Rice Paper Rolls

Rice Paper Rolls is another Summer staple on our table. It can be prepared 100% vegetarian or you can add shrimps, chicken, beef or even pork. The meat I always cook simply in frying pan with my own Teriyaki Sauce that is a bit on sweet side with the use of Mirin and Maple Syrup.

Vegetables for the roll are pretty much standard:

Carrots, lettuce, cucumber and red pepper with rice noodles and peanuts as another standard. I have included shaved asparagus cooked in Teriyaki Sauce and garlicky shrimps.



Wrapping these ingredients in rice paper that was just very quickly dragged through water in large bowl can be quite tricky because the rice paper is very brittle when dry and tears easily when wet, there is no happy middle.

Make small pile of vegies at one end and if using shrimps slice them in half lengthwise and lay them flat at other end so that they will show through just one layer of paper. Make about 2 tight turns, fold the sides over and finish the roll.

For dipping sauce I use a mix of smooth Peanut butter, Hoisin Sauce, Sriracha and Soy Sauce.

Food Court Noodles

Is it really 3 years since I blogged last time? Really?

 

As far as I know most major shopping malls have a place set aside where all fast food vendors set up small kiosk and every one of the malls we have visited here in Canada and Eastern States have at least one of Chinese fast-food chains represented. Not one of them failed to have a warm or room temperature vegetarian chow mien noodles on their menu. My guess is that at least 8 out of 10 times this is what we would order.
Since it is such a favorite of mine and also for so many other people I think, I thought that there will be hundreds of recipes on the Net replicating the taste but after trying few none was what I was looking for, there was always something missing. So, I have decided to give it a try and do my own version, I have done that dozens of times before after all and done quite well.
Most important part in this great and simple meal is the noodle and I knew that I will have to find them but problem was that we don't have Oriental Supermarket or even a small Oriental food store so I am dependent on local supermarkets: Zehrs, Metro and Sobeys, all of which do have Oriental Food section. As we talked about this meal on our weekly grocery shopping trip, I found fresh (actually previously frozen) noodles in fresh pasta refrigerator at our Zehrs Supermarket. They were exactly what I was looking for! In other part of the supermarket you are likely to find Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, Oyster Sauce and Sriracha (all were already in my very well stocked pantry) which will make sauce. Other ingredients for this vegetarian version were in my refrigerator so it was off to the kitchen!

It is difficult to write a recipe where all ingredients are basically “to taste”; some like it hot, some like it mild and same goes with salty or sweet. Some like broccoli, some can’t stand it and same for onions that I just can’t imagine not to have in my pantry and use them! So, this will be more of a list of suggested ingredients followed by some important procedures or techniques then a real detailed recipe. 

Ingredients (for large bowl)

Fresh Chow Mein noodles (I use half a pack)
Carrot, grated or julienned
Broccoli, flowerets only and blanched (I use microwave for 1 minute)
Green onions, whole onion chopped
Asparagus (in season, blanched and cut into short pieces)
Green or Yellow Beans (in season, blanched and cut into short pieces)
Any vegie that you like… 

For Sauce

Sriracha, Sesame Oil, Hoisin Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Light Soy Sauce (Kikkoman),

Directions
Prepare your sauce in a bowl or as I do in a glass measuring cup. Since I cook by feel and never measure, except in baking, it is difficult to give exact volume of the finished sauce. Also, it depends on amount of noodles as well. I start with:
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp. Hoisin Sauce
1 Tbsp. Oyster Sauce
1 tsp. Sriracha
1 tsp. of Sesame Oil

Mix, taste and adjust. Set aside.

Very important part is to loosen and untangle the noodles before boiling. If you don’t, you very likely end up with a mess of noodles where all the knots will be undercooked; not a great texture to bite into.

Notice the tangle of noodle strands

All nice and loose...

To boil your noodles follow manufacturer’s suggestion. Mine called to boil for 1 minute and it is very close. I always have a bowl with cold water next to boiling pot to test for doneness of pasta and start tasting a bit past half the suggested time. Also, salt the water just like for regular pasta.

When done, drain, rinse under cold running water and then transfer to bowl with cold water. When they are cool, less than half a minute, transfer them to salad spinner lined with a tee towel. Spinning the cooked noodles in salad spinner will ensure that noodles will separate and be ready to absorb the sauce. Omitting this step will result in soggy, mushy noodles.

