Asian | RecipeTin Eats

Thai Turmeric Chicken

Nagi — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 02:19:00 +0000

Hailing from southern Thailand, Thai Tumeric Chicken (Gai Yang Khamin) is lip-smackingly delicious street food that’s sweet, sticky and savoury. The marinade is unbelievably simple: garlic, fish sauce, oyster sauce, turmeric powder and sugar. The turmeric really makes it!

Southern Thai Turmeric Chicken (Gai Yang Khamin)

This is a great one to marinade tonight and bake tomorrow, to bring authentic Thai flavours to your dinner table! It’s sweet but has layers of savoury, and is incredibly delicious for something so simple.

With the excellent street food in Thailand, it will come to no surprise that I found this during my travels. It’s a street food that hails from the south called Gai Yang Khamin, and is one of those recipes that tastes like it has way more ingredients in it than it does.

At the time I tried it, I didn’t know what it was called, though the mystery was solved through furious Googling for “yellow Thai grilled chicken” in my determination to replicate it back at home.

Street vendors grill this over smokey coals and use butterflied whole chicken. I bake it in the oven and use chicken thighs instead to make it Monday-night-friendly. This does not, however, compromise flavour – it is still ridiculously delicious!

Ingredients in Thai Turmeric Chicken

This is one of those recipes that tastes like it’s got way more ingredients in it that it does. I get a secret thrill out of finding recipes like this!!

For the juiciest, stickiest chicken with the best glaze, bone-in thighs are best. But I’ve provided directions for breast and other cuts.

Chicken – As noted above, skin-on, bone-in thighs are best because the time it takes for the skin to go sticky and golden is the same time it takes for the inside to cook through to juicy perfection. Leaner, boneless cuts, like breast and boneless thigh, cook through faster, before the surface has a chance to caramelise. However, I’ve provided directions for these – and you could always pan fry instead! Drumsticks are also an excellent, economical option – these work perfectly as a direct substitute.
Turmeric powder – Key flavour and colour for this dish. This is what makes this Thai Turmeric chicken!!
Fish sauce – Secret ingredient! Adds salt with extra layers of flavour so this otherwise simple marinade isn’t bland.
Oyster sauce – Second secret ingredient! Adds sweetness with savoury undertones.
Sugar – For extra sweetness.
Garlic – Quite a decent wack!
Pepper – I like the flavour white pepper brings to this but you can substitute with black pepper.

How to make Thai Turmeric Chicken

Pop this in the marinade tonight then bake it tomorrow! Marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Then bake and baste until golden and sticky (45 minutes).

Mix the marinade in a bowl – garlic, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and turmeric.
Marinade the chicken for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Bake on a lined tray for 50 minutes until the surface is sticky and delicious.
Baste using the tray juices at the 30 minute mark….
Then baste again at the 40 minute mark and pop it back in for a final 10 minutes to caramelise the surface.
Garnish with fresh coriander/cilantro leave if you want (it’s just for looks), then serve using the pan juices as a sauce!

What to serve with Thai Turmeric Chicken

Serve this with a pile of steaming jasmine or coconut rice and plain chunks of cucumber and tomato, something you commonly see served as a vegetable side all over Thailand. The fresh crunch of cucumber and juiciness of tomato is a nice contrast to the sweet-savoury-meatiness of the chicken, with the added bonus that you don’t have to bother with a dressing. I’m not going to argue with that!

Though, if you are a better person than me and would like to make more of an effort for your side salad, you could toss any fresh or steamed greens with Asian Sesame Dressing (for a quick option). For a more substantial side salad, try Thai Chicken Salad minus the chicken, or Thai Beef Salad minus the beef (I love the dressing of these salads).

And here are some more options for things to serve on the side:

Suggestions for sides

Coconut Rice (fluffy, not gluey!)

Green Papaya Salad

Thai Fried Rice

Pineapple Fried Rice (Thai)

Thai Prawn, Mango and Avocado Noodle Salad

Supreme Soy Noodles (NEW recipe – finally!)

Garlic rice

Or, eat it street food style – just grab the chicken with your hands and munch it on the go. You know I did! (Though the vision is slightly different – in my kitchen at home in my scruffy apron, rather than the bustling streets of Thailand.😂)

– Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Back to the old-style hands only video for this one! Ran out of time to do the new style with me and Dozer in it.

Thai Turmeric Chicken (Gai Yang Khamin)

Recipe video. This is based on a popular southern Thailand street food that's typically made with a butterflied chicken grilled over smokey coals. It's sweet but has complexity owing to the simple but clever marinade.

