will cut this into pieces using a VERY sharp knife. Wet the knife first, then use a slicing motion with as little pressure as possible. Cut it into 3/4 inch segments.

Serve well-chilled with pickled ginger, tamari sauce and wasabi.

Who says udon noodles belong in soup? Delicious udon noodles, salty and sticky, are also a great base for a stir fry when rice gets a little boring (or will take too long to make).

For this stir fry I started with some chicken that was sealed in a FoodSaver bag with some Mrs. Dash Spicy Teriyaki marinade. To that I added some mushrooms, a can of baby corn pieces (drained), half an onion and a sliced red bell pepper, and the leftover bits (a couple tablespoons) of some hoisin sauce in the fridge — always good for thickening a stir fry sauce.

For the edamame, I boiled a small pot of water with lots of salt. To the boiling water I added a bag of frozen edamame and boiled this according to package directions. I rinsed the pods in cold water after draining and scattered the soybeans on the stir fry for some great color and crunch.

It’s a pretty typical stir fry for me. The best part about any stir fry is the color, and adding edamame is a great way to make something look and taste even fresher.