Most of the time when I dine out for sushi, I order an appetizer of agedashi tofu to start things off. It’s a simple Japanese dish of deep-fried silken tofu, and I love the textural contrast of the crispy outside and the piping hot, creamy tofu on the inside. The whole thing is served in dashi broth and topped with shredded daikon radish and green onions. Despite being deep-fried, the tofu absorbs very little oil, so I don’t feel bad about eating it.
I recently learned to make this dish at home when I was gifted Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook by a friend. I have a few Japanese cookbooks, but this has quickly become my favorite. I’ve already cooked this rendition of agedashi tofu several times.
Ingredients:
1 block silken tofu, about one pound
Potato starch for coating the tofu
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
3/4 cup dashi stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons mirin
1/2 cup lightly-packed dried bonito flakes (katsuo-bushi)
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1-inch daikon radish, peeled and shredded
1/8 teaspoon Japanese-style ground red chili pepper (ichimi togarashi)
1. Mix the shredded daikon with the chili pepper and set aside.
2. Bring mirin, soy sauce, and dashi to a gentle boil and turn off heat. Add bonito flakes and leave for 10 seconds, then strain through a mesh strainer. Set sauce aside.
3. In a heavy saucepan, heat 2 inches oil to medium-high heat.
4. Slice tofu horizontally into 2 pieces. If desired, slice each of these 2 pieces in half as well. Blot tofu dry and coat with potato starch. Fry the tofu until the surface is golden and crispy, about 5 minutes. Carefully transfer the tofu with a slotted spoon onto a paper-lined plate to drain excess oil.
5. Place tofu in a serving bowl and pour in the sauce. Garnish with the green onions and shredded daikon radish.
Originally adapted from an old Martin Yan recipe for vegetarian rolls wrapped in Mandarin pancakes, this recipe has gone through several permutations over the years. The biggest change is that I added more noodles and got rid of the pancake/wrapper component.
This dish makes a healthy meal on its own and the vegetables can be replaced with whatever is season. Best of all, you can make it ahead of time since it can be served room temperature or chilled.
Ingredients:
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
6 pieces dried cloud ear
8 ounces dried bean thread noodles
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups mung bean sprouts
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a dash of salt
2 tablespoons oyster flavored sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1. Soak mushrooms and cloud ears in warm water to cover until softened, about 15 minutes; drain. Thinly slice mushrooms and cloud ears. Soak bean thread noodles in warm water to cover until softened, about 15 minutes; drain. Cut noodles into 8-inch lengths.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil on medium-high heat in a small frying pan. Pour in 1/3 of beaten eggs and swirl pan to cover entire bottom. Cook until egg is lightly browned on bottom and set on top, about 1 minute. Turn sheet over and cook 10 seconds; slide out of pan. Repeat to make 2 more egg sheets. When sheets are cool, cut in half, stack and slice crosswise into 1/8-inch shreds.
3. Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add remaining tablespoon cooking oil, swirling to coat sides. Add garlic and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add mushrooms, cloud ears, cabbage, and carrots; stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add bean thread noodles and broth; cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add mung bean sprouts, egg shreds, oyster flavored sauce, sugar, and sesame oil; cook until heated through. Remove to a serving bowl and serve room temperature or chilled.
Yank Sing is probably San Francisco’s most well-known dim sum restaurant. More upscale, pricier and busier than many other dim sum establishments in the city, it’s the one that I’ve most often heard cited as someone’s first foray into dim sum. My first visit to Yank Sing was several years ago, and I hadn’t been back since.
Until now. I met up with a group for brunch on a late morning one weekend, and immediately we were surrounded by carts. The dim sum at Yank Sing is more Americanized than that at most other dim sum restaurants, but the quality is top notch.
We started with the gingered sea bass.
One of the fun things about dim sum with a group is that you get to try things you wouldn’t normally order. I usually go straight for the dumplings, so the fish was a refreshing departure from the usual. This was incredibly fresh fish, flaky and light.
Next we tried the spring rolls.
These were good, similar to what you might get at any other high-end dim sum restaurant. Thin and crispy on the outside, piping hot and stuffed with shredded vegetables on the inside.
Our third dish was the steamed rolls with shrimp.
This is one of my favorite dim sums and its easy to mess this one up. Sometimes the rice noodle rolls are mushy and overcooked, but not here. Drizzled with a light soy-based sauce, this was a winner.
Next we tried the stuffed mushrooms.
These were good, but not incredible. I order this often when I eat dim sum, and I like the ones with a finer minced stuffing. This had a rougher texture, but flavor-wise was still tasty.
We continued with the honey walnut prawns.
Served with a creamy glaze, this dish was a little too sweet for my taste but that’s a personal preference. Again, the quality on this dish was apparent and we ate the shrimp up in no time.
Our last savory dim sum was the nori-wrapped fried tofu.
This is my absolute favorite dim sum at Yank Sing. I love seaweed and I love fried tofu; the combination is just excellent. The only letdown was that it was a bit too salty, but otherwise perfect.
We finished our meal with an order sesame balls.
Sweet and glutinous, and stuffed with a red bean paste, I always order this at the end of my dim sum meals. It’s a heavy dish to finish with, but it’s delicious and satisfying nevertheless.
I can easily see why Yank Sing consistently draws a crowd, but it’s much more expensive than other dim sum establishments. A seventy dollar bill for two at brunch is the norm here, and it’s almost twice as what you might expect elsewhere. Still, it’s a good place for a special meal and best of all, the dishes are consistently delicious and made with care.
