mmm-yoso!!!

The Big Kahuna Files: Shrimp Chow Fun & Stir Fried Morning Glory

This one is for FOY "Liver" in hopes that he did, or will soon get his Big Kahuna Burner!

Every so often, when I check referring sites, searches, and other stats, I will without fail, always notice that someone has been using one search engine or another using the phrase "high BTU burner" or "Big Kahuna". And it always seems that I'll get at least one comment on any post where I've used my Big Kahuna (why does that just sound wrong). Even though Amazon seems to have replaced the Big Kahuna with another Eastman Outdoors product called the Outdoor Gourmet New Revolution Burner, it looks like Eastman Outdoors still sells the Big Kahuna. With that in mind, I've created a category called the Big Kahuna Files. My high-heat cooking experience has been limited to various stir-fry and noodle dishes, and I usual don't bother to post. Those posts would contain an ingredient list of only oil, dried shrimp, garlic, salt, and "insert green leafy vegetable of choice". I just let her rip.......and high heat will do her thing.

But for a change, here are a couple of other items I've cooked with the Kahuna recently:

Shrimp Chow Fun:

 

This came out waaaay better than expected, even with the lousy noodles I picked up at 99 RanchMarket. The shrimp were also too large, I had 12-16U, and smaller shrimp would have suited me better. One more thing, I also tried out Lee Kum Kee brand Seafood XO Sauce, which should be renamed, "rancid, second rate chili oil...." Better to go with sesame oil, or even better, make your own XO sauce.... but that's another post.

Some key points - at least for me:

 - Don't crowd the wok, more is not necessarily better.

 - Have your mis "en place". Have everything, including seasonings within easy reach.

- Control of the heat is important.

- Don't disregard your "nose" it'll tell you so much.

The Recipe - though I don't think you'll need one! Let's just call this a "pseudo-recipe"....

1/2 lb Chow Fun Noodles
4 Tb Canola Oil
1/3 Pound Shrimp

For Shrimp:
2 Tb Shao Xing wine
1 Tb Light Soy Sauce
Salt

1/2 Onion Sliced
1 Cup Bean Sprouts (I didn't bother to pick through them)
Up to 1 cup vegetable of your choice sliced. (i.e. celery, green bell pepper, etc)
2 Stalks Scallions, green parts only, sliced in 1" lengths.

2 Tb Dark Soy Sauce
3-4 Tb Light Soy Sauce
White Pepper
Sesame Oil to Taste

1 - Shell and devein shrimp, marinate with wine, soy sauce, and salt for 10-15 minutes.
2 - Remove shrimp from marinade and use 2 Tb oil to cook over high heat for a few minutes. Remove from wok.
3 - Replace oil and add vegetable (in this case all I used was 1/4 of a red bell pepper) and onion to wok.
4 - Stir fry for 1 minute, or until vegetable starts to barely soften.
5 - Move the veggies to the side of the wok using your spatula. If the bottom of the wok is too dry, add another Tb of oil.
6 - Add noodles separating them as you place in the center of the wok. A clump is a no-no.
7 - Let the noodles sit for a few seconds. You'll notice that they'll start to caramelize and blister. Using a pair of long chopsticks, mix noodles, add dark soy and 3 Tb Light Soy and mix. Don't do the "pour around the rim of the wok" thing, unless you want to add a burnt soy flavor to your noodles.
8 - Lower heat to medium and add bean sprouts and shrimp while using chopsticks to combine ingredients.
9 - I add the scallions last, as I like them crisp, with a bit of a "bite". Keep on stirring.(Keep them chopsticks going....)
10 - Lower heat, taste, add white pepper to taste, and more light soy sauce if necessary.
11 - Remove from heat and add sesame oil to taste.

All of this will take just a few minutes.......

Stir Fried Morning Glory:

It just seemed like we couldn't get enough of this during our trip. The Morning Glory in SEA is much more tender than what we have here in the states. The prep is simple, and I guess this is another pseudo-recipe. The results are wonderful:

 

In this case, I didn't use any sugar, and just a few drops of fish sauce, mainly for the fragrance.