 

When noodles are dry mix in about half the sauce and taste. Add more sauce and mix again; hands are the very best tool to coat all the noodles with sauce.

Mix in the vegies and serve.

By adding stir fried chicken, beef or shrimp makes this into a real restaurant dish. I used just chicken thighs cut into strips and shrimps in this version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My New York Style Pizza – Vegetarian

Even though I am dedicated carnivore, I just do not like pizza with any sort of meat product on it. It used to be that when I ordered pizza it had to be meat-eater special: bacon, ham, Italian sausage and of course solid layer of peperoni. If we wanted to eat pizza we had to go to pizza joint or order one. Well, how the times have changed! Now, the only pizza we eat is just what I bake: super thin crust (from a dough I made night before), the best tomato sauce (mine, of course made from my own grown-from-seeds tomatoes), mix of Italian cheeses that I grate (Provolone, Asiago, Parmigiano Regiano and Mozzarella). For toppings, it is just white or Vidalia onions, zucchini and red peppers chopped into 1/4” chunks and sliced cremini mushrooms, all in one thin layer. I like to see the cheese in between the vegetable toppings, only the mushroom slices are overlapping in second layer. Way back, I used to order Chicago style pizza from time to time but now I would have to be close to total starvation before I would touch this thing. Pizza? More like a casserole (just like Bobby Flay likes to say) or a stew on a wet bread.

 Perfect thin crust pizza.

Here is my time proven recipe. This pizza is just as good when reheated in a toaster oven as it is when served fresh. One very important note: don’t even bother to try to make thin crust pizza without pizza stone, it just will not work. Also, I always pre-bake my pizza and then dress it up, it makes the job of dressing the pizza so much easier and it gives the crust that a nice crunch! Also, make sure to dock the pizza dough with a docker or with a fork.

Another trick I have learned over time is to use wire cooling rack to put pizza on after it is pre-baked, it helps to keep bottom of the pizza to stay dry. Actually, it takes much longer to describe the whole process than it is to actually do it, but here it goes.

Dough

1-1/2 cup hard (bread) flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp. fine sea salt

1/2 tsp. sugar or honey

1 T. olive oil

1-1/4 tsp. instant yeast (or heaping teaspoon)

Up to 3/4 cup warm water 

Pulse all the dry ingredients in food processor with steel blade attached.

Turn the machine on and drizzle in olive oil through the feed tube and then slowly add 1/2 cup tepid distilled water. Keep the machine running for about 30 seconds and then start adding more water one teaspoon at the time until the dough is one smooth ball whirling around. When the dough clears the side of bowl, you are done. Remove the dough to floured board and shape into smooth ball. Place in bowl thinly coated with olive oil, cover with plastic film and place in warm, draft free place. Better yet, let the dough rest in cool place overnight.

Assembly and baking

Preheat oven with pizza stone placed on bottom shelf to 500 °F, it will take about half an hour.

Roll out and stretch the pizza dough on floured countertop until the dough is 1/4” thick. Let the dough rest while you prepare the toppings.

Have a sauce, cheese and veggies ready next to cooling wire rack.

When the oven is ready (and infrared thermometer reads 500 °F on pizza stone) slide your peal (that was generously floured first) under the pizza and carefully slide it on pizza stone. Make sure that pizza was docked before it goes into oven or you end up with supersized pita bread (see above) It happened to me first time I made it. Bake for only 3 minutes.

Remove from oven and turn over onto cooling rack with baked side facing up. Now is time to dress it up. Sauce goes down first in thin layer, then cheese and finally veggies. Mushrooms, if using, go on last. Slide pizza back on the peel (you may want to sprinkle a bit of flour first) and back to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove pizza from oven, cut into pieces and slide it back on cooling rack, it will prevent pizza bottom from getting soggy. When you look at the bottom you will notice how beautifully the dough is baked: nice caramelized blisters all over the bottom of your pizza pie.

Pizza is docked and ready for 3 minute pre-bake.

One side is baked, flipped over and ready for toppings...

starting with tomato sauce…

followed by cheese…

and finally the toppings.

In 10 minutes it will be ready!