.: evil jungle prince :.

After yesterday's failed attempt at making kuih buah malaka, it was extremely satisfying to prepare a lunch which not only met expectations but exceeded them. Today's meal consisted of two dishes, ayam kleo (fragrant coconut chicken) and gado-gado (blanched Indonesian vegetables with a spicy peanut sauce).

First let me say that I'd never actually tried this dish before, so I was in for a real surprise. My cookbook tells me it's a favorite in Malaysia, and no wonder! The fragrant and saliva-inducing combination of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, chillies, garlic, and turmeric was a sure-bet from the get-go, daddy-o. Kowabunga! This was so delicious, savory, and wonderful that it is destined to become a regular player in my regular culinary regime. Certainly one of the best and most exciting dishes I've had in recent years.

I also prepared a side of gado-gado, or Indonesian blanched vegetable salad with spicy peanut sauce. Preparation of the ayam kleo was not easy, so I took a shortcut here and used pre-prepared pecel dressing. This was actually the first time I'd prepared this dish with chayote and I really enjoyed the addition. Chayotes are incresingly one of my favorite vegetables, with their sweet but crunchy texture... very reminiscent of a green mango or papaya in some ways. I look forward to using them more diversely.

1. To prepare the ayam kleo, I began by making a mixed chili paste by pureeing shallots, garlic, chili peppers, galangal, and 1.5 tsp turmeric.

2. The chicken was then marinated for an hour by mixing it with 1 tsp salt, juice from one lime, and 2 tsp of the mixed chili paste.

3. After one hour, the chicken was placed in the oven and baked at 450F until it began to brown.

4. Meanwhile, I created the fragrant sauce by sautéing 1 stalk of chopped lemongrass and 2 shredded kaffir lime leaves in oil. To this I added 1 cup of coconut milk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp tamarind water, and 5 tsp of the mixed chili paste. The chicken was then cooked slowly on a low flame for 20 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally.

Wanna dance tonight. Here's what I'm listening to:
Title: Gimme Gimme Cha Cha Heels | Play Song:
Artist: Eartha Kitt & Bronski Beat
Album: Where Is My Man?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I was a bit nervous about making today's lunch because I've never eaten or seen mee goreng before, so I had only the recipe to work with. Fortunately the recipe was fairly straight forward, but the locals will have to tell me how I far off base I was with the presentation/preparation.

I enjoyed the recipe. Unlike yakisoba, no ginger was used. Instead, the shrimp paste and garlic were the stars of the flavor show here. And they were helped along with the use of some chili from my garden.

1. To start the show, I boiled egg noodles, drained them, and then set them aside.

2. I then fried fresh chillies, 1 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp shrimp paste. Next I added the firm tofu. Once aromatic, I added half a cabbage and a handful of bean sprouts and fried briefly.

3. Next came the noodles themselves and soy sauce to taste. The whole mixture was then fried on high heat.

This was a good dish but it would be much improved with a more liberal use of fresh chillies. I used one jalapeno which is normally enough to set one dish completely on fire, which you'll know if you've ever eaten a jalapeno from my garden. (Sometimes I think my plant must have cross-bred with some firey ornamental, because they are damn hot.) However, in this dish I could barely recognize any spiciness... very strange!

By the way, I received another delivery of online groceries today and they brought me all the right vegetables this time, including a real Japanese daikon. (My description of it as aesthetically akin to a child's arm apparently did the trick, however much I regret ever thinking of that metaphor.) They only got one thing wrong: my 12-pack of Beck's beer is light beer, as in low-calorie. But I'm not phased -- I figure the univerise is probably just trying to tell me something.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I had a health scare last Friday when, after taking a blood test the week prior, my doctor's nurse called and told me I had "exceptionally high cholesterol" and "very high blood sugar." Well, taken together with the fact I already have a notable streak of hypochondria, you can imagine that this startling news managed to completely spoil my weekend. After eating a largely vegetarian diet for most of my life, this announcement was also perplexing. How could it possibly be? All weekend I questioned whether I had simply be deluding myself into thinking all these years that I eat a healthy diet.

On Monday I went into the doctor's office to discuss these alarming findings. He told me my cholesterol was normal, as was my blood sugar. I immediately surmised that the nurse had been reading somebody else's lab test results to me when she called. Of course, I couldn't feel anything but happiness and relief.

I know -- I made this dish only a few weeks ago, but I craved it so much that I've decided to try preparing it a second time. It's funny: normally the way things work in my kitchen is that I will get something wrong the first time and then right the second time around. In this case, the opposite is true. Yes, it was tasty but not quite as delicious as the first time around. Here's what happened.

Back in the halcyon days of the dotcom boom, I used to order groceries online and have them delivered to my doorstep. This was a great luxury for somebody whowas working exceptionally long days, commuting four hours a day by train, and was also living an eco-friendly lifestyle by not owning a car. But when the dotcoms went bust, the private companies which offered these services shriveled up and died. It was a sad day for convenience.

However, recently I discovered that one of the local grocery chains in town had started this up again. Great, I thought. I quickly got an order together, scheduled my time, and just as planned my groceries arrived during their scheduled window. The driver was even nice. There was only one downside.

As I opened my grocery bags, I discovered that my order for "daikon" resulted in the little red variety of radish which I find so terribly yucky. Granted this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things -- after all I get my beloved online grocery shopping back now -- but sad to say that my mooli paratha suffered greatly by this mistake. My paratha, rather than being savory and subdued, was instead infused with that distinctly bitter taste of American radishes. Sigh. But you know, I am not really complaining. In the course of one week I've been granted both my online grocery shopping and my overall health back. That is a blessing.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The last time I tried making Vietnamese spring rolls, I failed miserably. I followed the rice-wrapper instructions carefully, folding each wrapper in between a damp paper towel. But when it came time to actually using the wrappers, they were so soggy that they could not even be handled. It was a great disappointment.

