Rice-Tapioca Noodle Soup (Kow Piek Sehn)

I thought this dish was perfect for the current weather conditions outside. If you're stuck inside the house and want something to warm you up, you should definitely try this.

Kow piek sehn is a very traditional Laotian dish that's known to cure the common cold and hangovers. At least that's what we Laotians believe. I think it's kind of strange that we love to eat this when it's cold outside but back in the homeland this dish is enjoyed in 100 plus degrees temperature with 100 percent humidity. I guess that means this dish is good no matter the weather or temperature.

Because these noodles are made from scratch many people tend to think that it's complicated to make. In actuality, the noodles consist of only 3 ingredients: rice flour (non-glutinous), tapioca starch, and scorching hot water. The soup/broth itself is merely chicken itself. So the next time you're craving this dish, try making it yourself and enjoy the fruits of your labor. You, your friends, and family will love you more for it.

The recipe below will yield 2-3 servings, so do the math to determine your desired yield for your guests.

Ingredients:

Noodles:

1/2 cup rice flour (non-glutinous)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup boiling hot water

Soup:

3 quarts chicken broth
1/2 chicken (bone-in)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (sea salt is fine too)
2 inch piece of galangal root (thinly sliced)

Accompaniments:

Cilantro (roughly chopped)
Scallions (roughly chopped)
Red or white onions (thinly sliced)
Chili oil or dried crushed chili peppers
Fried shallots
Jalapenos (fresh or pickled)
Soy sauce
Sriracha
Hoison sauce
Limes (cut for juicing)

Directions:

Noodles:

Combine the flour and starch and mix well. Now, slowly add the boiling hot water. Begin kneading the dough but be very careful as it can give you a 1st degree burn. To avoid this try wearing latex gloves, wait for it to cool just slightly (but not too much, just enough to where it feels like your hands won't burn), or use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.

You can add a little flour or water to the dough if it feels to wet or dry. Once you have a nice and consistent dough, flour your working surface and begin rolling out the dough as you would do with pasta. You'll want to roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch or as thick or thin as you like it. I like mine as thin as possible since they'll thicken during the cooking process.

With a knife begin cutting thin strips of the rolled out dough and you'll see your noodles taking form. While cutting your noodles remember to lightly dust with flour to keep the noodles from sticking. Keep the noodles in a sealed container until they are ready to be cooked.

Soup:

Add the chicken broth to a stock pot on high heat. Then add the chicken and galangal root. Add 1/2 tablespoon of the salt and more if needed later. Lower the heat to medium and cook for an additional hour or until the chicken starts to fall off the bone.

Remove the chicken and begin to shred the meat away from the bones. Keep the two separated and set the meat aside. You can discard the bones now or you can add it back to the soup for more flavor.

Assembly:

Now that you have everything prepared you can now begin putting all the ingredients together. There's one last step before you can do all of that, cooking the noodles. You can choose to cook the noodles in a separate pot or add it to the pot with the soup already prepared.

If you choose to cook in a separate pot then add a few ladles of your soup to a new pot on high heat and add a few handful of noodles. Stir for about 2 minutes and pour entire contents into a serving bowl.

If you choose to add all the noodles to the large soup pot then make sure you remove the bones and roots first. Cook the noodles until it turns slightly translucent.

Now you're ready to add all the accompaniments that you'll enjoy. Don't forget to add your shredded chicken. The herbs and vegetables will add freshness to your dish. The soy sauce will add saltiness, while the hoison will add sweetness. The jalapenos, crushed chili peppers, chili oil and sriracha will all add different levels of heat. Balance out the saltiness, sweetness, and spiciness with some lime juice for some tart. As with any Laotian dish, the perfect balance of all these flavors makes the perfect dish.

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Tom Yum Poached Chilean Sea bass

This is one of the ways I have combined one of my favorite soups (Tom Yum) with one of my favorite fish (Chilean Sea Bass) The concept is pretty simple - first you make the soup and then you slowly poach the fish until it's cooked through. Because I was making three dishes at the time I was making this one, I opted to make a very quick Tom Yum soup with easy ingredients.

