Recipe: Pad Kee Mao

Ingredients:

2/3 lb. boneless/skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
2/3 lb. boneless/skinless chicken thigh, thinly sliced
1 leek, finely chopped
1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
1 large habanero, finely chopped
3 tbsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup loosely packed holy basil (Thai basil is OK if you can't find holy basil)
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tbsp. dark soy sauce
3 tbsp. white wine
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 package (500 g/18 oz) of wide rice noodles, cooked
2 tbsp. canola oil

Directions:

Cook noodles according to package directions, chilling immediately with cold water after cooking.  Heat canola oil in the wok over high heat.  Add leek, scallion, habanero, and garlic.  Cover, cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.  Add chicken, mix vigorously.  Re-cover for about 3 minutes.  Remove cover and continue cooking until chicken is about 2/3 cooked.  Add bell pepper and holy basil.  Cover and cook for about 3 minutes more until the bell pepper is tender and the holy basil wilts.  Once chicken is fully cooked, push all ingredients to one side in the wok.  Add the beaten eggs to the other side.  Once the egg is close to set, vigorously mix all of the ingredients together.  Whisk lime juice, oyster sauce, fish sauce, dark soy, and white wine together.  Add to the wok and mix vigorously.  Add the cooked noodles and cilantro and turn off heat.  Mix all ingredients together completely, coating noodles completely in the mixture.  Serve immediately.

Makes 8 servings.

Recipe: Spicy Vegetable Curry

Ingredients:

1 lb. of okra, stems cut off

2 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch chunks

2 cups of shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 bunch scallions, cut into 1 inch chunks

4 medium tomatoes, chunked into 1 inch cubes

10 garlic cloves, cut into 1/8 inch slivers

1 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped

6 tbsp. of Thai red curry paste (4 - 5 tbsp. if heat is a problem for you :))

3 tbsp. of fish sauce (to make this truly vegetarian, substitute 2 1/2 tbsp. of rice vinegar mixed with 1/2 tbsp. of sea salt for the fish sauce)

2 tbsp. minced lemongrass

1 tbsp. minced ginger

1 1/2 cups of coconut milk

1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions:

In a large wok or stir-fry pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, scallions, ginger, and lemongrass and saute until fragrant. Add the mushrooms, okra, and carrots and saute until the mushrooms begin to soften. Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, vegetable broth, fish sauce, and curry paste. Stir to combine all ingredients. Turn the heat to high and heat until the mixture is boiling vigorously. Then reduce heat to a steady simmer, cover, and cook for 40 - 45 minutes. Remove the lid and check the consistency of the curry. It should be of medium thickness, akin to a gravy. If the curry is really thin, whisk 1 tbsp. of corn starch with 2 tsp. of warm water and add to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the fresh cilantro as a final step. Serve immediately over jasmine rice.

Makes 6 servings.

Recipe: Thai Spiced Tri-Tip

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of beef tri-tip roast
3 tbsp. of minced garlic
1 cup of soy sauce
1 cup of dry sherry
3 tbsp. of olive oil
4 Thai chili peppers, diced (yes - them really hot little red things - wear gloves!!!)
1 bunch of scallions, coarsely chopped
1/2 bunch of parsley, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and put into a large plastic bag. Put the tri-tip roast into the bag, seal, and refrigerate overnight to allow to marinate.

Heat the grill to high heat. Put the tri-tip on the grill and sear for about 90 seconds on each side. Reduce the heat to medium, close the grill lid, and continue cooking for about 12 - 14 more minutes for medium-rare to medium, turning every couple of minutes. Once done, cover in foil for about 2 - 3 minutes to allow it to rest. Cut across the grain into one inch pieces. Serve!

Makes about 4 servings.

Review: My Delivery Boys

You thought you were gonna get some pics of hottie delivery boys in this post, now didn't you? ;) Well, I hate to disappoint you, but this post is actually about the nearby places that I depend upon to save my evenings on a regular basis with their wonderful and prompt delivery. Even though they rarely send cute delivery boys (those only seem to come from crap places like Domino's), they do send a good dinner!

Jasmine Tea House

When I first left my place in the Sunset, I was concerned that I was going to have to revert back to crap Chinese food for delivery. I was a bit spoiled having the excellent San Tung so near to my place over there. I took a chance on Jasmine Tea House after finding their menu hooked to my door handle one evening. While it doesn't quite match the level of San Tung, it comes so darn close that I always have a good meal from here. I always order way more food than I could ever eat 'cause I love leftovers - especially leftover chow mein (and theirs is one of my favorites). All of their dishes are quite good, but when I'm treating myself, I tilt towards the vegetarian and seafood dishes on the menu - especially the Singapore Fish. They are the best things on the menu. Their dim sum items are kinda ho hum (I'll stick to Yank Sing or Canton for my dim sum fix), but they get props for having dim sum available at any hour. However, they had me at the hot and sour soup - my personal "litmus test" for Chinese restaurants. It's wonderfully spicy and definitely a bit more sour than most - and I LOVE it. Really solid Chinese food here.



