Instant Pot Konnyaku Noodles in Korean Stew-Chicken or Veggie option

With the smallest kitchen I've ever had and the weather being abnormally cool here still in CA's central valley it's the perfect day to share an Instant Pot recipe! Being a busy working woman means and less prep space means I need to easy to put together recipes (one pot things!) so you might expect to see more of those kinds of recipes. Though I may share a Thai Curry recipe I tried from my cookbook souvenir from fall's trip. 

I had a recipe saved on Pinterest whose link no longer works. Sad day. So to the best of my memory and using another recipe to supplement the flavors, I tried re-creating the former Vons website recipe. I credit the recipe on Pressure Cooking Today called Pressure Cooker Korean Chicken Thighs to help me with the sauce. 

This recipe posting was inspired by my friend Mario giving me some of his extra konnyaku noodles as the when I first made this recipe, the original recipe called for sweet potato zoodles which I could not find and don't have the kitchen tools to make. I hadn't made the effort to go look for more gluten free hoisin sauce or zoodles since. But 1 of 2 ingredients-can't waste it now!

Way back when (2013) for one of my detox months I tried konnyaku  (it also comes a cube you can slice into pieces) so here is a grapefruit salad dressing/salad and a chicken soup . My grandma makes a more traditional salad with it that I am going to have to ask her for!  That will be a goal for June!

Ingredients

1/4 cup hoisin sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand has gluten free)

1/4 cup mirin (a sweetened cooking wine)

1/4 cup tamari or other gluten free sauce (coconut aminos should work)

1 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated or minced (I used 1 tsp powdered)

1/2 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp veg oil

1.5-2 lbs of chicken breast or 1.5 packages of firm tofu or white/brown mushrooms to make vegetarian

1 medium onion chopped
1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)
2 tsp cornstarch (optional)
1/4 cup broth or water (optional)
4 small potatoes or two large scrubbed and chopped into 1/2-1" pieces-I recommend getting organic due to the dirty dozen list for 2019 (or at least peel conventional potatoes might help).
1 bag of baby carrots (1 lb)
1 pkg of konnyaku noodles drained and rinsed.

Steps

1.  If doing chicken, put 2 tbsp veg oil  in IP on saute function and brown the chicken breasts on each side. Remove chicken breasts from pot and set aside on a plate. If doing tofu or mushrooms you may saute those at this time and then remove to a plate.  

2. While chicken is browning mix the "BBQ" sauce in a small bowl (hoisin, mirin, tamari, rice vinegar) until well blended.

3. Put onion, ginger and garlic in pot. Cooking until onion is soft. 

4. Add the chicken (or tofu) back in (if mushrooms leave those to add back until later to avoid overcooking). Put the chopped potatoes, baby carrots, konnyaku noodles on top of chicken and onion mixture. Pour over the BBQ sauce and the 1 cup of broth.  Lock the lid. Set IP for 15 min high pressure and do quick release after.

5. If needed or desired to thicken sauce, mix 1/4 cup of water or broth and corn starch in a mug. Add slowly to the instant pot while stirring to get desired thickness. I usually leave this step out.

6. Serve as a stew alone or with a pot of fresh rice! 

For Fun

Have you been gifted with an ingredient and made something worth sharing this spring? Or have an ingredient and stuck? Either way, love to get inspired by you or try to help!  

Eating our Way Through Vietnam!

There are way more things than five that I would tell you about Vietnam related to food, but alas, we know that reading fatigue is real. 

1.  Some things aren't "free" that you'd expect.

Be aware that wet napkins that come with your meal might be an extra charge on your bill. If you don't need them, check for this and let your waitstaff know. Or pay, and save for when you might need them on your trip-many bathrooms don't have toilet paper or sinks (which is why I invested in travel hand-sanitizer and we carried some tissue in a ziplock bag), or never know when a sticky situation arises (ya' know, like mushing your big toe while wearing sandals into trash someone left on the ground in Saigon-not that I know this personally or anything 😜). 

