Carrot Juice

Carrot juice is one of my favorite drinks when I was growing up. There is a noodle place that my family and I ate frequently and every time we were there, I would order a glass of carrot juice with a splash of milk mixed in!


Only after coming to the USA that I realized this is a very strange behavior - mixing milk and carrot juice! Many times I have to ask apologetically, at the juice bar, for some milk in my carrot juice. Usually they did it without checking if they heard me right, but some gave me a puzzled look.

Let me know if you find this strange. It will be nice to know someone from this hemisphere of the earth that does the same thing as I.

I bought this carrot juice from Trader's Joe and added my own milk. No more embarrass request and puzzled look

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Restaurant review - Food Gallery 32

I have been doing restaurant reviews for a while. My buddy and I used to write reviews on a now-abandoned blog (http://thefoodanditsglory.blogspot.com/) check it out if you want to see what we have reviewed. I have also left reviews on Yelp.com. Most of my reviews, however, are done verbally to friends and acquaintances.

This post is my first restaurant review on this blog and the restaurant that I will feature is Food Gallery 32 in Korean town. It is not a restaurant but a food court. When Americans think food court, they think of food courts in the shopping mall that serves food not because they are good but because it is convenient. There is a food court revival going on in New York City this past two years. I think it will keep going.

The old Plaza hotel (now an apartment + commercial center) has a luxurious food court that is run by Todd English, which has an oyster bar, a sushi bar, pizza bar, pasta bar, etc. Mario Batali and Co. also has a food court called Eataly. The most recent food court that I heard of is in Chinatown.

Korean town is becoming my 2nd most frequented neighborhood (first is chinatown) outside of my own neighborhood. The 2nd spot used to be held by St. Marks. The main reason why I go to Korean town so frequently is because of Food Gallery 32 and I will tell you why.

1) I never have to wait for a table. Can't say that for Kunjip and other Korean restaurants that have a 15-30 minutes wait depending on the time of the day.

2) I can hang out at this place as long as I want. There is never a rush to give up my table.

3) The food is reasonably priced for Korean town

4) The food is delicious if you order the right thing.

I have only ordered from one stall and that is stall number 4 - Korean House. It was recommended by my friend Aneesh. I have also consistently order two items on their menu 1) L.A. Kalbi (Los Angeles-style Grilled Short ribs) which comes in small or large portion. Small is good for one person and large serves two.  2) Kalbi Tang (Short ribs soup). The best Kalbi, in my limited experience, is served at a restaurant in Fort Lee, New Jersey. I can tell you the name if you are interested. I honestly do prefer Kunjip's Kalbi Tang. However, due to reasons stated above, Food Gallery 32 provides the perfect balance in terms of eating experience.

Once you order and pay for your food, take the little buzzer and head upstairs to the main eating hall. That's where you will find all the tables and chairs. The buzzer will buzz when your food is ready.

Hope you will enjoy this place.

First floor of Food Gallery 32

"Korean House" where I usually do my ordering

L.A. Kalbi for two (sorry about the blurriness)

Kalbi "Tang" (soup)

Halal street cart

Street carts that serves halal food are ubiquitous in New York City. I would venture to say that it is as common as hotdog stand. These halal food carts serve predominantly two kinds of food. One is a lamb gyros, and the other one is chicken platter. If you live in New York City and if you ask around people for halal cart recommendation, chances are they will point you to the carts on 53rd street and 6th avenue.

The most confusing thing about this cart is that there seems to be many "sister carts" around the same street. They seem to belong to the same company, they all wear the same uniform, use the same plastic bags. However, everyone swears that there is only one authentic cart, which is the only one that opens from dinner time to 3am/4am. At any given day you will see a long line waiting for food.

Now, I have to preface that I have never had the food from that location and the reason is quite simple. I have easy access to a halal food cart, near my work place, that serves very delicious lamb gyros.

Let me explain, the food is very fresh and the chicken is cooked on the spot. The meat is sliced of the "gyro pole"? (there got to be a name for that), and hard pressed against the hot grill to char the meat slightly. The meat is served with "white sauce" (Tzatziki sauce, i think), and "red sauce" (chili sauce). For $5, I say it is a pretty good deal.

As for the taste, it is fragrantful and its aroma transfuses across the entire eating lounge area while tempting other lunch-ers around me.

Until I have sampled the food cart on 53rd street and 6th avenue, I am very content with my very own halal cart on First avenue and 68th street. 

