From My Kitchen: Readers’ Choice Top 10 Recipes from Focus:Snap:Eat Words and images by Benjamin Seto Copyright © 2016 Benjamin Seto All rights reserved. No parts of this ebook should be excerpted or distributed without the owner’s permission. For more information, contact Benjamin Seto at [email protected] Introduction In September 2016, I marked 10 years of food blogging in the San Francisco Bay Area. And can you believe in all that time, this is my very first cookbook? In the next few pages, you’ll see the Top 10 most viewed recipes that can be found on my Focus:Snap:Eat food blog. Coincidentally, many are Chinese favorites from my youth growing up in Honolulu, which makes me wonder if I’m getting a lot of page hits from China? ;-) Whoever is reading my recipes, I thank you for your interest and hope you enjoy this collection of readers’ choices. Cheers, Ben 1 Hainanese Chicken Rice 2 I don’t think there’s a better dish to celebrate Hainanese Chicken Rice the pure chicken-ness of a good chicken Makes 4 servings than Hainanese chicken rice. Ingredients: If you’re not familiar with this dish, it’s 1 whole organic or free-range chicken (about 3 to 3.5 lbs.) extremely popular in Southeast Asia. In fact, 2 cups jasmine rice 1 English cucumber even though it was created in Hainan — an 2 to 4 stalks of green onion island province in Southern China — it was fresh ginger root adopted by other nearby Asian countries 4 cloves garlic 1 shallot and became so popular in Singapore that 1 star anise (optional) it’s considered the national dish. pinch of Sichuan peppercorns (optional) 1 T light soy sauce 3 t sesame oil Remove any giblets inside the cavity of the chicken. If you see boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Continue cooking until any fat in the back cavity or near the neck, remove with small chicken is done, or about 40 to 45 minutes. To check, stick a knife and reserve for later. Then prep chicken by rubbing kosher chopstick or skewer in the thickest part of the thigh. It’s ready salt on the skin to remove any loose feathers or dirty bits. Rinse if it runs clear (not if blood comes out). Or use a meat and pat dry. thermometer for a reading of 170 degrees. Season chicken with 1 tablespoon of salt rubbed all over the Get an ice bath ready. When chicken is done, slowly remove it outside and inside cavity. Stuff two stalks of green onion, a few from the pot, letting as much liquid drain out as possible (but slices of ginger and two cloves of peeled garlic into the cavity of do not pour away the liquid!), and then quickly place in ice the chicken. bath for about 10 minutes. This will help tighten up the skin Place whole chicken breast down into a large stock pot and fill for a better presentation. Remove from ice bath and pat dry, with water to just barely cover the entire chicken. Add star anise then wrap with plastic and set aside until ready to carve. and a few whole Sichuan peppercorns, and a pinch more salt (as much as if you’re making chicken stock). Cover and bring to a (continued) 3 Now that you have a big pot of chicken stock, drain any of the ingredients and use the stock to cook the rice, serve as an accompany soup (and if you have more left over) and freeze for later use. Before using the stock, season with salt to taste, if needed, and skim off the top layer of fat. Rinse rice until water isn’t cloudy, and then let sit in water for about 10 minutes. Then drain and set aside. In a medium pot or saucepan, cook the chicken fat you reserved early on over medium high heat with 2 cloves of garlic Dipping sauces (smashed), a half-inch of garlic root (also smashed) and 1 Make one or all three! tablespoon of finely diced shallot, for about 1 minute. Then add Ginger-scallions oil the rice and toast for about 30 seconds. Then add enough of the Finely mince 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger (skin removed) and chicken stock (about 2.5 cups) to cover the rice leaving about 1/4 finely dice 1 stalk of green onion. Blend with enough extra virgin inch of broth above the rice level. Bring to boil and then olive oil or vegetable oil to coat all the ginger/green onions. immediately reduce to simmer, cooking for about 20 minutes until rice is fluffy and broth evaporates. (Be careful to watch your Sweet chili sauce rice to ensure it doesn’t burn the bottom of the pot.) If you have In a blender, pulse together 2 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoon finely a rice cooker, even