I think I've figured them out now, though. This time around, I took my inspiration from Iron Chef. On one of the most recent episodes, I observed one chef quickly dip his rice wrapper in and out of hot water. This method works. By the time the dipping is complete (one quick dip is sufficient) and the wrapper has been laid down, it has already begun to soften. At this time, ingredients can be placed on the roll in anticipation of complete softening. After the ingredients have been placed on top, the rice wrapper has reached medium-softness and is now ready to roll.

I didn't want to invest too much into this trial, so I did not follow a recipe; instead I just used what was on hand and what sounded good at the moment. To this end, I filled my rolls with chopped peanuts, tofu, lettuce, fresh mint, cucumber, mung bean noodles, and carrots.

Peanut sauce is by far my favorite dipping sauce for these rolls, but this time around I tried using a sweet-sour-spicy fish sauce, made by mixing sugar and water (I used honey instead), minced chili and garlic, juice from half a lime, and fish sauce. It was zesty, pungent, and light.

For improvements, next time around I think I will serve this with a curry-coconut dipping sauce, peanut sauce, or something a little more substantive. I think the addition of basil inside the roll would also be excellent.

Dessert was no-sugar mango with sweet rice. After cutting up the mango (which was perfectly fresh and delicious, by the way), I then heated up a spoonful of coconut milk and a spoonful of honey, pouring this mixture over the mango and rice. I then topped off the dish with some roasted sesame seeds.

I love this dish but lately I've been trying to cut sugar out of my diet, so this was my little low-cal experiment. Fortunately, the result was excellent and I'll definitely be making this again.

Dreamy, lazy mood tonight. Here's what I'm listening to:
Title: Heat | Play Song:
Artist: Don Tiki
Album: Skinny Dip WIth Don Tiki

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I had a mad craving for vegetables this evening so I prepared these colorful veggie kebabs, which I served with a Thai sweet-spicy sauce. It was a messy affair on the stovetop but well worth the post-dinner cleanup as the flavors really satisfied my hunger for greens.

1. I first made my Thai-style sweet-spicy sauce by combing a little hot water with a 1 tsp sugar, juice from half a lime, 1 tsp sambal oelek (chili puree), 1 tsp fish sauce, and some crushed peanuts. Mmmm, this sauce would make anything taste good.

2. I then cut my vegetables and skewered them on sticks. For some added flavor, I squeezed some more lime and sprinkled on a little salt on top before adding them to the grill.

Here's what the dipping sauce looked like, with some crushed peanuts on top. I added just a bit to the kebabs as they grilled for some additional flavor.

Tonight was definitely one of those nights when I craved a big bowl of food to eat in front of the television, so here's what the dish looked like after removing the cooked veggies from the skewers and placing them on a bed of rice. (Together with the leftover crushed peanuts... why waste them?) I also didn't want to bother with the dipping sauce, so I lazily poured this on top of the vegetables. The rice subsequently soaked up the sauce, and the end result was... ahhh... just heavenly.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last time I was in Orange County with TIL, we stopped into 99 Market grocery store where I proceeded to hoard every conceivable Asian condiment, herb, fruit, vegetable, and product not available to me locally. This included two pompano fish which I deposited into the freezer once home in the desert.

I had a couple of different ideas on how I'd like to prepare the first of them, but ultimately I decided on making kare ikan, or Sumatran style fish curry. As the Kind Reader knows all too well, I have a weakness for anything with coconut in it so this was a logical and easy choice.

1. I first created a bumbu (spice mixture) by combining 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 stalk of chopped lemon grass (white portion only), 1 tsp chopped ginger, 1 tsp grated turmeric (I used powdered for lack of), 2 cloves garlic, and 2 shallots. This was pureed with a little peanut oil in a food processor and then applied to the cleaned fish to marinate for 20 minutes.

3. After 20 minutes, I removed the fish, added the original marinade to a wok and added 1/2 cup water, simmering on low heat. I then added the second mixture (#2) and simmered the combined mixture for 5 mins. The fish was then re-added, a lid placed on the wok, and cooked until done. (Note: if the fish is thick, you may need to flip it at one point to cook it thoroughly.) After placing the cooked fish on a plate, the thickened sauce was then spooned on top.

For anybody attempting this recipe, I have the following suggestions. After the sauce has reduced and the fish is near to completion, you may want to taste the sauce and add a little salt or soy sauce to taste. I found this recipe a little lacking in the salt department. Otherwise, I'd say this was excellent.

By the way, for anybody with white composite countertops like me, I have found that by applying a little window cleaning solution to turmeric stains does wonders. Just let it sit for a few minutes and then scrub. This should take the stain right out. This is a very messy dish and this tip may just come in handy.

By the way, after I took this picture I realized I'd completely forgotten to sprinkle the top of the fish with red and green chili slices. So, please use your imagination and add a few to your mental image!

Moody tonight. Here's what I'm listening to:
Title: She's So D*amN Cool
Play Song:
Artist: Felix Da Housecat
Album: Devin Dazzle & the Neon Fever

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (2)

Dinner tonight was sambal goreng udang, or Indonesian shrimp and snow peas cooked in coconut milk. And off to the side you will also notice some krupuk, which are tapioca crackers. These start out looking like hard plastic chips until they are dropped into oil; like magic they puff up and turn into puffy clouds of crispy deliciousness. Tonight was my first time cooking/eating them and I loved them!

The dish itself was prepared by:

1. Creating a bumbu (spice mix) of ground stalk of lemongrass, 3 candlenuts (I used an equal amount of almond slivers), 1 tsp grated galangal, 2 cloves garlic, 2 shallots, 3 chili peppers, and a pinch of shrimp paste.

2. This is then fried in oil for 2 minutes before adding the snow peas, which are fried for an additional 2 minutes.

3. The prawns are then added and fried briefly for 1 minute before adding the remaining ingredients, which are: 2 tsp tamarind water, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 tsp palm sugar, and a pinch of salt. Simmer for a few minutes more.