The owner of the cart. He gave me his email address, not sure so that I can email my blog url to him or for you guys to contact him lmody@yahoo.com

The owner and his side kick

This the the lamb gyro dish

Another view of the lamb gyros dish

This is the chicken platter dish

lmody@yahoo.com

Crepe

This food item needs little introduction. Crepe is simply the thin cousin of pancake but for some reason not as popular as pancakes, does this has anything to do with crepe being originated from France?

Here is the basic recipe for crepe that yields 4 servings. I feel that each person can eat at least 3 servings, so it is quite necessary to adjust your serving portion accordingly.

1 cup of all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoon of butter, melted


note: As you can see, the first thing that needs to be done ahead of time is to melt the butter. Now it is tempting to use a microwave to melt the butter, but i personally feel that is it not ideal for two reasons - a) butter melts unevenly in the microwave, b) you might overheat the butter if you are not careful

My preferred way of melting butter is to use a water bath method. Simple fill a large bowl with warm water and place another smaller bowl inside this warm water-filled bowl. Melt the butter in this smaller bowl. Stir the butter a few times, it will melt in about 10 minutes.

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg and flour together.
2. Gradually add the milk and water
3. Finally add the salt and butter
4. Whisk everything until the batter becomes silky.
(at this point, some recipe request that you rest the batter in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow the batter to even out. I tried both wait and non-waiting and I think it is unnecessary to wait 30 minutes.
5. Heat a tiny bit oil/butter in a flat non-stick pan and pour a small ladle of batter into the pan. Swirl the pan around until you achieve a thin layer of batter.
6. Cook the crepe until it is slightly brown, about 1 minute (you can lift the crepe to take a peek underneath). Turn the crepe and cook the other side.
(i also noticed that it is unnecessary to oil the pan for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th crepe because the butter in the batter oils the pan)
7. Roll/fold/or leave the crepe "open" and serve

Now, a crepe is like a blank canvas, you can "paint" it anyway you want. It is quite common to put nutella or jam on crepe. You can also eat it with fresh fruits, maple syrup (why not), chocolate syrup (delicious) or ice cream.

melting butter in a water bath

melted butter - golden delicious..wait, isn't that the name of an apple?

eggs and flour. one of the eggs have two yolks!!

Thin layer of batter

a roll of crepe

I like the slightly browned crepe

Thanks SL for the wonderful decoration and picture

Looks delicious, doesn't it?

Watermelon Soju

Soju is a distilled rice liquor native to Korea. Although I am not from Korea, I venture to guess that Soju is to Korea as Tequila is to Mexico and Vodka is to Russia. 

This drink that I am about to tell you is a cocktail made with Soju and, you guessed it, watermelon.

I had this drink for the first time in Korean town and they charge you $30 for each order of watermelon soju that serves about 6 generous portions.

Remind me, what goes into watermelon soju?  Watermelon + soju. $30?? Hmmm....

Let's figure out how to make this drink ourselves.

Ingredients:
a) a water melon
b) a bottle of cheap soju. You don't want to waste a bottle of good liquor by making cocktails, do you?
c) 2-3 lemons - juiced
d) a few tablespoons of sugar - dissolved in a pot or microwave
e) heaps of ice cubes

Instructions
1) Slice the water melon into equal halves.
2) scoop the flesh into a bowl. SAVE THE SHELL
3) Blend the watermelon in a blender.
4) Add ice cubes to the blender and blend again (we used the pulverize function)
5) Pour the watermelon juice into the watermelon "shell"
6) Pour soju into the watermelon juice (how much? totally up to you but you want to be able to taste and smell soju as you drink)
7) Add lemon juice and dissolved sugar.

Did I hear "just a splash"? No....

Lotus seed and white fungus Asian dessert

This is my first Asian dessert blog post and this dessert is called "Lotus seed, white fungus" soup.

Dessert is not a common item in most Asian cuisines. Asians rarely eat a cake, ice cream, brownie, or pie after a meal. The most commonly eaten "sweet stuff" are fruits (at least in my home country).

However, there is a class of sweet stuff that can be considered as dessert and these are literally called "sugar/sweet water" (糖水). Some of the more commonly consumed "sugar water" are made out of red beans, green beans, black glutinous rice, wheat, or coconut, etc. Ingredients that you will not normally associate with dessert in the western world.

Traditionally, these ingredients are thought to have health benefits, which is why they are used in "sugar water". I think that the western and eastern world view their "dessert" differently. The western world emphasizes on taste, texture, and aesthetic. Not to say the Eastern "desserts" do not take these into the account. However, there is an additional level of "health benefits" that I think the Western "dessert" emphasizes less.

