Taiwanese Style Three Cup Chicken 三杯雞 in Salad Form

Three Cup Chicken is one of Taiwan’s national dishes. It gets its name from the original recipe which includes one cup each of sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice wine for one whole chicken. With simple aromatics, ginger, garlic, (Thai) basil, and scallions, the dish’s simple, straightforward flavors are layered and made more complex by their addition and the cooking method.

I have turned this beloved dish into spring rolls, and now, out of sheer laziness, I turned it into a mayonnaise-less gown salad to be spooned onto soft bread for easy packed lunches.

Three Cup Chicken Salad

2 c pulled chicken, packed

1 T ginger, grated

1 T garlic, grated

2 stalks scallions, chopped

1 T agave

2 T low sodium soy sauce or tamari

2 T toasted sesame oil

Handful of (Thai) basil leaves, roughly torn or shocked

In a bowl, combine the ginger, garlic, scallions, agave, soy sauce, and basil leaves. Heat the sesame oil until it shimmers, then pour the hot oil over the sauce mixture. It should bubble and crackle. Stir and let sit five minutes to lightly cook. Then, pour the sauce over the pulled chicken. Let marinate for half an hour before serving for best flavor. Serve with toast, sandwich rolls, guabao, crisps, or on a wrap.

Peppery Milk Gravy

I had a request for my gravy recipe after posting about my buttermilk biscuit recipe. This should work for any type of ground meat or meat substitute or chopped mushrooms.

Veggie/Vegan Sausage Gravy

3 T shallot oil (oil used to only fry shallots, filtered to remove particulates)
2 t sage
2 t thyme
1/2 t rosemary
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 pkg (12 oz) vegan grounds (equivalent to one pound of uncooked ground pork or turkey)
1 T brown sugar
1 T freshly ground black pepper
2 T unsalted butter or butter substitute
1/3 c flour
4 c milk or milk substitute
1/2 t sea salt

Rule of Thumb: 1 part fat + 1 part flour + 16 parts hot liquid or 2 T fat + 2 T flour + 1 cup hot liquid = 1 cup of gravy

In a medium saucepan, heat the shallot oil over medium-high heat. Add in the sage, thyme, rosemary, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes, and lightly fry them. Quickly add the frozen grounds so that the herbs don’t burn.* Brown the grounds, and add in the brown sugar and black pepper.

Melt the butter in the pan with the grounds. Add in the flour to make a roux. Make sure the flour toasts before adding in the milk. Reduce heat and stir until the gravy is cooked and thickened ~10 minutes.

Enjoy over biscuits.

*You can use sausage-style grounds and cut out all of the frying of the herbs.

Flaky, Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

Perfection!

What a wonderfully sunny day for brunch! Proper biscuits and peppery milk gravy with sausage are hard to come by in New York City, so I make my own. I have a vegan version as well, but today, the biscuits would have made my elementary school cafeteria lunchladies proud.

Tray of perfect biscuits

I have been using this recipe for a long as I can remember. I am unclear of its origins, but I speculate it was another recipe that the middle school cafeteria lunchladies showed us how to make in my life skills (home ec) class. The other was buzzard buns. I grew up in the South where a proper school lunch consisted of fried chicken, green beans/corn/kale/collards, buzzard bun (hot roll)/biscuit, and a half pint of milk. Cookies were extra.

A lot of biscuits that I have tried in NYC have been closer to hard tack from the Civil War or maybe a super dense British scone. After many years of successes and failures, I think I have found the right formula for me. Turns out the type of wheat really makes a difference. Everything online says White Lily® brand flour is the only way to go, but seeing as that’s harder to come by in NYC, I found this:

A soft wheat flour from the Greenmarket

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 c soft wheat flour or 1 c whole wheat flour +
1 c bread flour
4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
3/4 t sea salt
2 T butter, cold
2 T vegetable shortening
1 c buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine dry ingredients. Cut the butter and shortening into dry ingredients until evenly distributed. Then, stir in the buttermilk. Turn dough onto floured surface and gently fold five or six times. Don’t overwork the dough.

Roll out and cut out biscuits to preferred size and shape. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the tops are a deep golden brown. You can brush them with melted butter out of the oven or drown them in peppery milk gravy with sausage.

