Burmese Crunchy Ginger Salad

As Thanksgiving approaches and most food talk is of turkey and gravy and stuffing and pie, I find myself craving lighter and brighter flavors. We had this salad recently and couldn't stop thinking about it and wanting more afterwards. It's like hitting the reset button on your tastebuds. It's fresh and crunchy with very bright, refreshing and incredibly addictive flavors.



So what's in it? You start with crispy, crunchy Napa cabbage. I'm really not a big cabbage or cole slaw eater, but the light, curly texture of Napa cabbage is the perfect vehicle for this salad. You shave the Napa cabbage easily with a sharp knife, then add toasted coconut (the big shavings, not the little withered and dried up bagged stuff that's been on the grocery store shelves for who knows how long), add some toasted nuts (the original had peanuts, we used cashews), a lot of fresh ginger in julienned sticks so you can bite into it — texture is everything here, you don't want ginger slush, fried, crunchy garlic, sesame seeds, tiny bits of a chopped jalapeño, and the secret ingredient that brings it all together... dried shrimp. Sounds weird, I know. I've had crunchy little dried shrimp bits in all kinds of Asian food, but I got intimidated when trying to buy some at the Asian market myself. I'd like to know a little more about where they come from and whether they're full of chemicals that I don't want to be eating. So we made it the first time without the dried shrimp. It was good, but not singing in the streets spectacular. A whole dimension of flavor was missing and it was the shrimp.



Then something wonderful happened. We happened to be eating dinner at our favorite Vietnamese cafe, Tam Deli, and talking to one of the owners, Tran. I love hearing her cooking tips. She mentioned that she dries her own shrimp for the restaurant. That stuck with me. I know the care she takes with everything she makes. So a few days later, we went back and asked if we could buy some of the dried shrimp from her next batch. What she delivered was gorgeous, fresh, shredded shrimp. It was soft and fluffy like peach snow. I tossed it around in a dry skillet for a few minutes to crisp it up and it was amazing in the salad. It added the savory but undefinable flavor the salad needed.

This salad is very easy, but takes a few minutes of prep. You need to toast the nuts and coconut and fry the garlic into little crunchy chips. But each of these steps can be done in the same skillet or wok. I'm ballparking the quantities here. You can put more or less of any of these ingredients, just don't skip any.

I dare you to try this and not get hooked. I could seriously eat this several times a week. And it's just the thing to balance out all that heavy turkey and stuffing coming your way next week.



Gluten-free note: I checked with the folks at Squid Brand fish sauce in Singapore and they assured me that their fish sauce is gluten-free.

Burmese Crunchy Ginger Salad

salad:
half a head of Napa cabbage
one bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup julienned ginger
3/4 cup roasted and salted cashews or peanuts, chopped
3/4 cup coconut flakes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into the thinnest slices you can cut
1/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup dried shrimp
1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, like safflower

dressing:
juice of 2 limes
1-2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
2-3 teaspoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons honey (or more to taste)
3 tablespoons garlic safflower oil (from frying the garlic chips)

Hold a head of Napa cabbage horizontally on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut thin shavings straight down and it will make beautiful, fine, crunchy shreds. Put these in a large serving bowl.

In a dry skillet, toast the coconut flakes over low to medium-low heat, stirring continuously. Don't walk away. Stay present and keep stirring and letting it toast slowly until it's a golden brown. This will take several minutes but will be well worth it. The flavor and texture it brings out is amazing. Set aside in a bowl or on a plate to cool.

Do the same with the sesame seeds and dried shrimp, just to crisp them up.

Last, pour 3 tablespoons oil into the pan and add the garlic slices. Cook them in the oil over medium-low heat until they turn golden. This will happen quickly so stay with them. Remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain (like you would with bacon). Pat the excess oil off with another paper towel and let them sit. They'll crisp as they dry.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a bowl with the oil from the garlic. Whisk it all together and taste. Add more honey or fish sauce as needed for more sweetness or saltiness.

Combine all of the salad ingredients in either a composed salad or just toss it all together well. Drizzle with the dressing just before serving.

Serves 3-4.

Adapted from The Providers.

Grilled paella party!

We have a friend who went to a paella party last year where several different paellas were grilled outside. He was so enamored, he wouldn't stop talking about it. (Apparently, there's a waiting list to get into this party every year so I'm banned from telling you any more about it.) It's a good thing he didn't, because I think he infected several of us with a new interest in paella.

None of us had ever made paella before. It seems a bit intimidating. But it's really not a big deal, especially when you're spoiled like we were by having friends invite us over for grilled paella in their backyard. They did all the shopping and prep and we just showed up and lended a wee little hand here and there to put it all together. It was a feast and it was truly divine. Thanks so much to Joanne and Larry for making it happen. They made a spectacular feast for us. And I'm going to share it with you here.

