January 2, 2011

January 2, 2011

I feel like something healthy, not that most of what we eat isn't healthy, but I need to detox from the gluttony of the holidays. To that end I am making veggie stir fry for dinner. I plan on using bok choy (I prefer baby bok choy, but the market didn't have any), mushrooms- plain white ones (I would have preferred shitake, but the market didn't have any of those either), chick peas, and scallions. The sauce will be fresh ginger, and garlic, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. I have some dried chiltepin peppers that my dad sent me at Christmas, so I'll probably toss a couple of those in as well. They are one of the hottest peppers around and we love them. They have a really nice rounded heat that doesn't sear, but has a sort of slow burn to it. My original idea was to serve it over brown rice, but then I thought of noodles. So instead we're trying a new brand of rice noodles that were in the Asian section of the supermarket. Reactions and details to come!

In other meals today; they were uneventful. We had cereal and toast for breakfast before heading out sledding. Sledding was a hit. In fact Ev got so excited that he launched himself into an asthma attack. So we rushed home, ate p.b. &j. on wheat, with milk, and took naps. It had been awhile since I've seen him have an attack as bad as today's was; he was visibly struggling for breath. Steve asked if we were going home or to the hospital. He responded to his inhaler and has been fine ever since. It is good to know that a peanut-butter sandwich with a glass of milk is still comfort food. In fact, I found making the sandwich comforting. I ate a whole bunch of cheese leftover from New Year's Eve appetizers for lunch, with beer. Cheese and beer are also comforting.


Anyhow, this was dinner:
For the noodles, follow package directions. I used rice noodles, which I really like the texture of. These ones were Thai Kitchen brand and about the size of linguine. I poured boiling water over them and let them sit for ten minutes, then I added them to the stir fry with the sauce.
For the stir fry I first chopped up about a pound of mushrooms, a (smallish) head of bok choy, two garlic cloves, and I grated about 2 tsp fresh ginger. The mushrooms were sliced on the thick side and the bok choy about the same. The garlic was minced. I also drained and rinsed a can of chickpeas. Then, I put the big cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and added a Tbs of vegetable oil to the pan. When the oil was shimmery I put the ginger and mushrooms in the pan. Stirring often, I let them cook until the mushrooms had released most of their liquid. Then I added the chickpeas. In the meantime, in a measuring cup I mixed ¼ c. soy sauce, a couple splashes fish sauce, 2 Tbs hoisin sauce, a couple splashes mirin, 2 Tbs. maple syrup, and 4 crushed chiltepin peppers. Incidentally, the best way to crush these peppers is to put them into a serving spoon and put a smaller spoon on top of them pressing down to crush them. Whatever you do do not get the oils from these little devils on your fingers, it is deadly. Stir all that together. When the chick peas (which I was stirring often) had browned a little bit I added the bok choy and garlic, after stirring that in I added a heaping Tbs flour. I stirred the flour around and cooked off the pasty taste. Then I slowly added in a cup or so of chicken stock, and scrapped up the bits from the bottom of the pan. When everything was nicely mixed in, the flour was dissolved into the stock, and the bok choy was wilted I added the contents of the measuring cup and the soaked, drained, noodles. I let the whole thing simmer for just a minute while everyone sat down at the table. I served it drizzled with a little sesame oil, and with chopped scallions and slivered almonds as garnishes. Chopped, salted peanuts would have been better, but I didn't have any.

Reactions were pretty good. I thought it was yummy. It was spicy, on a thai restaurant scale it would have been a four or five, not quite thai hot. I thought about adding in a little fresh thai chili, that would likely push it to thai hot (which is how I order my food). Interestingly, the boys thought it could be hotter. In fact Lucas said it wasn't spicy. I offered milk to offset the heat, but they preferred their water. Both boys ate a little bit of noodles, left the rest of it, and played with their chopsticks for most of dinner. Evert wants to go to China to pick out his own chopsticks. He was using a set that Pepe had brought back from there. Hearing that Daddy's cool dragon chopsticks came from Hawaii did not change this wish. Start saving kid. Anyway, Steve and I both agreed that the sauce was really fantastic. The maple syrup was a perfect counter to all the salty ingredients, and added a depth that sugar would have lacked. You could cut down on the chili peppers if you don't like it as spicy as we all do. The combination of veggies was also quite good, the meaty mushrooms and mild cabbage compliment each other well. The chickpeas were great, I think I'll use them in place of meat more often. A little chopped mint might have made a nice garnish as well. Steve's only caveat was that he likes his noodles softer, but truth be told he likes them close to mush. I make them a little toothsome in hopes that one day he will come around. We're still waiting. All in all 4 out of 5 stars. The sauce is definitely here to stay.