Clams in Fermented Black Bean Sauce

Clams with Fermented Black Bean Sauce

Friday night...  The weekend is finally here!!  If there is an Asian dish that most resembles a tapas snack or brings memories of boisterous fun times is this dish of Stir Fried Clams in Fermented Black Bean Paste!  Cooking this dish is almost a dance as you feel the energy pouring out of you.  This dish has always been a family favorite.  Growing up in Guatemala, for some reason, fresh small clams were hard to come by.  Hence, this dish was something we would always be looking forward to eating when we went to Miami on vacation, as a family.  It would be the very first thing my dad would order and once it arrived the table it would literally be gone in exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds.  There were no words, just that easy, 'shooshing' up of the clam and its ocean nectar, paired up perfectly with chillies, black bean paste (nutty, wild taste) and scallion.  Perfection in a bite!  Now, as an adult, I am still very fond of this dish and find that it is perfect to have with friends and pairing up with an ice cold beer or sparkling wine.  One can have it 'solo' as an appetizer or a tapas dish; or as part of the main meal, along with - you guessed it - steamed white jasmin rice!  So, no matter what you are in the mood for, this plate will surely help you ease into the joy of the weekend.  Enjoy!  - Connie

Level:  Easy to intermediate

Servings:  2

Time to cook:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 shallot (thin slices)

2 - 3 garlic cloves (minced)

2 tablespoons of peanut oil

1 pinch of sugar

2 - 3 thai peppers (sliced)

1 small piece of ginger (julienned)

1 tablespoon of fermented black bean paste (I love the Lee Kum Kee brand)

1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce (Again, I recommend Lee Kum Kee - specially the premium sub-brand)

1 handful of cilantro (leaves and small stems) - cut off the large part of the stem and mince

1 lb of small clams (smaller than the little necks - though one can substitute it if necessary; in this case smaller ones work better than larger ones.  In Singapore these are called 'la- las'.  In Chicago, best place to find them is in Asian supermarkets like Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights)

1/2 tablespoon of cognac (I like using calvados as the apple flavor perfumes the dish.  For a non-alcoholic version, substitute with either apple cider, water or chicken stock)

Preparation:

1.  Start by cleaning the clams under running water and brush the shells to take away any sediments.  (Note:  If this is your first time cleaning clams, some of them may be slightly open but will close up as you put them under running water.  If they are open and do not close up - probably they need to be discarded.  Additionally, if you don't use the clams right after you purchase them, one way to store them is to put them on a plate within a bowl that has been filled up with ice cubes and salt; and put a slightly damp paper towel on top of them.  The clams need to breathe, and since they are alive, they should not be stored directly on ice as they will drown)

2.  Heat up your wok (high heat) and once it is hot, drop in the olive oil and the aromatics (shallot, garlic, chillies, and ginger).  Stir fry for 2 - 3 minutes, until the shallots are slightly golden

3.  Drop the clams into the the wok and stir  for 1 minute

4.  Drop into the middle of the work the fermented black bean paste and oyster sauce and stir it for another minute or two, and then sprinkle in a pinch of sugar

5.  De-glace with the cognac (or apple cider, water or chicken stock) and cover for for 5 - 8 minutes (Note:  Cooking time depends on the size of the clams.  Cover until all the clams have opened up.  If there are clams that persistently remain shut after 15 minutes, discard them)

6.  Once the clams have open up, stir in the parsley and serve

Tip:  Do not put salt on the clams, as they will already be salty.  Also, if you use larger clams, make sure to err on the side of putting less black bean paste than more, as the clams will be more salty.  Black bean paste is a very pungent and powerful ingredient.  It is very easy to overpower the dish with it so if you are using it for the first time, use it more sparingly

Copyright delimilli 2011

Malay Chicken Curry (Kari Ayam)

Malay Chicken Curry

This used to be my mom's Sunday lunch treat in Singapore when I was a child - a potful of steaming, spicy and delicious chicken curry. So when I moved to Chicago, my mom's chicken curry was one of the first things I decided to learn to cook to beat my homesickness. There were some necessary improvisations though (albeit minimal!) - such as the addition of light plain yoghurt to complement the light coconut milk that we get canned in the US. In Singapore, the coconut milk we use tends to be quite fresh, as the coconut is grated right in front of our eyes at the market, and later squeezed by hand at home to drain its juice. 


Connie and I cook this often when we invite friends over for dinner. The last dinner was for Connie's dear friends who loved Southeast Asian food, but are not used to the food's heat.  Hence we created a version of the curry that was not spicy.  The recipe below, though is the traditional one, with as much spice as you would encounter in Singapore and Malaysia! It is always great to share a meal so close to my heart with new friends. What a better way to get to know each other than through the food of our childhood? - Ros

Perfect for...  Cold wintery days in Chicago (e.g., the Blizzard); and times that require either deep comfort and warmth (to save us from the rainy days and the situation with the economy!) or to celebrate the joy of being alive!


