MITCH IN THE KITCHEN

fish tacos

I’m really looking forward to summer, sticky legs, sweaty forehead, smelly stuffy subway stations and all. I don’t remember how or why I came across this video recently, but I do know that I had a gnarly craving for fish tacos and a warm afternoon spent laying on the beach after watching it.

I’ve mentioned before that I shy away from fish, but these tacos were so basic and so delicious. Tilapia is bland (which, I admit, is why I won’t childishly wrinkle my nose at it) but garlic, ground cumin, chili powder, and fresh lime juice do a lot to liven it up. Chow has a nice guide for how to make tacos with grilled (instead of fried) fish. I substituted a broiler for a grill and things turned out just fine.

pork and napa cabbage potstickers

As I mentioned before, winter break has given me a great opportunity to spend (even) more time than usual shopping for, thinking about, and making food. Weekday stuffed French toast was just the tip of the iceberg. After a long visit to Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown (long because: 1. I want to buy everything that looks remotely familiar, 2. there is a lot of negotiation with myself over how much I can really carry home on the subway, and 3. I can read only a few Chinese characters, so there is a lot of interesting logic that goes into figuring out “what is in this jar and is it what I think it is?”) I hauled home all kinds of Asian ingredients for things like homemade dashi, all kinds of noodle dishes (maybe this, this, and this?), recipes from the Momofuku cookbook, and homemade potstickers. By the way, there is also a jar of kimchi fermenting in a dark corner of my kitchen. We are fusing all kinds of cuisine together for the next couple weeks. Asian-inflected everything!

But back to the potstickers. The best ones have doughy and not-too-thin skin, in my opinion. To achieve this: you gotta make your own. With flour and water and rolling out each individual wrapper. Believe it or not I’ve come close to swearing off making my own wrappers after one exhausting attempt back in the summer of 2007. And even though I have all this time on my hands, I opted to stick to the packaged stuff and give myself a little more time to curl up on the couch with a book. As for the meat stuffed inside, I like the simple and reliable combination of pork and napa cabbage. Basic, satisfying, and omg did I really just eat 15 of these?

For the filling:

1/3 small head napa cabagge, finely chopped
1/2 pound ground pork
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch segment of ginger, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine
a few pinches of white pepper
1 egg

Put napa cabbage in a bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Let sit for about 30 minutes. Put salted cabbage in a clean dish towel, roll it up, and wring it out from both ends to squeeze all the water out. (Learned this tip from a Ming Tsai cookbook. Drawing liquid out of the vegetables prevents soggy filling that soaks right through the wrappers.)

Combine cabbage with remaining ingredients. Overwork the pork mixture (i.e. mix the shit out of it with clean hands) to the point where the meat soaks up all the egg and becomes more paste-y than granular or dripping with egg. This way, the filling holds together and you won’t have little meat crumbles falling in your dipping sauce when you double-dip.

To make potstickers (recipe above will give you somewhere between 25 and 35):

Put roughly 1 heaping teaspoon of pork mixture into a wrapper. You want the round kind (called dumpling wrappers or gyoza wrappers). Dip a finger in water and drag it over the inside edge of the dumpling wrapper, then pinch shut. You can make them pleated (like we did) or crimped or just sealed flat.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add potstickers in one layer, with the sealed edges sticking up. Let them brown for a few minutes, then add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan. Tip from my mom: add a tiny bit of sesame oil to the water. Cover immediately to avoid messy and painful grease splatters, lower heat, and let steam until most of the water is gone. If the water disappears too quickly, add a bit more. Uncover and let the dumplings crisp up again. Serve with…

Dipping sauce: Combine soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, hot chili sauce (I like Yank Sing’s chili pepper sauce or that bright red chili-garlic sauce with seeds), and shredded ginger, to taste.

cabbage and apple slaw with miso dressing

Every Monday, I am a volunteer cook and lunch lady at a public school in my neighborhood as part of the Cook for Kids program organized by Wellness in the Schools (the website’s content is way thin, I know). The resident chef (a legit culinary school graduate) and I put together a salad bar for the school cafeteria using basic fruits and vegetables and a lot of improvisation. One of the standards is something we call “healthy slaw”: no mayo, just raw shredded cabbage and other veggies in a light honey-kissed vinaigrette. I happen to do my own version of this, with the addition of miso and sesame oil. Sometimes it gets packed up for lunch with quinoa or some other whole grain, chicken or tofu or beans, roasted veggies, and other stuff you would expect a nutrition nerd to eat. John and I catch colleagues/classmates checking out our lunch, but we will never (ever!) trade.

