Post Type ArchivesRecipes

Authentic Pad See Ew

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Pad See Ew, fresh wide rice noodles with a soy based sauce, carrots and Chinese broccoli (Gai Lan)

Most people know about Pad Thaï ; fewer are lucky enough to have tried its tasty, Chinese-inspired cousin, Pad See Ew.

The fresh, wide noodles, the same as in Rad Na, are a game changer. They make for a slurpy, slighly gooey and comforting sensation when you gobble them, which constrats with the crunchier carrots and Chinese broccoli.

Taste-wise, the charred, umami noodles with beef, whose flavour is strenghtened by soy-based and oyster sauce seasoning, are exactly what you want from a savoury stir-fry. Less nuanced than Pad Thaï, but more intense, Pad See Ew is in my top three of the all-time best stir-fries.

The recipe is particularly simple and quick, and only 2 ingredients can be tricky to find : Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli), which you can easily replace with broccolini, and fresh wide rice noodles.

Unpopular opinion here : I don’t recommend making this dish if you cannot find fresh wide noodles. I’m usually all for replacing and finding appropriate solutions, but the noodles’ gooey and moist texture, absorbing all the delicious sauce, is central to the pleasure of this dish.

Authentic Pad See Ew – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

I’d advise you to go to a well-stocked, quite large Asian store, which will likely fresh wide noodles (in the refrigerated section) and gai lan.

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • If you cannot find Gai Lan, replace it with broccolini.
  • Can’t find Rosdee powder ? Replace it will a small pinch of msg, or powdered chicken bouillon, or mushroom powder.
  • Assaisonnement arôme Poulet Rosdee - Paris StoreIf your Asian store doesn’t store fresh wide noodles, as written before, I don’t recommend making this dish. Try Pad Thaï instead, for example, that’s perfect with dry noodles !
  • The wok part goes quite fast ; I recommend you get all your ingredients ready and nearby before your start cooking.
  • My favourite choice of protein is beef for this recipe, but feel free to replace it with another you like. Use tofu to make it vegetarian !

All set ? Let’s heat that wok up !

Easy Rad Na

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Easy Rad Na (charred noodles and gai lan soaked in a gravy)

Upon our arrival in Thaïland with my companion, we barely took the time to unpack ; it was nearing 1PM, and we felt this imperious need to visit our first listed restaurant before it closed.

We took a quick shower and hurried to this place, where we had 2 of the best-ever Chinese-Thaï dishes : Pad See Ew, and Rad Na. Each dish was a true discovery, but Rad Na conquered my heart unexpectedly, as I had never seen it nor heard about it in France.

Rad Na is a Thai dish that translates to “thick sauce over noodles.” It primarily consists of wide rice noodles stir-fried with vegetables and proteins (the most authentic variant being pork) and topped with a slightly thick, savory gravy made from broth and a few Asian condiments.

There is something so comforting about Rad Na. The saucy, brothy gravy gives you chicken soup vibes, all the while conquering your palate with more complex tastes. The many savoury sauces used in the broth and the pork marinade give some strength to the end gravy, and the kick from the pickled chilies is just what you need to get a perfectly balanced result.

Aside from the gravy, the charred wide rice noodles are essential to the flavour of this dish. I tried some Rad Na leftovers with udon, and it was just meh. Do not skip the charring part !

The overall recipe has several steps, but each of them is quite quick :

  • Make a marinade for your pork ; mix, and set aside;
  • Chop your veggies;
  • Mix together the gravy’s ingredients ;
  • Make a quick cornstarch slurry ;
  • Coat your fresh noodles with dark soy sauce and char it in a hot wok ;
  • In the same wok scrubbed clean, add your gravy ingredients, let it boil a few minutes and call it a day !

The whole recipe takes around 1h to make. It is not the quickest workweek recipe, granted, but it is doable, and definitely rewarding. The homey gravy, the mellow, smoky noodles ; it’s all worth it.

Easy Rad Na – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

Some ingredients here might be tricky to find. I’d advise you to go to a well-stocked, quite large Asian store, which will likely fresh wide noodles, Golden mountain sauce and gai lan.

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • If you cannot find Thai fermented soybean paste (tao jiew), which I couldn’t this time around, simply replace it with miso, adjusting the amount for salt (only 2/3).
  • If you cannot find fresh wide noodles, you could use thin rice vermicelli (dried), which is another popular choice in Thailand.
  • Instead of Golden Mountain sauce, you could use oyster sauce or even fish sauce.
  • If you can use pork stock instead of chicken one, it’s perfect for this recipe. Fancy making it yourself ? Even better !
  • I recommend you get all your ingredients ready and nearby before your start cooking, since the wok part goes quite fast.
  • The most popular choice of protein is pork for this recipe, but feel free to replace it with another you like.
  • For any other ingredient, I would recommend against changing the recipe.