I loved this dish and I will certainly prepare it again, as it was flavorful without being too overpowering in the spice department. (Actually I love overpowering, but once in a while it's nice to take a break and to have options for less adventurous relatives.) I really enjoyed the additional textures that the krupuk brought to this dish, in particular.

Lunch today was such a disappointment because my first attempt at making durian cake was a complete failure. Not only did I use up my very limited frozen durian supplies, but I was left feeling very cheated out of a delicious dessert after smelling the delicious smell of cake baking in the oven for over an hour. Some people may be offended by the smell of durian, but I love it myself.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Let me just come out and say it: it was nice being able to miss that flight and getting to stay home an extra day. There, I said it. Yes, I am full of guilt that I am missing the first day of the conference I'm supposed to be attending (in a suit) right now. No, I'm not feeling that I'm missing being in Washington DC right now in a suit surrounded by people I don't know and don't-. Well, there it is.

Anyway, I had a nice day today. As usual, I was full of anxiety and nervous energy about flying -- a feeling that continues even now, many hours after I discovered that I wouldn't be flying today. In a Mommie Dearest moment, I ended up trimming plants in the yard in spastic movements and spending the day bonding with the garden, drinking wine all the while to calm myself down.

If you'll remember, I prepared an Indian meal last night to eat on the plane today. For lunch I decided to expand on that meal. So, in addition to my Moghlai-style chickpea curry, I prepared a pot of uppma and ate that as well. Quite the spread.

Here is the uppma, which is essentially a semolina risotto prepared with hot chilli peppers (a good way to start trimming back all the jalapenos I've got going in the garden), cashews, curry leaves, ginger, onion, and mustard seeds. I am so not worthy when it comes to Indian food, but I must admit this batch turned out pretty tasty.

And here we have yesterday's re-heated dish, Moghlai-style chickpea curry. This dish is prepared by sauteing a bit of cinnamon, cardamom, onion, ginger, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garam masala, fresh tomatoes, and then combining this spice mixture with fresh tomatoes, yogurt, and chickpeas. This mixture is boiled down until most of the moisture is gone and only a curry-like consistency remains.

These dishes worked particularly well in tandem. Both recipes, by the way, were obtained from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cookbook -- a source from which I occasionally pull material.

Now where's that glass of wine?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I totally suck when it comes to preparing Indian food, but I crave it so badly at times that I reconcile myself to mediocrity and just push ahead with it. After running across some extra potatoes last night and then spotting a picture of a masala dosa with sambar, I knew that's what I had to have.

This dosa pancake was made from a pre-prepared mix, so don't be overly impressed. It is stuffed with a spicy mixture of potatoes and spices.

This sambar soup was a big mix of leftovers -- canned tomatoes, carrots, jalapeno peppers from the garden, tamarind juice, curry leaves and a zillion other spices. The soup came out pretty well despite the fact I did not use fresh tomatoes.

The mango chutney was a good counterpoint, although I definitely prefer that smooth, coconut mixture that is normally served with this dish. (I have tried making it myself but not with good results.)

I love Indian food so much but it is such an impossibly difficult cuisine to prepare, requiring hours of preparation that most people in simply don't have available in their personal lives. I was first introduced to Indian food while living in London, but I did not try masala dosas until I was in college. It was then that a group of friends and I randomly walked into an Indian grocer and discovered an Indian family eating some delicious smelling food. We asked the proprietor where they had obtained it, and he mentioned with a smile that it had been cooked in the back of the store. Would we like some? And so began our weekly ritual of scarfing down $2.00 masala dosas and other treats cooked fresh in the back of a grocery store, sitting on a cafeteria bench and eating off paper plates. Those are magical memories for me.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I hope people from Malaysia won't laugh at me too much for attempting to make what some consider to be their national dish (and substituting baby zuchini for cucumber slices, which I didn't have on hand). I've never eaten this dish before and have little idea what the presentation is supposed to look like, but alas.. there must be a first time for everything.

When I began preparing dinner this evening, I actually only intended to make coconut rice (nasi lemak), which utilizes coconut milk, lemongrass, and pandanus leaf to lend a divine fragrance to the rice. (Yep, I cheated and stole a leaf from my baby pandanus plant.) Well, after these ingredients were placed into my rice cooker, you can't believe the amazing, intoxicating scent that issued forth. (Subsequently, the taste of the rice was magnificent and I'll certainly be making this often.)

As I searched around for nasi lemak recipes, I realized that this dish was normally part of a larger meal and decided to push ahead and try making a meal of it, despite the fact I was missing cucumber. I decided on a nasi lemak / sambal ikan bilis combination. (Ikan bilis is a sambal prepared with dried anchovies, onion, garlic, tamarind, shallots, dried chillies, belacan (fermented shrimp paste), salt, and sugar.) I also fried some peanuts in a little oil and with a dab of sambal oelek.

I was super-pleased with the result, although I am sure that this dish could be improved upon by leaps and bounds with the help/feedback of people who really know how to make it. I pretty much just followed the recipe at the link above, but I can't speak to its accuracy. Who knows? Malaysian/Indonesian fare is new territory for me.

My favorite part of this dish was definitely the coconut rice scented with lemongrass and pandanus leaf. Oh my god. The smell and taste were just heavenly. How can I have not tried this dish up until this point in my life?

After this meal, I thought now would be a good time to break open the package of Indonesian ginger coffee I purchased a while back and give it a try. I can definitely say that the taste of this coffee was... shocking! The ginger was potently strong, as were the other herbs used to flavor this unique brew. I think most Yanks would spit out the stuff, but after flavoring it with a little cream and giving myself time to adjust to it, I began to find the overpowering ginger taste pleasing. Almost soothing. I think I will give it a few more tries and see if I don't develop a taste for it.