Shrimp with Bacon over Cheesy Grits: A Southern Traif Tale

Shrimp with uncured bacon in a shallot white wine butter sauce with scallions

Sundays are for brunching.

Our little group of neighbors used to gather at a new café or pub or restaurant in the neighborhood to enjoy good food and a chat. As commercial rents climbed, so did prices for enjoying brunch and the disappearance of our favorite spots. Eventually, this became unsustainable for our Brunch Bunch, so the hubs and I started hosting at our new-at-the-time apartment. Everyone chips in what they can for the week, and I get to test recipes or just make comfort food that I want to make. This freed us up from having to make reservations, paying exorbitant amounts of money for mediocre food, watching our vocabulary in public, wasting time waiting in line – for a table – for menus – for drinks – for utensils – for food – for a server – for the check, splitting the check because the point of sale system is too archaic/advanced (and, apparently, math is hard), and dodging strollers. FREEEEEEE-DOM!

I love grits, especially cheesy grits. My first bowl of proper grits was in New Orleans on a family road trip returning to Richmond, VA from Harlingen, TX. I stirred that cold pat of butter into the hot grits, and it was love at first bite. In college, I would make the instant packet for breakfast during the week. I had no shame. I graduated to the non-instant grits on the weekends, though. Now, living close to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, I can get heirloom grits like Castle Valley Mill’s Bloody Butcher grits. Fancy.

With the Brunch Bunch visiting their respective families for the holidays, I decided that I would still make brunch. While at the Greenmarket, I debated what I could sauté with the shrimp. Old Bay, of course, but shallots? Onions? Garlic? Bell peppers? Sage? Greens? As we approached the Wilklow Orchards stand, I saw that bacon was on sale. Inspiration hit. I asked the hubs if he would be cool with me making brunch even more traif. He consented, and I bought a beautiful package of thick cut, uncured bacon.

Bit of useless trivia: The very first time my father-in-law had shrimp and grits was at our apartment years ago in Richmond, VA. Now, he searches for the dish on menus wherever he goes.

I invited a couple of newer friends over and cooked a giant pot of grits low and slow. I prepped the shrimp to go on top, and it was obliterated by the four of us.

Shrimp ‘n Grits
Makes about 8 helpings

Castle Valley Mill Bloody Butcher Grits

Cheesy Grits

6 c water, clean and cool

2 T butter, salted, cultured-preferred

1 t fine sea salt

2 c grits, not the instant stuff

1 c whole milk

1 c shredded cheese, the sharper the better

1/2 c grated pecorino or parmesan

Dash of nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper

In a pot, bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil. Whisk in the grits. Keep stirring as the grits come back to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and give the grits a good stir. Cover and let thicken for about 30 minutes, whisking occasionally to preventing clumping.

Warm the milk and whisk into the grits at the 30-minute mark. Cover and cook another 15 minutes. Add water if too thick for you to enjoy.

Turn off heat and add the cheeses, nutmeg, and black pepper. Whisk until melted and evenly distributed.

Shrimp

1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined (I used Trader Joe’s frozen, wild Argentinian shrimp here)

1 lb bacon, uncooked, uncured, thick-cut, diced

2 T butter

1 c shallots, minced

1 c white wine

1 T Old Bay seasoning (or more, if you’d like)

Dash of sugar

1 bunch scallions, cleaned, trimmed, sliced on the diagonal

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large sauté pan, fry up the roughly diced bacon to render the fat. When crispy golden, remove bacon from the pan. Reserve the bacon fat.

In the same pan, add a little of the bacon fat back and the shallots. Over medium heat, cook down shallots until translucent and aromatic, at least 20 minutes, constantly stirring. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Stir in the bacon. Melt in the butter. Sprinkle in the Old Bay. Bring to boil, then add shrimp and cover for just a minute or two to steam the shrimp. Uncover, and toss in the scallions and stir around until wilted. The shrimp should be opaque now. Take off the heat. Add a few grinds of black pepper. Cover until ready to serve.

Serve in a bowl with an optional soft-boiled egg.

Shrimp and grits in a bowl with a soft-boiled egg

Hokkien-Taiwanese Oyster Omelets 蚵仔煎 (ô-á-chian)

Saturday morning ritual: flounder in bed until I realize that there are going to be way too many seasonal visitors at the farmers’ market if I go any later, kind of make myself presentable in public, grab my reusable travel mug (adult sippy cup), get to Frenchy’s food truck, request the blackest of black coffees and a pastry in my barely-enough French, walk to Greenmarket, wince at the largesse of fairweather friends.

