UnRecipe: Ride the Snake, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Well, it's not Chinese New Year's yet, but I'm still ready to party like it's 1999 with some favorite Szechuan style dishes and turn the heat up on this upcoming 2013 Year of the Snake! I'm okay with leaving the Year of the Dragon behind -- it was "my year" and I'm more than happy to pass along the mantle to the Mister and many other Year of the Snake-people. So let's get this year started off right with some dishes to spice up our lives!

Getting my Szechwan-on with tasty food from Spiced - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As the clock struck midnight on Dec 31st, I did indulge in a moment to contemplate the Year that Was, which was a tricksy-Hobbit of a 2012. They say when it's your zodiac year, the universe sure knows how to let you know you're special, given that this year brought me a garage door caved-in by a wayward industrial lawn mower, an ice storm that pretty much froze us solid for a few days, and it topped off the year with our attic being infested by rats/squirrels/whatever the hell continues to claw the walls between 12 midnight and 3am. But I ain't mad. It was also full of very good things as well -- design and illustration projects with very cool food and wine clients, illustrating a children's book (Yo, Bucky!), and most importantly, plenty of awesome times with incredible friends and family. Mayan Apocalypse, you ain't gonna rain hellfire on my parade, no sir -- at the end of any year, I feel so very blessed to be surrounded by such good, kind people. Even the folks I've never met in person, but we talk over Twitter and Facebook -- thank you! I'm constantly reminded how small the world is, and that is a good thing, because it just brings us closer.

Okay, okay, enough maudlin Auld Lang Syne! Get to the good stuff, which is eating amazing food that you don't even have to cook! The best meals are the ones you don't have to cook -- no dishes, no fuss, just pure enjoyment. And and I'm not talking fancy, fussy, expensive restaurants! A couple of my favorite places that I've enjoyed through 2012 and will continue to enjoy in the new year are Spiced in Bellevue and Spicy Talk in Redmond. Szechuan food is so popular in this area and there are a lot of great places, these are just two of many that happen to be along my regular errand routes. I crave the spicy stir fried lamb at Spiced -- intense spices, almost a mix of Mediterranean and Indian, that works well with the heavier lamb taste, and so tender. Their green onion pancakes are wonderful as well. I tend to get my orders to go, so I haven't explored many of their soups, nor their impressive chilled/pickled options, but that's on my list of to-do's in the new year. When I hit Spicy Talk, I'm pretty much a slave to three dishes: their fish in spicy gravy (melt in your mouth good), dan dan mein (hand shaved noodles in a peanut soup/broth), and their crispy-amazing chong qing chicken. The chicken is popular at most Szechuan style places -- basically spicy fried chicken -- but I like the little dry-fried bite-sized pieces mixed with green beans at Spicy Talk.

Trying to recreate spicy chicken goodness at home - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I've tried to recreate the spicy chong qing chicken dish at home, but to mixed results -- I do a pan-fry of small chicken bits coated in cornstarch, which tends to give a more crispy shell. I don't skimp on the Szechuan peppercorns, but quick pan-sear doesn't have that great dry-fry mouth feel that restaurants know how to do when food is quickly immersed in hot fry oil. So anymore now, if I crave this dish, I happily go out or put in a to-go order if I know I'm passing by Spicy Talk on the way home.

I can make my own version of dan dan noodles at home, but it's not as good as the hand-shaven noodles in that marvelous peanut soup/stew broth at Spicy Talk. Again, another reason to just call in an order and Treat Yo Self to something that someone else has made. But that leads me to something to consider for this brand-spankin' new year: shopping with reckless abandon at the local Asian grocer and test driving some new new ingredients.

Inspired by restaurant food, but don't be afraid to shop like crazy at the Asian grocer - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I've said this before -- I live out in Duvall-BFE, we don't have an Asian grocery store, so I stock up periodically at one giant store over in Bellevue, The Asian Food Center, which probably has the most generic name in the world, but hey, you don't doubt what they're selling. I like going to Uwajimaya, but around the holidays their parking lot is extra crazy, heavy on the murderball-sauce, so I tend to avoid it during prime visiting hours. For most supply runs, I've been hitting up the Asian Food Center. My basics include the biggest package of Szechuan peppercorns I can find, bulk pre-ground white pepper (because I use it for everything and it's usually cheaper at the Asian markets), various chili sauces, preserved greens, fermented black bean paste, and the largest bottles of rice wine vinegar, black vinegar and sesame oil I can manage.

