Tag Archives: sesame

Sep 7 2013

Lao Sze Chuan Inspired Chili Potatoes

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Chili Potatoes

Chili Potatoes

I have been craving the Chili Potatoes from Lao Sze Chuan. “LSC” is a restaurant in Chicago’s Chinatown, but I don’t get down to that area very often. I’ve been impatiently awaiting their new Evanston location, which was supposed to open last month. I finally gave in and decided to figure out how to make the crunchy, sesame flavored potatoes myself (with the help of the internet). This recipe is perfect!

Chinese Shredded Potatoes with Chili and Vinegar

My tweaks: I quadrupled the potatoes because I wanted to have lots of leftovers. I doubled the vinegar/sugar/salt because I didn’t want to overwhelm the potatoes with too much vinegar. I used a combination of regular toasted sesame oil and korean sesame oil for more complexity. Instead of chilis, I added thinly sliced poblano, jalapeño and shishito peppers from my garden and put them in at the same time as the garlic so they would soften. The potatoes are supposed to be crunchy and just barely cooked. They are perfect when they start to look translucent. Serve over rice with a little tamari.

Apr 21 2013

Broccoli Goma-ae

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Broccoli Goma-ae

Broccoli Goma-ae

I love the spinach Goma-ae at my local Japanese restaurant and have just started trying to replicate their sesame dressing at home. This recipe isn’t exactly the same, but it’s still good. When I make Gomae-ae at home, I prefer to use steamed broccoli.

Japanese Sesame Dressing

My tweaks: I use sesame paste or plain tahini instead of grinding the sesame seeds myself. I add some roasted sesame seeds (whole) for texture.

Jan 4 2013

Ddeokbokki

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Ddeokbokki

Ddeokbokki

Duck What?

Ddeokbokki  (pronounced duck – bOHki) is a sweet, spicy, chewy comfort food from Korea. I first encountered it while watching the Korean Tasty Road restaurant show on the mnet channel. It sounded so interesting that I started searching for recipes and found a simple on one mykoreankitchen.com.

If you have a good Korean grocery in your area (along the lines of H-Mart or Assi Plaza, or even a small neighborhood market), look for fresh Ddeok rice cakes. If you can’t find fresh, they will probably have them in the frozen section. Also look for the gochujang sauce (in a little square tub).

Here’s the recipe: Stir Fried Rice Cake with Gochujang Sauce (Ddeokbokki in Korean)

My Tweaks:  I left out the fish cake and added peeled eggplant at the beginning of cooking (with the onion). I also added some julienned carrots towards the end so they got a little cooked, but just enough to stay crunchy. I sprinkled with toasted black sesame seeds before serving.

Delicious!

-m