I am so excited to announce that I am featured on the front page of the Food section of the Boston Globe today (!).

I was thrilled and in utter disbelief when they contacted me about two weeks ago asking if I was interested in being featured. They said they were especially interested in my Taiwanese background and wanted to feature Taiwanese cuisine, which is a bit more unusual.

The writer Brooke came over to my home and we cooked Taiwanese food together. A Globe photographer, Lane, also came and took tons of photos. It was surreal. And yes, that's why I was working so hard to clean up my kitchen a couple weeks ago.

The article focuses on my Taiwanese roots and includes a recipe for the comforting Taiwanese meat sauce that Brooke and I made together.

In honor of the publication of the article, I thought it would be fun to make one of the most famous, iconic, and classic Taiwanese street dishes around: the Taiwanese Oyster Omelet.

Known as "ô-á-chian" [SAY "uh-ah jen"] (蚵仔煎), which literally means oyster pan-fry, this small dish is especially popular in the night markets of Taiwan. You'll see people frying these up in open air stalls using fresh, local Taiwanese oysters (which are much, much smaller than the ones we're used to seeing in the U.S.).

They key ingredient (aside from oysters, of course) is sweet potato starch, which you can easily find in Asian grocery stores. I have seen them in both Chinese and Korean grocery stores.  Of course, there's also Amazon (affiliate link). The sweet potato starch gives the omelet its characteristic gelatinous, slight chewy "QQ" (as Taiwanese like to call it) texture. It's my favorite part of the oyster omelet.

I like this recipe because it's super easy, tasty, and came from Taiwanese moms in America who wrote the book Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan, my favorite source for Taiwanese recipes (updated version of the book available here).

There are two ways you can make the pancake. You can either mix together the egg with the sweet potato starch at the beginning (resulting in a more consistent looking omelet), or cook the two parts separately, resulting in more interesting textural contrast between "eggy" bits and gelatinous sweet potato starch bits. After trying both ways, I decided I preferred cooking them separately, but I'll show you both (since they're both still really tasty).

Mix together sweet potato starch with water. The ratio is essentially ½ cup sweet potato starch for every 1 cup of water and 2 eggs. Multiply according to how many pancakes/omelets you want to make (rule of thumb: approximately one egg per omelet). Add salt, white pepper, and optionally garlic powder.

I decided to make two omelets, so I whisked together ½ cup sweet potato starch with 1 cup of water. If you're not confident about the freshness of your oysters, you may want to quickly stir fry them first. If you don't mind them being slightly raw-ish, feel free to cook everything together. I just threw my oysters right into the starch batter.

Because Taiwanese oysters tend to be much smaller than U.S. oysters, this recipe works better with smaller oyster pieces. If your oysters are too big, cut them into bite-sized pieces, about 1 to 1.5 inches wide.

Make your omelets one at a time.

Heat up your wok really hot (on high!) and then add the oil. Make sure to be reasonably generous, since you don't want it to stick. High temperature cooking oil like grapeseed oil is preferable, but canola oil worked fine for me. Add one serving of the batter (in my case, half of the bowl) and let it sizzle for 10-15 seconds. Lower the heat to medium. After about 5 minutes (or when the batter looks cooked and is gelatinous/clear), add the green leafy vegetables. I used spinach, but you can use Taiwanese lettuce (A-choy), chrysanthemum greens (tong hao), or other quick cooking greens.

Add one egg and mix it around a bit if you want. You can leave the yolk whole too, if you prefer a slightly runnier yolk.

Flipping is challenging! A real pro would be able to flip it effortlessly probably with just some slick wrist action on the wok. I resorted to using a spatula, and still sort of made a mess, albeit a beautiful, glorious, tasty-looking mess.

Frankly, it almost doesn't matter how ugly it looks underneath, because you'll slather it with sweet chili sauce and fresh cilantro anyway.

Yum . . . .

And if you are really short on time and just feel like mixing the eggs and the sweet potato starch batter all together at once, that works too.

It's neater and easier to deal with, but the end result tastes more uniform. It still has a super soft, slightly springy gelatinous texture from the sweet potato starch, but it's not quite the same.
Honestly, both omelets were delicious. I do prefer the version that separates the eggs and sweet potato starch, mostly because of the interesting textural differences.

If you don't want to deal with oysters, you can easily make this dish vegetarian by omitting the oysters (it will taste different, but will still be good). I can imagine it tasting pretty good with cooked mushrooms! You can experiment and substitute other seafood as well. Ideally, from a textural perspective, oysters work the best because they have a similar texture - that slight gelatinous, gooeyness - that works well with the rest of the omelet.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for a few more posts with some really simple, everyday home cooking recipes, courtesy of my mom. 🙂

The post Taiwanese Oyster Omelet recipe (or Taiwanese Oyster Pancake) appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

I got into the sous vide game early. Back before all the fancy elegant wands there was this workhorse called the Sous Vide Supreme. It was a HUGE box of a machine, but it did kept water temperature consistent. I played around with it so much, trying to make all sorts of fun sous vide dishes.

After moving to Hong Kong, I went for almost two years without sous vide before finally breaking down one day and asking Bryan to pick one up at the super market near his work.

Since then I've been revisiting sous vide. I realized that I never published this post I worked on years ago. The content is still good and I picked it back up just last week while making one of my first batches of sous vide salmon in Hong Kong.

Most recipe books recommend brining or at least salting salmon for some time to improve its texture.

Kenji Lopez-Alt recommends brining for 30 minutes before cooking. These days, I often skip the brining step and the salmon still turns out fine. I usually salt it on both sides before putting it into the bag.

The nice thing about sous vide salmon is that you don't need a vacuum sealer. Because the fish is not cooked for too long, a simple zipper bag works fine.

It's rare that I take out my super special sushi cutting knife that I bought at Tsukiji Fish Market almost ten years ago (sniff sniff, R.I.P.).

Because the skin becomes soggy when sous vide, it's best to remove the skin and pan fry it separately into a lovely, crispy top. If you forget to remove it before sous vide-ing, you can also remove it afterwards and fry it then.

I do have a Foodsaver vacuum sealer [affiliate link!], so typically I still use it. I like to add a bit of olive oil, sort of like making an olive oil poached salmon.

Sous vide at 47 degrees C / 117 degrees F for 15 minutes. This results in a fish texture that isn't quite raw (like sashimi), but is still super soft and slightly translucent.

While you're waiting, pan sear the skins.

Alternatively, you can sear the skin after you sous vide. Both work fine.

Serve!

I like using sous vide if I am cooking a thicker piece of salmon. Sous vide allows me to cook the entire piece of fish very evenly at a nice, almost rare texture. If I am cooking a thinner piece, or a belly piece (which is pretty fatty and almost impossible to over cook), I may not necessary use sous vide since it still takes a bit more effort.

I find sous vide especially handy when I am entertaining or cooking a lot of different dishes at the same time, since I can afford to keep the bag in the water bath a bit longer without overcooking it.

I've only had my new sous vide cooker in Hong Kong for less than a year, but I've used it immensely this year. OK, perhaps due to the pandemic I've been cooking A LOT more than I typically wouldn't, but still, I am amazed at how I was able to go almost two years without a sous vide wand. Now I can't imagine cooking without one.

Below are some links to some popular and highly rated sous vide cookers and also the FoodSaver that I am currently using. Personally, I picked up a local one in Hong Kong (called HRC) at City'Super, and it seems to work fine. If I were in the US, I would have probably picked one of the ones below.

The FoodSaver shown below is exactly the one I own now. It works fine, though I have in general found that FoodSaver vacuum sealers don't last a long time. I'm already on my third one in about a decade. They work fine for their intended purpose for several years, but eventually they need to be replaced.

The post Sous Vide Salmon appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

I am pleased to partner with Genova, who makes canned yellowfin tuna, for this post on a canned tuna pasta that I made using their product.

Happy Friday!

I'm frantically working up all my photos (close to 700!) from my week-long trip to London and Munich. Until then, we will take a brief pause and head on over to my kitchen, where I've actually been cooking A LOT lately!

While I was in Germany, the very first shipment of my summer CSA (community supported agriculture) farm share came in. A weekly farm share is great because it ensure that I eat plenty of vegetables. The element of surprise each week ("what will come in my share today?"), is fun and stretches my creativity as I think up new ways to use all the produce.

I typically end up cooking a lot more during the summer months, sometimes in Herculean efforts to "use up the farm share." In fact, this week I cooked every single day (with the exception of one crazy late night ramen adventure that stretched into the early morning).

Right before I left for Europe, another fun shipment came in - a special treat from Genova. Genova, who makes Mediterranean-style (packed in olive oil) premium tuna sent me a gorgeous gift basket complete with cans of premium yellowfin tuna, olive tapenade, artichokes, a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers, a cute olivewood cheeseboard (or maybe cutting board?) from Sur La Table, and even a book on Mediterranean cooking!

I'm not exactly an expert on Mediterranean cooking, but Bryan loves pasta, and I had tons of gorgeous greens from my farm share.

