Asian Grocery Shopping Spree

Today I got up and decided it was time to change my diet. With all the rich foods (most carbs and fat) of the past week I really wanted to get some healthy eating in. At least until the middle of December, when I'll be baking my Christmas cookies and preparing for more holiday feastings, I want to try and eat healthier. Instead of insipid salads for the next two weeks I decided on a better way to get some veggies into my daily routine. I'm switching to a mostly Asian diet. Traditional Asian food I grew up on consist mainly of vegetables, small amounts of protein, and rice. Many of the dishes are healthy. After a peek in the cupboards, I realized I really needed to go the Asian Market. Here are the staples I picked up:



Along with some frozen seafood, pork belly, and ground pork:



What I went to get in the first place:



Finally what no Asian meal would be complete without:



Now my kitchen is stocked and I'm ready to cook some great Asian meals.

**Click on each picture to go to my Flickr site where I have described the products.**

Khao Mun Gai Turkey

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone, the traditional Thanksgiving feast is now a fond memory, and your tastebuds are now looking for something different. You look in your fridge and what do you see? Turkey, turkey, and MORE turkey. If the thought of yet another turkey sandwich isn't a pleasant one, you may want to try Khao Mun Turkey.




This is my way of using up leftover turkey. Khao Mun Turkey is actually supposed to be made with chicken, since turkey isn't a commonly eaten meat in Asia. Khao Mun Gai (literally rice in chicken drippings) used to be one of my favorite lunches when I lived in Thailand. All I had to do was walk out our front gates, cross a street, go up to the street stall, and order. Alas, I no longer have that luxury in Iowa. So I had to learn to make it. It's a time consuming dish with many different ingredients, so I have rarely made it. Not to mention, it's pretty fattening and greasy for an Asian dish.

With some leftover turkey and turkey stock I decided to make a mock Khao Mun Gai. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out. I ended up having it for 3 meals and now I wish I had some more turkey. It was very tasty!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well after doing pretty well at posting for a little while, the arrival of a good friend heralded much feasting and fun, so, alas, blogging got put on the back burner. Have no fears, I have many a post lined up for your reading pleasure. I did say FEASTING remember?

But today I just simple would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. May your day be will with fun, laughter, family, and friends. Much love and many thanks for all of my readers.

Enjoy the day and happy eating!

Spatchcock

I love the word spatchcock. I ran across it on an eGullet thread. I've heard of the technique but never heard the term before. So what is it? Basically, all it means is the split open a whole chicken and lay it flat. I used this technique for the first time to do roast chicken.



I love a good roasted chicken. I seem to do one about once a month. Besides noshing on just roast chicken it's great for leftovers. I'll usually use it in sandwiches or over a salad.



Here's a picture from the front. As you can see the chicken isn't quite flat. I forgot to take the wishbone out. It didn't hurt anything and I actually liked the hollow it created as I mounded the chicken over some garlic cloves and onion wedges. I'm not sure if this technique will replace my normal method of roasting chicken as I like to stuff mine with aromatics. However, it did make for some nice crispy skin and was quicker that my normal routine.

Spatchcocking:

Remove giblets and neck, rinse chicken inside and out, pat dry with paper towels. With sharp kitchen shears, cut down both sides of backbone, remove back (freeze this part for stock later). Snip out wishbone (optional, mine worked just fine with it). Press chicken flat.

Season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Rub with a good amount of olive oil. Mound over one medium onion, cut into wedges and garlic cloves. Bake at 425 degrees, 40-60 minutes. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes after you remove it from the oven so the juices can soak back into the meat. Bonus is this also gives you time to make your sides. I served this with a simple romaine salad and some fresh, hot, crusty french rolls. Nummy!

Won't you spatchcock today?

Enjoy.

Chicken, beef, or human? HUH?

Ok I knew Thailand has some foods that may seem a bit strange or unappetizing but THIS? I never thought I'd say this about a food offered in Thailand but, uhh, count me out on this one.


(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Alright, before you go running off screaming to canceling those plane ticket and hotel reservations, the picture is NOT really human parts for sale. It's just bread. Kind of unappetizing bread, in my opinion, but bread nonetheless.

Kittiwat Unarom, a 28 year old Thai art student, makes these out of bread at his studio in Protharam, Thailand. His reasoning behind the creation of such ghoulish looking bread is to make people "ponder whether they are consuming food, or food is consuming them". Interesting. It certainly made me ponder. Ponder how far it was to the porcelain god, that is. But, that aside, it did also make me ponder about what we eat and the old adage of "we are what we eat". Hrm, does that make me a JapChinKorVietAmer-Thai? Woah, that's just too wierd.

