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Helloo, week 3 here we go! Still here? Yep. Still amazed? Yep.
This week has ended up being pretty gloomy so here's a dramatic sandwich in the sun™️ to get us started nice and bright ☀️
This is one of those 'second breakfast' breakfast sandwiches I mentioned last week. White bread slathered with, what we at home like to call 'chicken paste', some tomatoes, a sunny side up egg and chilli sauce. Added some potato chips and ketchup on the side it to give it that particular cafe vibe, because why not?
(Chicken Paste is this spread which my mom makes with boiled chicken, mayonnaise and some other tidbits to use in sandwiches. I might do a recipe post on it sometime. 👀)
Chinese Food & Wok Cooking
Chinese food has a special place in all Indians' hearts - not 'Chinese' Chinese, but 'Desi' Chinese. It has so many memories tied to it.
For me, some particular ones range from having Chinese food at every childhood new years party with my friends to family dinners and takeout brought home to enjoying all the roadside and canteen Chinese food during college days. Apart from our respective native cuisines, I think Desi Chinese might just be the second national cuisine of India.
This episode on the Deep Fried podcast from Frying Pan Adventures talks all about Desi Chinese and the history and nostalgia surrounding it. I was straight up salivating my way through listening to it this week. 100% recommend.
While takeout has been scarce in recent times, over the years I've found our hand at making Chinese food at home has gotten better and better. Countless Youtube videos of streetside vendors and a few good cooks and chefs online have to be thanked.
Thursday night this week mom says to me, 'Aaj kuch bana le? Broccoli aur laal-peeli shimla mirch hai taazi'. Fresh vegetables are one of those things that tempt me to get cooking, even on weekdays when I'm tired to do anything after work.
So here's where we begin-
In the picture above I've prepped all the ingredients I'll be needing to cook the two dishes I plan to. Vegetables chopped, chicken cut up and marinated, eggs cracked and ready to be whisked, sauces and pastes ready to be reached for when needed - it all needs to be ready.
It's like you're Derek Shepherd preparing for a brain surgery. First, you've got to have your team & tools ready (ingredients & utensils). Second, you've got to know what you're doing down to the T (surgery : cooking). And then you say—
(I had to.)
Cooking Chinese food, or more specifically cooking Chinese food in a wok - a very quick style of cooking - is a very rapid-fire process. Heat is at the highest, everything cooks in a matter of seconds, there's sizzling and bubbling and a lot of movement. If you don't have ingredients prepared in advance you're probably going to end up burning either the food or yourself.
But let me also say that when you do have everything perfectly in place and you start cooking, it's like magic. You're stir-frying things and tossing in a little bit of that and drizzling in a little bit of this and inhaling the wonderful aromas and seeing things come to life into this beautiful melody of ingredients - it's like a culinary dance form. Elegant & graceful while also being energetic and thrilling. Magic.
So this is what I ended up making - on the left is a freestyle chicken & vegetable stir-fry and on the right is a tomato & egg stir-fry.
The chicken & veggie stir-fry was a pretty straight-forward one. I marinated the chicken in some soy sauce, ginger-garlic paste and sugar while I prepped the veggies. Also prepared a simple sauce to make it eatable with rice - soy, chilli sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, ginger garlic paste, some cornflour and water for consistency.
The stir-frying process begins with a hot hot wok & oil - always key. Recently, I found that there's a term for it in Chinese cooking. Longyau ('huaguo' - 滑锅 - in Mandarin): creating a nice non-stick surface on the wok.
There's an entire science behind it and if you'd like to learn more I highly recommend this video.
Back to the stir-fry. This is how I planned the cook in my head and that's how it went -
🍗 Sear the marinated chicken in a seasoned super hot wok. 30 seconds max. Take it out and set aside.
🥕 Veggies go in one by one starting with the ones which will cook the longest. Carrots > broccoli > bell peppers > spring onion.
🍗 Add the chicken back in.
🥘 Pour in the prepared sauce & cook till it thickens.
🍲 Turn off the heat and add in spring onion greens, basil and it's ready.
All of this happens in a matter of minutes so you know how important the prep is.
The tomato and egg stir fry is a typical Chinese dish, which I tried cooking for the very first time. This recipe by Adam Liaw is the one I followed and it turned out perfectly. A very simple yet flavoursome dish. The texture is soft and pairs beautifully with rice.
To sum it up, dinner was a delicious affair and I even ended up having the leftovers for lunch the next day *voluntarily* and skipping the chicken curry cooked by mom. Guilty! 🙊
Sunday Breakfast
Breakfasts on the weekend call for a bit of indulgence and I couldn't shy away from making this loaded frittata today. Eggs, veggies, sausage and cheese - all cooked up into this wonderful hefty omelette which is too hard to resist and too inviting to not go in for seconds. Add some baked beans for a side of nostalgia and you've got me sold through and through.
Something to watch
This week I watched Salt Fat Acid Heat, the Netflix series by Samin Nosrat, (remember her from the Home Cooking podcast recommendation?) which is based on her book with the same name.
This series came out way back in 2018 and I had yet to watch it. I finally did and man is it a beautiful primer into the basics of cooking!
As the name suggests, the series delves into the 4 basic pillars of cooking as per Samin - salt, fat, acid, and heat. 4 topics, 4 episodes, 4 geographies and their ways of incorporating that particular element in their cooking.
The basics of cooking are something which cannot be emphasised enough and this short series does a brilliant job of highlighting how simple yet complex and dynamic even the basics can be. Food is art and even the simplest of art can be a whole universe in itself. 💓
If you're curious about the simplest things in cooking - this show is for you. Or if you just enjoy watching cooking shows - this one's for you. If you're not either, just watch it - Samin will win your heart over. (Also listen to Home Cooking!)
I also have to take a moment to appreciate the dreamy drone shots spread across the series and the art direction in general. *Chef's kiss*
Cute things on the internet
That's it from me for this week. I hope you have a tasty week ahead. Cook some lovely food and dream of some lovely food. I'll see you next week!
Pasta la vista! 🍝
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