1/2 bunch Morning Glory (aka Ong Choy, Pak Boong, Kang Kung, Kang Kong, etc, etc, etc...)
3 - 12(!!!) Thai Bird Chilies.(The 12 is out of respect for Joy from Tamarind, who told me, 12 chilies is Lao heat)
2 Tb Canola Oil.
4-5 Cloves of Garlic sliced
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 Tb Oyster sauce
Fish Sauce (optional)
2-3 Tb Light Soy Sauce

1 - Slice rinsed and dried morning glory into 1 1/2" lengths
2 - Remove green stem from chilies, and slice garlic. Alternately, you could bruise the chilies and garlic in a mortar - this will make them significantly hotter.
3 - Mix together Oyster Sauce, sugar(if using) and 2 Tb of the Soy Sauce.
4 - Heat wok over high heat. Add oil, then chilies and garlic. Stir quickly.
5 - When the garlic starts to soften (sometimes in a few seconds). Add morning glory and stir fry.
6 - When morning glory starts to wilt, lower the heat to low, and add oyster sauce mixture.
7 - Taste and add Fish Sauce(if using) and additional soy sauce if necessary.

They'll be no more excuses for soggy Ong Choy.......

 

You know, I haven't been very delicate with my Big Kahuna..... it sits on the back porch, at the mercy of the elements. I should probably treat it better. But it has held together rather well. During their last visit, I cooked a few simple stir-fries using the Kahuna for the In-Laws. They proceeded to tell the Missus that She "shouldn't bother learning how to cook anymore since I've taken my cooking to a whole 'nother level."

Oh the joy of 65,000 BTU's......

Hunan Smoked Pork and Fresh Bamboo Shoots

While in Phnom Penh, when not checking things out, or eating, the Missus was glues to the television.....and the 3 Taiwanese channels!!! Beyond the various soap operas, there were a few Taiwanese cooking shows; and one of them featured Fresh Bamboo Shoots. Needless to say, the Missus was smitten, and upon returning home, She requested a dish using Fresh Bamboo Shoots. Fresh Bamboo was pretty rare when I was growing up, and quite expensive as well. We had a neighbor, whose son would, on occasion, return from "hiking" with Fresh Shoots. These were usually eaten raw, as "sashimi", or after a few days, simmered in the water left from rinsing rice. I've read that rice bran is also used instead of the rinse water to cook Bamboo Shoots. Needless to say, the shoots we bought weren't what I would call super fresh, but they would pass muster in a stir fry.

It just so happened that we had a ton of leftover rice, and we really don't keep rice bran in the house.....so remembering the cooking show, I used 1/8 of a cup of rice instead. I cut off about 2 inches of the top of the shoot at an angle, and also about a half inch of the bottom, which had become hard. Brought the bamboo shoot to a boil, reduced the heat to a mild simmer, covered, and simmered for about an hour and a half. I knew it was cooked when I could pass a skewer rather easily into the shoot. I left it to cool in the water. Although most recipes recommend adding a few chilies to the liquid to reduce bitterness, I didn't do that. After the shoot is cool, you proceed to peel the thing. I cut off the tender tip, and gave it to the Missus as a snack. She thought it was fairly sweet, and loved the "crunch".

So what to do with the beast? Having left over Hunan Smoked Pork from another recipe, we decided that a simple stir-fry with the smoked pork and leeks on the Big Kahuna would do fine.

 

This is so easy, it's kind of embarrassing.....but it just shows that the simpler the better. You can do a number of things with the recipe...add chilies, other veggies, and so forth.

Hunan Smoked Pork and Fresh Bamboo Shoots.

1/4 Sliced Hunan Smoked Pork
1 Bamboo Shoot sliced
1 Leek Sliced
2 Tb Good Quality Light Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 - In a hot wok stir fry pork until it releases some fat.

2 - Add Bamboo Shoots and stir fry, until fragrant, and it starts getting tender.

3 - Add soy sauce, and leek, and stir fry until leek is tender, but not soft and mushy.

4 - Reduce heat, taste, and adjust flavoring.

Hunan Smoked Pork and Shishito Peppers

I've usually mentioned my Mother In Law in cooking posts. She carries on the family's Jiaozi tradition. But I thought I'd give my Father In Law some equal time. The Missus's Father is from Hunan Province, which has its own great culinary tradition. My FIL is a pretty quiet and reserved gentleman. And he'll defer to my MIL when it comes to food. There were a few times when I've seen and learned about the foods he grew up eating. His family's business in the highly agricultural Hunan province was growing and drying Lily Bud. With no refrigeration, smoking was the main means of preserving meats. In fact "La Rou", Hunan smoked pork/ham is quite well known.

