The Way Rice Should Be: February 2016

If you’ve been following my column for a while, you may already know that I am a huge fan of South East Asian food. Whenever my family goes to a Thai restaurant in Taiwan we always order the “da pao zhu” — spicy pork stir fry with basil. This is absolutely one of my favorite stir fry dishes to make, too. It is so simple, with only a few ingredients, and yet there is so much flavor in it. This dish is also often made with chicken.

You will need:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground pork

6 cloves garlic

5 peppers

3 tsp. soy sauce

¼ tsp. fish sauce

½ tsp. granulated sugar

? tsp. white pepper

1 Tbsp. cooking wine

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Large handful of fresh basil

(Makes 3 to 4 servings)

Direction:

Chop up the garlic and hot pepper.

In a large non stick skillet, fry the garlic and hot pepper on high heat in vegetable oil for one minute. If you don’t like it too spicy, you can cut the amount of pepper in half.

Add in the pork and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the pork is fully cooked.

Now stir in the soy sauce, sugar, wine, fish sauce and white pepper. Cook for one minute and then remove from the heat. Stir in a large handful of fresh Thai basil. If you can’t find Thai basil, regular basil will do just fine.

Serve it over some jasmine rice and crispy fried eggs and you’ll have a tasty meal that you can put together in less than 30 minutes. Perfect for a week-night dinner.

Check out another one of my favorite Thai dish - Thai Spicy Fried Chicken

Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday in Asia and is celebrated in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Burma and many more countries. Like Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s a time for families to gather together and eat lots and lots of food. Each dish holds a different symbolic meaning of good fortune. For instance, chicken symbolizes family because the word “chicken” in Taiwanese is “geh,” which sounds exactly like the word for family. And no Chinese New Year spread is complete without a plate of turnip cake, which symbolizes good luck because the Taiwanese word for turnip (“tsai tow”) sounds just like the word for good fortune. When I was growing up, my grandmother made the best turnip cake and I always looked forward to going back home to the southern Taiwan countryside for New Year’s. This year the new year falls on February 8th, so this week I’d like to share with you my recipe for this classic Chinese holiday food that will bring you good fortune in the new year. It always makes a great breakfast!

You will need:

Ingredients: (Serves 3 people)

2 cups shredded turnip or daikon radish

2½ cups cold water

1 cups rice flour

3 shallots

1 tsp. coarse salt

? tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. soy sauce

dash of Chinese five spice

2½ Tbsp. vegetable oil (plus more for pan frying)

Directions:

Shred the turnip or daikon into small pieces.

Cut shallots into thin strips.

In a large non-stick skillet on medium high heat, fry the shallots with 2½ Tbsp. vegetable oil for two minutes or until shallots are translucent and caramelized.

Now add in the salt, white pepper, Chinese five spice and soy sauce along with the shredded turnip. Cook for one minute.

Stir in 1½ cups of cold water. Turn the heat down to medium low and let it cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the turnip is soft.

In the meantime, make the rice cake mixture by combining 1 cup rice flour and 1 cup cold water. Stir well until there are no more lumps.

Once the turnip is cooked, stir in the rice cake mixture and remove the skillet from the heat. Stir until the turnip and rice cake mixture thickens.

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap and brush it lightly with sesame oil or vegetable oil. I’m using a 8 x 4" small loaf pan here.

Pour the turnip cake batter into the loaf pan. Pack it nice and tight and smooth the top with a spatula.

Steam the cake on high heat for 30 to 40 minutes. Then insert a toothpick; it should come out clean when it’s done. Let it cool completely before cutting into it. Chilling it in the refrigerator overnight is recommended.