Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 – Another Family Favorite

"Mapo Tofu" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
“Mapo Tofu” Cedar Park, 2019

I love donburi, which is basically a Japanese rice bowl (food served on top of rice in a bowl), and one of my favorite takes on this is mapo tofu. I’m not sure if it’s a “real donburi”, since mapo tofu is Chinese, but I like to have mapo tofu donburi style. It’s great comfort food!

Besides the main ingredient of tofu, Mapo commonly includes ground pork or other ground meat in the spicy sauce. We like to top it with fresh green onion. And of course, I like it spicy so we add red pepper to the mix. 🌶

It’s delicious if you make it from a prepared packet of mapo tofu sauce, but Mariko makes it from scratch (no preservatives). Here’s the recipe (in Japanese) if you want to give it a try!

Cpicon 本格派★四川風麻婆豆腐 by popo

I hope you had a good day!

またね~

Indian Chicken Tikka Masala Curry for Dinner

"Chicken Curry" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“Chicken Curry” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

As the temperature outside hovers around the freezing mark, it’s nice to stay warm inside and enjoy a plate of yummy Indian chicken tikka masala curry. A family-favorite, for sure! I cooked three cups of basmati rice in the rice cooker, and we added about a teaspoon of turmeric which gave it an amazing color.

"Chicken Curry" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“Chicken Curry” Cedar Park, 2019

By the way, we have been using our Staub pot to cook a lot of dishes lately, including this curry. It’s really great. It’s cast-iron and distributes the heat nicely. I think we prefer it over our Le Creuset pots.

By the way, the recipe (Japanese) for the chicken is here: Chicken Tikka Masala

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

Chinese Noodles for Dinner at Xian Noodles

"Red Braised Beef Noodles" Austin, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO6400
“Red Braised Beef Noodles” Austin, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening I had to fend for myself, as the saying goes, since my wife and kids were all out. I thought it would a nice night for some pho, but then I decided to check out the local Yelp listings for noodles. I almost went to try a ramen restaurant that recently opened, but decided on Chinese noodles at Xian Sushi and Noodle. Despite the name listing on Yelp, the restaurant no longer serves sushi (and the menu just said Xian Noodles on the cover), which is fine since they can devote their efforts on the signature hand-pulled noodles. There were a couple items on the menu that I wanted to try but ultimately went with the Red Braised Beef Noodles, which was highly recommended by Chinese reviewers.

The broth was flavorful and the noodles were chewy and substantial. You can actually choose from perhaps six different types of noodles, but I asked the Chinese waitress what she recommends, and she said she likes the “thick spaghetti”. That sounds like a description that someone might use to describe the noodles to Western diners actually. They were really good, and I would choose them again. There was a good amount of beef in the soup as well, although the noodles were definitely the star of the show, at least for me.

Years ago I lived in Monterey Park, California, which has a sizable first-generation Chinese population and therefore a huge number of authentice Chinese restaurants to choose from. My roommate, who was from Hong Kong, and I used to go out to eat quite often, and the noodles that I had tonight at Xian were reminiscent of the beef noodle soup that I used to enjoy in Monterey Park. That’s definitely a good thing!

The other item on the menu at Xian is the Dan Dan Noodles, so I will need to go back in the future. Maybe next time I can convince my family to join. 😀

"Noodle Menu" Austin, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
“Noodle Menu” Austin, 2019

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

How We Do Burgers at Our House

"Burger and Chips" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
“Burger and Chips” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Although this meal prep is probably typical of American households, I thought I’d write about how we do a hamburger dinner at our house. Who knows, someone might find this post 50 years from now, and it will be a fascinating read! 😄

For the hamburger patties, we’ll go for and 80-20 mix of ground chuck, and I’ll sometimes mix in some seasonings, for instance, tonight I put in some Japanese Worchestershire and Dijon mustard. Some burger purists would say you should just go with salt and pepper (which I usually do), but my family really likes the extra flavor so I went with the sauce and mustard.

These days I will make a total of six patties, at 1/3-lb. per patty. One burger each for Mariko and I, then two each for the kids. Since Mariko has the food scale handy for her baking, I can measure out exact amounts. I’ve come to rely more on measurement tools rather than eyeballing everything!

To cook, we’ll put them on the outside grill (I used the gas grill for convenience last night) seasoning each side with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and garlic powder. When the juices start to form on top of the patty (usually around the four-minute mark), I’ll flip them over and season the other side.

Instead of relying on time or firmness to indicate when the burgers are at our preferred medium-rare, I’ll use an instant-read food thermometer to make sure I pull the burgers off the grill at 145° F. It’s often dark outside at the time I grill and hard to tell visually if the burgers are done, so the thermometer is great.

We love our burgers with cheese but I don’t put the cheese onto the patty while it’s on the grill. Instead, I will put the patties straight from the grill into a warm casserole dish, then put the cheese on and cover the dish with foil to let the burgers rest and the cheese melt. This is great because the grill doesn’t get all cheesy and messy.

Speaking of cheese, the kids prefer American cheese, I would go for cheddar, and Mariko likes anything except American. On this evening, the kids and I all went for double American cheese and Mariko went with shredded Mozzarella. Yum!!!

For condiments, we like the basic lettuce (Iceberg or Romaine), tomato, onion, and pickles (I never liked pickles on my burgers until a couple of years ago). Not as common are jalapeños, but I will always add them if I have them on hand. And lastly, ketchup, mustard, mayo, and sometimes samourai sauce to round it all out.

All of this is assembled onto buns, which are frequently homemade since Mariko is an amazing baker. Just look!

"Homemade Buns" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/90 sec, ISO6400
“Homemade Buns” Cedar Park, 2019

For sides, we’ll at least have potato chips (plain salted is the best) but potato or macaroni salad would be a definite upgrade. Sometimes we’ll have oven fries, but that’s very rare.

Anyway, that’s our typical burger evening. 🍔

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

"Burger Dinner" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/50 sec, ISO3200
“Burger Dinner” Cedar Park, 2019