This particular type of coffee was powdered but not "instant" -- the majority of the grounds were too large to dissolve completely and fell to the bottom of the cup quickly, much like Greek style coffee.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birrrthday dear Me-eee
Happy Birthday to Me

I tried to come up with an "Asian cake" to mark my 35th birthday and decided on bibingka cassava -- a Filipino dessert made with grated cassava and coconut milk, baked in banana leaves. Happy birthday to me!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's been wayyy to long since I last ate kimchi. My latest batch won't be done fermenting for another week or so, so to fill the spicy void I fried up some dau hu xa ot (Vietnamese spicy lemongrass tofu) last night. This is one of my favorite dishes.

It's easy to make to. The first thing to do is mix two stalks of finely chopped lemongrass (I used fresh ones from my garden this round and wow, what a difference in taste it made), soy sauce (4-5 tbs), turmeric (1 tbs), chopped fresh chilies (4-5), chili flakes (2-3 tbs), sugar (2 tbs), and salt (1tbs) in a bowl. To this mixture add as much cubed tofu as you care to eat and let it marinade for 30 minutes. (Your rice can be cooking meanwhile.)

After the first 30 minutes are up, saute chopped white onion, shallots, and garlic in a wok with peanut oil for about a minute or two. Add the lemongrass tofu mixture and stir fry gently for 2-3 minutes together with a handful of chopped, roasted peanuts. Just before the 2-3 minutes is up, add a handful of Asian basil leaves. (The original recipe calls for la lot leaves but I have yet to find any in the area.) Top the finished dish with more chopped peanuts and serve.

Substitition notes:

The first time I made this dish I was out of onion and used green onion instead. Now, I can't imagine this dish without green onion. So, this is my own genetically altered version of this dish.

Likewise, I don't have la lot leaves at my disposal, so I used Italian basil. This week's garden obligation is therefore locating la lot seeds and growing some in my garden. Anybody have any? :-)

P.S. I leave for New Orleans in a week. Does anybody have any restaurant and/or entertainment suggestions? Besides lifting one's skirt up for beads?

"Chunky Macapuno Coconut Ice Cream" -- the perfect ending to a spicy meal. There certainly must be a higher power for providing the world with the coconut. It's my all time favorite taste and smell. And god bless Aj Liquor & Oriental Mart for being the conduit that would provide me such a delicious thing. Amen.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I "teach" myself various Asian dishes, I find that my three main challenges are typically:

1. Presentation. How do I present the dish if I've never seen it before?

2. Ingredients. How can I learn to authentically replicate a dish when it is at times next to impossible to find the required ingredients?

3. Meat to Veggie. How can I alter dishes that are traditionally meat-based into something suitable for a largely vegetarian diet and still remain true to the dish?

There are no answers, of course -- only challenges. In this case, I have never eaten Siamese laksa lemak, seen it, or even tasted it. But after spotting this recipe, I thought I'd just give it a try. As complex as the dish is, I was fortunate to have nearly all of the ingredients on hand. (Exceptions: I have no idea what a candlenut is and obviously don't have any. I don't have access to real tamarinds and used concentrate rather than skins. I don't know what a laksa noodle is and used Taiwanese flour noodles. There were also a few toppings I was lacking but didn't worry about it -- I was more concerned with the getting the bumbu right.)

Some of laksa lemak recipes I saw called for seafood and meat toppings -- I used tofu instead. Being a laksa lemak virgin, I can't comment on the authenticity of my rendition, but I can at least say that I thought the result was quite delicious. Very complex and savory, I'll save this one for nights I want to set my mouth on fire. (Which is more often than you might think.)

I think I'm falling in love with Malaysian food. I don't suppose there are there any Malay familes out there interested in adopting lil ole me?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I usually begin thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner while working out at the gym. This is a time when my brain isn't being particularly challenged and when my stomach begins its rumblings -- a marriage of circumstances really. And so it came to be that during a set of bicep curls, I knew I had to have chana masala (Indian curried garbanzo beans) when I got home.

I've made this a number of times, each with a different recipe. I think this one was the most successful, although the recipe calls for far too much tamarind. (Or perhaps it's because I used concentrate rather than extract -- oops.) Fortunately, I used only 1/4 of the prescribed amount and although I would use less next time, the dish still came out rather well.

Of course, one of the best things about cooking at home is the ability to crank up the heat. When eating out, I'm always complaining about two things: 1) lack of salt and 2) lack of spiciness. Being a lover of savory, salty, spicy foods, this causes me to be a great minority in this country of bland-loving diabetics. So what a pleasure it is to cook food just the way one likes it; in this case: so spicy that fire comes out one's ears.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Afghani dumplings ("ashak") with mint-garlic yogurt sauce, filled with tofu and chives.

While the marriage of yogurt and dumplings might seem strange on first glance, keep in mind this is an Afghani dish rather and not East Asian. I was hesitant at first to try preparing this dish, but I found it to be scrumptuous.

1. In a bowl, prepare your ashak stuffing by mixing half a package of firm tofu, half a cup of green onions (or chives, or leeks), a spoonful of olive oil, a spoonful of salt, a spoonful of grounc coriander, a few dashes of black pepper, and a spoonful of chili paste. With cheesecloth, squeeze out the excess liquid. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, prepare the yogurt sauce by combining a cup of strained, plain yogurt, 1 clove of garlic (crushed or grated), 1 spoonful of dried mint, one spoonful of salt, and a little black pepper. Set aside.

3. To make the ashak, use wonton wrappers. My recipe calls for making them in triangular shapes, but I prefer using my wonton-press -- it's easier. Fill the wonton wrappers with a fingertip size amount of the ashak stuffing and seal. Set aside.

4. In a large pot, bring water to a boil together with some salt and a little olive oil. Drop in 10 ashaks at a time and let them simmer for a few minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil so they don't stick to the plate or each other.

