Happy Lunar New Year with Chinese Hot Pot

I grew up calling it Chinese New Year. I loved spending all day lighting firecrackers. I thought everyone did it, until I went to school in a small New Hampshire town. No one knew what I was talking about. I was confused when I realized you get Christmas and 'American' New Year's off from school but not Chinese New Year. Then I moved to Hawaii. Lo and behold! They dedicate whole weeks and block parties to the day. Go Hawaii!

It wasn't until I was quite a bit older that I realized Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and pretty much all of Asia celebrates Chinese New Year... er, or what I call Lunar New Year. Mainly because Asia New Year and Oriental New Year isn't really as catchy. So sorry New Hampshire, half the world celebrates Chinese New Year, so I'm not as strange as you made me out to be.

There is a ton of traditions that you can happily look up on the handy, dandy web. But my friends and I made up our own tradition, which is Chinese Hot Pot night. Also known as Japanese Shabu-Shabu and as I drove by a place on Kapahulu, found out there's a Thai version too.

But this isn't your regular restaurant version. We are making hot pot at home because this is a party. But you can make it for regular dinner, just make sure there's at least 8 hearty eaters at the table.


Things to note:
- There is a major amount of prep and making things look good. This is easy but extremely time consuming
- Surprise: Asian ingredients abound, so you need an Asian grocery or Chinatown nearby
- Technically, this isn't a recipe, it's a framework for a party so you can make substitutions as necessary
- We have 2 hot pots because we had someone who was allergic to shellfish. So there was a shrimp and a non-shrimp hot pot. Every guest was told upon entry because this was a family event and no heavy drinking was involved, everyone remembered. Put a sign up if your friends are prone to forgetfulness moments.
- As much as I love this growing up and was completely satisfied with it, my father would insist on another course because 'soup is not dinner.' We always have jai (a traditional New Year's Dish) and a few other things. Plan accordingly for your guests.

Jai, I don't make it but I can tell you its delicious

Ingredients:
-meats shaved thin such as chicken,beef, pork. Can be found prepped at Asian markets, try the meat counter but sometimes they are in the frozen section.
-fish, a firm white fish is fine (avoid salmon) cut into bite size pieces
-shrimp, cleaned but shell and head still attached (if you are traditional)
-beef balls
-fish balls
-chicken balls
-chinese noodles, fresh or par boiled
-cabbage, spinach or kale (or any hearty green that looks good and fresh at the market)
-chicken broth or stock

Suggestions for saucing station:
The basics are soy sauce and oyster sauce, but there's usually a huge variety of sauces at the store. If you are still stumped call up all your friend and have them each bring 1 Asian sauce from their pantry, it can actually get overwhelming if it is a 14 person or more party.
-eggs
-soy sauce
-oyster sauce
-hot sauce
-garlic oil
-sesame oil
-chili oil
-hoison sauce
-sweet and sour

Hardware:
-rice cooker (or electric wok or an hot plate with a wide pot)
-Spoons
-Chopsticks
-Ladle
-Every plate/platter in your house
-Individual Bowls
-Giant Dining room table (or a folding 6' table, 2 if you got 'em)

Set up:
The night before (or earlier if you have freezer space) start making platter of stuff you want in the soup. Take a platter, put down greens on the bottom of the plate and very prettily place raw food on top. I've seen restaurants go really fancy with this and you can check out photos here, here and here.

We ended up with:

Hot Pot Table

Not the Hot Pot Table

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate or freeze if more than 2 days away.

Day of party:
Put the rice cooker or electric wok in the center of the table. Fill it with broth, wine and broth, bland soup, water with ramen packets and hot sauce or anything besides straight water. Turn on the heat before guests arrive to get it to a boil.

Put out platters of raw food. Now there's some brains that are necessary for this part. RAW FOOD ITEMS SHOULD NOT TOUCH COOKED FOOD ITEMS. Potentially can be bad. Really bad. Don't risk it. This can be challenging for children and non-foodies so if you have to give a lesson do, but chopsticks for raw chicken should stay with the raw chicken and not pick up that hot beef ball that fell out of the ladle. Bad.

