This Newly Found Respect For the Food of Southeast Asia

Since I have moved to Orlando, I have not only developed a new found respect for the Food of Southeast Asia but have seen an ever growing respect from other people.

Southeast Asia as an entire region consists of Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the most commonly referred countries in the United States being Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, cuisine wise. What makes these cuisines so unique is how difference each nations' history consists of. The more east you go in this region, the more indian influence you see, many dry spices being a key flavor component. The more North you go, the more similar the food is to that of China. Given the large Spanish influence in the Philippines, you will see their cuisine is heavily similar to that of Spain and Latin America. And then, if you go to Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, you will find their food quite similar to that of the Middle East in some senses, given the influence from the Islamic faith. Because of the Vietnamese war, there is a shocking resemblance to French cuisine in their common street foods. Because there is little outside influence in Thai culture, their cuisine could be seen as the base for comparison.
The popularity of Southeast Asian food (specifically Thai and Vietnamese) is very different than that of Chinese and Japanese food, where as American chinese food is just Chinese-esque, Thai and Vietnamese foods are just now growing in popularity in the United States along with a growing appreciation toward traditional international cuisine and larger immigration rates with those nations. Because of this, the food being consumed from these nations are prepared from those who grew up eating these cuisines and people are coming to respect the bold flavors and ingredients from them. Because of this, the food from Southeast Asia are less (for lack of a better term) diluted by American taste. Of course, there are going to be the most popular dishes such as Pho, Pad Thai, Green Curry and Bahn Mi, because they are easier to relate to the cuisine that Americans are used to, but they would act as more of a gateway to the unique flavors used in these cuisines. As poeople begin to enjoy the salty, sweet, caramelized, aromatic flavors of these standard dished, they will grow to try more foods of these cuisines. This is quite similar to the way I became to enjoy Indian food, starting with the foods more similar to the food I am used to, such as tandoori chicken, developing a taste for their spices and working my way to the more "scary" traditional foods.
Along with a more adventurous amount of tastes in the United States, and the large influx of immigration from that region, there is more importation of ingredients from Southeast Asia. Like, when making my Pad Thai recipe, I saw no issues finding the exact traditional ingredients. So the food you are tasting is made more correctly with authentic ingredients and it is easier to make it authentic at home.
Because of people being more adventurous, many first generation people from Southeast Asia and increased trade of foods between the United States and these countries, you wont hear as many statements like "you can only have actual Thai food in Thailand," or "Americans just can't make correct Vietnamese food," as you would hear all the times with cuisines of countries like Mexico, Italy or China. Of course, there are some very traditional dished from the depths of these countries that only very adventurous westerners will try like Dam Nee of northern Thailand which replaces the ussual fish sauce for seasoning with beef bile, but I doubt you can say that you havn't had "real" thai food if you haven't tasted that. This is the same sense that you wouldn't try Casu Marzu ( an Italian cheese with live maggots used in fermentation, still live when served,) or Tacos con Culagulo de Moronga ( West Mexican tacos featuring coagulated pigs blood,) but can still say you know what real Italian and Mexican food tastes like.
I find this appreciation of of Southeast Asian cuisine very beautiful, it displays a new respect toward international cuisine in the United States and I find for a lot of people, that sparks more interest in the countries and cultures themselves. Lastly, I think that if this appreciation for unaltered Thai and Vietnamese food can happen, similar trends can be seen with other rarely seen cuisines in the United States like Northern European, Middle Eastern and Southern African to name a few.