5. Before serving, place half the yogurt sauce on a plate. Place ashaks over it and cover them with the remaining sauce.

Indian samonas filled with curried potatoes and peas. Cilantro-mint-almond chutney.

Gujarati carrot soup, prepared with yogurt. A side of naan.

The marriage of carrots, sour tastes (yogurt, salt), and pungent tastes (garlic, ginger, onion) in this dish is a beautiful thing. I'm surprised I'd never tried this dish until today -- this 100% vegetarian dish deserves recognition! Recipe:

1. Heat a spoonful of oil in a wok and cook a spoonful of black mustard seeds until they begin to pop. Then add 10 curry leaves, a chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 inch of grated ginger, 2 freshly chopped chilies, a chopped red beller pepper, 3 grated carrots, half spoonful of sugar and half spoonfil of salt. Fry for ten minutes, or until the carrots are soft. Add a cup of water and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Discard the curry leaves when done. Turn of the carrot soup burner and let cool for a minute or two.

2. In a blender, mix 6 spoonfuls of plain yogurt with a spoonful of rice flour.

3. Slowly mix in the plain yogurt/rice flour mixture into the soup, stirring while doing so. When it's mixed in, turn the burner back on very low and heat the soup while stirring until it begins to boil. Turn off heat and serve. Garnish with chives or cilantro.

So what did you eat for Labor Day Weekend?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Before the weekend came to a close, I made a trip to Trader Joe's and stocked up on breads, including lavash. Remembering a recipe I'd seen in my Persian cookbook, I decided on trying Persian Eggplant Lavash Filled With Mint, Yogurt, Onion, and Garlic.

The exterior is wrapped with eggplant -- this is easily done by thinly slicing an eggplant, painting it with olive oil, and placing the slices in the oven at 450F until they turn golden and/begin to brown. Remove while still soft.

The filling of the lavash rolls are made by sauteeing onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and mint in olive oil. When soft, transfer to a food processor and blend. Add a small amount of yogurt.

After being rolled, the rolls are then dipped in strained Greek yogurt and eaten. Yum! This would make a great party-platter dish for sure, but be aware that the eggplant exterior makes for messy eating.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After yesterday's breakfast and a similarly fattening Afghani dinner (including deep fried vegetables dipped yogurt -- oh so delicious and yet so very hard on the stomach), I swore off oil completely today and opted for a macro vegetarian lunch.

Here's my first attempt at o-hitashi (compressed spinach roll). My recipe book notes that this side dish has been prepared with Japanese meals for centuries.

These are prepared by briefly boiling fresh spinach, squeezing out the liquid, adding a little soy sauce, again squeezing out the liquid, creating a roll shape, and then cutting the roll into bite-sized pieces. They are then topped with roasted sesame seeds and a little salt.

Next time I will try harder to get them into a more perfect cylindrical shape.

Another dish I made was Thai cucumber salad. Mine came out a little sour. Next time, I will try using less vinegar. The remaining tastes were wonderful though, particularly the fresh taste of the jalapeno peppers straight from the garden.

I ate these two dishes with a bowl of rice and miso soup. In a more formal setting, the Thai pickles wouldn't have worked here, but for me the combination of foods really helped to settle my stomach, without being bland or boring.

It's a strange thing, but when it comes to fats and oils, my stomach is prone to distemper. But when it comes to spicy tastes or alcohol, I seem to have a stomach of iron. Throw the most firey, most acidic of foods at me and my stomach won't even flinch. Strange, isn't it? It seems the person handing out the internals has given me just the right stomach for the type of cuisine I love. Lucky me.

"Pickle A"

3 c cucumbers; thinly sliced
1/3 c onion; chopped
1/2 c red wine vinegar
2 ts sugar
1/4 ts salt
4 red chili peppers; seeded
1 tb cilantro leaves

"Pickle B"

3 c cucumbers; sliced thinly
1/2 sm onion; sliced thinly

"Mixture A"

2 red chili peppers; seeded
2 ts garlic; chopped
2 ts cilantro root; chopped
2 ts peppercorns; whole or ground

"Mixture B"

1/2 c vinegar
2 tb soy sauce
1 1/2 ts sugar
1 tb cilantro leaves; chopped
1/2 c peanuts; crushed

Instructions

PICKLE A: Combine all ingredients. PICKLE B: Place cucumber and onion in a bowl and toss. Place A MIXTURE in a blender or food processor and blend to make a rough paste. Blend the B MIXTURE, then mix together A and B. Immediately pour over the cucumbers and sliced onion. Place in a serving dish and sprinkle with the cilantro leaves and crushed peanuts. Serve immediately. To make it hotter add more red pepper or a shake or two of cayenne.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I guess I was hungry tonight. :)

My main dish was clams in a miso-mustard-sake sauce with green onions. My side dishes included homemade cabbage kimchi, bellflower root, Korean style potatoes, Peking cucumber, and boiled mung bean sprouts with a soy/sesame oil/garlic seasoning.

The miso-mustard-sake combination turned out particularly well, even if I overcooked my green onions a bit.

This was also the first time I felt that my mung bean sprout banchan dish turned out just the way I like it -- on the salty side and not too crispy, heavy on the sesame oil taste.

Armed with some great ingredients I normally can't buy locally, I also gave this bellflower root banchan a try. My first attempt turned out a little too vinegary but I still enjoyed it. The slightly crunchy texture was particularly lovely.

Next time I will remove my green onions before they get too soft.

Stuffed beyond belief, a simple tea sounded good to me so I tried making a jujube-ginger-honey brew with fresh ingredients. To my great surprise, the result was excellent.

Mmmm. Life is good.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I love stumbling across dishes that manage to make the best use of my fresh ingredients, ensuring that little to nothing will go to waste and that the dish makes the best use of what's on hand. So I was very happy to find this recipe for Char Liap Liap (stir-fried bean curd with preserved radish and long beans) last night, the first Hokkien dish I've ever tried preparing.

