Fish sauce became one of my staple seasonings couple years ago. It adds so much more flavor to Asian dishes ranging from stir fry veggies to soup noodles. As for the shrimp paste, I had it quite often when dining at South East Asia style restaurants, but never had a chance to actually use it myself.
I finally bought a jar of shrimp paste from a local 99 Ranch market earlier, but it was intended for a stir fry banh pho (rice noodles) instead of this recipe. Stir fry ongchoy with shrimp paste is such a popular dish among Asians. So I figured might as well give it a try with the vegetable first instead of a big portion of rice noodles. If anything goes wrong, as least the damage is tolerable. Luckily, my ongchoy turned out just the way I wanted it to be!
Stir fry ongchoy with shrimp paste and fish sauce -
Ingredients?
1 big bundle of ongchoy
6 garlic cloves
6 fresh red chilies
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of shrimp paste
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 small pinch of sea salt
How?
Ongchoy, we called it 空心菜 in Chinese. The direct translation would be "hollow center greens." If you ever feel lost in an Asian market with all the exotic looking vegetables on the shelves, just look for hollow stems and you'll have the correct item on hand.
Thoroughly rinse and soak the vegetable before usage. Once done, drain well and chop off the very end stem, about 1 inch. Chop the remaining greens about 2 inches in length.
Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Remove the stems from the chilies and chop into smaller pieces.
Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan and turn to medium heat. Add in garlic slices, chilies, and a small pinch of sea salt. Cook till the garlicky aroma comes out but not burned. You might need to lower the heat a little bit to prevent burning. Try to cook till the edges of the garlic slices turned slightly brown.
Turn to high heat and add in the ongchoy immediately. Give it a quick stir first so the garlic slices won't stuck on the bottom and get burned. Add in the shrimp paste, fish sauce, and a little bit of soy sauce. Mix well and cook till the vegetable begins to wilt. Cook a little bit longer so that the seasoning can soak into the greens. Generally speaking, the hollow stems should remain slightly crunchy once done.
I think shrimp paste will be one of my staple seasonings in the pantry from now on.
Shabu, or the Japanese hot pot is one of my favorite meals. Quality beef slices swishing in kombu infused water. All you need is just a few seconds to cook the meat perfectly. After that, I love to fully emerge the beef slice in spicy sesame sauce and indulge with steamy hot rice.
However, preparing the whole shabu feast can be quite a work sometimes. Don't get me wrong, the cooking part is definitely easy, it's the preparation process that scares me away. I have to get all types of vegetables, cook rice, prepare noodles, not mentioning all the washing and soaking for the leafy greens. So instead, I came up with this tiny version of shabu, turning a big meal into one fancy glass of appetizer.
Beef shabu with a touch of sesame dressing and homemade spicy oil -
Ingredients?
1 lb of good quality beef slices
1 small piece of kombu/Japanese dried seaweed
1 small bundle of spinach
Some Japanese sesame dressing
Some Sichuan peppercorn oil
Some Chinese chili sauce
Some toasted white sesame seeds
How?
I got this sesame dressing from a local Japanese supermarket -
I've tried several brands and this one is by far my favorite. If you can't find any Japanese sesame dressing/goma sauce around your area, any Asian style sesame salad dressing will be a good substitute. Remember, the thicker the better for this recipe.
Gently rinse the kombu under cold water and add into a pot of water. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat to keep it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add a small bundle of spinach to the water. Cook till wilted down then scoop out the spinach with a spotted spoon, leaving the kombu in the water. Prepare a big bowl with some ice cubes and cold water. Shock the spinach in this cold water, just a quick moment. This step will keep the nice green color on the spinach. Once done, drain well and transfer to some cocktail glasses as the bottom layer of the appetizer.
Using the same pot of kombu water and bring to a boil again. Cook the beef slices just till merely done. Perhaps slightly pink if the meat is in very good condition. Drain well and set two slices on each glass.
Drizzle some sesame dressing, Sichuan peppercorn oil, and Chinese chili sauce over the beef slices. I like it with lots of sesame dressing. Sprinkle with some toasted white sesame seeds.
You can skip the fancy look and simply serve the whole thing with a plate. I just like to dress up my food once a while, but that'll probably leave me with more stuff to wash in the end. Oh well, as long as I get my beef shabu, anything is compromisable.
Extended recipes:
