I need a break. Not from cooking per-se, but from thinking about cooking and specifically from thinking about cooking holiday foods. My brain’s been on a bit of “a what am I gonna cook for thanksgiving newsletter, thanksgiving with family, Christmas-ey newsletter, Christmas dinner with family – what am I doing for New Year’s” manic stress party train since sometime back in October. Ironically, though perhaps not surprisingly I’m dealing by cooking things.
Other things.
Things that aren’t roasted meats and mashed potatoes and festive by decree.
This week’s menu is one of those other things. It’s not festive by decree. It’s not roasted meats and while it’s a really fun gather-the-friends-and-or-family-around-the-table sort of delicious sharing meal – it’s not one of those meals that have been turning over and over in my head for the past three months.
There is gravy though. Sort of.
To be completely honest I’ve been thinking about a meal using a bunch of different southeast Asian flavors and techniques ever since a wonderful Cambodian inspired tasting menu at a neighborhood treasure – Chapman’s Eat Market. If you’re a regular reader, you know that the diverse flavors and culinary traditions of that huge swath of the planet ranging from Myanmar to Indonesia and Malaysia are some of my favorites to play with – and they while there are a few specialty ingredients, most of the key elements are things you can pick up from the local grocery. That means a spicy warming complex meal that’s a pretty good antidote to too much turkey, too much pandemic anxiety, and too much 2021.
This week’s menu is meant as a shared meal, with portions and presentations meant to be shared at a common table. A few plates of flavorful, spicy dishes, some sticky rice to mop up the sauces, and a little sweet to finish up. Maybe it can be an after-holiday break for you as well.
As always, the dishes here aren’t authentic representations of … well, anything. While one is inspired by a traditional dish – it’s not an authentic or traditional recipe. The specialty ingredients used in this week’s menu (the few that may not be available at your local store) include fish sauce (I’m partial to a Viêt Húóng ‘Three Crabs’ brand), Makrut Lime Leaf, Galangal (a ginger like rhizome with a peppery floral flavor) and Sweet Rice can all be found at quality Asian groceries or online.
Finally, a bit of housekeeping. As we’ll either be traveling for the holiday or sheltering in place, this will be the last Weekly Menu for the year – though I’ll probably do a couple of recap editions in the next couple of weeks – and if you’re a paid subscriber look out for weird commentary about food from on the road. Stay tuned for new fun weirdness in the next year.
Turmeric Coconut Shrimp with Green Chili Sauce
Tail-on Shrimp are a great appetizer because they come with their own handle. Granted, that handle is a little weird and maybe even a little but gross. when you think about hit, but it sure is handy. For this, the shrimp get a quick bath in a batter of corn starch and egg seasoned with healthy doses of chilies, fish sauce, and lime – which as a triumvirate of flavor is going to make more than a few appearances in this week’s menu. The cornstarch batter -after a quick fry- makes for a paper thin almost-not-there crisp coating that is tinted a brilliant yellow by the turmeric – and is surprisingly flavorful given then sparsity of the actually batter coating.
I pair it with a sweet green chili sauce that dances a fine line between the zhug/chermoula/chutneys of the Mediterranean and Indian ocean regions and … well, Sriracha. If you think of it as a green sriracha - sweet, spicy, a little herbaceous, you get where it’s going.
Serves 4 as an appetizer.
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup coconut milk powder
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 serrano chili
1 clove garlic
1 large egg
1 cup corn starch (divided)
shredded daikon
shredded carrot
cilantro as garnish
oil for frying
Preheat your fryer or a Dutch oven filled with neutral oil to 350°F.
Peel, and devein the shrimp (if not already done)
Toss the shrimp with ¼ cup of corn starch.
Add the egg, lime juice, turmeric, garlic, fish sauce, and coconut milk powder to the container of a blender and process until smooth.
Whisk the remaining corn starch into the mixture, adding water as necessary to form a thin-ish batter slightly thicker than heavy cream.
Working in small batches, dip the cornstarch covered shrimp into the batter, shake off excess, and fry for 1-2 minutes.
Drain the shrimp on a paper towel and serve over a bed of shredded daikon and carrot garnished with cilantro.
Serve with sweet green chili dipping sauce (below)
Sweet Green Chili Sauce
2 serrano peppers
1 shallot
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
½ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves and stems
¼ cup loosely packed mint leaves
juice of one lime
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp granulated sugar
Peel, trim, and coarsely chop the shallot.
Add all ingredients to the bowl of a small food processor, a mortar and pestle, or blender and process until smooth.
