CityMama™

Somen Salad: A summery taste of Hawaii

This beautiful salad started life as a grouping of composed ingredients in a green heart-shaped bowl. It's then tossed with chilled Japanese somen noodles and a shoyu-sesame dressing.  You can google for your favorite recipe (read them through and you'll get the basic idea), but the basic ingredients remain the same: somen noodles, shredded omelet, pork (char siu and/or Spam), kamaboko (pink and white fishcake). We added daikon sprouts, carrots, and shredded surimi because our market was out of kamaboko.

It's the quintessentially Hawaiian salad—a blend of Asian influences that reflect the beauty of the islands—and I post it in honor of our trip.  We leave this afternoon and I can already smell the sweet, soft fragrance of ginger and plumeria flowers carried on warm trade winds.

Aloha!

Thai Green Curry Veggies

Look at that colorful curry. Isn't it pretty? I make Thai green curry all the time, especially during the cold months of the year. They way I do it probably is not the way to make an authentic Thai green curry, but it's the way I make it (fairly quickly and easily with ingredients that aren't too hard to find), and it really satisfies.

First you need green curry paste. I buy this brand and I get it from my local Asian market. It looks like this (sometimes it comes in a plastic tub):

Then you need some of your favorite veggies:

Put the veggies in the curry and in about 10 minutes you have a pot of something spicy, warming, and delish. Here's how you do it:

THAI GREEN CURRY VEGGIES

Firm tofu is great in this, too. (So is chicken for that matter.)

• 1 onion sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• a little vegetable oil
• 3 tbsps of Thai curry paste (it is FIERY so if you want it milder add less)
• 1 can coconut milk (light okay)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• assorted veggies about 2 lbs-worth (I used green pepper, zucchini, colorful potatoes, green beans)
• fish sauce to taste
• basil (Thai if you can find it) to garnish

In a pot or pan (with lid), saute the onion and garlic in a little oil over medium heat until it's soft.  Add in curry paste and fry for a minute then add coconut milk and broth and bring to simmer stirring to dissolve the curry paste.  Add in veggies (longer cooking ones first then shorter cooking ones later or just dump 'em all in) and fish sauce to taste, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until veggies are tender.  Garnish with chopped basil before serving accompanied by jasmine white or brown rice on the side. Pass more fish sauce for those who like a salty kick.  Serves 4.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Mint and Lime

This refreshing salad is from Nigella Lawson.  It's a perfect use of that pre-shredded cabbage that comes in a bag if you don't have the time nor inclination to shred it yourself. You can easily substitute lettuce if you don't like raw cabbage. It calls for a whole bunch of chopped mint, but don't be alarmed--it's essential to the taste, and it's lovely in the salad and not at all over-powering.  I added some broccoli slaw for extra crunch.  I used red jalapeno peppers because they are milder and I didn't want to overwhelm it with spiciness for the kids, but I made a separate little dish of fish sauce with chopped up thai chilis to spoon over my serving. DY-NO-MITE!

This is an example of me trying to sneak spicier foods into my kids' meals.  Both J. and I love spicy food, the hotter the better. I am getting frustrated with not being able to order my favorite spicy dishes as restaurants or having to tone down meals at home because the kids won't eat it. I want them to understand the beauty that is pasta tossed with just garlic, chilis and olive oil or a Korean Yuk Gae Jang (beef and chili pepper soup with an angry red broth) that almost makes you cry it hurts so good.

Bunny is coming around and will now eat kimchis, curries, and salsa.  Wallie is still in wimp mode but will at least try things with a glass of water at the ready.  They're going to have to get with the program if they want to remain in this family. (Of course, I kid.)

Very Green Veggie Stir-Fry with Soba

This is one of those meals, I swear, that's ready in about five minutes.  There is no excuse for heating anything up in the microwave or toaster oven when you can make this. Trust me, trust you, you can make this.

I used to think that my stir-fries needed to contain a colorful array of vegetables, but not so anymore. I love every green vegetable and love to make all green stir-fries, pizzas, frittatas...you get the idea. And green veggies are usually what I have on hand. Plus, they are usually the cheapest.

I started the prep for this at lunch time.  Since I was already tied up in the kitchen making lunches, I took and extra 5 minutes to cut up the veggies for our dinner.  They sat on a bowl in the counter all afternoon mainly because I forgot to stick them back in the fridge. They were fine, and in hindsight, probably helped the stir-fry to cook faster since they were at room temperature.

I make a very simple sauce for my stir-fries because I prefer to let the flavor of the vegetables shine through.

Here's the recipe:

Pork Belly-Shiso Skewers

The pork belly-shiso skewer about to be grilled.

If you've been reading this blog regularly, you've probably figured out that my surreptitious goal is get everyone out of their regular grocery store comfort zone and into Asian markets. Don't be afraid! You can find wonderful treasures at your local Korean or Japanese market, for example, like thin-sliced pork belly and fragrant shiso leaves.

Shiso is a fragrant herb that tastes not quite minty, not quite basil-y. It's perfumey like both of those herbs, but it has a subtle, flowery flavor all its own. You often find it in sushi rolls (maki) paired with ume (pickled plum). Pork belly is basically bacon, but unsmoked and cured. Together these two items are sublime.

The next time you are looking to impress your friends and family, try these super-simple pork and shiso skewers. Only four ingredients...once you find them. My brother, sister and I cooked together on Friday night (something I love to do) and this is what we came up with.

