UnRecipe: New Carb City

Getting old(er) sucks. Getting a new scale REALLY sucks. I can deal with the gray hairs (only my hairdresser will ever know!) and given the lack of tropical weather in the Northwest, I can hide under enough scarves and clothing to never show more than a few inches of rapidly crepe-ifying skin at a time. What I can't fight is the rapid decline of metabolism, which has zero effect on my desire to eat copious amounts of food. Pesky Human Body! So I'm always trying to think of food swaps or modifications that let me enjoy what I'm craving and leave out any extra stuff that will just add bulk, especially since we got the new digital scale, which has made things abundantly clear that numbers don't lie, so put that chocolate bar down!

Swapping rice with cabbage for mapo tofu - so-so results - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Ramping Things Up for Summer

You see what I did there? I just made a horrible pun. I make a lot of them. I should open up an Etsy shop full of terrible, handcrafted puns, festooned with crocheted cat ears and googly-eyes. I also made pickled ramps a little while ago, and frankly, the notion to get all Portlandia on these precious springtime treasures was a good thing, because, baby, it's hot outside, and I need something simple to eat on these hot summer nights.

My favorite summer food, made even more favorite-er with pickled ramps - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Eating Easter and the Sacrilicious Mushroom Log

I realize Easter Sunday was yesterday, but since this isn't a particularly traditional Easter meal, I'm posting it on a non-traditional day. I wasn't raised in a particular faith, just your typical Godless Heathen Asian Household. But we did dye eggs for Easter, which was something I really enjoyed. Even that acrid, sour smell that permeated the house as you'd drop the PAAS dye tablets into coffee mugs full of heated vinegar -- I'd dye those eggs like a boss, to get them as saturated with as much color as possible, knowing we'd be cursed with rainbow-hued egg salad sandwiches for a week. I don't dye eggs anymore, but I continue to hold eggs in high regard, since they are a pretty magical and wonderful food. So Happy Belated Easter -- let's Put an Egg On It!

Happy Easter - put an egg (or two) on it - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Kimchee Soup? That's Hot.

Despite the goodly merits of common sense, I've been on a spice-capade all summer long. Even on the days when we were sweltering in the hot, heavy air of 90-plus degrees in our own living room, my mind would still wander to things like, "I'm miserable but hey... a spicy ramen would be really tasty right about now." I even ventured out into the 100-degree hellfire that is Nevada in July to get -- what else -- kimchee saimin. So that's what the season has left me reduced to: a puddle of flopsweat, slowly inching towards a spicy bowl of kimchee soup.

Sweating summer away - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Why? Why?! WHY?? Maybe the addictive qualities of spicy food in summer is like how the Love in Janet Jackson song goes, like a moth to the flame, burned by the fire... but not really any of the rest of it. I've heard there's an evaporative cooling element in sweating over hot food and letting nature turn your body into a giant swamp cooler. Nice in theory but rather unpleasant, and like most swamp coolers, inefficient as all get-out. There's no way to Spock-logic this one, when the Spicy Bug bites you, the heat is on and it's never turning off.  

Which is why it's always number one on my list to visit Aloha Specialties to get their amazing kimchee saimin, on the second floor of the California Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.  Their menu is all local Hawaii food prepared the way people like it -- ono kine grindz with immense portions. Their kimchee saimin is no different, you could easily jump into the bowl and swim a few laps before the spicy heat reduced you to a withered nub. I had the benefit of getting there earlier in the day, so there were more tasty slices of beef, tofu and kimchee chunks swimming about, plus the broth just tasted more hearty with that peppery beef flavor -- it was probably the best bowl yet. I sweated off a layer of skin and smiled with delight at the vanquishing of this spicy hellbeast. It's an adventure to brave that part of Ye Olde Vegas. About the only thing Downtown has over the semi-gentrified Strip is the quotient of scary drunks and cracked-out bums, aka, The Real Las Vegas, but I did notice a new zipline "ride" that you can take which spans the length of the covered Fremont Street. No thanks, I'll take my deep fried Twinkies and creep away with what's left of my dignity. However, I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed I missed Night Ranger.

