Sketch diary: At a low point

Following up on the last entry from my sketch diary:

Just one more week to go with the radiation therapy, and it’s really tough. I was in a lot more physical pain just after surgery (or before surgery last year when I had a bad infection), but mentally, I am struggling.

I do have a lot of pain. From the constant diarrhea mainly, and its side effects. And other things. And then there is the debilitating fatigue, which makes me incredibly cranky and hard to live with.

I love food, probably way more than most people. Why else would I write about food? At the moment though, my relationship with food is not a love affair, it’s adversarial. The food that is the healthiest - most fruits, and just about all fresh vegetables - trigger the diarrhea. The food that I can eat without making my intestines feel so tortured are the ones that are high in carbohydrates - which make my blood sugar rise. (I should note that I had my blood sugar comfortably under control before all this with a combination of healthy eating, moderate exercise and medication.) Because I don’t know what I can eat right now anymore, I haven’t been eating much at all.

Mainly, this is how I feel. Mainly about cancer.

One more week of radiation therapy to go. Hopefully things will get better after that, and I can feel better about writing about food again. (If you’re interested though, I have been answering a lot of questions on Quora recently, some about food. I think this indicates I need to finally start the Japanese-things blog that I have been threatening for so long, but right now I dont have the energy to set up a new blog, so Quora has to do.)

Thank you for your patience.

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Ippudo Ramen in NYC

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April 12, 2012Ippudo Ramen in NYC

My friend and food stylist Karen Stylist never fails to surprise me. On set, her nickname is “Ninja.” She’s quiet and stealthy, coming up with thoughtful nuances that make a shot. We’ve worked together on about six projects. For our New York City trip, she had a little hit list or restaurants, and Ippudo Ramen was on it.

Karen is singular in her resolve so I rarely mess with her. Plus she does her homework. Ippudo Ramen is a carefully styled Japan-export with only one outlet in the States – in New York’s East Village. We had to go.

All week long, we planned our meals around our business appointments. However, for Ippudo Ramen, I ditched my conference so we could easily snag two seats for lunch. That Sunday afternoon, the wait was 30 minutes for the two of us. Larger parties had to wait at least an hour.

We only had room for two bowls of ramen and opted for the “special” of kasana black ramen made with a rich pork and chicken broth. (The “black” refers to black fermented garlic.) The other was shiromaru hakata ramen. “Hakata is where tonkotsu [milky rich pork broth that’s so popular these days] came from. If they say Hakata, it’s a promise of purity. I have to try it,” Karen said. And so we did.

Before getting into nitty gritty, a sense of the place. Ippudo Ramen is carefully styled and ultra cool. Note the pants on the guy in the photo above. (It was dark and Karen had to shoot quick, hence the quality.) Fooling around with my iPhone, I made this little movie from our ramen lunch:

 

Ippudo ramen tasting notes: The kasana ramen came with a thin float of fat, hence the unattractive image in the movie. Undaunted, I stirred things up and the bowl became sublime. It was greasy tasting at all. The fat all but disappeared. The garlic provided a lovely back note. Everything was deeply savory. Lots of umami.

The hakata ramen broth wasn’t as rich and complex as the kasana, more like a cream soup but without the dairy. As much as we would have loved to drink every bit of broth in both bowls, they were so intensely flavored that we enjoyed the broth more like a seasoning to coat the noodles.

And for Ippudo’s ramen noodles… they were thin and round, chewy and just so. Excellent. Where do the noodles come from? When you go to use the restroom, a strategically placed window allows you to view the noodle making team at their rolling machine. One of their styled out ramen makers is pictured at the top of this post; great pants.

The subterranean part of Ippudo Ramen is darkly lit for an extra club feel. Viewing the noodle making show was a pleasure. Karen and I lingered and loitered, letting other ladies go before  us.

