The Steaming Wok

spicy

Quick Nappa Cabbage Kimchi

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I have to confess I am a kimchi fanatic. In fact, lately I have been experimenting quite a bit with making different fermented vegetables and fruit after reading The NOMA Guide to Fermentation by Rene Redzepi and the team at the Nordic Food Lab. I hope to begin posting some of my experiments that have been inspired by NOMA and have ideas about fermenting tropical Asian fruits like lychee, mangosteen, and jack fruit.  I may even attempt to make my own fish sauce if I can figure out how to do so without provoking the ire of my neighbors. I am also working on expanding my repertoire of pao cai (泡菜) or Chinese pickled vegetables. Of particular interest is pickled Kohlrabi from Yunnan which I have been trying to master since first trying it in Dali nearly five years ago. If anyone has experience fermenting kohlrabi, please let me know.

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Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup (Niu Rou Mian)

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I was thumbing through some old copies of Saveur Magazine recently and found their recipe for Taiwanese beef noodle soup (牛肉面）and thought I should experiment a bit in the kitchen.  As a student in Taiwan, I would often stop by the small street vendors at the night markets to pick up a steaming bowl of chewy egg noodles in spicy broth.  I always knew how to find the best vendor by following the slurping noises from happy patrons.

It seems like every Asian country in the region has their own version of this dish, but even within Taiwan it is possible to find many different types of beef noodles with each cook putting their own personal stamp on the dish.  Some cooks will braise the beef in soy sauce and make (hong shao niu rou mian) or red braised beef noodles, but my favorite version involves stir frying the beef with chili bean paste before serving with the soup.  Although the dish is thought to have originated with Muslim Hui Chinese, it has become one of Taiwan’s national dishes.

This version is my own adaptation of Saveur’s recipe.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Serves 6

4 lbs. bone-in beef shank portions

1/4 cup Chinese rice wine (I use Shaoxing wine) or sherry

2 tbsp. black peppercorns

10 cloves of garlic, crushed

8 plum tomatoes, quartered

6 whole star anise

3 yellow onions, quartered

2 dried red chiles de arbol, or other fragrant red chiles

4″ piece of ginger

3 tbsp. Chinese black vinegar

12 baby bok choy

1 lb. Chinese egg noodles

Pickled mustard to garnish

3 tbsp Chinese chili bean paste (look for paste that has broadbeans)

thick black soy sauce to season

cilantro to garnish

  1. Put the beef in a pot and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then remove the meat and rinse out the pot and start over with clean water to cover.  This will help to remove any impurities and insures a clean, clear tasting broth.
  2. Add wine, peppercorns, garlic, tomatoes, star anise, onions, chiles, and ginger and bring back to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2 hours.
  3. Remove meat from broth and shred.  Strain remaining broth, removing solids.  You may also want to skim the surface of the broth of excess fat.
  4. Add vinegar, and season with soy sauce.  You may also want to season with pepper if necessary.
  5. Bring fresh pot of water to a boil and add bok choy to briefly par-boil.  This should only take a few minutes.  Then add noodles and cook until softened.  Cooking time will vary depending upon the thickness of your noodles.  Place a portion of noodles in each bowl and top with bok choy.
  6. While noodles are cooking, briefly stir fry meat in skillet or  with chili bean paste until fragrant.
  7. Top each bowl with a portion of shredded meat.  Garnish with pickled mustard and cilantro if desired.

Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)

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I was fortunate enough this past Thanksgiving to receive a container of homemade cabbage and radish kimchi from one of my mom’s friends in Atlanta.  Although this meant making the 11 hour drive back to DC with a bucket of kimchi in the back seat, it was well worth it.  Young’s kimchi was pungent with chili and garlic and was perhaps the best kimchi I have had the pleasure of eating.  This includes all of the kimchi I sampled last year while in Seoul.  I’m still working on getting her secret recipe, but until then, I will share one of my favorite recipes for using kimchi.

Whenever I have an abundance of kimchi I like to make kimchi Jjigae or stew.  This works particularly well with kimchi that you have had in your fridge for a while.  The more pungent and sour it is, the better.

Korean Kimchi Jjigae

Serves 4

2 tablespoons Sesame oil

1 pound thinly sliced pork belly (this also works well with thinly sliced beef sirloin)

2 tablespoons Korean chili paste

4 cloves garlic thinly sliced

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 cups cabbage kimchi coarsely chopped – liquid reserved

2 cups chicken broth

1 pound tofu chopped into cubes

5 green onions thinly sliced

  1. Toss meat with chili paste and garlic and let rest for 30 minutes so some of the flavors of the paste can infuse into the meat.
  2. Heat the sesame oil in a pan  over medium-high heat until hot and add pork and cook for a few minutes until the meat is browned.  Throw in the onions and briefly fry until the onions have softened a bit, the intent here is not to brown the onions but to let them soften a bit.
  3. Add the kimchi, including all the liquid to the pan and stir in chicken broth.  Let this mixture simmer for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Add the tofu and let the mixture simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes to ensure that the flavor from the kimchi has permeated the tofu.  Taste at this point for salt and pepper.  I find that it rarely needs additional salt as the kimchi tends to have enough salt.
  5. Remove from heat and garnish with sliced green onions.