Inspired by the various ingredients they sent (plus the fact that I was short on time that evening), I whipped up a super fast dinner using about half of the ingredients from the gift basket.
I chopped up TONS of garlic (you can never have too much garlic, ha ha!) and slowly cooked them over super low heat in olive oil.

After about 10 minutes or so (you don't want them to brown!), I added the whole jar of marinated artichokes.

I then opened up the cans of tuna and added them. I was surprised at the quality of the tuna. Maybe I still have visions of the simple cans ("packed in water") that I used to eat growing up - pale, shredded tuna that worked great in tuna salad but would not be chunky enough for a pasta application.

This tuna was definitely different, and changed my internal perception about canned tuna. Not only does it hold up to fancier dishes, I like the fact that it's wild caught (not farmed!) and a sustainable fish. I kept thinking, "hmmm, it's not a bad idea to have a few cans of tuna around for those times when Bryan asks, 'where's the meat?'" In our household fish counts as "meat". I think he really just means protein - aka, please don't just cook the farm share vegetables and call that a meal.

I threw in a bunch of the gorgeous spinach from my farmshare, added a bit of salt and a touch of finishing olive oil, and I was done! The tuna, artichokes, and olive tapenade added plenty of flavor, and I barely had to do anything to make this pasta taste really good.

GIVEAWAY!

I am thrilled to be able to give away another gift basket full of Mediterranean goodies (just like the one I got!). To enter, please comment below answering one (or more, or even all if you wish) of the questions:

1) your favorite Mediterranean food(s)

2) your favorite Mediterranean restaurant

2) any fun trips this summer planned?

One entry per person. Giveaway ends in Tuesday, June 23rd at midnight, East Coast Time. If you are interested in trying out the tuna, here is a $1 off coupon.

Enjoy!

Update! Congrats to Teresa for winning the Giveaway! Teresa said the following answer:

1. Caprese salad
2. Mamma Maria or Carlo’s Cucina Italiana in Boston
3. I’m heading to Greece for a wedding in a few weeks! Can’t wait for the food!

Thanks for participating!

Disclaimer - this post is sponsored by Genova. I did not pay for the Mediterranean basket of ingredients. All opinions are my own.

The post Pasta with Tuna, Artichokes, and Olives + Giveaway! appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

I have a bad habit of overcooking salmon. Ever since I started buying wild-caught salmon (instead of the fatty farm-raised salmon), I've had a harder time baking it in a way that does not dry it out. Farm-raised salmon typically has more fat (I guess they don't have as much room to swim around?) and therefore their meat is more forgiving. Wild-caught salmon, on the other hand, is much leaner, and therefore can easily become tough when overcooked.I've had some success using Bryan's mom's awesome microwave method to make salmon. But what about those times I don't want steamed fish? What if I want a nice pan-seared salmon?

I recently spotted this cool post on how to make sous-vide salmon at home with just a few Ziploc bags and a cast iron pot. Perfect! I would try sous-vide at home! Problem is, I don't have any fancy Le Creuset or Staub cast iron cookware. In fact, I don't think I have any heavy, high quality pots that retain heat well.

I started to brainstorm . . . what could I use instead? Serious Eats posted a cool hack using a beer cooler, but part of me didn't feel like lugging that huge cooler and dealing with all that water in my tiny kitchen.

Then I remembered the magic cooker that my mom had given me. What is a magic cooker? These are really popular in Asia. Essentially, it's a thermally insulated container that can keep a pot warm for hours without electricity. It's similar to a Crock Pot, except that it relies completely on insulation to keep the food warm. It's much safer, uses no electricity, and is easy to bring to potlucks and such.

My mom had given me one years ago, but I had only used it to make red bean soup. I had no idea if you could even get one in the US, as I almost never read about it. A quick search on Amazon showed that they seem to be pretty available. You even have your choice of brands, from Asian brands like Tiger and  Sunpentown to the classic American brand Thermos and the interesting sounding Thermos Nissan Cook N' Carry. Prices range anywhere from $60 (the Sunpentown) to around $250 (this crazy two layer one), though definitely read the reviews before buying one - looks like they vary in quality!

So, I thought I would try sous-vide for the first time by attempting to make salmon in my magic cooker.

There's really no recipe, although I did loosely base my dish on this Wall Street Journal article. I cut up a pound of wild caught Alaskan King Salmon into two 8-oz pieces, removed the skin (but only on one fillet - more on that later), and generously added salt and pepper on both sides of the fillets. You want to remove the skin because, honestly, sous vide skin tastes pretty awful. It's rubbery, hard to chew, etc. Maybe if I had seared the skin side it would not have been so bad, but I learned the hard way with my side-by-side controlled experiment (sorry Bryan!), that the salmon fillet with the skin tastes worse than the one without!

