Sour and Spicy Baby Napa Cabbage 酸辣娃娃菜

Baby napa cabbage, also known as "wawa choy," just like the name suggests, is the baby stage of napa cabbage. It's easier to prep with smaller and tender leaves, and usually sold in packages with four baby napa cabbages inside.

Due to baby napa cabbage's mild-tasting nature, it is often used in lighter seasoning dishes. However, let's give it a twist this time by making it sour and spicy, a good companion with steamed rice. 

Sour and spicy baby napa cabbage 酸辣娃娃菜 -

Ingredients?

• 8 baby napa cabbage
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 red chilies
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 2 tablespoons light-tasting oil
• Some corn starch and water mixture

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons black vinegar
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder 

How?

Trim-off the very bottom stems for the baby napa cabbage. Separate to individual leaves.

Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Scrape then fine chop the ginger. Destem and chop the scallion. Destem, seeded, then chop the red chilies.

Mix all the ingredients under the "sauce" section. Prepare a small portion of corn starch and water mixture on the side.

Drizzle two tablespoons of oil to the pan and turn to medium heat. Add in garlic, ginger, scallion, and chilies. Give it a quick stir and cook till aromatic but not burning the garlic bits.

Add the baby napa cabbage and stir-fry till softened.

Pour in the sauce mixture. Cook for about couple more minutes.

Switch to low heat. Taste and adjust if needed. Stir the corn starch and water mixture again making sure its evenly blended. Gradually pour down the corn starch and water mixture to the pan while stirring the baby napa cabbage at the same time. 

The stirring action will prevent clumping. Continue to pour down the corn starch and water mixture till it reaches desired consistency. It has to be slightly thickened but not too gooey. 

Plate and serve as it is.

Try to scoop two big spoonful on top of steamed white rice, if you like sour and spicy flavor profile, this recipe should be a winner too. 

Extended reading:

• Braised Chinese cabbage with Jinhua ham 金華火腿煨白菜 
• Lemony mille feuille napa cabbage hot pot

 

4 Ingredients Only Melon Pan Toast

Have you tried melon pan メロンパン before? How about Mexican concha? These two share many similarities. Look-wise, you'll mostly find shell-like pattern on a Mexican concha and criss-cross pattern on melon pan. 

But we're not making bread here today. Instead, let's cut down the workload and use store bought milk toast to create 4 ingredients only melon pan toast.

4 ingredients only melon pan toast - 

Ingredients (for two thick slices)?

• 2 thick slices milk toast
• 40 grams unsalted butter
• 40 grams cake flour
• 40 grams granulated sugar

How?

Preheat the oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Make sure to use better quality thick toast, milky flavor would be your best option. Usually you can find very good milk toast at an Asian, to be exact Japanese bakery.

Use room temperature softened butter, add that to a bowl. Use a fork to press it down and spread out a little bit.

Add in granulated sugar and mix till blended. You can simply use the same fork all the way through, which is much easier to clean compared to mini whisk. 

Add in the cake flour and mix till blended again.

Spread the mixture on one side of the toast. It's optional if you would like to make criss-cross pattern on the toast using the back of the knife.

Transfer the toast to the baking sheet and into the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or till the top turned slightly golden or lightly browned. 

Once ready, remove from heat and wait till cool-off before serving.

I like my melon pan toast on the extra baked side, which gives me an even grainier texture and crunchier bite on the edges. However, that means I'll lose the scored pattern due to extended baking time.

If you would like to keep the criss-cross pattern, don't leave the toast under the heat for too long. That way, you'll get a nice golden/yellowish melon pan toast in the end.

Smashed Potato Pizza with Pepperoni and Mozzarella

It's a slightly different route away from the popular individual smashed potato pizza, but more like a "conglomerate" version of it. What binds these potatoes together are the melted cheese on top. You can be creative with the toppings, but the classic pepperoni paired with marinara sauce and red chili flakes never disappoints. 