2.  Go to Da Lat for many reasons.

One, if the humidity and overall heat of Vietnam is getting to you and you have extra time you can take a quick plane ride (want to say it was 2 hours in air) from Saigon to Da Lat's cool mountain breezes for respite. But two, for the food reasons/blog purposes, this city is known for Bánh Tráng Nướng: Grilled rice paper, we tried this at the Red House hostel’s nightly BBQ. They called it Da Lat's pizza, and topped it with egg, dried shrimps, and spicy sauce.

This city is also known for a snack called bánh căn -rice flour cakes cooked in a cast iron mold pan with quail egg cracked in the middle. Eat with a soup or we saw kids after school eating it with a dipping sauce. The soup was not vegetarian at the place we went to 😥 Also the vendor wanted to charge us extra for the soup (when we didn't order/ask for it) and didn't mention this when they brought that food to our table. Travelling without a local guide, we had no idea what typically comes with a dish or what is the cultural norm. But after this incident, we asked every place that gave us a small soup with a meal if it was extra charge or not.

My friend who has family in this city told me I needed to try coffee while I was there. My travel mate hopped on an extensive tour of 7-8 places, one which included the weasel poop coffee farm (not it's name but gives you a description)-maybe fun for shock value to tell your friends and family you brought them back such a souvineer. However, we were told during our cooking lesson that this coffee is among the most expensive per kilo because of the long processing time and having to care for the weasels. My travel mate decided not to pay to have a cup so I can't report on it's enjoyment factor.

But the Son Pacamara coffee tour that I did instead of the "highlights of Da Lat", told me they didn't think too much of weasel poop coffee. I read about several coffee tours on Christina's blog that featured sustainable coffee places in Da Lat. Use the first link for getting to the company Facebook page to message and arrange for a tour.

I took a motorbike taxi there since transportation was not included in the fee. But I don't recommending using that as amazing as the fresh air and great views were, it was shaky getting down the dirt path but my driver was a good sport and helped make sure I found the place before he left me stranded in the middle of a bunch of farms. Fun 3 hours learning about coffee properties, growing to harvesting to roasting coffee (challenging to pick out defective beans by hand and also timing the brewing correctly), tried coffee berry tea, got extra samples of coffee while waiting for my taxi that the coffee volunteer called since none would come out that far using the Grab App.

Tool for measuring amount of sugar in the coffee beans

Tool to measure the amount of moisture in the coffee beans

Fermentation of the coffee beans

Did you know you can drink the outside fruit of the coffee ?

3. Try the gluten free spring rolls in Cat Ba (and be a beach bum!)

We had a few disappointments with restaurants in Cat Ba (not getting anything close to what was pictured on the menu-think tiny dried shrimp rehydrated instead of the big plump ones in the summer rolls. Or think regular boiled pork instead of a fatty belly with a combination plate)

However to improve our chances at meal time happiness, my travel mate kept a sharp eye out to go to place where more locals were eating. I can't tell you the name of this place, but show you on a map! It has been years since I had the fried spring rolls, lumpia, egg roll, any other similar Asian snack so trying this dish below was a real treat! The filing reminded me of an egg roll-shredded cabbage, carrots, maybe mung bean sprout in there too.

Fried veggie spring rolls use the rice paper as the wrapper! 

Simple clams steamed for another gluten free winner

We just asked the waitress to pick something for us. Garlic and greens!

After your belly is full, you can see it's a short walk to one of the beaches! Don't expect it to be like Krabi in Thailand, no kayaks to rent or massages to be had, just good old fashioned sunbathing and braving the chilly waters when we went in November. And a beautiful cliff walk to do-also a nice way to wake up from your food coma.

4. In Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), I wish we had saved room for the hot pot...

We had wanted to hop on a free student tour by motorbike here to get introduced to street food but the abnormal rainy/stormy weather cancelled tours. Instead, we walked over the the Flower Market mentioned on a few of the student tours. On the way there, we stopped at some non-descript street vendors to calm our hunger pains, our meals were average, but I truly wished we had waited until the flower market because we saw a jam packed restaurant serving hot pot!

You can stop and smell the flowers like we did. The whole street is lined with vendors selling blooms of all types, for all occasions-the smell was intense, complex but pleasant (not like headache inducing of going into some body lotion/candle stores). But seriously, save some room and go try out this place for me. Watch out for motorbikes down these narrow streets.

