CityMama™

Very Green Veggie Stir-Fry with Soba

This is one of those meals, I swear, that's ready in about five minutes.  There is no excuse for heating anything up in the microwave or toaster oven when you can make this. Trust me, trust you, you can make this.

I used to think that my stir-fries needed to contain a colorful array of vegetables, but not so anymore. I love every green vegetable and love to make all green stir-fries, pizzas, frittatas...you get the idea. And green veggies are usually what I have on hand. Plus, they are usually the cheapest.

I started the prep for this at lunch time.  Since I was already tied up in the kitchen making lunches, I took and extra 5 minutes to cut up the veggies for our dinner.  They sat on a bowl in the counter all afternoon mainly because I forgot to stick them back in the fridge. They were fine, and in hindsight, probably helped the stir-fry to cook faster since they were at room temperature.

I make a very simple sauce for my stir-fries because I prefer to let the flavor of the vegetables shine through.

Here's the recipe:

Pork Belly-Shiso Skewers

The pork belly-shiso skewer about to be grilled.

If you've been reading this blog regularly, you've probably figured out that my surreptitious goal is get everyone out of their regular grocery store comfort zone and into Asian markets. Don't be afraid! You can find wonderful treasures at your local Korean or Japanese market, for example, like thin-sliced pork belly and fragrant shiso leaves.

Shiso is a fragrant herb that tastes not quite minty, not quite basil-y. It's perfumey like both of those herbs, but it has a subtle, flowery flavor all its own. You often find it in sushi rolls (maki) paired with ume (pickled plum). Pork belly is basically bacon, but unsmoked and cured. Together these two items are sublime.

The next time you are looking to impress your friends and family, try these super-simple pork and shiso skewers. Only four ingredients...once you find them. My brother, sister and I cooked together on Friday night (something I love to do) and this is what we came up with.

PORK BELLY AND SHISO SKEWERS

We made these as well as chicken-shiso skewers and shiitake mushroom-green onion skewers. When you make skewers part of the fun, I think, is making lots of different ones.

• 1 package (about a pound) of thinly-sliced pork belly
• 1 bunch of fresh shiso washed and spun dry
• sesame oil
• salt

Season pork belly with salt and sesame oil. Place one shiso lead atop each piece of pork belly. Roll up, skewer and grill. Optional: add a piece of green onion and roll that up, too.

Eat ramen, look younger?

My sister heard that Yotteko-Ya in Honolulu was a great place to eat ramen, so a couple of days ago, my mom and I had lunch there to check it out.  It absolutely did not disappoint.

interior Yotteko-Ya, all photos: Stefania Pomponi Butler

If I were to choose my number one favorite type of food in the whole world, it would have to be noodles, specifically noodles in soup. Vietnamese pho or duck noodles, Korean mul naeng myun (check out that photo) or spicy yu kae jang, Chinese pork and pickled vegetable noodle soup or dan dan mein, Indonesian lakhsas, and Japanese ramen, I love it all. But there is a special place in my heart for ramen.

When your favorite movie ever is Tampopo (a movie about the quest for the perfect bowl of ramen) you know it's an obsession, but hey, weird obsessions are what make me ME. I can't describe my undying love for a steamy, hot bowl of ramen, but my sister understands. She's my partner in noodle soup eating crime and, at least in the San Francisco area, we are constantly on the hunt for the best noodles. In a way I'm glad she wasn't with us on this visit because this ramen has ruined me for any other ramen.

What is lurking in that pretty blue bowl?

Yotteko-ya claims to be "rocketed from Kyoto," and that's not the only claim the restaurant makes about their ramen. Check out the cover of the menu:

Eat ramen and look younger?  Okay!  Would a bowl a ramen make my fine-lines disappear before BlogHer? I actually didn't need that enticement to tuck into a bowl of spicy yasai paitan ramen topped with stir-fried veggies, but I did make sure to eat my silky soup until the last drop. I slurped it all up, it was so delicious. Did I look younger? Was my skin firmer? Who cares! All I know is that my ramen was the bomb and that Yotteko-ya will be one of my first stops whenever I return to Honolulu. Wonder if they can rocket to San Francisco.

Come to mama.

Hiya Yakko Tofu (Cold Tofu "Salad")

Last week during our 3-day heatwave, when the temperature inside the house seemed like it was 80º even at night, I made this cooling dish. It's one of my favorite things to order at Japanese restaurants and I particularly love it when the tofu cubes are served atop a bed of ice.