Cider Cranberry Sauce With Tons of Warm Spices

 I feel like this recipe condenses as much seasonality as you can into a cranberry sauce, cranberries, fresh apple cider and lots of ginger, rosemary and baking spices (or what I consider baking spices.) This is kind of like a combination of cranberry sauce and mulled cider really.
 There are two ways to do cranberry sauce, with a small amount of liquid and a quick cook method (taking about 10 minuets) or using a lot of liquid and slowwwwwly simmering all of the ingredients together.
 The first method would result in a sauce sauce with whole berries while the other extracts pectin and makes for a thicker, more jelly like sauce. I have decided to do a combination of the two in sorts, I do a slow simmer with lots of apple cider and and spices, to give it a rich, slow cooked flavor. Then I let it cool until supper thick and thin it out with some more apple cider. When cooking the berries in the cider, you loose that apple flavor, therefore splashing in some more apple cider after it cooks will reinstate a slight apple flavor to the sauce. To add some variety in texture to the sauce, I also add in some dried cranberries and raisins, so as the fresh berries dissolve and liquefy, the dried fruit re hydrate to give that whole berry feel to this sauce. So what you end up with is the texture of a whole berry, quick cooked sauce, while you get the depth of flavor that comes with slow simmering.
Just a little note, this is going to seem like an extreme amount of ginger and spices, however, as it cooks and sits, the flavor looses intensity, so you need a lot.
6 cups of fresh cranberries
3 cups of fresh apple cider, divided
4 ounces of peeled grated ginger
6 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 tablespoons of fennel seed or anise seed powder
1 1/2 tablespoons of ground cardamom
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
2 sprigs of rosemary left whole
3 cups of brown sugar
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/3 cup of golden raisins\
Combine all of the ingredients together in a large sauce pan (minus one cup of apple cider) and bring to a boil, reduces to a simmer at medium low heat and cook until very thick (it will measure to 4 cups) it will take about 45 minuets to an hour.

Let cool (it will thicken like crazy) At this point I am going to let it refrigerate for a few days, which will allow the flavor of the spices to permeate and steep into the sauce better. When it is completely thick (it will be supper thick), thin it out with some cider until it is to the desired consistency.

Hummus with Hibiscus Muhamara

This post puts emphasis on two different Arabic dips, one very well known in the western world, Hummus and one that is not, in fact its not even very wide spread within the Arab world, Muhamara. They are also tied as second place when it comes to my faveriot arabic dips, #1 being Mutabal (roasted eggplant dip.) For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past 5 years, hummus is a dip made from chickpeas and sesame which in the past few years has gained a lot of popularity in the United States as a healthy, protein packed, low fat food. I kinda hated hummus until I moved to Bahrain, in fact the first time I tried hummus and actually liked it was on Thanksgiving, my junior year of high school at a small Yemeni restaurant in Oman (yeah, not a traditional thanksgiving dinner when I look back on it) and was unaware of what I was dipping my bread into.
Unfortunately, 80% of hummus found in the United States is just terrible and tastes nothing like the Hummus found in the Middle East, due to a 2 reasons:
#1 Over complicating flavors- The flavor of hummus should be clean, garlicky, slightly acitic and slightly nutty, from the tahina. The worst thing you can add to hummus, which many people do is cumin. Hummus has a very bright flavor, one that is relatively light one the palate and is meant to contrast with more bold flavored foods. Cumin is used usually with heavier flavors and fatty ingredients that can stand up to its bold flavor, when adding it to something with such a light flavor, it doesn't pair and mix with the flavors, but overpowers the whole dish, causing the hummus that was at first the product of a simple mixture of flavors to taste like nothing but cummin. The same goes with ingredients like tobasco sauce, sriracha, pimenton, garam masala, pretty much any ingredient that has a supper abrasive flavor.
#2 The want to have texture. Not to say that it is a bad thing to have texture in the hummus, but the problem with almost all recipes I have seen that leave the chickpeas in the hummus chunky is that it would either say to under pure it or to just puree half of the chickpeas and then pulse in the other half. The thing that makes hummus creamy is the right balance of tahina, oil, acid (lemon), chickpeas and liquid and blending it enough not only to puree the chickpeas but also to emulsify the fats, acid and solids. Under pureeing would not let the ingredients emulsify, so though you would get the texture you want, it would be very pasty, unpleasant and thin. The later technique would offset the balance of the solids in the mixture, causing it to not emulsify correctly. If you do desire a hummus with more texture, I would suggest, once the hummus is made adding in an additional 1/4 cup of cooked chickpeas and pulsing it in or at the end, folding in 1/4 cup of finely chopped walnuts or toasted sesame seeds.
The lesser common of the two dips, muhammara, a dip that originates in Syria made traditionally from roasted red bell pepper, walnuts and pomegranate molasses. Muhamamara is not very popular in Bahrain, nor the United States, (I don't get why, trendy American eaters would be all over this stuff) I have maybe had it twice prior to making this recipe, one time in a cafe called Levantine near my house in Amwaj Bahrain and one at a local Lebanese restaurant here in Orlando. It is very different than one would expect it to taste, it is really creamy from the wallnuts yet very acitic, sweet almost juicy from the bell pepper. Now, this recipe is slightly different from a traditional recipe, Like said before, traditionally pomegranate molassas is added, which is the juice of a pomegranate reduced until the consistency of molasses, hence the name. The flavor of it is slightly sweet, supper bitter and kinda sour. I found, after a couple tries replicating muhammara that hibiscus, in a concentrated form yields the same flavor without as much sweetness and gives off a really nice maroon color to the muhamarra, I actually preffer the flavor that Hibiscus gives it. I had no walnuts in my kitchen, but pecans work int he same way, so I used those.
 I think that these two, when together compliment each other very well, as the hummus is very light in flavor while the muhammara is very bold in flavor. Think of it like the packaged hummus that is topped with roasted red peppers except fresher in flavor.

