Tag: Asian

Curry Puffs

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I was sort of obsessed with eating all the things when I visited Singapore a few years ago. I mean, it’s the best food city on earth (don’t @ me). When it was time to leave, I realized I hadn’t yet tried one of the most Singaporean of snacks, curry puffs! Think curried chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried pastry shell. Yeah. I hurriedly bought one at Changi Airport right as we were boarding and savored the carby, meaty, buttery goodness right before saying goodbye.

I can’t find curry puffs in the Bay Area, but I can make them with relative ease at home. I take a shortcut with puff pastry and I oven bake them so they’re a bit healthier, but they’re just as delicious.

Curry puffs

Ingredients:

1 small potato, boiled, peeled, and cut into cubes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 onion, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder (I used a blend of Madras curry powder and homemade Jaffna curry powder)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon water
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1. Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add oil, then add ginger, onion, and green onions, and stir-fry for 5 minutes, until onion begins to brown. Add chicken and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Stir in potato, curry powder, and soy sauce. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and lightly mash with a potato ricer.

2. Preheat oven to 375F degrees. In the meantime, on a floured board, roll out puff pastry to a thickness of about 1/4 inch; cut into 4-inch circles. Place 1 tablespoon filling on each circle. Brush edges with egg wash, fold dough to make half-moons, and press edges to seal.

3. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush tops with remaining egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Steamed Tofu with Black Bean Sauce

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This dish is elegant, this dish is healthy, and best of all, this dish is extremely simple to make. Just make sure to use soft tofu in this recipe, because it’s all about the silky texture here.

Steamed tofu with black bean sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon black bean sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 16-ounce package soft tofu, drained
1 green onion, thinly sliced

1. To make the sauce, combine the black bean sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar in a small bowl.

2. Cut the tofu widthwise into 8 slices. Carefully transfer the tofu into a heatproof ceramic dish that will fit into your steamer.

3. Prepare a wok for steaming. Steam the tofu, covered, until heated through, about 3 minutes. Pour the sauce over the top and steam for 4 more minutes. Garnish with the green onion and serve warm.

Cashew Chicken

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Cashew chicken occupies the same place in my heart as Mongolian beef and chow mein: rarely authentic and yet typically delicious. These are the heavy hitters of Chinese American food, comforting and nostalgic. I’ve adapted this cashew chicken recipe so that it’s pretty healthy: low on oil and high in flavor. Serve this along rice for an easy weeknight meal.

Cashew chicken

Ingredients:

5 teaspoons soy sauce
3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon ginger juice (squeezed from finely grated peeled ginger)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
Vegetable oil, for frying
2/3 cup raw cashews
1/3 cup thinly sliced white onion
3 green onions, sliced into 2-inch pieces
Roasted Thai chili powder to taste

1. In a large bowl, combine 4 teaspoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sugar, and the ginger juice. Add the chicken and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Drain off any excess sauce that hasn’t been absorbed.

2. Heat a empty wok over high heat, then swirl about 2 teaspoons of oil. Add the cashews and stir-fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain the cashews on a paper towel. Add the chicken and white onion to the wok and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining soy sauce, sugar, and the cashews and cook for another two minutes. Add a dash of roasted chili powder and the green onions, cook for another minute, then remove from heat. Serve warm with rice.

Three-Mushroom Omelet

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This recipe combines two of my favorite ingredients into something that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. Meaty mushrooms and creamy eggs are the canvas for a spicy, savory sauce that coat these unique parcels. Toasted pine nuts add extra depth. You can have these for brunch, or prepare them for a light dinner like I do. They’re #uglydelicious.

Three-mushroom omelet

Ingredients:

For the sauce:
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce

For the omelet:
3 portobello mushrooms
6 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, plus more as needed
3 green onions, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
7 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced
8 button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
10 snow peas, trimmed and sliced
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1. Prepare the sauce: stir the soy sauce, oyster sauce, water, and chili garlic sauce together in a small saucepan and set aside.

2. Remove and discard the stems from the portobello mushrooms. Scrape the gills from the underside of the caps and discard the gills. Thinly slice the caps.

3. Whisk the eggs and water together in a bowl.

4. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the oil. Pour about 1/3 cup of the egg mixture into the pan, tilting the pan so the egg coats the bottom, and cook until the bottom of the omelet is set, about 1 minute. Slide the omelet onto a plate and set aside. Repeat with the remaining egg mixture, adding oil to the skillet as needed, to make six omelets.

5. Heat the sauce over medium heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Set aside and cover to keep warm.

6. Heat a wok over high heat. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Add the green onions, ginger, garlic, and all the mushrooms and stir-fry until the mushrooms are tender, about 4 minutes. Add the snow peas, pine nuts, soy sauce, and oyster sauce and cook until the snow peas are tender, about 2 minutes.

7. To serve, spoon one-sixth of the mushroom mixture onto the bottom third of one of the omelets. Gently roll the omelet up like a burrito, leaving the ends open and placing on a serving platter seam side down. Repeat with the remaining omelets and filling. Spoon the sauce over them and serve immediately.

Cauliflower Larb

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Okay, okay. I know this larb isn’t even remotely authentic, but these days I sort of want to larb everything. Chicken larb? Check. Lamb larb? Check. And this cauliflower larb is surprisingly delicious, albeit much lighter than its meaty counterparts. Make this for a light lunch or dinner — you won’t miss the meat.

Cauliflower larb

1 head cauliflower, cut into large florets with some stalk attached
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 Thai chiles, finely chopped
1 4-inch piece lemongrass, tough outer layers removed, finely chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup sticky rice
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup chopped mint
Salt
Sliced Persian cucumber and Bibb lettuce, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Toss cauliflower with oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, tossing occasionally, until tender and well browned, about 50 minutes. Let cool slightly; chop into pea-size pieces. Transfer to a large bowl. Add chiles, lemongrass, lime leaves, fish sauce, and lime juice; mix.

2. Meanwhile, place rice in a small skillet and set over medium heat. Toast, shaking pan frequently to keep rice moving, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate; let cool. Grind in spice mill to a powder similar to cornmeal.

3. Toss green onions, cilantro, mint, and toasted rice powder into cauliflower mixture; season with salt. Serve with cucumber and lettuce to make lettuce cups.