Dumpling Fever

Some have an “extra stomach” for dessert; no matter how stuffed they may be, there is always room. I completely understand that state of mind –except, for dumplings! My mother and friends will attest to my insatiable appetite for dumplings (remember when we ate four servings, prits and shri?), so you can imagine my joy when I discovered “The Dumpling House” during my first stint in New York.

The Dumpling House is a little hole-in-the wall Chinese joint that is the stuff of New York’s urban-legends. It’s (super) cheap, good, and practically impossible to find in the depths of Chinatown. The menu is limited –a variety of soups and dumplings with a few sesame sandwiches (beef and tuna) thrown in, and the staff speak practically no English. However, they sure know their dumplings, and there is always a line the length of the Yangtze to prove it. For $2 you’ll get some great steamed or fried dumplings. The hot sauce and kimchi also gets a special mention. Everything on the menu is worth a go, especially since you could buy it all for under $10. Personal favorites are the steamed pork dumplings with chives, and the dumpling soup. Don’t give up if you don’t find it on your first try, the Dumpling House (118 Eldridge Street) is definitely worth the trek!

Entertaining Yourself 1: A Quick Snack

Soya sauce avocado

It's not often that I find myself with the right ingredients to make this quick, moreish snack. No, it's not just a clever name; yes, I keep a very poorly stocked kitchen. So, drum-roll please; the ingredients are:

1 ripe avocado
1 portion soya sauce
1 pepper mill, fully loaded

You can tell your avocado is ripe when it yields to gentle pressure when held and squeezed (thank you Google!). Cut the avocado down the middle in to two halves and spoon out the stone. Slice it up in to coarse hatches. Dollup in some soya sauce, and grind a sprinkling of pepper on top.

Take your spoon, and gently scoop out a bite-size chunk, depositing it in to your open gob. Using your tongue and teeth, proceed to chew the

What? Oh right. Yes, you get the general idea. It's tasty, it's quick, it's not totally unhealthy. Have one now!

Quickie Mexican Soup

Nothing about this recipe is particularly fresh- its just quick, and uses all kinds of canned/frozen produce.

Ingredients
Cream of Tomato Soup / Trader Joe's Roaster Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
Roasted Salsa (10 tbsp, depending on whether you love spicy soup!)
Black Beans (1 can)
Frozen, cooked Meatballs (10-15)
Jalapeno (1 whole, chopped)
Rice (optional)
Sour Cream

Heat the soup in a saucepan on high, adding the jalapeno's and salsa. Drain and add the blackbeans and frozen meatballs when the soup gets really hot, and allow it to simmer. You can add some boiled rice to make it even heartier.

Serve garnished with coriander and a tablespoon of sour cream!

Kebabeque

This recipe is classic and amazingly easy to make! When I was about 9 years old, my mom invented it for us to take on picnics: the Tandoori Chicken Pita Pocket ! It requires a bit more preparation time than most foods, but is totally worth it.

Ingredients
Chicken breast
Ginger
Garlic
Tandoori Masala
Yogurt
Onions
Cucumber
Pita Bread
Olive Oil
Vinegar
Salt

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces and marinate it overnight in the yogurt (with ginger, garlic and tandoori spices). Tandoori chicken recipes will vary depending on the spice mix you get, so its easiest to just follow the directions. The longer it marinates, the softer and spicier the chicken will be.

Grill the chicken in an oven at 350-400 degrees, until the sides of the meat start to char. Remove and allow to cool.
Cut the pita into half, and stuff the inside with the tandoori chicken and sliced onions. As a dressing, you can either make a yogurt topping (yogurt+water+shredded cucumber) or a nice french dressing (olive oil+garlic+salt+vinegar). Add lettuce, tomato and sliced cucumber as per your taste.

Tanjines and Bluberry Mojito's

A few nights ago, I went out for dinner with my ex-boss and a co worker to 'Cafe Mogador', a Moroccan/Mediterranean eatery in the East Village. I'd never had Moroccan food, and was quite the excited gimp! But, other than the cool blueberry mojito, the food here was just way too expensive and not that great. The resto was bustly and had nice atmosphere, but the waiters were rushed and inattentive. The decor was also just your standard 'small table cloth-covered tables with a candle in the middle' type deal, with no interesting or even ethnic touches.

The menu was the usual mediterranean food offerings, like hummus and grilled kebab. I had heard good things about 'Tanjine' so decided to order the vegetables with couscous. Tanjines are moroccan foods cooked in a clay like vessel (also called a tanjine). They basically work by trapping steam and all the evaporated liquid in the pot, so that the meat or veggies cook in their own condensation. Kind of like a pressure cooker. So the vegetables I got with my couscous(carrot, pumpkin, potato) were very soft and tender - but also quite bland, despite adding tons of the provided red chilli sauce. And even though I was starving, and demolished everything on my plate, I was still left quite hungry! So all in all, i will probably never go back.