Here, I'm making a home version using the marinade for bone-in chicken thighs instead and baked it in my boring oven. I miss the charcoal flavour but it's still lip smackingly delicious! The tumeric powder really makes it.

Course BBQ/Grilling, Dinner

Cuisine Thai

Keyword Thai chicken, thai marinade, turmeric chicken

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Marinade 3

Total Time 3 50

Servings

Calories 505cal

Author Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

5 large chicken thighs, skin-on, bone-in (~1.2kg/2.4lb) (Note 1)

Marinade

4 garlic cloves , finely minced or crushed using garlic press
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp white pepper , ground (sub black)
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1/4 cup brown sugar (tightly packed cup)

Instructions

Marinade chicken – Mix Marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat. Marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced).
Prepare – Line a tray with baking paper/parchment paper. Place chicken on the tray, skin side up. Scrape all Marinade out of th bowl and dab onto chicken.
Bake for 40 minutes, basting at the 30 minute and 40 minute mark using the tray juices to make it golden brown and sticky, and rotate the tray as needed for even colour.
Increase the oven temperature to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan-forced). Pop the chicken back in for a final 10 minutes to caramelise the skin.
Rest for 3 minutes before serving with jasmine or coconut rice, and plain chunks of tomato and cucumber the Thai way!

Notes

1. Chicken cuts – For the oven, bone-in thighs are best because they remain juicy with the oven time needed to caramelise the skin nicely. Drumsticks run a close second (use around the same weight).

Next best is boneless thighs, then bringing up the rear is tenderloin and breast (recommend adding 1 tbsp oil into the marinade). Use around 750g/1.5lb for any of these cuts.

2. Cooking methods – This recipe can be cooked on the BBQ, stove or baked. Take care on the stove and BBQ as the sugar burns, so use medium heat.

Stove – Heat a skillet over medium heat. Place skin side down and cover with a lid. Cook for 5 minutes or until the skin is dark golden. Then turn and cover with a lid again. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes until cooked through, basting the skin with the residual marinade in the bowl.
BBQ – use medium heat and cook for around 15 minutes in total, basting the skin with the marinade in the bowl).
Other cuts:
– Drumsticks: Bake 50 minutes.
– Skinless boneless thighs: Bake 20 – 25 minutes, or stove/BBQ for 5 minutes each side on medium.
– Breast: Bake for 20 minutes, or stove/BBQ for around 5 minutes on each side on medium.

3. Recipe source: Slightly adapted from this Tumeric Chicken recipe from Real Thai Recipes.

Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings. This does not take into account the fat that is rendered out when cooking.

Nutrition

Originally published November 2015. Updated with sparkling new photos with a recipe video added and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added!SaveSaveSaveSave

Life of Dozer

When Dozer sings.

(Aka annoying, persistent bark that he quickly realised is a highly effective way to get me to play with him, on command. #sucker)

The post Thai Turmeric Chicken appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Spicy Wontons in Chilli Sauce – Din Tai Fung!

Nagi — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +0000

All Din Tai Fung fans know how good their Spicy Wontons are. Here’s my copycat! Wontons served in a spicy, savoury, homemade chilli sauce. Easy. Fast. OBSESSED.

Serve with fried rice and Ginger Bok Choy to create your own little restaurant experience.

Din Tai Fung’s famous Spicy Wontons!

Ahhh, wontons. I love those bite size dumplings with irresistible slippery flappy bits. I love them in soup form. One of my ultimate 10 minutes convenience meals.

But my favourite way is with a spicy chilli oil sauce. Specifically, the Din Tai Fung version, a global dumpling chain that declares itself makers of the best dumplings in the world (and many people agree!)

The Din Tai Fung chilli sauce for wontons is less oily, less vinegary and slightly less spicy than standard Chinese dumpling houses. Because of this, they are generous with the amount of sauce so you can eat each slippery, plump, juicy wonton with a spoonful of the sauce without blowing your head off with a chilli explosion.

Any other Din Tai Fung devotees reading this who can vouch for how good they are?? I LOVE ‘EM!

The spicy chilli sauce

The key, unsurprisingly, to the awesomeness that is the Din Tai Fung Spicy Wontons is their secret chilli sauce. Team RecipeTin is mighty proud that we cracked the code!

While easy recipes will use just chilli oil and maybe some chilli paste or chilli crisp, the reason Din Tai Fung’s sauce is so tasty it because it’s flavoured with garlic, spices and sauces. It’s also got a lovely savouriness to it, with more flavour than what you can get from just using salt or soy sauce.

I won’t say ours is a dead ringer but it’s very, very close. Actually, Team RecipeTin prefers ours to Din Tai Fung’s because it’s got fresher flavours, it’s less oily, and it’s not as sweet. Intentionally!