The heat is on, as is Night Ranger - Photos by Wasabi Prime

To drown my missing-Night Ranger-sorrows upon returning to the not so hellfire-hot land of Washington, I made a spicy kimchee soup of my own. In typical UnRecipe fashion, it was made with pretty much whatever vegetables were left that didn't get prepared before I left on my trip. Which is to say, it was a lot of veggies; so much so that I didn't add any noodles to the soup. I defrosted about two quarts of chicken broth, but any broth would do. I seared some thin slices of pork in a super-hot wok and got a good sizzle going on a mix of vegetables like strips of carrot, onion and even slices of sweet potato. Yeah, everything was going into the soup-pool. Right before I added the broth to deglaze the wok, I added some broccoli, bok choi and mushrooms. Then a whole jar of kimchee, pickling brine and all. Don't be scared, it's what makes this whole soup worthwhile. The broth was flavored with an extra dose of pepper/chili Korean kochujang sauce and soy sauce. I threw in dashes of rice wine vinegar to give it the tartness of a hot and sour soup. Large pieces of firm tofu were added last, right before serving, so they wouldn't get broken apart.

I was making this soup quite literally by the seat of my pants, as I'd never made kimchee soup before. I'd had versions of it as a stew, fried rice or saimin, but not like this. The devil-may-care attitude towards cooking was rewarded, as the soup turned out totally delicious, getting better like a stew as the flavors concentrated every day. Sweet potatoes added a slight sugary bite to combat the salty spiced broth. Even if it wasn't exactly like the saimin at Aloha Specialties, it curbed a major craving. Asian cuisine is actually quite basic and the strong flavored sauces tend to rely on the same ingredients like vinegar, soy, garlic and ginger to really punch those tastebuds in the kisser. If loving spicy food in the middle of summer is wrong, I don't want to be right. I also know it'll probably be Instant Rainy Season soon enough, and something like this will totally hit the spot.

UnRecipe: Appreciating the Green Pea-ness of Gardening

You know I just wanted an excuse to use that stupid joke about "green pea-ness." Say  it out loud in a large, crowded room of your work peers and HR representatives, that you appreciate the flavor of green pea-ness. I dare you. This is why I should never be let back into Corporate America, people.

Pea vines invading my mapo tofu - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Of course, this has nothing to do with anatomical discussions, more a moment to further ruminate on one of the nice things of living out in BFE-ville and having the benefit of a sizeable yard. I literally let two whole packets of sugar snap and snow pea seeds germinate, sprout into a Medusa-like tangle of roots between wet paper towels, and then meticulously plant every one of 'em into our vegetable garden beds. Ergo, we have a mofo-plethora of pea plants. Initially, it was nice to thin the rows, pulling the more tender shoots to eat in salads and make dishes more whimsical with the thread-like corkscrew fronds from the creeping vines. When the plants get big, you fall behind on the row-thinning, it's more like Day of the Triffids, and you're just hacking back what you can, just in the hopes the garden bed doesn't choke itself out from overplanting. This leads to the latest batch of hastily unplanned UnRecipes... 

Not just for delicate restaurant plating -- pea vines used as hearty greens - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Much like the logic behind CSA-cooking, aka, Weekly Iron Chef Madness -- all roads lead to stir-fry. Once washing and (hopefully) de-bugging all the overgrown pea vines, they can be chopped up and cooked down like any hearty green. When it's fresh and raw, you pick up the distinct sweetness of peas, but as the vines get thicker, they're not as tender, the leaves can be used for salads, but the vines themselves get a little tough. They can still be cooked down the way you would a bunch of chard or spinach, but I tend to strip the leaves and cook the chopped stems first, to give them a head-start before the leaves are added to wilt down as a finish.

I always have good intentions towards the weekly Meatless Monday challenge, to incorporate one day of sustainable animal-free meals during the week. Emphasis on "intention," as somehow a little bit of meat always works its way into my day, but at least once in a while, I'll get away with making a meatless dish and Mr. Wasabi won't even notice. Or at least he doesn't put up a huge fuss about it, bless his heart. I was able to make a savory and creamy peanut coconut milk curry, mixed with tofu, chickpeas and basically whatever I had in the pantry, but also included pea vines. These were the larger, more mature vines, so they were chopped small and cooked down so you didn't have to gnaw on them for too long. I did something similar with one of my quick-cook staples, mapo tofu. If I have extra vegetables, they're always easy to incorporate in the spicy, salty, sour mix of tofu and ground meat. I threw in some rough-chopped pea vines into the last batch of mapo tofu and they wilted down and mixed in with the other ingredients perfectly.