Whole Roasted Snapper with Fragrant Chili Sauce
Whole fish makes a spectacular show piece and it’s also a really easy dish to make. This whole fish – with it’ coating of shimmering fragrant oil and aromatic is even easier – because that flavorful finishing bath can cover all manner of sins. The recipe here calls for Snapper, but the same recipe will work for almost any white fleshed fish. In fact, I had originally intended flounder or fluke – but our local fish mongers didn’t have much in stock – what with it being only a few days before. A lot of our neighbors celebrate with lots of fishes.
You can vary the spiciness of this dish by swapping out the serrano for milder jalapenos, or head in the other direction by simply adding more chilies or using Thai finger hots.
Serves 4 as a shared main
1 whole red snapper – cleaned, scaled, and gills removed
¼ cup chili oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of one lime
4 makrut lime leaves or 2 tsp lime zest
2 green onions
2 serrano peppers
2 red Fresno or other mild fresh red chili peppers
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt
Have your fishmonger clean, scale, and remove the gills from a whole red snapper.
Finely julienne the lime leaf (if using)
Finely slice the green onions.
Finely chop the red and green chilis, discarding the stems.
Add the lime juice, the fish sauce, garlic, ginger, chilies, and lime leaf to a non-reactive bowl.
Preheat your oven to 450°F.
Use a very sharp knife to score cuts into the fish on both sides.
Season the fish with salt.
Place the whole fish, in an oven proof pan, or on a sheet pan lined with a rack, into the oven and cook until the flesh is flaking from the bone – the time will depend on the size of the fish, but usually 8-10 minutes.
While the fish is cooking, add the chili oil to a pan over medium heat and keep warm.
Remove the fish from the oven, and place on a preheated plate.
Add the chili mixture to the hot oil and pour the oil and aromatics over the fish.
Garnish with herbs and serve immediately.
Spicy Crunchy Cucumber Salad
If you’re a regular reader you know that I make a lot of cucumber salads. They’re crisp and refreshing and fun and … well, to be honest they’re pretty easy. They’re also a great match for. A number of different cuisine inspirations. A little yogurt and dill and you’ve got something that matches eastern European flavors. Garlic and lemon, maybe some sumac? Middle eastern. This one, with fish sauce and chilies and lime brings a flavor profile that lands squarely in southeast Asia and unlike other salads I’ve made for this newsletter in the past it’s not meant as much as a cooling element as one that really makes the cucumber a spicy shiny star.
Other than a bit of chopping that can be done in advance, this salad comes together very quickly – but really should be served as soon as it’s mixed to preserve the crunchy awesomeness.
Serves 4 as a side salad
1 large English style cucumber
1 small red onion
½ cup diced daikon radish (or jicama)
¼ cup fried shallots
¼ cup crushed peanuts
torn mint leaves and cilantro leaves as garnish
Trim the ends from the cucumber.
Remove the seeds.
Cut the cucumber into ½ - ¼ inch cubes.
Peel, Trim, and cut the red onion into ¼-1/8th in dice.
Soak the onion, cucumber, and daikon or jicama in cold water for at least 30 minutes.
Drain well and toss with generous amounts of Spicy Fish Sauce and Lime dressing (below).
Top with crushed peanuts and fried shallots.
Garnish with torn mint leaves and cilantro.
Spicy Fish Sauce and Lime Dressing
1 serrano pepper
1 red fresno pepper
2 tsp neutral oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp minced carrot
1 tbsp palm sugar or light brown sugar
Juice of one lime
Cut away the stems of both chilies, then chop finely.
Mix all ingredients other than the oil and allow to rest for 15 minutes for flavor to combine.
Add the oil and whisk together.
Sticky Rice
Sticky rice is fun. I’d never encountered it until I moved to San Francisco – when a Thai place a few blocks from the office became a frequent after work meal. Tearing off hunks of sweet sticky rice to dredge through aromatic sauce … it’s wonderful. I didn’t attempt it for years after that, but while the preparation is a little time consuming, it’s mostly waiting time.
Look for rice labeled glutinous (no worries, there’s no gluten in it) or sweet rice. You’ll need to soak it overnight, and then steam it. I don’t actually have a steamer, so I simply steam it in a strainer set over boiling water and the lid haphazardly sealed with a damp towel.
Makes 4 servings
2 cups sweet rice
Water to cover
The night before cooking, rinse the rice in cold water, then place in a lidded container with enough water to cover.
