Crepes with Dark Chocolate Sauce

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I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but crepes are one of my weak spots. (And doughnuts, especially the ones that rhyme with Drispy Dreme.)

But back to crepes. They’re easier to make that it appears, as long as your batter is sufficiently thin. If you find yourself producing pancake-like creations on your first couple of tries, add a bit of water to thin the batter and proceed.

These make an indulgent breakfast and are endlessly adaptable. (Nutella! Bananas! Whipped cream!)

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Ingredients:

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons butter, room temperature, plus 3 tablespoons butter, melted
4 eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups flour

1. Make the dark chocolate sauce: Heat cream in a small saucepan until steaming (do not bring to a boil) and turn off heat. Immediately add chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let sit until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons butter and whisk until butter incorporated and mixture is smooth. Set aside and keep warm.

2. Blend eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla in a blender until frothy. Add flour and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and blend just to combine. Cover batter and chill 1 hour.

3. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high, then brush with butter. Ladle 1/4 cup batter into skillet and swirl to evenly coat bottom. Cook crepe until bubbles form on surface and edges are golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Slide a spatula underneath crepe to loosen and carefully flip. Cook on the other side until a few brown spots appear, about 1 minute, then transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining butter and batter.

4. Serve crepes with dark chocolate sauce.

Chicken Slivers with Flowering Chives

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This recipe is malleable to say the least. Originally a Sichuan recipe of pork with yellow chives, I’ve adapted it to make it less, uh, porky. But I also swapped out the chives. Chinese yellow chives have been grown under cover without exposure to sunlight, and were originally called for here. They’re similar to the more commonly found Chinese chives, or jiu cai, but more delicate in flavor. There are also flowering chives, which are just as delicious and crunchier.

I love them all. But I can’t always find yellow chives or flowering chives, so feel free to use them interchangeably here. Just don’t use regular ol’ supermarket chives. It’s just not the same.

Slivered chicken with garlic chives

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken
3/4 pound flowering chives (or yellow chives or garlic chives), washed and trimmed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch or potato flour
1 teaspoon soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon black Chinese vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock

1. Slice the chicken into fine strips, about 2 inches long. Place them in a bowl, add the salt, rice wine, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 2 teaspoons water, and mix. Let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Cut the chives into 2-inch lengths. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch, and chicken stock in a bowl and set aside.

3. Add oil to a wok over high heat. Add the chicken slivers and stir-fry to separate them, about 2 minutes until the meat is just about cooked, then add the chives. Continue to stir-fry until the chives are tender, then add the sauce to the wok. Cook for a minute longer, until the sauce has thickened, then turn onto a serving platter.

Sri Lankan Crab Curry

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Dungeness crab season in the Bay Area. And during the holidays, we eat Dungeness crab. Crab cakes. Crab with butter. Singaporean chili crab. Roasted crab. And now, Jaffna-style crab curry. This stuff is so good it’ll have you licking your fingers and crying tears of joy from the endorphin rush. It burns, my friend. It burns so good. There’s a reason why this is Anthony Bourdain’s favorite Sri Lankan dish.

In my version, I substituted spinach for murungu leaves. I know, I know. A poor substitute, but I couldn’t find a single South Asian grocery in the East Bay that carries murungu leaves. And I’ve of course used Dungeness crab instead of blue swimmer crabs which are native to Sri Lanka. It ain’t pretty and it’s messy, but who cares? This is what crustacean dreams are made of.

Happy holidays, y’all.

Sri Lankan crab curry

Ingredients:

2 large cooked Dungeness crabs, cleaned
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt to taste
1 tablespoon raw basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
5 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tomato, chopped
1 bunch spinach or murungu leaves
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons tamarind paste, soaked in 1/3 cup warm water and pressed through a sieve, solids discarded

1. Split crabs down the middle and crack legs. Toss with turmeric powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Set aside.

2. Toast rice, peppercorns, and cumin seeds in a small saucepan and set aside. Toast coconut in saucepan until slightly browned. Grind spices and coconut with garlic and set aside.

3. Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Saute onions, curry leaves, tomato, and spinach. Add crabs and 1/2 cup of the water. Cover and steam over high heat for 5 minutes.

4. Add the rice mixture, remaining water, and coconut milk to the saucepan. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes. Add strained tamarind liquid to pot and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Chicken Soup with Sticky Rice

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‘Tis the season for rainy days, for heavy coats, for wanting nothing more than to curl up with a bowl of warm soup and binge-watch Game of Thrones. Winter is coming, y’all.

My favorite thing about this time of year is cold-weather cooking; namely, soups! Especially this one: an easy-to-make but complex-tasting chicken soup redolent with Vietnamese flavors of fish sauce, cilantro, and chiles. Make sure you add enough chicken broth: as the soup cools and settles, the sticky rice will thicken the soup.

Vietnamese sticky rice and chicken soup

Ingredients:

3 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 5-inch piece dried kombu
1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled, crushed
4 star anise pods
1 2-inch cinnamon stick
3 cloves
6 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup glutinous (sticky) rice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion

1. Bring chicken, kombu, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, stock, and 2 cups water to a simmer in a large pot over moderate heat. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook until chicken is tender. Transfer chicken to a plate.

2. Strain broth through a fine-mesh sieve into another pot; discard solids. Return broth to large pot and add rice, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook until rice is very tender, about minutes. Shred chicken and return to pot; season soup with more fish sauce if needed.

3. Divide soup among bowls and garnish with green onions, jalapeno, cilantro, and white onion.

Spinach Borani

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No Iranian meal is complete without a yogurt-based side dish of some sort. The cucumber and mint-flecked mast-o khiar is most common (and a close cousin to Indian raita and Greek tzatziki). Spinach borani flies under the radar, despite it being just as delicious.

More substantial than its cucumber counterpart, spinach borani is a simple but perfect side dish alongside an Iranian khoresh but it’s just at home next to curry (and if you’re like me, straight out of the bowl as a standalone snack). Borani keeps for a few days in the fridge, so it’s perfect with leftovers.

Spinach borani

Ingredients:

1 pound spinach (about 1 bunch), washed
2 to 3 cups Persian or Greek-style yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper

1. Blanch the spinach: bring a pot of water to a boil; add spinach, and blanch for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and drain spinach in a colander, rinsing under cold water. Squeeze spinach to remove excess liquid and coarsely chop.

2. In a serving bowl, thoroughly mix yogurt, spinach, garlic, adding salt and pepper to taste.

3. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator for at least half an hour before serving, allowing the flavors to set. Serve cold or at room temperature.