Felt like making Taiwanese oyster omelets (蚵仔煎 = ô-á-chian) when I saw some beautiful green and purple bok choy at the Greenmarket. I didn’t have fresh oysters on hand, so I used smoked from a tin. Still delicious! Smoked > fresh because there is another dimension to the flavor, and smoking firms up the oyster texture. The hubs didn’t used to like them because of the texture. Turns out, this batch was to his liking.

Never use Cathy Erway’s recipe also found on Serious Eats. It’s nothing like the Hokkien/Taiwanese grannies’ or night market versions at all and relies too heavily on the egg to make the omelet. I’ve eaten at nearly all of the village and urban night markets across Taiwan and hawker centres in Kuala Lumpur. I have done the research!

I am not a fan of the pink sauce that Taiwan night markets have been drowning my oyster omelets in for the last decade or so. I grew up with a thin ketchup drizzled sparingly over my plastic baggie covered melamine plate, so I don’t include a sauce recipe, but rather, suggestions on condiments.

Hokkien-Taiwanese Oyster Omelets 蚵仔煎 (ô-á-chian)

Makes about 4-6 omelets, depending on size of frying pan

1 1/4 c water, clean and cool

1/2 c sweet potato starch (can sub in glutinous rice flour, but will change texture)

1/4 c tapioca starch (sometimes labeled as flour) or cornstarch

1 T soy sauce

1/2 t white pepper, ground

2 tins smoked oysters or 1/2 lb oyster meats, cleaned and freshly shucked (roughly chop any that are bigger than a bite)

Leafy greens, blanched or steamed, but al dente (I like bok choy)

2 large eggs

1 t toasted sesame oil

Dash of salt and white pepper

Scallions, chopped

Cilantro, chopped

Cooking fat of your choice (traditionally pork lard or chicken schmaltz, but I like sunflower oil)

Parchment squares, if storing

In a measuring cup or a bowl with a spout, whisk together the water, sweet potato starch, tapioca starch, soy sauce, and white pepper. Set aside.

Pop open the tins of oysters. Whisk together the eggs, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Have all of the garnish (scallions and cilantro) prepped.

Heat a small, round frying pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add a tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is heated through, add the green veg and toss around in the oil. Stir the batter, then pour just enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan. Arrange the oysters on the omelet so they are even-ishly spaced. Drizzle some of the egg mixture around the perimeter of the omelet. Sprinkle scallions over the omelet.

Once the bottom is golden and the top is slightly set, gently flip the omelet with a large turner. Cook until the bottom is golden.

Remove from pan and onto a plate. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with ketchup, sriracha, sweet chili sauce, seafood sauce, hoisin sauce, steak sauce, or brown sauce. Anything but that sweet pink sauce!

If not serving immediately or plated individually, use parchment squares to prevent omelets from sticking to each other and turning into the Blob.

Tres Leches Cupcakes, Yes, in Cupcake Form

A few weeks ago, I get a text from a friend in Texas asking about icebox cupcakes. I turned classic icebox cake into individual, spoon-free clouds of simple deliciousness. I am lucky enough that the grocery store on my block still stocks Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers®, but any thin, crispy cookie works just as well. I have used Trader Joe’s things with much success and gussied up the whipped cream in all kinds of ways by adding strawberry, cocoa powder, or hazelnuts.

The cupcakes are for her sister’s co-ed baby shower and the plan is to have it outdoors. Icebox cupcakes are going to last for hours out in the sun. They are just whipped cream and cookies. You would practically hear them hiss, “I’m melting, my pretty!” as the lipids lose structure and volume. I offer her sister several alternatives. Having grown up in Texas, the sister picks the tres leches (three milks) cupcakes because it is her absolute favorite kind of cake and also intrigued by how I would make them without the cakes sitting in a bath of three milks.

I made samples pictured below that were traditional with a hint of cinnamon (cherry) , hint of orange (crunchies), and hint of lemon (candied citrus peel). All with very lightly sweetened whipped cream says the rest is plenty sweet.

Tres Leches (Three Milks) Cupcake Samples

She and her husband tried them all and chose the traditional with a hint of cinnamon, vanilla buttercream, and keep the cherry on top. While I looked for forceps among my tools, I came across my stash of mini pipettes.

