UnRecipe: I LOVE FUNGUS

Seriously, I do. The fungal sponge-y growth that someone, somewhere, some time ago, thought it would be okay to eat, is one of my favorite ingredients. Especially the wild varieties, like oyster, chanterelle, lobster -- all the names that don't evoke the idea of mushroom. They're fun ingredients to work with, and while each type of mushroom has its own level of earthy flavor, it's never so overwhelming that you'll ruin a dish in the name of experimentation. So here's to mushrooms, an easygoing, fun guy to cook with. Har har.

Holy Shiitake! It's mushrooms - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: What Up Shorty - Asian Cooking Shortcuts

Cutting corners on making traditional Asian cuisine?!!! All the Tiger Moms out there want to beat me with a bamboo cane for daring to suggest such a thing. They already lament my not being a doctor, or marrying a doctor, or not having six overachieving children who are on their way to becoming a doctor. Hell, I don't even hold chopsticks right. But whatever, my Wasabi Mom doesn't care, she loves her little underachiever no matter what. If anything, Mom would appreciate this post, because it's not about specific recipes, more about ways to make-do and cook with what you have, Asian-style. 

My version of Dan Dan Mein, using (gasp) spaghetti noodles - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Hot Wok Culture Shock - a Tale of Two Noodles

With food, as is with life, it's so much about presentation and context. We all have our set ways and expectations, but we're never beyond making adjustments. I don't mind the idea of both savory and sweet crepes, but I still can't quite wrap my head around the notion of a "dessert pizza," where it's usually smothered in marshmallows, chocolate and a hefty serving of Just Plain Awful. While I'll never be a fan of sugary pizza, I do think there's something to be said for the versatility of ingredients and even the kitchen tools we use to prepare them. For example, take something as simple and homey as a plate of spaghetti and meatballs -- would it totally blow your mindgrape to know it was all cooked in a wok?

Spaghetti cooked in a wok, dogs and cats living together - MASS HYSTERIA - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I think my wok had a Liz Lemon/30 Rock moment of, "What the WHAT?!" when I was simmering an Italian style red sauce in it. I'm certainly no purist, I've thrown Sriracha or Tabasco sauce in pasta sauces if I'm out of red pepper flakes, and nobody died from an acute case of culture shock, but yes, even the Mister, aka the Whitest Kid You Know, had to do a double take to see red sauce with meatballs simmering in a wok. I think he was worried the Asian Police would finally serve out that longstanding bench warrant against me for sucking at math and never learning to play the violin. 

I was inspired by Lorna Yee's new book, The Everyday Wok Cookbook, which the cover alone had me dead-set on making her Spaghetti and Bison Meatball recipe from the get-go. I don't need much arm twisting to make spaghetti and meatballs, but I was intrigued at the thought of using bison meat and even more intrigued at the weird juxtaposition of a marinara sauce throwing my anthropomorphized wok's brain for a loopty-loop.

Wokked spaghetti and meatballs - weirdly wonderful - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Using a wok as an all purpose cooking vessel isn't so crazy. I'm pretty sure billions of Chinese people can attest to its versatility and use. Granted, they're probably not making French toast in it, but really -- why the hell not? It's got a sizeable surface area with varying temperature zones that are fairly predictable (center = screamin' hot, away from the center = less screamin' hot) and the amount it can hold makes it ideal for soups and stews. Many people prefer woks as their stovetop deep fryer, convinced it's better than the typical Dutch oven. I use it as a one-pot wonder when I make things like Pad Thai at home -- it's great for getting the noodles partly cooked, then a quick wipedown and it's ready to cook the rest of the dish. Everything fits back in the wok for when it comes time for the final ingredient combination, and that's kind of how this spaghetti and bison meatball dish worked out.

