Sometimes, you just can’t get enough of a good thing. After our “discovery” of Akane Sushi in Los Altos, we convinced a couple of our friends to join us for dinner there just a few weeks after our first visit (Part 1 and Part 2). This time we tried to get one of the tables in front of the sushi bar but it was already taken. The wives graciously allowed us husbands to sit at the bar while they took a table in the main dining room.
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Hokkien Prawn Mee
When you talk of Hokkien Mee, you have to qualify yourself: do you mean KL-style Hokkien Char Mee, or Penang-style Hokkien Prawn Mee? The two couldn’t be more different. KL-style means thick, yellow noodles braised in a thick, dark soy sauce with pork, squid, fish cake and cabbage and, if you’re lucky, some crispy pieces of lard. Enjoy it with some pickled chile peppers for a spicy-vinegary kick.
Penang-style Hokkien Prawn Mee is a soup-noodle dish, using both egg and rice noodles. The broth is made from lots and lots of prawns, plush pork and / or chicken bones. The noodles come laden with prawns, fish cake, pork, and crispy fried shallots.
Annie adapted this Hokkien Prawn Mee recipe off of the Rasa Malaysia website. She made a stock from shrimp shells and pork bones with some rock sugar for sweetness. Egg and rice noodles go on the bottom, followed by shrimps, pork, and a hard boiled egg. Ladle on the rich broth (great, unctuous mouth-feel with little bits of pork fat floating in it), then top with fried shallots. Serve with a spoonful of chili sauce made from blended chiles, shallots, garlic, and oil.
Our shrimp stock is not as dark as Rasa Malaysia’s because we used mostly shells and not enough prawn heads. Next time, more heads!
Aloha, Nate
Sweet and Savory Biscuits
When I was growing up, we used to always have a can or two of Pillsbury biscuits in the fridge. They were just so convenient – just pop the can (always a lot of fun to see how far you could peel back the label before the internal pressure split the cardboard), lay out the biscuits on a tray, and bake them in the toaster oven. We would eat them with our spaghetti dinners, sopping up the sauce.
Annie recently had a little inspired moment with a can of Pillsbury biscuits. After baking, she split them, spread on some Nutella, added sliced strawberries, then topped with fresh whipped cream. At first it tasted weird to me because I felt the biscuits should have been served with something savory. But actually the slightly salty, buttery biscuit flavor went very well with the sweet fillings.
This is more along the lines of what I was thinking of making with those Pillsbury biscuits: ham, egg and cheese. I really like the flaky layers of these biscuits, as opposed to the wetter, crumbly ones you find at say KFC.
What’s your favorite way to eat biscuits?
Aloha, Nate
Kahoo Restaurant (West San Jose)
We were in the neighborhood so we decided to stop in at Tokushima do Henkotsu for some of their delicious ramen and fried rice. But when we got there, we found that the shop had changed! Apparently the old guy had retired, and there was a newer, “hipper” ramen shop in the same place. We thought we’d stay and test it out. (“You never know unless you try.”) The menu isn’t very extensive, nor expensive. The waitress said her favorite was the miso ramen with vegetables. I got that while Annie ordered the shoyu ramen with vegetables.
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