When my friend said...

his favorite dish is Hainan Chicken Rice (海南雞飯), Singapore’s national dish, I started craving the flavorful, ginger-poached chicken I tasted on Orchard Road back in Singapore. I began my research and found very similar recipes of cooking a whole chicken and using chicken fat for the rice. I love traditional cooking methods, but this time I wanted to experiment on my own. Instead of boiling the whole bird, I decided to use just the breast. Although chicken breast tends to be less tender, I wanted to showcase how delicate it could taste when poached carefully.

I love adding texture to my dishes, so I quickly sauteed sesame-cilantro crumbs to use as a dip along with sweet garlic chili sauce, ginger-scallion oil, and some homemade pickled cucumbers. I’m not quite sure if my recipe reminds people of a classic Hainan Chicken Rice, but it’s still tasty (hopefully).







Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
5 inch ginger, sliced
3 stalks scallions, 1 inch pieces
1 teaspoon sesame oil
¼ cup sesame seeds

CHICKEN RICE
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
2 cups rice
2 cups reserved chicken poaching broth
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 t sesame oil
1 t salt

CHILI SAUCE
1 T rice vinegar
2 T reserved chicken poaching broth
2 t sugar
4 T Sriracha
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ginger, minced
a generous pinch of salt, to taste

GINGER SCALLION OIL
¼ vegetable oil
1 t ginger, minced
1 t scallions, minced
1 t salt

SESAME-CILANTRO CRUMBS
1 T sesame seeds
1 T cilantro, minced
¼ cup panko crumbs
salt

PICKLED CUCUMBER
3 cucumbers, julienned
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 t white peppercorn
2 T sugar
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup water
1 t salt

Directions:
Season generously with salt. Place the chicken in a large stockpot and fill with cold water to cover by 1 inch. Add ginger and scallion. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then immediately turn the heat to low to keep a simmer. Cook for about 15-20 minutes more.

When the chicken is cooked through, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Immediately lift and transfer the chicken into a bath of ice water to cool. Reserve the poaching broth for your rice and chili sauce. Remove the chicken from the ice bath.

In a sauce pan, fry ginger and garlic until fragrant. Add rice and stir to coat, cook for 2 minutes. Add the sesame oil, mix well. Add 2 cups of your reserved poaching broth, add salt and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes more.

Blend chili sauce ingredients. Blend ginger scallion oil ingredients. Sautee panko crumbs in vegetable oil until golden. Add salt, sesame and cilantro and quickly combine. Reserve for chicken topping. Combine pickle ingredients and let sit while chicken is cooking until serving time.

Serve chicken with chicken rice, sauces, cilantro crumbs and pickled cucumber.

True dedication...

is waking up at 5AM to turn off the stove after 8 hours of stewing and tenderizing 2 pounds of pork belly for a buta kakuni meal. It's my own fault for not starting earlier, but some sleep deprivation is perfectly fine when pork belly ends up as good as this!

I always feared touching any fatty meats as a child, and by touching I mean ingesting. Mostly because my mother loves her family and only wants us to eat for our health. But, when you're exposed to a world of food the way I am, there's just no turning back.

Back to the cooking, the process was actually adopted from Morimoto's recipe. I love the simpleness and purity of this recipe. That's generally how I like to cook--no fussy ingredients, just tasting and using your cooking intuition. Paired with buta kakuni, CC & I prepared some soy sauce eggs and quick pickled cucumbers. I love my egg yolks a little runny, so I do a medium boil and steep my eggs in a soy sauce mixture. Here goes!



Searing pork belly skin.



Plating with some scallions and pickled cucumber.



Buta Kakuni, Soy Sauce Eggs, Pickled Cucumber
Serves 4 KAKUNI

1 tbs vegetable oil
2 lbs boneless pork belly
1 1/2 cups rice
1 nob ginger
5 cloves garlic 1
3/4 cups mirin
1/4 Japanese soy sauce
4 T sugar

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish over high heat. Sear the pork belly, skin side down, until golden brown and crispy. Turn over and sear the other side. Remove and pour away the fat in the casserole. Return the pork belly to the casserole. Sprinkle the rice around the meat. Add ginger, garlic and enough water to cover the pork by an inch and bring to a simmer over high heat. Braise gently until the pork is tender about 6 hours. Discard the rice and cooking liquid. Cover and refrigerate the pork belly for at least 8 hours. Cut the pork crosswise into 1 inch cubes. In a heavy medium saucepan, mix the mirin soy sauce, and sugar with 4 cups of water and bring the the mixture to a boil over high heat. Add the pieces of pork belly and reduce the heat. Partially cover the pan and simmer until the pork is very tender. Carefully transfer the pieces of pork onto a plate. Strain the cooking liquid and reduce it down to 1 cup.

