Akined to Pumpkin

[Spicy Thai Pumpkin Soup]

If you've read my previous post about the wonders of pumpkin's orangy flesh, you know I'm completely infatuated with this big fat squash that conjures up tales of a certain golden pumpkin coach. I normally buy my pumpkins, freshly and generously sliced on the spot, from my favorite green-grocer in Barcelona, Bubub.

Entering the tiny store takes you into a rustic setting with big straw baskets on the floors filled to the brim with farm-fresh vegetables, and wooden shelves on the walls displaying organically grown greens from its own nearby farm outside Barcelona. It's a wonder that smack right in the middle of the most culturally colorful neighborhood and just one tiny block away from the sanitizedly white walls of the Museum of Modern Art (MACBA), you can find such a quaint little vegetable store. The two ladies that shared the two shifts are extremely friendly and helpful too. Once one of them patiently pointed out to me the difference between chiviria (parsnip) and nabo (turnip).

The other day I came across a curious receipe of a Thai pumpkin soup infused with southeast asian spices and ingredients like dried shrimp, lemongrass and coconut milk. I wondered what it would taste like, so I ran a search on google and observed the array of recipes. The end result came out rightfully Thai in taste, and deservingly worth a little mention on this food blog. If you can find a handful of dried shrimp from your local asian grocery store, you should be able to recreate the exotic taste of this spicy Thai dish (it is not too exotic for me though, in fact I find it homey.)

P.S. Bubub-Verdures i Hortalisses is situated at C/Joaquim Costa 29 in the Raval. Nearest metro is Universitat and Sant Antoni on L2.

Spicy Thai Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
4 shallots, finely chopped (can be substituted with one small onion)
4 cups fresh pumpkin, peeled and scliced into 1/4-inch thick squares.
1/4 cup dried shrimps -- soaked for 5 minutes in warm water, drained and finely chopped.
1 small fresh red chili pepper, seeded and thinly sliced.
1 stalk of lemon grass (optional) use only the bulb or the white part, finely sliced.
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (canned or powdered)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water (add less or more according to your preferred consistency.)
salt and pepper to taste

Elaboration:
Heat a nonstick saucepan over medium-high fire. When it is hot, add oil and butter and heat up for half a minute. Feel your hands above saucepan. When you feel heat arises from the oils, throw in shallots (or onions) and stir-fry until golden brown. Then add garlic, dried shrimps, lemongrass and chili pepper and stir-fry til its aromas are released (I add each item in this order one at a time at an interval of 30 seconds and stir-fry all for about 1 minute). Work delftly with a wooden spatula and be careful not to burn garlic.

Now add sliced pumpkin and stir-fry on medium-high fire for about 2 minutes until significantly softened. When you can break a piece of pumpkin easily with the spatula, stir in vege stock, coconut milk and water gradually and bring contents to a boil. Cover saucepan and turn fire down to the weakest possible simmer for 10 minutes.

Now if you have an immerge-style or hand-held blender, plunge the apparatus into the saucepan and blend the soup till you get a smooth or slightly chunky consistency, according to your likes. If not, pour contents into your counter-stand blender in batches and work the machine. Salt and pepper soup till you get the right taste.

To serve, ladle into bowls and squeeze in some lemon juice. If you've cilantro, basil leaves, or even fresh mint, you can do some pretty garnishing. I simply did mine with a dash of freshly ground black pepper and some chilli powder.


This is an entry for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging.

May Your Rice Bowl Overflow

[Chinese-style Glutinous Rice]

It's the fifth day of the Lunar Calendar and most East Asian countries including Vietnam, Korea, China, Malaysia, and Singapore have been celebrating the Lunar New Year in one form or another e.g. Spring Festival. I thought it'll be most appropriate to share with you a Chinese recipe I've improvised: chinese-style glutinous rice with chicken and shitake mushrooms.

Also known as sticky rice or sweet rice, the difference between glutinous rice and normal rice lies in its consistency. When cooked, it is very sticky and therefore perfect for making dumplings, rice balls or rice cakes. Despite its name, it is not sweet, nor does it contain dietary gluten. And like most dried beans, glutinous rice usually requires hours of soaking before it is being cooked.

I love the chewy and clingy texture the rice gives. When done right, it is a pure delight, bringing out its own characteristics and the flavors and ingredients that are added. (At least to my own culinary experiences, the rice is never served or cooked plain.) Various asian cultures employ the flour made out of glutinous rice as a base for their sweet cakes and pastries. For Chinese New Year, round cakes that are sweet and sticky called Nian Gao are found in every Chinese home, first as decoration and later to be devoured. They are ubiquitious for the holiday because Nian is a homonym in Chinese meaning both year and sticky, thus implying the ushering-in of a new year that brings you close to your love ones.