I thought the bison meat would be tough to find. It's not something I normally shop for, so I immediately assumed I'd have to get it from a specialty grocer. And of course as Murphy's Law would have it -- no fancy butcher seemed to be carrying it. The holiday season doesn't help, as it's all festive meats taking up precious shelf space, and rightly so. I had my sad No Bison Meat face on (it looks much like this) until I happened to be at the grocery store where we live and there was a whole flippin' row of ground bison meat! At the Safeway, of all flippin' places. Apparently, it's not as exotic as one would think, so don't skimp on using bison meat for this dish. It's very tender, has a good flavor and not gamey since most bison are likely farmed/grazed like cows.

Tis the season, and Lorna's cookbook would make for a great holiday gift, especially if you want to up the ante and give the book with a new wok for someone who may not cook a lot, but wishes to learn. The recipes are very user-friendly and the book is beautifully photographed, which inspires you to get into the kitchen. The food is enticing and it covers multicultural menus. There's macaroni and cheese, breakfast omelets and scrambles, paella, several traditional Asian dishes like pockmarked tofu and dumplings, and even a dessert section. It's a nice reminder that just because you have a wok, it doesn't mean you only have to cook Asian-sounding dishes in it. It was a refreshing exercise for me to consider the wok as just another team player in our kitchen full of cooking vessels, and it's as much of an A-Game player as a basic skillet.

Whole wheat spaghetti for dan dan noodles? Fantastic - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Since this post is about multipurpose things, I'd also like to wave the banner of versatility for the simple spaghetti noodle. My wok was back in its Happy Place making a heaping pile of Szechuanese Dan Dan Noodles one night. I had everything I needed from the Asian grocery store -- black vinegar, preserved mustard greens, an industrial sized bottle of sesame oil, sesame paste, and enough Szechuan peppercorns to last me for when the Year of the Dragon gets chased out by the Year of the Snake. Since I live out in BFE-Duvall, I only make periodic trips to a big Asian grocery store in Bellevue to stock up for a few months at a time. Most of the things I get are dried, canned and preserved, so it's got great shelf life, but I always neglect the noodles. Curse my feeble brain! I forgot to get more udon noodles and Chinese style egg noodles, both of which are great for making dan dan, with their thickness and wider surface area to hold more sauce. The local grocery stores have some Asian noodles, but they're typically chow mein style or flat rice noodles which are great for some things, but just mehhhh.... for what I wanted.

Enter the Dragon: whole wheat spaghetti noodles, for the win. I don't typically love whole wheat noodles for traditional pasta dishes. Regardless of the health benefit, I find them tough and depending on the sauce you're making, they can make the finished dish ruddy-looking and less appealing to the eye. But for a noodle dish like dan dan, where it's rich and nutty from the sesame paste and oil, and a mix of textures from the ground, fried meat and freshly sliced scallions, having a hearty noodle works well. You don't want something turning into mush, and that extra toughness of the whole wheat spaghetti has a satisfying mouth feel.

Dan dan noodles is one of those dishes with a million and one ways to make it. I've had versions as a soup and most in this stir-fry method, all flavored with the smokiness of the Szechuan peppercorn and rich sesame taste. The recipe I work from is thanks to Appetite for China's, available here. This recipe's style isn't as oily as some -- the most traditional has the noodles sitting in an orange bath of chili oil, which is plenty good, but if that's not your thing, this less oily version is a great dish. If you love the idea of peanut butter spicy noodles, that's one way of describing dan dan noodles in familiar terms. It's quick, and I've even substituted ground turkey for the ground pork -- the seasonings are strong enough and there's plenty of fat from the sesame paste and cooking oil.

So, cheers to versatility, in both ingredients and cooking vessels. Food and recipes constantly evolve in the way we prepare them, so throw away the rule book now and then and don't be afraid to free your mind and make spaghetti in a wok.

OMG a Recipe: I Want Hot Noodles

In the immortal words of comic book character Hellboy: I want hot noodles. "Pamcakes" are nifty and all, but sometimes you want noodles, and in my case, I had a specific craving for the Korean dish, japchae, a simple stir-fry of thin noodles, vegetables, sometimes meat, in a sweet-savory sesame sauce. If you're at all familiar with the Hellboy comic, or just read the link above to the little Pancake vignette, you'll understand why one can never go back to the Underworld farm once they've had japchae noodles, or pamcakes, for that matter.