All set ? Let’s heat that wok up !

Prik Nam Som (Thai Pickled Chilies)

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Thailand is like a home country for all of my chilies’ fanatics. As such, it offers many ways to enjoy a good kick.

One of the most popular -and simplest, that you’ll find at almost any street food stall, is Prik Nam Som (Thai Chili Vinegar). It is usually added to noodle-based dishes, such as Rad Na and Pad See Ew, to give them an acidity kick.

Simply slice up your chili peppers ; add to a jar with vinegar, warm water and salt, and you’re done !
I’ll have to make Prik Nam Pla, too, a more flavourful sauce which is usually added to rice-based dishes, but it is a story for another time !

Prik Nam Som – Ingredients & advice

  • You can use any chili you’d like, although I would advise against picking an overly spicy variety -the aim here is to be able to add a spoonful to your dish to bring out some acidity as well as a spice kick.
    • The version I’ve seen most and preferred in Thailand was Prik Lueng, a beautiful, orange pepper, not too large but not too small. They add a tangy sweetness and a rather mild spiciness.
    • However, those are hard to come by in France! I’ve simply used green chili pepper, which works well for this recipe.
  • The ratio of water to vinegar is 2:1, so adjust the amounts depending of the chili pepper amount.

Miso pork fried rice

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Miso pork fried rice with eggs and green onions

Ever had a Chashu fried rice ? You know, with the braised pork you put on top of ramens. If not, know that this is the kind of fried rices of your dreams, but it requires making a Chashu, meaning 10+ hours of your time.

Good news is, you can get a satisfying pork fried rice within 20 minutes instead.

You simply chop some garlic and green onions, beat a few eggs, and turn up your wok for 15 minutes. That’s it. No funny ingredients, no crazy amounts of chopping. The perfect weeknight meal !

This fried rice is delicate flavour-wise, as most Japanese meals. The meal centers around a rich pork flavour that perfumes your whole meal, offset by lots of fresh green onions, and the rest is subtle hints of miso, garlic and sesame. I also love to add a few eggs, which bring some creaminess to the final dish.

Miso Pork fried rice – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

You should be able to find miso and short-grain rice in any Asian store, possibly even in your grocery store.

Careful, for your minced pork, we want it to be quite fat ; I get mine from my local Asian store, because my French butcher makes it too lean.

Recipe – Advice & key points

  • Day-old rice is the preferred choice for stir-fried rices, yielding a drier, firmer texture and preventing your stir-fry from getting mushy.
    • A trick to cook it right before it’s made : reduce your water to rice ratio. I traditionally use a 1:1 ratio when soaking 30 minutes or 1:1,2 without. Here, use a 0,9:1 ratio without soaking ; your rice should be dry enough. 
  • You don’t want to drench your fried rice with soy sauce here ! The seasonings need to remain delicate.
  • Make sure to get your wok hot enough so that you don’t end up with an overly oily fried rice.
  • If you don’t own a seasoned carbon-steel wok and only have a nonstick wok or nonstick pan, it’s OK. You’ll just have to preheat it well for a few minutes ; also use 1/2 the amount of oil indicated ; and cook the ingredients a bit longer, especially the rice.
  • This recipe yields enough fried rice for 3 large portions as mains, and 4 portions as small rice bowls that could be sides with other Chinese dishes such as dumplings, stir-fried veggies, etc.

All set ? Let’s fry some damn good rice !

Korean noodles with black bean sauce (JJajangmyeon)

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Jjajangmyeon (Korean thick noodles with glossy black bean sauce)

Do we have any K-dramas fan around here ?

If so, I know you know about this dish. Jjajangmyeon must have made you wonder while watching many of them : what is this dark-colored sauce ? What’s in it ? What is it about it that Korean people seem to love it so much ?

I was lucky enough to try my first one in Korea. I remember asking myself the same questions, seeing the questionably-looking plate that sat on many of our neighbours’ tables -noodles covered with a thick, brown blob of unidentified ingredients.

Let me tell you right away ; when it comes to food, always trust the Koreans. Jjajangmyeon is no exception. As soon as you taste it, you’ll become addicted, just like them. This is one of the dishes, such as Kimchi Jigae and Doejang Jigae, that they have on a weekly basis. Unlike those last two, which are often either homemade or eaten at the restaurant, Jjajangmyeon is mostly ordered as takeaway food in Korea. It is precisely what you need after a long, tiring week ; Jjajangmyeon is comfort in a bowl.

