C. sapidus

Nooooo! Ah Leung’s helpful suggestions and quirky sense of humor have helped make the China and Chinese Cuisine forum one of my favorite places to hang out. Even though I prefer chile-laden dishes from Sichuan and Hunan, Ah Leung’s pictorials inspired me to learn more about Chinese food and cooking methods. Our meals have benefited greatly from his generous spirit. I hope that better circumstances will soon allow Ah Leung to resume his valued contributions.

Whoa – I missed a few days, and there are way too many beautiful dinners to comment on. Doddie: Happy anniversary! (better late than never) Welcome Shelby and LaCookrasha – thanks for joining in the fun! This was a weird and disjointed week – our white dog died suddenly, so cooking was not our top priority. Anyway, tonight’s dinner was green mango salad with grilled beef (from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table), celebration yellow rice (from Cradle of Flavor), and cucumbers. I also grilled NY strip steaks for the boys and one of their friends.

I had planned to make Javanese grilled chicken (ayam panggang Jawa) with celebration yellow rice (nasi kuning), but meals got jumbled this week. Javanese grilled chicken: Earlier this week I simmered chicken thighs and drumsticks in the beguilingly-scented broth of coriander, galangal, garlic, and daun salam leaves. We refrigerated the chicken overnight in the marinade: kecap manis, ground coriander seed, garlic, and peanut oil. The next day, various crises occurred while the chicken was on the grill. I will say this for the recipe – the chicken remained tender and juicy inside despite the fact that we incinerated the outside. No pictures. Celebration yellow rice: We made this tonight with a Vietnamese grilled beef and mango salad. Mrs. C and I loved the rice, but the boys didn’t. They adore coconut rice with lemongrass, so I suspect that they have an aversion to turmeric – that would explain their resistance to Indian food.

When I heard that Ah Leung had stepped down, I decided to cook up a small tribute. I was off work and Gulf shrimp were on sale, so today's lunch was Fisherman’s shrimp with chives (yu jia chao xia qiu) from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. The shrimp were marinated in salt, potato flour, and egg white; deep-fried until partly cooked; stir-fried with garlic, chopped salted chiles, Chinkiang vinegar, chives, and thinly-sliced chile; and then finished with sesame oil. No Chinese chives were available, so I used regular chives. Perhaps I'll add a little ginger next time. Anyway, this was quick and delicious.

. . . and now for something completely different: 1) Papas chirrionas, from The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy 2) Potato rendang, from Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland 3) Dum aloo (whole potatoes in spicy yogurt gravy), from Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni

“H” stands for husband; similarly W = wife, S = son, second D = daughter. The first “D” is intentionally ambiguous, and can be inferred by context. Whatever your true feelings at the moment, you can always tell your “H” that “D” stands for dear. Control groups are way cool, and you would be expanding the boundaries of human knowledge. If you really get in the scientific mood, you could get a lab notebook and wear safety glasses.

Tyler, your dinner looks absolutely delicious, and the photographs are beautiful. I have stored plastic-wrapped Thai curry pastes in the fridge for a week or two without much degradation. Perhaps you could make small batches of sate at weekly intervals and report your results. We have some Javanese grilled chicken (ayam panggang Jawa) marinating in the fridge for Thursday night. This is very interesting. Some authors claim that Thai curry paste degrades in the freezer, but it would certainly be convenient to have pre-made curry paste available for weeknights. Sounds like I should do some experimenting, too. By the way, I confirmed that the food processor and the Preethi do a lousy job of grinding a tablespoon of coriander seed. I wound up using the mortar, which worked well. When I complained to Mrs. C, she reminded me that we do have a second coffee grinder. Oops.

Bruce, the shrimp were marinaded in kecap manis, soy, Thai sweet chili sauce, a chili paste of chili flakes, oil and peanuts, a touch of lime juice garlic and ginger. I grilled the shrimp on the gas grill and heated the leftover marinade to drizzle over the shrimp. ← Thank you - I bet that tasted really good.

Percyn: That looks wonderful – I would probably enjoy old shoes in lobster and scallop cream sauce. Judith: That sounds like a delicious dinner - I love both of those dishes. Bueno: Wow! Scubadoo: Those grilled shrimp look great – care to specify which “Asian flavors” you used? Ann_T: I am very sorry about your loss. Tonight we made grilled walleye salad, based on a recipe in Thai Food. I could probably have done some fun garnishes, but after feeding the boys and their friends we were were just plain hungry. Grilled stuff and green stuff – summer in a bowl. For a mini-pictorial, see Thai Cooking at Home.

Tonight we made grilled fish salad, based on the recipe for pla pla lom kwan in Thai Food. We started by grilling shallots, apple eggplant, chiles, garlic, and galangal until charred and soft. The recipe called for smoked catfish, but I found fresh walleye fillets at the store and grilled them in banana leaves. Everything was tossed with green mango slivers, basil, mint, yard-long beans, roasted rice powder, and a dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, and a little simple syrup. The recipe did not call for sugar, but we like to soften the lime juice a bit. This was delicious, but I would love to try it with fish that had been smoked over grated coconut, jasmine rice, and palm sugar.

I have not noticed funny-tasting coffee, but I do clean out the coffee grinder pretty thoroughly between batches. We have a Preethi grinder (similar to a Sumeet). The Preethi is very effective at grinding large batches of wet curry pastes, such as those for Thai curries. It is too powerful for small batches - it immediately flings the ingredients against the side of the jar. I have not yet used the Preethi to grind dry spices. We will need a new batch of garam masala soon, so that will be a good excuse to test the Preethi’s spice grinding jar. As I mentioned, for small batches the mortar seems pretty efficient.