Crazy "Everything" Noodles - Photos by Wasabi Prime

If you've never cooked with any of those items, give them a try -- don't be afraid to experiment with unusual vinegars or if a jar says "fermented." When you're doing even the most basic of stir fry dishes, they really enhance the flavor and make the dish feel more robust in flavor. They also make me giddy in the kitchen because after a big Asian market spree, I go crazy with the wok, throwing everything together for crazy "everything" noodle dishes, trying different combinations of chili and/or black bean pastes, fermented vegetables and vinegars.

Most times, having a wide range of ingredients to play with is an encouraging way to go through extra vegetables you've got languishing in the fridge. Right now I'm living Kale City, but it goes great in a stir fry with other vegetables, some chicken and black bean paste. I was using a lot of fermented black beans over the late summer months when Japanese eggplant was in season, because I love nothing more than spicy eggplant in an earthy, chili-heavy sauce. 

Veggies, noodles, throw it all together and see what happens - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Not a typical New Year's post full of resolutions, too much champagne, fussy feasts and funny hats, this post is all about indulging in favorite flavors, restaurants and also throwing a bit of caution to the wind, buying ingredients you wouldn't normally pick up from the shelves, but ones you won't regret trying. So consider all these things as as we enter a new year -- Ride the Snake in 2013!

Don't fear the Fermented - black bean paste is your friend - Photos by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Mochi Resolution

Is it too late to make a resolution for 2009? Because I'd like to resolve that I will make some sort of mochiko-related dessert before the 09 becomes 10. Call it nostalgia, a wistful hope for luck in the new year, or just plain hunger -- the Prime was feeling her Wasabi-roots and wanted to start the year off right with Mochi, a traditional rice cake that is served on New Year's Day.

Yes, it's pretty... and encased in plastic - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The Prime's family has never been sticklers for shogatsu (Japanese New Years) -- with parents who grew up in Hawaii, the Old World ways mixed with the new, and all that mattered was having enough firecrackers to turn the neighborhood into the DMZ and keep all fingers intact. Growing up in California, my parents and I used to gather at a family friends' home with many others and celebrate the Eve with food and drink. My grandparents were really the ones who observed the old customs like having a kadomatsu -- a bamboo and pine centerpiece that represents prosperity and longevity, while welcoming the harvest spirits. My paternal grandfather used to make ozoni, a savory, long-simmered broth, flavored with shoyu and occasionally butterfish, served on New Year's Day morning with a disc of plain mochi in it, to ensure a lucky year. Sadly, his recipe passed away with him, but the rites of food, loved ones, and the renewal of one's luck is a tradition worth hanging onto, and so we do what we can in our own home.

It's tricky to get a fresh kadomatsu, but we put out a kagami mochi -- decorated stacked rice cakes topped with a bitter orange or satsuma, preferably with the stem and leaf still attached. Thanks to the obsessive nature of Japan, I found a kagami mochi centerpiece at Uwajimaya -- it's real rice cakes, but they're hermetically sealed like King Tut. It's a bit silly to display this near-faux food item, but I'd like to believe it would make my grandparents happy to know a little of the past hasn't been forgotten.

To mix some new with the old, the Prime hangs a wreath decorated with different holiday ornaments from Hawaii and Japan that have been collected over the years. You're supposed to make sure the house is clean before the new year to ensure a fresh start, which I'm sure includes taking down all the Christmas decorations. This was done, save for the wreath and some lights, because I still insist on a bit of sparkle for the Eve. Sure, the wreath is a fake pine, but I'm fairly certain the wandering harvest kami would be down with that, as long as I make something mochi-licious!

Because this is a post of good mochi intentions, I hope to make either sweet mochi and/or this treat that I'd like to share the recipe for. It's from my mother's dessert files -- a creamy, sweet custard bar made with rice flour. It has a little of the sticky, gelatin-like mochi texture, but sweeter and probably more successful on palates unfamiliar with the traditional rice cakes. Whatever you do for New Years, I hope it's spent with loved ones and happy times. Kinga shinnen!

Wasabi Mom's Custard Mochi
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 cups milk (2% or higher)
4 whole eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups mochiko (rice flour)
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 X 9 pan. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until center is firm. Cool and chill in refrigerator. Cut into squares -- my mom suggests using a plastic knife for easier cutting. Do as Mom says, she knows best.

New Years wishes from the Wasabi household - Photos by Wasabi Prime