SOY SAUCE EGGS
2 eggs
½ cup soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1 t chili sesame oil
2 t sugar

Let eggs come to room temperature. Cook eggs in boiling water for exactly 7 minutes. Remove eggs and place in ice bath. Peels eggs and steep in soy sauce mixture for 15-20 minutes. Slice eggs and serve with sesame or scallion garnish.

Flipping through...

a photo journal full of 2010's most gratifying noshes & nibbles helps me relive the taste of those moments and all the wonderful company. It's been a delicious year munching a small dent in New York City's epic food scene. It's true that you can really satisfy every cultural food craving in a city full of culinary talent, but New York City isn't the only place full of savories and sweets. I admit my travels haven't been prolific this year; however, the short time I spent in Texas, Hong Kong, and regions of Taiwan, meant a lot of tummy-fulfilling adventures.

For now, I'll toast to a Happy New Year and even more epicurious journeys in 2011. And without further ado, the food porn.



Casa Mono (NY, NY)
Baby chopitos, ramps, caramelized onions, squid ink

Casa Mono ranks top 3 restaurants in my heart now and hopefully forever. A tapas lover just can't resist all the bright flavors at this little Spanish joint. It's even perfect midday with a close of bubbly rose.



SHO Shaun Hergatt (NY, NY)
Poached white asparagus, asparagus ice cream

Americans just don't eat enough fresh foods, but lucky me, these tender white asparagus were flown fresh that day from Provence, France. Tack on the delicately savory asparagus ice cream--it's a dish that's hard to forget.



Imperial Palace (Hong Kong)
Chinese BBQ: char siu, honey glazed pork skin, roasted goose

This private club in Hong Kong serves probably the best tasting Chinese bbq I've ever had. It's a bold statement, but never has pork skin been so richly golden-red, velvety and perfectly crispy.



Prune (NY, NY)
Ricotta ice cream, salted caramel croutons

One of my favorite East Village joints, Prune always serves simple yet super fun food. All I can say is that I love ricotta. I love ice cream. I love salted caramel, and I love that this ricotta ice cream and it's salty croutons are drenched in a salted caramel soup.



Eleven Madison Park (NY, NY)
Celery gelee on black pepper sablee, foie gras granny smith macaron

These beautiful little treats aren't actually on the menu; but I hope even with Eleven Madison Park's menu redo, they are still serving perfect canapes. You can't refuse a foie-filled apple flavored macaron.




Rudy's BBQ (Dallas, TX)
Moist brisket

Do I always get moist brisket? No, but after having Rudy's moist brisket, you bet. As a native Texan, I just can't get away from these smoky, fatty bits of beef. It's the one time I'll really gorge on heavy meat.



wd~50 (NY, NY)
Aerated foie, pickled beet, mashad plum, brioche

Yes, Wylie Dufresne is a genius behind playing/molding/shaping his food. His mother must've let him go to town as a kid. But, how does it really taste? I still think about the texture of this buttery foie gras holding such intense flavor but feeling incredibly delicate on my tongue.



Union Square Cafe (NY, NY)
Ricotta Gnocchi, tomato-basil passatina and pecorino romano

People I know literally have dreams about this dish. I really can't explain how they make gnocchi so ethereal, so tender, but skip everything else at Union Square Cafe and just load up on the gnocchi.



Street food (Sheng Keng, Taiwan)
Grilled spicy tofu, spicy pickled cabbage

Sheng Keng, a region in Taipei, is famous for it's innovative use of tofu. Tofu puddings, tofu cheesecakes, braised tofu are all just the beginning. I'm a tofu fiend, so I did a whole tasting that afternoon. My favorite--a seemingly simple grilled tofu on a stick. That tofu just sucked up all the flavor and became this sweet, spicy, salty little mess.



Riverpark (NY, NY)
Beet-pickled eggs, smoked white fish, horseradish

These little nuggets are so pretty; how could you not love them? Aside from the color, the pickled taste of the eggs are so fun. And the creamy, smoky fish filling? Fishy, but awesome with the tang.



Eleven Madison Park (NY, NY)
Roasted organic chicken with lemon and rosemary, spring vegetables

I am not a chicken lover. In fact, I stray away from chicken dishes most places. However, I always, ALWAYS order Eleven Madison Park's roast chicken without fail. I'm telling you it doesn't get better than this. Chicken rubbed with truffle stuffing under the skin?!?!



Wing Lai Yuen (NY, NY)
Spicy garlic sliced pork

Admittedly, the dan dan noodles at Wing Lai Yuen are incomparable. The sliced pork, though, is phenomenal. The sheets of pork are almost translucent and dressed in this spicy, salty, sweet, and tart sauce and covered in boatloads of minced garlic.