Also bad: using your eating chopsticks to fill up the pot with raw food then eating
Also bad: putting your food on an empty raw food platter because you are waiting for someone to eat it

I know it sounds hard but after a few hot pot nights everyone will get the jive, just keep lots of utensils and bowls readily available and put empty platters immediately in the sink.

Directions:
Get everyone to stand or sit around the pot. When it is at a boil start loading it up with items of your choice. I go to the platter closest to me and put in 3-4 times the amount I plan to eat because this is family style. Hopefully everyone else does the same. When there's a good amount of stuff in there, close the lid and wait for it to come back to a boil. I use this time to mix up a sauce and have a drink.

Sauce:
Take your favorite sauce additions and mix it around in your bowl.
Personal favorite: Mix oyster sauce, roasted garlic, sesame oil and a dash of hot sauce. Then crack an egg on the bottom. The hot soup cooks the egg but the yolk stays runny. It is delicious. But feel free to vary yours as you see fit, experiment and make suggestions to other people. 

When the pot comes to a boil take off the lid. It's now a first come, first serve in goodies. I actually will only take a few bites in the beginning round because I like when the soup starts getting flavored from all that food. Then I go in when other people are full and get a ladle of soup and all the goodies.

Eat until pot is empty. Fill up with food again. Top with more broth if it gets to low. When everyone is full do one more load where you cook everything, wrap up the leftovers and give it away as people leave or freeze for future use.

Party on!  
新年快乐
Gong hay fat choy!

A Proper Thai Curry

Not to sound too full of myself but I like to cook. Moreover, I'm pretty good at it.

So when I go to a restaurant to eat a meal I think, "hell, I can make that at home." Not only that, I can probably make it better... And cheaper. I don't mean to brag or anything, but it's true... most of the time.

Except for Thai food

I was having a cooking crisis because I love curries, pad thai, tom yum, everything on that Thai menu. Occasionally, I wanted to skip the lines and crowds and just make it at home.

Well, I tried to make it at home.
Hard.

I researched the only way I knew how. The internet. Every recipe I found online just didn't taste the same as some of my favorite restaurants. (Ok, there's only 1 favorite restaurant and a couple of decent restaurant.) Nevertheless, it was driving me nuts. I had tried  the internet recipes, I tried instructions on the back of packages. But everything I made... it just wasn't right. It was watery, flavorless or just m'eh. A few times I try to compensate with extra curry paste... The burning finally stopped 3 days later. 

So I did what any other person on the brink of cooking insanity would do. I joined an adult education class for cooking Thai food.

Ah-ha! I'm a genius. I know.

It pulled me back from the brink of cooking insanity. Finally, authentic recipes and ingredients. There's a few cooking techniques that are new but nothing overly complicated. The best part is that it turns out the ingredients are relatively cheap... if you stick to Chinatown.

I hate Chinatown.

They close too early for me to get there after work/weekend morning fun stuff.

And parking pisses me off.

Luckily there's an Asian ethnic store on my way home from work. Cheap ingredients, good food, everyone is happy.

I made this curry for a potluck so this is a doubled recipe. And it was a Friday dinner so I had to cook while I was at work, so here comes the slow cooker, again. The photo is messy because I tried to use the smaller crockpot, but should have known better. You need a 6 quart slow cooker for the double recipe.

Also, you can always make it on the stovetop, those directions are included too.

This is the mess you get when you try to cram all the ingredients into a 4 quart slow cooker. 

Thai Green Curry with Chicken and Tofu

Can be halved for a family dinner, or doubled again for a really large crowd. This recipe easily fed 12-15 at a potluck with leftovers for lunch.

2 cans Coconut Milk (not Cream of Coconut and not low-fat, both common mistakes)
1/4 cup green curry paste, (more paste if you like more heat, less if you can't handle)
1/2 cup Tamarind Sauce (I use prepared jarred concentrate, but boil and strain if you are using the real stuff)
1/4 cup Fish Sauce
2 Tbsp Cane Sugar
2 Large Potatoes, peeled and cubed (or 5 small potatoes, which is all I had)
3 Large Carrots, peeled and cubed (or 4 small carrots, which is all I had)
1 Medium Onion
1 package Tofu, cubed
2 large Chicken Breast, sliced
1 Cinnamon Stick (or a pinch of cinnamon powder)
6 Cardamom Pods (optional - I don't really care for the flavor)
1/4 cup of peanuts or cashews, for garnish

