Oxtail Noodle Soup

Here's the picture from the last post as a teaser. Well, it was sort of a tricky one since it's not duck noodles but rather stewed oxtail noodle soup with roasted duck! Surprise!!

See if I posted this picture (without the duck, of course), it would have been a dead giveaway. hehe.

A couple of weeks back, I decided to get some oxtail from 99 Ranch since they looked so good, even with the sticker shock of $3.99/lb. Sheesh. I haven't had oxtail since I was a little girl (long, long time ago in a galaxy far far away....) and since The Mister has never had oxtail soup, I thought I'd make it (it took a bit of convincing). I followed my Mom's recipe, which was from a very old Chinese cookbook. The recipe is very easy and quite good.

We had one of the eating machines over that night and since I wasn't sure I had enough oxtails for 3 people, I decided to heat up some leftover roast duck from Jasmine Seafood as a supplement. The pairing of the duck and the oxtail was really good! Baby bok choy was the choice of greens that night.

Ingredients:
2 lb oxtail
5 large slices of ginger root
2 green onions (scallions)
1 Tbsp Szechuan peppercorns (I didn't toast mine)
1 star anise
3 Tbsp cooking wine (I used Shao Xing wine) or sherry
8 C water
1 Tbsp kosher salt
Baby bok choy, quartered (I had 3 bunches per person)
1 lb of Chinese dry noodles
Water for blanching oxtail and bok choy

Garnish for each bowl:

1/2 Tbsp green onions, chopped
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil (optional)
pepper to taste

Directions:
Fill a large pot about 2/3 with water and boil. Blanch/parboil the oxtails in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Supposedly this is to get rid some of the "stuff" that you don't want in your soup (blood, impurities, etc.). Remove the oxtail and dump the water.

In a 5 quart dutch oven or heavy pot, add ginger, 2 green onions, Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cooking wine, 8 cups of water, kosher salt, and blanched oxtail. Bring to boil and then simmer for 2 hours until the meat is soft and the liquid has reduced down to about 6 cups. Add more salt to taste. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring 6 cups of water to boil. Blanch the bok choy until just tender. Remove. Using the same water, cook noodles according to package instructions. The ones I used call for boiling for 4 minutes.

In each bowl, add garnish ingredients. Ladle oxtail broth into each bowl. Add cooked noodles, oxtail and bok choy. And if you just so happen to have some leftover roast duck or chicken, top off with a couple of pieces to finish the dish.

Even though The Mister is not a gelatinous meat type of person, that's my department, he did enjoy his oxtail noodle soup. Eat Machine1 liked it and for once, she didn't finish everything. Those oxtails are pretty filling.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Aloha Friday and a terrific weekend!

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Spicy Beef Asian Noodles

I'm not exactly sure what to call this dish because it's kind of a butchered version of a dan dan mein (noodles) recipe that I found somewhere that I can't remember (ah, aging, ain't it grand?). That recipe isn't what I would consider classic Sichuan style but it's an acceptable version. But because I've substituted several of the ingredients, I don't feel calling this recipe dan dan mian completely true. So let's just stay with spicy beef noodles.


You can use any kind of Asian noodles, I just so happen to have some fresh packaged Chinese noodles on hand. I do like the thicker noodles in this dish. You can also substitute the sesame paste with peanut butter but I like the taste with sesame paste. The recipe below is for 1 person serving. I double everything when making it for the Mister and me. Also, we like it pretty hot so I usually add more of the chili sauce (the one with the rooster on front) than what the recipe calls for. Adjust heat to your liking.

Ingredients:
6 oz of Asian style noodles

Broth:
1 tablespoon sesame paste (or peanut butter)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp white or rice vinegar
1/2 tsp chili sauce (can substitute with chili oil)

Topping:
6 oz of ground beef (you can use ground pork but you'll have to call it Spicy Pork Noodles!)
2 tablespoon chicken broth or water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Szechuan soybean paste (or substitute with black bean paste)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped green onion
1 teaspoon salad oil (I use canola oil)
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce (or chili oil)
1 teaspoon cornstarch and cold water, mixed

Directions:
In a wok or pan, heat oil on medium-high and cook meat until done. Add all the topping ingredients, stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add cornstarch slurry and cook for another minute to thicken.

