Although I've always loved to cook, I go through phases, and occasionally get stuck in a rut of the tried and true and familiar. Over the past year or so however, I've found myself increasingly in play mode. This is due in part to cookbook clubs. I've been in one, run through the Food 52 organization, now discontinued. for years, participating off and on. Ii threw myself into it more fully last year, determined to at least try every cookbook, even those I had doubts about. and I found the experience exciting and inspiring, opening my mind and taste buds toward thinking about food in new ways. Then I joined another cookbook club and the fun increased further, even though I do not always manage to keep up with the clubs.
And yet, I want to write about some of my adventures in the kitchen.
II purchased this book, Made in Taiwan, by Clarissa Wei and Ivy Chen last December but didn't start reading or cooking from it until this year. I do love reading cookbooks, and admit that there was a period where I did more reading and less cooking. Not this book. For the first time in a long long time I want to cook everything in this book, even things I don't normally eat or make. I enjoy the nerdy details, such as making rice noodles from scratch, and even recipes for how to make the rice flour from raw rice kernels. Yes, I could buy rice noodles, but I also love learning about the background and history of a thing, and I firmly believe that our food says so much about who we are. We build large communities based on cooperation, and we cook our food; how could these things not say something about who we are? Anyway, I am intrigued enough that I will eventually try most of these recipes even if I never make them again..
So far however I've only made three dishes from this book. Each dish was an absolute winner and I very much look forward to cooking more.
The first recipe I tried was for a stir-fry of sweet potato leaves. A basic thing, right? I love green vegetables and don't believe I've met a green leafy vegetable I haven't liked. It also seems like every cuisine I've learned about has some basic technique for cooking green leafy vegetables. Although the greens are different, the techniques are similar in that they incorporate some basic fat, aromatics, and water.
So sweet potato greens show up in my local Asian market, and recently they have even begun showing up in the farmer's markets. The greens in the Asian market are young and tender, perfect for this recipe, whereas the ones I got at the farmer's market last year were large and tough. My attempt at stir-frying those was a failure, but I suspect the farmer in question was thinking of them more as a braising green. If I see them again, I am now ready to explore the possibilities further.
But back to the greens at hand. The leaves of this bunch of sweet potato greens was smallish and tender, the stems tender as well. With the right greens this dish was a relevation. The stems displayed a small bit of toothsomeness with an almost nutty hint of bitterness to them. I discerned no particular bitterness in the leaves however, just a light, almost buttery flavor with just a hint of floral fruitiness that offsets the garlic perfectly. They are light, much the way spinach is light, but with slightly more crispness to the mouth-feel than spinach, and without spinach's sometimes mineraly flavor.
And, while I am on the subject of greens I tried another new to me green when I made the recipe for Sacha Beef with Water Spinach. I don't believe I'd ever knowingly had water spinach before, but now it is a regular addition to my grocery cart just so I can make this dish.
The recipe is simple and quick
to pull together. The most time consuming thing is slicing the beef thinly and then letting it marinate for a full 15 minutes. Everything else can be prepped during that time. Most of the success of this dish is due to the sauce. Although I originally wanted to make the homemade sacha sauce in the book, I am so enamored of a purchased Bullhead sauce, recommended by the authors, and available in my local Asian grocery, that I can't imagine doing so anytime soon.
The beef is tender and flavorful and I find the combination of the beef, water spinach and the savory umami-rich sauce almost addictively good. There is a bit of grittiness to the barbecue sauce, but it is not unpleasant and it added a nice counterpoint to the combination of flavors. There is a hint of the dried shrimp in the sauce also, but I did not so much find it fishy as complexly rich.
This is a dish that is far more satisfying than would expect from the minimal effort involved. In fact, I've enjoyed this so much that, as I mentioned above, I purchase water spinach each time I see it in the market, just so I can make this dish.
The last thing I made before getting distracted was congee. I didn't discover that I liked congee until fairly late in life. In retrospect this seems surprising as I grew up on hot cereal, and learned as an adult that although I still love porridge in any form, I prefer my porridges on the savory side. Still, I had basically only eaten basic plain congee with a collection of savory toppings and I was eager to try this recipe for Shiitake and pork congee.
My congee is more deeply colored than the photo in the book, or is probably traditional, but I used an asian-inspired bone broth from my own pantry rather than the recipe in the book (or chicken broth, although my own chicken broth is sometimes dark as well since I often start with roasted bones). I also soaked the mushrooms while the congee cooked, and didn't start my mise en place until the congee was finished cooking, which meant that the congee thickened while I was prepping and cooking the pork. I didn't mind this as I think I prefer a thicker porridge anyway.
This was savory, delicious and very satisfying and I will absolutely make it again. I don't actually eat porridge very often anymore but when the craving hits, nothing else satisfies. Comfort in a bowl.
This seems like such a small start, and yet I find the whole process of cooking an act of both discovery and refinement. So much fun. Hopefully I will have more to report.