Tag Archives: vegetables

Put some long beans in your life

That’s right – it ain’t all about run of the mill string beans these days.  Go to your local Asian greengrocer – or an Asian megamarket, like 99 Ranch Market – and pick up some long beans.  They look like green beans but are about 18″ long and are sold like asparagus, with rubber bands around them.  Like so:

Long beans

Here’s a good way to prepare them:

Long beans in chili garlic sauce

1 1/2 lbs long beans
3 T canola oil
2 heaping T chili garlic sauce (you can buy this in a jar at any Asian market)
2 T soy sauce

1)  Wash and dry the long beans LEAVING ON THE RUBBER BANDS.  Cut into 1 1/2″ lengths starting at the ends that do not have to be trimmed.  You’ll be able to tell by looking.  If you leave the bands on it will be easy to cut them all at the same time with a chef’s knife.  You should be left with 1/4″ of beans at the “bad” end, which you may discard.
2)  Heat the oil (get it really hot) in a wok or rounded pan in which you are able to stir fry.
3)  Add the beans, stir frying for not longer than 5 mins.
4)  Stir in the chili garlic sauce, making sure to keep everything moving.
5)  Finish by stirring in the soy sauce.
6)  Transfer to serving dish and eat ASAP.

Here is what they should look like:

Long beans with chili garlic sauce

When you’re German, it’s all about potatoes

That’s right.  If you have potatoes, oil, salt, pepper, a pan and source of heat, you have  the makings of good eats.

Roast potatoes are a big part of my oeuvre.  They add comfort to a meal, and can serve as a complete meal when paired up with good bread, butter and preserves and maybe an egg.  They are great with creamed spinach, as well, and are fabulous served as a version of patatas bravas, in which case you need to make a good bravas sauce, such as the one in the Cesar cookbook.

Here’s all you have to do:

Roasted potatoes

1)  Wash and dry decent potatoes, like Yukon Gold, but, really, any kind will be OK.
2)  Cut into pieces as large as you like, but I usually make them no more than 1 1/2″ thick.
3)  Lay out in a single layer (with some breathing room) on a sheet pan.
4)  Add a liberal amount of salt (and some other spices, as you like, such as curry powder) to the top of the potatoes.  Don’t worry about distribution.
5)  Pour some canola oil on the potatoes.  Not too much, not too little.  You want a very thin layer on the bottom when all is said and done.
6)  Rub the whole mass together with your hands so that the taters are coated with oil, salt and spices and evenly distributed on the sheet pan.
7)  Bake at 400 deg. F., preferably with convection, until they start to brown.
8)  Turn the potatoes, prying them up carefully with a straight spatula and not allowing the browned parts to stick to the pan.
9)  Back in the oven until crispy outside and soft in the middle.
10)  Sprinkle with a little pepper

Enjoy!

Note that the photo here shows curry powder roast potatoes.

Curry roasted potatoes

Vik’s Chaat in Berkeley CA

Menu board at Vik's Chaat Corner in Berkeley

Menu board at Vik's Chaat Corner in Berkeley

We wanted the antithesis of a turkey dinner today so we went to Vik’s Chaat Shop (726 Allston Way, Berkeley) for some spicy grub.  The weekend is the best time to go to Vik’s because they offer their full menu.  We shared four items:  1).  One kathi kabob.  This is an egg-covered paratha wrap with boneless chicken chunks, onions and cilantro and comes with mint chutney on the side.  Paratha is a relatively thick, flaky, buttery whole wheat flat bread.  2).  One lamb baida roti, a wrap made using a flour roti (another flat bread) and spiced ground lamb filling.  This is a very savory item and I highly recommend it!  3).  One masala dosa.  The dosa is a crepe made of ground rice and dal (lentils) that is often stuffed – in this case with spiced potatoes.  On the side you receive coconut chutney and sambar, a subtly-spicy warm lentil sauce.  This dosa is large and hangs over the plate it is served on.  4).  One bhatura cholle.  We always get this vegetarian item, basically a huge puri (puffed, fried bread made of fermented wheat) served with chick pea curry and Indian pickles,  which are pungent and hot.  The big puri is the bhatura and the chick pea curry is the cholle. 

bhatura cholle at vik's 11-28-08

Bhatura cholle at Vik's Chaat Corner

When you order an assortment to share you wind up with several breads to dip into various sauces and condiments.  For example, most of the dosa stuffing is in the middle so you can tear off plain pieces of the dosa on the ends and apply them to whatever looks good to you on other plates. 