How to Eat:  Ros taught me to eat this with 'stewed pineapple' (recipe in another entry), which was entirely foreign to me.  Prior to trying it I thought it would be something like a warm jam, but instead it is the perfect companion to curry!  It gives it the right 'twang' of sweetness and acidity, just enough to bring out the beautiful aroma of the curry.  I loved it and it is still one of my all time favorite dishes! Note that this is definitely not the traditional Indian curry we are all used to sampling, or the Thai curry for that matter - but something quite unique and tasty.  - Connie

Level: Intermediate

Time to cook: 1 hour

Servings: 5 - 6

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

4 chicken thighs

2 tomatoes (cut into cubes of 1.5 inches approximately)

3 potatoes (cut into cubes of 1.5 inches approximately)

1 small tub of plain fat free yoghurt

1 14 oz can of coconut milk (preferably light)

2 tbsp tamarind paste

3 tbsp peanut oil

3 medium sized shallots (sliced)

1 tbs chili paste (sambal oelek)

2 tbs curry powder

3 garlic cloves (sliced)

1 inch ginger (sliced)

10  dried curry leaves

Method

1. Blend in a food processor the following: Shallots, chili paste (sambal oelek), curry powder, garlic cloves and ginger. Add the yoghurt and continue blending until it becomes a paste. Set aside.

2. Heat wok and pour the peanut oil. 

3. When hot, pan fry the curry leaves for 2 minutes, then remove.

4. Pan fry the chicken (skin down for 3 minutes, and turn for another 2 minutes) - place skin down, sprinkle each piece with a pinch of salt and a pinch of cracked pepper. - Note, don't overcrowd the pan or it will 'steam'.  Instead do it in 2 - 3 batches if necessary.  Once browned, place the chicken in a separate dish and set aside

5. Fry the shallot and chilly paste we earlier blended (Step 1), in the oil that remains in the wok once the chicken has been browned.

6. Put the pan fried chicken back into the wok and mix with the paste.

7. Add water in the wok until the chicken is covered, then add in the can of coconut milk.

8. Add the tomato cubes in the wok and cook for 20 minutes over high heat.  The tomatoes should be cooked until they wilt and mix into the sauce, there is no need to remove the tomatoes.

9. Add a 4 tsps of water to the tamarind paste.  Mix lightly and squeeze the water out of the tamarind.  Discard the tamarind, and add the tamarind water to the wok. The tamarind water will give a nice tangy flavor to our curry.

10.Then add in the potato cubes. Potatoes should cook in approximately 10 - 15 minutes, until fork tender. When done, remove them from the wok to prevent disintegration. 

11. Cook for another 20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked (breasts will cook faster, so take them out of the wok once they are cooked, while the thighs finish cooking).
12. Season with salt and sugar to taste.

13. Serve with hot steamed jasmine rice. An excellent accompaniment to this dish is my Malay stewed pineapple dish called 'Pajri Nenas) - recipe available earlier.

Copyright delimilli 2011

Chinese Hot Pot

Chinese Hot Pot / Steamboat / Fondue

This meal is called different things by different people. In Singapore, we call it the 'Steamboat'. Connie's family in Guatemala calls it the 'Hotpot' and I think in Europe, this is called the Chinese fondue. Different names, but the concept is similar - blanching fresh ingredients in a hot broth, and dipping in various sauces. What makes this meal special is its communal quality. It is a meal to be shared with family and friends, and because it involves time, it is best enjoyed leisurely with plenty of conversation. It is therefore not surprising that the hot pot is often featured in one of the most significant meals for a Chinese family, and that is on Chinese New Year's Eve.

We have the hot pot at home quite frequently, especially when the weather turns cold. It usually requires a trip to an Asian supermarket that serves fresh seafood and beef sliced very thinly. So today, we'd like to share our latest hot pot adventure. This is a modest spread, that really does not compare against the ones served on festive occasions. The key is to find fresh ingredients, because as you will soon see, the ingredients are basic and raw.

Level: Easy

Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

0.8 lbs marbled beef - very thinly sliced

0.5 lbs of prawns

0.25 lbs of sashimi quality fish

0.5 lbs of nappa cabbage

0.5 lbs of choi sum

Fishballs / dumplings (readymade)

2 handfulls of cilantro

4 spring onions (sliced)

1 red jalapeno

2 Thai chilies

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

Soy sauce

Preparation

1. For the sauces, prepare a set for each person in the meal as below:

2. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Pour the oil between the cilantro / spring onion bowl and chilies / garlic bowl equally until ingredients wilt. Then pour 1-2 tbsp soy sauce, and a drizzle of sesame oil on each. The end results should look like this.