Ingredients:

Chilean Sea Bass (4 ounce cut)
1 stalk lemongrass
2 inch piece of galangal thinly sliced
1 quart chick stock
4-6 kaffir lime leaves
4-6 Thai chili peppers (roughly chopped) or 2 tablespoon Nam Prik Pao (Thai chili paste consisting of fried garlic, shallots, chili peppers, and shrimp paste)
2-3 tablespoon tamarind powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3-5 tablespoon fish sauce
1 can straw mushrooms
3-4 Roma tomatoes (quartered)


Directions:

Add chicken stock, lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves in stock pot on high heat and bring to a boil. Once the ingredients have come to a boil, reduce the heat down to medium low and add salt, tamarind powder, chili peppers or nam prik pao, fish sauce, tomatoes and mushrooms. Adjust the tartness by adding or reducing the amount of tamarind powder. You can also adjust the spiciness by adding or reducing the chili peppers or nam prik pao. I suggest that you add half the amount listed above for both ingredients first and then add more later to please your palette.

This is the base of all Tom Yum soups, so if you decide to add shrimp, chicken, tofu, etc. this is the time to add it. Your final step is to reduce the soup down to a simmer and place the fish in the soup. Depending on the size of the fish it shouldn't take longer then 6-10 minutes for the fish to fully cook in the soup.

Pork Tenderloin Roulade w/ Creamy Dill Sauce

I'm not quite sure what inspired me to make this dish. From my experience, I've realized that anything that's stuffed with anything is usually pretty good (i.e. sausages, kolaches, jalapenos, egg rolls, etc.). This pork tenderloin is encrusted with ground coriander seeds, salt, and pepper and stuffed with broccolini and Crimini mushrooms -why Crimini you ask? It was left over from the Sea Bass dish I posted earlier, no point in wasting food right?

If you've read any of my post that has any type of cream sauce, you'll notice that it's pretty much the same thing (heavy cream, butter, Parmesan cheese) but today I added freshly chopped dill. I didn't use garlic and shallots in this sauce as I really wanted to accentuate the dill in the sauce.

Ingredients:

1 pound pork tenderloin
1/2 pound broccollini (roughly chop the crowns and julienne the stems)
1 cup Crimini mushrooms (roughly chopped)
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Several sprigs fresh dill (finely minced)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

For this dish, I suggest starting with the pork first as it'll take a while to prepare.

First, saute the broccollini and mushrooms in 1/4 stick of butter for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add your bread crumbs and stir the mixture thoroughly. Once the ingredients have been mixed thoroughly, turn off the heat but keep the lid on the pan. There's no need to cook the vegetables all the way through since they'll be cooking again.

To make the roulade, you'll have to either unroll your pork tenderloin or butterfly it. Butterflying is easier and the meat will be a thicker cut. Unrolling it is prettier but the rolling process becomes very delicate because of the thinness of the meat. I butterflied mine so that the meat will retain moisture and in the end will be less dry - don't forget, we're working with a pretty lean piece of meat here. Once you've decided on your method, you'll get your vegetable mixture and spread it on top of the tenderloin. Carefully bring the ends together (or roll from end to end) and tie one end off with butcher's twine, continue tying the tenderloin until you've reached the other end. Once completed, using the dry rub of coriander seeds, salt, and pepper, season the surface of the tenderloin.

Add olive oil to a skillet on high heat. After the skillet is deemed super hot, add the tenderloin the the skillet so that it'll sear. Continue flipping the tenderloin until all sides are seared - it should take about 2-3 minutes per side. In an oven preheated to 350 degrees place the entire skillet (with the tenderloin) on the medium rack and cook for 18-23 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees.

For the sauce, add heavy cream to a sauce pan on medium low heat. Add 1/2 stick of butter and grated Parmesan cheese. Stir until all ingredients have melted and add salt and pepper to taste. Finally, turn off the heat and add your dill and stir to incorporate the dill into the creamy sauce.

To plate, add the sauce on a plate and place a few cuts of the roulade (the roulade should've been cut on its bias to reveal the beautiful stuffing on the inside). For extra measure, drizzle a little sauce on top of the roulade as well.