The best dumplings in Sydney are found in Ashfield

I love Chinese dumplings-the boiled, steamed, deep-fried and pan-fried. Dumpling is carb, protein and fiber in one perfect little parcel. While I have been to many restaurants that charge big bucks for mediocre Chinese dumplings, there is one place that I can't stop going back to, for both culinary and economic reasons-the dumplings there are addictive, to say the least, and the price tag is negligible compared to the quality and quantity you are getting. And no, the place is not some fancy well-decorated restaurant in the City, it is a small and humble diner on the main drag in Ashfield (for those international readers, it is a suburb in Sydney). Don't be put off by its idiotically generic name: "Chinese Dumpling Restaurant" (located at 355 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield, Sydney), as most Chinese restaurant owners seem to be too busy cooking to care about the name of their restaurant. The regulars are certainly not put off by the name at all, as the tiny diner is always packed to the ceiling everytime I am there. The food is deceivingly good, especially given the price. For AUD$7.5, you get 16 boiled home-made dumplings, and for AUD$8.5, you get 12 pan-fried dumplings. I always go straight to the pan-fried ones, as the crispy bottom, perfectly-steamed top and juicy filling always get the better of me. 10 seconds later, I find myself having wolfed down a dozen dumplings and wanting more. Luckily, there is always plenty of dumpling vinegar to keep my digestive system going! BRING ON ANOTHER DOZEN, I SAY! 

Bulgogi-grilled beef with a twist

As a carnivore, I love my beef dearly. While I do love a good ol' steak and chips, sometimes I just crave something a bit more...interesting, if you will. Bulgogi is a simple Korean grilled marinated beef dish, commonly eaten in a lettuce roll with kimchi, Doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste), rice and other side dishes and condiments. The secret to tender and sweet beef is in the marinade. Can you spot the secret ingredient in Bulgogi?

Bulgogi, served with lettuce, kimchi, Doenjang (Korean fermented soybean sauce) and steamed rice

Ingredients for Bulgogi (serves 4-6):

• 600 grams scotch fillet (or other lean cuts of beef)
• ¾ cup light soy sauce
• ¼ cup water
• 40 grams caster sugar
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 nashi/Asian pear
• 1 large onion (brown or white)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• Black pepper and salt to taste
• 1 brown or white onion, sliced
• Shallots, sliced

Method:

1. Slice the beef as thin as possible. Add in soy sauce, water, sugar, garlic, salt and black pepper. Puree the pear and onion in a blender and add to the marinade. Leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes
2. Add sesame oil to the marinade right before grilling. Note: add the sesame oil earlier if you prefer a stronger sesame oil flavour
3. Heat a lightly-oiled heavy based grill pan or non-stick pan on high heat. Cook the marinated beef (minus the marinade) for around 2-3 minutes. Add a little marinade so that the beef would not dry out. Add sliced onion and cook for a minute or two, until the onion starts to collapse. Add sliced spring onion before turning off the heat
4. Serve bulgogi hot with a small amount of steamed rice, kimchi and a small amount of fermented soybean paste on a lettuce leaf. Roll up and enjoy! Note: it is considered rude in Korean etiquette to bite into the lettuce roll, so make sure your lettuce roll is small enough to fit into one mouth full!

Teriyaki chicken-simple, healthy, exotic and delicious

Chicken Teriyaki served with rice and Japanese coleslaw

Ingredients for the teriyaki chicken (serves 4):

·         6 tbsp light soy sauce

·         6 tbsp of mirin

·         6 tbsp cooking sake

·         4-6 tbsp of caster sugar (depending on how sweet you like your teriyaki)

·         1 clove garlic, bruised/lightly crushed 

·         4 large chicken thighs, diced

Method:

1. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, sugar and garlic. Leave the diced chicken to marinate in the mixture for 10-15 minutes
2. Saute the marinated chicken (minus the marinade) in a non-stick pan on medium high heat for a minute or two, or until they are slightly cameralised on the outside
3. Pour the teriyaki marinade over the chicken pieces in the pan and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to medium to medium low so the mixture simmers. Cook with the lid for 5-6 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are cooked through
4. Remove the cooked chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and turn the heat up to reduce the sauce to a glossy, luster and slightly thickened teriyaki sauce
5. Return the cooked chicken back to the teriyaki sauce and toss well to make sure the chicken pieces are well coated. Serve with steamed Japanese rice (sushi rice or any short-grain rice) and Japanese coleslaw (see recipe below).