I first got a hint as to what He considered home style Hunan flavors when I bought some of the wonderful Smoked Marlin that is available at all the poke and fish counters back home. I had also purchased some Shishito Peppers, I really don't recall why, perhaps I had some tempura in mind. The peppers ended up in a stir fry, along with a good amount of the smoked fish.

 

Thus began my introduction to Hunan food, not a very traditional dish, but I started understanding the flavors. I'm still a neophyte when it comes to Hunan cuisine, but I'm learning. The biggest problem for us has been finding a decent brand of Hunan La Rou. Most  of them are terrible, too much camphor, too much salt, too many additives, which many times adds up to a mothball-plastic flavor. Not good eats. But recently, we found a decent brand, pictured above. It is still not top notch, a bit too hard and nitrite laden, but the texture when cooked is pretty good, and most of all it doesn't taste like plastic.

I've always noticed Shishito Peppers at Zion Market, usually at a pretty inexpensive(for Shishito) $1.99/lb. The peppers are usually on the "old" side, and not suitable for tempura. You can tell by how hard and brittle the pepper is. The Missus is a stickler for "correct cuts", and over time I've developed a way of slicing the peppers that keep the shape, and yet allows you to remove the slightly bitter seeds, which can be really hard in older peppers.

I slice the top off the peppers, and make an incision along three-quarters of the pepper.

I remove the vein and hard seeds. You can tell by how brown the seeds are, that these peppers are on the "older" side.

Once you are done, the pepper retains a reasonable facsimile of its shape.

 

Yes, it is a pain, which is why I don't make this very often. You can substitute green and red bell peppers.

The recipe itself is, as all of the stuff I make very simple. The real wildcard in the mix, is that I used the Big Kahuna to make this. There ain't nothing like high heat for these dishes. Plus, I get to channel my inner pyro....

Hunan Smoked Pork with Shishito Peppers

1/4 lb Sliced Hunan Smoked Pork
1/2 lb Shishito Peppers seeds removed, and sliced
5 Dried Chilies
2 Serrano or Jalapeno Chilies seeds removed, and sliced
2-3 Tb Light Soy Sauce
3 Tb Canola Oil
Salt(if necessary) to taste

1 - Heat wok until smoking.

2 - Add canola oil and swirl to season wok.

3 - Tear dried chilies in half and scald.(Wear protective gear, i.e. haz-mat suit, if necessary)

4 - Add Smoked pork and stir fry until pork has released some fat, and is starting to caramelize.

5 - Add Serrano or Jalapenos and quickly stir to mix.

6 - Push ingredients to the side of the wok, and add Shishito Peppers. Stir fry until fragrant and peppers have softened, but is not mushy, nor burnt.

7 - Add Soy sauce and mix. Taste and adjust flavor.

"Wokking" the Wok

My poor old wok had seen better days. The bottom had developed a dip, and portions have "peeling", and the poor fellow was pretty much ready to be retired. I think alot of the damage was due to a poor job of seasoning and care, on my part. When I got the wok as a gift a dozen or so years ago, I had no idea of what wok care, or seasoning consisted of.  I had decided to get a new wok last year, but hadn't really made any effort to purchase one. Then I read a post on Barbara's blog; Tigers and Strawberries, that was a post on Asian Kitchen Equipment Essentials. In that post she mentions that The Wok Shop in San Francisco does Internet and mail order. The Wok Shop has always been one of my favorite places to visit, when in San Francisco, and I've bought a few knives, and other items. But I've always hesitated on purchasing a wok, and putting it in my luggage. But now, here was my chance. So I ended up ordering 2 woks from The Wok Shop. I placed my order on Tuesday, and by Saturday my woks had arrived!

I purchased a 14 inch Carbon Steel Wok($16.95), with a rounded bottom, and a 14 inch Cast Iron Wok ($14.95) imported from China. I decided to start with the Carbon Steel Wok. Grace Young's excellent book The Breath of a Wok, has several wok seasoning methods. One of the methods included in the book is Tane Chan's oven method. Tane Chan also happens to be the owner of the The Wok Shop, and sent me email wok seasoning instructions along with my order confirmation. So I decided to use that method.