The recipe notes it should be served with porridge, but I ate with white rice instead. It turned out rather well. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese cooking -- I find it rather boring compared to the bombastic tastes and smells of Southeast Asia and Korea -- but once in a while I crave something on the mild side and this was a good fit.

Pacific Asia Museum Courtyard, Pasadena

Well, I am back from Pasadena. My Pasadena trip marked my third trip to Los Angeles in three weeks, and this week I'll be flying to San Francisco to visit my ang moh momma, who is soon to be a taitai (woman of leisure) -- she'll be retiring in a year.

My favorite Pasadena memory was definitely the Pacific Asia Museum. The collections and exhibits were both outstanding (particularly the current exhibit on modern Korean ceramic artists), but the highlight was the museum's courtyard, seen above. There is a particularly large ginkgo biloba tree growing in the middle with its lovely fan shaped leaves. Not wanting to pluck anything directly from the tree, I was lucky to find some [quite stinky] ginkgo fruits on the ground which I've transplanted into my garden. Let's see if I can successfully grow one.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a strange day it is today! For the first time this year it is cool and rainy; after a long desert summer with normal high temperatures above 110F and even 120F, weather such as this makes one feel as if it is a foreign country. The cool weather does make it easier however to do chores that work up a sweat -- such as gardening, moving boxes of stuff back into their closets after the interior paint went up, etc etc. So even a sun and heat worshipper like myself can see benefits in grey skies, I suppose...

Today I thought I'd try doing my own version of Iron Chef and see what kind of meals I can make from the things in the garden and backyard that are currently mature and ready to eat. (Iron Jonny?) Here's what I came up with: lemon, jalapeno peppers, Korean gochu pepper, kaffir lime leavs, lemongrass stalk, and some Greek basil.

Last night I also realized that I had frozen some unused galangal, so taken together with this week's "food as medicine" theme (geared towards helping me duke it out with whatever sickness I have been fighting), I thought I'd make galangal soup for lunch. (Most people I know love this Southeast Asian soup and know it mainly by its Thai name, tom kha. A very appropriate name considering how yum it is.) Here I'm making the base broth by boiling sliced galangal, bruised lemongrass stalk, kaffir lime leaves, a little black pepper, a little salt, and half a cube of vegetable broth. (Normally I think chicken is used but I'm not a big chicken fan.)

After the broth has boiled a while, I strained out the contents leaving only the broth itself. I then returned the stock to the stove and added coconut milk, a little fish sauce, some tofu, and some mushrooms. This was then re-heated.

Into the base of my serving bowl, I squeezed half a lime and then added the galangal soup. I ate the final product with a big bowl of rice. Oh, pure heaven! Is there anybody in this world who doesn't like galangal soup?

For dinner I will try and use up the remaining lemon and Greek basil... stay tuned...

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been trying to grow Korean chili peppers (고추) for about two years now, coddling my lone Korean pepper plant by regularly feeding it fertilizer and giving it lots of love and attention. Two weeks ago it began producing its first gochus, so this this morning I thought I'd try making my first batch of gochu kimchi (고추김치 or green chili pickle kimchi).

What is interesting about my gochus is they are slightly curly, unlike the ones featured in my kimchi recipe book that appear to be perfectly straight. I don't know if this is due to the local climate or because I have a slightly different variety of pepper?

According to my recipe book: to make the pickle, combine 3/4 cup anchovy paste,1 cup fish sauce, 3 oz garlic, 2 oz ginger, and 3 oz chili flakes. Combine with peppers and press down the contents and cover. Ferment for 1-3 months.

I wish I could tell you now who it turns out, but you'll have to wait at least a month!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm not one to waste kimchi or let fresh ingredients go to waste, so what choice did I have but to try making something a little different tonight? Absolutely none.

Sure, I know what I'm setting myself up for. People are going to comment, cringing at the thought of the marriage of kimchi and pizza. But to plead my case, consider for a moment how similar the use of kimchi topping is to other common ingredients such as sun dried tomato (salty/pungent) or sardines (salty/fishy/pungent). Yeah, I hear you: you're not convinced. But believe me, the coming together of kimchi (the world's tastiest condiment) and pizza (the world's most popular guilty pleasure) is an inevitability. In 2020, kimchi pizza will surely be as common as pepperoni.

Here's how it started out -- freshly prepared dough oiled with a small amount of olive oil. (No, I didn't throw it up in the air and no, it didn't land on my face.) On top of this went a small amount of garlic, fresh tomato, Korean perilla leaves, fresh mozarella, and of course... kimchi!

This was baked on a pizza stone at 425F for 10-20 minutes until crispy.

My use of perilla was purely experimental but I felt in the end it was a wild success. Already so basil-like in taste, and yet different and so distinctly Korean, I thought it would make a great candidate as a pizza topping. I was right! The peppery taste complemented but did not overwhelm the salty/pungent tastes of the kimchi.

By the way, kimchi pizza wasn't my idea. I first heard about it from my Jewish friend in New York who sent me this article back in 2002. I've been playing with the idea of making it since that time, and here we have it. Who wants a slice?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I used the very last of my kimchi last night by making mushroom and dubu chigae (두부찌개), or Korean mushroom and tofu stew. I used to eat this back in Silicon Valley for lunch once in a while and I have fond memories of it.

It was also the natural thing to make with quickly souring kimchi and while finding myself in the midst of a mad mushroom craving. (I had planned on topping off my chigae with some fresh green onion but it appears that hunger demanded expediency and I completely forgot.)

I love this dish because it's so easy to make: I just added some kimchi to a pot with a little dab of sesame oil and fried it slightly (with meat if you're so inclined), add water, some extra chili powder, and anchovy stock. At this point you can just add whatever you feel like. Really the only complicated part is preparing the kimchi the weeks prior, but even this can be simplified by using store-bought kimchi. (Just try and avoid King's brand in the U.S. which is terrible and not even worthy of being called kimchi. Spit-spit. Your local Korean grocer is your best bet.)

