Pasta, Rice and Bread

California Crab Rice Bowls

December 2, 2024

If you’ve known me for more than five minutes, you know I absolutely lose it for Dungeness crab. I will prepare and eat it in all its permutations, and one of my favorites is this rice bowl, which is basically an elevated California roll in bowl format. It’s healthy and delicious, so eat to your heart’s content.

2 cups cold water, divided
1 (5 by 3-inch) piece kombu
1/4 cup loosely packed katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
1/4 cup chopped peeled ginger plus 1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger, divided
2 cups uncooked sushi rice, rinsed
1/2 cup sake
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 garlic clove, grated
2 cups Dungeness crab meat
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 Persian or 1/2 English cucumber, seeded and diced
Smelt roe or tobiko, thinly sliced nori, and toasted sesame seeds, for serving

Place 1 1/2 cups cold water and kombu in a small saucepan; heat over high until steaming. Remove from heat; sprinkle katsuobushi over broth, and steep 3 minutes. Strain dashi into a bowl; discard solids. (Alternatively, make 1 cup dashi using instant dashi granules.)
Process remaining 1/2 cup water and chopped ginger in a blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour ginger water through a fine wire-mesh strainer; discard solids.
Prepare a rice cooker: combine rinsed rice, 1 cup dashi, ginger water, sake, and salt, and cover. Cook rice according to rice cooker instructions and set aside, keeping rice warm.
Meanwhile, bring brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and grated ginger to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-low. Boil until sauce thickens to a syrup consistency, about 5 minutes. Let cool, and reserve.
Divide rice among four serving bowls, and top with crab and avocado. Top evenly with cucumber, roe, nori, and sesame seeds, and serve immediately with sweet soy glaze.

Garlic Noodles with Dungeness Crab

November 20, 2024

If you’ve spent time in San Francisco then you know the city’s garlic noodles are iconic. They’re on countless menus but the original lies with Thanh Long, a classic Vietnamese restaurant in the Sunset District, that I lived near to many moons ago.

This dish is a love letter to Thanh Long’s infamous noodles. It’s absolutely worth seeking out fresh Dungeness crab for the best flavor.

1 pound fresh wheat noodles or spaghetti pasta
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 onion, sliced
8 ounces lump crabmeat, preferably Dungeness
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 teaspoon smoked or sweet paprika
Black pepper
1 green onion, sliced, for serving

Cook the noodles to al dente according to package directions. Drain and rinse well with cold water.
In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and 1 tablespoon water to blend. Set sauce aside.
In a large skillet or wok, heat 1 tablespoon each of the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add one-third of the garlic and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add the onion and stir-fry until the garlic just begins to brown, about another minute. Add the crab, Cajun seasoning, paprika, and pepper to taste. Cook for another minute, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Return the skillet to medium heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon each olive oil and butter. Add the remaining minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute or two. Add the sauce, let it warm up, then add the cooked noodles. Mix well to coat the noodles with the sauce, then add about 1/4 of the crab mixture and stir for another minute to warm through.
Transfer the noodles to a serving platter and top with the remaining crab mixture, garnish with the green onions and pepper, and serve.

Chickpea Curry with Spinach “Puttu”

November 19, 2024

I absolutely love puttu, the ubiquitious steamed ground rice dish that is popular in Sri Lanka and South India. I also cannot remotely figure out how to make puttu for the life of me. Enter couscous, a not-so-authentic shortcut that emulates that puttu feeling and satiates my cravings (oh, how I wish the Bay Area had more Sri Lankan and South Indian restaurants). Adapted from the Rambutan cookbook, this spinach-flecked puttu goes perfectly with fiery chickpea curry.