The juicy chicken coated in the glossy and thick Teriyaki sauce is best served with steamed rice and a refreshing Japanese coleslaw or salad, as the rice soaks up every drop of the flavoursome sauce, and the coleslaw freshens the palate and provides a much-needed tang to the dish. Also try Teriyaki salmon.

Ingredients for the Japanese coleslaw (serves 4-6):

Ingredients:

• 1/6 of a small red cabbage, shredded
• 1/4 of a small white cabbage, shredded
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 shallot, chopped finely
• 1/6 of a Spanish/red onion, shredded (optional)
• Japanese mayonnaise
• fresh orange juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Mix the shredded cabbages, carrot and Spanish onion and finely chopped shallot in a salad bowl
2. Whisk Japanese mayonnaise and orange juice together in a bowl to form a salad dressing consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add to the cabbage mixture and toss to combine. Voila!

Emma’s Japchae-korean comfort food

Emma’s Japchae (note: the picture below depicts a chicken Japchae)

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 150 grams scotch fillet or any other lean cuts of beef
• 250 grams Japchae sweet potato noodles (around half a packet, however, you can put in more and less noodles, depending on your liking)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large carrot (or two small carrots), julienned
• 1 large green or red capsicum, cut into thin strips
• 6 small dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated in warm water for 1 hour, and cut into thin strips
• 2-3 Chinese black fungus, rehydrated in warm water for 1 hour and cut into thin strips
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Sauce for the noodles:

• 4-5 tbsp light soy sauce (to taste)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp of sugar

 Ingredients for the beef marinade:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1 tbsp of caster sugar
• 4 tbsp of light soy sauce
• Black pepper

 Method:

1. Cut the beef into thin strips and marinate in garlic, sesame oil, caster sugar, light soy sauce and black pepper for 30 minutes
2. Marinate the sliced shitake mushrooms with a pinch of sugar, a drizzle of light soy sauce and sesame oil, set aside
3. Cook the sweet potato noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes (or according to the packet instruction). Rinse in cold water well and drain well. Cut noodles with a pair of scissors. Add the sauce for the noodles and mix well. Set aside
4. Stir-fry the vegetables separately (one ingredient at a time) in a lightly oiled non-stick pan on high heat with a pinch of salt (to help draw the liquid out and help the vegetables collapse faster) and set aside
5. Stir-fry the shitake mushrooms and black fungus, and set aside
6. Stir-fry the marinated beef with garlic on high heat for a couple of minutes and set aside
7. Stir-fry the noodles for a couple of minutes on high heat to allow it to absorb the flavour and colour of the sauce mixture. Put the stir-fried noodles in a large bowl and mix with the cooked beef, vegetables and mushrooms. Add more light soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil to taste (it is a little like ‘salad dressing’ to this noodle dish, as the soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil help bring everything together. Make sure to taste before adding more in order to adjust the quantity to personal preference) while the noodles and other cooked ingredients are still warm. Mix well
8. Serve warm or cold, on its own or with steamed rice and Kimchi. The noodles should be glossy, shiny, soft and slightly chewy. Note: you can add English spinach, strips of omelette, Chinese broccoli, seafood and/or a variety of Asian mushrooms, and substitute beef with chicken or pork in this very ‘forgiving’ recipe. When it comes to what you put in Japchae, the sky is the limit!