Meatless Monday Japchae, not that you'd miss the meat - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I love japchae because I love bean thread noodles, aka saifun, aka sweet potato noodles, aka glass noodles, aka cellophane noodles. There's probably other names for the same thing, it's got as many aliases as ten Jason Bournes. I do think that's one obstacle to cooking Asian food, the shopping for the basic ingredients. Asian grocery stores are daunting; bottles and cans are labeled in another language, you need to know what you're looking for, even I get flustered when I'm shopping for exotic goods. Everything has multiple names and you have to be a master spy to recognize which aliases mean the same thing. Luckily most basic grocery stores are widening their "Ethnic Cuisine" aisle, even going so far as to dedicating a full section of an aisle to "Asian." And if you've never had or made japchae at home, it's one of those ridiculously easy things to make since the only somewhat unusual ingredient is the bean thread noodles. Like I said, I can get a package of this at our local Safeway, so here's to cuisine progress movin' on up.

So, why bean thread noodles/saifun? If you had to, you could probably swap the noodles out with an angel hair pasta, but there's a really lovely bite to bean thread noodles; they're stretchy with a distinctive toothy bite. They're made up of mung bean, sweet potato or yam starch and/or other root starches, but not wheat, so it's a nice gluten-free noodle to keep in mind. You don't taste any of the bean or potato starch and thin sauces cling to it nicely, so it's ideal for japchae, which uses a thin sesame oil-based sauce. This version of japchae is meatless, making it perfect for Meatless Monday. And it's not one of those dishes where it suffers from the removal of meat, since the bulk of the flavor expeience is in the multiple vegetables and sweet-savory sesame oil sauce. You could add ribbons of scrambled egg to add more protein, and adding shiitake mushrooms gives it an earthy, meaty flavor.

The Magic Bean (noodles) and whatever vegetables you want - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I put together this recipe based off multiple versions of japchae that I've seen. It's such a basic dish, and so easy and quick to make, which is probably why it's so popular in Korean cuisine. Fast, inexpensive, no fuss -- boom, the perfect weekday night meal. The primary ingredients for japchae are the bean thread noodles and getting the sauce to that just-right sweet-savory balance. Which is completely subjective -- some people will want more soy sauce, some will want to add more sugar, but it's an easy dish to push and pull flavors to your taste. The sesame oil is what brings everything together and really anchors the dish, so don't skimp on that.

Hot Noodles! Hellboy would approve - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Meatless Monday Japchae (perfectly good on other days of the week, I promise)

Ingredients
1 package (about 8 oz) of bean thread noodles (see above for more variations on the name)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 cup of chopped shiitake mushrooms (fresh or reconstituted dried)
Salt and pepper to taste

Any combination of favorite vegetables, but can include:
1 cup carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
1/2 cup wilted spinach
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 cup broccoli florets, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 cup bok choi, chopped into small bite sized pieces

Can also add cooked cubes of tofu or sliced ribbons of scrambled egg

To finish:
chopped scallions
toasted sesame seeds      
Sriracha hot sauce as condiment, because it goes well with EVERYTHING 

Heat a pot of water until boiling and cook the saifun/bean thread noodles. When the noodles are tender, but not overcooked, drain and in a separate bowl, toss lightly with 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. This will flavor the noodles as well as keep them from sticking to each other.

Take a heavy bottomed pan or wok heat to medium high on the stove. Add the vegetable oil and start to cook down your vegetables until tender. Lower the heat to medium-low, and add the shiitake mushrooms, along with the tofu and egg, if you are adding those. Add the chopped garlic, soy sauce, remaining sesame oil and sprinkle on the sugar. Keep the soy sauce and sugar handy to adjust to your flavor preference. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the vegetables and sauce are fully combined, add the bean thread noodles and gently toss to fully mix the ingredients. 

To serve, top each bowl of japchae with a sprinkle of fresh chopped scallions, sesame seeds and hot sauce, if you want to add more heat. Don't be surprised if you can't stop eating, it's really that good.