Photo credit Rosakelehershop on Etsy

My chemistry background is showing, isn’t it? Let me just tuck that back in a little. Ahem. When I finished frosting the cupcakes, I still had plenty of time before the event, so I proceeded to fill the mini pipettes with the leftover cinnamon three milks soaker. There was so much soaker left, I ended up making coquito (not the tiny frog of Puerto Rico, but the Puerto Rican version of egg nog) later that night.

The pipettes were a hit. The cakes were most without being squishy. Everything was just as the sister wanted it.

Tres Leches Cupcake Tower with Toppers; Photo credit Z. Negron

Tres Leches Cupcakes

Adapted from Marcela Valladolid’s recipe on the Food Network

Cupcakes

2 c cake flour

1 T baking powder

6 large eggs @ room temp, separated

1 c raw cane sugar

1/2 c whole milk

Soaker

1 can (14 oz) sweetened, condensed milk

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 c heavy cream

1 t ground cinnamon

Whipped Topping

1 c heavy cream

1 T powdered sugar

1/2 t ground cinnamon for sprinkling

12 candied cherries, halved

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two muffin tins with 24 non-stick, parchment paper cupcake/muffin liners. Spritz with non-stick, butter flavored spray, if you’d like.

Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Gradually add the sugar and whip to stiff peaks. Beat in the yolks, 1 at a time, blending well after each addition. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and whisk until incorporated, then add 1/2 the milk. Repeat, then add the last 1/3 of flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared tins. There is a reason recipes tell you to fill the cup only 2/3s full. Anything more, and you might get a mountain peak to scale in the middle of your cupcakes. Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. While the cupcakes are baking, mix the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, 1 cup heavy cream, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Cool the cake slightly, about 10 minutes, and remove the cupcakes to whatever you plan to store them in to chill overnight. Pierce the cupcakes all over with a thick skewer. Brush the milk mixture over all of the cupcakes while warm once, then repeat 3-4 more times. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Before serving, let the cupcakes come up to almost room temp. Combine the remaining 1 cup heavy cream and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Spread or pipe the whipped cream on the cupcakes, sprinkle with the ground cinnamon, and garnish with cherry halves.

Tres Leches Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and Jumbo Cherries

Also, I have a vegan adaptation:

Vegan Tres Leches Cake
Adapted from Marcela Valladolid

1 ½ c cake flour
1 T baking powder
4 large eggs equivalent of egg replacer (I like Follow Your Heart’s VeganEgg™)
1/2 c agave syrup
1/2 c unsweetened, almond milk
1 ¼ c sweetened condensed coconut milk (2 cans lite coconut milk + ½ c agave, reduce by half over medium-low heat)
1 2/3 c evaporated rice or soy milk
1 c soy/almond creamer
3 T amaretto
1 can coconut cream, chilled
1 T powdered sugar
½ t ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray and flour a 10” cake pan with 2” high sides, then line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper.

Mix the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg replacer until frothy. With the mixer running, gradually add the agave and beat to stiff peaks. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the almond milk in 2 parts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool the cake slightly, about 10 minutes, then invert onto a platter with 1-inch high sides.

Pierce the top of the cake all over with a thick skewer. Mix the sweetened condensed coconut milk, evaporated rice/soy milk, soy/almond creamer, and amaretto in a medium bowl. Pour the mixture over the cake while warm. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours or overnight.

Combine the chilled coconut cream and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream onto top of the cake and sprinkle with the ground cinnamon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A happy and hearty Thanksgiving to one and all!

Brunswick Stew in the Slow Cooker

Seems that everyone could use a little comfort today. Brunswick stew and a hug are good places to start. Growing up in Virginia, tins upon tins of Mrs. Fearnow’s® Brunswick Stew filled the shelves of every single grocery store.

It was comforting to see those yellow labels on shelves without fail. Since the company was sold, the contents of these tins just doesn’t taste the same.

For several years, I volunteered to help shred chicken, peel and cube potatoes and onions, stir the cauldron, and/or package the stew for an annual autumn fundraiser for A Grace Place, an adult care center in Richmond, VA. It was so much fun getting to know the staff and those they helped. I felt useful, and feeling useful is comforting. Since then, I have always associated Brunswick Stew with the autumn. A crispness has settled into the air recently. It finally feels like autumn in New York, so I decided to brush off the old Brunswick Stew skills and see if I could make it in the slow cooker.