Joanne used a recipe she found in the New York Times. But from now on, I will always think of this as "Joanne and Larry's paella." Now that I've seen how easy it is, I'm curious to try other recipes, but here's the paradox... this paella was so good that it will now be the paella by which all others are measured. It was perfection. If I was going to make another one, how could I not make this one? I KNOW it's all that. It had the perfectly cooked short-grain Bomba rice with the crunchy crust on the bottom, smoky flavor from the wood chips and the grilling, plus a little kick from chorizo, and luscious richness from the shrimp and clams. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, but we wanted to.

I was in charge of reading the recipe to Joanne as she put it all together, and despite my misread that lead to putting the pan on the grill a little too early, it all came out perfectly. (Sorry, Joanne!)

So get out there and crank up the grill and make some paella. Invite some friends over and have a feast. As we discussed before dinner, with all the bad news raining down upon us every time we turn on NPR, it's nice to celebrate the simple things in life...good food, friends and togetherness.



Note: Joanne found the authentic Spanish short-grain paella rice, Bomba, at Cissi's Market on South Congress. It was pricey, but so worth it. If you're going to go the trouble of doing paella, you want the perfect crusty crunch on the bottom of the rice. If you can't find it, try La Tienda online.


Joanne & Larry's Paella (from the New York Times)


A handful of wood chips for smoke
One large pinch saffron
2 1/4 quarts low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds chicken thighs
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 pound chorizo, cut into half-moons
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
4 cups short-grain rice (Bomba)
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup frozen peas
2 dozen littleneck clams, cleaned
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Charcoal burning grill (Weber works great)
18-inch paella pan


Soak the wood chips in water.

In a large stock pot, heat the broth and saffron on medium heat until hot. Then lower the heat to a simmer and keep warm until needed.

In the paella pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. (We used two burners. It was a little awkward, but it worked. If you don't want to purchase a paella pan, the New York Times recipe recommended using a wide, shallow saucepan or a dutch oven.)

Lightly season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Brown them on each side and then transfer to a plate or platter. Add the chorizo to the pan and let cook until it starts to brown. Transfer to another plate. (You might want to use a paper towel under it or to blot it to remove a bit of excess grease.) Remove the paella pan from the heat.

Light the grill at this point. (It's handy to have another group outside handling the grill. Just give them a shout out to get the fire going and then you can go back to the stove.)

Return the paella pan to medium-high heat and add the onion. After several minutes, when it's translucent, add the garlic and stir. (Due to my miscue, we did this on the grill.) Add the rice and stir to combine.

Have those in charge of the fire drain the wood chips and add them now.

Remove from the stove. (Or if you're already on the grill, march right on into the next step...) Take the hot stock, paella pan, chicken, chorizo and other ingredients to a table next to the grill. When the fire is ready (you want to be able to hold your hand over the hottest section for only a couple of seconds), quickly stir the shrimp, chorizo and 2 quarts of the stock into the pan. Add and arrange the clams hinge side up so they open and release their juices into the rice. Position the chicken thighs on top.



Put the cover on the grill and cook until all of the liquid is absorbed into the rice, 25-35 minutes. In the last 5-10 minutes, sprinkle the frozen peas over the top. Add more stock if needed to get the rice cooked through and cook another five minutes. We kept checking the rice at this point, scraping a bit off the bottom to see if we had that perfect crust. It took a few more minutes, but we kept it on the grill until it developed the crust. This is the best part. You'll savor that crust on the bottom.

When you've got the perfect crust on the bottom, not too brown, but just a little crisp on the bottom layer, remove from the grill. Sprinkle parsley over the top and dive in.

We had 8 people, including a 10-year-old who scarfed it up and shouted out a "this is good!" There was plenty for everyone to have seconds and then still have leftovers. You could easily serve 10 with this feast.

Adapted from Manny Howard in the New York Times.



Joanne also made a gorgeous salad and some decadently good blue cheese toast. I brought gazpacho (from the French Laundry recipe), which I'll be posting soon.



The cheese toast was a perfect accompaniment to the gazpacho. I'll be making those two again on their own as a fun lunch. All she did was slice up some French bread and slather it with a very creamy blue cheese. Broil it until melty and bubbly and colored with toasty goodness. Be careful, you'll want to eat every piece of this stuff. And then you'll be sorry. It is that good. But the paella is that good too, so save some room.

Just writing this makes me want to eat it all again.

Thai Noodle Salad with Shrimp and Pork

In my recent post about the opening of Thai Fresh, I promised a recipe that I learned in one of Jam's classes that has become a favorite in our house. It's fast, easy, has those big, bright Thai flavors we love, but is also very comforting. It's a noodle dish made with shrimp and pork on bean thread noodles, sometimes called glass noodles.

