a recipe for hakka noodles, a Malaysian street food using egg noodles and pork sausage. [More]

photo by S x 2

There was a time when I regularly followed the New York Times Magazine's food column.  A friend that's a chef told me she would cook whatever they published each Sunday.  The column seems to have gone downhill over the last couple years.  These days, I barely read the food section and never seek it out.

The upside is the travel section.  Every couple weeks the Sunday Times publishes a great story about food on the road.  The stories are wonderfully written, with great photos and completely make up for the Magazine falling off my reading list.

Back in December there was a great article on street food in Bali.  I've never been there, but I've heard or read about the roasted pig.  I've also had Whole Food's terrible version of Bali chicken.  The article peaked my interest in how to do Bali chicken correctly.  After a few tries, this is what I came up with.

Maybe I am too heavily influenced by pollo asada, but I think this recipe should be grilled.  I think the grill adds the right amount of smoky flavor to the meat.  My proximity to Mexico influences the ingredients too - dried shrimp are a common ingredient on the border, so I used them to recreate the shrimp paste used in Bali.

These make for a fantastic appetizer or snack, and don't take long to make.  They are best as chicken wings, but a whole chicken would well too.

Ayam Taliwang

1 small whole chicken or 2 lbs chicken wings

Salt

3 Tbsp oil

2 shallots

4-5 cloves garlic

2 tsp red chili pepper or 2 small, hot green chilies.

2 tsp ground shrimp

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Juice from 1 lime

Directions

1. If using a whole chicken, cut into pieces.  Salt the chicken and set aside.  Pre-heat a broiler.

1. Grind the shallots, garlic, chilies, shrimp, sugar and salt into a paste.

1. Heat the oil over a medium heat.  Add the paste and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the lime juice and set aside.

1. Broil the chicken for 3 minutes under a hot broiler.  Turn once if the broiler is very hot.

1. Brush the chicken with the paste.  Be sure to cover it well.


2. Grill the chicken until cooked.

1. Brush the chicken with any remaining paste.

hawker, recipe for making roti canai [More]

Duck can get pretty gamey, so it’s a great idea to brine it first. This recipe takes some time to brine and marinate the meat, so I recommend you do the marinating overnight if you want to serve this for lunch.



It would not be accurate to call this asian, but you don't see many noodle bowls in Texas on ranches in Texas. The noodles vary in time and texture, so you are on your own for cooking soba the way you like. In the next couple weeks I'll do duck tacos while ducks are still in season. [More]

There are some fantastic recipes out there for XLB, but they tend to have one thing in common - preparation time. Remember that the last step of the recipe for these little packages in the bundling, folding and sealing of the dumplings themselves. That is going to take you some time and test your patience. You really might want to consider whether you're up for the long cooking process followed by some precision dumpling assembly.


Typically the dumplings are made with chicken broth paired with a pork ball. I modified the pork ball a bit and used bulk chorizo, in part because I can get it. It made the dumplings considerably spicier than what rolls by on a cart.


The best way to make these (or at least my favorite) is to stand around the kitchen with guests or family bundling the dumplings and chatting while they are steaming. They get perfectly fresh dumplings and you get good company. [More]