Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵 Recipe

Zha jiang mian 炸醬麵 has always been a favorite, classic, comfort food for me.  I still remember my mom used to call it Chinese spaghetti, although Chinese bolognese is probably a more accurate description.  Either way, similar to spaghetti/bolognese, everyone's favorite rendition is probably his/her mother's recipe that he/she grew up eating, which means you can adjust ingredients and toppings as you see fit.  For me, the zha jiang sauce includes diced bean curd/braised tofu (豆腐干), which is a more Taiwanese twist to the Beijing classic.

Without further ado, here's my base recipe for the zha jiang sauce.  Feel free to customize to your liking!

Ingredients (~6 servings)
1 pound ground pork
3 oz. sweet bean sauce (甜麵醬), or  hoisin sauce
6 oz. yellow bean sauce (豆瓣醬)

1-2 squares bean curd/braised tofu (豆腐干), diced
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
5 slices ginger, minced
8 cloves garlic, minced
4 stalks scallions, chopped, with green tops and white bottoms separated
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
White pepper, to taste
1 julienned carrot, optional
1 julienned cucumber, optional

Directions
Heat oil in pan, and add ground pork and salt.  Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, to brown.  Add ginger, garlic, and white bottoms of scallions and cook for another minute.  Add diced bean curd, dark soy sauce, and sesame oil and stir for another minute.  Add the sweet bean sauce and yellow bean sauce.  Simmer until pork is cooked through.  *No matter how you end up substituting ingredients, the key ratio for the sweet bean sauce to the yellow bean sauce is 1:2.

Serve over chewy noodles, and top with green parts of scallions, julienned carrots, and/or julienned cucumbers.

*The meat sauce keeps well, so feel free to freeze extra sauce for a quick reheated meal on another day!

Tea Pot Bubble Tea & Wheel Pie

I love "wheel pies" 車輪餅 and am so glad to have this (permanent) spot open in Chinatown, as opposed to relying on the occasional food truck.  

There are both sweet and savory flavors, and I tried the red bean, red bean with tapioca balls, taro, and oreo flavors.  The wheel pie itself was well "cooked" with a perfectly crispy outside, a light and soft texture for the rest of the pie, and a not-too-sweet filling, just the way I like it.  The tapioca balls were also nice and chewy, so I imagine their bubble teas must also be good.  Obviously, the cakes are best when eaten fresh, otherwise they lose the crisp exterior, but you can pop them into the oven to reheat.

Finally, the people are super nice.  I will definitely come back to support a fellow Taiwanese...and I genuinely enjoyed the wheel pies.

    

The Eddy

Very cute and quaint restaurant.

My favorite item was the langos (a Hungarian fried bread, kind of like a savory doughnut).  We got all three add-ons to try, and I enjoyed them, but I would've also enjoyed the bread itself.  The bread was airy and not dense, although a bit oily considering it's fried.

  For other starters, we got the red endive salad, chicken liver skewers, and veal sweetbreads.  The red endive salad was fine but not memorable other than the pretty plating (but small portion for the price).  Chicken liver and sweetbreads are both acquired tastes, and I'll admit I'm okay with both but not the biggest fan of either, so I'll stay neutral on these items.

  For mains, we got the beef cheek goulash and the ribeye, which were both great.  I was expecting the goulash to be more like a stew (and a larger portion), but it was served more dry on a plate.  Despite that, I enjoyed the flavor, and the beef was very tender.  The steak also surprised on the upside.  It was cooked to a perfect medium-rare as ordered, and the meat itself was well-seasoned.  It came with a side of grits and a romaine salad with watermelon radish, which had a nice tartness to it to balance the fattiness of the meat.

Finally, we ended with the sacher torte and blanc mange for dessert.  As a chocolate lover, I expected to like the sacher torte more, but it was the blanc mange that was the winner for the table, especially with the espresso granita.

Yaso Tangbao

Yaso Tangbao is a self serve restaurant, where you place your order and then wait for your number to get called to pick up.  There are a number of tables and seats though, and it's actually a pretty big space.

I came right when they opened for lunch on a Sunday, so there weren't that many other customers; we were first to order.  All seemed good, until the food came out.  The soup dumplings were lukewarm at best.  I don't think I've ever had lukewarm, almost cold, soup dumplings before.  Keep in mind we were first to order, and we ate there and did not take out to eat at home.  

On top of that, the soup dumplings were uncharacteristically large, which is fine if they have the right meat:skin ratio, which was horribly off.  The dumplings probably had about the same amount of meat as normal size dumplings, and then there was just all this extra skin, so the extra skin just falls off to the side and lies flat...see pictures.  We tried both the regular pork dumplings as well as the crab and pork; there was barely any crab in the latter...I could barely taste the difference between the two dumplings.  Very disappointing.

The pan-fried buns were a bit better, although the bun "skin" was also a bit on the thick side, and not that hot.  By the time we got to the last of the buns at the end of the meal (~20 min later), the soup inside had already congealed, and the bun had soaked up most of the juice/soup.  First one we had that was relatively more fresh was obviously better.

The beef noodle soup was essentially a very light broth with some chunks of marinated beef; didn't expect a traditional Taiwanese beef noodle soup (especially since this restaurant is Shanghainese), but the noodle soup did seem like a random hodge podge of ingredients.  The beef was actually pretty tender and well-flavored though.

The sweet and sour pork ribs were probably the best of the meal.  The ribs were also flavorful and relatively tender.



Finally, we also tried the special crawfish garlic noodles on their Lunar New Year menu.  The crawfish sauce was good and had a bit of a kick, although the crawfish itself wasn't the most fresh.  The noodles were, surprise surprise, also on the cold side and stuck to itself, so that when I tried to lift a bite of noodles to eat, I lifted the entire tupperware-full of noodles in one go.


I don't even want to know what the food is like when you take it away and don't eat it immediately, considering practically was lukewarm when it came out.

De Maria

Very simple menu, but fresh ingredients and creative combination of ingredients and flavors make what would otherwise be a boring salad, bowl, or sandwich into a delicious and memorable meal.  

I got the tiger bowl, which comes with coconut grains, salmon, avocado, hijiki, and black sesame.  The grains definitely had a strong coconut smell and taste -- fragrant and sweet, which balanced out the other ingredients nicely, but only if you really like coconut.  My favorite part was actually the black sesame, which was the sauce that tied it all together, both lit. and fig.  The portion size was fine for me, as I wasn't that hungry, but I can see how a hungrier person would need more, especially with a $17 price tag.

Cafe Altro Paradiso

We tried Cafe Altro Paradiso for brunch and had a good experience overall.  The standout items for me were the fontina arancini and the sticky bun.

Fontina arancini -- nicely fried, cheesy rice balls, and the Calabrian chile sauce added a nice kick.


Sticky bun with hazelnut and chocolate -- served warm, which makes everything better.


Piatto di antipasti -- pretty standard meat plate.

Pasqualina (savory pie with greens, ricotta, egg) -- not too memorable or flavorful; it would've been more impressive if the egg was runny, but the yolk was fully cooked through.


Eggs alla'Amatriciana -- tasted fine, but pretty underwhelming and was just two fried eggs with some tomato sauce and focaccia on the side.


Malfatti cacio e pepe -- simple and well-done, although a pretty small portion for $24, even if there were some black truffle shavings.


Baccala fritto (fried salt cod sandwich) -- it's hard to cook fried fish well, and the cod was pretty nicely done, although as a sandwich, it fell a bit flat and wasn't that standout for me.

Zebra Layer Cake Recipe

I was inspired by a beautiful Instagram photo of a zebra cake and decided to try my hand at recreating it for Valentine's Day.  It was actually not as hard as I thought, and it was pretty rewarding to cut into it and see all the "stripes" and layers.

Like a marble cake or checker cake, obviously you need two batters -- we'll start with a basic yellow cake and a chocolate cake.  The smart and more time efficient way is to use one base cake batter, and then separate half and add cocoa powder to create the chocolate batter.  Sally's Baking Addiction Blog has an easy to follow recipe.

However, I am a chocolate-crazed person and wanted to have a really good chocolate cake, so I made my life slightly more difficult by making two separate cake batters.  The recipe below is what I used.  (Now you have recipes for both chocolate and vanilla cake too!)

Ingredients
Yield: 3 9-inch cake rounds

Chocolate Cake:
1 2/3 cup cake flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (*not Dutch-pressed cocoa powder)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup warm coffee (or warm water)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Yellow Cake:
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup milk

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Chocolate cake:
Mix together dry ingredients until well combined.  In a separate bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Yellow cake: 
Cream together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.  Add eggs one at a time, and then vanilla.  Mix in remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Cake baking:
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease and lightly flour three 9-inch cake pans.

To assemble the cake layers, drop a large spoonful of one batter in the center of the pan.  Top with a spoonful of the other batter.  Alternate spoonfuls of batter, slightly shaking the pan to even it out as needed.  Repeat until three cake pans are evenly filled with batter.

  

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes are baked through (insert toothpick into center; cake is done if toothpick comes out clean).  Allow cakes to completely cool.  



Frosting:
Make sure cream cheese and butter are soft and room temperature for ease of mixing (and to avoid lumpy frosting).  Beat the cream cheese on high speed until completely smooth, ~1 minutes.  Beat in the butter until combined.  Add the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and milk and mix until smooth.

Cake assembly:
The cakes may have formed a domed top during the baking process.  Once the cakes have completely cooled, slice a thin layer off the tops of each cake to create a flat surface.  Place the bottom layer of the cake on a cake stand and evenly cover the top with frosting.  

Use an angled spatula or a really flat spoon, and frost at an angle.  Smooth all the way to the edge, but avoid lifting the spatula until you reach the edge, or else you will lift up the cake and add crumbs to the frosting.  Add the next layers and repeat.  

To frost the sides, gather frosting on the spatula and smooth onto the sides of the cake.  Again, don't lift the spatula.  Instead, spin the cake plate around.

Optional: garnish with sprinkles, coconut flakes, nuts, whatever you like.

In the pictures below, I only made 2 layers of cake and used the extra batter to make cupcakes.

  

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Year of the Dog! 狗年吉祥!

The dog is the eleventh animal of the Chinese zodiac, and as we all know, dogs are loyal best friends, and human dogs (lol) should be too!  Trust the zodiac.  I came across this fun site on zodiac animals and thought I'd share for those interested in reading about the different personalities and characteristics of the various zodiac animals.  I certainly remember that was staple reading for me at Chinese restaurants growing up.  (Why did they all have to use the same paper placemats?)

To learn more about Chinese New Year traditions, see my CNY blog post from last year!

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy, and prosperous year filled with good fortune!

新年快樂,

萬事如意,

身體健康 ,

大吉大利!


Rice cake recipes: traditional steamed and baked

Ho Foods

Growing up, I never craved beef noodle soup, perhaps because it was so commonplace and simple, but since moving to New York, I've discovered there's a huge shortage of authentic regional Chinese and Taiwanese foods in Manhattan.  Thankfully, this is slowly changing, and Ho Foods is one example.  

Ho Foods is a specialty beef noodle soup restaurant, and I think it's definitely one of the best I've had in NYC.  That said, I think there's still potential for them to improve and be great.  

Broth: After reading some reviews that the broth was not that rich, I ordered mine extra rich and extra spicy, and my husband got his extra rich.  I quite enjoyed my broth and thought it had good depth and complexity to the flavor.  However, my husband's soup was too rich/oily, and you could see a visible separate layer of oil at the top.  

Beef: The beef shank was well-cooked and tender enough, but I think it could've had more flavor and been even softer/juicier (but I have high standards).  I was really excited to see tendon as an add-on option on the menu and think that every place should offer that, but the tendon was actually half meat/half tendon as opposed to full tendon, which is chewier.  