The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket was chock full of fresh lima beans, tomatoes, corn, onions, sweet bell peppers, and potatoes, so I picked up everything but the chicken at the market. I have never shelled lima beans before, just peas, and they were so much plumper! Look at those lima beans.

Random bit of trivia: Do you know who else loves Brunswick Stew? Jason Mraz, who is making his Broadway debut in the musical “Waitress” for a 10-week run starting November 3, 2017.

Brunswick Stew

1 large chicken breast

2 bay leaves

2 t sea salt

1 cube chicken bouillon

2 or 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c lima beans + 1 c corn + 1/2 red bell pepper, diced or a bag of frozen succotash

1 thick slice Virginia ham, about 1/4 lb, diced

2 medium tomatoes, diced and peeled or 1 standard can

1/2 t celery seed, ground

2 t ground sage

1 1/2 t ground thyme

1 t ground marjoram

3/4 t ground rosemary

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t finely ground black pepper

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

In the slow cooker, place the skinned chicken breasts, the bay leaves, and enough water to cover the chicken breasts. You can add a broken up cube or scoop of chicken bouillon, if you want to boost the chicken flavor. Cover with lid and set to high for 2 hours. You can start the broth and chicken a day ahead.

While the chicken is simmering, start peeling and chopping the rest of the ingredients, and set aside. Then, finish that graphic novel you started, or add a few more rows to your knitting. Oh, naps are great, too.

Once the chicken is cooked, set the chicken to cool and toss out the bay leaves. Strain the broth through a coffee filter, fine mesh strainer, or cheesecloth. Set aside.

Wipe out the slow cooker. Debone and shred the chicken. Into the slow cooker, add the potatoes, onions, lima beans, corn, bell pepper, ham, shredded chicken, tomatoes, herbs, spices, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the broth over ingredients until it barely covers. Put the lid on, and set the slow cooker on high and cook for the hours. Stir occasionally.

For a thicker stew, mash some of the cubed potato. Other recipes would have you make a roux, but that would involve another plan and turning on the stove. Mmm, better not.

Mohinga in a Slow Cooker

Shana tova u’metuka. Happy New Year! I am an equal opportunity holiday celebrant. You have a holiday to celebrate wth food? I will celebrate with you! We have the Gregorian calendar New Year (January), Lunar New Year for several East Asian ethnicities (February-ish), Burmese Thingyan and Thai Songkran water festivals (April), and Rosh Hashanah (September). Hijri (Islamic lunar calendar) New Year was last week as well. So many chances at fresh starts!

Fish is traditionally eaten across several cultures in celebration of the new year to bring good luck and prosperity, so I picked up all of the ingredients for a Burmese fish stew called mohinga at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket. I figured a lovely fish dish to celebrate the Jewish new year was in order.

Mohinga is typically eaten for breakfast packed with nutrients to carry you through the day in Burma (Myanmar). Layers of garlic, onions, shallots, lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, paprika, and chicken stock provide a complex base for the flaky, yet firm white fish. Growing up, we always used a mix of catfish and tinned salmon. I didn’t feel like catfish (plus it’s traif), so I just went with what the fishmonger recommended after I described the dish. He selected scrod, light on fishiness, flaky, and just firm enough. Thanks, Blue Moon Fish! All of these lovely flavors are served over rice vermicelli with loads of condiments which include, but are not limited to, sliced, hardboiled egg, chopped cilantro, finely sliced scallions, fried shallots, fried garlic, toasted, crushed chili flakes, and fried, split baby chickpea crackers called pe kyaw.

I had already been planning to make mohinga earlier in the week when a friend from college shared a photo of a lovely bowl of mohinga on social media. It is part of her “flying out” tradition. Every time she flies out of Burma/Myanmar, she has a bowl of mohinga at the airport for breakfast. Seeing that hastened my resolve to make mohinga.

Generally, I know how to make mohinga. Late Friday nights picking fish off of bones, boiling bone broth, picking cilantro out of the backyard garden, and the peeling and chopping. So. Much. Chopping. I scoured the internet for a recipe in English, and they were all kind of rough. I read through them all and just decided to close the gaps on my own from memory. I also didn’t want to babysit the pot on the stove, so I decided to try making it in my slow cooker. My mother always said I was lazy growing up; I think my laziness has been a decent motivation for much of my kitchen innovation.