For the chickpea curry:

2 golf ball-sized pieces of tamarind, soaked in 1/2 cup warm water for 10 minutes
2 tablespoons coconut oil, divided
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
20 curry leaves, divided
2 14-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Sri Lankan curry powder
1/2 can coconut milk (about 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

For the spinach puttu

3/4 cup couscous
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 pound spinach (or kale), finely chopped
1 serrano chili, finely chopped
1 red onion, divided: 1/2 finely diced and 1/2 thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup fresh grated coconut (frozen is fine)
10 curry leaves
2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 lime

Make the chickpea curry: Squeeze the tamarind with your fingers, then discard the seeds and skin through a fine-mesh strainer, saving the tamarind water.
Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic, and fry until the onion is lightly browned. Add the fenugreek seeds and 10 curry leaves and fry, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
Add the chickpeas, tamarind water, salt, and Sri Lankan curry powder. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer for 20-30 minutes with the lid partially covering the saucepan. Stir in the coconut milk and cook for 3 minutes to warm through. Plate in a serving bowl and set aside.
In the meantime, make the temper: heat the remaining tablespoon coconut oil in a small frying pan over medium-high heat, add the remaining 10 curry leaves and black mustard seeds. After about 1 minute, when the curry leaves are crispy, pour the temper over the chickpea curry.
Make the spinach puttu: Place the couscous and boiling water in a saucepan, sprinkle with salt to taste, stir, and tightly cover. Set aside for 12 minutes until couscous is tender. (Alternatively, cook couscous according to package directions.) Gently fluff couscous with a fork and set aside.
In the meantime, add the oil to a saucepan over medium-high heat, and saute the spinach, serrano chili, onion, and a pinch of salt for 4 minutes, until the onion is softened. Remove from heat.
Gently fold together the spinach mixture, couscous, sugar, and grated coconut and set aside.
Put the curry leaves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, fenugreek seeds, and red onion in a small saucepan and cover with 1 1/2 inches water. Bring to a boil and after 2 minutes, add the coconut milk and stir until it is heated through. Remove from heat and just before serving, squeeze in the lime juice. To serve, pour the fenugreek mixture over the puttu and serve alongside the chickpea curry.

Sri Lankan Yellow Rice

November 3, 2024

This super easy yellow rice goes well with almost anything but my favorite way to serve it is alongside vegetable or legume curries, especially roasted squash curry. Or simply top with with a fried egg, some sambol and a spoonful of yogurt, and you have yourself an easy and satisfying rice bowl.

1 heaping cup basmati rice
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
4 cardamom pods, lightly smashed in a mortar and pestle
4 cloves
10 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon turmeric
10 curry leaves
2-inch piece pandan leaf
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 teaspoon salt

Rinse and drain the rice and set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and fry for 5-7 minutes, until it is lightly golden brown. Add all the spices, the curry leaves, the pandan leaf, and the rice. Fry for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the chicken stock, coconut milk, and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer, cover with a lid, and cook for 12 minutes, until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat, remove the whole spices from the rice, and serve.

Kimchi Mac and Cheese

October 29, 2024October 31, 2024

I love kimchi. I eat it straight out of the jar. To me, kimchi is torshi-adjacent — after all, my family has been buying kimchi since before it entered the American lexicon in the 1990s. We eat it alongside all manner of khoresh and rice. It works!

Kimchi is versatile. And if it works so well with Iranian food, then why not with American food too? Behold, your new favorite mac and cheese recipe. Tangy, fermented kimchi is the perfect foil to cheddar cheese. I can’t get enough.

1 pound elbow macaroni or similar
1 cup panko
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, warmed
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons gochujang
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
3 1/2 to 4 cups grated aged extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup kimchi, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
Put the panko in a small bowl and drizzle with olive oil, mixing until the panko is evenly coated. Set aside.
In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Drizzle in the warm milk, continuing to whisk to get rid of any clumps. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the mustard, gochujang, nutmeg, and salt. Stir mixture with a wooden spoon until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, for a few minutes.
Remove from the heat and add both cheeses, macaroni, and kimchi and mix until the pasta is coated with the sauce. Pour the pasta into a wide, shallow, oven-proof baking dish, top with the panko mixture and transfer the dish to the oven.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the panko topping is golden brown and the cheese sauce is bubbling at the edges.