It all comes down to the black bean sauce (chunjang). Its unique taste, quite savoury, but also a wee bit bitter and earthy, is central to the umami-feel of this dish. It pairs wonderfully with the fatty pork belly, which does not feel excessive and greasy as it is used in small amounts and cubed quite thinly. The veggies (cabbage, Korean radish, potatoes, onions) are cut thinly, too, and add some sweetness and bite to this very mellow and savoury dish. Don’t forget about the cucumbers matchsticks, too ! They’re cute, but more importantly, they add an important freshness to each mouthful.

JJajangmyeon has its roots in Chinese culture, as the original dish it is inspired, Zhajiangmian, from was brought by Chinese immigrants to Korea. I’m absolutely fond of this version too, but it is a story -and a recipe- for another time !

Bon appétit !

Korean noodles with black bean sauce (JJajangmyeon) – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & where to find them

  • Pork : I love to use pork belly here, ever the flavour booster but feel free to substitute with chicken thighs, which also has an interesting fat profile.
  • You can definitely eat a vegetarian version of this Jjajangmyeon, as the main flavour is in the black bean paste ! I’d replace the meat with cubed and soaked (~15mn) dried shiitakes, around 10 of them. I’d also add 1 more tablespoon of oil to make up for the lack of added fat.
  • Replace cabbage with zucchini in summer ! Both versions are authentic.
  • Try to find Jjajangmyeon noodles ! I get them at the frozen section of my Korean store. They are bouncy and slippery, making it perfect for slurping the noodles. They get denser than spaghetti noodles, but less so then udon noodles. You can use udon noodles as a replacement, and it will still be delicious.
  • You should also be able to find black bean paste and Korean radish (or daikon) at your Korean grocery store. If all else fails, order your bean paste online and replace the radish with turnips !

How to eat Korean noodles with black bean sauce (JJajangmyeon)

  • You can eat the Jjajang sauce with noodles as instructed, but feel free to try the other version of this dish, which is called Jjajangbap (myeon meaning noodles, and bap meaning rice).
  • The dish is usually served with two banchans : Kimchi and Danmuji (yellow pickled radish).

Let’s dig into it !

Garlic You Cai

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Stir-fried Chinese greens (You Cai or Choy Sum) with soy sauce, oyster sauce and garlic

Think Chinese food. What do you picture ? Dumplings, fried rice, stir-fried meats, am I right ?

How we see Chinese food, with indulging and quite greasy overall meals, couldn’t be further from the truth. A traditional Chinese meal would usually include a bowl of rice, a soup, a small portion of meat or fish, and a side of greens.

In our busy daily lives, a quick side of greens with a bowl of rice is already a good enough meal in my book ! Here, I offer you You Cai, or Choy Sum, also known as rapeseed or Chinese rapeseed, a leafy green vegetable popular in Chinese cuisine. It has a tender texture and a slightly bitter, mustard-like flavor.

Simply stir-fry it in a hot wok (or a pan !) with a bit of soy sauce and oyster sauce, some lovely garlic, and call it a day ! You can use veggie oyster sauce (mushroom oyster sauce) to make it vegan.

Garlic You Cai – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

I’d advise you to an Asian store with a decent fresh veggies section in order to find some You Cai, which should look like this :

Plus de 16 000 graines de YU CHOI de 2 oz / You Cai Xin / Choy Sum / héritage sans OGM

I know I can easily find eat all year long, usually next to other Chinese greens such as Gai Lan (the more popular Chinese broccoli).

Recipe – Advice & key points

  • Simply use veggie oyster sauce (mushroom oyster sauce) to make it vegan.
  • Make sure not to burn or overcook your You Cai, or it’d get bitter.  
  • If you don’t own a seasoned carbon-steel wok and only have a nonstick wok or nonstick pan, it’s OK. You’ll just have to preheat it well for a few minutes ; also use 1/2 the amount of oil indicated ; and cook the ingredients a bit longer, if needed.
  • This recipe yields enough for 2 portions as mains with rice, and 4 portions as sides with other Chinese dishes such as dumplings, stir-fried meats/rices, etc.

All set ? Let’s stir-fry those greens !

Easy Lo Mai Fan (Cantonese sticky rice)

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Cantonese sticky fried rice with Lap Cheong and cured pork belly, topped with cilantro leaves

I’m a sucker for stir-fried rices. Easy, quick, delicious and healthy, it also perfumes your whole house ; what’s not to love ?

