Crispy potatoes, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Actually, scratch that, let me just cook up a batch of these generously spiced potatoes, which are like potato hash on overdrive.
This classic Sri Lankan dish is spicy, oniony, flecked with umami-laden Maldive fish, and perfectly crisped at the edges. Letting the potatoes brown sufficiently is key to their success — there’s nothing like the combination of that crispy exterior and creamy interior. These potatoes reheat well, too. Not that there’ll be any left over.
Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 sprigs curry leaves
3 dry red chiles, ground (1 to 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon Maldive fish
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt
1 tablespoon lime juice
1. Bring water to boil in a pot. Add potatoes and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Saute onions and curry leaves until onions are translucent.
3. Add potatoes, chiles, Maldive fish, turmeric, and salt. Saute for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are browned. Remove from heat and squeeze lime juice over before serving.
I like to think of kimbap as maki sushi’s lesser-known cousin. There’s rice and there’s seaweed, but the fillings are completely different and the rice in kimbap is seasoned with sesame oil, as opposed to vinegar.
Kimbap is a perfect picnic food: easy (albeit time-consuming) to assemble head of time, tastes delicious at room temperature, and it’s healthy to boot. You can be flexible with the fillings: if you don’t like carrots, don’t add carrots. If you really like spinach, add some extra. Me? I’m all about that pickled radish.
Ingredients:
4 cups freshly cooked short grain white rice
salt
3 teaspoons sesame oil
3 eggs
vegetable oil
8 ounces ground beef
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound spinach, blanched in boiling water for 1 minute, rinsed and squeezed dry, and coarsely chopped
6 sticks of imitation crab
6 sheets of nori seaweed
1 yellow pickled radish, cut into thin strips
1. Transfer the warm cooked rice to a large bowl and stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
2. Beat the eggs with 1/4 teaspoon salt in another bowl. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add a teaspoon of vegetable oil. Turn the heat to low and pour the beaten eggs into the skillet, tilting so that the eggs cover the bottom evenly. Cook until set but not browned, about 1 minute. Flip the egg sheet over, cook for another minute, and remove from heat. Transfer eggs to a cutting board to cool and cut into 1/2-inch strips.
3. Combine the beef, soy sauce, 3/4 of the garlic, brown sugar, pepper, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a bowl. Heat a skillet over high heat. Add the beef and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned. Remove from heat and let cool.
4. Mix the cooked spinach with 1/2 teaspoon salt, the remaining garlic, and the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a bowl.
5. Heat half a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the crab sticks and cook for about 1 minute, then flip them over and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Divide the rice into 6 portions and place a nori sheet on a bamboo mat, shiny side down. Spread 1 portion of rice evenly over the nori, leaving a 2-inch border at the top. Spread 1/4 cup of the beef mixture in a thin strip across the middle of the rice. Press it down with a spoon so it stays in place. Put one sixth of the spinach, a crab stick, a few egg strips, and a radish strip on top of the beef. Pick up the bottom edge of the mat and use it to roll the seaweed up and over the fillings, then continue rolling up the seaweed, using the mat, until you have a neat roll. Remove the roll from the mat and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 5 more rolls. Arrange on a plate and serve at room temperature.
And just like that, Thanksgiving is over. It’s time to atone for this year’s gluttony so I’m seeking out vegetables and greens in every meal this week. Mushrooms are in season and king oyster mushrooms in particular are my craving at the moment. King oyster mushrooms are readily available at Asian grocers and are worth seeking out for their meaty, velvety texture. Feel free to substitute with shiitake or even portobello mushrooms, if you prefer.
Tossed with crisp-tender broccoli, this side dish is autumn on a platter. Pumpkin spice flavored everything has nothing on this.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3 cups broccoli florets
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 quarter sized slices ginger, crushed
1 pound king oyster mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
1. Stir the chicken broth, water, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl to combine.
2. To prepare the broccoli, bring a medium pot filled with water to a boil over high heat. Add the broccoli and cook until bright green and tender-crisp, about 1 minute. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again.
3. Place a wok over high heat. Add the oil. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry until they begin to slightly brown, about 3 minutes. Add the sauce and stir to coat. Cover and cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 7 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook, until the sauce boils and thickens slightly.
4. Arrange the broccoli in the center of a serving platter and arrange the mushrooms around it. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and serve.
It’s hot in the East Bay, so hot that I really don’t want to turn the stove on these days. I’m throwing caution to the wind and preparing a refreshingly chilled entree to combat the heat. Who says dinner has to be served warm? Live a little, y’all.
This Japanese dish is a protein-packed double whammy of tofu and mushrooms. Lately I use shimeji and enoki mushrooms but you can use whatever looks good in the market. It comes together in minutes and requires only five minutes of stove time, making it perfect for those wtf-BART-had-three-delays-on-the-commute-home type of evenings.
Ingredients:
1 block silken (soft) tofu, drained
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
10 ounces mushrooms, such as shimeji, enoki, shiitake, or maitake
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sake
2/3 cup dashi broth
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1. Cut the tofu into quarters to make 4 large blocks and place on a serving platter.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Sprinkle with salt and add the sake and deglaze the pan. Add the dashi broth, soy sauce, and mirin and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan and stir for about 1 minute or until thickened.
3. Pour the mushroom sauce evenly over the tofu and garnish with the green onions. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Seeni sambol is meant to be eaten as a condiment, but I love this sweet and spicy onion relish so much that I eat it straight out of the container. No shame.
Like its Southeast Asian cousin sambal, Sri Lankan sambols are part of a larger meal, alongside dishes like hoppers or rice. This is my favorite sambol. It’s easy to make but takes patience: lots of stirring and doting over a pan of slowly caramelizing onions, Maldive fish, chili powder, curry leaves, and sugar. Feel free to adjust the amount of pepper to your preference.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons oil
1 pound red onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 inch piece ginger, finely chopped
1 sprig curry leaves
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
2 inch cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 cup Maldive fish
5 tablespoons tamarind pulp, softened in 1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup coconut milk
juice of 1/2 lime
2 teaspoons sugar
1. Strain softened tamarind pulp in a sieve, discarding solids. Mix tamarind pulp into coconut milk and set aside.
2. Heat oil in pan. Fry onions, garlic, ginger, and curry leaves until onions are golden brown.
3. Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, salt, cayenne pepper, Maldive fish, tamarind-coconut mixture, and lime. Cook, uncovered, on low heat for about 40 minutes.
4. Add sugar and mix well. Remove from heat, cool, and store in a glass container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Serve at room temperature.