Spicy, snaky and porky

I always believe that in order for one to learn the authentic flavours from a culture, it is best to go straight to members of that culture and watch how they cook what they eat, as many popular and traditional home-cooked dishes are not found in restaurants. This popular Chinese dish is not a restaurant regular, like many westernized dishes such as sweet and sour pork with pineapple, fried rice with bacon and peas, and so on, but it is one of the most popular home-cooked dishes for the Chinese-it is spicy, snaky and porky, just the way we like it! This quick and delicious dish, served with steamed rice, makes a perfect weeknight dinner, as it is not only quick to make, but also well-balanced with protein (from the pork and tofu) and vegetable (snake beans). This is how I cook my spicy stir-fried snake beans and pork:

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp dark soy
• 1 tsp corn flour
• 500 g snake beans, trimmed and cut into 5-6cm length (note: snake beans are firmer and more difficult to break down than green beans, hence they need to be cooked twice)
• 2 large cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 300 g pork mince
• 2-3 pieces of five-spice tofu cakes, cut into strips (note: five-spice tofu cakes are widely available in all Asian grocers. They add texture and body to this dish)
• 2 tsp fermented chili bean sauce (Doubanjiang) OR black bean in chili oil (note: the one on the left in the picture is the black bean sauce in chili oil, and the one on the right is Doubanjiang. Both sauces are widely available in Asian grocers. I personally prefer the black bean sauce in chili oil in this dish)

Method:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a wok on high. Add half of the beans and stirfry for 1-2 minutes. Cover the wok with a lid and cook the beans for further 6-7 minutes, or until tender and slightly brown (note: stir every minute or two to ensure that the beans are cooked evenly). Remove the cooked beans and drain. Add more oil and repeat the same process to cook the remaining beans. Set aside the cooked beans
2. Heat oil on high. Add garlic and shallot and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add pork mince, five-spice tofu strips and chili black bean sauce (note: do not put in too much chili oil, or the dish would become too oily) and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the pork mince is cooked
3. Return beans to the wok. Combine and mix vinegar, soy, corn flour and 2-3 tbsp of water. Add the mixture to the wok to bring everything together and form a sauce. Stirfry for another minute or so, until the sauce coats all the beans, tofu and pork
4. Serve with steamed rice and garnish with some chopped shallots.

The beauty of one-pot cooking-Sukiyaki

A few years ago, I went back to Japan to visit family friends. We were invited to stay with Mr. S and his family. It was a real honour to be invited to stay with Mr. S and family, as the Japanese do not easily invite people to stay at their home. Mr. S's wife is a wonderful cook (like most older Japanese women), and she cooked dinner for us every night. One day, she told us she was going to cook something special for us for dinner, and I was excited. When we got home that night, I was instantly drawn to that ‘special dinner’ I had been promised. I rush to the dining room to find her preparing ingredients for Sukiyaki-a traditional Japanese hot pot. It had been a while since I had authentic sukiyaki, so I was positively excited. Sukiyaki is a traditional Japanese hotpot-one of the easiest, yet most delicious one-pot wonders. It is essentially thinly-sliced beef with various vegetables, Asian mushrooms, firm tofu and gelatinous noodles (shirataki noodles) braised in a sukiyaki sauce, and dipped in raw egg before eaten. Mrs. S fried thinly-sliced Japanese Kobe beef in a dry pan on medium heat, as the fat released from the marbled Kobe beef lubricates the meat and keeps it moist. She then carefully added shitake and enoki mushrooms, chopped Chinese cabbage, shirataki noodles and firm tofu into the same pan, and fried them for a minute or two before adding the sukiyaki sauce. Sukiyaki sauce is made by simply mixing mirin, light soy sauce, sugar and cooking sake (or you can purchase ready-made sukiyaki sauce from any Japanese supermarket). The beef, mushrooms, vegetables, noodles and tofu are gently braised, covered, in the sweet sukiyaki sauce until all the ingredients are tender and cooked through. As the recipe is very forgiving, you can practically throw in whatever thinly-sliced meats and chopped vegetables you fancy. While traditionally Kobe beef is the main meat ingredient in sukiyaki, I do not see anything wrong with thinly-sliced chicken or pork. Sukiyaki is usually cooked in a traditional sukiyaki pan, on a gas stove put at the centre of the dining table. You fish out the cooked ingredients, piping hot out of the pan, and dip them in a whisked raw egg before eating. While the idea of eating raw eggs is not particularly appetizing, in this case, the raw egg is partially cooked by the heat coming from the piping-hot ingredients, and serves as a 'silky' dipping sauce. Sukiyaki, like other hotpot dishes, is more than just a dish-it is a social institution that brings family and friends together. Nothing beats sitting around the table with loved ones, sweating to piping-hot sukiyaki, and drinking warm sake on a cold winter night. So for your next dinner party, ditch the old-school-3-course approach and let the one-pot approach shine!

