photo by izumiflowers

I just had to cancel a trip to Malaysia.  While I can't say I am going to miss the unbelievably long plane ride, I will most definitely miss the street food.  Street food is built into the fabric of life in Singapore and Malaysia, so the choices and quality are astounding.  If America could convince all those folks parading through drive-throughs to get out of the car and eat at a trailer, I'm sure the results would be just as amazing.

There are simply too many varieties and tactics in Malaysia to narrow the focus on one dish, but noodles rarely disappoint.  There are plenty of Thai and Chinese influenced noodle bowls to mix with the local favorites.

This is a very simple recipe that finds its depth in two ingredients - the sausage and the noodles.  If at all possible I use fresh made egg noodles.  You can buy fresh pasta, but its remarkably easy to make and the little machine is great fun to use.

The sausage is trickier - choose wisely.  I am lucky enough to have access to some truly fantastic sausage from Whole Foods and some stunning smoked sausage from a few of the BBQ joints nearby.  Either works well, but the preparation changes based on the sausage content.

Hakka Noodles

Handful of bean sprouts

Handful of fresh egg noodles

1 pork sausage, casing removed and diced

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp fish sauce

1/4 cup chicken stock

Directions

1. Bring the stock to a boil and let simmer.Boil  water for the noodles. 
   


2. Blanch the bean sprouts, then add some salt. 


3. Prepare noodles.


4. Cook the pork, dicing as it cooks.


5. Add soy and fish sauces to the bean sprouts, put noodles on top and pork on top of the noodles.


6. Serve warm broth on the side.

photo by S x 2

There was a time when I regularly followed the New York Times Magazine's food column.  A friend that's a chef told me she would cook whatever they published each Sunday.  The column seems to have gone downhill over the last couple years.  These days, I barely read the food section and never seek it out.

The upside is the travel section.  Every couple weeks the Sunday Times publishes a great story about food on the road.  The stories are wonderfully written, with great photos and completely make up for the Magazine falling off my reading list.

Back in December there was a great article on street food in Bali.  I've never been there, but I've heard or read about the roasted pig.  I've also had Whole Food's terrible version of Bali chicken.  The article peaked my interest in how to do Bali chicken correctly.  After a few tries, this is what I came up with.

Maybe I am too heavily influenced by pollo asada, but I think this recipe should be grilled.  I think the grill adds the right amount of smoky flavor to the meat.  My proximity to Mexico influences the ingredients too - dried shrimp are a common ingredient on the border, so I used them to recreate the shrimp paste used in Bali.

These make for a fantastic appetizer or snack, and don't take long to make.  They are best as chicken wings, but a whole chicken would well too.

Ayam Taliwang

1 small whole chicken or 2 lbs chicken wings

Salt

3 Tbsp oil

2 shallots

4-5 cloves garlic

2 tsp red chili pepper or 2 small, hot green chilies.

2 tsp ground shrimp

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Juice from 1 lime

Directions

1. If using a whole chicken, cut into pieces.  Salt the chicken and set aside.  Pre-heat a broiler.

1. Grind the shallots, garlic, chilies, shrimp, sugar and salt into a paste.

1. Heat the oil over a medium heat.  Add the paste and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the lime juice and set aside.

1. Broil the chicken for 3 minutes under a hot broiler.  Turn once if the broiler is very hot.

1. Brush the chicken with the paste.  Be sure to cover it well.


2. Grill the chicken until cooked.

1. Brush the chicken with any remaining paste.

photo by craigemorsels

The first time I had roti canai, I recognized its source.  Without knowing the name, I knew I had been served something very similar in southern India.  At the time, I didn't realize just how important this would be to some of the things I started cooking from India.

Turns out Roti Canai is closely related to Kerala Porotta, which like most Indian breads, has been impossible for me to get right.  Kerala Porotta is particularly frustrating, as I have many friends that tell me how they or their family members make great Kerala Porotta, and here I am banging away my miserable attempts.  The last step of making Kerala Porotta is clapping the bread together between your hands to break the bread up.  Try as I might, I either couldn't get the breaking right or wasn't making the dough right.  Either way, what I ended up with never matched my memory or expectations.

Making Roti Canai is different for a couple reasons - the dough is sweeter, and more importantly, easier to finish.  This recipe makes a bunch of breads - probably too many if you are having a small meal.  The dough keeps for a couple days in the fridge if you decide to make it all.

There is of course a more authentic way of flattening the dough than using a roller.  There are some great videos on YouTube that show the process in detail.  I've tried them, but to be honest, they make a bit of a mess.  Using a roller is not that difficult, so I just stick with that method.

This recipe helped me learn how to make Kerala Porotta, so eventually I will post that recipe too...

Roti Canai

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water

1 egg

olive or vegetable oil (I use olive oil)

Directions

1. Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.

1. Beat the egg with the water and add to the flour mixture.

1. Knead the dough until it is smooth.


2. Oil your hands and divide the dough into balls.  This will leave the dough balls covered in oil.


3. Let the dough balls rest overnight or for a couple hours.


4. When ready to make the breads, oil a roller and roll each ball out until it is very thin, about 1/8". 


5. Cook the breads on a hot flat iron skillet until light brown.


6. Take each bread as it comes off the skillet and crunch it together in your hands, which will lighten the bread.

photo by minishorts

If you have read this blog at all, you've noticed a few areas where I take some liberties:

• Street food can have many definitions and variations.  It's good enough for me if I think something should be a street food.


