Five-Spice Duck Noodle Soup

During Chinese New Year over a week ago, I got the whole duck, along with other goodies as New Year gifts from work. I had a few menu in mind of what to do with that good-looking duck. I was thinking of five-spice-rubbed roasted duck, Pekking duck, etc. Then, I thought of rice noodle soup with five-spice duck I love back at home in Thailand. It's been a very long time since I last had that dish, and I missed it so much! I pretty much have most of the needed ingredients on hand - so duck stew with five spices in soy-based gravy was to start. 

Stewed Duck in Five-Spice gravy:

1. Heat a large saucepan at medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/4 cup water. Stir until until sugar turns into thick syrup and caramelized. Add 2 tablespoons black soy sauce, 1 table spoon salt, 1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice blends (or Thai "Palo" Powder), and 1/2 cup water.
2. Place whole duck in that saucepan. Turn duck to get the sauce cover its skin as much as possible, until completely dark brown.
3. Transfer duck and sauce mixture into a large pot. Add water to cover the whole duck. Simmer for about an hour, or until tender. Skim off the fat and foam from time to time.
4. Taste the gravy and add seasonings if needed. I add more brown sugar and light soy sauce a couple of time. The flavor should be a combination of saltiness and sweetness, with a balance of five-spice aroma.

To assemble the noodle dish:
Cook rice noodle of your choice, place in the bowl with fresh beansprout. Add duck meat (shreded or cut in pieces), fried garlic, chopped green onions & cilantro. Then, pour the hot gravy-like broth in the bowl. Ground white pepper to finish. Thais usually add some condiments to their noodle dishes. The standard condiments on the Thai table, especially where noodles are served are fish sauce, chili powder, fresh chili in vinegar, and white sugar.We normally have personal ritual of adding these condiments in various ratio to our own flavor preference.

Apprentice

Hello! It's been almost two months since we moved into our new home... Things are coming together mostly. I managed to take a break and make the time to really cook this past weekend. Without much ingredients on hand, I grabbed what was available in my fridge to make lunch. I ended up having my son in the kitchen with me, and learn how to make ham and sausage fried-rice.

These are pretty much the ingredients.
Find the full recipe here.

We added tomato paste and chili sauce for color and heat.



Thai Spicy Beef Salad - Yum Nua

Flavor profile of this Yum Nue, or Thai Spicy Beef Salad is the balance of sour, salty, sweet, spicy, and umami flavors.

You will need:

- 1 lb. boneless chuckeye steak
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1 cup sliced cucumber
- 1/4 cup shallots or red onions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Chinese celery, or celery heart, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

- 3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 2 Tbsp. fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp. palm sugar, or brown sugar
- 1-2 Thai chili peppers, or 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Combine lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and chili pepper in a small bowl. Stir until sugar dissolved and well-mixed. Adjust the taste to your preference. Set aside.

2. Season steak with salt and pepper. Then, grill or broil steak to your preferred doneness. Allow the cooked steak to rest 5 minutes, before you slice into bite-size strips.

3. In large bowl, add steak strips, cucumber, tomatoes, shallots, celery, cilantro, and the dressing. Toss gently to combine all ingredients.

4. Serve as a side salad, or a main dish if you like. You can also serve on a bed of lettuce, or salad greens.

Pad Se-Ew Beef with Broccoli

Pad See Ew is one of Thailand's most popular street foods. This recipe features beef and broccoli stir-fried noodle dish seasoned with soy sauce mixture.


You will need:

• 8 oz. dried flat rice noodle, or 1 lb. fresh flat rice noodle


• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely


• 1 cup thinly slice beef (other choices: pork, chicken, shrimp, or extra-firm tofu)


• 2 cup broccoli florets (unless you can find Chinese broccoli)


• 2 eggs


• 1 cup 1 1/2" cut green onion


• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil


• 2 Tbsp dark sweet soy sauce


• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce


• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce


• 1 Tbsp sugar


• Ground white pepper (black pepper works as well)


• Red chili pepper flakes (optional)
  

Directions:

• Soak dried rice noodle in hot water, until soft. Drain and set aside.


• Blanch broccoli florets in boiling water and shock with cold water. Set aside.


• Mix together dark sweet soy sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, pepper, and red chili pepper flakes.


• Heat wok on medium high heat and add vegetable oil.


• Add chopped garlic, quickly stir, and add beef. Stir to cook.