Smashed potato pizza with pepperoni and mozzarella - 

Ingredients?

• 10 medium small potatoes
• 10 to 12 slices pepperoni
• 1 pack/at least 150 grams shredded mozzarella
• Some marinara sauce
• Some olive oil
• Some salt
• Some red chili flakes

How?

Prepare a medium/large pot of water and add in the potatoes. 

Just like cooking pasta, we need to add few pinches of salt here too. Bring the pot to a boil then adjust the heat to keep it at a light bubbling stage. Cook till the potatoes are fork tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Drain and pat dry. Set aside till cool enough to handle by hand.

Preheat the oven to 395 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Score the potatoes with a criss-cross pattern, which will make them easier to smash shortly. Transfer these potatoes to the baking sheet. Perhaps place a small sheet of parchment on top of the potato then grab a flat bottom glass to smash it down. The parchment paper acts as a barrier preventing the smashed potatoes sticking onto the glass.

Repeat till all the potatoes have been smashed. Arrange the smashed potatoes to one big rectangular shape, like a Detroit-style pizza. Even though the melted cheese will bind the potatoes together, but still make sure there're no gaps in between.

Brush the potato surface with olive oil and sprinkle some salt all over. Into the oven for 20~25 minutes, or till the edges turn golden brown. Mine took about 20 minutes.

Take out the baking sheet. Spoon enough marinara sauce over the smashed potatoes. I used sweet basil flavored pasta sauce, you can pick whichever red sauce variety of your liking here. Sprinkle generous amount of shredded mozzarella then evenly arrange pepperoni slices on top.

Back to the oven and bake till the cheese melts, perhaps slightly burnt on the edge of some pepperoni slices. 

Once ready, remove from heat and sprinkle some red chili flakes. Tabasco sauce should work wonders here too.

Some like the edge with crispier potato skin, I on the other hand prefer the center with extra soft potatoes and oozing cheese. 

Like that.

You can make ahead and store them in the fridge or even in the freezer. Just pop the whole thing in the oven and slowly heat it up when the need arises. Perhaps serve alongside with some salad greens to make it a more balanced meal.   

Simple but Indulgent - Chili Garlic Noodles for One

Every time when I see instant noodles on the shelf, I mean the better air-fried kind that usually comes with one or two packets of premix sauce, I thought to myself "why buying this when I can easily put together quality dry noodles with better ingredients?"

Especially for simple flavors, like soy sauce and scallion, sweet and sour sesame, or spicy chili oil, etc. If you happen to have a few staple Asian seasonings, you can easily mix and match while the noodles are cooking and a satisfying meal can be done in five minutes.

However, I do understand that not everyone is born with culinary hands, nor accumulated enough experiences around the kitchen yet, so such products do have some benefits. But if you're up for a challenge, here's one slightly upgraded dry noodles recipe that you can try it out at home. 

Chili garlic noodles - 

Ingredients (one serving)?

• 1 serving ramen noodles
• 2 tablespoons light-tasting oil
• 2 garlic cloves/about 1 loosely-packed tbsp chopped
• 2 strings scallions/about 2 loosely-packed tbsps chopped
• 1 large shallot/about 2 loosely-packed tbsps chopped
• 1 small bundle cilantro/about 1 loosely-packed tbsp chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 2 tablespoons black vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

How?

Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Peel and chop the shallot. Chop the scallion and cilantro.

Add the following ingredients to a serving bowl - chopped garlic, chopped shallots, chopped scallion, dried red chili flakes, black vinegar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, granulated sugar, and sesame oil. Total nine items.

Take a small pot and drizzle two tablespoons of light-tasting oil. Turn to medium or medium high heat. Wait till the oil gets really hot then carefully pour it right over the serving bowl. The ingredients inside will start sizzling and releasing some of the aroma.

Bring another medium pot of water to a boil. Cook the ramen or noodles of your choice till preferred texture. Once ready, drain well and transfer to the serving bowl.

