Tag: East Asian

California Crab Rice Bowls

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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.

Ingredients:
  • 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
  1. 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.)
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

Kimchi Mac and Cheese

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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.

Ingredients:
  • 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
  1. Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
  2. 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.
  3. Put the panko in a small bowl and drizzle with olive oil, mixing until the panko is evenly coated. Set aside.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the panko topping is golden brown and the cheese sauce is bubbling at the edges.

Eggplant with Black Garlic-Tahini Sauce

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Summer may be over but I’m still happily working through the last of the warm weather produce. This buttery eggplant with a tangy, deeply garlicky, and creamy sauce is one my favorite eggplant dishes that I made this year.

Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup tahini
  • 4 peeled black garlic cloves 
  • 1 tablespoon mirin
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons rice vinegar, divided
  • 1 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 1 red Fresno pepper chile, thinly sliced
  • 6 tablespoons avocado oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 pounds Japanese eggplant (about 3 eggplant), roll-cut into 1-inch pieces 
  • Thinly sliced green onions, for garnish
  1. Process 1/4 cup water, tahini, black garlic, mirin, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth, 30 to 45 seconds. Set tahini dressing aside.
  2. Stir together chile, remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons vinegar, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl; set aside.
  3. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a cast-iron skillet over high until a wisp of smoke rises from skillet. Add half of the eggplant to skillet; immediately stir to coat with oil. Cook, stirring often, until just tender and browned in spots, about 6 minutes. (Skillet will appear dry.) Transfer to a plate. Repeat process with remaining 3 tablespoons oil and remaining eggplant.
  4. Reduce heat to medium. Add cooked eggplant, chile mixture, and remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until eggplant absorbs chile mixture, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Spread 1/2 cup tahini dressing on a platter. Top with eggplant mixture, and garnish with green onions.

Bulgogi Japchae

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What’s better than bulgogi or japchae? Bulgogi and japchae at the same time, of course. I’ve published a similar japchae recipe here before, but this one is different in that the seasonings are more like bulgogi and there’s the addition of spinach. Try both versions out and see which one your prefer.

Ingredients:

For the japchae:

  • Scant 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 bunch spinach
  • 8 ounces Korean sweet potato noodles
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil
  • 1 carrot, cut into 2-inch matchsticks
  • 1/2 to 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  • 3 green onions (green parts only), chopped into 3-inch pieces
  • 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
  • 4 to 6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced

For the bulgogi:

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound ribeye or sirloin steak, very thinly sliced
  • 1/2 yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 3 tablespoons avocado oil
  1. Make the bulgogi: in a large bowl, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, honey, and garlic. Add the beef, onion, and sesame seeds and stir until all the beef is coated. Cover the bowl and marinate, refrigerated, 1 to 5 hours.
  2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons of the oil, then add half of the meat and onion mixture and cook, stirring occassionally, until the meat is cooked through and the onion has softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer the meat to a bowl and repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and meat and onion mixture. Set aside.
  3. Make the japchae: in a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil to blend. Set aside.
  4. Fill a medium bowl with an ice bath. Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add the spinach to the boiling water, let cook for 15 seconds, then transfer the spinach to the ice water. (Keep the boiling water in the pot.) Let the spinach cool, then drain. Squeeze the excess water out of the spinach, roughly chop the spinach, and set aside.
  5. Add the sweet potato noodles to the boiling water and cook until soft, about 5 minutes or according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
  6. Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the avocado oil, then the carrot, bell pepper, green onion, yellow onion, mushrooms, and garlic, and stir to mix. Stir-fry until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the spinach and noodles and stir for about a minute, then add the soy sauce mixture and toss with tongs to coat all the ingredients. Add the bulgogi and mix again until the meat is distributed. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Japchae can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and reheated.)

Soy-Butter Beef with Shishito Peppers

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This easy one-pan dish is all about capturing the last bit of summer before the season’s peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and stone fruit are gone for another year. Tossed with seared steak and a buttery umami-bomb sauce, these shishito peppers steal the show. Serve with rice for a super satisfying meal.

Ingredients:

For the beef:

  • 1 pound boneless New York strip steak or sirloin, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons avocado oil

For the sauce:

  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup oyster sauce
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons avocado oil, divided
  • 6 green onions, white and pale green parts and dark green parts separated, sliced on a diagonal into 1-inch pieces
  • 12 ounces shishito peppers, stems removed, sliced in half on a diagonal
  • 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
  • Steamed rice, for serving
  1. Marinate the beef: Toss beef, cornstarch, soy sauce, and oil in a medium bowl until meat is evenly coated. Let sit at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill (no need to bring to room temperature before cooking).
  2. Make the sauce: Whisk soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, vinegar, cornstarch, black pepper, and 2/3 cup water in a small bowl to combine; set sauce aside.
  3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high. Add half of beef in a single layer, separating clumps as much as possible. Cook, undisturbed, until deep golden brown underneath (meat will be pale on the other side), about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate, Repeat process with another 1 tablespoon oil and remaining beef.
  4. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in same pan over medium-high. Cook white and pale green onion parts, stirring occasionally, until lightly charred in spots, about 2 minutes. Add shishito peppers, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring often, until garlic is fragrant, about 45 seconds. Add beef and reserved sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and add dark green onion parts and butter. Stir vigorously until butter is melted.
  5. Serve beef and shishito peppers alongside rice.