Tomato Crab Noodle Soup (Bún Riêu)

This is probably my all-time favourite noodles in soup. I just love the egg-crab-tomato mix, rather than the better-known beef recipe. What’s even better is that it all comes together in a snap, while good beef noodle stock takes hours. You can adjust this to what you have available. This is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day, and it freezes quite well.

I took this recipe as a guide.

This was a clearing-the-pantry dinner, but you get the idea. I actually made this a while ago, and am only now posting it, so the details aren’t all there.

Ingredients (about 4-6 servings)

• 1 can diced or halved tomatoes (28oz)
• 1-2 cans chicken broth (or shrimp or pork)
• mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, cut into wedges
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• green onion, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 large tomato, cut into wedges (optional)
• fish tofu or fish cake, sliced (optional)
• fish sauce
• shrimp paste (optional)
• salt
• 1 can crab meat (170g)
• 4 eggs
• rice vermicelli (bún), cooked and drained - the kind that comes in rectangular blocks, not glass noodles

Things to go with it:

• shredded iceberg lettuce
• mint
• coriander leaf (rau răm)
• lime wedges
• bean sprout
• chopped green onions
• cilantro
• split water spinach stems (ong choy  蕹菜/rau muống) – this only works well if you have the tool to do it

Method:

• In a large pot, lightly brown garlic and onion wedges.
• Turn heat to low, add fresh tomato, sprinkle with salt to draw out the water and cook until almost soft (you can skip this step if you’re pressed for time)
• Turn up the heat, add broth, mushrooms, green onions, fish tofu and top with water to the amount of soup you need. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat.
• Season with fish sauce, shrimp paste and salt to taste. It should be tart, but if it’s too sour, add a touch of sugar.
• Let simmer for flavours to meld.
• Meanwhile, beat eggs and crab meat together (I don’t drain)
• Slowly pour the egg mixture into the simmering pot. Don’t stir, as this is not an egg drop soup, and don’t boil, as that will break up the egg.
• When the egg floats, it’s done.
• I like to have a bed of greens in my bowl, and then put noodles in, and top with the hot soup.

Chicken Marinade

Wow! It’s been quite a long while since my last post! Since then, I’ve quit my second (office) job, and summer school’s over, so really, my only excuse was that I’ve been diligently working on improving my summer school stuff in preparation for next year. Trying to get ahead of the game while I’m still motivated, and while everything’s still fresh in my mind. Next will be biology, but we’ll see how far I get into that.

Anyway. The marinade. Summer’s finally come full force into Vancouver, so we don’t cook if we can help it. Next best thing is to fire up the barbie, since that doesn’t contribute too much heat into our place. Just marinate the chicken and let cook over medium heat. Do be careful, as the fat drippings can cause the flame to lick up and char the skin.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 tbs dry mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbs black pepper
• minced or dried parsley

Mix all together and let marinate for at least 3 hours.

Grass Jelly & Lychee

This is one of my absolute favourite drink/dessert for summer. The best part? If you’ve got ice, it barely takes 2 minutes, and there’s no clean up.

My mom just adds water and sugar to the grass jelly, but I like the taste of lychees.

If you’re feeling particularly ‘hot aired’, just use soy milk instead of lychees, as lychee is a “hot” food.

Method:

• cut one can of grass jelly (涼粉, or 仙草 in Taiwan) into pieces. I like to upend the can into a large (like 3L) bowl and just randomly run a knife into it. I’m more concerned about not having to wash utensils/equipment than I am about it looking good.
• Add one can of lychee with the syrup. I like to cut the lychee into halves so there’s more to go around.
• Add ice, stir until it melts and sufficiently cools the liquid, and enjoy!

Quinoa Salad

Summer’s starting to rear its head around here, so that basically means I stop cooking. A lot of it has to do with the fact that summers are always deadly busy for me (two jobs; long commutes). The other side is that I just don’t want to add heat to our place.

Quinoa (keen-wa) is a seed that is often substituted for grains. It is great for vegans, as it is a complete source protein (containing 8 essential amino acids). 44g of it gives you 4% of your daily calcium, and 15% of iron. It is easy to cook, and subtle in taste.

If you want it more cheaply, Vancouver’s Chinatown sells it in bulk; just look for it in places that sell beans and such.

Method:

• Rinse 1/2 cup quinoa, and strain it.
• Place it into a pot with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, cover and turn the heat to low.
• Let cook for 15 minutes. The grain is cooked when it becomes translucent, and the white germ is visible.
• Meanwhile, combine juice of 1 lemon, a diced avocado, some curry powder, and whatever else you’d like (eg: corn, peas, edamame, tomatoes, cucumber, etc)
• Let the quinoa cool for 5 minutes, fluff with a fork and combine with the other ingredients.
• Let sit/chill a few hours for the lemon to mellow.