Masala dosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

Masala dosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

I love this place, and it is an antidote to bland food.  Update on 12/5/08:  Steve had off so we went back for lunch and had four different things:   keema samosa, pastry-wrapped minced lamb and peas with mint chutney; bhel puri, a cold dish of puffed rice mixed with potatoes, onions, cilantro and various chutnies, including tamarind, so it’s on the sweet side; uttappam, a thick rice pancake topped with tomatoes, onions and cilantro that comes flat like a pizza with sauces on the side, and lunch special B, which today was chicken do-pyaza.  The lunch specials come with a small serving of the main dish, chapatti (flat whole wheat bread), papadam (thin, crisp, chick pea flour bread), some kind of dal (lentil sauce), rice, raita (cold yogurt sauce) and pickle.  Lunch specials work well when you share because one provides three dipping options for crepes or bread.  The star of the meal was the samosa.  Oh, man, so savory with a deep, rich flavor!  Vik’s has the best samosa I ever ate – and that goes for the vegetarian ones, too, which are stuffed with spiced potatoes.  They manage to get real complexity in their dishes, and each is distinctive.  The potato stuffing in the masala dosa, for example,  is different from the one in the samosa.  The bhel puri was fine, but there was too much of it for two people given its sweetness and our use of it as a condiment.  The uttappam has an interesting texture and the toppings wind up being cooked into it, so you get it dry and can use it to dip into sauce. 

Bhel puri at Vik's Chaat Corner

Bhel puri at Vik's Chaat Corner

 The average cost of an item at Vik’s is in the neighborhood of $5.50, so it’s a great place for a cheap meal, but one thing to be aware of is that almost everything has some heat to it.  This would not be a good place to take people who cannot tolerate a slow, steady, pleasant burn as they eat.  The people who work in this huge industrial space a nice, and service is quick, but they get busy during lunch.  When we arrived today at 11:00 a.m., there was already a line and they had not yet rolled up their metal door.

Keema samosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

Keema samosa at Vik's Chaat Corner

Snacking taters

Little red potatoes steamed with dip

Small red potatoes make a great snack.  Steam them for about 5 minutes, allow to cool, and serve with a dipping sauce.  Treat them gently so you don’t tear the skins – they’re prettier for service that way.  A simple dip is easy to make:  toss a small jar of fire-roasted red peppers, a couple of tablespoons of good mayo, 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, the juice of one lemon and some salt and pepper into your food processor.  Process with the blade until the mass is smooth but not runny.  They love this at my place, particularity during the summer, when I make a variety of dips.  Try to remember that Greek-style yogurt is your friend when it comes to throwing together dipping sauces on the fly.  If nothing else, you can add fresh garlic, lemon, salt and pepper to produce a serviceable dip, but use a yogurt with at least 2% fat or you’ll have no mouthfeel.

Grammy Elaine and NY strips

Warm potato salad in stainless steel bowl

Gramma Elaine is here so we grilled New York strips.  My Mom’s friend, Rita, joined in, as well as Jon, who is spending the weekend, so it was a hoot.  Accompanied by seared fig halves with walnut vinaigrette and warm potato salad a la Chef Erwin Pirolt (one of my cooking school instructors and arguably the most ornery) were the steaks grilled rare by Renate, Sr.  The backyard is a problem, though, in that we just cannot block the sun.  This is a by-product of having a corner house without a real backyard.  We have a couple of market umbrellas rigged up, but to no avail.  I love the space this house has to offer, but I miss my beautiful landscaping at the old Albany house!  We would have been able to eat this meal there in style. 

searing halved  figs in skillet

Searing halved figs in skillet

To make the seared figs, just buy Mission figs, gently wash and dry, cut lengthwise and sear in a hot non-stick pan until browned, but not mushy.  Place them on a platter, cut side up.  Prepare a vinaigrette with 1/3 part orange juice, 2/3 part walnut oil, a splash of lemon juice, a dash each of ground rosemary and onion powder and salt and pepper.  Pour over figs.  Shave a bit of hard Italian cheese, like Asiago, on top, if you like.  Note that I include here photos of the warm potato salad in its first phase of construction, and when it has had time to marinate.  If I were you, I would allow it to do the latter.  By the by, sorry about the large quantities in the recipe, but if you are able to divide, you’ll be fine.  I also show the figs in preparation for those who have not worked with figs in the past.

Renate senior and jon at BBQ in summer of 2008