"The wok is carbon steel and has to be seasoned to prevent it from rusting. The seasoning process is relatively easy to do. Just wash and dry your wok thoroughly. Coat lightly, interior and exterior with cooking oil. Bake in hot oven, 425 degrees for 20 minutes.  Place in oven upside down. Remove from oven, let cool to touch and scour wok with an abrasive pad.
Scour the "seasoning" or  patina away...like you want the wok back to its original finish.  Wash, dry, coat and bake again...same process.  Do this 4 times.  After the 4th baking, you will not be able to scour the seasoning away...and that is the result you want."

The result?

The Wok had achieved a dark, golden, lacquer like finish. I don't quite know if it's perfect or not, but it seems to have worked. After cooling, I did the typical "pungent" post seasoning cooking. Using about 1 tablespoon of oil, I stir fried ginger and green onions until somewhat charred, making sure to "hit" all of the cooking surface. I cleaned my wok using the basic instructions from The Breath of the Wok. After this session, the wok had started to blacken.

Looks like I'm on my way....... Next we'll see how the wok holds up to the 50,000 BTU Big Kahuna.

Now the shipping for my woks had come to $13, almost the price of a wok. But I didn't mind, since I expect to have these woks for a long time. But I guess The Wok Shop felt bad about this, and included a few items with my woks.

I thought the back scratcher was a nice touch, the Missus was immediately drawn to it. A skimmer was also included, and I also received an email telling me that The Wok Shop was including the skimmer. The last sentence of that paragraph cracked me up:

"This skimmer is durable and will last a long, long, time. Dishwasher safe and boilable! (fyi...great for cat litter too!)"

I'm hoping they aren't expecting the skimmer to do "double-duty" after doing the cat litter thing......

The Wok Shop, fast service, they sound like good people, and they have a sense of humor too!

Ai-Yai! It's Pad Thai!

The day after our visit to the Wat Thai Temple's food court, the Missus asked me to make Pad Thai. The request filled me with a bit of apprehension. You see, first of all, I hadn't made Pad Thai in about 6 years, and have never used the Big Kahuna to make any type of noodles. Also, I must admit, I really don't deal with last minute cooking requests real well.

First of all, I had to find "My" recipe. We used to cook alot more when we lived in Los Angeles, and became obsessed with Pad Thai. Not cooked using any particular recipe, but made to our taste. We must have made at least a dozen versions of these noodles before coming up with something that we enjoyed. Now after all these years, I dug up the crumpled sheet of yellow legal pad paper I wrote the recipe on. What follows, is that recipe, though this version was a bit different, which I'll get into later. And of course a quick trip to 99 Ranch Market was in order.

This time, the Missus wanted Shrimp as the meat for her Pad Thai, so we replaced the Chicken and Dried Shrimp with fresh shrimp. The other item I really feel strange using in Pad Thai is Ketchup, yes, I use Ketchup. I never said it's authentic, it's just the way we like it. Also, we tried to cut out the amount of oil when we originally made Pad Thai, and ended up using low-sodium chicken broth to keep the noodles from sticking to the wok. High heat has made the chicken broth a relic. Amazing what 50,000 BTU's can do! In this case shell and devein 1/3lb shrimp; season with salt and pepper(I added 1 Tb Xiao Sing), and stir fry over high heat:

Also as with any stir-fry, have everything prepped. It's especially important if using high-heat!

Here's my original "crumpled" recipe:

Pad Thai
1/2 lb dried rice noodles - soaked in warm water about 20-30 minutes, drained, cut in half.
1/3 cup chicken broth
2-3 TB oil - most Pad Thai recipes use 1/4-1/2 cup of oil - we get away by using chicken broth to avoid sticking
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 lb chicken sliced thin and seasoned with S&P and marinated in 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp water for 15 minutes
1/4 lb baked or fried tofu sliced
2 eggs beaten - can use 2whites/1yolk season with S&P
1/4 cups chopped roasted peanuts
1/2 lb bean sprouts
2-3 stalks green onions - green portions cut chinese style, parts of the whites finely sliced
1 lime

