Seared Boneless Chicken Leg with Lemony Scallion Sauce

In general, there are two ways to sear the boneless chicken legs for this recipe. You can simply lay down the chicken and let it sear on its own. That's what I did too, which yields a fuller bite and thicker meaty part in the end. 

You can also aim for extra crunchiness for the skin. If doing so, you'll have to find something heavy, for instance a brick to weight down the meat while searing skin side down. However, in exchange of that even crispier skin, the meat section will also get pressed down a bit and result in a tougher bite. 

Both methods still result in pretty delicious chicken steak, so it's up to you whether to put more emphasis on the meat itself or the skin part.

Seared boneless chicken leg with lemony scallion sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 2 medium boneless skin-on chicken legs
• 2 stalks scallion (mainly use the white section)
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon drinkable hot water
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• Some olive oil
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Trim the boneless skin-on chicken leg by removing tendons and excess fats. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides.

Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and chop the scallion. Try to use the white section first, if not enough then mix in some green part. We will need about 1 cup of chopped scallion here.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and switch to medium high heat. Wait till the pan gets hot then transfer the chicken over skin side down. Do not move the chicken at all in the beginning. You can check the sides, once seemed golden brown then you can try to move it around.

If you move the chicken too fast before the skin has been browned, the skin might still be stuck to the pan and you won't get a pretty whole chicken steak in the end.

You can add something heavy on top, usually a brick to get crispier skin. I went for a simpler route instead and just let the meat sear as it is. Once the skin side has been seared till golden brown color, flip the chicken.

Switch to medium heat and slowly sear the chicken till fully cooked through. Once ready, transfer the chicken legs to serving plate. The meat can also rest there while we work on the lemony sauce. 

Still using the same pan, either wipe out excess oil or add more if needed, just remember we need enough oil to evenly coat the pan plus a bit extra. Using medium heat, add in chopped scallion and garlic. Give it a quick stir-fry, cook till aromatic but not burning the garlic.

Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, juice of half lemon (which is about 1 1/2 tablespoons for mine), 1 tablespoon of hot water, 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds.

Bring the heat up to a light boil and let it reduce a bit. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Pour that sauce all over the chicken legs. Crack some more black pepper before serving.

You can serve the chicken as it is, but together with steamed rice is my favorite way to eat it. Especially when the rice slightly sucked in the sauce, it's like double of flavors double the enjoyment.  

On a side note, remember that even if you went for the crispier skin route, once the lemony scallion sauce drizzled all over, you'll still start to lose some of that crunchiness over time.

Which I don't mind at all. I'm more for the juicy meat paired with the sauce. That extra touch of lemon truly made a big difference brighting up the flavors.  

Other chicken recipes:

• Ponzu chicken 橙醋雞肉
• Pan-fried chicken with shio kombu 香煎塩昆布雞腿肉

Vietnamese Steamed Egg Meatloaf - I Was Actually Trying to Use All the Eggs in the Fridge

My mom uses many eggs in her cooking, quite often too. Somehow the eggs in my household always get neglected. I would have a box of eggs and used like one or two, the most four. Then the rest will be left in the fridge for weeks. Good thing that eggs can stay fresh for a while when stored correctly.

So the Vietnamese steamed egg meatloaf was like a recipe come to a rescue. To bring my long forgotten eggs out to the world again. This time, this well-known Vietnamese side dish released a total of eight eggs from the icy dreaded fridge.

Vietnamese steamed egg meatloaf - 

Ingredients?

• 8 eggs
• 450 grams gorund pork 
• 1 big piece fresh wood ear (can be substitute with dried wood ear)
• 1/2 medium carrot
• 50 grams glass noodles
• 2 medium shallots or 1/4 small red onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons corn starch 
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• Some salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

How?

If using dried wood ear, rehydrate it in warm water till plump again. Try to aim for one big piece in the end. Trim-off tougher area then mince the remaining part.

Soak the glass noodles in room temperature water till hydrate and soft. Soaking time varies depending on the type of glass noodles used. Once done, drain and chop to smaller bits, about 2 to 3 mm in length. 

Peel and finely chop the shallots or red onion. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves.

Separate 3 eggs. Store the yolks in the fridge first and pour the egg whites to a big mixing bowl.

In that big mixing bowl, also break in 5 whole eggs, wood ear, glass noodles, shallot or onion, garlic, ground pork. For the seasonings, add in 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 4 tablespoons of corn starch. 

If you prefer firmer texture for the egg meatloaf, use 5 tablespoons of corn starch instead. Mix till all these ingredients are evenly blended.

Have a meatloaf pan lined up with parchment paper. I actually used glass food storage container instead.