None of these dishes are particularly glamorous or fancy, it's more a way to cook with whatever's on-hand and improvise when needed. I was glad to say that once pea vines grow out of their restaurant-darling tender delicacy phase, they're still a player in the kitchen, if you don't mind making some simple, hearty fare. And if you get it from your own backyard, it saves you a trip to pick up something at the store or farmer's market.

UnRecipe: The Heat is ON - a Tale of Two Spicy Dishes

Baby, when it's cold outside, all I want to do is eat something warm, cozy and spicy-hot. I recently went through a spicy food craving, but it's funny how "spicy food" isn't a catch-all when it comes to different cuisines. There's specific combinations of foods and heat that enhance the flavor of foods in different ways. Bring on the spice, because it's oh-so-nice!

Who says tofu can't have attitude? - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mapo tofu is like making chicken noodle soup or meat loaf -- everyone's got a different recipe or method of making it, and there's no absolute correct way of doing it. It's basically ground pork, finely-chopped vegetables that could include onions, mushrooms, carrots or whatever you've got, little cubes of tofu, and a spicy hellfire broth of garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, dried peppers or chile paste, simmered in a bit of stock. Sprinkle with green onions to garnish and prepare to sweat it out, baby. It's an easy one-pot meal and it's usually served over rice. My version tends to use ground turkey, just to give my arteries a break, and I go heavy on the vinegar because I like that tangy sourness. I've also done version of this that has chopped up kimchee. You really can put anything in this, as it's a very forgiving dish -- the hearty stews often are. I'm used to having it bright orange, due to the heavy hand of "rooster sauce" sriracha. My latest batch didn't quite turn the alarming orange I'm used to, but a few dashes of extra chili sauce makes it all better and I can always cry in the bathroom later.

Rich and spicy enchiladas - Photo by Wasabi Prime

My other favorite heat is from chipotle in adobo sauce. I don't make these from scratch, I just buy them from the store, and I just love, love, love them. There's usually a can at the ready in my pantry because they're like the spicy little red Swiss Army knife that always saves MacGyver's bacon -- they're great for (almost) everything, yo! The stewed, saucy peppers provide so much rich, deep, smoky heat -- almost sweet at times. They make spicy dishes less knock-your-socks-off hot and more of that satisfying roundness of flavor sensation, like something's been slowly simmered to perfection.

I made enchiladas with the help of the slow cooker, throwing a big, sinewy hunk of pork shoulder into a mix of canned tomatoes and the chipotle peppers and sauce. The pork was covered in a dry spice rub before wading into the slow cooker hot tub time machine and Shazam - when it got to Futuretown, it was shreddable-tender and seasoned in the saucy flavors. The pork was set aside while the tomato/chile sauce was buzzed down in the blender until smooth. I tossed the shredded pork with some cooked down onions and black beans and this was the filling for enchiladas.

When the weather turns cold, these are definitely the things that helps keep me warm from the inside-out. What's your favorite spicy food?

Mixed Plate: Comfort Foods and What the Heart and Stomach Desires

People have different ideas behind the meaning of comfort food, as the answer varies with every person. When I return from a visit with my parents, I stay within that place of comfort for weeks, sticking with the familiar flavors and foods. It may have been weeks since I last saw family, but in a way, I still have yet to leave, as they remain with me at the most important of times -- at the table, sharing a meal.

Miso Hungry! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I always make a big pot of miso soup when I return from a family visit. Usually it's because I feel the need to do a self-imposed soup diet for at least a week after being fattened up like a Christmas goose on homecooked meals, three squares a day. I'm sure everyone has a different way of making miso soup, but the way I do it is simmer a pot of water, drop a big dollop of salt-a-licious miso paste in and break it up, adding cubes of tofu and dropping in a scrambled egg or two, to give it a kick of protein. I also use bonito for flavor. Bonito is just flakes of a dried mackerel-like fish that's often used in Asian soups. It's used the way anchovies are, to give a dish a depth of flavor, and as long as it's used with a light hand, it won't be too fishy. I usually get my supply from Uwajimaya, but I've also discovered it's sold as cat treats at pet stores. Not that I'm admitting I've bought bonito at Petco, but I'm just saying it's there. And were Uwajimaya to not be open or out of bonito, I'm not adverse to picking up a little something for myself in the kitty treat aisle of the pet store. Again, I'm just sayin'...

