July 26, 2011: Daring Cooks' Homemade Noodles

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

This challenge is all about getting your hands dirty, by making a style of pasta or noodle without the use of motorized tools. So many cultures make flour as a method of preserving wheat and rice harvest, and then use the flour to make staple food items such as bread and noodles.

As a bonus, I want to challenge you to find examples from your cultural background!

Mandatory Items: Prepare some pasta by hand, without the use of motorized tools, and prepare the appropriate sauce/seasoning to go with it. The concept of "noodle" or "pasta" is being applied very loosely here, as some traditional recipes may seem closer to a dumpling than what you consider a noodle. Use your own judgment and creativity here.

Variations allowed: Many variations are allowed here – no strict recipe is required. It goes without saying that people with dietary requirements may substitute the "traditional" ingredients in favor of ingredients that are appropriate for them. Similarly, substitutions may be made where suggested ingredients are not readily available, or are cost prohibitive.

Steph's recipes can be found at The Daring Kitchen.

Eat4Fun: I've made traditional Italian-style pasta in the pasta for the Daring Bakers' Lasagna Challenge.

I wanted to make something that I remember from my childhood, Rice Noodles (aka Fun).
The difference between mein (as in chow mein) is that mein refers to wheat based noodles while Fun refers to non-wheat noodles.



Recipe is based upon what my mom's recipe. She doesn't measure out ingredients using cups, but this is what I've come up with.

Rice Noodles (Fun)
1 C Rice Flour
2 T Wheat Starch (or Cornstarch)
1 t Tapioca Starch (to give the noodles a little chew)
1.5 C Water (or use a 50/50 mixture of Chicken broth and water)
1/4 t Salt (can omit if using broth)

1) Mix all the ingredients to form a slurry.
2) Use a steamer and an 8 x 8 inch Pyres dish or a round pie pan.
3) Lightly oil (with an oily towel or use Pam) the glass dish.
4) Pour about 1/3 cup of batter and spread.
5) Steam about 3 to 5 minutes.

Finished Rice Noodles (Fun)


What you can make...

Chow Fun


Dim Sum: Rice noodle rolled with Shrimp


Dim Sum: Rice noodle rolled with Pork


Dim Sum: Rice Rolls (Cheung Fun)


Simple Comfort Food: Rice Noodles drizzled with Soy Sauce

Aug 19, 2010: Spicy Cold Noodles with Chicken Slivers

I have some leftover Costco rotisserie chicken. Yum! Yum! Yum!
Another quick meal day with minimal cooking... Recipe from Dunlop's "Land of Plenty"

Spicy Cold Noodles with Chicken Slivers

1/2 lb Fresh Noodles [The recipe calls for wheat noodles which I didn't have. Also, I wanted a quick meal so I used rice noodles.]
1 1/2 T Peanut Oil [I did not need it for the rice noodles.]
3 Oz Bean Sprouts [No bean sprouts so I used slivered Nappa Cabbage.]
4 Green Onions, thinly sliced

Sauce
2 T Sesame Paste + 1 T Water
1 1/2 T Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 T Soy Sauce
1 1/2T Chinese Black Vinegar
1 T Sugar
3 Cloves Garlic, crushed
1/2 t Sichuan Peppers, roasted and ground
2 T Chili Oil
1 T Sesame Oil

1) Mix the sauce and set aside.

The toasted Sichuan Peppers mixed into the rest of the sauce. I tried a dab of ground Sichuan peppers and after a minute my tongue went numb, as expected.


2) Blanch the Nappa cabbage and use the hot water to rehydrate the rice noodles (about 10 minutes). Drain and cool under cold running water.

3) Shred Chicken breast.

4) Plate and Eat
Noodles, chicken, sauce and garnish with green onions and chopped cilantro.


The noodles had a rich sesame paste flavor, with the slight numbing effects of the peppercorns.
Rich, savory, slightly spicy and slightly numbing. :-)

Daring Cooks: Pho, Pho, Pho-un

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I'd like to thank our special guest hostess, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, for sharing a delicious recipe and our founders Ivonne (Cream Puffs in Venice) and Lis (La Mia Cucina) for doing all the work around The Daring Kitchen and for setting up this months Daring Cooks' Challenge.

From Jaden:
Hello Daring Cooks!

I’m ecstatic that you guys will be cooking one of my very favorite dishes from the cookbook, the Vietnamese Chicken Pho. On my site, I have a longer version of the recipe, which involves making the stock from scratch.