Pour in the egg and pork mixture and even it out.

Cover with cling foil. Pour some water to the steamer and steam for 30 minutes. Once ready, carefully taking out the container and don't let any water drips into the steamed loaf. Remove the cling foil.

Remember the 3 yolks we saved earlier? Beat that with one small pinch of salt then pour right over the steamed loaf. You will have to tilt the container in different directions in order to get the yolk cover the whole surface.

Cover with new cling foil. Add a bit more water to the steamer and transfer the container over again. This time steam till the yolk topping is set, about 10 minutes. 

I prefer to steam the egg meatloaf longer just to be sure that the very center has been cooked through. A few more minutes won't really alter the taste nor the texture of the loaf.

Once ready, remove the container and the foil while making sure no water drips in. Pull out the parchment paper while transferring the egg meatloaf to serving plate. 

Per my case, the parchment paper was torn apart. So I actually ran the knife along the edges then inverted the egg meatloaf to a big plate. Then I cover the loaf with serving plate and inverted back again, so that the yolk side stays on top.

Slice to thick rectangular pieces and serve as a side dish. Usually you'll find egg meatloaf together with broken rice, but it'll still serve well with just any other type of steamed rice. 

If you don't have a steamer, oven works too. Use 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius and bake for 40 minutes first. The second time after pouring the yolk on top, simply bake for 10 minutes should do the trick. 

 

For my version of egg meatloaf, the main body is paler than the ones you often see at a Vietnamese restaurant. I think the reason is that I also added extra egg whites in the ground pork mixture, thus dilute the yolk color.

On top of that, some people would add annatto oil to the yolk on top. I tried to keep the food I cook at home as natural as possible, so I purposefully steered away from any potential food coloring added ingredient. 

I think many of you would agree with what I do here? I'd rather use up all the eggs instead of having egg whites leftover. Also I think it's better to have paler outcome instead of any potential artificial food coloring involved. 

Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad

I guess foodgawker is officially gone for good. I've been trying to upload my recipes to the recipe-sharing website but it always ended up showing "this site can’t be reached." What a shame, foodgawker was pretty useful and acts sort of like my little storage box for many wonderful recipes. If any of you know more details or if there's any slight chance that foodgawker will be back, please drop a line and let me know!

Spicy Korean cucumber salad - 

Ingredients?

• 3 skinny cucumbers
• 1 teaspoon salt

Marinade:

• 3 tablespoons chopped scallion
• 1/4 cup loosely packed thinly sliced onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons Korean red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon toasted white sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

How?

Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Destem and chop the scallion. Peel and thinly slice the onion.

Trim-off both ends for the cucumbers. I prefer to cut the cucumber into rectangular shaped sections. However, you can slice it to 1mm thickness round pieces if preferred. 

Transfer the cucumber to a bowl and add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Gently massage in the salt. Let it sit and marinate for 10 minutes. You'll find some liquid being draw out on the bottom.

Squeeze the cucumber hard but not breaking the shape in order to draw out even more liquid. Discard the liquid and transfer the cucumber to another clean bowl.

Add all the ingredients listed under the "marinade" section to the bowl. Make sure to thoroughly mix these ingredients together with the cucumber. Cover the bowl with cling foil and let it rest in the fridge for at least 10 more minutes.

You can serve the cucumber after a short marinating time. However, you can definitely leave the cucumber in the fridge for like one or two more days. I actually did that and the cucumbers won't get too salty in the end. Not the crunchiness though, you'll loose just a tiny bit of that crunch but overall still very appetizing.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, unlike many other Asian cucumber side dish recipes especially the pickled version from Japan, the spicy Korean cucumber salad we are making here does not use any vinegar. There is no other acid seasonings used such as lemon or lime. 

Instead, the main flavor comes from the aromatics and sesame oil. Give it a try, when served cold, this cucumber salad also works great with some Korean drinks (just remember to drink responsibly, especially when the food pairs so well with alcohol). 

Other Korean recipes:

• Korean braised potatos (gamja jorim) 
• SPAM and gochujang kimchi stew
• Spicy gochujang chicken rice bowls

Radish Corn and Pork Ribs Soup 蘿蔔玉米排骨湯

Usually I'll get canned corn kernels or the entire corn on the cob for my recipes. Once a while I'll use baby corn too, but never a big fan of it mainly due to the texture. However, for this Asian soup recipe, I need the corn in shorter sections. Ideally one whole corn being cut into three sections. And that, requires either professionals or some muscles at home.

Radish corn and pork ribs soup 蘿蔔玉米排骨湯 - 

Ingredients?