Per Se (NY, NY)
Pistachio "Bavarois," Bitter Chocolate "Marquise" and "Pain de Gênes" with Mast Brothers’ Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate just satisfies all kinds of sweet tooths and pistachio is only the most awesome nut ever. Not only is this dish so well put together, it's bitter sweetness and richness is perfectly balanced. The end to a lovely meal and an even lovelier year.

Braising...

is almost an IDIOT proof technique for deliciously tender meat. But the catch? Braising correctly. The ratio of liquid versus meat versus seasoning/spice and the timing is crucial to the success of the final product (as is all cooking). However, when you make the investment of spending hours to sweat out a pot of meat, you're hoping your end product profits and your belly is rewarded.

Our braise of choice was short ribs beginning with grocery shopping at the local Whole Foods. The short ribs recipe I had in mind is very reminiscent of one of my favorite dishes at Jean-Georges. At JG, we served a lusciously glazed short rib with rich, beef jus and apple-jalapeno puree. Instead of replicating the dish, I asked CC what compliments he'd enjoy with a heavy, soy sauce-based beef. I said "acid." He said "pickled" and "daikon." That's what we went with.

The pickled daikon and thyme crumbs have no recipes. Most cooking is done by intuition and taste, so we utilized his current pantry and tinkered till we were satisfied. But, here's how our short ribs turned out. :D





Soy-glazed Short Ribs

2 1/4 pounds boneless short ribs
salt and pepper to season
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large vidalia onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 inch slice of ginger
1 jalapeno
1 cup red wine
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup diced pickled daikon
White rice
Thyme
Panko crumbs

Cut short ribs into thirds. Season ribs lightly with salt and pepper on all sides. Sear ribs on high heat until browned on all sides and remove from pot. In the same pot, add a little canola oil and sauté diced onion, crushed garlic, ginger and jalapeno until soft. Add red wine and let reduce by half. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, and water and bring to boil. Adjust seasoning to taste. Add seared ribs. Liquid should cover most of the ribs. Reduce to slow, low simmer for 2 1/2 to 4 hours, covered. Check after 2 hours to see if ribs are tender. Adjust the amount of braising liquid if it becomes dry and reduce the heat. Strain sauce and skim off fat. Serve ribs with rice, pickled daikon and reduced sauce. Top with thyme panko crumbs.

This summer...

has been a home-cooking adventure. Aside from Barbeques in the East Village, Greenmarket Dinners, Coffee Cupcakes, Hand-pulled Margherita Pizza, Fresh Hand-cut Pasta, and a July 4th loaded with Bacon-wrapped Hot Dogs and Potato Salad, CC and I have been testing out fun things in the kitchen.

Working in an Italian restaurant, my brain is naturally wired to tinker with Italian food at home. Still, I'm shocked that I haven't gotten sick of the food yet. At Maialino, we have a dish called Raviolo con Uovo which is a single, saucer size raviolo stuffed with potato-spinach ricotta and a whole egg yolk in the center. It's cooked in a brown butter sauce and topped with sage. What happens when you break into the raviolo? A golden yolk oozes out onto the plate. It's perfect with the rest of the raviolo.

A full egg yolk in each of my ravioli at home is a bit much, so CC and I tried a portobello-ricotta-parmesan combo finished in a sage brown butter. We used fresh sheets of lasagna dough found and Whole Foods and sauteed chopped mushrooms with some scallions and sea salt. Here's how it turned out...









Mushroom Ravioli

12 oz portobella, chopped
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
s+p
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup ricotta
1/2 cup parmesan
1 package of fresh lasagna sheets
4 oz unsalted butter
5 sage leaves

Sautee chopped mushrooms with scallions in olive oil over high heat until liquid starts coming out of the mushrooms. Season the mushroom and continue to cook until liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Mix ricotta, parmesan and cooled mushroom mixture. Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Lay one sheet of lasagna on a clean surface. Fill a tablespoon with ravioli mixture and drop onto center of half of the pasta sheet. Repeat on the other half of the pasta sheet. Carefully circle the filling with oil to hold the pasta sheets together. (Note: oil can be replaced with beaten egg). Take a new pasta sheet and gently lay over the filling. Press around the filling until the two sheets of pasta a firmly attached. Use a ring mold (larger than the filling) to cut out ravioli. Store in refrigerator or cook immediately.

Cook ravioli in boiling water for about two minutes until the pasta is a bit translucent. Remove the pasta with a slotted spoon into a clean bowl. Over medium heat, melt butter and cook sage leaves till crispy. Let butter brown over low heat. Place cooked ravioli in brown butter and quickly coat them. Remove ravioli and sage brown butter into a clean bowl. Buon apetito!





Mushroom Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter!