Dan Dan Noodles

Dan Dan Noodles are typically served layered (sauce at the bottom of the bowl, then noodles, meat, and vegetables), and you’re supposed to mix it yourself before eating. But I’ve found that I can cook many of the ingredients together, cutting way down on the number of steps and still resulting in a delicious bowl…

Fried Heirloom Tomato Salad

More fun with heirloom tomatoes! Hearty enough to fry into a tasty topper for a bed of arugula. Drizzled with a creamy balsamic dressing, this made for a salad so good that my boyfriend (who’s preference is pretty much an all-carb diet) chose it over gnocchi. Guessipe 1/4 cup parmesan 1/8 cup cornmeal 1/8 cup…

Salted Egg Yolk Pumpkin

I ate a fried pumpkin dish in a family-owned Chinese restaurant like 10 years ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. The pumpkin had a salted egg yolk coating that I couldn’t get enough of. So when I saw a package of salted egg yolks at the Asian market, I had to buy…

Air-Fried Tofu

Another win for the air fryer. I used to avoid using fried tofu in dishes because it was one more thing I had to stand over the stove and monitor. But now I’ve figured out how to air fry the tofu, and it’s a game-changer because I can just pop the tofu into the air…

Air Fryer Butternut Squash Tempura

Continuing my air fryer experimentation. Tempura is a favorite treat of mine, but I rarely deep fry at home because it requires a lot of oil and effort. The beauty of the air fryer is there’s no vat of oil and you set it and forget it. The only thing with tempura is it’s a…

Japanese Curry

When I was in Japan I had some fantastic curry, and was surprised to learn that many people use packaged Japanese curry roux (Golden, Vermont, and Java are a few popular brands), which they dress up with other ingredients to give the curry a rich, deep flavor. It’s so good! Usually Japanese curry has potatoes…

Pad See Ew

While Pad Thai is probably the most known Thai noodle dish in the US, I actually prefer Pad See Ew. It uses fresh wide rice noodles, which have a fantastic soft chewiness and also get crispy caramelized edges when cooked over high heat in the sauce. Guessipe 2 lbs fresh wide rice noodles peanut oil…