½ cup of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (in the same fashion as in my felafel recipe)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons of tahina

3 tablespoons of cold water

Juice of 2 lemons

½ teaspoon of salt

Place the chickpeas in a medium sauce pan and add enough water to cover by 2 inches, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until supper tender, you should be able to mash one with a fork, about 30-40 minutes, depending on many things, size and freshness being a couple, its better to over cook them than under cook them.

Drain them, place in a food processor and let cool for about 10 minutes, you want them to still be slightly warm. Pulse the chickpeas to grind very fine.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and puree away for at least 5 minutes, 10 would be even better, this does two things, firstly it makes the hummus very smooth, secondly the most whipping it gets, the more emulsification happens between the olive oil, oil in the tahini, water, lemon juice and even the chickpeas themselves, leaving the hummus creamer each minuet.

Hibiscus Muhamara

1 large sweet bell pepper, yellow, red and orange all work perfectly fine, when available, the red ones result in the best color

2 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup of dried hibiscus petals

3 tablespoons of boiling water

½ cup of walnuts or pecans

2 tablespoons of panko bread crumbs

½ teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of water

Roast the pepper for 20 minutes at 500 degrees

Preheat a dry skillet on high heat and cook the pepper on all sides until the skin turns black, this takes about a minuet per side. Let cool, remove the seeds, stem and skin and cut into a rough 1 inch dice, combine with the garlic and olive oil, let sit together for 10 minutes even overnight.

While you let the pepper marinate in the oil and garlic, soak the hibiscus petals in the boiling water for 10 minutes as well.

While both the pepper and hibiscus are sitting all idle, toss the nuts into a dry skillet, let toast on high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Pulse the nuts with the panko into a semi coarse powder in a food processor.

Add in the pepper with all of the oil and garlic, hibiscus water along with half of the rehydrated petals, smoked paprika and water and puree until smooth. Like I said, it is prettier when made with a red pepper.

Serve both drizzled with more olive oil and flat bread, I usually like frozen, prepared naan, but pita and pita chips work just as well.

Sharing Food=Sharing Understanding

So the other day I was asked by a friend about my felafel recipe “why would you boldly name is Palestinian, wouldn't people associate it with politics and not want to try it,” well, though I feel there would be a few people who may go that route, I think that in properly naming and introducing people to cuisines from nations will spark people's interest in those cuisines and their cultures. Anthony Bourdaine always says that no matter which country he goes to, sharing in a meal, he finds is one of the best ways to really get locals to relate to you. Everyone has to eat and everyone has foods they prefer,when sharing a meal, you focus on what you have in common with the locals, not the negative differences. Sharing my experiences with a certain culture and their cuisine with other people, helps people look past the politics of a nation and see that their government does not make the culture or the individual people.

People nowadays feel, when introducing a dish from the Middle East, that they must sugar coat the title because of the negative associations people may have with the middle east. There are many semi misleading terms like “Mediterranean” that people use when introducing a middle eastern dish which though geographically correct when referring North African, Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli cuisines do not truly reflect the culture that created the dish. In addition, there are certain dishes that are general in the entire cuisine of Arabic culture like hummus a prime example, that goes beyond the nations touching the Mediterranean. Lastly, in the United States, many people do not at all associate the Mediterranean with the Middle East, they associate it with southern Europe, specifically Italy or Greece. In the case of Middle Eastern cuisine, I feel it is only right to give credit where credit is due regardless of people's perception.