Bean thread noodles are made from mung beans. They are flavorless alone, but will take on any flavors you add to them. Since they aren't made with wheat, they're great for folks who eat gluten-free. I love their translucence and slippery texture.

This is a light dish. We've sometimes added a few red bell peppers strips and carrots strips to make a light meal of it. But it's also great served as part of a Thai dinner with some soup and spring rolls.

Note: Jam suggested you could substitute tofu and mushrooms for the pork and shrimp and make this a veggie dish. Also, we throw in the shallots with the meat to gentle them a bit. You can toss them in raw, if you want a little sharper flavor and more crunch.

Thai Noodle Salad with Shrimp and Pork

noodles:
4 tablespoons canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined and minced plus
4 medium - large whole shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons soy sauce or fish sauce
one package bean thread noodles (approximately 14 ounces)
one bunch cilantro, chopped with stems, one handful set aside for garnish
2-4 shallots, sliced

dressing:
3 Thai chiles
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons palm sugar
1 cup lime juice
1/2 cup fish sauce or soy sauce

First, soak the noodles for 30 minutes in a large bowl of warm water. While the noodles are soaking, put on a pot of water large enough to hold the noodles. Boil the noodles for 1 minute (after soaking). Strain and then rinse with cold water to cool. Set aside. (Jam taught us that soaking and then briefly boiling the noodles gives them the correct texture.)

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan, add the garlic and sauté until golden and fragrant. Add the shallots, pork, minced shrimp and whole shrimp and cook through, about 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce to taste. Set aside the whole shrimp.

Put the cooled and drained noodles into a large bowl. Add the meat and cilantro and toss together.

In a small food processor (or mortar and pestle, if you're feeling hands on), whiz (or pound) together the dressing ingredients.

Add the dressing to the noodle mixture in small increments while tasting to get it just where you want it. You may not need all of the dressing. See how you like it.

Top each serving with a whole shrimp and some cilantro.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Jam Sanitchat. Check out her Thai cooking classes at Thai Fresh.

Salmon Rice Bowl with Meyer Lemon Dressing

This rice bowl we've come to know and love. It was inspired by the rice bowl recipe in Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking. (This book is a great resource for exciting new ways to eat healthy.) Her citrus-soy dressing is becoming my favorite Asian salad dressing and get this, it doesn't even have any oil. Guilt free! She uses a combination of orange and lemon, which would be a great substitute when you can't find Meyer lemons. But loving all things Meyer as I do, I can't help but use Meyer lemons here.

I use a lot of champagne vinegar and rice vinegar in dressings. I like their lighter, softer flavors. But I'd never tried brown rice vinegar before. It has just enough zing to have body, without being too sour. I keep it in my pantry all the time now.

We make our rice bowl with barely roasted salmon, avocado, mango, sweet bell peppers, baby bok choy and cucumber. Very clean, fresh flavors with big textural and visual sex appeal. This meal IS virtuous, but it's also sensuous. We usually make it with brown rice, but this last time (in the photo), we tried it with basmati rice. I love the delicate scent of basmati, but next time, I think I'll go back to brown rice. I like it's toothiness. You could make endless variations on this.

rice bowl:
1/2 pound wild salmon filet
2 cups cooked rice (brown rice, basmati, whatever you like)
1/2 avocado
1 ripe mango
2 heads baby bok choy, cleaned and sliced
red or orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
cilantro for garnish

dressing:
2 tablespoons sugar (or agave nectar)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
zest and juice of 1 large Meyer lemon
(or substitute zest and juice of one orange and 1/2 lemon)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roast salmon until it's just done on the outside and still pink inside. (This took 6-8 minutes in our convection toaster oven.)

While the salmon is roasting, combine sugar/agave, soy sauce and brown rice vinegar. I usually pop this in the microwave for about 20 seconds to make sure the sugar dissolves into the liquid completely. Let cool for a few moments, then add the citrus. Whisk together. Set aside.

Prep your veg: mango, bok choy, pepper, cucumber. (Leave the avocado til the last minute so it doesn't start browning.

Take a few spoonfuls of dressing and toss it or drizzle it into the rice. Make a bed of rice on each of your two plates. I like to serve the salmon sitting on a bed of the boy choy, but assemble this however you like. You can toss all the veg. together and tumble them out onto your rice, or style them all aligned. Channel your inner food stylist.

When the salmon is ready, set it on top. Slice and chop your avocado, sprinkle with the remaining dressing, top with a bit of cilantro and serve.

Serves 2.

Adapted from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking.