Bittermelon in Miso Sesame Sauce

I think bittermelons are under-appreciated given their nutritious value.  The name for starters, will turn many people off.  It is also not much of a looker.  I've recently tried a new way to cook it and I do prefer it to the black bean sauce recipe as this is lighter and somehow more refreshing.  We just stumbled upon a white bittermelon over the weekend at a farmers' market, so do watch this space for yet another bittermelon recipe.

Bittermelon in Miso Sesame Sauce

- 1 bittermelon

- 1 tbsp organic white miso paste

- 1 tsp mirin

- as much white sesame seeds as you want

Cut the bittermelon into manageable sections (about 2-3 inches long) and halve it to scrap out the spongy, seedy center with a spoon.

Slice the bittermelon as thinly as possible so it can cook quicker.

Heat up a wok and drizzle in some oil (whatever you fancy).  Stir fry the sliced bittermelon on high heat for about 2 minutes.  The bittermelon should be cooked through but still retaining some crunch.

In a bowl, mix the miso sauce with the mirin and about 1 tsp of water.  Make sure to dissolve the miso into the liquid so it becomes more sauce-like.  If you don't have mirin, you can skip it and add another tsp of water and a tiny bit of sugar for taste.  I've noted above to use organic miso paste because I've seen many non-organic ones using msg as one of their ingredients.  Yes, msg imparts that umami taste that many crave but it isn't the best stuff for you so try to omit it if possible.

Put the cooked bittermelon into the bowl with the sauce and mix them up so that every slice of the bittermelon will be coated with the sauce.  Sprinkle as much roasted white sesame seeds on it as you like.

DONE!! This is truly a simple, quick and hopefully healthy dish!

Ramen Yukino Ya

There's no shortage of good ramen in southern California.  I've tried most of the ones that hail from the land of the rising sun but I'm always on the lookout for good ramen that I've yet to try.

In comes Ramen Yukino Ya. Reviews on yelp were great and informed us that place is small and fills up quick. So of course I timed our arrival to correspond to the opening time. Also very helpful to know beforehand that it is cash only.

Restaurant is indeed small, probably sits less than 30 pax. Given that we weren't that hungry, we decided to order 1 bowl of spicy miso yukino ya ramen + bowl of stewed pork with rice and gyoza. We also got some hot tea to go with the food. I was rather disappointed that they charge $1 for each hot tea and that they used tea bags instead of loose tea leaves. I mean if I'm gonna be charged for something that is usually free at other restaurants, I would prefer if it was of better quality. 

Food came out pretty quickly. The stewed pork with rice ($2.75) was a small serving, more like a side dish. The pork was finely shredded and top with pickled ginger and green onions. The pork resembled chinese pork floss but was way more moist. Nothing really special but adds variety to a meal if you don't want to just eat ramen.

Next came the gyozas. 6 pieces for $5.50. It was pan fries very well and when you bite into it, it is still juicy inside. I would say the filling included chives (or the likes of it) and pork. Very tasty.

The star of the meal came soon. The red broth was enticing but didn't look oily. We added some garlic soy sauce they provided at the table.  You can't really taste the garlic but if you wanted a stronger flavor, ask for a garlic presser and add the minced garlic to your noodles. It didn't quite compare to Ippudo NY's black garlic oil, but hey, still a pretty good effort. I really enjoyed the spicy miso ramen. It had enough spice, texture of noodles was good and the broth was not very oily. If you get the yukino ya version, you get half an organic onsen egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, green onions, nori, and 2 thick pieces of chashu. To make it spicy you add $0.50 which made our bowl of ramen $8.75 in total. You can also add extra noodles for $1 more. Great value.

Verdict? Will definitely be back but will have ice water the next time round.

Ramen Yukino Ya 

18230 E Gale Ave

City of Industry, CA

626 581 8420

Hours: Tue - Sun 11:30am - 2:30pm & 5:30pm - 9pm

My Lazy / Easy Take on Taco Rice (tako raisu)

What is taco rice? Really? You have to ask me that question? The answer is in the name! It is erm basically taco on rice.

This is an Okinawan dish but the authentic one isn't quite like the one I've posted.  To learn the real way, please head over to No Recipes.  This is my take on it because I was too lazy to defrost any meat and really because this blog's objective is to show you how to make simple yet good meals with the stuff you already have!  Or so I say...