I wanted to dig a tad deeper past the classic egg fried rice that we all know and love. I recently found out about this flavour bomb of a stir-fry, called Lo Mai Fan. It’s a Cantonese type of fried rice ; originating from a region where glutinous rice is a staple, the dish is a symbol of unity and family, commonly eaten during celebrations and dim sum meals.

This version is not perfectly authentic, as I didn’t want my rice to be as sticky as it is in traditional Lo Mai Fan. It is quite sticky though, since it uses sticky rice instead of jasmine rice (which is usually your go-to for most Chinese stir-fried rices).

Ingredients-wise, though, it’s typically what you’d find a true Lo Mai Fan ! What makes this rice special is the inclusion of 4 concentrated flavour bombs : cured pork belly, cured chinese sausage (Lap Cheong), dried shrimps and dried Shiitake. Good news is, you don’t even need much of each, making it a cheap-as-hell and quite light meal !

I was so pleasantly surprised to see how delicate the flavour harmony was. The dried ingredients are strong indeed, especially cured pork, but in such small quantities, they do not overpower the final taste, with a nice added freshness and aroma from the green onions and cilantro.

Easy Lo Mai Fan – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

I’d advise you to visit a large, well-stocked Asian store to find the necessary ingredients for this recipe, in particular for :

  • the Lap Cheong (chinese sausage), which should look like this :Chinese Sausage, Chinese Food, Dachshund, Sausage PNG Transparent Image and Clipart for Free Download
  • and cured pork belly :Food for Thought: Take the five-day cure for pork belly | KNKX Public Radio

It will still be delicious if you can only find one of those products, but I’d advise against making this recipe if you can’t find either.

Recipe – Advice & key points

  • I chose to make the rice ahead, because this ends with a drier, firmer texture I like better for fried rices -and it’s still a bit sticky from the sticky rice used. However, a more authentic version of this dish would be to cook it right before it’s made. Feel free to try one or the other depending on your personal prefrence !   
  • Make sure to get your wok hot enough so that you don’t end up with an overly oily fried rice.
  • If you don’t own a seasoned carbon-steel wok and only have a nonstick wok or nonstick pan, it’s OK. You’ll just have to preheat it well for a few minutes ; also use 1/2 the amount of oil indicated ; and cook the ingredients a bit longer, especially the rice, until it caramelizes a little.
  • This recipe yields enough fried rice for 2 large portions as mains, and 3 portions as sides with other Chinese dishes such as dumplings, stir-fried veggies, etc.

All set ? Let’s fry some damn good rice !

Authentic Tofu Pad Thaï

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Authentic Tofu Pad Thaï with red pepper flakes, crushed peanuts and a lime on the side

Two months ago, I was lucky enough to go to Thaïland.

This trip was long overdue. I had spent years dreaming about those flavours, that I could picture in my head although they were impossible to find in France. Which was precisely why I wanted to go so bad. What is it about Thailand and Vietnam that makes it so hard to come across authentic dishes outside the countries themselves ?

As much as I was dreaming about Thaïland’s spicy food, I couldn’t care less about Pad Thaï. To me, this dish was quite bland and uninteresting. Actually, I only had one towards the end of the trip, and it was a veggie one.

I love to be mistaken that bad. This was a food epiphany ; how can a beige, humble vegetarian noodle dish taste so complex and delicious ? There was some real tang here, with sour tamarind paste, pickled radishes and lime ; but it was not attacking your palate at all, as it was perfectly balanced with sugar and brightened up with lots of freshness from the chives and bean sprouts.

As a textures’ fan, I absolutely love the combination of chewy rice noodles, tender, creamy tofu and eggs, and crunch from the veggies and peanuts.

The authentic recipe calls for small amounts of dried shrimps and fish sauce, but you can make the dish fully vegan by replacing them respectively with dried shiitakes (double the amount) and soy sauce.

Don’t hesitate to take a chance on this dish, as I know you’d be just as surprised as I was by how this version puts other unauthentic ones to shame.

Authentic Tofu Pad Thaï – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

Some ingredients here might be tricky to find. I’d advise you to go to a well-stocked, quite large Asian store, which will likely sell dried shrimps and sweet & salty pickled radishes. If you cannot find them, I’ll later post a less authentic, but truly satisfying, too, Pad Thai version, with ingredients that are simpler to source.

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • I recommend you get all your ingredients ready and nearby before your start cooking, since the wok part goes quite fast.
  • You could add or remove some veggies if you’d like. I’ve had Pad Thai versions with shredded carrots, for example. Also, if you cannot find chives, you may replace them with scallions.
  • Feel free to add any protein you like. Surprisingly, I don’t find it to be really interesting in Pad Thaï, but a popular Pad Thaï in Thailand was Chicken Pad Thai.
  • For any other ingredient, especially the seasoning sauce, I would recommend against changing the recipe, which can easily lose its precious balance.

