Viet World Kitchen

Hot and Sour Napa Cabbage Pickle

Do you ever make something with the best intention and then shove it to the back of the fridge only to forget about it? That’s what happened to me and a jar of Chinese hot and sour napa cabbage. I’d made it around Chinese New Year and at the last minute, decided to not serve it because it didn’t go with the Vietnamese pickles that I’d prepared.  I put it away, only to rediscover it months later this afternoon. It tasted fine and I ended up snacking on about a quarter of the jar before dinner. It’s suppose to be a palate arouser.

This is an unusual pickle for a couple of reasons. It’s tangy and spicy from the seasonings and the cabbage is salted and squeezed to eliminate excess moisture. Those are pretty standard approaches but there’s a stir-frying process involved which adds a touch of oil. The result is fatty tasting and luscious.

We don’t tend to think of pickles as being rich but the Chinese figured out a way to imbue that quality into humble napa cabbage. I was totally impressed after I initially made the pickled cabbage, but even more so months later when I found in the back of the fridge. Despite the chiles and ginger, this is no kimchi as there’s no fermentation. Just a friendly pickle.

Salted Caramelized Walnuts Recipe

Walnuts look like brains and I read of an old Chinese belief that if you eat them, you may get smarter! Whether or not you subscribe to that idea, you must try these walnuts. They are so cleverly done – soaked to remove their tannins (the stuff that makes you pucker) and then oven roasted to slowly cook them. The nuts can sit for days until an hour or so before you’re ready to serve.

The final cooking in a skillet coats the nuts with a delicate touch of salt and sugar. While it’s dead simple, remember to watch the skillet temp or the nuts can burn. The refined flavor remains intact, delicious with drinks or even cheese for a cross-cultural approach.

Roasted Kabocha and Vegetable Dumplings Recipe

I’ve had pumpkin dumplings in Monterey Park and Beijing, their pretty tangerine-colored filling of grated winter (hard) squash were unpleasantly bland and sometimes undercooked. It’s an Asian dumpling that I’ve let simmer on the back burner for a while and didn’t tackle till this week, when faced with leftover roasted kabocha squash. My husband Rory said, “Let’s make Italian raviolis with the kabocha.”

I responded with this dumpling filled with roasted squash, earthy shiitake and parsnip, and upbeat celery. The seasonings involve fried shallot, lots of ginger and enough garlic for pungent depth. I wanted the ingredients to support and elevate the natural sweetness of the kabocha. I’d planned on adding soy sauce but in the end, there was so much great flavor from the vegetables that the only seasoning I added was salt. 

In other words, gluten-free dumpling eaters, this filling is for you too! No need to get the wheat-free tamari out. See the link at the end of this post for gluten-free dumpling dough options. 

Rava Dosa Semolina Crepes with Chile Recipe

The temperature began dropping last week and my response was to make an warming Indian meal. I hankered for Indian crepes but didn’t want to ferment and grind batter. Something simple was in order and rava dosas came to mind. The southern Indian crepe is made with readily available ingredients and the batter does not require fermentation. Mix it up and an hour later, it’s ready.

I had them with a light curry, chutney and raita. The next day we had the crepes for lunch with a dollop of yoghurt that I mixed up into a quick raita, and a salad. I based the recipe below from one in Julie Sahni’s magnificent Savoring India cookbook.

She used bell pepper and lots of serranos and dried chile flakes. I dialed up the fruity fresh chile heat by using pasilla and Fresnos and lowered the others. Regardless of the chile combination, the result was something to rave about. We didn’t mind eating rava dosas two days in a row.

Fried Ginger Chicken Recipe per Japanese Farm Food

This year has been fabulous for Asian cookbooks. I am not just talking about Asian Tofu! It’s in fine company with an outstanding group of 2013 publications. While I’ve checked out Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl’s Vietnamese Street Food and Charles Phan’s Vietnamese Home Cooking, I hadn’t had the chance to dive into the non-Vietnamese ones, until now. This fall, I was out of town for five weeks total. Phew, I’m back home working on the banh mi cookbook. In between, I’m trying out recipes from autumn Asian cookbook releases that caught my eye.

The first one is Nancy Singleton Hachisu’s Japanese Farm Food, a work that takes a non-fussy, matter-of-fact approach to Japanese cooking. Nancy lives in Japan, where she teaches home cooking and is married to an organic farmer. Their life is filled with straightforward food, much of which is detailed in the cookbook. It’s a highly personal work, not meant to be strict and authoritative, but casual and inviting. You can tell that Nancy put a lot of love into her book. Some recipes require a trip to a Japanese market but others, like this fried ginger chicken recipe (tori no kara age) are a doable with supermarket ingredients. Plug in where you want and can. Sometimes the instruction are opaque and a little finesse is required. For example, when the oil temperature for frying the chicken wasn't specified, I clipped on a thermometer. The recipe had charming cues but I wanted a little more accuracy.

I chose this recipe because frankly, I never get enough kara age when I order it at Japanese restaurants. My husband and I politely divide up however much there is on the plate. Making it at home was a fine workaround. We both got our fill.