Read the rest of article by Watcharaporn Taithongchai,Associated Press Writer, here.

Wonder if I can order some of these for next Halloween. That would be cool!

I want! I want! I want!

Oh my. I just found out Mario Batali, one of my favorite chefs from the Food Network Channel, has a line of enamel cookware. I mean the man's a legend. Ok maybe not a legend. But he is a good friend of Anthony Bourdain and we all know HE is a god, at least amongst foodies.

I've been drooling over this panini grill for 10 minutes. Anybody want to get me a christmas present? Please? Pretty please! If you get it for me I promise to cook for you. Pinky swear.

Photo from Italiankitchen.com


Check out more of Mario Batali's cookware here.

Typical Breakfast

Please don't start thinking that I've turned into some kind of tofu-eating health nut. I'm not really. I'm still just a tofu-eating nut. *ba-da-ching* Ok,ok comedian I am not. However, I have gained a healthy interest in all things organic. I first noticed organic products when I my local HyVee opened a neat little organic section. I also started going to an organic store Emi told me about. One of the first things that got me hooked on organic products was yogurt. Now a typical breakfast for me is a bowl of granola mixed with cranberries and almonds topped with yogurt and honey.



For some reason I've never been a fan of yogurt until I found Brown Cow's organic top cream yogurt. There is a vast difference in the taste and even the texture of organic yogurt. It has a richer taste and is creamier than the yogurt you usually find in the stores. The only place I've seen it in town is at the organic store I mentioned earlier. So sometimes it can be a pain just making a trip to get some granola and some yogurt but, man, is it worth it.


Photo from Brown Cow Farm's website

If you haven't tried this product get thee to the nearest organic store. Your tastebuds will thank you for it. Trust me.

Spicy Tuna Mayo Onigiri

A few days ago I made some onigiri that tasted amazing but looking a bit scary. Today I had the chance to perfect my technique and came up with some prettier looking ones. Tasty too!



I ate two of the onigiris and a large bowl of plain miso soup for an late lunch/early dinner. Dessert was the pile of grapes. Not a bad meal, and relatively healthy I believe.



For those of you who don't remember my second post that explained what an onigiri is, I'll recap a bit. Onigiri, also known as omusubi, is the Japanese equivalent to the western sandwich. It is a common item found at picnics or in your lunch bento (boxed lunch). Like sandwiches, fillings can be pretty much whatever you'd like. Most are flavorful as to constast with the bland rice. Some common filings are umeboshi (pickled plums), tuna/mayo, salted salmon, or even Spam (very popular in Hawaii).

Onigiri is fairly easy to make. Most people I know just use thier hands to mold the rice into shape or use a mold. The most common are ball shaped, barrel shaped, and triangle shaped. I usually use a mold but since that's currently in a box somewhere I had to try to shape mine by hand. Not very pretty I tell you. I found a great trick to hand molding on Egullet's Japan thread. (Have I told you how much I love Egullet? I do, I really do.)

Take a piece of saran wrap and place it over a shallow bowl. Spoon heap of hot rice into the middle of bowl, spread it out a bit. Put filling in the middle of rice. Gather up plastic wrap and mold into desired shaped. Wrap in nori. Easy as pie. I think I like this trick better than using my mold. Thank the lord for Egullet. (^.^)

Today I decided to make my favorite which is spicy tuna (Starkist Sweet and Spicy Tuna in a pouch),minced onion, and Kewpie mayonnaise. I also mixed in some furikake with the rice before I assembled my onigiri.

Recipe:

4 cups steamed Japanese rice
2 Tbs fuikake
2 sheets nori (seaweed)

Filing:
1 pouch Starkist Tuna Creation sweet and spicy flavor
1/2 onion, minced
1/4 cup Kewpie mayonnaise*

Use technique described above. Should make 4 decent sized onigiris.
Enjoy.

*Kewpie mayonnaise is a Japanese brand mayonnaise found in Asian markets. It is more acidic then American mayonnaise. Use whatever you feel like.


Here's a great site featuring different conbini (convenience stores) onigiri. Click me!

Japanese Pizza = Okonomiyaki

Since I’m still a wee bit sick (yes I know story of my life, this time of year is a bad one for me. Damn fibro!) I’m still jonesing for some comfort food. The last couple of days I’ve been on a Japanese food kick. Dinner on Tuesday night was some onigiri with spicy tuna and mayo (I would have taken a picture but... umm.. I really need to brush up on my onigiri molding skills) and today its okonomiyaki.




My first introduction to okonomiyaki was through a Thai lady married to a Japanese man I had met in my Japanese class in Bangkok. She introduced me to sushi and a lot of typically cooked at home Japanese dishes. Okonomiyaki was one of my favorite dishes she introduced me to. My love affair with Japanese foods other than sushi began because of her. I miss my "elder sister" from Thailand, I wonder if she is back in Osaka now. Whereever she is, I'm very grateful for the cooking lessons she gave me so many years ago. Now, sad to say, I probably cook more Japanese cuisine than I do Thai. The main reason for this is because most of the ingredients I need can be found at my local grocery store. Whereas, for Thai cuisine I almost always have to go the Asian market.

After reading the okonomiyaki thread at egullet. I decided I needed to try making this dish myself. The okonomiyaki that I’m used to has ground pork, shrimp, konnyaku, and shredded cabbage. Looking in my fridge I realized the only thing I had was a head of cabbage. *Grumble* Well I guess it was time to improvise. Scrounging around, I found a can of spam and some artificial crab sticks so that’s what ended up in my okonomiyaki. It was actually pretty good, though I really have a hankering to try the original version again. That, however, would require a trip to the grocery store and the asian market so that might have to wait for another day


In the pan prior to flipping.

Recipe:

2 eggs

1-2 cups flour, approximately

2 cups water, approximately

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded large

1/2 lb ground pork

1/4 lb raw shrimp, cut into small pieces

1/2 cube konnyaku (optional)

3-4 green onions, diced

Topping:

Tonkatsu sauce or worchester sauce

Kewpie mayo

Bonito flakes

Nori (seaweed) flakes

Combine first 3 items, you're looking for a pancake like consistency; add flour or water as needed to get the right texture. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir. In large non-stick frying pan on medium heat, pour half the mixture and pat until it looks like a large fluffly pancake. Cook about 10 minutes on first side, flip*, cook another 10 minutes other side. Slide onto plate, top with tonkatsu sauce (or worchester sauce), mayo, bonito flakes, and nori. Repeat with other half of mixture. Makes two large okonomiyaki. **

* I use the Spanish tortilla method. Put large plate over skillet, flip skillet over, slide okonomiyaki from plate back into frying pan.

** I can eat about half of one before I get full. Then again I can only eat two slices of American style pizza so that may give you an idea of how much to make.

Feel free to experiment with ingredients as okonomiyaki like American pizza have whatever you like in it.

Thai Flavors

The other day I called up a friend to see if he wanted to join me for lunch since he had the day off. I'm usually the one who picks the restaurants amongst my group of friends and that day I had a craving for some spicy Thai food. I'm still a bit sick so I was jonesing for some comfort food. We agreed to meet at our favorite Thai restaurant only to find out that it was closed for a month of renovation. I was determined, however, to eat Thai food so we ended up at Thai Flavors Restaurant as it was the most convenient Thai restaurant for where we need to go after lunch. I was surprised to see how busy it was.



I was hungry so I decided to have an order of vegetarian eggrolls. The were delivered to the table tongue-burning hot (trust me) and were great. These are the type of eggrolls I grew up eating. Inside was a mix of carrots, cabbage, and vermicelli noodles. The sauce was obviously not from a bottled and was lighter than your normal sweet & sour sauce.



I had the green curry lunch plate with chicken. I asked for it Thai hot but either they didn't trust me or they've toned down what they consider thai hot. Green curry is never supposed to be eye-wateringly spicy but there should be a nice kick. I wanted it SPICY though and was sad that it came pretty normal spicy (to me).



My friend had the padthai which he said was pretty good but not quite up to standard of our favorite Thai restaurant. I've had it before and would have to agree. There are better versions to be found.


All in all, Thai Flavors did satisfy my craving. The dishes we had tasted like what I expect from a good Thai restaurant. Sadly, I think they are starting to cater more towards American taste. I missed the flavor of thai basil in my curry and the padthai was a bit sweet. Not a bad place for lunch though as it was quite cheap, all lunch plates were $5.95. If I remember right the dinner menu is quite a bit larger so I may have to head back that way sometime.

Food: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Price: Lunch under $10
Authenticity: Slipping a bit but not too bad. I remember crying when I ordered a 3 star dish when the restaurant first opened. So I expected to be hurting as I ate my 5 star rated spicy lunch. Sad to say I didn't even have to reach for the water glass once.