• Add noodle, and 1/4 cup of water to help cook the noodle. Once the noodle is cooked and soft (add more water if needed, little at a time), mix in the prepared soy sauce mixture, and broccoli florets.


• Stir to mix together all ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning sauces if needed. Then push to side of wok to make room.


• Crack the eggs into wok, and scramble until almost cooked. Then fold in the noodle, and add green onions and pepper.


• Stir to mix well, and turn the heat off.
  

Keep in mind that you can always adjust the seasoning to your preference while cooking.

Enjoy!

Spicy Ziti

Another version of my favorite dish, Thai-style drunken noodle.
Today I used ziti pasta, instead of rice noodle.
With ground beef, bamboo shoot strips, tomatoes, and Thai basils.

Absolutely tasty and delicious weekend lunch!

Here is the recipe from the old post.

Drunken Noodles

You will need:

• 8 oz. dried wide rice noodles (size L), cooked
• 1/2 lb. ground pork (or chicken, beef, turkey - whatever you like)
• 5 garlic cloves
• 5 Thai red chili pepper (or adjust to your preference)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup matchstick-size strips carrots
• 1/2 cup baby corn, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/2 cup tomatoes cut in wedges (I had to use canned ones here since I forgot to buy fresh ones.)
• 1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed
• 3 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• grounded white (or black) pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
  

Directions:

1. Cook rice noodles a little lesser time than the instruction on package, they will be stir-fried and cooked all the way later.
2. Pound garlic cloves and chili peppers together using mortar and pestle. Or you can mince them together using a knife.
3. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chili garlic mixture and stir until lightly browned and fragrant.
4. Add ground pork and stir well to evenly mix everything together. Once the pork is browned, add carrots and baby corns. Stir to get vegetables cooked real quick, you want them to be a bit crisp, not all soft.
5. Then, add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and grounded white/black pepper. Stir quickly to mix the seasonings into ingredients.
6. Then add rice noodles, water, and dark soy sauce. Stir to get everything coated with sauce.

7. Add the basil leaves and tomatoes, give it a good stir. Transfer to serving dish.
   
   I do play around with the ingredients for this dish a lot, depends on what I have on hand. Bite-size meat, fried tofu, or seafood are all good options. And if you make it with spaghetti instead of rice noodle, then you'll have Drunken Spaghetti :)
   
   

Peanut Sesame Noodles

This is a simple and delicious cold noodle dish that I really enjoy. It's good for making ahead and serving later. Great for a potluck or a picnic. The dressing has lots of flavors; the sweetness from brown sugar and rice vinegar, a tanginess from lime juice, a little heat from chili paste, and a kick from garlic and ginger! I follow Tyler Florence's recipe for the dressing. (He is one of my all-time favorite Food Network chefs!) However, I use buckwheat soba noodle and add extra vegetables, that are not in the original recipe. There is still room to play with by adding different vegetables, and/or protein, like shredded cooked chicken or tofu.

Peanut Sesame Noodles
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence's Cold Sesame Noodles
http://www.foodnetwork.com/

You will need:

• 1 lb. Buckwheat soba noodles
• 3 Tbsp. Sesame oil (also called roasted sesame oil, or dark sesame oil)
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp. Minced fresh ginger
• 3 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. Red chili paste (I prefer Sambal Oelek)
• 1 Lime, juiced
• 2 Tbsp. Brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Creamy peanut butter
• 3 Tbsp. Rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp. Soy sauce
• 6 Tbsp. Hot water
• 1 Tbsp. White sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/2 Cup Shredded carrots
• 1/2 Cup Julienned cucumber
• 1/2 Cup Julienned red bell pepper
• 2 Green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Cooking Buckwheat Soba Noodles:

I've learned from my Japanese friend that Soba noodles, made from buckwheat flour, are to be cooked differently from pasta and other Western-style noodles. Most Japanese noodles need to be rinsed vigorously under cold running water after done boiling- to cool them down, as well as to get rid of excess starch which affects the flavor of the dish.

Cook soba noodles in big pot of boiling water. No need to add salt! Follow direction on package, usually about 5-7 minutes, depends on the thinness of strand. Noodles should be cooked through, neither mushy, nor al dente like pasta.

Then, drain the noodles and rinse under cold running water. Once they cool down, gently swish them in the water - to get rid of the starch and the gumminess. Then, drain very well.