Robin: Your kare laksa looks beautiful. I have not made many Asian noodle dishes, so I am very interested to hear noodle recommendations. The mortar does a nice job of grinding small amounts of spices. We use the coffee grinder for larger amounts, but that involves grinding rice twice – first to clean out the coffee, and second to clean out the spices. We should probably get a second coffee grinder and dedicate it to spice grinding, but it hasn’t been a priority. I have made the same mistake repeatedly with lemongrass – I cut off the ends to fit it into the fridge, and then wish the stalk was longer when I try to tie a knot. It really doesn't matter, of course. Good idea – many sambals do seem to improve with time. I’m glad that the shrimp paste aroma was not a problem for you. It doesn't bother me – I have developed a Pavlovian association between the smell of toasting shrimp paste and the delicious scents and tastes that follow.

Tonight we enjoyed fragrant-and-hot jumbo shrimp (xiang la xia) from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, grilled eggplant salad (yam makreua yao) from Thai Food, jasmine rice, and cukes for the boys. We cooked the shrimp with ginger, garlic, chile bean paste, chopped salted chiles, scallions, red bell peppers, dark soy sauce, and sesame oil. The sauce was delicious – fragrant, spicy, and full of shrimp flavor. The eggplants were charred on the grill, peeled, and mixed with shallots, mint, scallions, roasted chile powder, lime juice, fish sauce, and dried shrimp. Mrs. C loved the taste but not the texture, so took a stick blender to the eggplant mixture. Smoky, spicy, minty, definite make-again.

Heidih: Thank you very much. You are probably right about the balance of flavors with a main dish vs. a number of smaller dishes. Unfortunately, multiple dishes are usually impractical for weeknight cooking, so sometimes we adapt recipes accordingly. I will be very interested to hear about your version of the dish. Mrs. C found it a bit sour, but otherwise loved the combination of steak with aromatic herbs. The grownups split about ¾ of a pound of beef (before grilling and trimming), so this was a reasonably WW-friendly way to enjoy steak.

Shaya: Happy birthday! What a delicious-looking birthday dinner, especially the braised fennel, gorgeous gnocci - well, all of it, really. Tonight we grilled Delmonico steaks. The boys ate their steaks plain, with jasmine rice and tomatoes on the side. The grownups ate Thai marinated beef salad with cilantro, mint, basil, lemongrass, and shallots. More information on Thai Cooking at Home (click).

Tonight’s dinner was marinated beef salad (pla neua sot) from David Thompson’s Thai Food. We grilled a Delmonico steak (should have been rare, wound up closer to medium), sliced the steak thinly after resting, and then marinated it briefly in lime juice with a little salt, sugar, and crushed Thai chiles. The salad included shallots, lemongrass, cilantro, mint, and red chile slivers. We added basil, Thai basil, and some leftover lettuce. Jasmine rice and tomatoes on the side. The more authentic version of the recipe is essentially “steak ceviche” – beef fillet marinated in the lime juice mixture and served raw. The dressing was very sour, so next time I’ll balance the lime with a bit more sugar and fish sauce - more like nuoc cham. Marinated beef salad (pla neua sot)

If you like Thai flavors, David Thompson’s Thai Food has a recipe for marinated beef salad. Slice raw beef fillet and marinate with salt, lime juice, and Thai chiles for 10 minutes. Alternatively, grill the beef to rare, slice thinly, and then marinate briefly in lime juice. Make a salad with the marinated beef, sliced shallots, sliced lemongrass, shredded kaffir lime leaves, julienned red chiles, mint, and cilantro. We will be trying the rare-grilled version tomorrow.

Tonight we made Hunanese quick-fried lamb (click), served with jasmine rice, cukes, and green salad with vinaigrette. Mrs. C made a refreshing, low-alcohol drink of hard cider, key lime juice, and Angostura bitters.

Tonight we made quick-fried lamb (xiao chao yang rou) from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. We deboned a sirloin leg of lamb, sliced thinly, and marinated in Shaoxing wine, light soy, dark soy, and salt. We flavored the oil with ginger, garlic, and chiles, and then stir-fried the lamb with red bell pepper. We added scallions to the boys’ batch and cilantro to ours, and finished both with sesame oil. The lamb was extremely tender, but next time I’ll probably add cumin and increase the chiles. Quick-fried lamb (xiao chao yang rou)

Peter: Your clams look beautiful, and thanks for sharing the information on how to prepare them. Last night Mrs. C made seafood paella – extra tentacles!

Robin: Your meal looks delicious, and tuna is tricky – it continues to cook after you remove the heat. I overcooked my first batch of tuna goreng, too. I think that “red onion” and shallot is the same thing, but I can’t remember where I got that information. Susan: We have a Weber gas grill with heavy stainless steel grates, and usually preheat on high for 20 minutes or so. If possible, I try to flip the sate onto an unused part of the grill to get a good char on both sides. Looking forward to seeing what you make!

[Elvis]Thankyou, thankyouverymuch[/Elvis]. Seriously, I appreciate your very kind words. I actually wish that I could take pictures like Anne_T and Chufi, where you get delicious food, plus a sense of place and natural light. Just in case you were curious, “pornographic edibility” has zero Google hits, so you may be the first to use this phrase in the internet age.

GreekCook: Thank you, and apologies. Shalmanese: What, no dessert? No seriously, that is an amazing and ambitious meal. I’m exhausted and hungry just looking at the pictures. When did you start cooking, and how many contributed? I’ll start lobbying now for an invite to your 40th.

Michael: Thank you! I have never even seen rojak before, so credit to Mr. Oseland if it looks plausibly Malaysian. Dejah: Aw, shrimp paste isn’t so bad. Yup, we whatevered the shrimp paste in the house, on the middle back burner with the hood fan on high (after warning the family, of course). I had the grill out tonight, so I should have experimented with outdoor whatevering.