#taiwanese food

Lately, I’ve been feeling homesick for the motherland. One of the smallest dumb/little things I enjoyed was going to 7-Eleven and getting something to eat. Fish cakes? Onigri? Yes, they have it all. You can even get a variety of instant ramen and eat it right there at the countertop. I won’t even go in to the Uniform Invoice Lottery in Taiwan (definitely Google that). But the sandwiches? Something about the sandwiches. The white bread is not like your Wonder bread slice but it is made with a sweeter, fluffier milk toast. The sandwich is a balance of sweet and savory.

What you need:

• 4 slices milk toast
• 1 slice American cheese or mild cheddar cheese
• 1 large egg, beaten and cooked like a thin omelet
• 1 slice ham
• Kewpie (Japanese mayo) mixed with equal parts unsweetened whipped cream

You’re going to layer toast, kewpie mixture, filling…repeat. Cut off the sides if you wish to but wrap the sandwich so it is slightly compressed. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes, before slicing and serving.

A few places, like Momofuku Ssam Bar, may have popularized this idea of meat (usually pork belly) nestled between a steamed lotus leaf shaped bao (bun), but the concept of this is Fujian Chinese in origin and it’s been around for awhile. In Taiwan, a similar version is lovingly called the Taiwanese hamburger. It makes sense because Taiwan, is right across the sea from Fujian and experienced a huge influx of Chinese immigration during WWII & the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Three important items for these ‘burgers: steamed lotus leaf buns 荷葉包, spicy pickled mustard greens (post forthcoming) and pork belly. I have seen vegetarian AND vegan friendly options, but I plan on creating this for a future post! As for the buns, this is so embarrassing to admit, I have not been able to successfully make steamed buns from scratch like my grandma so I do not have a recipe listed below. Fortunately, you can find steamed buns at most Asian grocery stores.

Braised Pork Belly

For 4 servings:

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 bunch green onions, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 lb. pork belly (Duroc or Berkshire), cut into 4 strips
  
• ½ c. Shaoxing wine
• 2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
  
• 4 star anise pods
• 2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
  
• ½ oz. yellow rock sugar
• 2 c. water (or enough to cover the pork)
  

Accoutrements: steamed buns sliced cucumber, cilantro, steamed buns, ground peanuts, spicy mustard greens

Heat vegetable oil over medium heat in a dutch oven. Add green onions and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add pork belly and cook until all edges are seared. Remove pork belly and add the remaining ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add pork and reduce heat to low. Cook on low heat for 2 hours, occasionally flipping the pork.

To serve, sandwich pork between steamed buns with cilantro, cucumber and ground peanuts.

Water spinach is often used in Southeast Asian cooking and not an actual “spinach” because it belongs to a different family. Unlike conventional spinach, the hollow stems hold up well in a hot pan and it becomes mouthwateringly tender. It tastes like spinach but there’s something particularly refreshing about it. But don’t grown this vegetable in your garden if you don’t live where it’s natively grown: it is extremely invasive that the USDA has classified it as a noxious weed and a threat to native plants in North America.

For 3-4 servings:

• 1 bunch (about 1.2 pounds) “a-choy”/”ong choy”/water spinach, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
  
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• ½ c. chicken or vegetable stock
  
• 2 tsp. kosher salt

In a saute pan over medium heat, heat oil. Add smashed garlic until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the stock, salt AND stems of the vegetable.

Cook for about a minute before adding the rest of the vegetables. Saute occasionally. Once vegetables are bright green and tender, serve as a side dish.

I tried to recreate my grandma’s soup. I don’t know if it was the ginger spice or umami from the clams, but it always made me feel better and comforted. And when you felt sick, it was the best and most soothing thing to have.

The Taiwanese Clam Soup is usually made with cockles, but Littleneck Clams seem to be the most accessible here. I also prefer to use them too because it’s meatier.

I wish she was around so I can ask her what she thinks.

For 2-3 servings:

• 1 lb. Littleneck clams
• 1 tbsp. Kosher salt
• 1/3 oz. matchstick-cut ginger (increase to ½ ounce if you like the spice)
• 1 ¼ c. water
• 1 ½ c. chicken stock
• 1 tbsp. rice wine
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1 green onion, sliced

Scrub clams under running cold water. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve a tablespoon of kosher salt by stirring it into 5 cups of cold water. Add the washed clams to the salted water. Soak in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

In a medium-sized soup pot, bring the water and chicken stock to a boil over medium heat. Add ginger and bring it to boil again. Add clams and cook until they open, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Add rice wine and white pepper. Stir and let it set for a minute. Garnish with sliced green onion before serving.

Danzai noodles are a delicious concoction of wheat noodles swimming in a shrimp or pork broth, topped with a salty bolognese-like sauce. It’s a snack dish from Tainan, Taiwan (the birthplace of many popular Taiwanese dishes) and each noodle stall/street stand will have their preferred soup base – you’ll be able to taste the difference based on the broth they use! Because I like making cooking as easy as possible, I took a shortcut and used pre-made stock.

(Oh, did I mention that this dish is meant to be a snack? SNACK.)

For 4 servings (or about 2-3 full servings):

• 1 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ lb. ground pork
• ½ c. chopped fried onions or shallot
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ c. dark soy sauce
• ¼ c. light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
• ½ c. rice wine/mijiu
• ½ tsp. five-spice powder
• 2 c. pork stock
• 4 c. seafood stock
• 1 lb. large shell-on shrimp
• 1 lb. dried wheat noodles (I used Taiwanese skinny noodles)
• 4 c. baby spinach leaves (optional)
• 1 green onion, sliced

In a large non-stick pan, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add ground pork, chopped fried onion, and minced garlic. Sauté until the pork is cooked. Reduce heat to low. Stir in dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, and five-spice. Let it cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, mix together the pork and seafood stocks to make the soup base. Do not cover. Once the soup starts to simmer, reduce heat to low. Add shrimp. Turn off heat once the shrimp is cooked.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and divide among 4 bowls while it’s still hot.

Optional step: divide spinach leaves among bowls. I’m trying to incorporate more greens into my diet where ever I can.

For each bowl, ladle enough soup so the noodles are just covered. Add a heaping scoop (about 1/3 cup) on top. Garnish with green onion slices.

Pro tips: The amount of “meat sauce” determine how salty you want your noodle soup to be. I add a little more than post people (I love salt) and I’ll also add a dollop of sambal or crunchy Japanese chili sauce (taberu rayu 辣油).

There are so many Chinese-Americans in Los Angeles that this weekend, there were COMPETING Moon Festivals on the east side of town, over there in communities like Monterrey Park and Arcadia, where a ton of Taiwanese folks live. I only know this because Eva has joined a Chinese Children’s Chorus and had to perform at two of these festivals, back to back.

While it’s about 14 degrees hotter on that…

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Wait, this isn’t #animefood???! Omg it’s real food. Call the police! (Pls don’t)

Just gonna take a moment to celebrate the Taiwan pork chop from the previous post! with a photo from my mom’s fave childhood spot in Taiwan. It really is amazing how food transcends time and grounds us in the cultural memory of those dear to us. Bon appétit! Itadakimasu!