In the cookbook, I wanted to make things easier for those on a time-crunch. The book includes a recipe for “Quick Vietnamese Chicken Pho” which uses store-bought stock. For the challenge, you’re welcome to create either recipe.

So what is Vietnamese Pho? Well, it’s like the most insanely delicious noodle soup popular in Vietnam. The broth is simmered for hours and hours with either beef knuckle/leg bone or with a whole chicken. Other accompaniments include ribbons of rice noodles, fresh herbs like cilantro or basil, a wedge of lime or lemon, fresh bean sprouts and fresh sliced chilies if desired.

What makes Pho so different than any other type of noodle soup is the spices that go into the simmering broth. Warm spices like coriander, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fresh ginger transform an ordinary broth into a very authentic Vietnamese Pho.

Our challenge focuses on Chicken Pho, or “Pho Ga” in Vietnamese. By the way, the correct pronunciation of Pho is “fuh?” Yes, you say the word like it’s a question! Chicken Pho is lighter than Beef Pho and the spices used are a little different as well.

Some of the secrets to making great Chicken Pho is:
1) Toast the spices and char the onion and ginger. This brings out the flavor and fragrance of these ingredients!
2) If you’re cooking the longer recipe (on my site) make sure you’re pre-boiling the chicken first – give it a hard boil for a few minutes to get rid of the scum and stuff in the chicken. This will help you create a crystal clear, clean broth.

The spices for Chicken Pho is whole coriander seeds, whole cloves and whole star anise – they should be easily found in your grocery store.

An essential component of Pho is fish sauce. Make your best effort to find fish sauce – your local Asian market should carry it. And if not, visit your local Thai or Vietnamese restaurant and see if you can buy a bottle from them. Soy sauce is a poor substitute for fish sauce, but if you can’t find fish sauce, then go ahead and make the sub.

2009 October Daring Cooks’ Challenge (A Double Challenge!)
Recipe Source: Jaden of Steamy Kitchen from her new book The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

Challenge #1: Vietnamese Chicken Pho
Preparation Time: 45 cooking time + 15 minutes to cook noodles based on package directions
Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Pho Broth:
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
½ onion
1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce

1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments (served with the noodle soup):
2 cups (200 grams/7 ounces) bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
½ cup (50 grams/approx. 2 ounces) shaved red onions
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

Directions:

1. To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.

2. In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.

Started out with homemade chicken stock and a whole chicken breast.


The rest of the ingredients... the toasted coriander, clove and star anise, 1 T rock sugar, 1 T of fish sauce, 1/2 onion blackened under a broiler and a 3" chunk of ginger - smashed and charred under the broiler.
Note: I found that breaking up the star anise would help toast the sides too.


All the ingredients soup ingredients added to a pot... I noticed my homemade stock was a little cloudy. When I've had pho in restaurants, the soup is usually clear.


Here's a step that I added...
Since I wanted a clear soup, I beat two egg whites to soft peaks and added a slivered scallion. The idea behind the egg whites is the whites will cook on top of the soup forming a "raft". The protein mesh will act as a filter to trap impurities (floaty bits) in the broth. The slivered green onion is there mainly to provide some structural support for the egg white foam. Also, it does add a little extra flavor to the broth.


The egg white raft is added to the soup... and the whole thing is brought to a boil and cooked per the directions... brought to a boil, heat lowered and simmered for 20 to 30 minutes.


3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.

4. Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.

5. Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids. I added another 1T of fish sauce. You want the broth to be strong at this point since we'll be pouring over unsalted noodles and raw veggies.

The before and after pictures...
looks like the egg white raft did the job filtering the broth. The broth is clear while the toasted spices and charred onion and ginger gave the broth a nice caramel color. I'm actually surprised there isn't more fat floating on the soup since chicken breast was not skinned.


6. Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.

Soak in hot, just boiled, water for about 7 to 10 minutes.


7. Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.

8. Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

In the small cup - Chili sauce and Hoisin sauce.
The herbage - two types of jalapeno peppers, cilantro, Thai basil, mint, thinly sliced red onion, lime and bean sprouts.


The bowl of noodle is set up and waiting for the boiling hot soup to be added. The hot soup will help cook the raw veggies.


The finished bowl - hot soup is added.


I've tried many pho recipes with mediocre results - mainly blandness. However, this recipe surprised me with 1) how simple it is and (2) the flavorful broth. I'd say this is the best pho recipe I've tried so far.

Another surprise, the whole chicken breast simmered for about 25 minutes total, was very moist.

Overall, I enjoyed the results of this challenge. The broth was aromatic and flavorful. This recipe is something that I'll cook again.

