Stir Crazy Winter Stir Fried Home Cooking

Winter came and gone and it's spring of 2021.  It feels like a 'Ground Hog' Day or the Repeat movie.  Are we back to do what we can without the fear of catching COVID-19?  I think cooking at home is a "normal" thing to do that we all have ... kind of found an excuse not to out of one reason or the other before COVID-19.  And before COVID-19, we were day dreaming 'how nice it will be to cook or bake this and that.'  Now that we have to do it regularly for economic or for safety reason, I find myself... I wonder to think that how lazy we were before COVID-19.  I replaced my spare time maybe to eat out just that I can get to the next appointment or activities.  Thinking back when my mother used to cook 3 meals a day - that must have been a "endless" nightmare de la femme.

So, I learned to crop my garden vegetables with scissors before any bugs get to them, and cook them, and let it grow again.  I have gardenful of celery, three kinds of Kale that my friend gave me.  If you have a bottle of organic ketchup and Soy sauce, frozen wild caught seafood, you can make a nice decent quick dishes.  Stir fried veges of all sorts.

Stir fried Celery, Asparagus, and Scallop over stir fried Kale Basmati Rice

I learned that cooked basmati rice result better when stir fried a bit and cooked in covered large pan.  When cooked in the electric rice cooker, I did not really like the fully cooked soft texture all these years.  So, I wash, rinse, basmatic extra long grain rice and soak them for 30 to whenever I remember that it is waiting for me to cook.

I chop up some onions, garlic, heat up large fry pan with oil.  Add onions and garlic, add handful of chopped Kale (I often freeze my garden Kale if I can't cook all of them.).  Add soaked Basmati rice.  Stir fry for about a minute.  Add enough water to cover the rice.  Cover.  Cook over Medium heat till all the water is evaporated and rice has doubled/puff up inside the pan.  *NEVER open the lid of uncooked rice while cooking.  Well, it is up to you, but it is important that you don't let the steam escape and change the temperature of the rice.  Once visually you have confirmed that the rice is cooked - the top most rice sitting looks dry, prepare a cup of warm water, open the lid, quickly stir all rice bottom to top and side to center, add the cup of warm water.  Cover, and cook till the water is gone.  Done.

Defrost frozen wild scallop in some salted water.   Drain and chop up scallops to your desired sizes.  I like them small.  Wash, rinse, devein celery stalks and chop.  Wash, rinse Asparagus, then, snap off the bottom stem.  Cut into bite size.  Peel 1 clove of large garlic, cut in halves.   

Heat a fry pan with some avocado oil over medium high.  Add garlic.  Add Scallops, Stir fry till scallops turn white.  Add celery, asparagus, and stir fry . 2 min.   Add 2 Tbsp of ketchup, 1 tsp of soy sauce (to taste), toss and stir fry.   Add 2 Tbsp of water if needed to steam cook the veges.  Server over rice.

Stir fried Kale with sweat peppers and carrots

Stir fried Kale Rice, Tofu, and CHING TSAI (Bok Choi), Tofu, Chicken, and rice vermicelli Stew

Cook Basmati rice as mentioned in previous section with Kale.

Clean and chop up CHING TSAI - not sure why it is called Bok Choi at the grocery store but the large stalk of vegetable with green leafy tops with white stems - I 've always been calling it the CHING TSAI - the "green vegetables", but regardless, chop it up, chop 2 cloves of garlic.  Stir fry them.  Then, set aside.  Stir fry chopped chicken tenders.  Add cooking wine or white vermouth.  Reconstitute rice vermicelli with hot water in a large bowl.  When softened, scissor the into 4 to 6 inch strands. * just make a cut at the top and bottom of the rolled up rice vermicelli.   Cut medium firm Tofu into pieces - square or rectangle.

Combine all in a large pot.  Add 4 cups of water.  Season with salt and white pepper.  Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Serve

What else did I cook.... I have to upload the photos.  Till next time... have a good cooking days.  

Be Safe.  Be Kind and Wear that Mask in the Public.

Polly's CHA GIO Wrapper Testing - Photo Journal

I was trying to make CHAGIO - Vietnamese fried spring rolls.  We made it so easily when we lived in S Viet-Nam, but it seems so formidable trying to make it now.  The wrappers seem to be different. The first couple of times I tried, the wrapper looked like a burnt plastic.  They looked scary.  I don't think they really used the rice and tapioca flour.  I think they are foreign chemical - plastic.  I gave it a year of rest.  I retried it this time buying the wrapper that says for the fried spring roll.  Yes, you could easily make them with the Chinese spring roll wrappers, but it's just not the same.  Just for the crab Cha Gio served at one of the hole in the wall eatery in Cholon maybe a good reason to visit S Viet-Nam one of these days.

The results - I like the square Banh Trang ChaGio wrapper.  Does it really matter?

 

 

pre-soaked rice vermicelli in hot boiling water.

Stir fry them all briefly.  Add potato starch roux to coagulate them.  There should be very little liquid.