• 3 whole corn on the cob
• 1 medium large radish/daikon
• 8 to 10 pork ribs
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 stalk skinny celery (or some cilantro)
• 2 pieces ginger
• Some salt
• 12 cups water

How?

If I get the corn on the cob at the local market, like farmer's market, usually I'll ask the vendor to break the corn to sections for me. It's such an easy task to them. However, if you have to do it yourself at home, be prepared to work on your arms.

I actually had to do it myself this time. What I did was run the end of the knife, not the tip, but the part closer to the handle all the way around the corn. It'll be right on the spot where I want the corn to cut-off. 

Then try to force some part of the knife in and wiggle it. Do that for few spots along that cutting line. Lastly, knife away and I used all my force to break the corn with my hands. Sounds primitive, but it works. However, in the end, if you can get help from the vendor, it'll save so much work and no bits of corn splashing around the kitchen.

So once the corn is settled, peel and slice the radish/daikon to medium chunks. Slice the ginger to about 1mm thickness pieces. Peel and halve the onion. Wrap the onion in cheesecloth or something similar, tie it up so the onion will be able to cook in the soup without falling apart everywhere.

Prepare a pot and fill with water. Turn to medium heat and toss in pork ribs. Keep the water hot but not like full-on boiling. A bit bubbling is fine. Such temperature can help drawing out more foamy grayish bits.

Once successfully drawing out some foamy bits, drain and rinse the pork ribs.

Prepare a big pot and add in prepped pork ribs. Also add in the corn, radish, onion in bag, ginger, and 12 cups of water. Use medium to medium high heat until the soup is boiling. Then lower the heat to keep it at a light bubbling stage. Continue to cook for 30 minutes.

Remember to skim-off any foamy bits floating on top during the process. There should be some more during the first 10 minutes, after that just check once or twice should be good.

Towards the end, remove the onion bag and ginger slices. Flavor the soup with enough salt. I used 2 tablespoons here.

Chop some skinny celery or cilantro. Scoop the soup and some ingredients to serving bowls then garnish with chopped celery or cilantro.

If using celery, instead of garnishing the soup in the end, you can also just toss them into the pot for a slight boost of aroma. Celery can be left in the soup and its texture and flavor won't change as much even after days.

Enjoy the soup as it is. I also cooked up some noodles and turn it into soup noodles too. With additional help from homemade cilantro flavored chili sauce. The meal might look light at first, but don't underestimate the power of Asian chili sauce.

Other Asian soup recipes:

• Tomato Egg and Tofu Soup 番茄雞蛋豆腐湯
• Magao clam and chicken soup 馬告蛤蜊雞湯

Eggplant Rollatini with Marinara and Pesto Sauce

This recipe might seem like a lot of work at first, well, that's if you're making everything from scratch. In order to keep it simple and not overworking us housewives, it's ok to use some store-bought ingredients.

Just like two of my great helpers here, store-bought marinara sauce and pesto sauce. These two alone can definitely cut down at least 30 minutes prep time, not mentioning the cleaning work involved.

To further cutting down the workload, you can use the already shredded cheese. I use packaged shredded mozzarella here. However, I have to grate my own parmesan cheese. The reason is that I always stick to aged parmigiano reggiano, and there's no pre-grating version of this. But a bit extra work in exchange for a much more complex savory note, I think it's well worth tiring my hands and my arms in grating the cheese.

Eggplant rollatini with marinara and pesto sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 2 big and round eggplants
• Some salt
• Some olive oil
• 300 grams marinara sauce 
• 3 tablespoons pesto sauce
• 120 grams shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated aged parmigiano reggiano
• Some fresh basil sprigs (for garnish/optional)

Filling:

• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated aged parmigiano reggiano
• 1 egg
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons chopped basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

How?

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. Brush baking sheet with some olive oil. 

Cut-off both ends for the eggplants. If you can find big, round, and longer eggplants then that's your best choice. The shape makes it much easier to roll later on.

Slice the eggplant to 1/4 inch thick pieces from top down. Because the natural curvy shape of the eggplant, I'm not using the first and the last slices, only use the center part instead.

Lay out the eggplant slices and sprinkle some salt on both sides.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes. You'll start to see some tiny water droplets forming on the eggplant. Wipe off these excess liquid while removing some of the salt on both sides.

Transfer the eggplant slices to the baking dish and into the oven for 10 minutes. Once ready, remove and let the eggplant cool-off, at least till cool enough to handle by hand. 

If you have to move the eggplant slices around while still a bit hot, better use a spatula and scoop from the ends. Otherwise some very soft part might separate while trying to pick up the eggplant with uneven force. 