5. Slurp a bowl of pho in Saigon at Royal Saigon, Bui Vien Street

Finding a bowl of vegetarian pho can be a challenge in the US, but also in Vietnam (finding that darn broth made without meats!) Typing it into Google is really the way to go. You can wander around asking, but if you are just plain hangry or have a time table to keep that day-Google it!

This is how we found Royal Saigon. I was so happy with the flavorful broth (I have attempted making vegetarian pho and home and so far all batches have been miserable, lacking depth) and the noodles had the right amount of bite to them. Good amount of veggies and broth. No weird veggies for pho like celery! (unless I'm wrong...I'm no pho expert. Just had my few fave pho places in San Diego) Also...A/C. As much as my travel mate loved the plastic stools and having street food, the heat of SE Asia really got to me, so I needed that blast of cool air for a blissful 30-40 minutes of resting our weary feet from all the walking.

Questions:

1. What kind of food or drink making tours have you gone on?

2. What is your favorite kind of soup for cool weather this year?

Eating our Way through Thailand!

Both Thailand and Vietnam had much to offer for gluten free and vegetarian/pescatarian eating, however, I did eat some noodles that may have been suspect as they did not look like rice noodles. But got no acne as my personal indicator that there was wheat in the noodles-it could have been the side effects of doxyclycline medicine taken for malaria prevention though.  Be aware many dishes use fish sauce and dried shrimp, so if you don't eat seafood, you'll have to ask them to leave off these items. Today's post contains my top 5 must-do's in Thailand and next time I'll share Vietnam's treasures!

1. Prepare ahead of time with the right tools! 

If you speak Thai, or lucky enough to be travelling with someone who does, then this won't be much use to you...however, my travel mate and I collectively just know English, Chinese and a little Spanish. 

For all the cities in Thailand or Vietnam we went, whether large or small, the vendors might know English, or they might not. You may have tried to watch a video on pronunciation but you could still get sideways glances-such much tonal based in the SE Asia languages! I also found some vendors that could neither understand my likely poor pronunciation or did not read/maybe did not have glasses to read-but usually having the following helped me navigate. 

For non-native speakers in either country, it can be helpful to:

• Have written out (in Roman letters and the Thai characters) to verbally ask questions about the dishes (if you have food allergies, sensitivities or preferences) or show the vendor.  
• Download Google translate's dictionary in case your Wi-Fi or network connection is weak. Even in the big cities we had this issue with our phones. 
• Have a cheap calculator to pull out to negotiate prices for your meal if it isn't printed/posted elsewhere.
• Upon returning I came upon this nice resource for vegans  visiting Thailand, downloadable audio clips to play for a vendor. 

2.  Eat Khao Niaow Bing (Grilled sticky rice)

We could find these at night markets and permanent markets in Chiang Mai as well as Krabi. Cheap and filling-but do make sure to ask the vendor which ones are vegetarian or vegan as some use meat or egg. We had sweet ones with banana and taro root.

3. Go for a cooking lesson while you are in Chiang Mai. 

We paid $40 USD in Nov 2018 for Benny's Home Cooking school for a ~6 hour lesson that includes transportation and samples too. She had hundreds of glowing reviews on Trip Advisor. All expectations were met.  While at the market she had us sample Chiang Mai sausage-not vegetarian though- the grilled rice, and a rice-based Thai pancake.

We made five different dishes: appetizer, soup, noodle dish, curry and dessert. She will accommodate everyone-vegetarian, gluten-free, peanut allergies, you name it-no menu depending on which day you go-you'll make what you want from her extensive choices any day she is having classes. My friend and I also got hooked on the fun blue peaflower drink (she sells the mix there as well)-it's a cool party trick or if you have kids I think they will really enjoy it. You can get her pre-made curry paste for days when you don't have time to hand-grind  or source all the ingredients.

She gives a nicely printed book with all of the recipes inside. She gives clear instructions and demonstrations, the class size is limited to ensure she/her helpers can get to you, and has great pacing skills.

Go to Trip Advisor to see available dates (link above) and sign up! She does fill up! 

Yes, you get to grind the fresh ingredients for curry!

Beautiful Soups

Stunning spring rolls with the peaflower 

Hot wok! Beware of the Pad Kee Mow (Drunken noodles) you could get chili aromatics up your nostrils!

