What I Cooked in October
Chicken Ramen With Bok Choy and Miso
A New York Times Cooking recipe where I changed the steps and substituted an ingredient here and there. I don’t have the slow cooker the original recipe called for (I don’t think I’ve ever seen one), so I used a heavy-bottomed stainless steel pot to cook the chicken thighs as slowly as possible, letting the fat render into a rich, flavorful broth.
Forty minutes later, the chicken was so tender that it fell apart at the slightest touch of a fork. Another key to getting top-notch broth is to put in one tablespoon of white miso paste and soak dried kombu toward the end (umami!). I learned both methods from that recipe, so thank you NYT Cooking, and thank you Sarah DiGregorio.
I recently bought these ramen bowls, ignoring the voice in my head asking whether I really needed more bowls. Yes, yes I did.
While it is completely fine to eat your ramen from whatever bowl, or drink your white wine from a red wine glass (or a water glass, or a plastic cup), there is a reason certain types of things prefer certain types of things. They matter to your experience, and by pursuing them, we tell ourselves (and the people we cook for) that we deserve these little acts of care.
Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodles
This recipe found its way to my YouTube home page, and just the idea of scallion-infused oil made me go feral. I also had a good amount of bok choy and scallions in my fridge. Stars were aligned.
The key to that recipe is using both light and dark soy sauce. Light soy sauce gives you the salt, while dark soy sauce gives the noodles that glossy, dark color and a little richness. If you are confused, I hear you. It turns out there are many different types: light and dark are Chinese categories, while Japanese, Korean, and other cuisines have their own varieties; not to mention low-sodium versions. I am still getting the hang of it.
Omelette Curry and Spiced Scrambled Eggs
Both are from Asma Khan, my favorite food person. I love how she doesn’t put cumin in everything and goes for spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and turmeric.
Omelette curry has bay leaves (not the Mediterranean/Turkish ones, but Indian ones) which I substituted with cinnamon and cloves.
Knockoff of Sydney’s Omelette from The Bear
It would be a whole other blog post to explain why this scene is so heartwarming to me. Although I have watched the whole two-minute scene a hundred times, this was the first time I tried to make it.
According to Google, the original recipe uses Boursin cheese, but I used a mix of cream and goat cheese. I gave them a quick whip in the blender (still debating whether it gave me any desirable texture or just created more dishes), and chopped the scallions without any finesse.
Banana Pancakes With Berries and Banana Compote
The compote was a product of “What can I do with these almost-rotten bananas and a handful of frozen berries that have been sitting in the fridge for ages?”
I am not a huge fan of sweet breakfast, so I loved the leftover compote with cottage cheese and lots of tahini more than the combination of pancakes.