Drain the rice, and steam until tender for 40-60 minutes in a sieve, or a colander lined with a flour sack towel.
Keep tightly wrapped until ready to serve.
Serve warm.
Rendang Style Braised Beef Shank
Beef Rendang originated in Sumatra – probably as a method of preserving meat - but has migrated to kitchens all over Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s a spicy wonderful dish with incredible complexity and a fair amount of variety in its preparation. Spices and aromatics and coconut cook down and caramelize into something simply wonderful.
This isn’t beef rendang. This is sort of a heretical ode to the real thing using some of the flavors and some of the techniques to make something else entirely.
When I was planning out this week’s menu, I was pulled in a bunch of different directions – and one of those was possibly making an Osso Bucco type dish with beef shanks. Obviously, somewhere along the way that took a sharp turn in a different direction – but I still wanted to do something with long braised shanks. I’d originally planned simply to simmer them in soy and ginger and some aromatics for a simple braise – but then remember another attempt at Rendang (one that failed spectacularly due to using a slow cooker with a ‘low’ setting that’s approximately the temperature of the Sun) and thought “Mmmmm. Rendang.”
Serves 4 as a shared main
2 beef shanks
1 can coconut milk
1 cup coarsely chopped shallot (about 4-5 small shallots)
6 dried chili d’arbol or 1 tbsp red chili flake
1 2-inch piece ginger plus 1 2-inch piece galangal or 1 4-inch piece of ginger
6 inches of lemon grass
2 star anise pods
2 black cardamom pods
1 2-inch piece cinnamon stick
4 makrut lime leaves or 2 tsp lime zest
Juice of two limes
1 cup water
1 cup desiccated coconut (toasted)
1 tbsp coconut oil or neutral oil.
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp Huy-Fong Foods Sriracha
Preheat your oven to 325°F
Add the coconut to a dry pan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly until the coconut is an even golden brown.
Soak the chilies in just-off-the-boil water for ten minutes.
Chop 2/3rds of the lemongrass.
Finely julienne the lime leaf.
Add the shallots, 2/3rd of the lemon grass (chopped), the ginger (or ginger and galangal), and the chilies to the bowl of a food processor and process until almost smooth.
Place an oven proof pan large enough to hold all the shanks over medium heat.
Add the oil, then the shallot, chili, and lemon grass mixture, and cook, stirring often, until must of the moisture is driven off.
Add the toasted coconut, the spices, the lime leaf, lime juice, remaining lemon grass, sriracha, fish sauce, water and coconut to the pan and stir well.
Add the shanks to the mixture, bring to a simmer, and transfer to the oven to cook.
Cook for 3-4 hours, turning the shanks occasionally.
Remove the pan from the oven, set the shanks aside, and skim off as much fat as possible.
Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook until very thick.
Return the shanks, cover them with sauce, and keep warm until serving.
Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango Ice cream
I won’t write much about this desert because it’s a simple take on a traditional Thai sweet: Coconut sweetened sticky rice and mango. It makes sense with the meal, but I wanted to make ice cream. So, I made Mango Ice Cream.
A note on mangos: I used the more common “Tommy” variety mangos you’ll find in most grocery stores. They’re large, often red, and firm. Smaller yellow Alphonso or champagne mangos are sweeter and more tender and … well, generally better. You can substitute them, but you’ll need to increase the amount of fruit you use by at least ½.
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 cup sticky rice
¾ cup heavy cream
3 large mangos
4 tbsp coconut cream
2/3 cup sugar (divided)
4 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp cream cheese
pinch of salt
Add 1/3 cup sugar, the cream, and the milk to a heavy bottomed pan over low heat.
Add a little water to the corn starch to form a slurry.
Bring the milk/cream mixture just to a simmer, then whisk in the cornstarch.
Return to a simmer and cook for 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
Peel, seed, and chop two of the mangos.
Add 1/3 cup of sugar, ½ cup of water, and the chopped mango to a pan over medium heat.
Bring to a low boil and cook until the mango is soft, and the liquid has almost completely evaporated.
Transfer the mango to the container of a blender, add the cream cheese, and process until smooth.
Add the cream mixture to the mango mixture and process to mix.
Transfer the combined mixture into a zip top bag, and chill in an ice bath.
Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the machine’s directions, then freeze tightly covered for at least 4 hours before serving.
To serve:
peel, seed, and finely slice or dice the remaining mango.
Arrange the sticky rice in four bowls, top with coconut cream, a portion of ice cream, and the fresh mango.