Serrano's Pizza

OK... relative to the East Coast, most pizza here on the West Coast is only ho-hum - unless you're going to the fancy schmanzy places like Delfina. And delivery pizza is usually a lot worse. I found Serrano's on the recommendation of a friend. They have a lot of cool specialty pizzas but the main thing I like is they have tons of toppings from which to choose to make your own pizza - including one of my favorites, roasted eggplant!!! But the major winner - the crust is not too thick or thin (West Coast pizza tends to have WAY too much crust) and it always arrives piping hot. Any leftover slices get frozen to become a pizza dinner later. Is it the best? No... but with so many options, I can always get what I want, and it's always tastier than any other pizza I've ever gotten delivered.



Little Nepal

I have been here many times as an evening diner. It's a quaint little place on Cortland at the top of Bernal Hill, so very close to my house. And then I found out they delivered... and I knew I was doomed... doomed to goodness!!! :) If you know nothing about Nepalese cuisine, it's very similar to Indian cuisine although it has elements of other East Asian cuisines swirled in. Their chicken in spicy tomato cream sauce is one of my favorites. The little side dishes they serve with the entrees (dal, curried veggies, naan) are all excellent. I also think their seafood dishes are quite excellent. Given there's not really any good traditional Northern Indian cuisine available near my house, I'm so glad that I found out Little Nepal delivers!!!



Regent Thai

Three words: Spicy Red Snapper. Oh, my mercy - this dish is just pure heaven. They lightly bread and fry New Zealand red snapper filet and top it with a spicy/sweet red pepper sauce - it is by far one of my favorite dishes EVER. All of the standards are also spot on - pad thai, red or green curries, etc. But, I'm telling you - you MUST have the snapper. It is so, so good.



Lotus Garden

I almost fainted when I found out I could get yummy Vietnamese noodle soups (pho) and vermicelli dishes (bun) for delivery. I am a pho fanatic - all the beef versions, chicken, seafood - I've had them all. The delicious broth with rice noodles that put the meat, fresh mint leaves, cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and hot sauce into and then slop up. The portion they send me is so big it makes two meals - because I can't order anything from there without getting their Imperial Rolls and their BBQ Pork Rolls. The Imperial Rolls are stuffed with carrots, rice noodles, shrimp, and pork and then deep fried, that you wrap with lettuce leaves, mint, sprouts, carrots, and cucumbers that are served on the side and dip into fresh nuoc cham (fish sauce). So yummy! And the BBQ Pork Rolls are stuffed with BBQ'ed lemon grass pork loin meat, rice noodles, mint, and cilantro and served with nuoc cham. They are also lovely. I just found this place like a few weeks ago, so I'll explore more of the menu and let you know. But, this is one of my new favorites.

Recipe: Garlic Pepper Pork

This dish was inspired by one of my favorite Thai dishes. While not exactly the same as you’d get in a Thai restaurant, this version is still quite tasty. I add asparagus because I think this dish deserves a vegetable and asparagus absorbs the flavors very nicely and gives it a nice balance. If you have green or pink peppercorns around, reduce amounts of black and white pepper to 1/3 tsp. and add 1/3 tsp. of whole green or pink peppercorns to diversify the flavors further.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lbs. of boneless pork chops, cut into thin strips
2 tbsp. of minced garlic
1 tbsp. of minced ginger
1 tbsp. of low-salt soy sauce
2/3 tsp. of ground black pepper
2/3 tsp. of ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. of dried basil
1/2 tsp. of ground cumin
8 small dried chile peppers (I use dried ancho chiles)
10 oz. of fresh chopped asparagus (see NOTE if you use frozen)
2 tbsp. of hazelnut or almond oil

Directions:

In a large wok, heat the hazelnut oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add the pork to the wok and sautee until the pork is nearly done, about 4 - 6 minutes. Add all of the other ingredients to the wok and continue sauteeing stirring constantly for another 4 - 5 minutes until asparagus is cooked. (NOTE: if using frozen asparagus, you will need to cook another 2 - 3 minutes and add 1/2 tsp. of cornstarch in the last minute to thicken the mixture). Remove from heat and place immediately into a serving dish.

Serves 4.