Quick and Easy – Page 27

Dry Fried Glass Noodles with Chiles

January 6, 2017September 30, 2025

I’ve been on a spicy kick lately. Does it have chiles? Copious amounts of chiles? Yes? Will my tongue tingle and will my mouth go numb? Sign me up then.

This Sichuan-influenced dish of glass noodles quickly dry-fried with spices and ground meat is fiery thanks to a healthy dose of chili bean paste and dried chiles. It’s a flexible recipe, so feel free to leave out the meat for a vegetarian version or add vegetables galore to up the health factor. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that this dish is spicy. Pass the water, please.

Ingredients:

6 ounces dry bean thread noodles
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
4 ounces ground chicken
4 teaspoons minced garlic
3 green onions, minced, plus a few tablespoons reserved for garnish
1 Thai or serrano chile, minced
2 teaspoons doubanjiang
Small handful chopped cilantro

Place the noodles in a bowl and cover with hot water. Let soak until pliable and tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Make the sauce: combine the soy sauce, sugar, and chicken stock in a small bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Heat the oil in a wok over high heat until shimmering. Add the Sichuan peppercorns and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Immediately add the chicken and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through and beginning to brown, about 3 minutes.
Add the garlic, green onions, chile, and doubanjiang and stir-fry until fragrant about 45 seconds. Add the sauce.
When the sauce is simmering, add the noodles. Gently lift and fold the noodles into the chicken and sauce (do not stir vigorously or the noodles may become sticky). When the sauce is mostly absorbed, fold in the reserved green onions and cilantro, and serve.

Sri Lankan Spiced Potatoes

December 19, 2016February 7, 2019

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.

King Oyster Mushrooms with Broccoli

November 28, 2016February 7, 2019

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.

Silken Tofu with Mushrooms

September 23, 2016February 7, 2019

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.

Bourbon Peach Shrub

September 16, 2016August 17, 2023

I think of shrubs as the cousin of sharab. It turns out there’s a reason why: today’s shrubs (vinegared syrup with spirits, water, or carbonated water) are a variant of sharab, which means “syrup” or “wine” in Persian, Hindi, and Arabic. Shrubs may be the base for the trendy cocktail of the moment, but its history is ancient.

Etymology aside, this peach and bourbon shrub is my favorite version to make. Peaches go with bourbon like waffles go with fried chicken, like palm trees with California, like Kamran with Hooman. You get the point.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 pounds peaches
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
6 ounces bourbon
2 ounces lemon juice

1. Bring sugar and 3/4 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Slice peaches into medium pieces. Reserve a few pieces for serving and add remaining to pan. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 30 minutes. Strain syrup into a bowl; stir in vinegar. Cover and chill shrub.â€©

2. Set out 4 ice-filled cocktail glasses. For each cocktail, shake 2 ounces shrub, 1 1/2 ounces bourbon, and half an ounce of lemon juice in an ice-filled cocktail shaker until frosty. Strain into glasses and top with reserved peaches.