Note: I did fry up the removed skin into a nice crispy side dish. Yum  - tastes good just with some salt and pepper.

The olive oil bit is tricky. See, you can't pour olive oil directly into a FoodSaver bag because it will get stuck on the sides and trick the machine into thinking that the bag is already sealed when it isn't. To get around this, you need to freeze the oil.  Measure out about 1 tablespoon of olive oil per 8-oz serving, put it in a little plastic bag, and freeze it until it has a gel-like consistency. At that point, you can easily put it into the FoodSaver bag without it getting stuck on the sides of the bag.

I actually was in too much of a hurry to do this, so I took a short cut. Slather the oil onto the fish first and very carefully place it into the bag without touching the sides. It's tricky, but do-able.  I accidentally got a bit of oil on the side, but then I used a paper towel to clean it up before subjecting it to the FoodSaver machine.
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Seal the bags. You can use zipper lock bags as well for this if you don't have a vacuum sealer at home. Check out Wade's post for how to do that.

I boiled some water in my electric kettle and then filled the inner pot of my magic cooker with the water. I continued to slowly add cold tap water until the temperature reached around 125° F (52° C). I was shooting for anything between 113° F (45 °C) and 120° F (49 °C), since various recipes seemed to have different temperatures.

I then dunked my salmon in, sealed up the magic cooker, and waited for 13 minutes. After about 6 minutes, I noticed the temperature had dropped to around 119°F (48°C), which is to be expected since the cold salmon probably brought down the temperature several degrees. The temperature stayed pretty steady after that. In fact, I came back after dinner (at least an hour later), and the water bath was still holding steady at around 116°F (47 °C).

When the 13 minute mark came (I had set my trusty thermometer alarm to go off), I took the salmon pieces out, quickly seared them on a pan for about 2 minutes (just enough to brown the edge), and then served!

It came out beautifully! Like a beautiful oil-poached salmon, but made with much less oil.

The inside was moist, tender, buttery, and all around fantastic! Finally, I can cook wild-caught salmon and it will be predictably soft, tender, and never overcooked. Check out the texture inside. Doesn't that just look so good?

I'm really excited to try other methods next. I plan on investing in a cast-iron Dutch oven at some point. I'm curious how it compares. I have to say, it's going to be hard for me to go back to cooking salmon any other way, as I think I've fallen in love with this sous-vide salmon texture!

I think I'm going to try steak next!!

Sous Vide Olive "Poached" Salmon

inspired by Nathan Myhrvold via the Wall Street Journal

 

1 lb of skinless salmon fillet, cut into 2 8 oz portions

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Freeze 1 T of olive oil (for each fillet) by placing the olive oil in the corner of a small zipper lock bag until the oil has a gel-like consistency.  Place 1 T of olive oil "gel" and 1 8 oz salmon fillet in a Food Saver bag. Alternatively, slather olive oil generously on both sides of the fillets. Add salt and pepper. Taking care not to get the sides of the bag wet, gently drop the salmon fillet into the bottom of a Food Saver bag. Vacuum pack each fillet separately.

Add hot water to the Magic Cooker and slowly add room temperature water until the temperature is around 125 °F.  Submerge the vacuum-packed salmon pieces and cook for 12-13 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a hot pan with vegetable oil for searing. When 12-13 minutes have passed, remove the vacuum packed salmon and sear briefly for 1-2 minutes.

Serve!

The post Sous-Vide Salmon in a Magic Cooker appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

Summer is quickly slipping by me, and I feel like I have barely had a chance to really savor it.Part of it was my crazy June schedule, I guess. We went to Yellowstone with Bryan's parents (mesmerizing place, by the way - one of the top places to visit in the US, in my opinion) for a whole week. After that, it was two weekends in a row where we darted from coast to coast. First to attend a wedding of some friends in Seattle, and then off to another wedding in DC.Needless to say, the pile of unopened mail on my counter is spilling over and I am so behind on processing photographs.It's time like these that I'm grateful for simple meals that I can make at home. Meals which taste better than what I could get at most restaurants and don't necessarily restrain me to be "stuck" at a restaurant for hours.