I have been seeing a disgustingly large amount of people either living in the United States on an international visa for school or as naturalized citizens complain and generalize Americans as being very ignorant toward their culture. In general, people tend to have the wrong attitude when being asked an out there question regarding their culture that it is ignorant, ignorance implies a lack of knowledge in a topic that is widespread in their environment, the better way to look at it is the person in uninformed and has not had the opportunity to learn about said culture. There is an extent to that, in modern time an American thinking “all Muslims are terrorists,” would be a a thought out of ignorance, however, an American thinking that most of the Islamic faith in contained within the Arab would would be mainly because a large population of Muslims in the United States are in fact Arab and therefore assumptions would be made out of simply not being informed. I as an American who has lived in overseas have experienced the same scenarios, often with assumptions being more blunt and hurtful and have had to remember the differences between ignorance and being uninformed.

A final note before I resume to talking about food,when addressing cultural differences, everyone has preconceived notions, whether bold or underlying about a culture, this is where I have experienced people assuming I am racist because of the fact that I am a white American. Here is where it gets complex, people of other cultures have preconceived notions as to what the preconceived notions of a person will be based on their culture, so while im thinking “I wonder if this person feel that I am racist,” the other person is thinking “I wonder if this person thinks that I am a violent natured person because of my religion,” neither preconceived notion feels good when you think of them.

All of what I just said about human nature and culture above applies to how people perceive food. My favorite example is when I talk about Puerto Rican or Cuban cuisine and 4/5 times I will hear “so like isn't it the same as Mexican food.” My initial thoughts when I hear that is to react out at the person as if their response is out of ignorance. I take a second, Puerto Rican and Cuban food aren't supper mainstream in the United States in comparison to Mexican food it is almost nonexistent, unless you are in an area supper populated with Puerto Ricans and Cubans. Many people just havnt experienced this cuisine and culture, so they would just assume it is close to Mexican food. The same can apply when I hear people firmly say felafel is Greek, but I already posted about that ordeal. The solution to solving this misconception would be to either make Puerto Rican food for your uninformed friend or find some source to obtain it.

A simpler assumption I have heard “I don't think I would like Indian or Thai food, because of her third worldie it is, I feel like it wouldn't taste good, because of how poor they are, they eat for survival, not pleasure.” I can tell you first hand that those are two of the most flavorful and delicious cuisines in the world.

Here is where politics, food and culture all come together now, after tasting how different a cuisine is to a preconceived notion, their assumptions toward their culture may change, now, by just introducing a single dish of food to a person, you have sparked an interest in learning of a new country and culture. Even if there aren't any preconceived notions made about the cuisine, by a person tasting the food from another nation, by tasting food and seeing how amazing it is, assumptions about relatively poor cultures will change. People will look at what other foods are made and how these cultures utalize ingredients. Yes, though many people in India and Thailand are pretty poor, they are human beings and just like in the western world, they like flavorful food too.

So if you followed this entire post, I hope this provides a better outlook on culture and cuisine, how assumptions can be very wrong and can limit your experiences and hold you from some of the better ones. Looking past politics, racism and all of these things that separate cultures, we are all human beings and all have to eat, why not share your experiences with other, because food is one of the only things every human can relate to, regardless of religion, culture or political views.

"Rustic" Gyoza

Gyoa and pretty much all forms of Japanese dumpling are something that I have only newly began to like. The first time I had actually had Japanese dumplings was toward the end of my senior year in high school at a dinner/celebration for my schools team at MUSS (model United States Senate) at an Asian fusion restaurant called “David's Stir Fry Crazy.” Now to Western standards, the name of a restaurant can reflect the ambiance of a restaurant and how traditional it is, and in my western mind, I felt that given the name “stir fry crazy this restaurant would not be very traditional or “fancy,” but I was wrong. To Bahraini standards, names don't mean too much, for instance, some of the most traditional Italian pizza comes from a place called pizza express. So if you are in the Middle East, do not let the names of restaurants deceive you.

Though there are many kinds of Japanese dumplings, my favorite would be Gyoza for two reasons The first reason is that it is not packed with filling like most other varieties, so it does not just leave you with a mouth full of meat. Another reason that it is cooked in a different manner than most dumplings, it is seared on the bottom, whereas with dim som or shu mai, are just steamed. This different cooking method can be due to many reasons, but one reason is because of its shape and a smaller filling to wrapping ratio, it does not have to be cooked as delicately, so it can withstand being seared and moved around a lot more. What this alternate cooking method does is offer a textural contrast between the filling and the, for lack of a better term, I will say pastry, whereas with shumai, the pastry is slimy and serves no more of a purpose than to hold the filling, with gyoza, you get the soft pastry on one side, and a crispy bottom. In addition to the textural contrast, much like with meat, searing developed a more savory or umami flavor.

