Jackson Heights Jjajangmyun

JH jjajangmyun

Traditional Chinese-Korean jjajangmyun

Jackson Heights cuisine is a fusion style that incorporates Latin, East Asian, South Asian, and European or American flavors and ingredients that I like to think I invented. This dish was inspired by the Chinese-Korean dish called jjajangmyun which usually is fermented black bean sauce with pork and vegetables like zucchini, potatoes, and peas over soft wheat noodles.  

For my version I used left overs from a meal of Mexican tamales and black beans and paired with linguini.

1 can black beans
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic or 1 tbs garlic paste
1 tbl olive oil
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
1/2 lb cooked linguini

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil and salt until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the canned beans with half a can of water. Simmer for 15 minutes. Mash the beans so most are pureed, but some are still whole. Adjust consistency to sauce-like thickness by adding water or simmering uncovered. Adjust salt. It should be fairly salty. Serve over hot linguini.

Mole de Olla Mexi-rean Style

This is a variation that highlights two of my major culinary influences: the cuisines of Korea and Mexico. Both use a lot of chilis, zucchini, onion, garlic, and herbs.

This particular dish tastes like the Korean dish yookkae jang, but instead of dried ground chili powder (kochu karu) it uses pureed dried chilis. I Korean-ized it by making it spicier and thicker than I've seen it served in Mexican restaurants. It's about the same consistency as a chiggae, a boiled, stew-ish like dish, typical of Korean home cooking with a complex flavor base.

The only versions of mole de olla I've had the opportunity to try have been from restaurants (besides my own homemade one). I'm partial to Coatzingo's on Roosevelt Avenue between 79th & 80th Streets. I would definitely welcome any invitations from 'real' Mexicans out there to sample theirs. hint, hint.)

I started with the recipe from this blog post, but I used some Korean techniques to make it "cleaner". For instance, soaking the blood from the beef ribs first reduces the foam and some of the grease. I also made it easier to eat by trimming the meat from the bone, and the fat from the meat. I traded the cilantro for epazote. (According to some, celery is not authentic, but when I make a stock, it's nearly automatic to use it, so I did.)

4 pounds beef chuck short ribs
1 + 1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, chopped into 1/2 in disks
2 celery stalks
3 plum tomatoes diced into 8 pieces
4 + 4 garlic cloves, 4 crushed, 4 whole
1/4 tsp of ground cloves
Some corn on the cob, each one cut into thirds
2-3 potatoes, diced into small pieces so they will cook as quickly as the other vegetables
1/2 lb string beans, trimmed and cut into 2 or 3 pieces
3 zucchini, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
One bunch of epazote

Some dried arbol and guajillo chilis. The arbol adds heat and the guajillo add a deep earthy flavor. The number of each you use depends on how spicy you like it. The chiles are the main flavoring for this soup though, so don’t go light.

salt to taste

For serving: tortillas, rice lime wedges, radishes, chopped onion, cilantro

Soak the ribs in cold water, changing the water several times, to leach the blood out.

Simmer the short ribs in water uncovered with half of the epazote, onion, carrot, and celery for 2 hours.

While the ribs are cooking, make the salsa roja.

Soak the dried guajillos in hot water for a few minutes, to reconstitute them a little. Stem and seed them. Cut the tops off of the arbol chilis and shake out as many seeds as possible. Put in the soaking water with the guajillos. After about 15 minutes, remove from water and place in a blender with the tomatoes, the chopped 1/2 onion, the whole garlic, the rest of the epazote, and cloves. Blend until smooth with the water from the soaking chilis.

Remove the epazote and celery. Discard. Skim grease from the surface of the stock.

Take out the ribs and separate the meat from the bones, slice the meat into large pieces, against the grain. Remove and discard any large chunks of fat. Put the bones and meat back into the pot. (When you serve, do not serve the bones, of course.)

Add the salsa to the simmering stock to taste. Adjust the salt. Cover.

Simmer the salsa with the ribs for 30 minutes.

Add the vegetables to the pot. Gently simmer for another 30 minutes.

Taste the stew, and adjust seasoning. If it’s not spicy enough, add more salsa. If it’s spicy enough but not balanced, add some lime juice; the citric acid will lift the flavors.

To serve, ladle the stew into bowls. Serve the tortillas on side plates with a couple lime wedges, some chopped onion, and radish slices, and maybe some chopped cilantro.

The best way to eat mole is to cut off some short rib meat with a spoon, wrap it in a tortilla with some onion and radish, and dip the whole in the soup to moisten it with the fiery flavor.

Pipían or Mole Verde (Pumpkin Seed Sauce) for Chicken

I based on the recipe on the one by Rick Bayles, modified the technique a little to make it less labor intensive, and added more of most of the flavoring ingredients. This is definitely not a a quick meal, but it requires less time and ingredients than many other moles.