• I am heavily influenced by ingredients.  It would be pretty easy to throw up a recipe for tacos, but if there is something in season its usually a good time to talk about it.

This is one of those times.  It’s the time of year that if you are lucky enough to have a friend that hunts, or time to get out there yourself, you are getting ducks.  I was recently lucky enough to get the golden cooler filled with fresh teal duck breasts, and this recipe is the first thing I thought of. 

Since you can pretty much get any noodle dish in Bangkok, I feel like I can take some liberties with noodles.  This a great way to cook duck breast and its even better on noodles.

Duck can get pretty gamey, so it’s a great idea to brine it first.  This recipe takes some time to brine and marinate the meat, so I recommend you do the marinating overnight if you want to serve this for lunch. 

It would not be accurate to call this asian, but you don't see many noodle bowls on ranches in Texas.  The noodles vary in time and texture, so you are on your own for cooking soba the way you like.   In the next couple weeks I'll do duck tacos while ducks are still in season. 

Soba noodles with wild duck

2 lbs duck breast

Soba noodles, cooked to your liking

Brine:

1 cup water

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup salt

10 black peppercorns

1 clove garlic, smashed

Marinade:

1/4 cup brandy

1 cup red wine

2 onions, minced

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp allspice

1 bay leaf

The rest:

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup chicken stock

1. Rinse the duck and pat dry.


2. Mix the brine in a bowl until the salt is dissolved.


3. Put the duck into a glass bowl and cover with the brine.  Cover and refrigerate.


4. Brine the duck for 2 hours.


5. Rinse the duck, clean the bowl and return the duck to the glass bowl.  Cover with the marinade.


6. Marinate overnight or for 5-6 hours.  Stir when you can.


7. Strain the marinade into a bowl.  Reserve both the solids and liquids.  Remove the bay leaf and discard.


8. Heat the oil and butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Brown the duck for 10 minutes.


9. Add about half the reserved onions from the marinade.  Cook for another 7-10 minutes.


10. Add the garlic, mushrooms, stock and 1/2 cup of the marinade liquid.  Bring to a slow boil.


11. Reduce the  heat to a slow simmer, cover, and cook for 1.5 hours.


12. Spoon over the soba noodles.

photo by roboppy

I wish I could say my introduction to Xiao Long Bao was on the streets of Shanghai, but it was a regular Sunday morning dim sum.  Tucked away on a dumpling cart was something very different.  Xiao Long Bao are not your everyday dim sum dumpling.  They contain a little dollop of rich broth inside the dumpling.  They come freshly steamed (and hopefully freshly made) in small bamboo containers.  The process of steaming heats the soup broth up and readies the broth to burn the inside of your mouth, land on your shirt or be enjoyed as a little package of soup.  Your choice.

Xiao Long Bao, or Soup Dumplings, can't (or shouldn't) be eaten like the standard dim sum dumpling.  The dumplings are meant to be put on a soup spoon with any additional sauce.  Chopsticks are used to pierce the dumpling and let the broth flow out into the spoon.  Once every drop of the soup is enjoyed, its ok to finish off the whole dumpling.

There are some fantastic recipes out there for XLB, but they tend to have one thing in common - long preparation time.  Remember that the last step of the recipe for these little packages in the bundling, folding and sealing of the dumplings themselves.  That is going to take you some time and test your patience.  You really might want to consider whether you're up for the long cooking process followed by some precision dumpling assembly.

Typically the dumplings are made with chicken broth paired with a pork ball.  I modified the pork ball a bit and used bulk chorizo, in part because I can get it.  It made the dumplings considerably spicier than what rolls by on a cart.

The best way to make these (or at least my favorite) is to stand around the kitchen with guests or family bundling the dumplings and chatting while they are steaming.  They get perfectly fresh dumplings and you get good company.

Xiao Long Bao

Soup:

2 cups of chicken stock

1 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp Chinese rice wine

2 Tbsp unflavored gelatin

Directions

1. Bring the stock to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.


2. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients until the gelatin is dissolved.


3. Pour into a glass dish that fills to about 1/2 deep.  Chill in the refrigerator until solid.

Dumplings:

1 container of dumpling skins.  I get these in the frozen section of my local Chinese market.

1. Cut the broth into small cubes with a knife.


2. Lay 2 skins out on a board.  Wet the edges of both with your finger.  (I think its easier to do 2 at a time)


3. Put one spoonful of filling (below) and a few cubes of broth in each dumpling.  You'll get better at how much to put in as you make them.  Don't worry if your first couple are practice.


4. Pleat the skin to form a sort of bowl.  Join the edges together to form the dumpling.


5. Place the dumplings on cabbage leaves or cotton in a bamboo steamer.  Don't let them touch.


6. Steam for 10-12 minutes.

Meat Filling:

1 lb ground pork or bulk chorizo

2 green onions, diced

1 in ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp Chinese rice wine

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

Directions

1. Mix the pork with the vegetables well.


2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Vegetable Filling:

2 in ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lb fresh asparagus

1 can whole water chestnuts, diced

4 green onions, diced

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp Chinese rice wine

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

Directions

1. Very finely dice the vegetables and add to a bowl.  Don't worry about using all of the asparagus stalks.


2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.