But - back to the blueberry mojito! Now, these mojito's don't actually taste all that different from a standard mojito, but the heaps of colorful berries in the drink look and taste beyond awesome! Imagine the possibilities: blackberries, strawberries, or even raspberries ! Quite cool. Its like bubble tea, but a bajillion times better.

Unfortunately, I lack a hi-tech cell phone and own a broken camera, so for now this post must subsist without pictures.

Oink

Being the chinese piggy year, porky products (particularly the fanstasticness of bacon), must be celebrated! Or whatever. Any excuse to obsess over bacon. and avocado.

Bacon
Pronounced "BAY-kuhn"
Cuts of meat taken from the sides, back or belly of a pig, cured and possibly smoked. A commonly used ingredient in recipes, valued for its flavour and as a source of fat.

Bacon tastes brilliant with almost anything:

- with Boursin cheese on crackers: Fry up some bacon strips. Cut and serve on crackers with a bit of boursin (gournay cheese with garlic and herbs). Panchetta (italian bacon) or Proscuitto may be susbstituted

-with avocado as a 'special' maki roll: Fry a bacon strip but remove from the pan before its too cripsy. Remove the oil and wrap it around some boiled sticky rice and finely chopped avocado. Eat with wasabi mayonnaise.

- again, with avocado, as a mini sandwich: very very simple. on toasted ciabatta, spead some mayo. load up the avocado, tomato and fried bacon. add pepper, salt and some jalapenos for added kick. melted monterrey jack cheese is also yummy.

Bacon and Asparagus Stir-Fry

Apparently a japanese recipe, this was one of the first instances I came across of bacon being used as a substantial food ingredient.

Ingredients:
Garlic (2 tbsp)
Ginger (2 tbsp)
Green Chillies (2, finely chopped)
American Bacon (1/2 packet)
Asparagus (10-12 stalks)
Spring Onions (6 stalks)
White Mushrooms (8 whole, chopped)
Soy Sauce (3 tbsp)
Vegetable Oil (2 tbsp)
White Rice

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and lightly fry the ginger, garlic and green chillies in a large wok. Add the finely sliced bacon and cook on medium heat, until its almost cripsy.
Add the chopped asparagus, spring onions and mushrooms and cook in the soy sauce (not too too much, because the bacon has ample enough salt.)
When the veggies are tender (not soggy!), remove from the flame.
Serve over plain, white rice.

Pasta Carbonara

A recipe from my friend, cute-ness personified, agatka - who partakes in the bacon obsession!

Ingredients
Pasta (fettucine, linguine or penne)
Olive Oil (2 tbsp)
Garlic (2 large cloves)
White Onion (1 whole, finely chopped)
American Bacon (1/2 packet, chopped)
Egg (1)
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese

Boil your favorite type o pasta and set aside.

In olive oil, lightly brown the chopped garlic and onion.
Add the bacon and fry it on high until cooked to your preference. Alternatively, if you prefer cripsy bacon, its best to fry it seperately on high and then just add it to the pan.
Once thats set, add the pasta to the bacon/ fried onion/garlic mix.
Break an egg into the pan over the pasta, and mix it in quickly over low heat for about a minute. Remove from the stove. Garnish with freshly ground pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

Going out for homemade food

Using his trusty mobile phone to take photos for this post, your mild-mannered blogger faced certain mugging, or at least harassment by aggressive 14 year-old girls. Not willing to put my life on the line for the sake of the reader, and having more hunger than sense of propriety, I made a beeline for Makan, Portobello's offering of Southeast Asian cuisine to the starving punter.

Situated right beneath the Westway along Portobello Road, you have to make your way past a variety of weirdos, trustafarians, women who lunch, and the general jobless to get there. It's tempting to think that, juxtaposed with a restaurant whose initials are S&M, Makan ('food' in Malay) will only deliver the mundane. What is on offer is a variety of curries, vegetables, classic singaporean and malaysian dishes, and sundry snacks such as samosas and banana cake.

The servings are generous, and the prices reasonable. Rice with three dishes is a mere £5.20. Some favourite combinations: rice with chicken rendang, spicy okra, and potato-lentil curry. Among the set dishes, we find Singaporean Char Kway Teow, or the mildy hot Laksa. I highly recommend the seafood Laksa not only because a large bowl of spicy, coconut-based soup filled with noodles, vegetables, and seafood is a perfect complement to the cold wet London midday weather, but also because it takes slightly longer to make, forcing your eating companions to wait for you.

All the dishes have the look and smell of authenticity. Service is with a smile, though if you're the type who quibbles over the difference between a lot of food and more than is good for you, wait until one of the girls is free to serve. For some unknown reason, they seem authorised to really dish it out, whereas asking one of the guys for "more please, sir" is usually met with a shewd scowl.

I, and everyone in my office less senior than me who aren't allowed to offer their opinion when I'm talking, give it our whole-hearted recommendation and approval. It offers seating space for about 15 people, as well as any dish to take-away. Lunch is usually between £4 and £6.