3. Clean the vegetables, and cut to bite size as preferred.

4. Slice the fish.

5. Lay out the beef.

6. Clean the prawns.

7. Add fishballs, dumplings, noodles etc to the fare as you wish. In our case, I had some chive dumplings which I bought ready made from the supermarket.

8. You may want some side dishes or relishes. In our case, we always have kimchi.

9. Pour hot water in the pot, add a slice of ginger and bring to boil. Arrange all ingredients for easy access around the hot pot.

10. When the water boils, cook the ingredients in the boiling water. We prefer to blanch and eat piece by piece, as opposed to adding all ingredients in the boiling water at one time - but do as you prefer. 


Just remember that vegetables cook slowly and meats rather quickly so be on the lookout! 


You may want to have steamed rice or cook some dried noodle in the broth in the end to complete the meal. The soup in the end, has a delicious flavor from the seafood, meats and vegetables. Enjoy with good company! :)


Copyright delimilli 2011

Dried Shrimp Noodle Stir Fry

Dried Shrimp Noodle Stir Fry

This is one of Connie's mom's favorite dishes, which we recreate in our kitchen once in a while when the mood for a simple stir fry noodle strikes. The challenging task is to find good quality dried shrimp noodles. Super H Mart in Niles used to stock on a nice variety from Hong Kong (with shrimp roe). However, this recipe works with pretty much any dried, flat, egg noodle variety.

Level: Easy

Servings: 2

Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

1 red jalapenos (sliced)

1 shallot (sliced)

4 cups of nappa cabbage (approximately 3 handfuls)

4-5 bundles of dried shrimp noodles

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

0.5 tbsp of chili oil paste (adjust depending on how spicy you wish the dish to be)

2 pinches of salt

Preparation

1. Heat wok on pour oil

2. Stir fry the sliced chilies and shallot 

3. When cooked, add the nappa cabbage. Stir fry until they wilt. Season with 2 pinches of salt.

4. In the meantime, boil water in a pot. When water is boiled, add the dried noodles and wait until cooked al dente.

5. When noodles are ready, ladle it to the pan from the boiling pot of water.

6. Add the soy, oyster sauces and the chili paste oil in the wok.

7. Stir fry and serve. Enjoy!


Copyright delimilli 2011

Spicy Chicken and Potato Stew

Spicy Chicken Stew

Trust me - it tastes much, much better than it looks! So this is Ros' rendition of the Korean spicy chicken one pot dish - 'Dak Jorim' but I shall not make any references to its Korean origins since I worry that I may offend my Korean friends. :) Anyway, this is a delicious one-pot dish that is guaranteed to satisfy, if you have a craving for spicy chicken on a cold winter day. The stewing process takes an hour, but aside from that, the preparation time is minimal.

Level: Intermediate

Time to Cook  - 1 hr 15mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs chicken
• 2 large potatoes (sliced into 0.5 inch thick)
• 2 carrots (sliced cross sectionally into 0.5 inch thick)
• 1 medium sized leek (insides cleaned and cut cross sectionally 1 inch thick)
• 2 sliced fresno pepper or 5 chili padi (sliced)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 5 tbsp Korean Chili paste
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 - 3 tbsp peanut oil to fry chicken.
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• (Optional) 1 small bundle of dried vermicelli (soaked in water until cooked)

Preparation

1. Clean the chicken, season with salt and pepper.

2. Pan fry each side for 2 to 3 minutes. The chicken should just be browned on both sides, but not necessarily cooked at this stage.

3. When chicken is done, pour excess oil out of the wok, but be sure to leave sufficient oil in the wok to cook the sauce.

4. In a bowl, mix Korean chili paste, chopped garlic and fresh chilies, salt, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil.

5. Panfry the sauce in the wok for 2-3minutes.

6. Put the chicken back in the wok and mix with the sauce.

7. Put in the sliced potatoes, carrots and leek in the wok and mix.
8. Add enough water in the wok to cover the majority of the ingredients as per below.
9. Let the ingredients cook - first at high heat until the water boils.

10. As the ingredients cook, the contents will reduce. Reduce heat to medium. Add more water in the wok if necessary

11. After 30minutes, ingredients should wilt and look like this. 

12. The potatoes, carrots and leeks may be removed as soon as they are cooked to prevent overcooking.

13. Continue to cook in medium/low heat until chicken cook. 

14. Adjust flavor to taste - which means that you may want to add more soy sauce or sugar to balance the flavor.
15. Drain the water from the vermicelli, and add the vermicelli when the dish is cooked. The vermicelli will soak some of the gravy.

16. Serve with steamed rice. Enjoy!


Copyrighted delimilli 2011