2 teaspoons shiro miso (white miso)
warm water
1 to 2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon white wine or rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 scallion stalk, chopped
1 small head of cabbage, shredded
1 medium apple, julienne into thin strips
sesame seeds

Dissolve miso in a bit of warm water (just enough to thin/smooth it out). Mix in honey, vinegar, and sesame oil. Toss with scallion, cabbage, apple, and sesame seeds.

red cabbage and carrot slaw

I’ve been into shredded things and crunchy raw vegetable salads lately. Here’s one more for each of those categories. The weather’s finally warming up a tiny bit, and I’m ready to transition from heavy, nap-inducing meals to lighter things. In between all the cookies and ice cream anyway.

1/4 of a medium head of red cabbage, sliced into thin shreds
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/2 small bulb shallot, thinly sliced
handful of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
a few squeezes of lime juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt
black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper

Combine yogurt, honey, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and peppers to make dressing. Toss with other ingredients.

napa cabbage kimchi

During the course of my Food Microbiology course, I was inspired to see some natural fermentation take place in my own home. Kimchi, a spicy pickled Korean condiment commonly made with napa cabbage, employs the services of naturally present bacteria to give it that characteristic tangy, pungent aroma. In summary, I put a bunch of stuff in a jar and let the microbes go to town. In detail, I did the following:

1. Remove the outer leaves on 1 small head of napa cabbage. Rinse under cold water to remove any dirt. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into three equally sized wedges (for a total of 6 pieces).

2. Dissolve 1/2 cup kosher salt (or other coarse salt) in about 3-4 quarts of water, in a large bowl. Add cabbage and place a plate on top to keep each piece submerged. Let the cabbage soak for 2 hours at room temperature, then rinse and squeeze out as much water as you can.

3. Shred 1 small daikon radish, mince 1/2 head of garlic, peel and mince a 1-inch piece of ginger, chop 3 scallion stalks. Combine in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1/4 cup Korean chili powder*, and 1 teaspoon sugar (science note: the sugar “feeds” the friendly microbes, who produce mostly lactic acid). Add napa cabbage, and toss to coat evenly. I recommend wearing disposable latex gloves for this part, lest you find yourself with painfully tingly fingers (that might wander to your eyes, nose, and other sensitive body parts. ahem).

4. Stuff everything inside a 1-quart mason jar, and seal. Leave the jar in a cool, dark part of the kitchen. Wait about 2 days, and check for bubbling inside the jar. This is evidence of fermentation, as certain species of bacteria produce carbon dioxide. If there aren’t any bubbles, give it another day. Once bubbles are present, the kimchi is ready to eat. Store it in the refrigerator, where it will continue to ripen (ferment) slowly.

Now, I said and read that the jar should be checked after 2 days. Wanna know what might happen if you forget and wait ‘til the 3rd day? A loud popping sound, followed by the discovery of a freshly misshapen lid. Once I opened the jar (in the sink of course), there was a mini-eruption of carbonated garlicky juice, followed by loud groans and sighs. Thankfully, there was no significant loss of ready-to-eat kimchi. Enjoy it on its own, or add it to noodles, Korean-style flour and egg pancakes, dumplings, fried rice, or hot dogs (instead of sauerkraut). Ooh, or some kind of Asian-fusion reuben sandwich.

*Can be found at Kalustyan’s on Lexington and 28th Street, or at Korean grocery stores. For example, the one on 33rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. Thank you David Cho.