My side dishes were: oe muchim (spicy Korean cucumber pickle) -- see earlier entry for the recipe.

Parboiled broccoli. I couldn't find a recipe for this one but I craved it after eating it at Korean restaurants so often. I parboiled mine and then fried it briefly in a little sesame oil, garlic, and salt. It came out a little salty but I'll try it again with less salt next time. Anybody have a better preparation method?

This banchan was also an experiment. Without access to Korean mushrooms, I just used the same recipe for mushroom banchan but used the standard American type of mushroom available at all supermarkets here. I wasn't overly impressed! I hope to try this with the proper type of mushroom next time.

Yum. I was pretty happy with this meal. I could have gotten the banchan better by using less salt and the proper mushrooms, and my chigae presentation could have been much improved with some green onion atop the bubbling dubu broth. But in general it was still tasty and satisfying.

To be able to cook the meals one truly craves is to, in a small way, control the universe. Cooking is the control freak's most appropriate hobby. :-)

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My personal challenge last night was to come up with an Asian dessert that could pass as having a Halloween theme. I ended up with this green-colored seven layer pandan cake...

As with my bibim bap, this was my second attempt after failing miserably the first time around. This cake is also a little laborious... each layer of the cake is steamed independently by adding a layer at a time. It requires at least 70 minutes of standing attentively at the stovetop. Another challenge for me was trying to cut it neatly into squares, being so terribly sticky and gelatinous. I ended up heating the knife under hot water prior to each pass and this seemed to work decently, but I was left wondering if there isn't a better way of going about it.

This cake is a mixture of tapioca flour, coconut milk, mung beans, pandan concentrate, and a little green food coloring. I believe it is common to a lot of countries in the Asian region -- what's it called in your language?

1. Mix 3 c. tapioca/casava flour, 1 2/3 c. sugar, 3 1/4 c. coconut milk, and 1/2 tsp salt until it becomes a smooth paste. Divide in two.

2. To one batch of the mixture, add 1/4 tsp pandan flavor and green food coloring. To the white batch, add 1/4 c. steamed, peeled, and mashed mung beans.

3. Divide green batch into four equal portions. Divide white batch into three equal portions.

4. Boil water in large pot for steaming. Place a second pan inside pot atop boiling water. Add first green layer to pan and steam for 10 mins. Add first white layer and steam for 10 mins, etc until all seven layers are done. After steaming, let cool, pry loose and cut into portions.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Tonight in Jonny World we shift our focus away from the Asian region and face north towards Scandinavia -- the land of alcohol and gravlax!

A little known fact: I used to live in Denmark back in the early 1990s. I can't say Danish food is my favorite food in the entire world, but I did develop a taste for a number of Scandinavian foods. One them was smoerrebroed , or open faced sandwiches. Another is salmon cured with sea salt, pepper, sugar, brandy, and dill. For dinner I thought I'd try combing both of these personal favorites and create gravlax smoerrebroed .

Actually I found that making gravlax was quite easy. I cut a salmon steak in two and rubbed it with a combination of 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp caster sugar, 1 tsp crushed black peppercorns, 1 tsp brandy, and a liberal amount of fresh dill.

I then let the salmon cure for 12 hours, basted and flipped the salmon, and repeated this cycle every 12 hours until 48 hours were up. The salmon was then thinly sliced and placed on dark rugbroed.

Once the salmon was fully cured, I then prepared the dijon mustard sauce by combining 4 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp mustard powder, 1 tsp sugar, and 2 tsp white wine vinegar. To this mixture was slowly added (while stirring) 6 tsp of vegetable oil and 3-4 tsp chopped, fresh dill. And in my mind, the sauce totally made the dish.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of all the foods out there, I find myself most enamored with and fascinated by Korean kimchi. I suppose this was somewhat inevitable, having been drawn historically to both pungent tastes and green vegetables. As a child, my mother used to make me vinegared spinach and I always loved this dish so much. Who knew this simple side-dish would lead me here?

I feel awfully proud of this batch of gochu kimchi (고추김치) because the Korean peppers were grown from seed out in my garden. Taken together with the fact the kimchi, once made, requires a month of fermentation, one might state that this kimchi took over two years to prepare!

RECIPE: green chili kimchi is prepared by first rinsing approximately 3 oz of Korean chilis. (If these are not available, I suggest using shishito peppers which have the same level of hotness, i.e. nearly none. The texture and look is different but the taste will be the same.) Then mix together 3/4 cup of anchovy paste, 1 cup fish sauce, 3 oz chopped garlic, 2 oz chopped ginger, and 3 oz of chili flakes (these should be purchased from a Korean market as the Mexican type just aren't the same). Mix the paste with the gochus and place them into a container, pressing down to compact the mixture. Ferment in the refrigerator for 1-3 months.

Perhaps I've told this story before, but I'm feeling nostalgic.

The first time I tried kimchi was in college and it was that dried type of kimchi that comes in Korean ramen bowls. This wasn't 'real' kimchi, but all the same I was fascinated by the taste and craved more. Sadly, I wouldn't try eating real kimchi for many more years. This happened in Tokyo where I shared house with a Korean woman from Pusan. She used to bring back big plastic tubs of homemade kimchi from her family, which I suppose was a much superior sort of kimchi introduction. (I've always wondered though how she got away with lugging these on planes, especially flying with Japanese people who harbor such strong, negative feelings towards the smell of garlic.) Anyway, it was during this time I began eating kimchi on a regular basis. I even ended up taking a short trip to Seoul, so inspired I was by this miracle food.