1 large white onion, sliced 10 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and cut in half
1 1/2 tsp salt 1 chicken (3-4 lbs), separate into 10 pieces: 2 boneless breast halves, drumsticks, wings, thighs, back, and ribs, plus giblets
4 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram 2 green onions, chopped into quarters
1 cup hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
a handful of large sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped
4 large romaine leaves, roughly chopped
about 10 large radish leaves, roughly chopped spicy green chilies to taste (roughly 6 serranos or 4 small jalapeños), stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped

Chicken and broth
In a large (6-quart) pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil with half of the onion, 5 cloves of garlic, carrot, marjoram, thyme, bay, and 1 teaspoon of the salt and the chicken ribs, back, neck, heart and giblets. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.

Add the dark meat quarters and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add the breast halves, cover and simmer for 13 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let the chicken cool for a few minutes in the broth.
Remove the breasts, drumsticks, thighs, and wings, from the broth and set aside.
Use a spider to strain the onion, garlic, carrot, bay leaves, giblets, ribs, and back from the broth and discard. Spoon off any fat that rises to the top.

Pumpkin Seeds, while the chicken is cooking
In a large (10-to 12-inch), heavy skillet set over medium heat, spread out the pumpkin seeds and toast, stirring regularly, until all have popped (from flat to rounded) and turned golden (no darker); once they start popping, the whole process shouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes. At 3.5 minutes turn off the heat but keep stirring until the popping stops and you're sure that the pan has cooled enough so they won't burn.

Sauce
In a blender, combine the cooled pumpkin seeds with the remaining half of the onion and garlic, the cilantro, romaine, radish leaves, green onions and green chiles. Add enough of the chicken broth to blend to a smooth puree.

Pour the puree into a large pot or pan and stir constantly until very thick, about 10 minutes. Add more broth if it gets too thick, partially cover and simmer 20 minutes. (The sauce will look grainy at this point.)

Scrape the sauce into a blender, cover and blend to a smooth puree; if necessary add a little extra broth to give the sauce a medium consistency.

Rinse your saucepan, return the blended sauce to it, taste and season with salt, usually a 1/2 teaspoon.

Add the chicken and warm (but don’t bring to a simmer) over medium-low heat, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter, then ladle the sauce over and around it.

The dish can be prepared a couple of days ahead: store poached chicken and sauce separately, covered and refrigerated. Heat the chicken and sauce together on the stove top just before serving.

Notes: The sauce can be made separately and used for very rich and delicious enchiladas.

The chicken broth is also good to add to some beans if you're making them to accompany your meal. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Serves 4, with about 5 cups sauce (so you’ll have leftovers for another round of chicken or for enchiladas or vegetables)

Lemon Pepper Tilapia Pasta Primavera

This spring dish is light and refreshing. It's bowl food, a kind of hot pasta salad main dish. Fresh ingredients are key here. No frozen short cuts this time!

It can be made using a skillet and one pot of boiling, salted water if you're strategic with your order of operations, minimizing dishes to wash and time to prepare. Use penne rigate to hold the light sauce and flat baby spinach that won't clump up like curly spinach.

1 lb tilapia fillet
1/2 lb asparagus, cut on the bias to match the length of the penne pasta
1/2 lb baby spinach
1/2 lb penne rigate pasta
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
3 lemons
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp salt, plus more to add to boiling water
2 tsp fresh, coarsely ground black pepper

4 servings

In a large mixing bowl, juice the lemons and whisk in half of the cilantro, half of the onion, all of the garlic paste, all of the olive oil, salt, pepper.

Marinate the fish 30 minutes to 1 hour while washing and preparing the other ingredients. (You can cut it into chunks to make it fit into the bowl more easily.) Take the fish out of the marinade and put it in a cold, non-reactive 12-inch skillet.

Meanwh9ile, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus for until tender. Remove with a spider (see picture) from the boiling water. Shock in cold water, then drain it, (the spider is good for this, too) and marinate while cooking the fish, adding the remaining onion. Blanch the spinach in the same way for 2 minutes and shock. (Don't marinate the spinach.)

Cook the penne until just short of al dente in the same water (approx. 10 minutes). After dropping the pasta in the water, cook the fish in a skillet until it flakes apart, about 10-15 minutes on medium low heat. Cook the large pieces until opaque and flaky. Separate into big flakes. Stir in the butter and pasta to the skillet. Add lemon marinade and asparagus. Bring to a boil then simmer for 2-3 minutes. Toss in the spinach. The sauce will be thin but flavorful.

I think the leftovers will be good cold, too.