Jaden over at Steamy Kitchen is asking for Asian-inspired recipes that can be prepared in 15 minutes or less. This has inspired me to do a weeklong series of quick Asian dishes that you can easily prepare, just in time for the Beijing Olympics. The impetus being, the faster you can get dinner on the table, the faster you can get back to watching all the Olympic action!
This dish is extremely simple to make. It is basically only two ingredients: 4 eggs and 1 can chicken broth (not low sodium):
A lot of times when we go out to dim sum, we order the cheong fun – steamed rice noodles filled with either shrimp or char siu. It’s just one of those things we have to have, because you can’t normally find fresh steamed noodles in the Asian groceries. The ones that are sold in the Asian groceries tend to be cold and hard and not as nice to eat.
Recently we found out that King Eggroll on Story Rd near McLaughlin in San Jose sells fresh steamed cheong fun. We bought a couple packets home, and they were quite soft! Cut the rolls up into chunks, then tossed them in a sauce consisting of hoi sin, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, water, and sesame oil. Garnished with cilantro (didn’t have green onions) and sesame seeds.
We brought out a frozen unagi from the freezer and reheated it in the microwave to serve alongside the noodles.
The last and most important piece to the Malaysian feast is Nasi Lemak – coconut rice. We use basmati rice, and add coconut milk to the cooking liquid. We also threw in a few pandan leaves for added fragrance.
The center of the dish is the nasi lemak. On the right is the sambal ikan bilis. Then comes the dhal and finally the rendang chicken. Other condiments served on the side include sliced cucumber, pan-fried peanuts, and hard boiled egg.
You can eat it with fork and spoon but some say if you use your hands, it tastes better. You gather up a little of this and a little of that, making a small pile on the plate. Then you scoop it up with your hand and use your thumb to push it into your mouth. It takes some practice, but soon you’ll be eating nasi lemak like a native!
One of the great things about living in the San Francisco Bay Area is the close proximity to fresh seafood. Especially fresh Dungeness crab. We don’t eat much crab but at the peak of the season when prices dip and live crab can be found for a really good price, we have to splurge.
After we buy them from the Asian grocery, we put them in the freezer to chill. It makes ’em “sleepy” so they’re not so feisty before being rinsed and tossed into the steamer. I learned this trick from Alton Brown’s show on lobsters, I think.
Trying to maneuver a live crab that is fully aware it is about to be cooked is an exciting operation. Once I tried killing one by poking a chopstick between its eyes. Didn’t work. It grabbed the chopstick in both pincers and tried to pull it back out.
So now I freeze them for a few hours before they go into the pot. 18 minutes later, it’s time to remove, rinse, and feast.