This simple olive oil poached halibut relies on excellent ingredients to shine. The prep is extremely easy and the entire meal preparation can be done in less than 30 minutes. Just make sure you get the freshest, best quality fish you can find. We (or shall I say, Bryan) hand carried ours back from Pike Place Market in Seattle (along with our 20+ lb Copper River King salmon (!)), and paired it with local, seasonal farm vegetables that came straight from the farmers market.

Generously season the fish fillets with Kosher sea salt (or normal salt is fine too). You can use all sorts of herbs to add another element of flavor. I had a ton of fennel fronds from my CSA farm share, so I went ahead and used those, but you can just as easily used fresh thyme leaves, chervil, or even nothing at all.

The Sous Vide Supreme is not designed to vacuum seal liquids (unlike more expensive, professional machines), but you can approximate the effect by hanging your vacuum bag way below the machine. This keeps the liquids pretty much near the bottom and not much of it will escape when you seal the bag.

As long as the fish is mostly covered by a thin film of oil, you're good to go! Dunk the bags into your sous vide machine and "cook" at 113°F for about 15-20 minutes. This temperature is great if you want a rare, silky, almost melt-in-your-mouth texture.

If you want something firmer, you may want to increase the temperature. I have not tried other temperatures, but a lot of recipes online go as high as 140 °F, which I am guessing will result in a more "cooked" and flaky texture.

While the fish is cooking, we can prepare our veggies to go on top.

I love discovering new vegetables I've never tried before. That's why I decided to sign up for a farm share this summer. These gorgeous garlic spears, however, did not come from my CSA.

Instead I saw them selling in Seattle at Pike Place Market. Garlic Spears are the young shoots of the elephant garlic. It is actually more closely related to a leek than to garlic scapes, which comes from normal garlic.

I was so intrigued by these (especially after loving garlic scapes, garlic greens, and ramps so much the last few weeks), I just had to buy some to bring back with me to Boston.

I simple sauteed these spears along with some fresh peas from my farm share. No need to add any garlic, since the spears themselves already have a garlicky flavor. Simple salt and pepper will do.

Many people think that garlic spears taste like asparagus. The stems actually remind me more of Chinese long beans, if you can believe that. The flavor is very mild, but delicious. The flowering heads have more of a sharp zing to their flavor, sort of like raw garlic. The stems temper the spiciness, and the overall combination is very good.

After about 15-20 minutes, gently remove the fish from the bag (it will be super delicate and could totally fall apart on you if you are not careful), and place it on a plate. Pour a bit of the poaching oil over the fish. If you've chosen an intensely colored olive oil, it will look really pretty on the plate. Top with the sauteed vegetables (in my case, the garlic spears and fresh peas), and serve!

Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Garlic Spears and Fresh Peas
serves 3-4

1.5 to 2 lb halibut fillet
~ 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil per vacuum bag
herbs (e.g., fennel fronds, thyme, or chervil)
kosher sea salt (or regular salt)
pepper (optional)
fresh seasonal vegetables (I used garlic spears and fresh peas)

special equipment: vacuum sealer, vacuum bags, and a sous vide machine or something that approximates it (magic cooker, cooler, or an enameled cast iron Dutch oven).

This is a really flexible recipe, and again, the amounts are just estimates above. Your goal is to have the olive oil cover the fish. Since we are doing this in a vacuum bag, you don't need a ton of oil. The herbs are pretty much up to you. I had fennel fronds from my CSA box, and they added a nice, subtle flavor to the fish. Other herbs, like thyme or chervil, could work fine as well. 

Season halibut fillets on either side with salt. Place the fillets in vacuum bags, making sure to keep them in a single layer. You want all the pieces to be roughly equal in thickness so that they will cook evenly. I ended up using two bags in order to achieve this.

Add olive oil and carefully seal the bag taking care to avoid letting oil get sucked up by the machine (see photo above for how best to do this). Place in a heated water bath (sous vide) and cook at around 113° F - 115° F. This will make fish on the rarer side. I've seen recipes that go as high as 140 °F. This will likely result in a more "cooked", flakier style fish. I personally loved the super soft, melt-in-your-mouth quality of the low-temperature cooked fish, but not everyone at the table shared my sentiments (some found it a bit too soft and mushy and wished for more substance).

Cook for about 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes if necessary. Gently (it is really fragile!) remove fish from pouch and set on a plate. Pour some olive oil over the fish for presentation.

Top with sauteed spring vegetables.

Serve!

Related Posts:
Sous Vide Cooking
Sous Vide Olive Oil poached Salmon
Culinary Tour Around the World - Sous Vide Style
Slow Roasted Salmon with Dill

The post Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Garlic Spears and Fresh Peas (sous vide) appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.