Ippudo extras

Asian noodle houses typically have a wealth of tasty snacks and sides to go with the main feature. Karen and I had front loaded our ramen lunch with a pair of Ippudo’s pork belly buns. She’d heard that they were very good and the waiter said that among the three kinds that the pork was best.

Ippudo sears the sliced pork belly and adds a little spicy mayonnaise for extra richness, and iceberg lettuce for crunchy contrast. The bun was your average Wonder Bread-esque steamed Chinese roll. Very nice. Very rich. Playfully sinful.

I needed my daily dose of vegetables and tofu, so I wanted the house salad with tofu dressed with ponzu dressing.

The thin slices of silken tofu were served on the side so as to not weigh down the greens. What made everything sing were the fine shreds of excellent nori seaweed. It was high-grade stuff, nearly black and aromatic. The seaweed lent umami depth to the tofu and salad. The seeds (I think it was mustard or sansho) added texture and a delicate bite.

The multiracial wait staff does not want you to linger too long. Bowls, plates and utensils are cleared quickly because there are always people waiting for your seat.

Karen was so smitten by Ippudo Ramen that she bought t-shirts as souvenirs for her family. They’re not on display for sale so she had to ask for them. Whimsically decorated,  their plastic bag even looked cool hanging on Karen's arm. It was all worth the wait and anticipation. Always travel with a hit list.

How does Ippudo against other excellent ramen? I'm not a major ramen expert but Ippudo Ramen is damn good, arguably the best I've ever had in the States. In Los Angeles, Daikokuya is fabulous but Ippudo is hauntingly good by comparison. Hakata Ramen is a runner up to Daikokuya.

If you have a favorite ramen shop, please don't keep it to yourself. Share your noodly tips.

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Hakata Ramen in Southern CaliforniaGood Asian Eats in NYCJapanese Pork Belly Bun recipePosted in Asian Restaurants, Travel | Permalink

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My friend and food stylist Karen Stylist never fails to surprise me. On set, her nickname is “Ninja.” She’s quiet and stealthy, coming up with thoughtful nuances that make a shot. We’ve worked together on about six projects. For our New York City trip, she had a little hit list or restaurants, and Ippudo Ramen was on it.

Karen is singular in her resolve so I rarely mess with her. Plus she does her homework. Ippudo Ramen is a carefully styled Japan-export with only one outlet in the States – in New York’s East Village. We had to go.

All week long, we planned our meals around our business appointments. However, for Ippudo Ramen, I ditched my conference so we could easily snag two seats for lunch. That Sunday afternoon, the wait was 30 minutes for the two of us. Larger parties had to wait at least an hour.

We only had room for two bowls of ramen and opted for the “special” of kasana black ramen made with a rich pork and chicken broth. (The “black” refers to black fermented garlic.) The other was shiromaru hakata ramen. “Hakata is where tonkotsu [milky rich pork broth that’s so popular these days] came from. If they say Hakata, it’s a promise of purity. I have to try it,” Karen said. And so we did.

Before getting into nitty gritty, a sense of the place. Ippudo Ramen is carefully styled and ultra cool. Note the pants on the guy in the photo above. (It was dark and Karen had to shoot quick, hence the quality.) Fooling around with my iPhone, I made this little movie from our ramen lunch:

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Phnom Penh Noodle Soup

Phnom Penh Noodle Soup pictures (1 of 2)

Many years ago, I visited Cambodia and fell in love with the country, its people, architecture (think Angkor Wat!), the exotic and absolutely delicious cuisine. I am so glad that my Malaysian friend Leemei Tan at My Cooking Hut has recently released a cookbook “Lemongrass and Ginger” and there is a Phnom Penh Noodle Soup recipe in the book. (Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia.)

Asian cooking is one of the fastest-growing cookery trends in the world—and from Chinese to Thai, Indian to Malaysian, the diverse tastes, textures and aromas of Asia can be sampled in this beautiful new cookbook.