Cook noodles according to package instructions.

In medium pot, add all the broth ingredients and bring to boil. Place the broth in a serving bowl. Add noodles. Add toppings to noodles. Serve hot.

Chopped Szechuan pickles and/or dried small shrimp, and chopped peanuts can also be added on top for an additional twist. Also a quick note that the taste will vary a bit between the Szechuan soybean paste and the black bean paste. The Szechuan soybean paste is on the sweeter side, sometimes used in zha jiang mein. I actually only use miso paste for my version (actually my Mom's version) of zha jiang mein. But that's another post.

Have a wonderful weekend! Now go and eat well.

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Thai Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)

One of my favorite Thai dishes is Pad Kee Mao, also known as Thai Drunken Noodles or Thai Spicy Noodles. I've been playing with the idea of making some Thai dishes at home since a friend of mine said it was easy. I've tried making Shrimp Pad Thai (the Mister likes Pad Thai) and although it turned out pretty good, the recipe needs some adjustment for my taste. So I'll wait to post on that once I get the right adjustments in place.

But I think I'm pretty close on the Pad Kee Mao as to how "I" like my Drunken Noodles. As usual, I searched various food blogs and recipe sites as a starting point. One thing I learned was that there are as many variations of Pad Kee Mao as there is Pad Thai and meatloaf. So the task at hand was to figure out which recipes sounded good to me. Keep in mind that I'm not too fond of very vinegary type dishes so I knew I had to make adjustments some of the recipes. I narrowed it down to 4 different ones and started my plan of attack. I made my grocery list and headed over to 99 Ranch Market for supplies.

For some reason, I was a bit out of sorts that morning and had a hard time finding things on my list. I arrived at 99 Ranch a little later than I typically do so maybe the crowd was throwing me off. Anyway, I had sen-yai noodles (wide flat rice noodles) on my list but I just couldn't seem to find them on the shelf. So rather drive myself nuts, I settled on a bit wider rice noodles than those you normally have with Pad Thai. I also decided to go with fried tofu instead of firm tofu. I don't know why, it was just some spontaneous moment lapse of judgement. I decided to go with shrimp since that's what I usually order at restaurants and the shrimp looked good that day and on sale, double bonus!

The one thing I've learned about working with rice noodles is that you kind of have to work quickly with it or else you risk of creating a gigantic clump of sticky mess. So I pre-measured all my ingredients before cooking, but with more ingredients within quick reach for taste adjustments. I also boiled a pot of water and then turned the heat off so it will be all ready to cook the rice noodles. Don't blink because the rice noodles will cook that fast, which is why I have the pot of hot water ready and waiting.

With very little hiccup, the final product turned out better than I had expected. Not that I expected to completely bomb but I wasn't sure how close these recipes were to the restaurant Spicy Noodles that I love so much. I think I came pretty close. On a scale of 1-10 for heat, this was about a 2-3. I usually like it around 5 so that's definitely something I'll play with more in the future. But I really enjoyed the overall taste and the Mister gave it a thumbs up. Here's the final product.



CAB's Shrimp Pad Kee Mao

Ingredients:
8 ounces (about 1/2 package) of sen-yai rice noodles or other wider rice noodles
1/2 lb of shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/4 cup of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
2 cloves of garlic, minced and split into 2 piles (1/2 for shrimp, 1/2 for noodles)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced thinly
1 Tablespoon of minced onion (I took some of the onion slices and minced)
2 Tablespoon Canola oil (1 Tbsp for shrimp, 1 Tbsp for sauce/noodles)
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
3 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoons oyster sauce
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons of palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons ground red chili (adjust to desired heat level)
1/8 teaspoon (a dash) white pepper
1 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped (optional, adjust to desired heat level)
1/2 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
1/4 cup of chicken broth (as needed to keep noodles from sticking)

Directions:
Soak the rice noodles in water for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Start a pot of water (about 4 quarts) to boil. Turn heat off.

