Shanghai Dumplings, also known as Xiao Long Bao, are soup filled dumplings, that originated in a suburb of Shanghai. When I attended MOCA's walking tour of Chinatown a few months ago, I was informed that the best place to try these soup dumplings were at Joe's Shanghai. After receiving confirmation from a few acquaintances, Joe's Shanghai it was for my first Shanghai Soup Dumplings. Although there are locations in Flushing and Midtown, I opted for the Chinatown original.
The most popular place in Chinatown for this specialty, the restaurant is very crowded and busy. They will not seat you until all of your party has arrived. The food is served family style with a turntable in the middle, to easily share the food. Ten people to each round table, you will most likely be sharing your table with strangers, but this is common in many Chinatown establishments. As soon as you sit down, they will ask you if you would like the Xiao Long Bao, as they are made fresh and it takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Your options are pork and crab. As I went with a party of 6 with members of the NYC Cooking and Dining Group, we chose to do one order of each. You are then given the menu to decide what other dishes to order.
We did the Squid in Bean Sauce, Dried Tofu with Jalapeno, Crispy Pepper Duck and Pan Fried Noodles with Vegetables. The squid was delicious; perfect balance of sweet and savory.
Not usually a tofu fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the texture of the dried tofu. It is much firmer than other forms of tofu and I surprisingly would say this topped my list of favorite dishes of the night.
The duck was perfectly cooked with crispy skin and tender meat, accompanied by a little bowl of salt and pepper, to season as you desire.
The pan-fried noodles was the one dish we did not enjoy. It was only fried at the borders. The middle was a mass of gummy, sticky noodles that was not palate pleasing.
You must know how to eat the dumplings, otherwise you will lose all the delicious soup inside. Do not attempt to simply pick it up with your chopsticks from the bamboo steamer, it is served in. Instead, use the spoon provided and gently place the dumpling on your spoon. Then make a small hole in the dumpling to release the delicious liquid onto your spoon. At this point, you can add a little of the very flavorful gingered soy sauce provided onto the spoon and then eat it from the spoon, so as not to lose any of the soup liquid.
If you have never had Shanghai Dumplings, I definitely recommend Joe's for both the dumplings and the food; just avoid the pan-fried noodles.
A few months ago I was watching Anthony Bourdain and he was focusing on some local food places, favored by some famous food bloggers. It was a show dedicated to food bloggers. One place that really caught my interest was Co. aka Company. It was started by Jim Lahey, owner and creator behind Sullivan Street Bakery, a NYC bakery, famous for its fresh baked breads. I have not yet made a visit to the famed Sullivan Street Bakery, but I managed to organize a group of diners from the NYC Cooking & Dining Group to go and try Lahey's unique pizza's at Co.
As a baker, Lahey prides himself on the quality of his pizza crust. He uses a no-knead dough. He simply puts together the dough ingredients like a batter and then he lets in rest overnight. The next day the dough is simply stretched to a round pizza shape and baked with delicious, varied toppings. The pizza dough was perfect thin crust pizza. The dough is seasoned well, creating a slight saltiness that added great flavor. However, what makes the pizzas one of the best I have experienced in New York are the flavorful toppings. There is great care taken in the seasonings of all the toppings, as well as the crust. Although I am a meat loving carnivore, one of the vegetarian options was my favorite of the night - the Popeye pizza is topped with an ample portion of herb accented spinach, three types of cheese, garlic and black pepper. Bursting with herbed flavors and fresh tasting spinach complemented the seasoned pizza crust.
This is one place that does NOT skimp on the toppings. The charcuterie is topped with large portions of perfectly seasoned cured meats, however, I think the meats should be sliced a bit thinner, for more even distribution of the flavors. The Mushroom & Jalapeno was another full flavored option. The moisture from the mushrooms created a very juicy, flavorful pizza. However, there needed to be more jalapeno,especially if you are going to include the ingredient in the title of the entree itself. On each slice of pizza, there was maybe two extremely thin slices of jalapeno. The title is misleading, as you would expect a spicy pizza and the Charcuterie was a spicier pizza with the peppered flavor of the cured meats.
Desserts were also done well. The gelato sampler was a multi-flavored dish, well balanced with salty peanuts and sweet pomegranate.
Now I just have to make it to the Sullivan Street Bakery.
One of the reasons I chose Cardamom as the Spice of the Month is that it is one of my all time favorite spices. When I open a bag of fresh green cardamom pods, it is like smelling a bottle of perfume; fragrant, sweet and floral.
Anyway, here are some links to recipes I have posted in the past, using the Spice of the Month, if you missed them before you were following my blog:
NYC is the city to live in, if you are a foodie. Today, I had a NYC Food Lover's perfect Sunday Afternoon. It started with a visit to the annual Chocolate Show, full of chocolate tastings, demonstrations and fashion. Then it was off to NYC Cake and Bake Shop for some supplies for a cookie decorating class I am teaching in a few weeks. Then off to a decent brunch with a friend. Beautiful autumn weather and good food - I LOVE NY!
The 13th annual NYC Chocolate Show was held this weekend November 11th - November 14th. I managed to make it there today. Although I missed the official fashion show earlier in the week, there were several fashion chocolate pieces there for admiration.
In addition to the art, there were chocolate purveyors from all over the world, as well as tea artisans and spice manufacturers.
Spice and Tease had a large variety of tea blends and ground spice mixes. I even got some pili-pili peppers, hard to come by, even in New York.
There were also some wonderful food demonstrations. One of the best was a wonderful milk chocolate flan that had many levels of flavor in the composed dessert, including lemon jello, salt and sesame seeds. After chocolate overkill, this was a welcoming complex dessert, where the chocolate was almost an afterthought. It was mellow and balanced with all the other flavors. Every bite tasted different, as Chef Steve KLC said it would. One of the best composed desserts I have ever tasted.
Of the chocolatiers I sampled before the chocolate nausea began, my favorite was Pralus. Pralus had chocolate blends as well as pure blend cocoa beans from many countries from Ghana and Tanzania to Brazil and Columbia. The staff at this table was very friendly and accommodating. They would open sample bars upon request to taste the specific one I wanted. Tanzania was mellow and very smooth, perfect for baking. Indonesia was a wonderful chocolate for making hot chocolate, subtle tones of cinnamon and nutmeg were apparent. Djakarta was a sweet blend of Indonesian and Columbia beans, creating the perfect eating chocolate.
My favorite chocolate confectionery company was William Dean Chocolates. Caramel with Rosemary, Butternut Squash with Coconut Curry and my favorite Banana Cream Pie infused with a healthy dose of rum was almost orgasmic.
It was a deliciously sweet day and I recommend checking out the show next year, if you didn't make it!
For the complete photo roll of the show, see here.
These pancakes utilize both our Spice and Ingredient of the Month. I used canned pumpkin in these pancakes, however you can use fresh pumpkin as well. Use the sweeter, orange skinned pumpkin. The contrast between the slightly tart lemony flavor of the syrup and the sweet pancakes make this a complex flavored breakfast. I prefer thin pancakes, however if you are a fan of the big fluffy pancakes reduce the quantity of lowfat milk to 3/4 cup. These pancakes taste wonderful with Stew Leonard's pumpkin flavored coffee.
Pumpkin Pancakes
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1 1/4 cups lowfat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 tablespoon brown sugar
powdered sugar, for garnish
In a large bowl, combine, pumpkin, eggs, both milks and vanilla. Stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Using a strainer, sift dry ingredients into both with pumpkin mixture. Stir to combine.
Heat a griddle and spray with non-stick spray. Using a ladle or a small measuring cup, pour a portion of pancake batter onto hot griddle. When little air bubbles start to appear, flip pancakes over to the other side with a spatula. Cook on the other side for another 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
Instead of regular syrup, serve pancakes with Rose Honey
3/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons rosewater
In a small saucepan, combine ingredients until heated through and homogenous in texture.
To serve, pour syrup over a few pancakes and garnish with powdered sugar. Enjoy with coffee.
The first episode of our second new video series, Ingredient of the Month, is now available. Pumpkin is the November Ingredient of the Month - no surprise here as pumpkins are everywhere now, however, please see the video to learn about uses of Kabocha, which is a little different than the orange skinned pumpkin most popular here in the US.
This is a Trinidad/India inspired meal, using the Kabocha Pumpkin. Please try this pumpkin and curry. I promise you won't be disappointed.
1 ounce ginger, finely chopped
12 ounces boneless and skinless chicken thighs, chopped
2 tablespoons mustard oil, or more if needed
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dhana jeera powder (Substitute 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander if this is unavailable)
1 teaspoon chili powder (make sure you use ground chili like cayenne and NOT American chili powder)
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 head of cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons coriander (cilantro), chopped
salt, to taste
Preheat oven to 400 F. Split pumpkin in half. Discard seeds and pulp. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and place both pumpkin halves face down. Roast in oven for 45-50 minutes, until fork tender. Cool, then remove pulp from pumpkin skins. The skin will be very soft and should slide right off the pulp. Reserve 1 1/2 cups to use in the curry and freeze the rest for future use.
In a large pot, heat mustard oil. Saute onion, garlic and ginger until onions are soft and translucent. Add chicken pieces and brown on both sides for about 5 minutes. You may need to add extra oil at this point.
Add pumpkin and the rest of the ingredients, except coconut milk, cabbage and cilantro. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Add coconut milk and cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes, but don't overcook the cabbage. Add coriander. Taste and adjust salt, if necessary. Serve with Sadha Roti (recipe below)
Sadha Roti
This is a white flour, yeast based roti, that is popular in Trinidad. India might have its own version of this roti, but I have not come across one yet, so this is my recipe for Sadha Roti. Due to the addition of yeast, this roti has a little more weight and body than traditional Indian roti, like chappati.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 cups warm water
Sift dry ingredients, except yeast. Add yeast and stir. Add warm water until dough starts to pull away from the sides of a bowl. Form a ball. Cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 8 portions. Roll each portion into a bowl and set aside. Leave covered so that dough will not dry out.
Warm up a roti iron or a griddle.
On a floured surface, roll out one dough ball into a circle. Roll until very thin, as thin as possible without breaking.
Place on the hot iron or griddle. As soon as little air bubbles form, flip over. Remove and brush both sides with a little ghee. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
Serve with Roasted Pumpkin Curry.
As promised, here is the first episode of our brand new video series, Spice of the Month. Cardamom is the November Spice of the Month. Please see the video below for information and types of cardamom you can purchase.
For an easy introduction to Cardamom, try this delicious Finnish Cardamom Tea Loaf.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly butter a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and dust it with flour, shaking out the excess.
Combine the flour, cardamom, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together with a hand-held mixer until creamy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Mix in the sour cream and melted butter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack. Then remove the cake and serve with a cup of tea.
As an active social media chef who tweets on food, I received a personal invitation to Martha Stewart as part of her special Twitter section on Monday's cookie episode. It was wonderful as the Red Carpet was rolled out to us. We received a special backstage and set tour.
Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live was her special guest and I saw him getting his make-up applied. Too bad I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get that shot :(
Sitting in her conference room lined with Emmy awards, we received a preview of what was to be unveiled on the show. Specifically, her new iPad cookie application. It is a comprehensive, user friendly app. complete with crisp, high quality video demonstrations, in addition to the recipes. Too bad I don't have an iPad as we were all offered free installations. She did give away one iPad to an under-enthused guest who barely cracked a smile. She even asked him if he already had one so that she could give it to someone else who did not have one. If it had been me, I would have been one of those crazy guests jumping up and down and hugging everyone around me.
As you enter the set from Stage Left, you first come across her kitchen where all food presented on the show comes from, complete with her hard working staff.
Next is the Stage Center where the show is filmed. This is also a comprehensive kitchen. We got an upclose look at all of her kitchen appliances and gadgets, including the supersized cookies made for the set that day.
Super-Sized Sugar Cookie
Super-Sized Mice Cookies
Next we came across an award winning wall display created by her staff horticulturalist with fragrant herbs coming from it before we proceeded to Stage Right and ended right in front of her greenhouse.
We then proceeded to join the audience, as we were encouraged to tweet away during the show. The entire audience received samples of two cookies that were prepared that day, along with organic milk. The sugar cookies were wonderfully sparkly, from an aesthetic point of view. This was achieved by applying water with a pastry brush after topping with sugar. Top again with sugar after the water and you will get a sparkly sugar cookie.
Sparkly Sugar Cookie, after a few bites
The Mexican Chocolate cookies were my favorite - sweet with just that little bit of spice due to the addition of ancho chile powder. They were so good I gobbled it up before I remembered to take a photo. Sorry :(
Martha herself was so gracious and approachable, answering questions. I have now become a big fan. For an opportunity to be part of her studio audience, request your free tickets here. Afterwards, us tweeters were invited to take a photo with Martha.
The experience was definitely worth the early day, although I don't know if I would have gotten on a 3:30am bus after working until 1am to get here for the show, as I discovered one of my fellow tweeters from Pittsburgh did!