While waiting for the eggplant to cool-off, prepare all the ingredients listed under the "filling" section. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves then transfer to a mixing bowl. Break in one egg, also add all other ingredients for the filling.

Mix till all the ingredients are evenly blended together.

Have a baking dish ready, medium size with some depth should work. Pour over some marinara sauce and spoon them evenly on the bottom.

Check and see if the eggplant slices have cooled-off. If so, take one spoonful of the filling to the end of the eggplant slice then start rolling up. Transfer rolled up eggplant to the baking dish, with opening side down. Continue to do so till the baking dish has been fully placed by the eggplant rolls.

Spoon some more marinara sauce all over the eggplant rolls, also spread out about 3 tablespoons of the pesto sauce.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese all over first, then sprinkle 1/4 cup of that high quality aged parmigiano reggiano cheese on top too.

Cover the baking dish with foil then into the oven, bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and switch to high heat. Continue to bake till the cheese on top starts to turn slightly browned. 

Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh basil sprigs.

Remember the edges of the eggplant slices that I didn't use in this recipe? In fact, I ended up dicing them and used in a pasta dish. Besides that, I also used all the leftover marinara sauce and pesto sauce to the pasta dish too.

So in the end I get to enjoy a full-on pasta meal paired with this eggplant rollatini. Not bad for a dinner combo.  

Chinese Braised Noodles with Vegetables and Pork 青菜豬肉煨麵

Do you sometimes find it a bit more work to cook the noodles with another pot and taking over another stove? I do actually, especially when it means there are more stuff to wash. So this Chinese noodles recipe definitely hit the spot for me, not just about the cleaning part, but the flavor is really enjoyable. 

Chinese braised noodles with vegetables and pork 青菜豬肉煨麵 - 

Ingredients (about 5 portions)?

• 5 portions fresh Asian flour noodles
• 1 small bundle pak choi or bok choy
• 8 shiitake mushrooms
• 4 loosely packed cups trimmed bean sprouts
• 1/2 medium carrot
• 2 stalks scallion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For the pork:

• 275 grams pork threads
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon aged Shaoxing wine

For the soup:

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 cups drinkable hot water
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons black vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoons white pepper powder

How?

Make sure to use the flour kind, the white color Asian noodles. Definitely not the yellow ones or the dried Hong Kong crispy noodles. 

Use threaded pork but smaller pieces of matsuzaka pork can be a good substitute. Transfer the pork to a bowl and add in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of aged Shaoxing wine. Massage the meat with the seasonings and let it marinate while prepping other ingredients.

Destem the pak choi or bok choy. I like to cut it in half for a shorter length, sometimes also slice lengthwise for thinner strips. 

Remove the mushroom stems then slice the cap. Trim the bean sprouts by picking out the skinny ends. Peel and julienne the carrot. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and section the scallion stalks.

Bring out a big wok and drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Use medium or medium high heat. Add in garlic and scallion, stir-fry till the scallion turns slightly charred, but make sure not to burn the garlic bits. 

Add in the pork and all the marinade. Stir-fry and cook till the meat changes to whiter color. 

Add in carrot and cook for couple minutes. I like to cook the carrot first in order to get a softer texture in the end. If you prefer a crunchier bite, just give it a quick stir-fry instead.

Add in the leafy greens, bean sprouts, and shiitake mushrooms. Cook till the greens have been wilted. 

Add in 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of black vinegar, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon of white pepper powder. Give it a few mixes.

Pour in 3 cups of chicken stock along with 3 cups of hot water. Bring the entire thing to a boil.

Add in fresh Asian noodles.

Spread out the noodles. Adjust the heat to keep these ingredients at a light bubbling stage. Cover the wok with a lid and cook for about 8 more minutes. Note that the actual time varies depending on the type of noodles you use. Basic idea is to cook the noodles till about 70% done here.

Remove the lid. Mix up the ingredients a bit, also make sure the noodles are not sticking or lumping. Continue to cook till the noodles reach desired texture.

The flour on the noodles will help thicken all the liquid inside the wok, creating a thick soup like consistency. It's also like mixing in corn starch water in the end, but turned out much more flavorful since we've been cooking the noodles with flavored soupy ingredients right from the start. 

Also because we added so many vegetables, on top of that there're pork and chicken stock, you can definitely get that natural sweetness, that umami taste throughout.

The noodles are so tasty, I didn't even add chili sauce while eating it, which I normally do for an extra spicy kick. But of course you can still pump it up with any kind of Asian chili sauce. It'll only make the already good stuff even better.

Extended reading:

• Scallion oil noodles for one 蔥油拌麵
• Chili garlic noodles for one
• Taiwanese curry and beef stir-fry noodles 咖哩牛肉炒麵