Noodles: I'm a fan of chewy noodles so ordered the thick noodles (as opposed to the wide).  Since they're not hand-pulled noodles, they still lacked the chewiness and were on the soft side.

Other food: I love that there's a huge helping of mustard greens on the side.  This should also be a staple everywhere!  The tofu with century egg was good and the most beautifully plated tofu with century egg I've had, but not sure it was really worth the $8 for me.

Service: Everyone was super nice and attentive!  

I'll definitely come back to try the beef noodle soup again; perhaps I'll get the regular broth next time to compare.  I also hear they are working on a daytime menu with a lot of my favorite breakfast items, so I can't wait to try those!

Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk

Optional honey butter glaze:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey

Instructions
Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 400F.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly and butter is pea sized.  Make a well in the center and add buttermilk.  Take a wooden spoon and mix in from the edges.  Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead.  Pat out dough and cut with biscuit cutter.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Honey butter:
Melt butter in a sauce pan, and then stir in honey until well mixed.  Brush tops of finished biscuits with the honey butter...or just pour it all over the biscuits...the more honey butter, the better!

Very Fresh Noodles

I love coming here for their thick, chewy noodles that are hand-pulled and made right in front of you, and it's one of my go-to spots for beef noodle soup in the city.  That said, I recently tried their spicy dan dan noodles, and I'm so glad I did -- it's probably one of my top two favorite dan dan noodles now.  The noodles are chewy; the sauce has the perfect balance of savory, sweet, and heat (not too sweet), not to mention plenty of meat (and the meat isn't overly fatty); and the fried fava beans add a nice crunch too.  It's not as spicy as I expected, but it is definitely delicious.

Seed + Mill

If you like halva, this place is for you.  If you don't know what halva is, stop by and at least try some samples -- there are so many different flavors here.  I find the flakey yet dense texture strangely addicting (although it is a bit more dense here than other places, see comment below on tahini texture), and the flavors are all great without being overly sweet.

They also sell jars of tahini, which I thought had great flavor but was a little bit too thick for my taste.  

Last, but not least, I liked the goat milk soft serve, which you can get topped with the halva...and some sesame butter.  I wasn't sure if the soft serve itself would have a stronger taste because of the goat milk, but thankfully it doesn't and was pretty delicious.

Keens Steakhouse

Classic steakhouse, but I was disappointed by the steak, specifically the filet mignon.  It was cooked well, but there was no flavor to it...felt like I was eating/chewing water, which doesn't make any sense at all.

They are also famous for their mutton, which is rarely found on menus, and that was much better, although my personal preference would still be to have a good steak (not the filet mignon).  Some of my friends had the porterhouse and enjoyed that.  I also tried a bit of a friend's prime rib and that was decent.  I would say that maybe I just got a bad filet mignon, but one other friend also ordered filet mignon and was equally disappointed.

The sides and dessert were all pretty good though.

Mutton

Meet Fresh

Sometimes I'm still a purist when it comes to Asian desserts, so I'm very happy to have Meet Fresh in NYC now.  I've tried it in Los Angeles and Sydney before, and while I only tried a hot herbal jelly this time, I do think the quality is consistent, and I do really enjoy the desserts.  (So nice to have taro balls and sweet potato balls instead of the "mochi" that got popular in froyo stores and is a common topping at many shaved ice/snow ice places in lieu of traditional rice balls.)

That said, Meet Fresh only just opened, and it doesn't seem like they are quite ready for the masses.  The experience is rather chaotic, and as much as I love and crave traditional Chinese/Taiwanese desserts, I would think thrice before coming again until they get more organized.  Not only have the lines been long, the service has also been incredibly slow.  There shouldn't be a lot of cooking/prep required, yet at times there would be no movement in the line for minutes as the cashier was trying to help direct the assembly line.  I thought I was lucky to go when the line wasn't too horrendous (still inside the main door and not out the door), but I still ended up waiting close to an hour.

Anyway, I hope the lines will simmer down soon and the employees will become more efficient.