Barley Beer Beef Soup Recipe from Tibet

I couple of days ago I went outside for my morning coffee wearing shorts and sandals but I had to immediately run back inside my apartment to put on warmer clothes and grab an umbrella. The weather has been pretty warm in NYC lately (the first day of summer is one week away!) but I took the opportunity of the rare chilly weather to cook one of my favorite soups for dinner: Barley Beer Beef Soup. It’s the perfect soup to eat on a drizzly day.

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How to Make Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps Video and Recipe

Here's our recipe for Chinese Chicken Lettuce wraps. They're healthy and easy to make and are super tasty. If you've been to the restaurant PF Chang's you've probably eaten them before and love them as much a we do. In China people eat lettuce wraps during the New Year holiday because the word for "lettuce" in chinese sounds like the word for "rising wealth". So if you eat these you're supposed to have a profitable year. After my dissapointing trip to the ATM this morning I doubt the effectiveness of these lettuce wraps at getting you rich but they sure were a huge hit at the picnic I brought them to last weekend. I like to roughly chop all the ingredients by hand so that everything is not the same size but if you don't have the patience you can throw everything (except the lettuce!) in a food processor to speed things up.

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Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe

Who doesn't love mashed potatoes? Imagine biting into a deliciously smooth and savory bite of mashed potatoes. Now imagine that wonderfully creamy bite with a slight crunch! In China's southern Yunnan province, Nate and I encountered these tasty tater tot-like fried mashed potato balls (傣味香辣土豆球, dai wei xiang la tu dou qiu). The insides are mashed potato-soft and the outside is just the right amount of crunch. It's a dish made by the Dai minority who largely populate the picturesque Xishuangbanna territory of Yunnan that borders Myanmar (Burma) in the South of China. The Dai peoples have a lot of similarities to the Thai and their fantastic Southeast Asian cuisine is largely unknown and under-appreciated in the world. Some of their other fantastic dishes can be found in our book, including Dai Pineapple Rice, and Grilled Banana Leaf Fish. These are dishes that are really rewarding to make because they are ones you can't find elsewhere and leave your guests asking for the recipe every time.

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yunnan tomato salad, a surprising end to a hot summer day

Do you ever just have a day where everything you do seems like deja vu, like you've done it before, and like it's the same thing you do everyday day in and day out? Well, I do and I did yesterday except on my way home I walked through the Union Square green market as it was closing and came across an end of the day sale as the farmers were pulling out of the city with their trucks and going back to upstate new york or to some faraway land where trees and grass and vegetables grow and people get natural tans. Tomato season is over but the farmers still had some big red ones that looked amazing and were dirt cheap. I also got a bag of fresh Thai basil and a container of homegrown mint sprigs for just 5 bucks. I wondered all the way home what I was going to use it for (I normally only buy groceries after I've made plans) other than open the lid of the basil on the subway to mask the b.o. of the guy next to me.

We have a recipe in our book for Dai Tomato-Mint Salad--It's a salad from Xishuangbanna, a region of Yunnan Province in southern China, and in the recipe the spearmint sprigs are left whole and tumbled
with a little chili oil, juicy cherry tomatoes, and punchy garlic. I ended up doing a variation on this recipe yesterday with my green market spoils but I used more tomato, less mint, and added a little Thai basil (Thailand is not far from the Xishuangbanna border and Dai cooks use a lot of Thai spices like basil). I think the salad tastes even better today after the the tomatoes marinated in all the flavors in the fridge overnight.

This calls for chili oil. You can buy it or if you want to make your own, see our chili oil recipe.

-mary kate

yunnan tomato salad

4 medium tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup mint leaves
1/3 cup Thai basil leaves (or regular basil)
3 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt or sea salt
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tablespoon chili oil

Slice the tomatoes into small wedges.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the garlic, mint, basil, green onions, salt, and chili flakes. Use a wooden spoon to mash the contents of the bowl until all the leaves are crushed and bruised. If you think you've mashed too much, keep going.

Toss the tomatoes into the herb mixture and then drizzle the chili oil over the tomatoes. Use the wooden spoon to lightly mash the tomatoes until they lose their structure and are limp. Chill the salad for at least an hour before serving.

super convenient noodles (fang bian mian)

I love cooking elaborate meals, and the smug sense of joy I feel at making too many dishes to fit on the table, but a lot of times I just want/need something tasty, quick, cheap, and healthy-- and that's when I reach for a package of 34¢ Top Ramen noodles. Wait-- I know what you're thinking. The last time you ate instant noodles was when you lived in a dorm and the noodles were most definitely not tasty or healthy. But I've got a secret. 

In China, just about everyone eats instant noodles. Most brands of instant noodles in China come in a plastic bowl and sometimes with a piece of cured meat wrapped in foil.They're eaten as quick meals for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The name of these noodles in Chinese says it all 方便面 (fang bian mian) or convenient noodles. They're not going to wow a guest or make you proud of your culinary expertise, but you will most likely find them a great option for when you've only got 10 minutes to prep and eat. (That's how my lunch break goes most everyday, anyway.) 

So, on to my secret ingredients. Add greens, soy sauce, and sesame oil into the boiling water with the noodles and spice packet. Drop a fried egg on top and sprinkle chopped green onions and maybe a little hot sauce on top. And voila! 5 minutes and you've got a balanced meal: protein, vegetables, and carbs. 

Incidentally, the word "ramen" is Japanese. "Ramen" sounds like the Chinese word for hand-pulled noodles "lamian" so people say the noodles were invented in China. But I've also heard that pizza was invented in China and brought back by Marco Polo to Italy. Anyone tried Chinese pizza?

-Nate

Convenient Noodles

(makes 2 bowls)

1 package beef flavored Top Ramen noodles
2 Tbs light soy sauce
2 Tsp sesame oil
1/2 Tsp salt
6 leaves of swiss chard or Chinese spinach, stems removed
2 eggs
2 green onions, chopped
chinese hot sauce

Combine 3 cups of water, the Top Ramen spice packet, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and swiss chard leaves and boil for 3 minutes, then remove from heat. In a hot skillet, fry the eggs sunny side up until the whites are cooked but the yokes are still a little runny. Divide the noodles and broth into two serving bowls and top each bowl with a fried egg. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and add hot sauce if desired.