I was thinking about tofu this morning, and why kids love it so much. (Not all kids, true, but I know a lot of kids that gobble it up like mine do.) At first glance it seems so...unappealing...and the texture can be a little weird depending on whether you are eating silky soft tofu or meatier firm tofu. Maybe it's the blandness that holds the kid-appeal, or the fact that when marinated or dipped it can take on any flavor. In any case, it's one of those things, that when I make it, I think, "Why don't we eat more tofu?"

Hiya Yakko Tofu is nice because you don't have to cook anything and yet, it boasts assertive flavors. This, along with some rice-cookered rice was dinner the other night.

HIYA YAKKO TOFU

Fresh ingredients are key here. You want the assertiveness of the ginger and the spiciness of the green onions to complement the cool tofu. Depending on the saltiness of the soy sauce and or the flavor of the tofu, you might find you need to add a little sprinkling of sea salt to coax the flavors along.

• 1 brick of very cold tofu, cubed (I used firm this time, but I prefer it with soft-to-medium-firm tofu. Firm tofu retains its shape better when tossed.)
• about 1 tbsp light soy or tamari sauce (or to taste)
• a thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• a sprinkling of dried bonito flakes (available at any Japanese market)
• optional: a sprinkling of nori furikake (not traditional, but I used this because it contains bonito and I didn't have any on hand. In its simplest form, it's a mixture of shredded nori, sesame seeds, and bonito, but it can contain all kinds of yummy things.)

Place tofu cubes in a bowl. Drizzle with soy sauce. Garnish with other ingredients. When serving try to get a little taste of all the flavors.

Tempura was a little ambitious for a Monday night dinner

A sunny kabocha squash. I feel more awake already.

...especially when I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before. All day long my planned chicken karaage and vegetable tempura dinner loomed ominously. Whattheheckanutcrack was I thinking?

Once my visiting sister and I got home from errands and picking up Bunny from school, I didn't even want to think about making a complicated dinner. We lazed the afternoon away but then, around 4:00 I got a second wind. I decided to suck it up and get dinner going. And once it got going, it just rolled right along.

See?

The veggies are channeling Bell Biv Devoe saying, "Do me, baby." Kabocha doesn't need to be peeled before cooking. (I ended up using only about half of the veggies I cut. I'll do something with the rest of them later in the week. The kabocha lends itself to miso soup, so that will be lunch one day this week.)

Braise the roof

beautiful ox tails

Nothing ruins dinner plans faster than forgetting to take whatever you were going to cook out of the freezer. Or maybe that's just me. My back up in this situation is usually eggs or PB&J's, but I am always disappointed with this option because—while my kids don't care—I'm never satisfied when dinner isn't what I planned it to be. Then I spend the whole evening grouchy and/or digging in the cupboards for something, anything to snack on.

Today, in a rare moment of clarity, I had my act together and defrosted not one, but two items: 3 lbs of ox tails and a package of chicken legs. Since today is cold and drizzly, I'm cooking up both, making two dinners at the same time. Boy does the house smell delish. (Photos to come as soon as everything is cooked.)

20 minute meal: Japanese Yellow Curry

Curry and rice is nice...and would be even better with a side of kimchi.

Japanese yellow curry is one of those comfort foods that reminds me of my childhood. A steaming-hot bowl of curry and rice just hits the spot sometimes. Thankfully, it's easy to make using boxed curry which contain bricks of curry paste. I like S&B or Vermont brands, available at any Japanese store and some well-stocked supermarkets in the Asian section.

Just add water, protein (chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu) and veggies + the curry mix and you are done. This curry is also wonderful atop udon (with or without broth) or even over spaghetti (a Hawaii thing.)

Put on a pot of rice, and by the time that's done, so is the curry. Just follow the directions on the box.

Side Street Inn: Local flavah

I had some delicious meals during the three weeks I was in Honolulu, but the one place I really wanted to go was Side Street Inn.  I had heard tell of this local institution for years, but when Saveur devoted 10 pages of their magazine to their review of Side Street last year (in an article entitled "Pork Chops In Paradise") I knew I had to eat there.

The culinary highlight of my trip was eating at Side Street. My mom, sister, aunt, and I had dinner there on my last night in Honolulu.  On the upside, it was a great way to end the trip.  On the downside, it was a bad way to end the trip... because now I will have to wait until my next trip to Honolulu this summer to eat there again. And I have been dreaming about the food ever since...which is bordering on becoming an unhealthy obsession.