What you need to make the chilli sauce

Chinese chicken stock powder – The secret ingredient! It’s the tastier salt. It’s got a cleaner, less artificial flavour than Western chickens stock powders. In fact, when I run out of liquid chicken stock/broth, I use Chinese stock powder mixed with water, over western chicken stock powders.
I use Knorr brand, yellow can with a green lid. Get it at any Asian grocery store here in Australia, it’s so common, and good value, a little bit goes far. Substitute with any regular chicken stock powder, or crumbled bouillon cube.

Chinese chicken stock powder. I prefer this over Western brands – cleaner, less artificial flavour.

Chilli oil – Any Chinese brand red chilli oil (check the label). Chili oils vary in spiciness between Asian countries, so best to stick with Chinese as in my experience, they are relatively consistent in spiciness between brands.
Alternatives – Chilli crisp will also work here but obviously adds lots more crispy “bits” into the sauce and less oil! For a non spicy option, substitute some or all with sesame oil (toasted, the brown oil, not yellow un-toasted). Obviously no longer spicy, but a lovely sesame-forward flavour!
Sichuan pepper – Whiteish pepper powder that has a “cold” spiciness to it, used in famous dishes like Kung Pao chicken. I use pre-ground for convenience here because it’s a small amount, just 1/4 teaspoon. Kudos to anyone who makes their own: toast, grind, sift, measure!
Chinese Five Spice Powder – Blend of (you guessed it!) five spices that is sold at regular grocery stores, in the dried spices aisle.
Chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) – Takes the sauce to “pretty spicy” range but very enjoyable for people who love spicy Asian food. Omit, or stir in at the end bit by bit, for less spicy.
Soy sauce – Use either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.
Garlic – Fresh (don’t talk to me about jarred!), finely minced with a knife or use a garlic crusher.
Rice vinegar – For a touch of tang, to balance out the other flavours. Substitute with any clear vinegar, or Chinese black vinegar.
Sugar – Just a small touch to mimic the flavour of the Din Tai Fung chilli sauce. Though ours is less sweet than theirs, I actually find the Din Tai Fung one a little too sweet.

The wontons

You can use any wontons you want, homemade or store bought! Though there’s a hierarchy, unsurpsingly. Homemade wontons trumps Asian store frozen wontons trump regular grocery store wontons.

There is no shame in buying wontons. Frozen are pretty good these days! The classic is pork and prawns/shrimp (this is the filling in my wontons recipe). But feel free to use any type of wonton.

Homemade wontons – I always have a stash in the freezer!

How to make Din Tai Fung’s Spicy Wontons

Ready to see how easy it is to make? Here we go!

Sauce flavourings – Put the spices and garlic into a metal or heat-proof bowl (garlic, red chilli flakes, Sichuan pepper, five spice powder, sugar and stock powder).
Heat oils – Heat the chilli oil and vegetable oil in a small pan until hot.
Sizzle! Pour the hot oil over the garlic etc. Enjoy the sizzle! But don’t worry, it’s not scary, it doesn’t spit. Then give it a quick mix.
Mix in soy and liquids – Next, whisk in the soy sauce, vinegar and a little hot water which we use to dilute the otherwise very intense flavoured sauce. Too intense to slop up spoonfuls with the wontons!
And that’s it! Just set aside until ready to use. It’s fine if it cools down, the heat from the wontons will reheat it.

Cook your homemade or store-bought wontons in boiling water. You will know when they’re done because they will rise to the surface (they sink to the bottom when raw). Freshly made non-frozen wontons will cook in 4 minutes and frozen ones will cook in 6 to 8 minutes. Don’t thaw, just plonk them in frozen!
Sauce them! Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked wontons directly from the water into a serving bowl. Then pour over the chilli sauce, sprinkle with a little green onion (if you want) and EAT!
(PS If you’re brave, add an extra drizzle of chilli oil. I like to be brave. )

Scooping up a good spoonful of the sauce with every wonton is essential here. In fact, as mentioned earlier, the sauce is intentionally designed as such. Just shovel the whole spoonful in and eat in one mouthful!

This really is very similar to the Din Tai Fung spicy wontons. Though, as noted above, less sweet and less oily. Both good things!

Big shout out to my brother and our Chef JB for doing the legwork to crack the code! You’d be surprised how many iterations it took before we were all in agreement it was as good / better than Din Tai Fung’s. It’s not a hard recipe to make, but getting the ratios just right and figuring out the flavourings was a challenge. The Chinese stock powder was the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

Spicy Asian Food Lovers, rejoice! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Spicy Wontons – Din Tai Fung!

Recipe video above. Everybody knows Din Tai Fung* has the best Spicy Wontons. Here's my copy-cat! Very specific mix of spices, it's less spicy, less vinegary and more savoury than typical Chinese dumpling houses, designed so you can slop up every bit of that tasty sauce with the wontons without blowing your head off! So, so, very good!

* Global dumpling restaurant chain that declares itself the world's best dumplings. Many Sydney-siders would not disagree.

Course Mains, Starter

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword spicy wontons, wontons in chili oil

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Total Time 15

Servings wontons

Calories 72cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Wontons:

10 – 12 wontons , preferably homemade else store bought. Frozen: DO NOT THAW (Note 1)
1 tbsp green onion , sliced then roughly chopped, for garnish
Extra chilli oil , for drizzling (Note 5)

Chilli oil sauce for wontons:

2 garlic cloves , very finely minced
1 tsp caster / superfine sugar (sub regular sugar)
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes (red pepper flakes), OPTIONAL, for spicy food lovers (Note 2)
1/4 tsp sichuan pepper powder (Note 3)
1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder (Note 4)
1/2 tsp Chinese chicken stock powder , or regular western stock powder (Note 5)
2 tbsp Chinese chilli oil (⚠️ Note 5), adj for spiciness (sub with sesame oil)
1 tbsp vegetable oil (sub canola, peanut or other natural oil)
2 1/2 tsp light soy sauce , or all-purpose soy (Note 6)
1 tsp rice vinegar (sub other clean vinegar)
2 1/2 tbsp hot water (just tap is fine)

Instructions

Chilli oil sauce for wontons:

Mix spices – Put the garlic, sugar, chilli flakes, sichuan pepper, five spices and stock powder in a medium mixing bowl.
Heat oil – Heat the chilli oil and vegetable oil in a small frying pan over medium heat until hot. Pour over garlic mixture. Enjoy the sizzle! (Don't worry, it doesn't spit)
Add sauces: – Whisk in soy sauce, rice vinegar and hot water. The oil will remain a little separated on top. Set aside while you make wontons.

Serving:

Cook wontons – Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add wontons and cook until they float: 4 minutes for freshly made, 6 to 8 minutes from frozen.
Assemble – Transfer to serving dish using a slotted spoon. Pour over sauce, add an extra drizzle of chilli oil (if you dare!), sprinkle with green onion. Serve immediately!

Notes

SPICE note: Pretty spicy, not blow-your-head-off. To make this kid-friendly, omit the chilli flakes and sub the chilli oil with sesame oil.

1. Homemade wontons trump Asian store frozen wontons, trump regular grocery store wontons. If I don’t have homemade wontons in the freezer, it makes me insecure so I’ll do an emergency run to the Asian store.

Classic wonton filling is pork and prawns/shrimp (this is the filling in my wontons recipe). But feel free to use any type of wonton!

2. Chilli flakes – Takes the sauce to “pretty spicy” range but very enjoyable for people who love spicy Asian food. Omit, or stir in at the end bit by bit, for less spicy.

3. Sichuan pepper – Whitish pepper powder that has a “cold” spiciness to it, used in famous dishes like Kung Pan chicken. I use pre-ground for convenience here because it’s a small amount. Kudos to anyone who makes their own: toast, grind, sift, measure.

4. Chinese Five Spice Powder – blend of (you guessed it!) five spices that is sold at regular grocery stores, in the dried spices aisle.

5. Chinese chicken stock powder (photo in post) – Slightly cleaner, less artificial flavour than Western chickens stock powders. I use Knorr brand, yellow can with a green lid. Read in post for more info, I am a fan! It’s my go-to sub for liquid stock.

6. Chilli oil – Stick to a Chinese brand to be safe (unless you have one you know) as chili oils vary in spiciness between Asian countries. In my experience, Chinese chilli oils are relatively consistent in spiciness. Chilli crisp will also work here but obviously adds lots more crispy “bits” into the sauce and less oil!

LESS SPICY OPTION: sub some or all with sesame oil (toasted, the brown oil, not yellow un-toasted). Obviously no longer spicy, but a lovely sesame-forward flavour!

7. Soy sauce – Use either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.

8. Leftovers – Like all dumplings, wontons are best served freshly made but will last 3 days in the fridge. Microwave reheating is best, so they stay nice and juicy.

Nutrition per wonton, assuming 12 wontons and all the sauce is consumed.

Nutrition

Life of Dozer

Daily situation.