Challenge #2: Dessert Wontons
(Note: This second dessert challenge is about being creative with filling and form. Knock yourselves out!)

This challenge is where we DC'ers come up with our own recipe for a Dessert Wonton.
Ingredients: I had many ideas, but I became fixated on bananas so there was no turning back... Probably influenced by jr high and high school, a majority of the students were Filipino, where banana fritter lumpias were a common item in bake sales and parties. Nostalgia. :-)

1 Large Egg (you will be using the egg white to seal the edges of the wonton)
12 Wonton wrappers
1 Banana, sliced
2 T Brown Sugar
2 T Shredded Coconut
Chocolate Chips
Confectioners’ sugar (for dusting)

The ingredients:
Egg whites - for sealing the edges egg whites are best.
The thinly sliced banana mixed with coconut and brown sugar.
Chocolate chips and the wonton skins.


Place a little of everything in the center... paint the edges with egg white and seal.


Deep fry at 350F for until golden... about 1 minute per side.
Drain and serve


My banana wontons were so-so. The thinly sliced banana cooked really fast becoming kind of mushy. Reminded me of pureed banana baby food... The flavors were good, but I was hoping the brown sugar would caramelize a little more to form a caramel. I think the texture threw me off the most.

Next time, slice the banana thicker or use plantains... actually make a caramel sauce if I want caramel flavors. :-)

Sep 08: Homemade attampt at Pho

Most of the time what I decide to cook comes about based upon my cravings and shopping while hungry.

For example, I spied a package of beef neck bones. Looking at the beef bones, I thought to myself, “How about making a soup? Let’s try my hand at Pho (pronounced, "fuh")?”

Pho is a flavorful Vietnamese beef soup served with rice noodles, bean sprouts, holy basil and lime. Condiments used in the soup are typically hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot sauce.

I was first introduced to Pho by a Vietnamese classmate in college back in 1987, 1988 or 1989. (Hmmm… I guess it's true what is said about the mind going first when you get older. lol!) He was kind enough to drive me home from college during a holiday. We stopped in San Jose, which has a large Vietnamese population, for a bowl of Pho.

Pho? What's Pho? Wikipedia comes through with a description: Pho lol!

My reaction upon tasting the soup was wow! This is a great tasting soup with a lot of flavor from star anise and other new flavors! This hot sauce is hot, but I can’t stop eating it. :) Afterwards, I made it a point to stop by San Jose for a bowl of Pho when I had a chance.

Currently, pho restaurants are becoming mainstream and quite popular so my need to drive to SJ can be appeased locally.

Searching the internet, there are many recipes but I homed in on this one… http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/bookshelf/articles/pho_SJM.htm which I used as a basis. I didn’t make the recipe verbatim. I didn’t buy enough soup bones so I used it as a guide.

Pho Broth
2 lb Beef Bones, meaty ones preferred
1 lb Chuck Steak
5 Cloves
2 Star Anise
1 inch pieced of Ginger
1 Onion, halved
1 T Rock Sugar (about the size of a tablespoon)
Water for parboiling the bones.
3 quarts of water for the broth
2 T Fish Sauce

1. Bring a pot of water (enough to cover the bones) to boil and add the beef bones. Boil about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse the bones. Wash the pot of any residue.

2. Since I don’t have a gas stove, charred the onion and ginger under the broiler.

3. Salt and pepper the chuck steak and brown in a frying pan with a little oil.

4. Add the 3 quarts of water and all the ingredients, except the fish sauce.

5. Bring to a boil and let simmer. (I actually placed in a 175F oven for overnight.)

6. After the broth is done… add the fish sauce plus salt to taste. Refrigerate to de-fat the broth.

This is the finished broth. Darker and not as clear as I wanted. Also, the flavor is kind of mild. It doesn't have the “Wow!” I was looking for.


Thank goodness for pictures on packages. The rice noodles for the pho. Rice noodles are reconsituted by soaking in boiling hot water for about 5 minutes.


My bowl ready for the broth - bean sprouts, limes, holy basil, chili paste and hoisin sauce.


The finished bowl... Hot broth added and limes squeezed.


Overall, the broth was dark and slightly cloudy. The taste was a little on the mild side. Lack of beefiness? Adding the chili paste and the hoisin sauce helped, but I was hoping the broth could carry the Pho without those additions.

Next time, I should boost the amount of beef bones and beef. Some recipes call for using oxtails, but oxtails are just as expensive as a decent steak, or I should just follow the recipe. :-)