Let the cans of coconut sit without moving to let the cream rise to the top and the milk to sink to the bottom. I leave it in the back of the pantry, but an overnight rest on the counter works too. Heat a small pot or frying pan. Open the cans carefully and skim the coconut cream off (about the top 1/4) and into the hot pan, it will sizzle and hiss. Move it around the pan until it looks a little dry. Some instructions say the oils will separate from the cream. (But as many times as I made this I never really noticed that, just cook a few minutes more after it stop sputtering) Add the curry paste and stir around until it dissolves in the cream.

In an 6 quart slow cooker mix the leftover coconut milk, tamarind sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and the curry/cream mixture you just cooked. Stir.


Add in potatoes and carrots, turn slow cooker onto low, cover and go to work.

Come back and add in tofu and chicken. Turn onto high for about 15 minutes. Throw on clean clothes and a fresh coat of makeup. Unplug slow cooker, grab a serving spoon and head to the party.

Let everyone compliment you on your cooking greatness

Stovetop instructions:
Let the cans of coconut sit without moving to let the cream rise to the top and the milk to sink to the bottom. I leave it in the back of the pantry, but an overnight rest on the counter works too. Heat a small pot or frying pan. Open the cans carefully and skim the coconut cream off  (about the top 1/4) and into the hot pan, it will sizzle and hiss. Move it around the pan until it looks a little dry, some instructions say the oils will separate from the cream. (But as many times as I made this I never really noticed that, just cook a few minutes more after it stop sputtering) Add the curry paste and stir around until it dissolves in the cream.

Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Mix the leftover coconut milk, tamarind sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and the curry/cream mixture you just cooked.

Add in potatoes and carrots, once the mixture comes to a boil, lower heat to a simmer. Cook until carrots and potatoes pierce easily with a fork.

Add tofu and chicken. Bring back to a gentle simmer until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice or pasta or naan or whatever you like.

Holiday Meals: Caramelized Onion and Mushrooms with Wild Rice Stuffing (or Dressing)

I have made Thanksgiving Dinner since I was 14 years old.

Yes, 14.

Any child of  immigrant parents will tell you that while the food of your motherland is great... sometimes, it's not what you want. Growing up I want to try things you hear about from other people. For example: meatloaf, fish sticks and tacos. I didn't have a taco until I went to dinner at a friend's house. I think I ate 10. I was 8 years old at the time.

So for Thanksgiving, all the kids are having turkey. My mother, bless her heart, tried making what I wanted:  meatloaf, mac and cheese and tuna salad casserole. She drew the line when it came to turkey.

Finally, at 14, I was old enough to understand good old mom's food is tinged with seasoning and techniques that she has not deviated from in 20 years. Everything that comes from her hand will taste vaguely, well, Asian. Which, as I get older, I find hysterical that whenever I try to cook something Asian I get the "it's not quite Asian-flavored" comment. Eh, to each their own.

Back to Thanksgiving....

I have been making this particular recipe for over 10 years. It started as a Thanksgiving recipe testing, before I found out that you are not suppose to test recipes on Thanksgiving. Yes, I was young and ambitious. Also many items other Thanksgiving dishes were canned, boxed or otherwise pretty easy to handle.

After a few Thanksgiving / Christmas Eve dinners I noticed that bread stuffing was being made then wasted. It was happening year after year. The solution was easy. Throw out the box and make something else. So I went hunting for another recipe. What I got was a pretty delicious stuffing recipe from Epicurious. It was popular with the family, it was great with the friends. It was talked about until I made it again the following year. And the year after that. Add on the occasional Christmas Eve dinner..... and well, you get the picture.

Until the year I couldn't get home for Thanksgiving. And I could make my stuffing. Because I had to work. *Cry a small tear*

Then I realized, I don't have to wait until Thanksgiving to make this stuffing. I can make it whenever I wanted. So I did. However, a trip to the supermarket revealed that there's rarely turkey to be found in the middle of April. So I stuffed 4 Cornish game hen instead. Then fed my roommate, who happened to get home from work when I pulled it out of the oven. She cried happy tears and declare it delicious. (She had not eaten any food that day so it might have been her blood sugar talking)

I had another breakthrough this year from Cook's Illustrated, which I am going to declare the best cooking magazine and cookbooks I've ever had. I just purchase a 3 year magazine subscription and put all the books on my wish list. I suggest you do the same. Like now.