When you arrive at Side Street (which is literally a "side street" off a main street near the Ala Moana shopping center) the first thing you notice is its non-descript, "could be a bar anywhere" appearance.  Although they now have valet parking, inside it ain't any fancier. Your Daisy Dukes-clad servers double as cocktail waitresses and when the bar is busy, you wait for things like more napkins and water.

When we arrived for dinner, we were quoted a 40 minute wait, but being that this is Hawaii, my mom and aunt knew someone at the bar who helped bump us up the list. In any case, time passes quickly when you are at the bar downing Salty Dogs and Patron Reposados along with your ahi poke and hamachi kama (grilled yellowtail collar, which was out of this world!).

A word about "local-style" Hawaii food.  By its very definition, "local" Hawaii food is "fusion" food, but without all the froufrou. Fusion in Hawaii means that you can eat kimchi atop your chili con carne or sashimi along side your potato salad and no one bats an eyelash. Hawaiian fusion is a crazy clash of cuisines reflective of all the different cultural influences of the islands.

Local food isn't fancy, but it's good. When you live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific, there's nothing else to do besides perfect your cooking. "Local" cooking also can't really be explained.  You just have to spend enough time in Hawaii to understand it. For example, for one lunch my sister and I ate fried saimin (noodles), fried chicken, macaroni salad, and kimchi. All in the same restaurant.  So when people say that Side Street is a local restaurant, it means that anything goes.

The Saveur article raved about the pork chops, lilikoi (what Hawaiians call "passion fruit") ribs, and pocho clams.  As you can see by the photos below, we ordered all of that and then some. Note: all dishes at Side Street are served pupu-style (family-style) and meant for sharing. Portions are abundant so it's best to go with a group.

Side Street Inn
1225 Hopaka Street
Telephone:  808.591.0253 or 808.596.8282

Hamachi kama—it was bigger than my hand. And, so freaking good.

"Pocho" clams—clams steamed with Portuguese sausage

Chicken "wing zings" that kicked ass.  Spicy and so crispy-good!

The next batch of photos show more deep-fried goodness.  The items were all battered in the same highly seasoned (and surely MSG-laden batter—which, don't knock it, makes it better) and then fried.  Everything was crisp, salty, and completely greaseless as excellently-prepared fried food should be.

First up: ahi belly, then chicken gizzards (my mom loves them), and then the pork chops.  The are normally butterflied before they are fried but my mom asked that they not be.  Ours were fried whole and that way remained moist and juicy inside.

ahi belly—I have no words to describe this deliciousness.

Chicken gizzards.  The dipping sauce is ketchup. No lie.

Perfect pork chops in paradise.

The famous lilikoi ribs. Melt-in-your-mouth tender. So sweet, smoky and spicy.

Kimchi fried rice (foreground) with the spread in the background. It seemed like at least 8 cups of  rice. 

Even if you always shun busy, crowded Oahu in favor of visiting other, more mellow Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu is worth visiting at least for one night in order to experience Side Street Inn. This is a real Hawaii experience—the kind that you surely won't find at the Grand Wailea or the Lodge at Koele.

Miso soup in minutes

My little girls are sick, so for dinner tonight, my four-year-old requested miso soup. I jumped for joy because it's quick and easy, and I knew the salty, hot, comforting soup would make her feel better.

You can make this without special Japanese ingredients and it's just as good. If you can't find dashi powder, just use 3 cups of chicken broth or just water.

MISO SOUP

I started the water to boil and about 10 minutes later, the soup was done. For a more satisfying soup, diced kabocha squash is delicious in this.

• 4 cups water
• 1-2 tsps hon dashi, to taste or according to package directions
• 3 tablespoons shiro (white) miso paste (or aka red miso paste)
• a splash of dry sake or mirin (to taste)
• 1/2 brick of medium or firm water-packed tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1-2 green onions, thinly sliced

Optional: add a small handful of dried, reconstituted wakame (seaweed) to the soup before serving

Divide tofu and green onions equally among 4 small soup bowls.

Bring water to a boil. Add dashi and sake or mirin. Reduce heat to low, carefully swirl in miso being very careful not to allow miso to boil. Stir soup until miso dissolves completely. Ladle into the bowls over the tofu/green onion mixture.  Serve while piping hot. Serves 4.

[photo credit: fujigrill]