September 5, 2018 In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Poultry, Slider Sticky

KHAO SOI NEUA/BEEF

[ezcol_1fifth]-[/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] KHAO SOI HAPPENS TO HAVE THE RIGHT BALANCE OF BOTH EXOTICISM AND SAFETY IN THE EYE OF A CAUTIOUSLY CURIOUS BACKPACKER. Scad has been said about khao soi on the internet — some well-informed and some, not so much — so I think I will not bother.  It's possibly the most famous dish from Northern Thailand, a somehow debatable status in my view.  Being back from a quick trip in Chiangmai Thailand, the capital of khao soi, I'm attempted to assume that its popularity among foreigners is contributed to its relatively benign characteristics if compared to the other more "adventurous" yet far more stunning dishes the region has to offer.  Khao soi, being chicken or beef in coconut curry with egg noodles, happens to have the right balance of both exoticism and safety in the eye of a cautiously curious backpacker.  It certainly isn't, by far, the best thing we've tasted on this trip.  But I've always wanted to formulate a khao soi recipe after I've actually tried it at its source, so here it is. Pushing it further on its muslim Chinese origin, I'm replacing dried chilis with Sichuan douban chili paste for a more complexed flavor, as well as

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June 7, 2018 In All recipes, Condiments, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Quick Meals, Slider Sticky

HOMEMADE INSTANT NOODLE MIX SERIES: INSTANT DANDAN NOODLE MIX

[ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end] [ezcol_1fifth]-[/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] IS THIS THE BEST DANDAN NOODLE YOU'VE EVER HAD? I DARE NOT SAY SO MYSELF. BUT YOU JUST MIGHT. WHAT: The untimely demise of your pre-summer diet. An instant dandan noodle sauce that will create, for you, this iconic Sichuan street food, any time any day, in under one hello-cellulite! minute. WHY: Because I now have a huge jar dangerously in my possession, constantly tugging my soul in between responsibility and liberation, misery and happiness. And they both want company. HOW: There are as many variations to dandan noodles as the number of people making it, each altering the ratio between sauce and noodle, the style and intensity of the seasonings, the types of noodles and toppings, all to their own particular likings. I, for example, have published this dandan noodle recipe a long time ago, which was decidedly soupier and negotiated its way towards the peanut-y route back when I discovered my sesame intolerance (it's like lactose intolerance but only more niche). I didn't even find out about my intolerance until later on in life after having a food intolerance test. I just thought the bloating and fatigue was just part of me but now I know

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May 8, 2018 In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Seafood, Slider Sticky

Singapore hawker marathon: Hokkien prawn mee (prawn bisque stir-fried noodle)

[ezcol_1fifth]  [/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] IT IS "UGLICIOUS" WHAT:  This will be the last span in Singapore hawker marathon.  Another aesthetically underachieving, possibly unappetizing-looking dish called Hokkien prawn mee (basically noodles stir-fried with prawn bisque) that became one of the few Michelin-blessed hawker dishes in Singapore. WHY:  At first glance, let's be honest, it looks like shit.  Clearly, this is a dish that gives little to zero fuck about what anybody thinks about it.  But how on earth does a spatter of yellow and unenthusiastic gloop land effortlessly on the Michelin Guide, kind of made me curious.  And if you also care to find out, you'd be blown away just as well by the powerful and intent talent and flavors that traffic underneath all that unbothered facade.  As the highest compliment for both ends of the comparison, it's the Ed Sheeran of noodles. HOW:  Forget about making it pretty.  It's not about being pretty.  It shouldn't be pretty.  What this dish should be about, at all cost, is the nuclear fusion between two of the most powerful elements in gastronomy:  lard, and prawn fats.  Every bite of this lightly saucy strands of noodles is a perfectly engineered explosion of porkyness from rendered lard with crispy cracklings,

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April 16, 2018 In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