better. Just sautee the ingredients and rice in diced shallots, 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger, juice from one a pan and transfer everything to your rice cooker, adding enough lime, and one diced serrano or jalapeno chili pepper (optional) of the chicken broth per the rice cooker instructions. with about 2 tablespoons of Sriracha sauce to cover everything (and per your taste). When ready to serve, use a butcher knife to chop the chicken (making sure you retain the skin) and then plate with rice and Sweet soy sauce thinly sliced cucumbers. (I recommend a butcher’s knife because In small pot over medium heat, add 1 part dark soy sauce with 1/2 you may need to cut through bones in some parts.) part sugar and 1/2 part water. Then slowly cook until liquid condenses and thickens, about 25 to 30 minutes depending on Optional: In a small saucepan heat light soy sauce and sesame oil how much you make. Stir occasionally. (You’ll know it’s almost until bumbling and then drizzle over chicken pieces on the plate. ready when the liquid starts to bubble like the beginning of Serve with dipping sauces and bowls of chicken broth garnished caramel.) 4 with finely chopped green onion. Ahi Tuna Salmon Poke Bowl Poke (pronounced POH-kay) is everywhere! This Hawaiian delicacy of cured raw fish is the new crudo. While I’m a traditionalist, I admit I have enjoyed a poke bowl with all the fixin’s. Makes 4 servings Slice your ahi tuna and salmon fillets into 1/2-inch cubes. Sprinkle a pinch of Hawaiian sea salt (or any sea salt like fleur de sel, but this is a Ingredients Hawaiian recipe!) and coat the fish with soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix 4 to 6 oz. Ahi tuna (sushi-grade) in chopped green onions and refrigerate for at least two hours to let 4 to 6 oz. salmon (sushi-grade) the fish cure and marinate a bit. 1/4 cup soy sauce *Make as much rice as needed. I use a rice cooker that automatically 2 T sesame oil lets me know how much water and rice to make. But if you don’t have 2 stalks green onion, finely diced (including the green one, you can rinse your rice and then put it in a covered saucepan or part) pot. Make sure the rice is leveled throughout the bottom of the pan, 1 T toasted sesame seeds then pour enough water so that the rice is covered with about a 1/4 1-2 cups* sushi rice inch of water above. Cover pot and bring to a boil and then reduce heat 1 T rice vinegar to simmer, and let cook for about 20-25 minutes (or until the rice looks pinch of Hawaiian sea salt fluffy and you don’t hear the water). shredded nori (seaweed) and micro greens for garnish (continued) 5 Hint: You may need to leave the cover ajar to let some of the steam out, and if it’s your first time cooking rice, watch to make sure you don’t let it burn the bottom of the pan if the water evaporates too quickly. When the rice is done, put into a large bowl and drizzle the rice vinegar and blend in. Add more to taste if needed. When ready to serve, bring out the poke from the refrigerator and mix in the toasted sesame seeds. Place rice into bowls and then top with scoops of the poke. Then garnish with shredded nori and a bunch of micro greens. Tip: If you can’t find tuna or it’s too expensive, another nice fatty, meaty fish I’ve seen is opah, which is also from Hawaii. Braised Beef Tongue This might seem like an odd childhood favorite but I loved eating this dish my Mom would make. Forgetting that it’s tongue, the tender meat after hours of braising was delicious to me. 6 Beef tongue tacos: With my leftover beef tongue, I created an Asian-influenced taco by chopping up the Braised Beef Tongue tongue into cubes, and adding diced avocado and pickled carrots and radish. (I made a simple pickling juice of one Makes 4 to 6 servings part white vinegar, one part water and half part sugar.) I then topped it with a sauce I made using Sriracha, ketchup Ingredients and oyster sauce, and finally garnished with shredded One beef tongue (about 2.5 to 3 lbs.) 1 carrot seaweed. Definitely not something my Mom would have 2 cups beef stock made. (To make sure I retained the tenderness of the 2 cups water tongue, I reheated it in a steamer instead of using the 1 cup soy sauce microwave.) ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce 5 to 6 Sichuan peppercorns 2 T vegetable or canola oil Prep the beef tongue by carefully removing the exterior Continue cooking covered until the tongue is tender, “skin” and the tendons underneath.