This latest comfort meal included cold tofu with soy and chili sauce, just because I love cold tofu, and a batch of pickled spicy cucumber from my mom's recipe collection. I added a little extra greenery from the garden, chopping up the baby greens of sugar peas that were thinned. I hate getting rid of the extra sprouts because I'm basically throwing away perfectly good plants. Granted, it's to ensure the remaining ones have enough space to grow, but I still hate ripping the little guys out. I was happy to discover the sugar pea sprouts are quite sweet and totally salad-friendly. I divided the culled sprout greens between a salad for Mr. Wasabi and the rest topped my bowl of miso soup. Waste not, want not.

Fried Mandu Filled With the Magical Animal - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The food from family that captured my heart and most likely clogged my arteries included a big dinner with family friends that had my mom cooking up fried pork-filled dumplings called mandu, rice flour-battered and fried mochiko chicken, and a tasty warabi salad brought by friends. Warabi is a baby fern, like fiddleheads, that are in season right now and available at the Hilo Farmer's Market. They grow wild in the rainforest-like conditions, and people gather them for selling at the markets. They're harder to find on other islands, but Hilo's rain is thankfully good for some things, and fern shoots is one of them. Warabi salad is made up of the blanched baby ferns mixed with tomato, red onion, and a salty mix of dried seaweed for flavor. Pretty simple and simply delicious, need I say more? I wouldn't be able to get warabi here, but am considering making a Mainland version with either fiddleheads or thinly-sliced asparagus, as the flavors are similar.

Warabi Greens from Hilo and Wasabi Pea Sprout Greens from the Garden - Photos by  Wasabi Prime

Throughout the visit, along with kalbi beef shortribs, somen salad and Portuguese bean soup, Mama Wasabi also made Hawaii-style cream puffs, which is to say, pastries the size of a softball and filled with vanilla pudding. They don't do it light in Da Islands, that's for sure. I don't normally crave pastries, but when I'm there, I absolutely indulge my sweet tooth. It might be because it's so easy to just take it easy there. A sugar-sprinkled malasada is perfect in the morning with coffee while you read the paper -- yes, like a for-reals newspaper -- because my parents don't have a computer and it's kind of nice that they don't. And maybe that's the secret behind why comfort foods of all kinds taste especially good -- we are most likely in a state of calm, and food will always taste better with a mind at ease.

Cream Puffs Baked by Mama Wasabi - Photo by Wasabi Prime

All these dishes are commonly served favorites, it's nothing particularly gourmet or high-end, and it's a No Food Snobs Allowed standing rule in my parents' house. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way, because it's cooking of the highest order -- honest, hearty fare that's designed to be cooked regularly for the home. Sure, I could make these foods in my own kitchen, but I never do because I know it wouldn't be the same. This food tastes better when it's being enjoyed with family, and maybe that's why I often long for these tastes and flavors, because it's less about the stomach and more about the heart that craves what it loves most dearly.

Mochiko Chicken and Meals with Family and Friends - Photos by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Creamy Eggplant Curry and Tofu

The welcome change in weather has inspired the making of soups, stews, and in this case, curry. We're still on Vacation Countdown at Wasabi HQ, but that doesn't keep the kitchen from continuing to crank out home-cooked goodness. A recent trip to the Redmond Farmer's Market yielded some colorful items like brightly-colored peppers and adorable little purple and white eggplants. I was inspired by a recent visit to my favorite Thai restaurant, Chantanee, and decided to make a Creamy Eggplant and Tofu Curry.

The heat is ON for spicy eggplant curry - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I particularly enjoy the combination of Thai flavors; it's always a satisfying mix of sweetness, complex spices, some heat, and a little bitterness. I took the chopped peppers and eggplant, cooked them down, and mixed in a dollop of store-bought red curry paste with some fresh lemongrass stalks. A can of coconut milk was added, then tofu, chopped Thai basil, and fresh spinach at the end. Everything simmered for a bit, letting the flavors combine and melt down the vegetables before ladling it over some basmati rice. I often speak of our low-carb household, but for curries and stews, I can't just eat them on their own -- sometimes I need my rice, dammit. Don't get between an Asian girl and a bowl of rice. You won't win, so just forget it, Atkins.