Mix till evenly blended with the seasonings. You can either mix in the cilantro or sprinkle on top as garnish.

If prepping all these chopped ingredients look too troublesome for you, here's what you need to quickly put together a well-flavored dry noodles. The three key seasonings are soy sauce, black vinegar, and sesame oil. Just mix and match based on your own preference.

You can also add a few touches such as soy sauce paste, oyster sauce, chili oil, sugar, etc. However, if you're not that experienced, just stick with the three key seasonings. Use more soy sauce as the base. The amount of black vinegar used depends on how much you like that acidity touch. And a few drops of sesame oil for the final aroma boost. 

The entire cooking time shouldn't be too far-off compared to making instant noodles, and you've got something healthier to enjoy with. Next time you're doing grocery shopping, perhaps skip the instant kind and stock up few packs of Asian plain noodles instead. 

  

Scrambled Eggs with Colorful Bell Peppers and Asian Seasonings

As a kid, I didn't care for bell peppers that much, unless it was slightly charred on a pizza. Years passed, I found myself starting to incorporate colorful bell peppers to home-cooking. Partly due to its vibrant colors, but the most part is that I've grown to like it.

Bell peppers are actually quite mild compared to other vegetables, and what I love the most is that they are so juicy. Every time when I tried to cut into bell peppers, I can feel the juice splashing here and there. Using bell peppers, especially colorful bell peppers in various dishes not only make a pretty presentation, but also provide a touch of refreshing crunch. 

Here's one example using colorful bell peppers in an Asian stir-fry recipe. I've also included my earlier post in the end for another colorful bell pepper stir-fry with steak.

Scrambled eggs with colorful bell peppers and Asian seasonings -

Ingredients?

• 6 eggs
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons light-tasting cooking oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Sauce - 

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder

How?

Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and pitted both bell peppers then cut into medium cubes. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Take another bowl and mix in all the ingredients under the "sauce" section.

Use a non-stick pan, drizzle two tablespoons of light-tasting cooking oil and switch to medium heat. Once warmed, pour in beaten egg and leave it untouched for a short moment. When the bottom starts to set, use a spatula to gently move the eggs around. 

We are aiming for bigger pieces of scrambled eggs, so don't over-mix it when the egg starts to coagulate. Scoop out the lightly scrambled eggs and set aside for later use.

Drizzle two more tablespoons of light-tasting cooking oil to the same pan. Turn to medium high heat and wait till it warms up. Add in chopped garlic and stir-fry till aromatic.

Add in both bell peppers along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Give it a quick stir-fry.

Add the scrambled eggs back in and mix till evenly blended.

Pour the sauce mixture to the pan and stir till incorporated. Switch to high heat to slightly reduce the sauce. It doesn't have to be dry, we're simply aiming for slightly condensed flavor.

Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Otherwise this recipe should be ready to plate and serve.  

Even though the name says "pepper" for the bell peppers and we've also used a tiny bit of white pepper powder for the aroma, this dish is not spicy at all. 

However, if you prefer some heat, adding one or two chopped red chilies to the stir-fry sounds like a good idea. 

Extended reading:

• Steak stir-fry with colorful bell peppers 黑胡椒風味彩椒骰子牛

Tomato Curry and Chorizo Spaghettini 番茄咖哩義大利麵

What goes well with pasta? Which flavor profile that I haven't tried to integrate it? Curry should work, as I imagined in my head. Simple curry powder will do to enhance the overall taste, but the pasta might be too dry in the end even with the help of pasta water. From there, I started searching for an ideal ingredient that can fulfill the missing part. Tomatoes! It's juicy, sweet, and with a touch of acidity, sounds like a perfect combo with any curry-oriented dish.

Therefore, this tomato curry and chorizo spaghettini recipe is born. 