There are 7 chapters in the book that cover recipes from all over Asia—Japan & Korea, China, Philippines & Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam and India & Sri Lanka. Besides, there are 3 sections in the book that will come in handy. They are “Basic Recipes,” “Basic Techniques” and “Glossary.”

The cookbook is available now in the US, UK, and Australia. To pick up a copy of the cookbook, click here.

(Click Page 2 for the Phnom Penh Noodle Soup Recipe)

Pages: 1 2

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Vietnamese Beef and Green Bean Stir-fry

I was at my favorite butcher shop last week to buy some flank steak for dinner when I noticed some very nice-looking flat iron steaks in the display case. The last time I worked with flat iron steak was maybe in culinary school, but because it was about $4 a pound cheaper than the flank steak, I was curious how it would turn out in a stir-fry.

“I can just tenderize it here for you and you’re good to go,” said the butcher on duty, who then proceeded to pound the steak with a meat mallet before I could second-guess my choice.

Flat iron steak, also called top blade steak, is usually found only in specialty butcher shops because of its scarcity. It seems to be a relatively new cut of beef, developed by researchers from the University of Florida and University of Nebraska in the early 2000s when they were trying to find a way to use the meat from the top shoulder of the cow, which before had just gone to waste. With a good amount of marbling and deep flavor, flat iron steak is usually grilled when you find it in restaurants. But as I learned last week, it also takes to the wok like a charm.

I made a Vietnamese beef and green bean stir-fry, marinating it in my usual soy sauce/rice wine/cornstarch mixture. My friends Barb and Max came over for dinner, and I’m pretty certain they weren’t just being polite when they said they really, really liked the dish. I think we all kept trying to scoop up more sauce with our forks even when the beef and green beans were all scarfed down. Oh yes, speaking of the sauce, it’s a simple blend of fish sauce, soy sauce, and freshly ground black pepper. Yet the remarkable, slightly earthy flavor makes it taste like it’s composed of 10 ingredients instead of just 3.

So try this out and let me know what you think, regardless of whether you can find flat iron steak. Flank steak and skirt steak work just as well and don’t need to be tenderized before marinating. Just remember to slice the beef against the grain, or else you’ll end up with a very tough texture. Tossing the beef in the freezer for 20 minutes beforehand will make the slicing much easier.

If you have any leftover sauce, you can save it for another quick meal the next day – it’s fantastic as a seasoning for fried rice, with nothing else needed except maybe some scallions and egg.

_________________________________

Vietnamese Beef and Green Bean Stir-fry

Serves 4

1 pound flank or flatiron steak (the latter tenderized), cut into 1/4-inch thick slices1 tablespoon soy sauce1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry2 teaspoons cornstarch1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil2 cloves garlic, minced1/2 pound green beans, cut into 3-inch lengths1/2 cup water1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper**Special equipment – wok or large skillet with a lidMarinate the beef: In a medium bowl, stir together the cornstarch, 1/2 tablespoon of the soy sauce, and the rice wine until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add the beef and toss to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the beef and spread it out in a single layer. Allow it to sear untouched for 1 minute, then stir-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes until the pink is mostly gone. Transfer to a plate and set aside.In the same wok, add the garlic and stir-fry very briefly (about 20 seconds), just until aromatic. Add the green beans and stir-fry for another 1 minute. Add the water and immediately cover with a lid. Allow the green beans to steam for 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender and the water has evaporated.Return the beef to the pan and add the fish sauce, the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, and the black pepper. Stir so that everything is well coated, then turn off the heat. Transfer to a plate and serve hot.