Directions:

1. Cook soba noodles following direction. Once well drained, toss with sesame oil, so they don't stick together. Chill.
2. In a blender, combine oil, ginger, garlic, chili paste, lime juice, brown sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, and hot water. Blend until smooth.
3. Then, toss soba noodles with the peanut sauce, carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, green onions, and sesame seeds - until well coated.
4. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve at room temperature or chilled. If I am to serve the dish later, I will save some of the dressing and toss the prepared noodles with it right before serving. That will freshen up the salad and give a flavor boost to the dish.

Weekend Eat

Stir-fried Spicy Noodle - I am all about one-dish meal when it comes to weekend lunch at home. Carb, protien, and vegetable all in one dish. There is always so much to do, or run around for that I don't get to cook meal for my family as much as I would love to. This stir-fried noodle dish is my all time favorite to make, and I am pretty sure my son LOVE it.

I use Mama brand's Thai instant noodles that comes in a single serving package, with seasoning pouches. Tom Yum Goong (or hot and sour shrimp soup) flavor works best for me, since it is very tasty and goes so well with any kind of meat, and shrimp. For the vegetables, I had cabbage, beansprout, celery, onion -- so I used them.

Noodles were cooked in boiling water, until almost done a couple minutes, then drained and set aside. Then, I stir-fried chicken, vegetables, added noodles and the pouched seasonings, and eggs. After that, seasoning with some sugar, soy sauce, ground pepper, and more chili pepper (I like it pretty spicy!). Another quick, easy, and tasty dish!

Summer Hobo Dinner

Hobo dinner is so fun, easy, and delicious! A buddy of my son came back from his three-week summer camp, and brought one of his favorite experience back to share with the gang. Each person makes their own individual meal according to their preference of flavors. We used ground beef, bite-size vegetables (potato, onion, carrot, bell pepper, tomato), BBQ sauce, olive oil, and some seasonings.

The recipe of hobo dinner can be modified in many ways, that there are a number of variation you can always find. Just make sure you use a heavy-duty foil wrap, and close the opening tightly -- then you won't be losing your dinner into the fire! And by putting in ground beef with the vegetables in the foil packets, the flavors of the dinner are blended nicely. Once cooked, open carefully (we then added some shredded cheese), and dig in!

The boys had so much fun making their own mix of ingredients!

Spicy Basil Fried Rice

My weekend lunch at home always a one-dish meal I put together real quick, mostly from what I have handy. Half pack of fresh basil I had and leftover rice in the fridge gave me the idea of this fried rice. I also used some ground pork and Chinese broccoli (Gailan) to add some meat and vegetable to the dish. Other than that, the way I cooked it was pretty much following the recipe of Thai Spicy Basil Shrimp dish I blogged recently.

Just add the cool, leftover, cooked rice (see Thai Fried Rice: the Basic) to the stir-fry you make. Then, give it a good stir to mix rice and all the ingredients together. Give it a taste, to see if you need to add any seasonings. I usually add some soy sauce, a little sugar, and some white/black ground pepper - since rice absorbs all the sauce of the stir-fry and the flavor will get lighter. Just using high heat and keep everything in the wok moving. Then, enjoy your meal!!

See my reflection on the spoon? :)

Drunken Noodle

A quick lunch I made today was a one-dish meal called drunken noodle. The wide rice noodle was stir-fried with garlic and fresh chili pepper, as well as soy sauce, pork, beansprout, green onion, jalapeno pepper, and fresh basil leaves. It was spicy, it was delicious, and it was filling -- you will love this dish. I will put together a recipe and post it up soon.

Then, I got to enjoy my afternoon !!

Thai Fried Rice: The Basic

Fried rice is considered fast food in Thailand. It's quick and you can make it with mostly any ingredient you like for the variation. Everyone makes fried rice a little differently, you can always experiment, once you know the basic technique.

As quick and easy this dish is, there are essential tips needed to keep in mind if you want to make "good fried rice". As some say, fried rice is more of a formula than a single recipe.

• Leftover cooked rice: The best rice to use is leftover rice that's been lying in the fridge for at least a day. You cannot make fried rice with freshly cooked rice! The grains of leftover rice is firmer and have no excess moisture, which makes it much easier to separate. You would only get "fried mush" instead of fried rice if you made with freshly-cooked rice. However, if you can't wait a day, you can at least let the rice cool for a few hours in an airy spot. Break loose the rice with your wet fingers.
  