As a last note, for those of you who do not know what the word “rustic” implies half of the time is that it does not look perfect or pretty, sometimes associated with the word ugly, but it should not be this way, rustic food looks just as appetizing as other food, just a little less perfect. Now Japanese cuisine isn't known for being rustic at all, as presentation is just as important as preparation due to meticulous technique and culinary gender rolls (which would not fly for a second in the United States.) In Japanese cooking, many items are associated with a certain gender, traditionally sushi is only made my men for instance. Gyoza, along with most steamed dumplings are traditionally made by females, given their small nimble hands are better for perfectly forming and sealing dumplings. I however am a 6”4' male whose hands are probably twice the size of those of the average Japanese woman, so I am not as skilled or able to produce such fine little details, therefore, I don't attempt to do crimp them shut in the traditional manner, cause I would waste about an hour, probably half of my wrappers and filling and end up with the same results. If you are not often compared to a lumberjack (which has happened to me a lot since I have moved to florida,) or have more confidence in forming these better, I will attach a video on how to properly crimp and seal these dumplings. If not however, enjoy your rustic gyoza.

As a note, when I was making this, I cut my recipe in half, so if it looks like I used a lot less of these ingredients than stated below, that is why.

1 cup of bean sprouts

3 tablespoons of canola oil, divided

1 cup of chopped scallions, white and green parts

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of rice vinegar

1 tablespoon of honey

½ pound of pork loin (not tenderloin) cut into a ½ inch dice

24 wonton wrappers

Water for sealing the dumplings, plus ½ to 1 cup of water for cooking

For the sauce, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon of honey and a few drops of sesame oil, mixed together.

Saute the bean sprouts in 1 tablespoon of the oil at high heat until wilted, about 4 minuets

Add to a food processor along with the scallions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and honey, pulse until pureed to a smooth paste.

Add the pork to the processor and pulse about 20 times, until coarsely ground and combined, do not over grind or it will ruin the texture.

To assemble the dumbplings, place about a tablespoon of the filling in the middle and lightly apply the water to half of the perimeter of the wrapper (half meaning two sides, connected by a corner)

Press the wet corner to the opposite corner together

NOWWWW, heres the point where you can be creative, you can either follow this video: (attach link) or do like I did, crimp to seal in this fashion, pressing the sides together with a couple random crimps (you want to make sure that there is a sturdy bottom though, so I would not recommend simply folding in half.) If you want to crimp them the traditional way this video shows the "correct" way to seal it-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffvdeBY6Ryw

To cook, add the rest of the canola oil in a large nonstick skillet (if you are making the full recipe, either cook in two batches or use two skillets) and arrange the dumplings, flat side down with enough space to where they do not touch, heat the skillet on high and fry until the bottoms of the dumplings are seared golden brown.

Once seared, add in ½ cup of water and cover the skillet (I did not have a lid that fit this one, so I used a sheet pan) cook until all of the water is evaporated, if they do not feel completely cooked, repeat with another half cup (the wrappers of the dumplings should feel the way cooked pasta does)

Once they are fully steamed and the water has evaporated, add in the rest of the sesame oil and cook until the bottom re-crisps, for about 1-2 minuets.

Serve alongside the sauce, these are traditionally eaten as a first course or in a large meal with many types of dumplings, or if you are me, call an entire batch dinner.

Not bad for Gyoza made by a man, if I do say so myself.

*Final note, for those who feel sesame oil will make the food taste too “Chinese-y” a legit comment I got on my pad thai recipe, omit it and use regular oil. However, sesame oil is used throughout the entire continent of Asia in many forms, toasted sesame oil is used throughout southeast Asia from Japan, to China to Thailand, while raw sesame oil is used within the “Desi” nations like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in the Middle East, it is used as an important emulsifying agent tahina, which is used in many foods.

I would also like to appologize that this recipe came without any seporate social analysis, I have had a very busy week, plus that pad thai recipe took a long time to create, write and analyze, however, my blog will be back to normal this week =)

Modernish Pad Thai

In the past, whenever I would make Pad Thai or any stir fried noodles for that matter, I would always find that it was really hard to incorporate the meats and vegetables fully into the noodles and would end up with really plain noodles with all of the good stuff at the bottom. Instead of struggling to fully incorporate everything together, I have decided to plat up the Pad Thai in a different style. This is why I refer to this as modernish because it is all of the traditional flavors and ingredients, they are all cooked in the proper fashion, but, for lack of a less gimmicky term, deconstructed.