_________________________________

More beef dishes to try:

Cantonese Tomato Beef

Mongolian Beef

Korean Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jjim)

Spicy Hunan Beef with Cumin

Black Pepper Beef Stir-fry

Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl

Sichuan Boiled Beef in Fiery Sauce (Shuizhu niurou)

Tagged as: Beef, Recipes, Vietnamese

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Penang with Bee and CK

If you follow Asian cooking websites, you’re most likely already familiar with Rasa Malaysia, maintained by native of Penang, Bee Yinn Low. In fact, Bee and I started our respective blogs around the same time, and early on, she used to write me with questions about basic camera skills and Photoshop technique. Today, her website gets a bazillion hits a day and she’s even written and photographed a best-selling book. This obsession with food appears to be a family thing, as her brother, CK, although he hasn’t got into the blogging game, conducts food-based tours of Penang. With the kind help of these two more-than-capable guides, I was escorted around the restaurants, stalls, hakwer centres, factories, shops and farms of George Town and Penang. It was a virtual crash-course in Malaysian food, and as we ate at more places than I have space to go into here, I thought I’d share some of the highlights.

On our first morning we met at the busy morning market at Pulau Tikus, just east of George Town. There, we tried a whole lot of tasty stuff, but perhaps the most interesting to me were the dishes prepared by two friendly vendors selling Nyonya food:

Nyonya is a blend of Chinese and Southeast Asian cooking styles and ingredients and is a cuisine I’d read about, but hadn’t yet tried myself. At one stall I tasted the famous curry kapitan (a rich chicken curry using coconut milk), a seriously tasty nasi ulam (a rice ‘salad’ similar to the southern Thai khao yam) and perut ikan (a thick soup using salted fish kidney — tai plaa in Thai) — dishes which seemed to vary in flavour between rich/salty and tart/herbal. I particularly liked one vendor’s gulai kiam hu kut, a rich curry that gets its salty flavour from fish bone.

After tasting dishes at a few more stalls, we grabbed a table and Bee snagged a couple packets of rempah udang, an amazing Nyonya snack of grilled sticky rice surrounding a savoury, spicy (think pepper and coriander) and shrimpy centre:

Moments later, a bowl of curry mee arrived:

Like  other versions, the bowl held both rice and egg noodles, soft tofu, blood, cockles and shrimp, but this vendor’s version was among the spiciest dishes I’d encountered on Penang. CK explained that the shop’s broth is actually relatively bland, and the dish gets its spice and smoke from a generous dollop of chili paste, added at the last minute:

Every good breakfast needs a dessert, so naturally we spent the remainder of our time at the market eating sweet stuff, including apom, a type of sweet pancake, from this cheeky vendor:

Pulau Tikus Market
Jalan Burma, Georgetown, Penang

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In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by nearly all of the sweets I encountered on Penang, as they weren’t nearly as sugary as their Thai counterparts. In particular, George Town seemed to have a variety of slightly sweet pancake-like dishes such as apom balik, a soft, eggy, a slightly sweet Nyonya pancake filled with sliced banana or corn:

Apom Chooi
Jalan Burma (near Union School), Georgetown, Penang
1.30-8pm Mon-Sat

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and ban chean kuih, a light, crispy pancake filled with ground peanuts and sugar, giving it a flavour and texture that reminded me of the Thai sweet, khanom tup tap.

But it was really the savoury stuff I enjoyed the most. CK took me to Thin Seng Sauce Factory, a 100 year-old soy sauce factory in the middle of Georgetown:

We were offered a taste directly from the vats, and far from being just salty, the soy sauce was virtually meaty, with just a touch of sweet:

Thin Seng Sauce Factory
18, Kampung Malabar, George Town, Penang, Malaysia

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This was followed by a bowl of koay teow th’ng, rice noodles and fish balls in a clear broth (pictured at the top of this post), at Pitt Street Koay Teow Th’ng. A bowl here combines tender and delicious fish dumplings made on-site by hand, a rich duck-based broth, and to bring it all together, a splash of pork fat and crispy garlic. Quite possibly one of the standout bowls of noodles I’ve encountered in Southeast Asia.

