vietnamese (inspired) noodle and shrimp

My introduction to Vietnamese food some 15 years ago was a bowl of room temperature vermicelli noodles topped with grilled pork, various herbs, peanuts and a bowl of a fish sauce concoction on the side. I didn't quite know exactly what I was eating, but I knew I liked it - a lot. While I eventually went on to discover all the other dishes that make Vietnamese cuisine one of my favorites, Bún Thịt Nướng and other noodle dishes still hold a special spot in my heart.

With the temperatures now hovering awfully close to 100 during the day in Atlanta, a cool noodle salad seemed like a perfect dish to have for dinner tonight. I didn't really feel like making the dish as authentically as possible. Instead of grilled shrimp which is more traditional, I made a delicious shrimp cake flavored with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and fish sauce (a poor man's crab cake!). I also opted to serve the whole thing on a plate instead of a bowl, since it just seemed to work better with the ingredients I had. The lettuce was tossed with nuoc cham (dipping sauce), a little canola oil, and some coconut vinegar. The noodles were topped with a mix of cilantro, basil, and mint. Of course, I didn't want to stray too far from the original, so the whole thing was served with plenty of nuoc cham on the side. yum!

Shrimp Cake (Serves 2)

1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and cleaned
     1/3lb roughly chopped with knife
     1/6lb pulsed in a blender
2 Tbls oil
1/2 onion, small dice
1 stalk of celery, small dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbls ginger, minced
1 serrano pepper, minced
1/2 stalk of lemongrass, minced
1 tbls fish sauce
2 tbls mayo
2 tsp mustard
1/3 cup bread crumbs, fresh if possible

Slowly cook the onion, celery, garlic, ginger, pepper, and lemongrass on a skillet with 1 tbls oil on medium heat, 10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.
Mix all the ingredients together and shape 2-4 patties. The pulsed shrimp binds everything together, but you may need to adjust the bread crumbs depending on the type you use.
Cook 2-3 minutes per side, or until cooked through, on medium high heat using the remaining oil.

Nuoc Cham
1/3 cup lime juice
2/3 cup water
5 tbls fish sauce (I use 3 Crabs brand)
4 tbls sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 serrano pepper, minced

Mix all ingredients, dissolve the sugar, and adjust all ingredients to taste. I added just a touch of vinegar to mine to brighten the flavors. Serve cold.

Other Ingredients
Chopped lettuce, sliced cucumber, and strips of carrots
Chopped mint, cilantro, and basil
Chilled cooked vermicelli rice noodles (1/3lb = 2servings)
Salad dressing: nuoc cham, canola oil, white wine vinegar

garifuna tapado

As you may have noticed, I get much of my inspiration in the kitchen from my past travels. A couple years ago, I went on a whirlwind 10-day tour of Guatemala. In that time I managed to climb a (very) active volcano, visit the amazing Spanish influenced town of Antigua, tour the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal (also known as Yavin 4 for you Star Wars nerds), kayak across beautiful Lake Atitlan, and finally spend some time in the remote Garifuna influenced Caribbean port-town (turned back-packer destination) of Livingston.

Of all the places I visited, the best food memory I have is of a delicious coconut and seafood soup I thoroughly enjoyed in Livingston called Tapado. As is often the case when different cultures mix, people adopt the best parts of each cuisine and develop something unique and exciting. Tapado is just that, a beautiful soup influenced by the Maya, Garifuna and Ladino people of the region.

One recipe kept appearing in all my Google searches, but frankly, it just didn't seem complete, so I adapted it slightly. The soup base is fresh coconut milk. It's seasoned with ground annatto (achiote), salt, pepper, oregano, and cilantro. I also added a bit of garlic and ginger to the mix. Veggies include onion, red bell pepper, tomato, and a mix of starches (yuca, green bananas, ripe plantains, ripe bananas are most typical). Finally, the recipe recommends adding snapper, but what I had in Livingston had a mix of fish and shellfish. Crabs, welks, shrimp, snapper, pretty much whatever is fresh out of the ocean will work very well.

I did learn to make fresh coconut milk for this recipe. To do so, you simply take a brown coconut, remove the meat from the inside and then blend it with a 3-4 cups of hot water. After the coconut meat is finely ground, you strain out the liquid and that's your coconut milk. Much lighter than the stuff you get in a can! I didn't use any yuca, but I did throw in a ripe plantain, a green banana, and a couple small boiling potatoes. For the seafood, I used two lively blue crabs, a handful of whole shrimp, and some small whole white perch, which I initially seared with the garlic & ginger.

So, the end result? Well as you can see above, the soup turned out to be a bit more of a stew. I added a few too many starchy ingredients I guess, but that didn't diminish the flavor. It was relatively easy to prepare, but a bit more challenging to eat - crab, whole shrimp, and whole fish made for a messy dinner. To simplify, you could certainly use pealed shrimp, fish filets and larger crabs. The flavors were great though, and the whole thing is very filling. Below is a picture of the bowl of Tapado I ate in Livingston - obviously the main difference is that the broth was much thinner. Otherwise, not bad for a first try.