Something else to note, if you have a local farmer's market, now is the perfect time to search out some really nice vegetables. We're seeing a lot of unique squash and those eggplants we found were so adorable, I almost didn't want to cook them. I say almost because while I gave them a pause for admiration of their cuteness, I still hacked them up and threw them into a searing hot wok. In the rock-paper-scissors politics of food, cuteness is beat by hunger. Tummy satisfaction agrees with this choice. *burp*

Cute vegetables preserved for posterity before being om nommed - photos by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Thank God It's Tofuday

Sometimes you can't beat a really simple meal after a rough week, especially on the tail-end of a record heat wave. After all, why ruin the stove's week-long break of not being turned on? Let it sleep in for just another day or two. Instead of a complicated Friday dinner, it was more effort to put together the setup for these photos than it was to prepare the grand meal of cold tofu with chili sauce, lime juice, and shoyu (you know, soy sauce).

Oh boy, it's soy! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

As a wee one, my mother would regularly prepare meals with tofu -- heck, she still does, and it's remains a rare treat to watch her cook. She would drain and press the watery slab of soy to remove the excess water, and then cut it down into pristine little white cubes. I would sneak a few pieces before they were introduced into the dish and I always loved the cold, plain, slightly milky flavor of plain tofu. I didn't think much of it then, but when I cook with tofu now, I can't resist doing the same thing and it still resonates that memory of the senses that evoke a less complicated time. Or at least, that's what I like to remember it as. I'm sure at the time, I was probably overwrought with a math test or something.

Now, many years later, the comforting snack has become a full but simple meal. Mixing a bit of fresh lime juice and a squeeze of hot chili sauce into the shoyu, a savory dipping liquid becomes the perfect contrasting flavor. I can't control the weather, or how busy my week will be, but it's a comfort in and of itself to know I can return to something that tastes like home.

Aw, Mom.. it's so cute... can we keep it? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

* Post Script -A joy-for-soy THANK YOU to Tastespotting for posting the Kokeshi doll with tofu photo on their site!! Domo arigato!

** Post-Post Script -Another hearty THANK YOU to the folks at Foodbuzz for putting the same photo on their Top 9 today! Domo arigato, the sequel!

***Post-Post-Post Script - Three times a charm THANKS to Food Photo Blog for putting the spicy tofu pic on their site!

**** Post to the Fourth Power-Script - THANK YOU to Serious Eats' Photograzing for also putting the spicy tofu on their site!

***** Penta-Post-Script - Thanks to Foodie View for posting several pics of the spicy tofu post!

UnRecipe: Pad Thai Stir Fry

I discovered two things today: our laundry room makes for a halfway decent photo studio, and Pad Thai is just as delicious without the rice noodles!

From wasabiprime-july photos

The Puget Soundians were given a day of respite from the summer heat, so efforts were quickly mobilized to use the stove and play around with the digital camera to actually take some halfway decent photos of ingredients and the plated food. I notice when it's hot, I tend not to feel the Epic Hunger that I normally do, so maybe that's what allowed me the virtue of patience to make a better effort towards food photography. At the risk of sounding like the star of the I'm Awesome Show, I'm quite pleased with the efforts, and it's encouraged me to put forth more effort in future posts!

The motivation behind this dish was a major jonesin' for pad thai. I have the exact opposite effect with food -- I had Thai food recently and instead of feeling satisfied, I felt like the Audrey II, hungry for seconds. Feed me, Seymour! Sadly, as I write this entry, I just realized I totally forgot to add peanuts into the dish. Crap. And I made the extra trip to the store to make sure I had them! The little Homer Simpson that lives in my head is yelling DOH! right now. What... no one else has a little Homer Simpson living in their head...? No...? Well, moving on...

In lieu of the traditional rice noodles, I was able to use half of the bountiful harvest of snowpeas that are taking over our garden. We went from a small handful of peas to a green pod invasion within the last month. Thankfully the bugs and backyard wildlife have not seen fit to feast upon them, so with any luck, we will be blessed with an abundance of green pea-ness. *giggle*

Along with the snowpeas, I snipped some garlic chives and some of the heartier scallion greens from our veggie garden. A few defrosted chicken breasts sliced thin, stir-fried in a wok with diced tofu, scrambled eggs, and then a healthy dose of the premade Por Kwan pad thai sauce from Uwajimaya, and it was a picture-perfect dinner made for the om-nomming.

From wasabiprime-july photos

* Post Script - Big thanks to Tastespotting for posting the pad thai photo on their site today. Merci Buttercups!!!

** Post-Post Script - Delicious thanks to Photograzing at Serious Eats for posting one of the pad thai photos on their site!

*** Post-Post-Post Script - Third Thanks to Food Photo Blog for posting a closeup shot of the pad thai. Cheers!!

*** Quadruple Post Script - Thanks to the fourth power to Foodie View for the pad thai post!