Tomato curry and chorizo spaghettini 番茄咖哩義大利麵 -

Ingredients (about 5 to 6 portions)?

• 400 grams spaghettini
• 600 grams chorizo
• 1 small onion
• 2 garlic clove
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 can whole peeled tomato
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• Some salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Some grated Parmigiano Reggiano

How?

Bring a big pot of water to a boil and season with few pinches of salt. Add in the pasta and cook till almost al dente. Save some pasta water and drain the rest. Try to time it right so the pasta is ready when the sauce is ready at the same time.

Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Peel and slice the onion. Destem and pitted both bell peppers, slice to strips. Remove the chorizo from its casing.

Bring a big pan or a big pot, drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil and switch to medium heat. Add in onion along with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Sear till the onion turns translucent.

Add in chorizo and cook for about one minute. Break the chorizo to smaller pieces, kind of like ground meat during the process. Add in garlic and cook till slightly golden.

Transfer all the bell pepper strips over and give it a quick stir-fry, cook for two minutes. 

Pour in everything from canned tomato, including the juice. Also add 1 teaspoon of tomato paste to enhance the flavor. Break the whole peeled tomatoes with a spatula, cook for couple more minutes. 

Add 2 tablespoons of curry powder and mix till evenly blended in the sauce. Taste and adjust. I actually added some more salt here. Also check on the consistency, add some pasta water if the sauce appears too dry. I didn't need to add any extra water here.

Transfer drained pasta over, mix and let it cook for one more minute. Plate and grate some aged Parmigiano Reggiano all over right before serving. 

It's a nice feeling to see something you put up in your head comes to life, and a delicious one too. It's also been proven and agreed by Mister at home, that tomato curry totally works with pasta. 

I'm also glad that I chose spaghettini over other types of pasta. It's thinner compared to spaghetti, turns out that all the minced meat was well-trapped in between the strands, not mentioning the seasonings clinging on. 

If for cream-based sauce, I would think that it might be too heavy with spaghettini, but not the case for tomato curry sauce. However, please do not substitute with angel hair pasta. Delicate angel hair pasta can get overtaken by the stronger profile of tomato curry sauce. 

Other pasta recipes:

• Takanazuke and bacon spaghetti 高菜培根義大利麵
• Eggplant and minced pork spaghetti 魚香茄子義大利麵
• Spaghettini con la bottarga (to be exact, Asian karasumi)

Steak Stir-fry with Colorful Bell Peppers 黑胡椒風味彩椒骰子牛

Language can be confusing sometimes. I was trying to come up with a title for this recipe using quality steak. Since I slice the steak to big cubes prior cooking, I was about to put the title as "cubed steak." Glad that I Googled first and found out cubed steak actually means something else!

Cubed steak or minute steak, is actually a less expensive cut of beef that has been tenderized first, and at a glance, cubed steak might actually look like ground beef instead of actual steak as a whole or square-cut chunky beef. Isn't that confusing to you as well?

Steak stir-fry with colorful bell peppers 黑胡椒風味彩椒骰子牛 - 

Ingredients?

• 500 grams steak-grade beef (prefer thicker cut)
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 4 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Tiny pinch salt
• Some corn starch and water mixture

Sauce - 

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

How?

Cut the steak to large cubes, but do trim-off excess fat first if any.

Peel and dice the onion. Destem and pitted all the bell peppers, cut into larger cube-shape pieces. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

Mix together all the ingredients under the "sauce" section.

Take a non-stick pan, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil and turn to medium high heat. Once warmed up, transfer beef over and sear till the sides colored. The meat doesn't have to be fully cooked through, just want to give the surface a nice sear first. Once ready, scoop out and set aside for later use.

Still using the same pan, use a paper towel to wipe out excess fat, only leave enough to coat the bottom.

Add in onion along with tiny pinch of salt. Give it a quick mix and continue to cook till slightly golden brown on some edges.

Add in garlic and continue to cook for 30 more seconds.