Faubourg

I love going for afternoon tea, and Faubourg is a newer place in Kerrisdale. The interior is very modern, and bustles from the bakery as well as the afternoon tea service. It is rather cramped quarters, but was not noticable for the most part, likely because of the high ceilings.

Photos courtesy of Cindy.

I liked that the teas came in votive holders so you could smell the teas and select one, but the descriptions left something to be desired. I had the French Breakfast, and while it smelled really good, it had a really strong roasted aftertaste, which I don’t like in my tea.

Food-wise, everything was beautifully presented, and the breads were great. But for the most part, there were too many mehs, and not enough wows.

Rundown:

• smoked salmon sandwich on braided bread – yum!
• chicken salad – a bit too much onion
• roast beef and cucumber – ok, a bit peppery from the coriander cream
• fig scone – yum, but while creme fraiche is good, it’s not the same as Devon cream
• strawberry souffle was way too sweet
• raspberry-pistaschio mille feuille - not a huge fan of the raspberry
• chocolate mousse – super rich and yum!
• chocolate cake-thing – the ganache top was great, the rest was ok
• berries and museli yogurt – yum! but I have that regularly at home
• blueberry tart – the shell was really hard, and the custard had a licorice-y aftertaste

So for $25.50 before tax and tip? Not really worth it. I’d probably go with the $16 purple tea instead, where you get the scone and choose 2 sandwiches and 2 pastries… provided the mousse is considered a pastry.

The quality is second-to-none, but clearly, I have a peasant’s palate, because I don’t know if I could justify purchasing an eclair for $5.

Paneer

I saw this on an episode of Chef at Home with Michael Smith, and suddenly, those gallons upon gallons milk that I often saw in the carts of some Indian families made sense.

Mine turned out more creamy and less firm than the paneer I’ve had in restaurants, but that might be because I didn’t press the cheese. (The lime I bought was also rather dry, so I used some vinegar as well)

Ingredients:

• 1L milk
• juice from 1 lime

Method:

•  Gently warm milk on the stovetop until bubbles start to form.
• Take it off the heat and stir in lime juice. The milk will curdle. If the liquid remains milky, there’s not enough acid, so add more.
• Let rest 15 minutes.
• Place layers of cheesecloth over a sieve and pour in the curds and whey.
• Lift the cheesecloth out and bring the ends together to form a loose ball. Hang for 30 minutes to drain.
• Tighten the ball and squeeze out excess liquid. Let hang as a tight ball for another 30 minutes.
• Untie the cloth and cover the cheese loosely with it. Place between two plates and place a weight on top. Leave in the fridge for a few hours and enjoy!

Stir-Fried Sticky Rice (生炒糯米飯)

I’ve been wanting to make this for a while, and since I bought the rice for che dau, what better time, eh? I used this video, which is in Cantonese.

Ingredients (for 2 bowls):

• 1 egg, beaten with 1/2 tsp oil
• 1.25 cups uncooked glutinous rice (糯米), washed and soaked for at least 4 h0urs and then drained
• 2 Chinese sausages (臘腸), washed, cut in half lengthwise, and then sliced into half-moons
• a handful (~30) dried shrimp (蝦米), washed
• 3 dried shiitake (冬茹), washed and soaked. Discard the stem and cut the rest into small pieces. Keep the soaking water.
• 2-4 scallions, chopped, keeping the green and white parts separated
• salt and pepper

Mix together in a small bowl:

• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp cooking wine
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/3 tsp sugar
• 7 tsp water from soaked mushrooms

Method:

• If you’re not a fan of dried shrimp because of the hard texture, pound it in batches with a mortar and pestle so it flakes a bit.
• Heat a non-stick fry pan. Pour in the beaten egg and swirl the pan so the egg cooks as a thin sheet. When the egg easily lifts, flip it and cook the other side. Set aside.
• On medium heat, stir-fry the sausages until fragrant, or oil leaks out.
• Add the dried shrimp and stir fry a bit.
• Add the shiitake and rice and cook for a minute.
• Add 2 tbs of the mushroom water and stir fry for a minute. Repeat 2 more times.
• Add the white parts of the scallions and the sauce. Stir fry for 2 more minutes, pressing down on the rice occasionally.
• Test a grain of rice to check the texture. It should be chewy. If it is dry, or crumbly, then it is not done yet, and you’ll need to add some water and cook longer. If the rice goes mushy before it gets chewy all the way through, then the rice was not soaked long enough.
• If you like raw scallions, then use it for garnish. Otherwise, mix the green parts in.
• Season the rice with salt and pepper.
• Cut the egg in half and lay one half over the other. Fold that in half and slice thinly.
• Stir half the egg into the rice and turn off the heat.
• To serve, put rice into a bowl and invert it onto a plate. Garnish with sliced egg and scallions.