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Garifuna Tapado (serves 3-4)

Ingredients
1 brown coconut
4 cups hot water

1 tbls canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced

1 medium onion, large dice
1 red bell pepper, large dice
1/2 tsp ground annatto
1/2 tsp dried oregeno
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbls salt (to taste)
1 bay leaf

6-8 small boiling potatoes, halved
1 green banana, sliced

1 very ripe plantain, sliced
1 large tomato, large dice2 blue crabs
8 large shrimp, deveined
4 small perch

2 tbls cilantro, chopped for garnish

Directions

• peal the coconut, cut the meat into small chunks and blend in hot water until very finely chopped
• strain coconut water and reserve
• cook garlic and ginger in oil over medium heat (1 minute)
• add onion, pepper and spices, and cook over medium-high until onions begin to soften (3-4 minutes)
• add coconut milk and bring to a boil
• add potatoes and green banana and cook on medium high heat until almost tender (8-10 minutes)
• add a little water if you need to thin it out and bring back to a boil
• add plantain, tomato, and seafood and cook until everything is cooked through (4-5 minutes)

Serve hot with cilantro garnish and enjoy!

kung pao shrimp

It was a pleasure seeing some of you in Chicago this weekend at the Kellogg reunion. Thanks for all the input and kind words about the blog. Certainly good inspiration for me to keep at it.

Although thoroughly exhausted from the long weekend, the first thing I did when I got home was to jump back into the kitchen. There wasn't a ton to work with in the fridge, but there was just enough to pull together a pretty delicious plate of Kung Pao Shrimp. Back when I ate Chinese food three times a week from Won's Oriental Restaurant as an undergrad, the Kung Pao Chicken was one of my go-to favorites. God only knows how many pounds (tons?) of the stuff I ate. Spicy, crunchy, salty, tangy, and slightly sweet sweet... what more could you want?!

I did a bit of research post-cooking, to read up on the history of this dish. Feel free to read the full story here, but basically it was created in the 19th century by a Qing Dynasty official in the Szechuan province. The original version of the dish is made with Szechuan peppercorns, which provide that unique mouth numbing sensation. Since the US banned the imporation of Szechuan peppercorns until 2005 (for fear that they would carry a tree disease that can wipe out entire crop of citrus trees), the version of Kung Pao that became popular in the US used different types of chilies. Not the end of the world, but it was certainly lacking that numbing sensation that only the Szechuan peppercorns can provide.

Since I didn't actually have any chicken in the fridge I went with whole shrimp I had stashed away in the freezer. Yes whole! As in not guillotined! Gasp! Using whole shrimp is a phenomenal way to add A TON of flavor into your shrimp dishes. Not only does it add a certain sea urchin-like sweetness to the dish, but it helps add flavor to the shrimp meat itself. If you have the option of cooking with whole shrimp, do yourself a favor and give it a shot. Peeling the shrimp at the dinner table makes it a bit messier to eat, but I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

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Kung Pao Shrimp (Serves 2)

Ingredients
1/2 tsp canola oil (ideally infused with szechuan peppercorns)
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup unroasted peanuts (using roasted is ok)
1/2 large onion, sliced or diced
1 large carrot, sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 large bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1" knob ginger, minced

1/2 lb shrimp (use any protein here)


Sauce
2 tbls soy sauce
1 tbls Shaoxing rice wine (sherry wine is a good substitute)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp rice wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar is a good substitute)
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tbls chili sauce, adjust to taste (use Szechuan peppercorns if you can!)
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbls water

Directions
If using unroasted peanuts, stir fry on high heat in the canola and sesame oil (1min), otherwise skip this step
Add in vegetables (including garlic and ginger) and stir fry on high heat (5min)
Disolve cornstarch in water
Add all ingredients into the vegetables and cook till shrimp are cooked through (3-4min)
Do not overcook the shrimp!!!!!!!
Serve with white rice

shrimp & grits

We've been in the South for a while now, so I have a better idea of what grits should taste like. Why they are especially popular in the South and nowhere else is beyond me though. It's almost exactly like polenta. The only difference is that it's a coarser grind and sometimes it's made with hominy instead of corn. In the supermarkets down here, you can find all sorts of flavors and varieties. Stone-ground grits (as opposed to instant) are the most "authentic", but they take about 30 minutes to cook. Nevertheless, as I embarked on my first grits adventure, this is what I went with. The basic recipe for stone-ground grits is basically a 4:1 ratio of liquid (I used half milk, half water) to grits, along with whatever seasoning you want (butter and salt usually, though cheese makes a regular appearance too). To cook, you simply add the grits to the boiling liquid and slowly cook them till they soften up and reach the desired consistency.

Sauteed shrimp and bacon is a very popular accompaniment to grits down here, but I wanted more for this dish!! So for the shrimp, I made Acadian peppered shrimp (recipe below). It's a Cajun dish I learned to cook some time ago that I always go back to because it's easy (almost all the ingredients are likely to be in your pantry) and delicious! It's loaded with A LOT of freshly ground black pepper, herbs and plenty of butter. It's really a perfect dish to serve alongside grits. I also added a small slice of goat cheese, sauteed pea sprouts, lardons and a fried egg to the plate. Pretty darn good. Even a true southerner might agree!

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Acadian Peppered Shrimp (serves 3-4)

Ingredients

6 oz salted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbls lemon juice
2 tbls freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf, finely ground in spice grinder or keep it whole and remove before eating
1/4 tsp fresh oregano, finely chopped (can sub dried)
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped (can sub dried)
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp hungarian paprika
1lb shrimp (raw, shell-on, deveined)

Directions

• Combine all the ingredients except the shrimp in a saute pan and cook on medium for 15 minutes (you want to brown the butter slightly)
• Add the shrimp and cook 4-5 minutes, mixing once or twice, until all the shrimp are just pink
• Serve immediately with fresh bread, grits, or anything else to sop up the delicious butter sauce!