On my last full day in the British Virgin Islands, I took it easy. I enjoyed a communal breakfast of the best Swedish pancakes ever (and homemade at that) in the morning, while the chickens perched on the banana trees underneath our balcony snacked on bananas.
Afterward, Seher and I split from our group to take another stab at dining at Cruzin in Carrot Bay. By the time we arrived, it was lunchtime and thankfully they were open. Seating at Cruzin is outdoors and surrounded by lots of lush, green foliage. A baby lizard crept past our table as we perused our menu and we could see the beach from across the street as we waited for our food to arrive.
The first dish to arrive was the lobster and beef patties.
Beef is my favorite patty filling but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the lobster one too. The thick, crispy shell was filled with generous chunks of lobster and bits of fresh peppers. The beef version was extremely rich; the cabbage and raisin coleslaw on the side helped lighten things up.
We also split a plate of curry chicken roti.
This was my first taste of Caribbean roti, and a delicious one at that. The warm curry was wrapped inside a thin layer of fresh roti bread with a crepe-like consistency. The dish came with rice and salad too, but I was too stuffed to continue.
We said goodbye Cruzin after our meal and headed next toward Smugglers Cove to join the rest of the group.
Located on the West End of Tortola, Smugglers Cove is accessible via a dirt road, but the bumpy ride was completely worth it. The cove is one of BVI’s most beautiful beaches, and it quickly became my favorite. Even though it was overcast when we visited, it was still calm and I spent a few hours in the water before calling it a day.
It was nighttime by the time our group arrived back at the villa and the weather was getting worse. By the end of the night, it was storming like I’d never seen, and the rain and heat made for the arrival of some pretty serious mosquitoes. The lighting, thunder, wind and mosquito free-for-all meant I hardly slept that night.
Seher and I said our goodbyes early the next morning and headed back to Beef Island to catch our flight back to San Francisco. But not before making a stop at the grocery in Road Town for some pepper sauce – what’s a trip to the Caribbean without pepper sauce after all?
The flight back was long, stopover-filled and exhausting, but the view leaving BVI was spectacular.
The British Virgin Islands may not have been among the places I thought I’d ever visit, but I couldn’t be happier that I did.
I woke up extra early on my third day in the British Virgin Islands. The wedding that Seher and I had traveled to Tortola for was later in the day, but we had plans to check out neighboring Carrot Bay first. Our housemates had tipped us on Cruzin, a roti restaurant in Carrot Bay, so we made the hour-long walk over in hopes of catching an early lunch. The gorgeous scenery made the hike on an empty stomach worth it.
Unfortunately, Cruzin turned out to be closed, and so was every other restaurant in Carrot Bay. One of the more curious things about the British Virgin Islands are the odd hours at its eateries: many require you to call a day ahead of time to make a reservation to ensure they’ll be open, presumably so that the chef can prepare the ingredients ahead of time.
Luckily for us, there was one lone stand in Carrot Bay selling saltfish and bread; Seher and I ordered a plate and shared it on the beachside curb before heading back to Apple Bay.
The bread was a little stale but the saltfish was flavorful and cooked with fresh peppers. A splash of vinegary pepper sauce spiced things up even more.
Back at the vacation house, we got ready for the wedding and made our way to the wedding site, but not before stopping at another roadside stand at the bottom of the hill. Our housemates had told us about this one too, open only one day a week. The woman behind the stand had cooked everything, from the johnny cakes to the barbecued chicken to the stewed shrimp.
I got a box of stewed oxtail, stewed conch, baked macaroni and cheese, and a johnny cake. The conch was was really soft and almost gelatinous, but interesting to try nonetheless. The oxtail was incredible: super tender and coated with a rich, savory meaty sauce. That and the johnny cake together was my favorite thing to eat on this trip.
After the beautiful beach wedding ceremony, dinner was held at the Sugar Mill Hotel’s restaurant, the site of the wedding which also used to be 370-year old sugar stone mill. Reputedly one of the best restaurants in the Caribbean, I was excited to try their island fusion cuisine. For my appetizer, I chose the roast duck breast.
Served with banana chutney and cilantro, this was absolutely delicious. I don’t even like cilantro, but I loved this appetizer. The duck was lean and flavorful and the banana chutney was a surprisingly excellent accompaniment. I wouldn’t mind a jar all to myself.
For salad, I was served a Caesar-esque plate of hearts of romaine.
Topped with bacon, brioche croutons and tossed in a garlic anchovy aioli, this was good. Caesar salads can be run of the mill, but the Sugar Mill made this stand out by using high-quality ingredients.
My entree was the vanilla poached shrimp, which I ordered because I was so curious about the vanilla-seafood pairing.
The restaurant gets major bonus points for serving the shrimp with their heads on, which I love (plus, it adds flavor), but as it turns out, vanilla poached shrimp is a little too sweet for my taste. The dish was served with steamed vegetables, saffron risotto, mango chutney, in keeping with a sweet theme.
Weather in BVI can be stifling even at night, so I chose the trio of sorbet and ice cream for dessert.
I’m so glad I did. This was refreshing and the highlight was the extra-creamy pistachio ice cream that was as good as my other favorite pistachio ice cream (Haagen-Dazs in case you’re wondering).
After dinner, the wedding party headed to the Bomba Shack, a beachside bar famous for its monthly full moon parties where they give out mushroom tea. There was no full moon when we showed up though, but the shack was still lots of fun. And oh, it really is a shack.
We were exhausted by the end of the evening, so we called for a cab to take us back up the hill and called it a night. Despite the relaxed atmosphere, it felt like time travels faster in BVI – we only had one full day left on the islands.