Book announcement + Singapore hawker marathon: Tai Hwa pork noodle

THE ONE MICHELIN-STARRED HAWKER NOODLE FROM SINGAPORE, NOW AVAILABLE AT YOUR NEAREST CONVICTION. AND BTW, I WROTE A BOOK. [ezcol_1half] Wow, it's been awhile.  I know I tend to say that a lot here, but this time, it has really been awhile. The reason why I haven't posted a single word on this blog for almost 2 months, or really, my general absence from this space for the past whole year, hasn't exactly been a secret.  I've mentioned it briefly once or twice before but there hasn't been an "official" announcement of any sort, so I guess, I'm making it official today. In a nutshell, I wrote a cookbook. Or more precisely, I have just finished the manuscript of my cookbook, which is scheduled to be published around October 2019. I feel strange announcing this with such formality, maybe because the notion of a cookbook, for better or worse, has become quite a predictable outcome in the food-blogging community, sometimes a sorely needed contribution, but sometimes, let's be honest, a bit not.  From a personal standpoint, I feel strange parading with what could be perceived as an unnecessary accessory, regardless of how excited I feel about what I wrote.  I guess it's a mixed feeling, and to

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November 22, 2016 In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

Sichuan/Chongqing Little Slurp w meat sauce and chickpeas

[ezcol_1half] COULD THIS WORK? THAT WOULD BE YOUR LAST THOUGHT, BEFORE THIS BOWL OF MAGIC POTION SUCKS YOU INTO AN UNSTOPPABLE WHIRLPOOL OF HAPPINESS. [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] Sorry I have been absent. Boy, do I have a good reason. Recently, I believe, we've all been experiencing a kind of peculiar surrealism in life.  I don't know about you, but for multiples times during the span of my day, I found myself staring at the mundane occurrences of my perceived reality - the sound of cars brushing through the street

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September 10, 2015 In All recipes, Poultry

NASHED-UP HOT CHICKEN CUTLET SANDWICH

HOT DICKS SO BIG [ezcol_1half] [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] Today is the 4th day, the longest duration since 2002, the year I moved to New York, that I've ever gone without ingesting a drop of coffee.  Not a drop. Because on September 6th 2015, an otherwise wonderfully uneventful morning, my coffee-stash abruptly ran out on me without a warning as if it was premeditated, leaving me in a cold-turkey caffeine withdrawal that I'm frankly too sleepy to wrestle.  Right of course, I don't live in a no-man's land.  There's a convenience store downstair just 3 minutes of walking from where my ass sits, ready to supply me lacking but coffee-like substances that will ease the cold sweats and wobbling mind.  But more to my own surprise than anything else, I didn't go.  In the passing 96 hours of brain-paralysis, waiting for my online coffee shipment which hasn't came yet, I just stayed inside my bunker chewing and spitting out green tea-leaves, mainly trying to open my eyes without much success.  Shit, I can't even open them now.  Did you know you can type with your eyes closed?  Uh Whast was thsr? This episode told me something about myself.  You know I would never sell my sloth short of its worth, God bless its noble

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June 22, 2015 In All recipes, Meat

THE JADED DOOR-NAIL MEAT PIES RUBBED W/ SCALLION BUTTER

[ezcol_1half] DOESN'T IT HELP YOUR CONFIDENCE IN MAKING THESE IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN, KNOWING THAT THEY AREN'T IMMORTALS, THAT THEY TOO BLEED JUICE, JUST LIKE THE REST OF US. [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] To most people who aren't born or raised in China or any of its politically disputed subparts, the idea of cooking Chinese cuisine, I guess, can feel intimidating.  For one, it sounds big.  And it is big.  It is big in a sense that it's actually less confusing to approach it not as a generalized whole, but as a ccoalition of many different regional representatives.  The food cultures in the north, really is a world away from the south, and from the east coast-lines to the west high mountains, vice versa.  And to make matters more complicated than say, how it is in America, in the best as well as the worst sense, the gaps between regional cultures aren't yet as erased by modernization and technologies as we speak.  So if you think you're scared about making southern dim-sum simply because you aren't Chinese, know that there's someone else born and raised in northern China, who feels just the same.  But I'm not saying this to scare you.  I'm saying this to let you know that, yes, while there is real deep

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