• Hot wok or large skillet: The reasons that restaurant-made fried rice has that smoky flavour is the high temperatures and the seasoned carbon steel woks that they use. The hot wok will caramelize rice with the soy sauce, and keep rice from sticking to the wok. It's all about high heat, and movement (from constant stirring)!
  
• Basic ingredients: Cold rice, eggs, soy sauce, and green onions are my foundation of basic fried rice. However, with the more adventurous versions, this would differently applies according to recipes.
  
• Add-on ingredients: You can use any kind of meats and seafood (shrimps, crab meat) you like, or leftover cooked meat in your fridge, or anything handy (ham, Chinese sausage, BBQ pork, or even Spam!) And for vegetables - peas, carrots, corn, tomato, bell pepper, Chinese broccoli, pineapple, raisin - any of these, and more, will do. Experiment with what you like.

I cook fried rice quite often, it's a quick one-dish meal, and a good way to clean out my refrigerator, or use up any leftover. You can be creative here, just use your judgement.. Normally, I don't have "a recipe" for cooking this dish. There is quite a variety of different versions of fried rice. I add seasonings while cooking, taste it, and adjust the flavor to my taste. I really had to take the time figuring the following recipe out, and I did test the final recipe a few time. So, here it is -- the basic recipe of Thai fried rice.

Chicken Fried Rice

You will need:
(for 3-4 servings)

• 4 cups refrigerated cooked rice
• 2 cups bite-size sliced or cubed chicken breast
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 small onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup vegetable, or other cooking oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (I like Golden Mountain brand, or Mushroom flavor light soy sauce)
• 1 Tbsp black/dark soy sauce (optional - for color)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 green onions, chopped
• White pepper powder (black pepper will do just fine)
• Chopped cilantro
• Lime wedge and cucumber slices (authentic Thai style)

Directions:

1. Heat the wok over high heat. Add half of the oil. Once the oil heated up, add eggs, scramble until almost cooked through, then push it to the one side of the wok.
2. Add the rest of the oil. Then add garlics, onions, and chicken. Stir quickly, until chicken is cooked and onion is soft.
3. Add rice and give it a good stir. Keep moving and gently press the rice with the back of spatula to loosen and mix in the ingredients. Stir and scrape - add a little more oil if you have to.
4. Add soy sauce, black soy sauce, and sugar. Stir to mix thoroughly.
5. Add green onion and white pepper powder. Stir just a little bit more to mix well.
6. Garnished with chopped cilantro. And serve with lime wedge (squeeze juice on top of rice before eating), then eat with the cucumber slides as a side. Enjoy!

Rice Vermicelli Stir Fry: Pad Mee'

Rice vermicelli -- also known as rice noodles or rice sticks -- are thin noodles made from rice. Like other type of rice noodle, rice vermicelli are a part of many Asian cuisines, where they can be eaten as part of a soup dish, stir fry, or salad. This rice vermicelli stir fry, or Pad Mee' in Thai, is a complete meal where you can enjoy the combination of the noodles, meat, and vegetables altogether. It's healthy, and flavorful!

You will need:

• 8 oz. rice vermicelli
• 1 cup boneless skinless chicken thigh/breast, cut in strips
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce + 1 Tbsp light soy sauce + pepper (for marinade)
• 2 cups Chinese cabbage (Napa), shredded (regular cabbage works as well)
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 4-5 medium-sized dried Shiitake mushroom
• 1/2 cup Chinese chive cut into 1 1/2" pieces
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup chicken broth or water
• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce, or ABC sweet soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Grounded black or white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare rice vermicelli noodle according to direction on package. If you use the really thin kind, you only need to soak them in warm water for about 10-15 minutes. But if you use Vietnamese style (Bun'), you will need to cook the noodle in boiling water for about 2 minutes and flush with cold water. Drain noodle and set aside.
2. Marinate chicken strips with oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and pepper. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix together chicken broth (or water), light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
4. Cut up all vegetables. For the dried Shiitake mushroom, soak in water until soft, then drain and squeeze off the water, discard the stems, and thinly slice to make about 1/2 cup.
5. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute' garlic and chicken, until fragrant and chicken is partially cooked.
6. Add onion and mushroom, cook until soft. If too dry, add a little water.
7. Add rice vermicelli noodle, and seasoning sauce mixture. Stir and toss everything around until mixed well.
8. Add Napa cabbage, Chinese chive, and bell pepper. Stir until the ingredients are mixed through, about 2-3 minutes. If too dry, add a bit more water (or broth). Season to taste. Serve hot.