In a bowl, combine rice vinegar, fish sauce, lime juice, palm or brown sugar, dried ground chili and white pepper. If you are adding tofu, you can marinade the tofu in the marinade to enhance the flavor. Leave the tofu in the marinade as you prepare the rest of the dish.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in wok on medium high heat. Add 1/2 of the minced garlic and the minced onions and cook for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook until all pink and almost done. Remove from heat and set aside. Don't cook the shrimp all the way through because you will be adding the shrimp back in with the noodles at the end.

Add the soaked rice noodles into the hot pot of water. Taste the noodles at 60 seconds to test for al dente. Don't let the noodles cook too long or else you'll end up with mushy noodles. As soon as noodles are al dente, drain and rinse with cold water. The cold water will stop any further cooking.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to wok and heat for 30 seconds at medium-high. Add the sliced onion, jalapeno and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Don't brown the garlic.

Before adding the rice noodles to the wok, check to see if there are any sticking. If so, rinse with cold water to break up any sticking of the noodles.

Add noodles and tofu and marinade to wok. Turn the heat to high. Stir frequently. As the sauce begins to reduce, add basil leaves, oyster sauce, soy sauce and cooked shrimp. Combine thoroughly and heat through. If the noodles start to stick, add chicken stock to help loosen up the noodles. Taste and adjust with more fish sauce and chili pepper flakes as needed. Serve hot.

I think this is one of those dishes where it'll continue to evolve and change as I tweak it based on what my taste is on that day. But this certainly provides a good foundation to work from.

Have a wonderful week. Now go and eat well.

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Myojo Ramen Okinawa Style

I love ramen. Let me clarify that. I love most kinds of noodles: soup noodles, fried noodles, cold noodles, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Italian, etc. Many of my eating habits were influenced by my maternal grandmother. And she loved her noodles. I used to help her make all sorts of noodles so it's not surprising that noodle dishes are comfort foods for me. So I thought it would be nice to do some posts on noodles every now and then, sort of in memory of my Grandmother.

For the past 3 nights, I've been kind of on a ramen binge. Not making the noodles myself (yeesh, that would be up there with making my own shui jiao peels) but using prepackaged ones. I'm not one who can just eat any brand predried noodles doused in some highly saturated fat powder... Oh wait, I can and I have. I don't particularly care for the taste of brands like Top Ramen but there are some good ones that are almost as cheap and handy when I'm jonesing for ramen and too lazy to go out for it. I do prefer the prepackage ramens that have fresh noodles in them, like the Myojo brand.

I got a package of Myojo Okinawa Style Ramen from Marukai and I think this has become my favorite. As you can see in the picture, the noodles and seasonings come in separate packs. This particular package came with 3 servings, each individually packed. I decided to use up leftover krab that I purchased for California Rolls since I didn't have any kamaboko or fish balls on hand (and yes, too lazy to go out to get some). The green stuff on the right is baby bok choy. Typically, I like to have some kind of greens, preferrably baby bok choy or Napa cabbage, as well as a couple of poached eggs with my ramen.

Here is the dry soup content. Here is the soup content after adding hot water.

I also added a good dousing of some Korean hot chili powder to give it some kick.

And here's the final product. In the upper part of the bowl, there's some pickled ginger that came with the package. I think I will forgo adding this in the future since it was overbearing everything else. The red flakes on top of those eggs were pepper flakes that came with the package.

Overall, this was a very satisfying meal. The broth had very good flavor. The Okinawa style noodles are wider and firmer than ramen noodles that had a very nice bite to it, not slimy or soggy at all. I liked it a lot. What would have made it perfect was some fish cakes but hey, when you're lazy like me, krab will do in a pinch. My eggs turned out perfect. The whites were firm but tender (not runny), and the yolk perfectly cooked through and gooey. Ah, a good meal it was.

On a side note. Yes, I changed the layout of my blog. I've been experimenting for the past 3 months now, trying out new configurations, colors and styles. I finally landed on this one and think I'll leave it for a while. I don't think it makes the pages overly crowded and the posts are still easy to read (to me). Let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful weekend. Now go and eat well.

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