The post Spicy Wontons in Chilli Sauce – Din Tai Fung! appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Bok Choy in Ginger Sauce

Nagi — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +0000

My favourite way to cook bok choy is with a lovely shiny, ginger sauce. Great way to load up on leafy Asian greens quickly and easily! On the table in 5 minutes, serve over fluffy rice or over noodles in soup.

My favourite bok choy recipe

I’ve shared many stir fries using bok choy but I’ve never done one where it takes centre stage. Which is a bit of an omission on my part because today’s recipe is one that I use rather frequently in my day-to-day life. It’s just a really tasty, quick way to cook up a big load of leafy Asian greens. It’s a staple vegetable dish on the menu of everyday Chinese restaurants.

Saucy is the key! That ginger sauce will make any vegetable scoff-able. The Chinese are very clever cooks!

What you need to make Bok Choy in Ginger Sauce

Here’s what you need to make this bok choy recipe.

Bok Choy (or other Asian greens!)

I’m using baby bok choy for today’s recipe but you can use almost all leafy Asian greens such as pak choy and choy sum.

Size – I like to use small(ish) bok choy if I can find it, usually labelled “baby bok choy”, because it is more tender and sweet. I classify them “baby” up to around 17cm/7″ long. The other side benefit is that you can cook the leaves whole without separating the stem from the leafy part which looks nice.

Much longer than this and you end up in a spaghetti-type situation (I see hot ginger sauce being slapped around your mouth!) unless you cut the leafy part from the stem.

Other Asian greens

The cooking method in this recipe works great for pretty much any Asian greens. You just need to tweak the steaming time to suit the one you’re using. Here are some other common Asian greens that are ideal to use for this recipe – pak choy (full size and baby!) and choy sum.

And here’s how to cut each of these types of Asian greens for this recipe. For the longer ones, just cut into pieces as long or short as you want. For smaller ones, keep the leaves whole!

Gai lan, also known as Chinese broccoli, will also work but because the stem is a little firmer (like ordinary broccoli texture), it will take a little longer to steam-cook. Though, if Gai Lan is what you have, my favourite way to cook it is with Oyster Sauce, yum cha style – stacked and doused with sauce! Recipe here.

Sauce

The sauce is a classic Chinese stir fry sauce that is nice and shiny. It’s fairly light in colour compared to other stir fry sauces which is common at Chinese restaurants. It suits vegetable dishes – we don’t want to weigh down leafy greens with overly salty, intensely flavoured sauces.

But, let me be clear, this sauce is definitely not bland!! It’s an excellent, tasty rice-soaking sauce!

Oyster sauce – A very common Asian sauce found in the Asian aisle of grocery stores that is used liberally in Chinese, Thai and other Asian cooking. Sweet and savoury packed into one magical bottle, it’s key to this otherwise simple sauce not being bland and boring. Substitute with vegetarian oyster sauce (fairly commonly found these days) or hoisin sauce (you’ll get a hint of Chinese five spice flavour which is lovely too!)
Chinese cooking wine (“Shaoxing wine”) is an essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Asian sauces, adds depth of flavour. More information on it here. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic substitutes – swap both the cooking wine AND water with low sodium chicken broth/stock.
Sesame oil (toasted) – Use toasted sesame oil which is brown and has more flavour than untoasted (which is yellow). Default sesame oil sold in Australia is toasted, untoasted is harder to find.
Soy sauce – Use either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.
Cornflour / cornstarch – Thickens the stir fry sauce and also makes it shiny! Flour, on the other hand, doesn’t make sauces shiny. Food trivia for the day!
White pepper is the pepper of choice in most Chinese stir fry sauces as it keeps the sauce free of (unsightly!😂) black pepper speckles. But I promise switching a pinch of white pepper for black pepper will not ruin your dish!!

How to cook Bok Choy

Bok choy cooks so quickly it can be pan roasted, steamed or boiled. But my favourite way is to combine both pan-roasting and steaming. You get the lovely sautéed gingery oil coating the bok choy before steaming it in just 45 seconds in the pan. The sauce is poured in at the end and literally takes 30 seconds to thicken!

Sauce – Mix the cornflour/cornstarch with everything except the water until lump free, then mix in the water. Why? Because it’s easier to dissolve cornflour in less liquid. If there’s too much liquid, you end up with pesky cornflour lumps.
Sauté ginger in the oil for a minute to soften and also to flavour the oil. The ginger won’t cook much further once everything else is added.
TIP: Start the ginger in a cold pan to extend the oil-infusion time!

Toss bok choy in the pan for about 15 seconds to coat it in the gingery oil. I recommend using 2 spatulas, one a rubber spatula so you can scoop up the little bits of ginger.
Water – Then pour over 1/4 cup of water. This will create the steam to cook the bok choy.

