Writing With My Mouth Full

All You Can Eat Sushi for $20 at Sushiya

Second floor, Whole Foods Market
95 East Houston Street corner of Bowery
$20 all you can eat sushi, without tip
♥

I didn’t expect high quality sushi when I saw the sign for all you can eat sushi for $20 at Whole Foods on Bowery, but I was curious enough to pull two co-workers with me to try out Sushiya’s latest promotion. We dodged the long lines at street level and propped ourselves up the bar stools in front of the conveyor belt sushi bar. At Sushiya, what you see is what you get, and we got a lot of rice.

There were some tuna, eel and salmon; some roe and a torn piece of arugula on a maki; crab and shrimp on spiced onigiris; seaweed salad, edamame and the out-of-place Vietnamese summer rolls. The makis came more often than the sushis, though the servers behind the bar quickly made them whenever we requested. We had the bar to ourselves when we visited and yet they always replaced the plates at the other end of the belt–perhaps to try and slow us down from eating all their inventory. In the end, we counted about thirty empty plates which is about 20 pieces per person for a total of $60. Oh, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

All in all, $20 is pricey for lunch even around the East Village and SoHo, but it’s quite fun to wait for the colorful plates to come your way and pick sushi, makis and onigiris from the magnetic conveyor belt.

Vegetable and Dduk Chungol, Korean Hotpot

Have you seen that Anthony Bourdain episode shot in Seoul? I caught a rerun over the weekend and I salivated during the part when they ate a hot spicy soup with noodles after arriving in the country all jet-lagged and grouchy. He said it immediately made him feel better.

After two weeks of drinking almost everyday, I needed to recuperate, too. The Dr. said I made a chigae, or a soup, but because of all the vegetables I happily tossed in, I made a chungol or a hotpot with noodles. I’m sure his mother won’t approve that I bastardize a soup she can make with her eyes closed, but I liked how my hearty version turned out. It immediately made me feel better.

When reheating leftovers–oh, there will be plenty–add a small amount of water and another tablespoon of kochujang sauce.

Ingredients:
a handful of Korean dduk
a fistful of glass noodles
1 green bell pepper, seeded, chopped
2 eggplants, chopped in thick rounds only before adding to the pot
2 small potatoes, peeled, chopped
1 bunch of scallions, chopped in 1/2-inch pieces
4 tbsps kochujang, or Korean red pepper paste
ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp peanut oil
salt

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the peanut oil. Add the ginger-garlic paste and scallions. Sauté and avoid burning the paste. Add the chopped eggplants and bell pepper. Toss and cook until they are half-cooked.
2. In the meantime, bowl some water in a small pot and cook the dduk for 7 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Back to the large pot of vegetables, add 3 cups of water and stir in the kochujang. Add the dduk and the potatoes. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt.
4. Remove pot from heat and stir in the noodles. The noodles will cook in the soup’s remaining heat. Serve immediately with rice.

Lamb Stew with Corn

Oh my goodness, I thought, as I caught a whiff of the lamb stew that had been simmering for almost three hours. I’ve been copying the Dr. in the kitchen lately and it was no different last night. After spending a nice weekend hiking outside and walking around the city, I was ready to sit in front of Mad Men and sulk with a warm bowl of stew on my lap. After he told me he was making lamb stew for dinner, I knew I had to do the same. It would have been better if I just watched him cook for us, but I wanted to do my own version and compete. The idea of adding corn came from a Mexican tripe stew we bought last week in east Harlem after a late night out.

I think mine had a good chance of winning.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of lamb chuck chops
1 corn on the cob, chopped in 4 pieces
2 cups of red wine
2 cups of vegetable broth
a handful of parsley, chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of mint
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red onion, chopped
2 tbsps paprika
2 bay leaves
oil, salt, pepper

1. Season lamb chuck chops with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven, add some oil and brown all sides of the lamb. Remove from the pot and set aside.
2. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the used oil. Try to get the darkest bits out from the oil. In the remaining oil, sauté the garlic until light brown and the onions until soft. Add the paprika, thyme, parsley and bay leaves.
3. Return the browned lamb in the pot and add the red wine. Let boil and then lower the heat to simmer for 20 minutes or until the red wine has reduced. Stir in broth, cover the pot and simmer for up to 3 hours.
4. After 1 hour, add the corn. After the next hour, turn the corn just to make sure the other ends get some brown sauce in them, too. The meat should be falling off the bone by the third hour. Remove pot from heat, uncover and stir in mint leaves.

Chicken Afritada, Filipino Chicken Tomato-Bell Pepper Stew

We’re in a recession, right? Even the Swai fish price in Harlem is up a few dollars. For last week’s bento lunch, I used pork because buying for ten people was still under budget compared to buying enough fish that would feed the entire group. This week, I used chicken–and you know something’s off when I start buying chicken. I rarely order chicken from a restaurant menu (except for a good fried chicken, of course), but I do like cooking with it. I’m a sucker for the Dr.’s roast chicken anytime.

So with six chicken breasts and almost two pounds of peppers from my last few farmer’s shares, I turned to the Filipino cookbook I bought in Manila last August called Fiesta! Fiesta! Festival Foods of the Philippines for a tomato and bell pepper-based stew. The recipe’s most important step called for a store-bought Afritada mix (wenk, wenk) which I obviously altered in my version. Why go for a short cut when the real way is already easy?

Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breasts
4 large red bell peppers, seeded, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
oil, salt, pepper

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat some oil and brown chicken on both sides. Remove from pot and set aside.
2. Using the same pot and oil, sauté garlic until brown and onions until soft. Add the bay leaves and stir in tomato paste. Add tomatoes and bell peppers and cook until peppers are tender.
3. Add the chicken pieces back and add 4 cups of water. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked and water is reduced to a thicker consistency.

Kalbi Tang, Korean Beef Rib Soup

I hurried home on Sunday afternoon because I was in the mood to spend the rest of my weekend cooking. The Dr. bought fresh perilla leaves from Koreatown before we left for Montauk in preparation for all the sashimi that we were going to eat after a planned fishing trip for striped bass. We didn’t catch any fish that weekend (neither did anyone on the entire boat), so he saved the leaves to use it for something else. His kalbi tang, or Korean beef rib soup, last Tuesday was so comforting that I badly wanted to recreate it at home.

It reminded me of the Filipino bulalo, or bone marrow soup, only less fatty. Browning the short ribs made the stock beefier and toastier. The perilla leaves added an interesting kick to it–I don’t know how else to describe the taste but medicinal. And really, after a pot of this soup with some warm white rice and kimchi, you’d feel a hundred per cent better already.

Ingredients:
6 pieces of beef short ribs
1 napa cabbage, chopped
10 pieces perilla leaves
2 tbsps soy bean paste
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
oil

1. In a large Dutch oven, add some oil and brown all sides of the beef ribs. Remove from the pot and set aside.
2. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the used oil. Try to get the darkest bits out from the oil. In the remaining oil, sauté the garlic until light brown and the onions until soft. Add the soy bean paste and stir.
3. Return the browned beef ribs in the pot and add 5 to 6 cups of water. Cover and simmer for about 2 to 3 hours. Check after 20 minutes to remove the impurities that float to the top. It’s okay if you discard some of the onions.
4. When the meat is almost falling off the bone, add cabbage and perilla leaves. Cook for another 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Season with some more soy bean paste if it needs extra salt.