PORK BELLY AND SHISO SKEWERS

We made these as well as chicken-shiso skewers and shiitake mushroom-green onion skewers. When you make skewers part of the fun, I think, is making lots of different ones.

• 1 package (about a pound) of thinly-sliced pork belly
• 1 bunch of fresh shiso washed and spun dry
• sesame oil
• salt

Season pork belly with salt and sesame oil. Place one shiso lead atop each piece of pork belly. Roll up, skewer and grill. Optional: add a piece of green onion and roll that up, too.

Eat ramen, look younger?

My sister heard that Yotteko-Ya in Honolulu was a great place to eat ramen, so a couple of days ago, my mom and I had lunch there to check it out.  It absolutely did not disappoint.

interior Yotteko-Ya, all photos: Stefania Pomponi Butler

If I were to choose my number one favorite type of food in the whole world, it would have to be noodles, specifically noodles in soup. Vietnamese pho or duck noodles, Korean mul naeng myun (check out that photo) or spicy yu kae jang, Chinese pork and pickled vegetable noodle soup or dan dan mein, Indonesian lakhsas, and Japanese ramen, I love it all. But there is a special place in my heart for ramen.

When your favorite movie ever is Tampopo (a movie about the quest for the perfect bowl of ramen) you know it's an obsession, but hey, weird obsessions are what make me ME. I can't describe my undying love for a steamy, hot bowl of ramen, but my sister understands. She's my partner in noodle soup eating crime and, at least in the San Francisco area, we are constantly on the hunt for the best noodles. In a way I'm glad she wasn't with us on this visit because this ramen has ruined me for any other ramen.

What is lurking in that pretty blue bowl?

Yotteko-ya claims to be "rocketed from Kyoto," and that's not the only claim the restaurant makes about their ramen. Check out the cover of the menu:

Eat ramen and look younger?  Okay!  Would a bowl a ramen make my fine-lines disappear before BlogHer? I actually didn't need that enticement to tuck into a bowl of spicy yasai paitan ramen topped with stir-fried veggies, but I did make sure to eat my silky soup until the last drop. I slurped it all up, it was so delicious. Did I look younger? Was my skin firmer? Who cares! All I know is that my ramen was the bomb and that Yotteko-ya will be one of my first stops whenever I return to Honolulu. Wonder if they can rocket to San Francisco.

Come to mama.

Tempura was a little ambitious for a Monday night dinner

A sunny kabocha squash. I feel more awake already.

...especially when I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before. All day long my planned chicken karaage and vegetable tempura dinner loomed ominously. Whattheheckanutcrack was I thinking?

Once my visiting sister and I got home from errands and picking up Bunny from school, I didn't even want to think about making a complicated dinner. We lazed the afternoon away but then, around 4:00 I got a second wind. I decided to suck it up and get dinner going. And once it got going, it just rolled right along.

See?

The veggies are channeling Bell Biv Devoe saying, "Do me, baby." Kabocha doesn't need to be peeled before cooking. (I ended up using only about half of the veggies I cut. I'll do something with the rest of them later in the week. The kabocha lends itself to miso soup, so that will be lunch one day this week.)

Sunday Night Dinner: Pumpkin-basmati-coconut laksa soup

A squeeze of lemon and a scattering of dried chilis made mine perfect.

Sunday night dinner after a long, long day away from the house. Two girls fresh from a bath. A pot of soup. And silliness.

The recipe is from Jamie Oliver. (P.S. Soon we have to discuss his new show which I adore.) As I was frying the fragrant mix of fresh garlic, ginger, chili pepper, lemongrass, and lime leaves with a little cumin thrown in, J. noted, "Our house smells like a hippie house."  Which in J.-speak is a compliment. I would make this again, but would definitely add more broth next time. I also used brown basmati rice which was delish.

Yes, they did gobble it up...

...both of them...

...and Pooh, too.

You inspire me: Bibimbap

When I read Kat's post this week (and saw the pictures), I knew exactly what I was going to making for Friday night's picnic-in-the-living-room dinner: Bibimbap (Korean mixed rice bowl). (This is why I always ask you guys what you are cooking!)

A quick trip to my local Korean market was all that I needed to collect ingredients for my bibimbap, but it can also be made with ingredients you find at your local grocery store. It's a rice bowl topped with a little meat and lots of veg and can really be tailored to your fancy. Want it completely vegetarian or vegan? That can be easily arranged. 

One thing I would recommend, however, is that you seek out the vinegared chili paste (kochujang) that give the dish its spicy kick. If you don't have a Korean market near you, you can find everything you need at kgrocer.com or koamart.com. (for example: vinegared kochujang or kimchi--I've tried it, it's very good)

Braise the roof

beautiful ox tails

Nothing ruins dinner plans faster than forgetting to take whatever you were going to cook out of the freezer. Or maybe that's just me. My back up in this situation is usually eggs or PB&J's, but I am always disappointed with this option because—while my kids don't care—I'm never satisfied when dinner isn't what I planned it to be. Then I spend the whole evening grouchy and/or digging in the cupboards for something, anything to snack on.

Today, in a rare moment of clarity, I had my act together and defrosted not one, but two items: 3 lbs of ox tails and a package of chicken legs. Since today is cold and drizzly, I'm cooking up both, making two dinners at the same time. Boy does the house smell delish. (Photos to come as soon as everything is cooked.)