All the filling ingredients are pre-cooked.

The round one's texture looks so plastic.

Square ones look more 'home made'?

To keep the seems to split open during frying, it maybe a good idea to use a cornstarch roux, paste to dab all around the edge.  Otherwise, during frying, you will be holding onto the spring roll's seam closed until the outer skin is quite browned.

Let them sit to dry.  It is also important that the wrapper skin is quite dry before frying. to keep them from opening up.

To fry, do not let go of the tongue or the chop stick holding the seam closed until quite browned.

The result - I like the square ChaGio wrapper.  The texture looks more real ingredients than the round wrapper.  It's not a very good reason, but the round wrapper seems so plastic like when fried.  Maybe that's the way tapioca behaves in heat.  I need t do it again.  Air dry the rolls longer. than, fry gently maybe better.  Serve with vinegar, lemon juice, chili flakes or other recipes you find in the Internet with lime juice and nuoc mum - fish sauce and chili, etc.

Pan Fried Rice Vermicelli with Shrimps and Chicken

I posted it once in December 2018, but here it is again because it is so simple to make.
https://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/search?q=vermicelli
 Stir fry shrimp and chicken pieces with garlic, salt and pepper with some vinegar.  Set it aside.

 

Stir fry chopped celery, sliced reconstituted shiitake, green onions, some cilantro.

 

Add Shrimp and chicken.

 

Rehydrate dry rice vermicelli with hot water.  When soft, drain.  Add 2 TBsp oil to saute pan.  Add strained rice vermicelli.  At low heat cook covered until crispy on one side.

 

Transfer vegetable mix with shrimp and chicken on top and Serve.

Rice Vermicelli Fried Noodle - FUJIAN GAN TSAO MIFEN

If I remembered it correctly, the waitress said it is called FUJIAN GAN TSAO MIFEN - FUJIAN is a province of China.  We never been there, but we came across this interesting very simple and tasty dish at Hong Kong Islander restaurant located in Sacramento.  Office friends were looking for this interesting Dim Sum that he said he really enjoyed - crispy shrimp wrapped in white soft rice.  We all thought is shrimp CHEONG FUN, but he said it is not.  When we described it to the waitress, she was so sure what we are talking about and then, this got delivered.
We all looked at each other for this burnt looking rice vermicelli dish

 We dug in, nevertheless.  Scallop, chicken, asparagus or fennel stems, woodear ... It tasted so good.

 So, I decided to try making it myself at home.  Yes, I know, my kitchen sink is not fixed.  I am improvising one of other sink in the meantime.  (It's a mess in the kitchen because of it.)
After hydrating two packages of rice vermicelli and two Chinese mushroom or SHIITAKE in hot water/after boiling, using Scissors, cut the rice vermicelli at both end. 
The dry vermicelli comes rolled up into rectangular shape. 
When you add it to a bowl of hot water, it hydrates into soft noodle, yet still need more heat to be cooked. 
Before lifting them up with chop sticks or strainer to drain the water off, while it is still in the bowl, scissor them at both end. Slice and chop the hydrated mushroom. 
The mushroom might need hotter water to hydrate than the vermicelli.  You should not see "white" dry stem, but moist mushroom. Otherwise, it will be challenging to slice them and chop.
Add three tablespoon of avocado oil to the frypan.
RESERVE the water that mushroom and vermicelli got hydrated in. 
Strain the vermicelli out of the bowl by lifting them up using chop stick or strainer - Add to the frying pan.
The vermicelli do not need to be totally strained.  It needs some liquid to cook in the fry pan. Let it cook covered at medium heat.  Keep your 'ears' open and listen to the sound while you prepare the meat. What you want to achieve is cooked rice vermicelli with browned on one side.

 Chop up half of chicken breast and thaw shrimp or fish or whatever you got.  I used four shrimps and chopped them up after deveining them.  1/2 Cup chopped green onions, 2 stalks of celery sliced.
Add chicken first into fry pan.  Stir fry for 40 seconds.  Add shrimp.  Stir fry for 30 seconds.  Add celery and green onions.  Stir fry and add mushroom.
Turn to low. 

 Mix 1 TBsp of soy sauce (low sodium) with 1 tsp of Chinese hot chili paste (LA JIAO JAN), 2 tsp of TONKATSU sauce, 1 TBsp of KATAKURIKO - potato starch.  Mix in 1/4 C reserved liquid from hydrating mushroom and vermicelli.  Add more liquid - at least to 1/2 C.  Add to the meat mixture in frypan. 
Turn heat to medium high. 
Quickly add the rest of liquid - 1/3 to 1/2 Cup more and quickly stir before it start to congeal.  As it thickens, cook for 1 minute.  Turn off heat.

 Check on vermicelli often.  When one side is browned, turn off the heat.  Get a serving plate ready.

 Transfer the meat to a dish and flip transfer the vermicelli to the top.  Sprinkle with green onions and serve.   To serve, portion the noodle into section and or break it apart and mix with meat and serve.

It turned out delicious.