When I came back to the U.S., however, it was totally impossible to buy a decent kimchi. While most U.S. supermarkets sell a brand of kimchi called King's, this stuff can hardly be called kimchi. So I began preparing kimchi myself, slowly emersing myself in the various rules and forms of etiquette involved in the process. My love of kimchi became not just a love of the food then, but a love for the process. A lot of people have emailed me while I've kept this blog and 'informed' me that the average Korean on the street doesn't make their own kimchi anymore, but this isn't the point. The 'point,' if there must be one, is my personal love of the process and the satisfaction that comes after many weeks of waiting and wondering. One combines various ingredients that, with time and care, will emerge as something entirely different in the end; I find a certain sense of wonderment in that.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Lunch today was gammodoki, or deep fried tofu balls filled with carrot, shitake mushroom, black sesame seeds, green beans, egg, and a little salt, soy sauce, and mirin. These are pressed into a palm-shaped ball and fried in oil. To my surprise (it was my first time making them), the taste turned out really well even if my gammodoki-sculpting skills still need some work.

I couldn't decide which type of dipping sauce would work better, Korean (with chili, sesame oil, sesame seeds) or a simple soy sauce infused with some fresh lemon juice from the garden. So, I made both. The clear winner was the lemon-soy sauce dip because it helped cut through the grease so well and also did not distract from the gammodoki tastes. (Sorry Fishy, you didn't win.)

Last night I made ube and haupia pie, so I broke that out for dessert. (My version uses ube instead of Okinawan sweet potatoes like Reid's original recipe, but I'm sure the taste is relatively the same. I use Filipino sweet potatoes instead as the Okinawan type cannot be purchased locally.) I enjoyed this with a cup of mango flavored black tea with honey and cream. A nice way to spend the afternoon before returning to work tomorrow...

Note to self: must remember to take photos before eating the food!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pad kee mao is definitely one of my all-time favorite dishes. I don't remember how or where I first tried this dish, but I find it so vastly more interesting and so infinitely more flavorful than pad thai that I wonder why so few others know about it.

In any case, I wanted to shout hoorah! after making tonight's pad khe mao, because although I have made this dish a half dozen times for sure, it's never really turned out just the way I craved it. Tonight however I got it just right so the recipe follows for future reference. (I don't claim this as authentic by any means -- it's just presented here as "the way Jonny likes it.") Warning: my version is extremely spicy!!

Ingredients:

6 ounces of sen-yai rice noodles
1/4 cup of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
2 cloves chopped garlic (for frying)
1 clove sliced (as topping)
1 tablespoon chopped shallots or onions
2-3 tablespoons white rice vinegar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons of palm sugar
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons ground, dried red chili
2 green jalapeno peppers, 1 red (chopped/sliced finely)
1 red jalapeno (sliced thickly as topping)
Handful of coriander leaves, plucked from stems (retain stems for frying)
1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
Dash white pepper, ground
4-5 tablespoons oyster sauce
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

Instructions/Recipe:

1) Prepare fresh ingredients. Combine ground pepper, rice vinegar, dried chili, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and tofu in a bowl. Marinade tofu in mixture while proceeding with further steps.

2) Soak sen-yai noodles in water for 15 mins. Place soaking sen-yai noodles on the stove and bring to very slow boil, removing the sen-yai noodles while they are still toothy. Do not walk away from the noodles or they will become soggy. Drain with cold water and set aside.

3) Season wok with oil. Add the shallots, japapenos, garlic, and coriander stems to oil, frying briefly to make the oil aromatic. Add noodles, tofu, and marinade.

4) Turn wok to high. As the noodle marinade/sauce begins to become reduced, add the Thai basil leaves, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Just before serving, add the green onions and turn off heat.

5) Top noodles with freshly sliced garlic clove, red jalapeno, and coriander. Serve with a side of fresh cucumber to cool the tongue while eating. You'll need it!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

As I was flipping through my new Malay/Indonesian cookbook, I came across a beautiful picture of the dishes nasi kerabu (fragrant coconut rice) and telor balado (eggs in spicy red sauce) and wondered how I might make this dish eggless. As the eggs are normally deep fried before they encounter the balado seasoning, I thought deep fried, firm tofu might be a suitable candidate. So I came up with tahu balado. (Or should I say "balado tahu" -- can anybody tell me?)

Yum-yum-yum! To my great surprise, this dish combination turned out great despite my relative virginity in the field of Malay cuisine and the fact I took the telor out of the original recipe and replaced them with tahu. Actually, the result was gorgeous (at least to my tongue), so the recipe I used follows for future reference...

Fragrant Coconut Rice - Nasi Kerabu

1. Wash one cup rice until clean. Add one pounded stalk of lemongrass, three slices of galangal, two fresh pandan leaves, dash of salt, and a mixture of coconut milk and water to the level prescribed by your rice cooker for one cup of rice. Mix well inside the rice cooker before hitting Start.

2. While the rice is cooking, prepare the fresh ingredients as toppings: shred 1-2 kaffir lime leaves, cilantro leaves, 2-3 finely chopped cucumber slices, 2-3 knotgrass or basil leaves (I used basil), thinly sliced one red chili pepper, thinly slice one shallot. When the rice is done, let is sit for ten minutes, remove the cooked ingredients from the top of the rice, and then top of the fresh ingredients.

Deep Fried Tofu in Spicy Red Sauce - Tahu Balado

1. Heat oil. Slice firm tofu and coat liberally with flour. Fry the tofu on each side until cripsy, shaking the pan back and forth periodically so that the tofu won't stick to the pan. Remove and cool.

2. In the remaining oil, fry 2-3 spoonfuls of pre-prepared chili paste (see below), dash of salt, a fresh tomato (diced), and 1-2 pieces of lemongrass stalk. Fry until fragrant.

3. To the thickened sauce, add a dash of lime juice, a dash of sugar, and water if the sauce becomes too dry. Add the tofu to the sauce, coat, and then serve with the nasi kerabu.

Chili Paste

1. Add chopped red chili peppers, shallots, and garlic cloves to a food processor. Blend, adding a little oil if it's too dry. Refrigerate for future use.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:52 PM |