Issue #187: Chrismukkah Chow Fun
Two Holidays Meet, Leave Latkes Alone, Chinese Food Traditions
Good morning! Just a brief note on this relatively rare day when Christmas and Hannukah overlap—the last time was 2005. It’s been quite a year. To note just two monumental changes, Nate and I moved from Manhattan to rural New Hampshire and Donald Trump was reelected president. Both have given me more reasons and more time to cook:
The move because there are very few good places to purchase prepared food or to go out to eat in our new environs. So, I pretty much have to cook three meals a day. Sometimes four. Luckily, in season, the local ingredients are prime and I can get just about anything I need at grocery stores close by.
The election because, like many, I haven’t really listened to or watched the news since that fateful day in November. Consequently, I have more free time.
Both, also, because I find meaning and peace in the kitchen. I really just love to cook. I like the science of it, the meditative nature of the tasks, the excitement of transformation, the visual aesthetics, the delicious results. Cooking gives me something immediately productive to do in our new, quiet, rural existence. Although it is something that I have a deep, embodied understanding of, cooking still also seems like magic to me. It gives me hope in this bleak political moment.
Simple Latke Supremacy
The magic of Hanukkah is supposed to be the lamp oil, but for our family, the miracle lay in my mother’s golden one-onion-to-two-potatoes ratio for latkes. I shared the family recipe back in Issue #27 and it has appeared in many other publications since it took me to the podium at the First Annual James Beard Foundation Latke Cook-Off in 1995.
Although you might be tempted to make a big meal around your potato pancakes, let me tell you that it’s really just the latkes that everyone wants. Don’t waste you energy on other elaborate dishes. Simply make a lot of of latkes. Serve them with plenty of apple sauce and sour cream. Forget the yearly attempts to newfangle the classic. I may have dreamt it, but this year on Instagram I think I saw someone put marshmallows and melted chocolate on latkes to make s’mores. #nightmare.
Jewish Christmas Food
As for Christmas, like many Jews, we played to the cliché and often went for Chinese food. I had to laugh the other day when cookbook author, chef, owner Leah Cohen of Pig and Khao shared a recipe on Instagram for Chinese lobster with ginger and scallion. She said it was usually on her family’s table on Christmas at their favorite restaurant in Flushing, Queens. My sisters and I used to meet on Christmas at a favorite restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown that was known for the same dish. I haven’t tried to make it…yet.
Less ambitious, perhaps, but no less satisfying is a steaming plate of fresh rice noodles, chow fun, in a rich black bean sauce. This I do make, even though I haven’t found a local source for fresh rice noodles in New Hampshire. I did make the noodles myself a couple of times during the pandemic. Without commercial-sized equipment, though, the steaming took more time and effort than I’d hoped.
When I do see fresh hor fun, I pick up a couple of packs. And even though everyone will tell you online that you can’t refrigerate or store fresh rice noodles because they solidify into an unusable brick, you can microwave that brick for a minute or more and separate them enough to stir fry them back to goodness. I did it last week, so I’m sure. Not perfect, but yummy.
Otherwise, you can rehydrate wide dried rice noodles and use those instead. Look for ones at least 10mm, about 1/2-inch wide and as thick as you can find. They are usually from Thailand, but occasionally you can find a Chinese brand. No, they do not have the same chewy texture as fresh, but they are delicious in their own right.
For protein, I like to garnish my chow fun with slices of fried tofu or marinated beef. But you can leave them out. The fermented black beans that add the depth and funk to this dish are more widely available now than they used to be. I’ve even seen them in a local New Hampshire grocery store. If you can’t find them, add some aged Japanese miso or Korean doenjiang. The oyster sauce here is key and I only ever use one brand, Megachef, which is made from real oyster extract and has no MSG or other additives. Don’t be caught without it.
RECIPE: Chow Fun with Black Bean Sauce
Makes 4 servings
4 ounces firm tofu, cut into thin rectangles and left as is, or thinly sliced beef, such as flank steak, marinated with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon each cornstarch, light soy sauce, and vegetable oil (optional)
Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
1/3 pound Chinese broccoli, cut legnthwise in half, or broccoli florets
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 pound fresh chow fun noodles, cut into 3/4-inch-wide strips, or 8 ounces dried noodles soaked in warm water for 30 minutes and boiled for 30 seconds, drained, and rinsed
1 bunch scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 handful garlic chives, cut into 1-inch pieces, or additional scallions
2 tablespoons Chinese fermented black beans or aged miso or doenjiang
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Heat a work or large cast iron pan over high heat and add a thin coating of oil. If using tofu, fry the slices until browned on both sides, about 4 or 5 minutes total. If using beef, stir fry until cooked through and just starting to brown around the edges. Remove to a large, clean plate, and set aside. Wipe the pan clean with paper towel.
Heat another tablespoon or so of oil over high heat and fry the Chinese broccoli in 2 or 3 batches until wilted and beginning to brown. Transfer to the plate with the tofu or beef. Add 2 or 3 more tablespoons of oil to the pan and add the sliced onion. Stir fry until it begins to brown and then add the fresh or rehydrated rice noodles and stir fry until they are coated with oil, separated, and softened. Add the scallions, garlic chives, black beans, dark soy sauce, and oyster sauce, and continue stir frying until the noodles are coated. Add back the cooked broccoli and tofu or beef, if using, and continue to toss until everything is mixed well and heated through.
May Santa Claus and Hanukkah Harry be good to you. All the best for the holidays.
Happy holidays! Fabulous shirts!