Instead of using sautéd ground beef, I decided to replace it with tofu and egg.  I only had silken tofu on hand, but using firm tofu would work as well but you should pan fry it or broil it to get it slightly toasted and crispy.  I used red leaf lettuce because, you guessed it, that was what was sitting in my fridge.   Feel free to use any greens that can be eaten raw.

Tofu Taco Rice

- Half a block of tofu
- 1 tbsp of soy sauce paste
- 1 tbsp of ketchup
- Tomatoes (amount depends on your preference)
- Raw greens
- 1 fried egg
- Half an avocado
- Mayo (optional)

Slice or cube the tofu.

Fry the egg.

Chop up the tomatoes and the greens.

To a plate of rice, add the tofu and drizzle some soy sauce paste and ketchup on top. Add the tomatoes and greens. Add the fried egg and top it off with the sliced avocado. Squeeze some Japanese mayo aka kwepie if so desired.

Fyi for the cholesterol conscious, I managed to find a yolk less asian mayo which tastes really good at an asian grocery store.

Enjoy your own take on taco rice!

Son of a Gun - West Hollywood

One lazy Sunday afternoon the hubs was browsing the homepage of a certain search engine and saw an article on the best seafood restaurants in the nation. He flipped through it and saw they named Son of a Gun in Los Angeles as one of them. My interest got piqued and I looked through the article and Yelped the restaurant. The pictures of the food looked so enticing. I told hubs he should make reservations for our anniversary dinner there. Fast forward 2 weeks later, we were there waiting excitedly for our dinner.

We got to WeHo around 5+pm on a Saturday afternoon and was lucky to find a street parking spot. Fret not if you can't find streetside parking, Son of a Gun offers valet parking for $5.

We knew what we wanted to order. Lobster roll, shrimp toast and linguine with clams. I would have added the fried chicken sandwich to the mix had we not have awesome Korean fried chicken the day before. The lobster roll and shrimp toast were items almost every diner ordered so of course we have to try it. Linguine with clams was hubs' choice as he had a disappointing experience several weeks ago at another restaurant and wanted to try a winner. We decided to add shishito peppers to our orders so we'd get some greens. Heh. For drinks I ordered a house fermented shandy and hubs got Hitashi Pale Ale.

Our drinks came first and I was wowed by mine. It has apple cider, lemon juice and spiced apple. It tasted like the holidays, so comforting. Next came the fried shishito peppers and shrimp toast. The shrimp toast was beautifully fried to a golden brown. It was small, about 4 sq inch for $11. It was scrumptious. It had shrimp paste some veg and sriracha mayo. The crustacean taste was inviting but not overwhelming. Meal was off to a great start! The shishito peppers were fried with sesame seeds and bonito shreds sprinkled over it. It was served with a lemon garlic aioli $9. While this dish was good, it didn't leave me wanting for more. Serving size was ample though.

Linguine with clams came next. It was such a small serving, probably less than half a regular serving at a regular Italian restaurant for $19. Unfortunately for hubs this dish was not a winner. It was too salty and even if it wasn't, the taste or portion did not justify the price.

Next came the highly anticipated lobster roll. I read reviews saying it can be polished up in 2 bites and figured maybe these people take big bites. But when I saw the size, I understood what they meant. The lobster roll was about 2 inches long. I have to say it was delicious, they were not stingy with the lobster and the bread was pan fried very well and the texture was good. Well worth the $7. Should have ordered 1 each.

We weren't feeling full by the time we finished the 3 dishes so we added another. We decided to go with the country ham with hush puppies $15. The ham was thinly sliced and tasted like prosciutto. The hush puppies were very well seasoned and complimented the ham. The honey butter on the side did nothing for us but then again we are not a huge butter fan.

The meal cost us around $100 including tax and tips. While it was a good experience, we probably will not be making our way here again.

Son of a Gun

8370 West 3rd St

Los Angeles, CA 90048

(323) 782 9033

Cocohodo

Monster Munching, my guide to good food in OC reviewed Cocohodo a couple of weeks back. I didn't realize there was a Korean food/snack place I haven't heard of in OC and was dying to try this especially since the red bean pancake man outside Hmart stopped appearing many months ago.

I bought a mini box which was $5 for 12 pieces. In my haste to order I overlooked the prices for the paper bag packaging. For the same price, I could get 15 pieces in a paper bag. Since I was gonna be the one stuffing my face with it, there was probably no need to get them in a box, but oh well. They have many other sizes too and I'm pretty sure the next time I'm here I will upsize.

I realized I've rambled on for 2 paragraphs without telling you what Cocohodo sells. They sell hodo kwaja which is a batter-like pastry encasing a piece of walnut and sweetened red bean paste. The pastry is in a walnut shell shape and each pastry is individually wrapped in a thin tissue. The batter to filling ratio is low, the red bean paste is not too sweet and the walnut in it just makes me think this is healthy! So, hurry over there and get your little bundles of joy!

Cocohodo
5327 Beach Blvd
Buena Park, CA 90621
(714) 994 5965

Steamed Chicken with various Chinese Goodies

So someone came home with a less than satisfactory blood test results which meant I had to tweak our diet to improve it. Black fungus has been touted to be able to reduce high cholesterol so I was looking for recipes to use this particular ingredient. 

I didn't expect to like this dish so much, but I do. It was easy to fault to prepare and so delicious. It reminded me of those braised chicken wings my mother would make. This is definitely going to be one of the dishes I will keep coming back to when I want a fail proof comfort meal and I hope you will like it as much. Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you off. I just figured since I needed to rehydrated the black fungus I might as well throw in some other stuff as well. You can feel free to opt out any of the dried ingredients. I would recommend including the mushrooms as it soaks up the amazing gravy and is just a joy to bite into.

Steamed Chicken with various Chinese Goodies

- 1 whole free range chicken chopped into pieces
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tbsp premium oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soysauce
- 4 pieces dried shitaki mushroom
- 4-5 pieces black fungus
- 1 tbsp dried wolfberries
- few strands of dried lily buds
- 1 tbsp ginger thinly sliced

Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Put them into a bowl and add the rice wine, soysauce and oyster sauce to it. Massage the marinade into the chicken and leave it in the fridge for an hour. In another bowl, place the dried products and fill it with warm water. Set it aside for about 20 minutes. After 20 mins, wash all the ingredients. Slice the mushroom (sans mushroom stems as they are too tough to be eaten) and black fungus. Place the rehydrated ingredients into the bowl with the chicken. Steam chicken dish for 30mins. You then have a healthy and delicious dish which will have you go mmmmm....

Beach Live Seafood

After sitting for a grueling exam some time ago, I decided to pamper myself a little, so we headed to Buena Park for some Korean sashimi. I've never tried it before and so my love for Korean food compels me to try it at least once. Korean sashimi, hwe, differs from Japanese sashimi in the fact that the fish is still alive right up till you order it. I think fluke is the default fish, but I may be wrong.

When the waitress handed us the menu, I was uncertain which sashimi platter to order as there were 2 types to choose from and the English description was unfortunately not very useful. So, I whipped out my phone and showed the waitress the picture I saw on Yelp and she understood what I wanted and pointed to the second set of sashimi which was $60 for a small set. She added, in halting English, that the set includes rice and soup.

Within moments, she came back with a tray full of banchan (refillable side dishes you usually get at Korean restaurants). We were pleasantly surprised by the variety. There was miso soup, a small bowl of porridge with egg shreds, saba in a sesame citrusy dressing which tasted awesome, sea snails, sliced abalone and edamame. Whoa, I could fill up on these things alone! 

While we were happily filling our bellies with the banchan, our sashimi arrived. The serving was huge! Thin slices of fish sat on shredded radish. I took a slice, placed it on the lettuce they provided and added some dwenjang paste mix which included Korean soybean paste, scallions, garlic and some sesame oil. Mmmm, so good. The texture of the fish is different from Japanese sashimi. It was more toothsome but was just as delicious. Given the gigantic serving, I was barely able to eat my share of the fish and had to concede defeat, leaving hubs to clear the plate.

We were getting ready to pay when the waitress brought out 2 bowls of nurongji, charred bits of rice mixed with tea, a boiling pot of spicy stew and a beautifully broiled mackerel pike. Hubs and I looked at each other, wondering how we're gonna finish these. I took a sip of the spicy soup, despite protests from my bursting belly and widened my eyes, gesturing to hubs to try it too. They gave us a pot of muentang, spicy fish stew. It was so good I couldn't stop. The broiled pike was also good, but not spectacular. While we were unable to finish this last "course" we were definitely happily filled to the brim. For $60 (before tax) this was definitely a worthy meal.

Beach Live Fish Restaurant

5440 Beach Blvd

Buena Park, CA 90621

(714) 521-5555

Mon - Sun 10am - 11pm