All set ? Let’s heat that wok up !

Simple Kimchi (Mak Kimchi)

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Napa Cabbage Kimchi cut into bite sized pieces

Of course I would post a Kimchi recipe.

This is the staple of one of my absolute favourite world cuisine ; I fell in love with Korean food ever since I went there -and I fell hard. You have Korean dishes such as Kimchi Jigae which are proof that you can reach, and quite easily so, a perfect balance between the savoury, the sweet and the sour (plus some lovely umami and a spice kick), keeping your meal interesting and utterly pleasurable right until its last drop.

Kimchi is the foundation of this dish, along with many others I love -such as Kimchi bokkeumbap (Kimchi fried rice) or Kimchi jeon (Kimchi pancakes). It is also the quintessential banchan (side dish); I cannot think of one meal where I wasn’t served Kimchi during my whole stay in Korea.

For those who are not familiar with Kimchi, it is an ubiquitous dish in Korean households and restaurants, made out of fermented vegetables, typically napa cabbage -though other vegetables can also be used. It is seasoned with a variety of spices and ingredients, the main ones being gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes), garlic, ginger, green onions, fish sauce, and salted seafood. The fermentation process gives kimchi its characteristic tangy, spicy, and slightly sour flavor.

I’ve already made traditional kimchi, where you keep the leaves of the cabbage whole and spread your seasoning paste on each leave. It’s a bit more time-intensive to make, and not very convenient once made, as you need to cut the desired amount with scissors every time you want a Kimchi serving. Therefore, I prefer cutting the cabbage in bite-sized pieces : this altered recipe is called Mak Kimchi (which roughly translates as Simple Kimchi). Fear not : the taste and texture is exactly the same. It only tends to ferment faster because of its smaller size ; that’s all.

This Mak Kimchi will still take a bit of effort, and I recommend you clear a 2,5 to 3-hour slot in your schedule to make it, depending on how fast your work in the kitchen ! Not to worry though ; every step is straight-forward. Once you get all the ingredients you need, it is all a basic matter of soaking and cutting and mixing.

Mak Kimchi – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • I recommend going to a Korean mart for this recipe, especially in the hopes of finding Korean red pepper flakes and frozen, salted shrimps in brine. This last item looks like this :

If you cannot find it, it’s OK ! You can simply add one more tablespoon of fish sauce.

You should be able to find the other ingredients in any other medium/large Asian mart which includes a fresh produce section (you’ll need this one for your Daikon and chives).

  • I chose to put quite a lot of red pepper flakes because I like it spicy ! Feel free to adjust the amount ; if you like your Kimchi just a bit spicy, simply halve the amount.

How to make a delicious Mak-Kimchi : main steps

  • Cut and salt your cabbage ; let it sit for 1h30.
  • Meanwhile, you have the time to :
    • make your porridge (which will help binding the seasonings) ;
    • cut your veggies ;
    • prepare your Kimchi’s seasoning sauce.
  • Don’t forget to mix your cabbage every 30mn so that it salts evenly.
  • After 1h30, thoroughly rinse your cabbage.
  • Eventually, simply mix everything together : your seasonings, porridge, veggies and cabbage !
  • Leave your Kimchi for 2 days at room temp, then off to the fridge !

Isn’t that simpler than you thought ? Let’s make it together !

Raw ham & goat cheese wrap

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Goat cheese and raw ham wrap cut in bite sized pieces

Be it for entertaining or for a quick lunch, wraps are a life savior.

Those sweet and savoury wrap bites are quite Frenchy. I chose to mix some raw ham with two goat cheeses ; a fresh one as a spread for the wrap, and a slighty matured one for the stronger taste and creamy texture it brings. The onion confit is really important here to offset the lactic acidity from the cheese, and it pairs wonderfully with the raw ham.

Add a bit of freshness with arugula and chives, and a touch of crunch using nuts (hazelnuts, or walnuts) : there you have it, a quite fancy little bite, ready within 30 minutes. You simply launch your onion confit first, as it takes some time to melt, then chop off a few ingredients ; fill and roll the wraps then, and you’re done !

Raw ham & goat cheese wrap – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • Goat cheese : It’s ok if you use supermarket goat cheese for this recipe, as we don’t want too strong a flavour from it.
  • Tortilla wraps : Don’t forget to heat them up slightly before using, or the wrap won’t fold nicely !

Let’s wrap !