Mohinga (Burmese Breakfast Fish Stew)

Stew

12 small shallots, peeled + sliced
1 large onion, peeled + chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled + minced
1 large ginger chunk, peeled + thickly sliced
3 -5 turmeric chunks, peeled + thickly sliced
1 small banana flower, cleaned + chopped (optional)
3 lemongrass stalks
2 lbs firm, but flaky, white fish (scrod, catfish, your choice), cleaned + deboned + chunked
1/4 – 1/2 c glutinous rice powder, roasted (depends on how thick you want the soup)
3 T fish sauce or coconut liquid aminos
2 T sweet paprika, ground
1 T sea salt, fine
2 t white pepper, ground
1 L or qt chicken stock, unsalted, preferably

After preparing, mincing, and chopping all of the ingredients, layer them in the order above in your slow cooker. Pour the chicken stock over all of the ingredients. Give everything a gentle stir to combine. Take care not to break up the fish. You can set the slow cooker on low and cook for seven hours.

When it is ready, fish out the ginger, turmeric, and lemongrass. Some people find that biting into them is unpleasant. If you enjoy these aromatics, you can mince or grate the ginger and turmeric into the slow cooker. Gently break up any large chunks of fish you may find. Prepare the noodles.

Noodles

thin rice vermicelli
soba noodles (optional)

Boil the noodles as instructed by the packaging. Rinse the noodles in cold water, and drain well. Toss with a little toasted sesame oil and a pinch of salt to help keep the noodles from clumping.

Condiments

hardboiled egg, sliced or wedges
cilantro, finely chopped
scallions, finely sliced
crushed chili flakes, lightly toasted
fried shallots
fried garlic
kyet-thon kyaw (onion fritters)
pe kyaw (split baby chickpea crackers)
lime wedges
fish sauce

I just put all of the condiments out on a table with the stew in the pot and a giant pile of noodles near the pot to let everyone serve themselves and customize their bowl.

Pe Kyaw (Split Baby Chickpea Crackers)

½ c split baby chickpeas, dried
1 T baking soda
1 qt/L water
1 c brown rice flour
¼ c glutinous rice flour
turmeric
salt
your preferred oil for frying

Do ahead. Mix together the baking soda and water. Add the split baby chickpeas and stir. Cover and let soak overnight.

Next day, drain and rinse the soaked beans really well. The baking soda will make the beans feel soapy/slippery, so try to rinse as much off as possible. Set aside to them drain more. Whisk together the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, turmeric, and salt. Slowly whisk in the water until you reach the consistency of a thin cake batter that just barely coats a spoon. Add in the beans and set aside.

Heat up a shallow frying pan over medium with maybe half an inch of oil covering the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is hot, give the batter a stir, then pour a spoonful of batter into the hot oil in a circular pattern. The batter will spread out into a thin cracker. Once the edges get a little more solid, flip the cracker. Fry until golden brown and not too wiggly anymore. Drain on a cooling rack set inside a paper towel-lined cookie sheet to allow the crackers to stay crispy as you make more.

Serve whole because the fun is in breaking up the crispy crackers over the hot bowl of stew.

The “España, te echo de menos” Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Did I mention that I miss living in Spain? “Te echo de menos” in Spanish is the equivalent phrase for “I miss you” in English. To translate it word for word, “echar” is to throw or throw out. “De menos” can mean too little or not enough. In my mind, I imagine it to mean “I want to throw you out the least” – that’s kind of like “I miss you”, right? When I start really missing Spain, I browse La Tienda or Despaña and daydream about all of the lovely nibbles I would make. During an overstock sale, I picked up some lomo (cured pork loin) and chorizo (cured Spanish style sausage). I grabbed a small wedge of manchego (a semi-hard Spanish cheese from La Mancha region) and set upon adulterating my grilled cheese sandwiches.

I brushed the bread with olive oil, spread some leftover caramelized onions from some beer brats I made in celebration of Labor Day, then Tetris’d my way through tomato slices, sunflower shoots, pea shoots, chorizo or lomo, and manchego. I just need to throw together some homemade tomato soup or an almond garlic gazpacho to really enjoy these sandwiches.