Pitt Street Koay Teow Th’ng
Lebuh Carnarvon, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
Breakfast & lunch

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And the lard didn’t stop there; virtually across the street is Kedai Kopi Seng Thor, where the crispy and delicious oyster omelet:

like many old-school Chinese dishes in Georgetown, is fried in lard. Such rich lard, in fact, that the dish had an almost bacon-like flavour:

Kedai Kopi Seng Thor
Cnr Lebuh Kimberley & Lebuh Carnarvon, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

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If you find yourself in Penang, consider doing one of CK’s food-based tours of the island. Alternatively, if you want to recreate the dishes of Penang in your own home, check out this page at Rasa Malaysia.

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Good Asian Eats in NYC

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Asian Tofu
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Into the Vietnamese Kitchen
Available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, IndieBound

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Available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, IndieBound

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April 09, 2012Good Asian Eats in NYC

It’s taken me nearly a week to fully recover from the week spent in New York City. I was there for a packed schedule of conference sessions, meetings, and good food. New York over-stimulates your senses the moment you set foot outside. 

Food stylist Karen Shinto and I rented an apartment in the Gramercy Park area, located a couple of blocks away from the Flatiron building. (That's us above, famished enough to eat the Flatiron. Just kidding.) While we did graze at nearby Eataly, the Italian food emporium endorsed by Mario Batali, most of our meals were at Asian restaurants and snack shops. It was fabulously fun, inexpensive and overall very tasty. Here’s a recap: 

Rhong Tiam Express – Our apartment was right next to this popular spot on East 21st. Karen and I had flown red eye flights so we somewhat discombobulated on our first day in the city. After settling into the apartment and going to Trader Joe’s for provisions, we needed lunch. Something spicy and jarring to jolt us from jet lag. We scanned the Rhong Tiam menu and ordered so much food that we couldn’t finish most of it.

The outstanding dish was fried yucca. The relatively light, wonderfully crisp pieces were accompanied by a Sriracha-like spicy mayonnaise. The khao soi noodle soup was gentrified with chicken breast but there was enough complex heat to satisfy. I still think about those yucca sticks, wondering how they got the starchy tuber so light...

Banh Mi Saigon – A couple of years ago, this favorite banh mi shop in Chinatown, NYC, relocated to Grand Street. Their lease  had run out, the man behind the counter told me. I recognized the name of the joint but wasn’t sure because of the new location. The clue was the jewelry case, which they had at the original spot on Mott.

On our way to find ingredients for my tofu workshop, we got a banh mi dac biet special at 10:30am (7:30am Cali time). We split it and ate, talked and walked through Chinatown. It was an old-school sandwich eaten on the street. Kinda like as if we were in Asia.   

Xi An Famous Foods – What a name, huh?  This was a pick by Wiley cookbook editor Justin Schwartz. He’s on a gluten-free diet and Xi An Famous Foods has GF options for him. (Xi An is known for its terracotta soldiers too!) Karen and I ordered the wheaty “hand-ripped” (think stretched and cut) noodles with spicy pork, cilantro and celery salad, and savory Chang An soft tofu (a delicate version of Sichuan savory tofu pudding that’s in Asian Tofu, page 59). There was also pocket bread stuffed but greasy and delicious lamb.

Xian Famous Food has several locations but Justin took us to the one at 67 Bayard Street as it’s less crowded. Food comes up from a basement kitchen via dumb waiter. The joint was cramped and rather soulless, reminiscent of spots in Asia. I mean that in a good way. No glitz. Just the food.

Kang Suh – New York-based photographer Yun Hee Kim hosted Karen, fellow stylist Katie Christ and me at this Koreatown establishment  for drinks and snacks. It’s a two-story bustling restaurant where the banchan side dishes are prepared with a light hand. We had kimchi, pork belly, and tofu (see my recipe for it at Serious Eats) along with a great seafood pancake and kalbi. Yes, there was beer and soju too.