Or after you finish reading this post.

In any case, this is a good enough recipe to use at fancy Holiday gatherings but just as good at your any day dinner table with a roommate with a glass of supermarket wine.

The recipe differs from the original in a few ways:
-First, I halved it. Even at Thanksgiving it's a lot of food.
-Second, I had to use dried cranberries instead of dried pears. Do you know how hard it is to find dried pears? They are none to be found in Hawaii and for some reason I couldn't even find them on the mainland this year. Obviously, it is not the most popular dried fruit.
-Lastly, using a technique from Cook's Illustrated (the best cooking magazine ever), I flavored the stuffing without actually stuffing the turkey. Which was very helpful because a 22 lbs turkey already took too long in the oven as it was.

So call it stuffing, call it dressing, just make it, because you will call it delicious.


Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms with Wild Rice Stuffing (or Dressing)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 large onions, halved, thinly sliced
generous 1/2 pound assorted wild mushrooms, sliced
1.5 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
salt and pepper
sugar

2.5 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade (but canned will work)
1.5 teaspoons chopped fresh sage, divided
1/2 cups wild rice (4-ounce)
Heaping 1/2 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 cups dried cranberries (about 3.5 ounces)
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 turkey wings, separated at joints (for fancy-smancy Family Gatherings)
OR
4-5 Cornish game hens, halved (for everyday enjoyment)



Instructions
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar; sauté until very tender and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Transfer onions to large bowl. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in same pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and 1/2 tablespoon thyme, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar; sauté until mushrooms are deep brown, about 12 minutes. Add to bowl with onions. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring broth, 1/2 tablespoon thyme, and 1 teaspoon sage to boil in heavy large deep saucepan. Mix in wild rice; return to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30 minutes. Mix in white rice; cover and simmer until all rice is tender and almost all liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes longer. Stir in caramelized onions and mushrooms, remaining 1/2 tablespoon thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon sage. Stir in dried cranberries and heat until warm through, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat and stir in 3/4 cup parsley.

For a Fancy-Smancy Family Gathering: 
Make 1-2 days beforehand. The morning of your event take all the stuffing and dump it into a slow cooker that's been sprayed with cooking spray. Flatten the top. Take the turkey wings, and fry them on high heat until all the skin is brown. It does not have to be cooked through. Dump all the turkey wings, any sauces in the pan and anything you scrap off the bottom of the pan on top of the stuffing. Turn on low and leave it there until you are ready for dinner. I left it about 8 hours on low but I think we could have started eating it at the 5 hour point.

For Dinner right now:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Put half a Cornish game hen in your hand skin side down. Take a large spoonful of stuffing and smear it inside the bird. Flip the bird onto a baking sheet with stuffing side down and skin side up. Season skin with salt and pepper and bake until done. About 35-45 minutes. Serve with your favorite vegetable and some everyday wine.

Leftover Pulled Chicken Enchiladas

I have always lived with someone. First it was my family, then college dorms and college apartments, then a variety of post-college apartments and houses that most often came with a roommate. It those years I've had my fair share of wonderful, fun and perfect-for-me roommates. I've also had my fair share of non-cleaning, rude, inconsiderate roommates. So these last 6 months have been in a new experience for me, as I am doing something I've never done before:

Be roommate free!

It's a different feeling when someone doesn't yell at me for not doing dishes or leaving my stuff all around. Actually the good roommates understand and sometimes would do my dishes or put my stuff in my room for me. So I'm sad I don't have a good roommate but I'm glad I also don't have a bad roommate yelling at me for leaving my purse's insides all strewn about while I was searching for a certain something for 20 minutes.

Because I can get a little obsessed/crazed like that.