45 second steam – Place the lid on then steam for just 45 seconds until the stem is partially cooked. Bok choy cooks really, really quickly! And we still have the sauce to go so we don’t want it to be fully soft at this stage.
Doneness – The stem should still have a soft crunch to it, but not be crisp like when raw. If it’s soft all the way through, it turns into mush. Not pleasant!
Sauce – Give the sauce a quick stir to mix in any cornflour settled on the bottom. Then pour it over the bok choy and toss for just 30 seconds or until it changes from murky to a clear glossy sauce that thickens slightly and coats the bok choy.
Thickness adjustment – If the sauce evaporates too quickly and gets too thick, just add a splash of water to loosen it up! This can happen if there’s too much heat in the pan or if your vegetables are a bit past their prime so don’t release much water when steaming.
And that’s it! How quick was that? Just transfer the bok choy and every drop of that delicious sauce onto a serving plate then serve!

Serving

The obvious role for this plate of tasty vegetable goodness is as a side dish. But I exaggerate not when I say that I’ll happily have this as a meal, just by itself. Proof above. Look at that ginger-sauce-rice-soaking situation!!! Try telling me that’s not meal worthy! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Bok Choy in Ginger Sauce

Recipe video above. My favourite way to cook bok choy is with a lovely shiny, ginger sauce. Great way to load up on leafy Asian greens quickly and easily! Be careful not to overcook the bok choy, it cooks really fast. Pan-steam for just 45 seconds, then it finishes cooking in 30 seconds with the sauce.

Recipe also works great with other Asian Greens like pak choy, choy sum (see Note 1). Make this ginger version one day then garlic the next! Serve as a side, with fluffy rice or over noodles in soup.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Keyword asian greens recipe, bok choy recipe, how to cook bok choy

Prep Time 3

Cook Time 3

Total Time 6

Servings – 5 as a side

Calories 81cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

6 small bok choys , up to ~17cm/7″ long, or other Asian greens (Note 1 + photos in post)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup ginger , finely julienned (or 1 tbsp garlic)
1/4 cup water

Sauce (Note 5 for Charlie shortcut!):

3 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce , or all-purpose soy (Note 2)
1 tsp oyster sauce (sub vegetarian oyster sauce)
2 tsp Chinese cooking wine (Note 3)
1 tsp sesame oil , toasted
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp cooking salt
Pinch white pepper

Instructions

Cutting – Trim the base of the bok choy then separate all the leaves. Leave the delicate baby bok choy in the centre intact, it's precious! Cut giant stems in half lengthwise so they are all roughly the same size. Rinse in colander, shake off excess water (don't need to dry fully).
Sauce – Stir Sauce ingredients except water in a jug until cornflour is dissolved. (Easier to make lump free with less liquid). Then stir in water.
Gingery oil – Put the ginger and oil in a large non-stick pan. Turn onto medium heat. Once the ginger starts sizzling, sauté for 1 minute until it turns light golden and is a bit floppy. Add bok choy then use 2 spatulas to toss the ginger for around 15 seconds to coat.
Steam – Turn heat up to medium, pour water over. Cover with lid and steam for just 45 seconds.
Sauce – Remove lid (bok choy will still be a bit underdone), pour in sauce, toss for 30 seconds until sauce changes from murky to clear, and thickens. Bok choy should be just floppy but still soft crunch, not mushy. If your sauce gets too thick (Note 4), add a tiny splash of water and mix.
Serve – Pour the bok choy and all the sauce onto a serving plate, then eat!

Notes

1. Bok Choy & other asian greens – can use other leafy Asian greens, such as pak choy, choy sum, baby and full size. For short ones, like the pictured baby bok choy, just trim the base and separate the leaves (keep stem and leafy part attached). For long ones, cut into 7.5cm/3″ (ish) lengths (see photos in post). If the stems are really thick, cut in half. Toss the stems in first to give them a head start, then add the leafy part just at the end before adding water to steam.

Recipe will work with gai lan (Chinese broccoli) too, just get the stem going first (it’s thicker so will take longer to cook) and steam it for a little longer (around 2 minutes in total).

2. Soy sauce – Use either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.

3. Chinese cooking wine (“Shaoxing wine”) is an essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Asian sauces, adds depth of flavour. More info on it here. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic sub – sub both the cooking wine AND water with low sodium chicken broth/stock.

4. Sauce relies on some water coming out of the bok choy as it steams. If your bok choy is old and shrivelled, not enough water will come out. Easy fix – just add a tiny splash of water!