Pad Thai Sauce:
3-4TB Brown sugar or Palm sugar
3TB Tamarind Paste - we use dried tamarind and reconstitute it in boiling water into a paste and strain
3 t finely chopped dried shrimp.
2TB Ketchup – Yes, ketchup
5-6TB Fish Sauce - We use Tiparos - you can adjust. Pad Thai tastes best with Tiparos which has almost a caramel fragrance when used.
3-4TB Shoyu
1t(or more) Red Pepper - optional

Head oil and saute garlic and white part of green onion until garlic is light brown.
Add some chicken broth to make sure that bottom of wok is covered.
Add chicken and tofu, then add egg, let set about 5 seconds and then stir fry until chicken is cooked
Add juice from 1/2 of the lime
Use broth to keep from sticking as necessary

When chicken is cooked add 1/2 of the bean sprouts, green parts of green onions, and rice noodles and mix

Add sauce and cook for a few minutes until cooked and well mixed - use chicken broth to keep from burning/sticking

Plate Pad Thai, add the rest of bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, place sliced lime wedges around plate. You may also want to garnish with chinese parsley.

The verdict? Well, we've never achieved that bright orange-red color of some of the Pad Thai we've eaten, but it tasted pretty good. In my rush I bought some pretty lousy noodles, but that'll be rectified in future versions.

Whew, I survived Pad Thai! We included some of the Papaya Salad we bought at Wat Thai.

Again, the recipe is just our broad interpretation. Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries has a nice version here.

The Color for Today - Is Orange

A few days ago I had a whole half salmon waiting for me when I arrived home. It seems that the Missus decided that she wanted "blackened salmon" for dinner. So I whipped up a real quick rub with Alaea, Sea Salt, Granulated Garlic, Togarashi, Cayenne, Paprika, Oregano, Fresh Cracked Pepper, Onion Powder, a touch of soy sauce, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

The one problem in our household is when you cook over high heat and sear, you'll be smelling the "essence" of what you cooked for several days afterwards floating around the kitchen. Enter the Big Kahuna! In addition to the 55,00 BTU, meaning you'll be able to get a good carmelization, you're outside, meaning the "essence of salmon" won't be floating around the kitchen for the rest of the week.

In addition, it's great for the "flambe-pyro maniac" that resides in me, when I add a bit of sake:

After the towering inferno is done, reduce the heat, and you get a nice crusted salmon, with a medium-well interior. Not to mention no fishy residue floating around the kitchen! To complete this "orange" meal, the Missus's latest obsession is Fuyu Persimmons:

It seems that this is the year of the Fuyu. I've seen posts from Japan to Guam to Hawaii! Usually the Missus enjoys Hachiya Persimmons, but I've been told that this has been a good year for Fuyus. This bunch is from Zion Market, and were a very bright orange, with no sun damage(black spots), and no "cracks".

You'd almost mistake them for tomatoes........

yoso-greedy:Eastman Outdoors Big Kahuna Burner

I had a package waiting this afternoon; no it wasn't the Baklava from Jo, it was the Eastman Big Kahuna Burner that I ordered from Amazon.

I'd been waiting for this for a while. It's basically a heavy duty wok ring. Supposedly able to handle up to 50 lbs, and heat up to 55,000 BTU's, I'd be able to finally cook using high heat, perfect for Chinese cooking and other stir fry dishes. In other words the "I can't get the wok hot enough" excuse wouldn't "fly" anymore.

So I opened the box and uh-oh, the dreaded words "assembly required", along with an instruction manual; this was big trouble. So I read the instructions, and amazingly, I put it together in about 15 minutes. And guess what? No leftover pieces! I hooked up the propane and did the "soap test", then turned the control valve on both the Big Kahuna and propane on and lit it and - KA-BOOM!!! Just kidding! It lit up and I cranked it up, and my god it was hot, I could feel it 15 feet away! I was still surprised that a notorious "brok-chanic" like me could actually do this so quickly. So my initial impression? Very sturdy, easy assembly, good price ($49.95 + free delivery), and hot as heck. Too bad we already had dinner; the virgin stir-fry would have to wait. But this is the 4th of July weekend, so I'm sure I can come up with something.........