In the foreground, this is the chef/teacher Benny!

4. Eat Khanom Krok (Rice pancakes)

Look for the cast iron equipment to find these beauties. Chef Benny told us that Thais often enjoy dishes involving both sweet and savory together. These bite sized gluten free pancakes that use rice and coconut milk as a base also have green onions inside. 

5. Wua Lai Road/Saturday Night Market in Chiang Mai

When you arrive in SE Asia, you will immediately understand why night markets! For the climate factor and the pure size compared to outdoor markets I've seen in the US. Los Angeles and Bay Area folks may be able to better shed light on Asian night markets in the US though. More so I check out farmer's markets wherever I live and travel.

I liked having fruit shakes/smoothies for "survival". I know some relatives were concerned about food sanitation while I went abroad, but I had also read some blogs/online articles that most major cities are safe with their ice -I didn't have any stomach problems until the last 3 days of my trip while we were in Vietnam. Anyway, you can get the shakes at night markets, restaurants or street vendors. It varies as to whether they have real fruit, have powders for the boba type drinks or syrups. The quality varies too-how much ice is put in vs fruit. I have no real tips for this-just be prepared to have varied experiences. But you are paying about $2 USD for smoothies you'd probably get for $4-6 in the US.

Also pick up giant bottles of water at the Circle K or convenience store to hydrate. You can find the Eno-salts at the stores for electrolytes, or maybe you are a bit of a pack-rat like me and brought Emergen-C for the plane so that can also help with dehydration. We had so many different tropical fruit smoothies during our trip to Asia! I think my favorites were kiwi (pictured below) , passion fruit and jack fruit.

 You may also find some unusual eats at this night market. I was too chicken to try the insect. All kinds of other meats, seafoods or mushrooms on skewers if you aren't so adventurous. 

One tip I read online for vegetarian/vegan food was to look for yellow background with red lettering on signs-this was handy for navigating the sea of food stalls at the night market. Usually it means vegetarian/vegan. I really only found one vendor specifically with vegan/vegetarian only menu. This vendor at the night market also had designated table for "chay" (vegan) patrons. I had spicy mushroom glass noodles that had a zippy lime dressing. 

Be aware, even with the printed price, vendors may ask you for more-this could be because I was obviously not Thai or it could be because their menus were outdated. I wasn't saavy/ready to negotiate on my first day there so I just let it be. 

Hope you enjoyed a peek into the highlights of my first week in Asia. 

Questions to readers:

1. What is the oddest item you have eaten on your travels?

2. Have you recreated any dishes that you ate while on vacation?

Eating Out in the Central Valley California (Modesto and Fresno)

No, we're not SF, LA or SD. We don't claim to be. Population-wise we look at about 200,000 in Modesto and 400,000 in Fresno. I grew up in Modesto and spent some time here last year during my summer internship and also after graduation studying for my boards. I am back again while I reboot  the job hunt after a glorious 2 weeks in Asia for fun with a friend. I am pleasantly surprised by some of the food offerings here, and hope to keep the creative, healthy restaurants around-in part writing Google reviews and a smaller part here in case anyone comes through the valley on business or en route to visiting friends in the bay area/Sacramento...or for anyone ending up moving to the lesser known central valley.

Spending time in Fresno made me happier than I imagined-most of you I know from San Diego...so that might be hard to believe coming from beach-city, pleasant weather 90% of the year. I mentioned fresh produce availability in my last post, but the variety of dining out is enough for eating out 1-2x/week. If you LOVE national parks, then Fresno has 3 within 2-4 hours of driving depending what part of the parks you want to be in. But I digress-on to the food related!

Armenian
Phoenician Garden (Fresno), 1025 Herndon Ave, Suite 106. I am in love with their fish kabobs, gotten them all 3 times I have visited and brought 3 different groups of friends or family here.


Chinese Food
Hunan (Fresno), 6176 N Cedar Ave, Suite 104. The staff was helpful when I explained I needed to have noodles made with rice and no added flours-we got a seafood noodle soup that was messy but delicious. I cannot speak to soy sauce as I am not sensitive to wheat/gluten on that level.