5. Charlie option – To make this using Charlie (my all-purpose stir fry sauce), mix 2 tablespoons of Charlie with 1/4 cup water. Then use as the Sauce!

6. Leftovers will keep for 2 days but the vegetables do tend to get watery/floppy.

Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.

Nutrition

Life of Dozer

Before…..

….and after he realised what it was:

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Garlic Noodles

Nagi — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 06:00:00 +0000

These extraordinarily delicious, yet simple Garlic Noodles are a fusion Asian dish made famous by Thanh Long restaurant in San Francisco, via Kenji Lopez-Alt. Top with a fried egg and vegetables for a quick meal. Also makes an excellent Asian side dish for “anything”!

Garlic noodles

This is yet another example of an excellent fusion Asian dish that brings together Asian and Western ingredients to create something incredibly tasty. Big garlic flavours – with a secret ingredient: parmesan. Yes, you read that right! Parmesan. Mixed with Asian sauces (oyster, fish sauce and Maggi seasoning or soy sauce) and a stack of garlic, it adds a punch of savoury flavour when it melts into the sauce. And it goes amazingly well with the Asian flavours!

Ingredients in Garlic Noodles

Here’s what you need to make Garlic Noodles. There are lots of noodle options but my favourite are ramen / noodles cakes, as pictured below.

Noodles – As mentioned above, this recipe can be made with any noodles, dried or fresh (from fridge). It’s pictured below made with hokkien noodles. It can even be made with spaghetti – there’s plenty of recipes that use pasta!! But my favourite are ramen / noodles cakes, like those pictured above. The wrinkly nature of those noodles just makes the sauce cling better.
As for spaghetti – it works and tastes fine, but pasta doesn’t have the same chew that noodles do. I’d still plough ahead if I only had pasta though!
Garlic – Lots. We need 2 whole tablespoons of finely minced garlic. The garlic flavour is unmissable in this!
Fish sauce – The savoury sauce that’s got more layers of flavour than soy sauce. Though, if you don’t have it, soy sauce can be substituted. Use light or all-purpose soy sauce, not dark soy sauce (too strong). More on different soy sauce types here.
Maggi Seasoning is a savoury Asian sauce, I think of it like soy sauce + an Asian Worcestershire sauce. Find it in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores (Coles, Woolies) or Asian stores. It’s used for noodles, stir fries and it’s also the secret ingredient in Banh Mi Sauce.
Substitute with soy sauce (light or all-purpose, not dark soy). Though note if you substitute both the fish sauce and Maggie Seasoning you will start losing flavour in this dish.

Maggi Seasoning – think of it like soy sauce, but with more flavour!

Parmesan – The “secret ingredient” that adds a punch of savoury flavour and saltiness! There is subtle parmesan flavour in the dish, it’s not the dominant flavour.
Be sure to finely shred the parmesan using a microplane or similar so it melts seamlessly into the sauce. If you use store bought pre-grated (sandy type or fine batons) it won’t melt as well. But if that’s all you’ve got, I’d still make this!
Butter, not oil. Tastier!
Green onion for freshness.

These garlic noodles made with hokkien noodles. Delish!

How to make Garlic Noodles

In the video, you’ll see me boil the noodles then make the sauce using the same saucepan. It works fine because the sauce barely takes a minute to make. But sometimes, I’ll get the sauce going while the noodles are boiling then toss it together in a pan. Do what works for you.

Reserve noodles water – Cook the noodles per packet directions. Just before draining, scoop out a mugful of the cooking water (this is to make the sauce later). Take at least 1/2 cup or more – you need 1/4 cup for the recipe plus extra just in case.
Drain the noodles then leave in the colander while you make the sauce (it’s barely a minute).

Sauté garlic – In the same saucepan, melt the butter then sauté the garlic for 30 seconds or until it smells ridiculously good.
Sauce – Add the fish sauce, Maggi seasoning, Oyster sauce and 1/4 cup reserved noodle cooking water. Stir to combine the sauce ingredients, there’s no need to simmer or cook it.
The noodle cooking water is what makes the sauce – the starch in the water helps thicken the sauce so it clings to the noodles.
Noodles & parmesan – Add the noodles and parmesan then toss for 30 seconds or until the sauce is coating the noodles rather than pooling at the bottom of the saucepan. The parmesan will melt seamlessly into the sauce. The noodles should be slick and loose. If it gets sticky and thick (because the heat is too high / tossed for longer than needed), just add a splash of noodle cooking water to loosen it up!
Toss through green onion then serve immediately!