I currently reside in a 600 square feet, 1-bedroom apartment (yes, that measurement includes the lanai). It has been liberating to empty out my purse all over the place and not have to worry about it. However, the weirdest change is I've had to drastically reduce how much I cook, as in volume. I use to live with other professionals, which meant a full house of working-full-time-plus-the-overtime-you-don't-get-paid-but-expected-to-work people. As such, leftovers were always welcome after a 12 hour workday. It use to be whenever I cooked I always wanted to fill the largest storage container and stash it in the fridge. Now I'm living alone. I have to adjust down the measurements or end up eating turkey chili for every meal... 2 weeks straight.

In the adjustment period the first thing I learned was to re-purpose my leftovers, since I hate throwing good food away. In this case 2 lbs of chicken breast in the last recipe turned out to be a pulled chicken overload. So I had to change it up. And enchiladas are the perfect leftover user upper.

Leftover Pulled Chicken Enchiladas
1 lb leftover pulled chicken (or you can use any leftovers you have such as beef or pork)
1 can of pinto beans (or black, or kidney)
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
10-12 corn tortillas
1 large can enchilada sauce (or homemade about 3 cups)
1 cup of cheese (or more)
Taco Bar Garnishes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together the chicken, beans, corn and cilantro. Get a baking sheet and pour 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom to prevent sticking.

I was in front of a massive grill that was still hot so I threw all the tortillas on there and gave them a 30 second grill on each side. Alternatively, you can heat tortillas by wrapping in a moist paper towel and microwaving for 1-2 minute(s) until they are soft and pliable. 

Take a heaping tablespoon of the chicken mix, put it into the  warm tortilla and roll into a cigar shape. Place seam side down in the baking dish.  Do this until the baking dish is outta space or you run out of filling.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the top. Make sure to wet all areas of the corn tortillas. Top with cheese and stick in the oven.

Bake 20-30 minutes until the cheese is all melted, everything should look golden brown and delicious.

Pull out of the oven and let rest for 15-30 minutes. This is important unless you want tortilla to fall apart while you are scooping it out. It will still taste good, but it will look like a pile o' mess. If you are like me you will spend hours picking at the burnt cheese in the corners of the pan, because I had some spare time.

My choice of garnishes are fresh cilantro, a dollop of greek yogurt and some diced avocado while the enchiladas are still hot out of the oven. But the leftovers I took to work for lunch were plain and just as delicious.

Note: you can make this ahead and freeze it. Or make 2 and freeze 1. Or make 1 and portion it into lunch containers and freeze for work. If you can't tell already this is a great freezable recipe.

Bittersweet Brownies

Baking is a precision sport. Unlike cooking where I can and often substitute and change ingredients on the fly, I don't when I bake. Baking takes thought, exactness and has small window for error. If you know me it takes an immense amount of concentration on my part to keep to a recipe. I want to use healthier ingredients. I want to dirty as few dishes as possible. I only have 1 size baking pan. Obviously, I'm not a baker. That person you work with that has everything neat and clean on the desk with folders at 90 degree angles- that's your baker.

When I made these brownies I was blown away by how amazingly good they were. Because of my huge fear of ruining anything with $3 worth of butter and $5 worth of chocolate in it I really didn't mess with this recipes. So I have yet to healthy this up with whole wheat flour or egg white substitute. Maybe if I buy bulk butter and find a cheaper chocolate source.

Like any good baker you are only as good as your ingredients. If you want good brownies get good chocolate, if you want great brownies get great chocolate.

Bittersweet Brownies

Yield: 16 2-inch squares
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients:

8 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into several pieces
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. vanilla dust (or substitute 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (1.2 ounces) all-purpose flour

Directions:
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350˚F.
Line bottom and sides of 8-inch square baking pan with foil.

Place chocolate and butter in heatproof bowl and set in pan of almost-simmering water.
Stir until mixture is melted and smooth and quite warm.
Remove from the pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and vanilla beans with a hand-held mixer on high speed until the eggs are thick and light colored, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in the warm chocolate.

Fold in the flour.
Scrape the batter into the lined pan and spread evenly.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool in the pan on a rack.
Invert the brownies on rack and peel off the foil.
Turn right side up on cutting board and cut into sixteen 2-inch squares.

Note: These brownies are sticky, gooey and hard to cut warm. Expect a mess unless you want to refrigerate them, which I don't. Brownies are sooooooo much better warm.