Imperial Garden (Modesto), 2045 W Briggsmore Ave, Suite A-1. A family favorite. I enjoy their sizzling rice with shrimps the most.  My mom always orders the spicy green beans. Again I don't speak to soy sauce use...sorry readers here for that.

Farmer's Markets
Fresno: Vineyards Farmer's Market, 3-6pm on Wednesdays, 7am-12pm on Fridays on 100 West Shaw Avenue. I've only gone on Saturdays. Do yourself a favor and try some of the fresh Mediterranean food-I bought a box of dolmas (made vegetarian and naturally gluten free). Try Bob's honey-thick stuff but yummy garlic-honey or dark-chocolate honey. I enjoy the Japanese lady who sells different mushrooms and sweet potatoes, also tempted to buy her plum wine vinegar. There is a vendor who sells different types of humanely raised porks-it's pricey as most meats of this kind are. Many other great produce vendors!

Modesto (Seasonal), 8am-1pm Thursdays & Saturdays on 16th Street between H and I: Last one Dec 15, until late spring I believe. This place has really grown since my middle school days. Not only produce now, but among my favorites are: MJC students bring their chicken eggs, a bay area person sampled shiitake mushroom jerky, tamale vendor with vegetarian options (including no lard in the dough), candles, DragonFly tea room. If you like papusas-got to try eating one fresh at the market here. They have a restaurant in Riverbank, CA but for some reason it tastes 10x better at the market IMHO.

Sushi
Have to say verdict is still out on this one for Fresno. I tried a few but I feel the sushi rice isn't done the way I like (balance of sweet and sour, Dad taught me to do 1:1 ratio).

In Modesto, my family's go to is Sushi Garden, 3500 Coffee Road. They used to run a restaurant in Stockton which we would drive 40 minutes for with our family friends we called the "DR's" . I recommend the simple sushi chirashi if you're ok with raw fish, or if you're like my dad and do not do egg or do not like seasoned sushi rice, then go for sashimi plate. This place does carry gluten-free soy sauce! Just ask for it.

Tea
Tapei 101 (Fresno). Quiet place nice for hosting meetup.com meet and greets. Comfy couches and decent sized table to hang out at. My favorite drink to order is the REAL avocado smoothie. You can order snacks here as well, but most are deep fried or meat-centric so I cannot give recommendations on that. They have some adorable office type supplies for sale when you walk in as well. I forget to take a close look since I usually meet friends here but...one day.

Dragonfly Tea Room-Afternoon tea set sweet version. Which they apparently no longer have as of December 2018 when I last visited. But you can pick savory too plate with 3 tea sandwiches, fruit , a scone and a pot of tea of your choice for $15 or $17 (picture below).  Check ahead for gluten-free availability. 

Mom ordered a regular sized and crust included sandwich and salad. These were not gluten free.

Sister ordered a nice big fruit and nut salad. 

Dragonfly Tea Room (Modesto), Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Saturdays 8am-5pm, 835 W Roseburg Ave.
My meetup.com friends introduced me to this establishment and it is a lot of fun! The tea menu is extensive. They also have "happy hour" and daily teas that are on sale. You can buy loose leaf tea here as well. I enjoy that they have gluten-free dessert options, and they were able to accommodate my friend who has nut allergies.

Thai
Pad Thai (198 Shaw Avenue, Clovis-pretty much Fresno): Generous dinner portions-prepare to take home 2-3 portions of leftover-possibly even if you and another person share two dishes! Enjoyable flavor. I have had red curry, noodles  (pad see ew and drunken noodles) and tom yum here. All solid choices.  I did not ask them if they can swap soy sauce for gluten-free soy.

Lao Thai (4937 E Kings Canyon Rd, Fresno). Ate here because one time my lunch got thrown away as someone made good on cleaning out unlabeled items in the work fridge. Really enjoyed the rich flavors of pad see ew. Not yet vetted for true gluten free options.

Until next time readers, and I still plan to give a rundown on some of the foods to try should you go to Thailand or Vietnam!

Questions for you:
1) Is there a cuisine or dish you've tried this year that you can't stop thinking about?
2) What is your favorite winter recipe?
3) Has anyone successfully gotten a restaurant to switch to more eco-friendly to-go containers?