Ok, enough philosophy.

The "sugar water" that I made the other day has four main ingredients

a) lotus seed  - this is the seed from the Lotus plant. It is high in protein, low in fat, and nutritious.

Dried lotus seed on the left, cooked lotus seed on the right and the green germ that needs to be removed

 

b) white fungus -This is a kind of fungus that, as the name suggest, is yellowish white. This kind of fungus is used mainly in "dessert soup" as oppose to its cousin the "blank fungus" (written about it earlier) that is mostly found in savory dishes. As in most chinese "herbal" ingredients, I have 5 words to say about the white fungus - "It is good for you"

Dry white fungus that is off yellowish

c) dried longan - longan (pronounced as long aaaan) is one of my favorite fruit because it is very sweet which is why fresh longans are expensive. Longans are dried to to preserve the fruit and are commonly used as the basic flavor of sweet soup.

Dried logan

Fresh logan (source: wikipedia)

d) dried red dates - another commonly used ingredient in chinese "sweet soup".
(I just learned that red dates are also called "Jujube", which is one of the currently trendy "health" supplements in drinks/smooties)

Dried red dates (source: wikipedia)

A few additional notes when you buy the ingredients:

1) If you buy whole lotus seed, make sure to cook it for 10 minutes to soften it and then remove the germ of the seed. This germ is one of the bitterest thing you will ever taste.

2) The white fungus smells funky right off the bag (well, it is fungus) but the smell will mellowed out as you cook

3) Be sure to buy red dates that have been pitted

4) Be sure to wash the lotus seed, white fungus, red dates and longan many rounds

Finally, after all these descriptions, this is how you make it

1) Lotus seed - half a bowl
2) white fungus -  two hands full
3) red dates - a handful
4) Longan - a handful

Cooking instructions. So simple....

1) Put everything in the pot, add a few cups of water and cook for 1 hour.
2) Add sugar to sweeten.

Steak

What is as simple as making hard boiled eggs? Answer: cooking a piece of steak.

Well, not quite simple, you would say and you would be right.

Boiling eggs (and peeling them nicely) might seem simple but there are certain "rules" that if you follow, you will never fail. How about making soft boiled eggs (my preferred way of eating an egg)? Ah, that takes practice.  On that note, I used to have a roommate who cooked hard boil eggs overnight in low heat. I can understand the "theory" but I don't understand the practicality.

I digress. This post is about Steak.

There are a few simple rules to cooking a good piece of steak. I am by no means an expert, I am still learning and still make mistakes.

Rule 1: Meat. Choose a piece of steak that has an even thickness all around to ensure even doneness. I like meat with some fat.

Rule 2: Let the meat warm to room temperature before cooking

Rules 3: Lightly season with salt and pepper. Of course fresh ground pepper is the best

Rule 4: On medium heat setting, heat a big dollop of butter (not margarine, not "i can't believe this is not butter" nonsense) onto a saute pan. Think too much butter is unhealthy? May I suggest the more the better for this dish?  (evil grin)

Rule 5: Sear the meat. Do not even consider moving it or touching it. Let it cook.

Rule 6: Cooking time

Now come the difficult part. How long do you cook the steak for? For that, i will draw your attention to www.howtocooksteak.com  (yes, i am not kidding, the site exist)

"Steaks that are boneless and are about 1/2″ to 1″ thick should be cooked for 8 – 14 minutes for medium rare.  Medium steaks should be cooked for approximately 12 – 18 minutes.  Turn them only once. For medium rare steak that contain bone and are about 1/2″ to 1″ thick, cooking time is about 7 – 14 minutes. For a medium steak, cook for around 11 – 18 minutes."

Rule 7: Rest the steak. Put the steak on a plate, cover with aluminum foil and set aside for 5 minutes. There is science behind this. Go read up if you are interested.


Rule 8: Don't be shy to season it more as you eat.




On a side note: When i was in France, i visited a French steak restaurant recommended by Anthony Bourdain. The steaks in that restaurant are cooked unseasoned. Each table has a bowl of salt and a pepper grinder. This was how the guys next to me ate their steaks: "slice steak, sprinkle salt, grind pepper, eat, repeat". I am not sure if this is the French way or "their way".

Butter is friend, butter is friend, butter is friend

Slightly undercooked steak. Delicious nonetheless