The three things I do differently from the traditional fashion are, instead of dicing the vegetables incorporated into the, I julienne them, making them the same shape and size as the noodles, making them easier to incorporate, I cook the meat separate from the noodles and top the noodles with it and, just for the fun of it, I fry the egg sunny side up and place it on top instead of scrambling it into the mixture. What is left is a pad thai that is easier to make, while still using traditional technique and flavors, and one that looks like a piece of art, the quality of art, you be the judge...

First step is to make the sauce, this recipe makes about 1 1/4 cup of sauce which is enough for four recipes of pad thai, so you can make it in bulk and save it, refrigerated for about a month or frozen for a very long time. Some of the ingredients can be hard to find, luckily I have an asian grocery store that is about a 5 minuet walk from my apartment.

4 tablespoons of compacted tamarind paste

1 1/2 cup of water

3/4 cup of palm sugar, brown sugar is a really close sub

1/2 cup of fish sauce

1 more cup of water

Add the tamarind paste into a medium sauce pan with the 1 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and let sit for 15 minuets

Strain the mixture in a fine sieve and press down on the pulp, that is where a lot of the flavor is concentrated. The resulting juice should look something like this.

Put that juice pack in the sauce pan along with the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 40 minuets, until at a syrupy consistency.

To get an idea of how much it should be reduced, this is all of the sauce in a 2 cup container

4 notes

1. Keep in mind, a main ingredient is fish sauce, which is concentrated fermented anchovi juice, so for about 20 minuets while the sauce is cooking, it will smell pretty rachet, I opened a window to ease the smell, so be warned.

2. My palm sugar did not come in a granulated form, it came in a 12 ounce package in 4 large chunks, in this case, 3/4 of the package would be 3/4 of a cup.

3. If tamarind is unavailable, replace it with 3/4 cup of pomegranate juice mixed with 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice.

4. For a vegan version, soy sauce can be substitute the fish sauce.

The stir fry:

1/3 pound of medium width rice stick noodles or Bahn Pho

Water for cooking

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

3 tablespoons, plus one teaspoon of canola oil, divided

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1 bone in, skin on chicken thigh, precooked, skin and bone removed and thinly slice

5 tablespoons of pad thai sauce, divided

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sambal oelek, vietnamese chili paste, some sriracha will work too

3/4 cup of juliened or grated vegetables, carrots, zuchini and broccoli stems work really well

1 cup of alfalfa sprouts, plus more for garnish

1 egg per serving (this recipe makes two servings)

1/4 cup of chopped scallions or chives

1/4 cup of salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Bring a pot of water to a boil, turn off the heat and add in the noodles, let cook for 10-15 minuets, until soft, drain, rinse with cold water and toss with the sesame oil.

In a large nonstick skillet or wok, heat 1 tablespoon of oil on high heat until shimmering, add in the onion and cook until translucent and starts to brown a little bit, add in the chicken (I used a leftover piece from my Spanish chicken recipe) and cook until warmed through

Add in 1 tablespoon of the sauce and cook until to reduces, remove from the skillet and set aside.

Wipe of the skillet, add in 2 tablespoons

of the oil and heat on high, just like before. Add in the garlic and sambal, cook until the garlic just starts to turn brown.

Add in the juliened vegetables, fry until cooked through, about a minuet

Add in the alfalfa sprouts and cook until softened, it takes like 10 seconds

Toss in the noodles and scallions and cook until a color is formed, tossing so all of the ingredients get incorporated, turn off the heat.

Heat the rest of the oil in a small skillet on high heat, add in the egg(s) and reduce the heat to medium low and cook

While the egg is cooking, turn the heat under the noodles to high again and pour in 4 tablespoons of the sauce, let cook for another 2 minuets until reduced and it coats the noodles.

The egg looks done, turn off the heat under that

Time to plate...

What I did was pile some noodles to the side of the bowl, which takes up abotu 3/4 of the bowl and the rest of the bowl is the chicken/onion mixture. Sprinkle over with the peanuts and add on some more alfalfa sprouts.

Crown with the fried egg.

Last note, you can use any meat in here, not just leftover chicken, chicken breast, shrimp or pork, keep in mind when sauteing with the onions that whatever meat it is is cooked through and it will take a little longer, for a vegetarian version, along with using the soy instead of fish sauce, some seared tofu could be used.