New York Towkay

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Bak Chor Mee

This is a classic Singapore dish of noodles with meat topping(s). As with all noodles and meat combinations, it's comfort food at its best. My sister tells me when she is away from SE Asia, this is the dish she craves the most.

Originally sold by Teochew street vendors, this is widely available in food courts/hawker centers. It's far too humble to serve in a restaurant though some hawker versions now offer deluxe toppings like abalone.

For some reason, not many people make this at home, even though it couldn't be easier. When people do try to make this at home, the sauce for the noodles often comes out different (much of this is due to misinformation!). Indeed even commercial cooks sometimes get the sauce wrong, especially if you order this dish in Chinatowns in the West.

The dish has 3 components that one must pay attention to: the sauce, the noodles and the toppings. This recipe is per bowl/serving, so prep more bowls to get make more servings.

The sauce:

Start by making the sauce first. In a good size bowl mix 2 teaspoons each of dark soy sauce, Ching kiang (or balsamic) vinegar, regular soy sauce or fish sauce, ketchup (yup this is the secret ingredient!) and chili sauce if desired (Sriracha works well!).

Do not use oyster sauce or sesame oil! Many are misinformed and think that these are needed but they will in fact significantly impact the flavor profile adversely!

Traditionally the sauce also contain a light drizzle of fried lard oil. If you have some bacon or better yet dried flounder on hand, you could also crisp up and crumble maybe a teaspoon or so.

Set the bowl aside.

The Noodles:

Get a large pot of water boiling. Season it with a tablespoon of salt.

The traditional noodles used is the Mee Poh ("thin noodles") which is a flat ribbon pasta similar to fettuccine. I have found that the thin Hong Kong Style noodles easily found in grocery stores work well as a substitute. Try to use fresh noodles instead of dried whenever possible! The fresh noodles often come bunched up into individual servings. So use as many as you need.

Cook the noodles to al dente once the water comes to a rolling bowl.

Drain the noodles and set directly into the bowl/s with the sauce. Toss until the noodles are evenly coated and set aside.

The Toppings:

The two key toppings are blanched ground pork (beef or chicken can be substituted) and stewed mushrooms (prep this ahead; fresh Shiitake will make this delectable; use half a tablespoon each of dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and a half cup of chicken broth per carton of mushroom).

Sliced surimi fish cake, fish ball, blanched shrimp and wontons are also often added. If you want to go fancy, by all means added some sliced abalone or top shell.

Since the toppings cook quickly, I usually blanch them in the same boiling water after cooking the noodles and layer them on top of the toss noodles. Most toppings will cook in 3 minutes, so it's ok to make the noodles first and then the toppings.

That's it. Although it seems complicated , the whole process takes only a few minutes. Invest in a good spider utensil to quickly strain the noodles and toppings. Remember make the sauce directly in the serving bowl, cook the noodles and add it into the bowl, and blanch and add the toppings over the noodles.

Enjoy!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Grilled Sanma Saury Breakfast

Since my move to Hawai'i, I have really enjoyed the great selection of seafood here. I'm still learning the names of a lot of the fish, since the Hawai'ian names are often used and there is no explanation for what the fish is called in English. Well, come to think of it, Hawai'ian names for certain fish are now used worldwide. For example, everyone knows Mahi Mahi and few people would use the old name "Dolphin fish" (Mahi Mahi is certainly an improvement to avoid confusion!).

The other thing I have grown to love is the simple Asian influenced foods here. It is typical for many people to have grilled fish, rice and miso soup for breakfast. Walking into a local style diner and being able to get that (or waffles) is certainly amazing!

In honor of this and to thank my friend Hiro for inspiring me to resume my blog after many years, I wanted to share the seasonal based Japanese cuisine that I can now also do.

The local grocery store recently had some Sanma Saury on sale. According to Wikipedia, Saury is a close cousin of the flying fish (I guess that's where tobiko comes from), since both fish lack swim bladders and skim along the water surface and thus appear to "fly". They are an Autumn delicacy when they put on delicious omega-3 fat. The Saury that the store had were frozen but still great-looking shimmering fish. Hopefully this meant they were harvested closer to Autumn and then flash frozen.

I had recently purchased a Cobb grill, which is a small charcoal fired bbq invented in South Africa. So I started the grill with some briquettes.

The Saury was seasoned simply with some soy oil and sea salt.

When the coals were ready, I added some pecan wood chips to flavor the fire.

Then I grilled the Saury for about 15 minutes.

They were served with salad and some Calrose rice (the default rice consumed in Hawai'i).

How did it taste?

The flavor of Saury was clean, sweet and oceanic, very similar to Saba mackerel. However, I had followed the tip I read about not gutting the fish but grilling it whole. As a result the mid section of the fish was incredibly bitter and surprisingly this really did complement the sweetness of the fish really well and gave it the bittersweet taste which is unlike any Saba mackerel. It was surprisingly delicious and bittersweet just like Autumn.

What a breakfast.

Mahalo Hiro!

A little while ago, Hiro sent me a note about his experience making his own kitchen knife with Shigefusa. Although I didn't reply, it affected me deeply. Not many people can lay claim to making their own kitchen knife, and for Hiro to have made one with a legendary blacksmith is quite something isn't it. So having a blog to share one's life experience is something special isn't it.

And so 4 years, two children, 3 cities, and as many jobs later, I'm back.

Hiro-san, arigato.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Shigefusa Santoku

Shigefusa hamono is the pre-eminent knife maker of Japan, and each is entirely hand made by Tokifusa Iizuka and his two sons, reportedly one at a time. I am incredibly fortunate to receive a beautiful knife from the hands of Iizuka-san.

Here are pictures of my 180 mm santoku. In keeping with the rustic character of japanese country knives such as the usuba and santoku, it bears the kurouchi black finish, traditional for such knives. Towards the lower half, the blade has been further polished to a kasumi haze. The cutting edge itself is hand polished to a mirror finish.

The ho wood handle and buffalo horn ferrule are incredibly light. The ho wood bears a slight fragrance. The weight is almost entirely in the blade. If held with a full grip on the handle, the knife will be unbalanced, tipping forward. To correctly hold a santoku, wrap around the handle with the last 3 fingers, and pincer grip the back end of the blade with your thumb and index fingers.