Transfer all the bell pepper over and give it a quick mix. Cook for a minute or so. Pour in the sauce mixture. Mix till blended and cook for one more minute.

Switch to low heat and wait a little bit till the temperature drops. Prep some corn starch and water mixture. Pour some corn starch and water mixture while stirring the ingredients at the same time to prevent clumping. We are aiming for slightly thickened texture but not gooey at all.

Once achieved the right consistency, put the beef back to the pan. Toss till evenly blended, also make sure the beef is about fully cooked through. Taste and adjust if needed. Plate and serve as it is.

I insist on using chunky steak-grade beef here. The flavor and texture are hard to replace with other cuts of meat. Sirloin would be my top choice, but it doesn't come cheap. Fingers crossed that the steak is on sale when we go grocery shopping. 

Which reminds me that I used to stock up steaks when it's on sale. Usually I'll store unused ones in the freezer for future use. Even though frozen ones might not be as good as fresh meat, but it's not bad at all when cooked and seasoned right, and for sure my wallet is happier that way. 

Salmon en Papillote with Cherry Tomatoes and Dill

I love salmon. It's nutritious, flavorful, meaty, and the best part is the bones and skin can be removed without much hassle. That's why there're quite a number of salmon recipes in this blog, and I've been trying to find different ways and various regional cuisines to prep salmon. Test out the idea myself, if the result goes well, put up a post and share with you.

A more French approach this time around with a fancy name "salmon en papillote." Meaning cooking salmon in some sort of case or parcel - a concealed pouch made with parchment paper.

Salmon en papillote with cherry tomatoes and dill - 

Ingredients (for four half-hand sized fillets)?

• 4 half-hand sized salmon fillet
• 12 to 16 cherry tomato
• 1 potato
• 1 yellow lemon
• 1/2 onion
• 1 small bundle dill
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. 

Make four parchment pouches, one for each fillet. If you have larger size parchment paper, you can always make bigger pouch for 2 fillets at once.

Measure the length of the parchment paper, keep in mind that we're going to fold the paper in half, so that "half" space should be large enough to hold the salmon and other ingredients.

Once you pull out the parchment paper, fold it in half. Roughly cut the paper to half angular-heart shape. Repeat till you have enough parchment paper hearts for all the salmon fillets. 

Peel and slice the onion crosswise as thin as possible. Do the same with potato. Slice the lemon crosswise too. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Apply good amount of salt and regular amount of black pepper to both sides of salmon.

Now we have all the ingredients ready, bring out one sheet of heart-shaped parchment paper. We are going to stack our ingredients on half side of the paper only. 

Starting with two potato slices on the very bottom, then top with two slices of onion. Transfer the fillet over. Add some dill on top of the salmon then slices of lemon to finish. Halved tomatoes goes to the side. Don't forget adding 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter to the very top for each portion.

Fold over the other half of the parchment paper. Crimp the edge of the paper then fold in two to three times. Continue your way around, and remember to overlap each fold when changing directions so that the final pouch can be tightly sealed. Once finished, the pouch should look somewhat like a calzone. 

That way, once baked in the oven, the hot air will be trapped inside the pouch, then you'll get a fancy looking puffed parchment paper case in the end.

Transfer the pouches to a baking sheet and into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Once ready, remove from heat and serve with the pouch intact. 

Simply cut a slit in the center to open up the pouch and serve as it is. You don't get such presentation often, so might as well fully utilize it for a wowing effect.

I had to slice the onion and potato with a knife, so it's harder to get very thin slices. If you have a mandoline, use it. That way the onion and potato can get fully cooked-through in the oven easier, eventually reaching a softer bite in the end.  

Other salmon recipes:

• Honey and Cajun spiced salmon
• Salmon and chorizo in tangy tomato sauce
• Maple glazed salmon (no oven involved)
• Garlic soy and butter salmon fillets
• Oven-baked gochujang salmon fillets