Shrimp on Sugarcane Sticks (Chao Tom)

Both of my parents were born in Saigon, Vietnam.  Our ancestors were originally from Guangzhou, China.  Like many Chinese families, they migrated away from China once the war broke out.  After living in Vietnam, my parents migrated to the United States in 1979 for a better future.  From this history, lots of the foods I eat have both Chinese and Vietnamese influences.  

My mother loves grocery shopping, especially at little Latin markets.  She loves how they have vegetables and fruits similar to an Asian market like fresh guavas, bean sprouts, tamarind pods, and  sugar cane.  Whenever there's fresh stalks of sugar cane, my mom buys at least five.  Some to cook with and some to chew to get the delicious sweet nectar.  One of the favorites in our family is Chao Tom, or shrimp paste on sugarcane sticks.  The savory shrimp blends nicely with the sweet, toasty sugarcane.  

Recipe adapted from www.vietworldkitchen.com

Ingredients:
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
Generous 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground preferred
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced and crushed into a paste
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 tablespoon canola oil
Half stalk of sugarcane cut into three inch pieces

1. Rinse shrimp under cold water and drain well. Blot dry with paper towel.

2. Coarsely chop the shrimp.

3. Add a rain of salt, the cornstarch, sugar, pepper, fish sauce, egg, garlic, and shallot to the shrimp. Transfer to a food processor and process just until a coarse paste forms. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the 1 TB of canola oil, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 15 to 30 minutes. This allows the shrimp paste to stiffen.

4. Meanwhile,  if you haven't done so already, cut your sugarcane into sticks.  Be careful and use a sturdy knife because the stalks are quite tough to chop through.  You should probably lay newspaper on the kitchen floor and shop there for a sturdy surface.  Use a sharp knife. You need only about 12 sugarcane sticks depending on how much shrimp you put on each stick. Blot cut sugarcane sticks dry with paper towel and set aside.

5. Line a steamer tray or bamboo steamer with parchment paper and oil the parchment. Ready a pot of water for steaming.


6. Assembly: Put about 2 tablespoons of paste in the palm of your hand, spreading it out into circle about 2 1/2 inches wide and a good 1/4 inch thick. Center a sugarcane stick on the paste, then close your hand to make the paste adhere to the stick and surround it. Smooth out the surface. Set on the prepared steamer tray. Repeat to make 11 more. Its easier if your hands are wet since the paste will be sticky.

7. Steam the shrimp sticks over boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, until opaque, slightly puffed, and just cooked through. Then you can either grill the steamed sticks or pan fry them to get a nice golden color and a bit of caramelization going.  I prefer to pan fry since its simpler.  Voila!  Delicious.  You can eat the shrimp sticks as appetizers.  You can also eat this with rice noodles and fresh herbs and lettuce.  Another option is wrapping the shrimp and vegetables in rice paper (banh zhang).  Enjoy!

Mr. Man Could Eat Pizza Forever

My Mr. Man can sometimes be a fussy eater.  Picky's not my thing, though, and so sometimes it can get a bit complicated.  Whereas I don't bat an eye to eat chicken feet, he freaks out at the sight of the bone in a fried chicken leg.  When I can think of nothing better than to eat a plateful of fresh seafood, he thinks lobsters look too much like large red cockroaches and gags.  But, we've managed to make it work.

He enjoys when I cook "normal" food, of which includes PIZZA.  I love a nice thin crusty pizza, simple with light tomato sauce and a drizzle of mozzarella and fresh herbs.  But, he loves a nice greasy pizza with plenty of carnivorous meats.  When I told him that we were going to make our own pizza, including the dough, he thought it impossible.  He could have died happy thinking DiGiorno's was as good as it got.  But not in my lifetime!  So we made it together and there was no going back to the frozen stuff.  No more pizza boxes or delivery receipts from Pappa John's. 

Thin-Crust Pizza
Recipe adapted from The Best of America's Test Kitchen.  Makes 2 pizzas.

Dough
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1.5 cups ice water
1 tablespoon canola oil
1.5 teaspoons salt

Toppings
1/2 cup favorite tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Optional according to your tastes can include: diced bell peppers, mushrooms, sliced onions, olives, sliced pepperoni, Italian sausage, basil, crumbled hamburger, anchovies, sweet potatoes, the sky's the limit!

1) For the dough, process the flour, sugar, and yeast in a food processor for about 5 seconds to mix it up.  Slowly add cold water to flour mixture.  Combine until no dry flour remains.  Let dough rest in processor for about 10 minutes.

2) Add oil and salt to dough and process until dough becomes a ball.  Remove from processor bowl and knead for about a minute.  Shape dough into a smooth ball and place in an oiled gallon size Ziploc bag.  Refrigerate for 24 hours-3 days.  (It can also be frozen at this point and saved for another day.  Remember to wrap it tightly and label with date if you do this.)

3) Take your dough out of the refrigerator and divide in half.  Shape each piece into a ball.  Let stand for 1 hour while oven heats to 500 degrees.

4) With your hands or a rolling pin, roll out dough ball into desired thickness.  I like mine really thin.  Transfer dough to a pizza pan.  Spread with tomato sauce.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Add remaining toppings.  I also like to add a rain of fennel for that lovely, pungent taste.

5) Bake for about 10-12 minutes depending on you oven heat until bubbly and golden brown on some spots.    Let cool for a few minutes ( I know that will be hard!)  slice and serve.

6)  Repeat these steps for the 2nd dough ball.

30! 30! 30!

Last year I turned 30 years old.  The movies and sitcoms out there typically portray this stepping stone as a downhill spiral into wrinkles, old age, and "nothing left to live for" syndrome.  However, deep down I know that I'm better now that I'm 30 than I was in my twenties.  More knowledge has absorbed into my intricate brain.  More experience has absorbed into my resilient bones.  And more confidence has absorbed into my hungry soul.

By now, I was working at a local environmental company writing technical report and doing some marketing things.  It would sound fancy if I went into more detail and it always impressed people when I was met with that horrid, teeth-cringing question, "What do you do?"  But something about it felt very empty.  Everyday I would walk into an office and dread it whenever I clicked on the computer.

So my only solace from that daily 8-hour stint (other than my family and friends, of course!)  was that I would walk into my kitchen and the ideas swirled in my head regarding what would be on the menu for dinner that night.  The mountain of cookbooks lining my desks and walls were like portals into a world I knew I could belong to.  That led to me quitting my day job and my enrollment in culinary classes at the local community college.  The fancy-pantsy culinary schools were financially out of reach for me, but I'm sure they're worthwhile (despite the price tag, OUCH!)  To keep my bills at bay, I took a part time job on a food truck and have been slinging bratwursts and sliders for the masses every since.  Learning about this new food trend is pretty cool, too.

I'm hoping to hone my skills by keeping up with this blog.  I watched a recent Ted Talks video regarding how doing something for 30 days is a good way to start good habits and to stick with them.  So I'm hoping to try a new recipe for the next 30 days and the sky's the limit!

Either it be from one of my cooking volumes or my cooking textbook, I look forward to discover new flavors, new ingredients, and creating beautiful dishes.  I hope this blog inspires you as much as food inspires me.