The art of Gyoza

The more I learn about food, the more I discover the similarities of cuisines. As discussed in one of my previous posts, everyone enjoys a good sandwich, no matter where we are from. The same thing can be said of the versatile dumpling. The dumpling, like the sandwich, represents an idea, an idea of wrapping a filling in pastry. As ideas can be expanded, stretched and applied in a way that is relevant to the context, there are many varieties of dumplings, from the Italian Ravioli to Chinese Wonton and Japanese Gyoza. While dumplings can be boiled, steamed, pan-fried or deep-fried, I have always fancied the pan-fried version, as the crispy bottom provides a textual boost to the steamed top and the soft and juicy filling. One of my favourite dumplings is Japanese Gyoza, and here is how you can make those culinary delights to impress family and friends!

Japanese pork Gyoza (Yaki Gyoza)

Ingredients (make around 50 pieces):

• 300 grams of fatty pork mince (note: fatty mince will ensure that the gyoza filling is juicy)
• 250 grams of white cabbage, chopped very finely
• 5 shallots, chopped very finely
• 125 grams of garlic chives, chopped very finely
• 1.5 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp of white sugar
• 2.5 tbsp of Japanese cooking sake (note: you can also use Chinese cooking wine, if you wish to make the Chinese variety)
• White pepper to taste
• 1.5 tbsp of sesame oil
• 2-2.5 tbsp of corn starch (note: the corn starch should help the mince mixture achieve a slightly sticky consistency, as the starch will absorb some of the liquid)
• 2.5 tsp of grated garlic (around 3-4 cloves of garlic)
• 1.5 tsp of grated ginger
• 1.25 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 50 Gyoza wrappers
• Vegetable oil for pan frying

 

Method:

1. Chop the cabbage, shallots and garlic chives finely (as large chunks of vegetables would release too much liquid, hence making the filling too wet for the gyoza wrappers)
2. Grate the garlic and ginger
3. Add grated garlic and ginger, soy, sugar, pepper, sesame oil, corn starch, mirin, sake and oyster sauce to the pork mince. Mix the mince mixture well to reach a slightly sticky consistency (note: this consistency would ensure that the filling stays juicy when cooked). Add the chopped cabbage, shallots and garlic chives to the pork mixture, and mix well. Cover the meat filling with cling wrap and pop in the fridge to rest for 20-30 minutes in order for the pork mixture to absorb the flavours
4. Scoop 1 heap teaspoon of the pork filling onto a Gyoza wrapper. Dip your finger in water and wet one side of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and pleat the damp side of the wrapper, and pinch both sides of the Gyoza together
5. Brush or spray a small amount of vegetable or sesame oil in a heated non-stick frying pan, sit the dumplings in batches in the pan, add enough boiling water to the pan to cover the bottoms of the dumplings (note: if you wish to use cold water, increase the steaming time slightly till the dumplings become translucent). Put the lid on and steam the dumplings on medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes, or till the water has evaporated and dumplings begin to sizzle. Add oil to the pan and put the lid back on to cook the dumplings for 1-2 minutes, or until the gyoza bottoms become crispy and golden brown. Remove the gyozas in batches and serve them crispy-side up  
6. Serve gyozas with a dipping sauce, made from mixing 1 tbsp of black vinegar (or balmasic vinegar), 1 tsbp of light soy sauce, and a couple of drops of sesame oil. If you feel extra kinky, you may add a small amount of raw minced garlic and a drop of chilli oil.