In traditional Chinese cuisine, the rice is often made into parcels (Lo Mai Gai) or pyramid-shaped rice dumplings (Zong Zi) -- both my all-time favorites. They are wrapped with dried lotus leaves or bamboo leaves that gives the dish its form, and at the same time imparting its fragrance.

The following recipe is a variation of Lo Mai Gai that is often found in Dim Sum menus, minus the lotus leaves. (Lo Mai Gai means glutinous rice with chicken in cantonese.) When you can't get the real thing and you crave for it, improvise and make it in your own kitchen. After all, that's really how I got into creative home cooking.

Chinese-style Glutinous Rice
Ingredients: (Recipe for 4)
1 1/2 cup glutinous rice (rinsed and soaked overnight)
10 chinese (shitake) mushrooms (soaked till softened and thinly sliced, minus the hard tips on stems)
2 shallots (or red onions) finely chopped
1 chicken breast (or dark meat if you prefer) thinly sliced into strips
1/4 cup of dried shrimps (soaked in 1 cup water for 10 min and drained. Reserve water)
5 cloves of garlic (minced or finely chopped)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Seasonings:
1 tablespoon Chinese or Japanese sesame oil
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3 tablespoon light soy sauce
A generous dash of salt and white pepper.

Garnish:
1 stalk of scallion or spring onion thinly sliced (white and green ends)

Steps to recreate the picture above:
Marinate chicken with 1 tablespoon soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil and let sit.

Place skillet over high fire. Let it heat up for about 2 minutes. Add oil and wait till it heats up a little. Add garlic and shallots and stir-fry 30 seconds till its wonderful aroma is imparted. Next, the dried shrimps go in for a 30-second stir-fry. Then add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then mushrooms for another 1 minute.

Now comes the drained rice. Stir-fry it good and deftly stir in all the seasonings listed above, one by one. Keep on stir-frying for about 2 minutes and add reserved shrimpy water. At this point, bring it down to a simmer and cover with a lid. Wait for 3 minutes or until water has reduced before transfering rice to a ceramic bowl.

Meanwhile, prepare another wok or a large pot and fill with half inch of water. If you do not have a metal stand for steaming, place two chopsticks slightly longer than the base of the pot in an "x" to form a support that stands right above the water. (If chopsticks don't work, try using other utensils. I once used two forks in a pinch.) Bring water to boil and place rice in bowl above the improvised rack. Cover the pot and reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until rice is just right i.e. not too soft and not too hard. Garnish with scallions before serving.

(Note: During the steaming process, check water level to ensure it is not dried out. In the latter case, add more water.)


This is an entry for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging.

Rabbit + Pork = Chinese Dumplings

My quest for southeast-asian flavors resulted in a little surprise today at a local asian store here in Barcelona. Foraging down an aisle with rows of curious-looking jars, something vietnamese with a label featuring a scrumptious-looking bowl of noodle-soup caught my eye.

Pho -- the ubiquitous vietnamese beef-flavoured broth found in most Chinatowns in the states. Happily I went home with a bunch of extremely fragrant cilantro, and a pack of wonton skins. Just a few minutes ago I marinated the quater-pound ground rabbit and pork I have in the fridge. Don't ask me why I have such an interesting choice of meat, it was the only type of meat, besides red meat, left at the store. To make it even more interesting, they were sold as hamburger patties. Apparently all the Spaniards had already stocked up their fridges for the Día de Todos Los Santos (All Saints Day). So my dinner´s gonna be rabbit and pork dumplings with pho.

Here's the improvised recipe, or rather recipe-to-be, since I'll be finishing the rest of the cooking in an hour's time.

Vietnamese Beef-Flavored Broth with Leeks and Carrots
- one carrot sliced
- one leek slicked thinly
- 1 tbs of pho soup paste
- 3 cups of water

When the water is boiling, add veges and soup paste. Boil for 2 minutes covered and simmer for half-hour on very low fire.

Rabbit and Pork Chinese Dumplings
- a pack of fresh or frozen wonton skins/wrappers
- quarter pound of ground meat (chicken, pork, rabbit or turkey)
- 1.5 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- a dash of white pepper and salt
- four chinese or shitake mushrooms (optional)
- 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro (other substitutes: chinese chives, spring onions)

Soak dried shitake mushrooms till soft. Diced them into tiny bits. Marinate ground meat with sesame oil, dark and light/normal soy sauce and blend in cilantro and mushrooms. Put aside for half hour before wrapping them up in the wonton wrappers. Place them in boiling water. They're done when they float...about 2 or 3 minutes. Drain and transfer them into the pho before serving. Add fresh cilantro for garnishing. I love to add some nice long julienned raw zucchini for added vege-goodness. And if you're craving for carbs, add some chinese vermicelli (thin rice noodles). Ok, here I go to check how my pho's doing. Have fun cooking!

P.S. You can freeze the extra dumplings in a container for later use in other noodle soups when you're in a pinch!