The address is 1250 Broadway but look for Kang Suh on West 32nd Street at Broadway; it’s on the south side of the street. Afterwards, walk to the Hotel Metro on West 35th, go to the rooftop bar and get a magnificent view of the Empire State Building!

Wong – Located in the West Village, Wong is named after its chef/owner Malaysian-born Simpson Wong. We went there with novelist Monique Truong and her husband for dinner. The food is Chinese and Southeast Asian, with an emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients.

Simpson is playful with his descriptions so you have to ask the wait staff for clarification. “Shrimp Fritters” is his well-done take on Vietnamese banh tom (see Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, page 272) served all in a bowl and ready for you to toss and eat. It’s not a traditional approach but plenty tasty. The Hakka pork belly was a standout, and so was the lobster egg foo yung, which had the buttery savoriness of salted egg yolks. The cocktails and beer selection were terrific.  

Gahm Mi Oak – On my last day, I was back in Koreatown for a meeting at Saveur magazine and ran into Robyn and Dave of Eating Asia. Saveur editor-in-chief James Oseland tipped us up off to the bibimbap at Gahm Mi Oak, located at 43 West 32nd, basically across from Kang Suh (above). The Korean restaurant was decorated like a humble rural hut with lots of wood and a small kitchen in the back. The menu is well explained in English and the kimchi was freshly prepared and delectable. The bibimbap didn’t hit you over the head either; it was made with a certain finesse and restraint. Look at the fine cuts made to the ingredients:

The server explained that the milky broth that accompanied the rice needed a bit of salt and scallion to perk up the flavor. The salt turned out to be MSG salt and it did the trick.

After the bibimbap lunch, I took a cab to JFK airport to catch a 5pm flight home. It was a good trip to NYC.

There’s one other Asian spot that we ate at that I’m going post next. A really interesting ramen joint.

(Btw, I went to a handful of non-Asians spots too: Blue Hill Farm and Monkey Bar for wine and cocktails, Seasonal for wonderfully light German fare, and Eataly for panini and wonderful seafood at Il Pesce.)

If you have a recommendation for New York, please share your pick. We're all looking for the next tasty meal.

Related posts:Top 10 Vietnamese Restaurants in NYC (per Adam Rose, 2/17/09)
NY Vietnamese Restaurant Recommendations (per Jennie M, a VWK visitor, 10/09)
Guide to Little Saigon in New York

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It’s taken me nearly a week to fully recover from the week spent in New York City. I was there for a packed schedule of conference sessions, meetings, and good food. New York over-stimulates your senses the moment you set foot outside. 

Food stylist Karen Shinto and I rented an apartment in the Gramercy Park area, located a couple of blocks away from the Flatiron building. (That's us above, famished enough to eat the Flatiron. Just kidding.) While we did graze at nearby Eataly, the Italian food emporium endorsed by Mario Batali, most of our meals were at Asian restaurants and snack shops. It was fabulously fun, inexpensive and overall very tasty. Here’s a recap: 

Rhong Tiam Express – Our apartment was right next to this popular spot on East 21st. Karen and I had flown red eye flights so we somewhat discombobulated on our first day in the city. After settling into the apartment and going to Trader Joe’s for provisions, we needed lunch. Something spicy and jarring to jolt us from jet lag. We scanned the Rhong Tiam menu and ordered so much food that we couldn’t finish most of it.

The outstanding dish was fried yucca. The relatively light, wonderfully crisp pieces were accompanied by a Sriracha-like spicy mayonnaise. The khao soi noodle soup was gentrified with chicken breast but there was enough complex heat to satisfy. I still think about those yucca sticks, wondering how they got the starchy tuber so light...

Banh Mi Saigon – A couple of years ago, this favorite banh mi shop in Chinatown, NYC, relocated to Grand Street. Their lease  had run out, the man behind the counter told me. I recognized the name of the joint but wasn’t sure because of the new location. The clue was the jewelry case, which they had at the original spot on Mott.

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