To serve

Make a quick meal out of these garlic noodles by adding a fried egg or slices of boiled egg, plus a side of greens. Pictured at the top is broccolini which I boiled with the noodles then tossed with Asian Sesame Dressing (which you always have in the fridge, right!).

Otherwise, this is literally the perfect side dish that will go with “any” Asian mains that needs a starchy side. I see…..Sticky Chinese Wings, Chinese BBQ Pork, Chinese BBQ Chicken, Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Steaks, Golden Turmeric Fish or Asian Glazed Barramundi! I’m sure you’re visualising many other options. Tell me what you see! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Garlic Noodles

Recipe video above. Quick & easy, this is a fusion Asian dish made famous by Thanh Long restaurant in San Francisco, via Kenji Lopez-Alt. Big garlic flavours and Asian sauces are combined with parmesan which gives it an extra savoury punch. Makes these noodles lip smackingly good!

Add a fried egg and broccolini cooked with the noodles for a quick meal. Or serve as a side with any Asian meal!

Course Noodles, Side, Side Dish

Cuisine asian fusioin, Asian-esque

Keyword garlic noodles

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 6

Servings

Calories 450cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Noodles:

140g/ 5oz dried ramen or noodle cakes (2 cakes) – Note 1 for other options

Sauce:

30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp (6 cloves) garlic, finely minced (yep, a lot!)
2 tsp oyster sauce (sub vegetarian oyster sauce)
2 tsp fish sauce (sub soy sauce – Note 2)
1 1/2 tsp Maggi seasoning (sub soy sauce – Note 3)
1/4 cup noodle cooking water , more if needed (Note 4)
1/4 cup (tightly packed) finely grated parmesan (freshly grated, Note 5)
1/4 cup green onion , thinly sliced (~1 stem)

Cups – Metric

Instructions

Noodles – Cook the noodles in a large saucepan per packet directions. Scoop out ~1/2 cup cooking water. Strain noodles and set aside.
Sauce – Melt butter in the same saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring until soft. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce, Maggi seasoning and 1/4 cup cooking water. Stir to combine.
Toss – Add cooked noodles, parmesan and green onion. Toss until the noodles are all coated, and the sauce is not pooled in the bottom of the saucepan. Add more cooking water 1 tbsp at the time, if needed to loosen the noodles.
Serve immediately!
Serving suggestion: fried egg and broccolini cooked with the noodles*, tossed with Asian Sesame Dressing you always have in your fridge.
* Broccolini takes about 3 minutes, so put it into the water before/after/with the noodles depending on the noodle cooking time.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Kenji Lopez-Alt from his cookbook The Wok.

1. Noodles – I like this best with ramen noodles / noodle cakes ie wrinkly, because the garlic bits and sauce clings better. Fresh egg noodles (ie from fridge section, yellow) are a close second – thick or thin (like hokkien, lo mein), use 220g/8oz – or dried egg noodles (amount per recipe).

Angel hair pasta or spaghetti can also be used (amount per recipe) but I prefer noodles as pasta doesn’t have the same “chew” as noodles. If I only had pasta, I’d still make this! Rice noodles also works but texture is different.

2. Fish sauce will give the best savoury flavour here (doesn’t taste fishy!) but can be substituted with soy sauce (light or all-purpose, not dark soy).

3. Maggi Seasoning is a savoury Asian sauce, I think of it like soy sauce + an Asian Worcestershire sauce. Find it in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores (Coles, Woolies) or Asian stores. Staple sauce in South East Asia! Sub with soy sauce (light or all-purpose, not dark soy).

4. Cooking water – This is what creates the sauce that coats the noodles. The starch in the water helps thicken the sauce.

5. Freshly grated parmesan required for smooth melt that disappears into the noodles. Store bought sandy or finely shredded grated won’t melt as perfectly but if that’s all you’ve got, do it!

6. Leftovers will keep for 3 days in the fridge, loosen with a touch of water.

Nutrition per serving, assuming 2 servings.

Nutrition

More quick noodle recipes to try!

Buy a big bag of noodle cakes so you can make these with the leftover noodles:

Quick Asian Beef Ramen Noodles

12 Minute Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles (mince)

Chilli Crisp Noodles

Teriyaki Salmon Noodles

Mie Goreng (Mee Goreng – Indonesian noodles)

Asian Mushroom Ramen Noodles

Chicken Vegetable Ramen Noodles

Noodles

Life of Dozer

I returned yesterday from a long overdue but unfortunately very short trip to Tokyo for family reasons. Dozer was, as always, sent to the golden retriever boarder’s place for his own holiday. She sends me daily updates. Here he is at the beach, looking far too happy despite being separated from me. I’m sure he’s weeping on the inside. 😂

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