Cà Pháo Chua | Fermented firecracker eggplants

Ok, true confession: I'm totally backlogged on posts; I've got posts I've been working on for over a year in the queue and a lot of posts scattered about in the drafts pile. Recently, I've been working on two university guest lectures about this little ole blog o'mine for this month and well, I'm pregnant (yay!) and have had the blahs when it comes to cooking and eating food, so things have been moving even slower than usual.

I'm taking a break (aka procrastination) in order to post a quick fall fermenting recipe. At the Farmer's Market, I discovered the mother of all eggplant booths. Every cultivar of (Asian) eggplant was there in all its farm fresh glory. Seriously, like a dozen varieties. It inspired me to pick up a pound or so of cà pháo | firecracker eggplant (aka S. macrocarpon, gboma or African eggplant) to make pickles. Yes, this has entirely something to do with me being pregnant. I am not, however, eating them with ice cream, not even the dairy-free Coconut Bliss Salted Caramel. I was tempted to pick up some green Thai eggplants and make somlah machou | Khmer eggplant stew, but instead we picked up some of the purple Japanese eggplants by my daughter's request for roasting and making a Thai eggplant mash that I learned from my former sister-in-law.

While I'm sure many varieties of eggplant can be pickled, these are the ones I'm most familiar with. They have a great crunch when pickled. I chose unblemished one-biters around the size of a large marble because I hate having residue on my lips especially with mắm.  My girlfriend Tuyền makes a delicious Mắm cà pháo--which are pickled firecracker eggplants with fermented shrimp or fish sauce (and yes, I've been cajoling her to write some guest posts because she is a slammin' cook. Dagnabit, just thinking about her reminds me of bagoong dip with fruit and now i have a craving and will just have to content myself with guava & chipotle salt)--but this time around I decided to keep it simple. I've gotten into the habit of making everything a little plainer because my daughter cannot tolerate spicy and I need way more sea salt in my diet than my husband so I made the simple brine version even though the odds are I will be the only one to eat them. I can always add the mắm & chile before eating. Next time I get to the Farmer's Market though, I'll give it a try because baby loves mắm.

Typically cà pháo chua are eaten with a few days of pickling. To get the full benefits of fermenting and the probiotics, I will let them go for 28 days. (Come back in three weeks or so to see the pix of the end result.) Another common "cheat" to make pickled veggies is to use vinegar. While you get the sour, and instant gratification, you lose the beneficial probiotics and the unique fizzy/zingy tang of fermenting.

Unlike Western pickled eggplant recipes, these do not need to be blanched or cooked. If you are concerned about browning, you can drop the eggplants in a bowl of water, lemon juice and salt while you are cutting them up and let it soak for an hour or two. I'm lazy and any browning is negligible to me.

You will also need a .5L Fido jar or 1 quart mason jar (see my previous discussion on fermenting jars) and a weight. I use a flat, landscaping river pebble that I bought from a rock store (yes, those exist) for $5.50 for 50 lbs that was left over from a kids' craft project (let me tell you, give kids a rock and some paint and they will go to town); I've sterilized the rock in boiling water. The weight keeps the veggies below the water line and therefore airtight. Veggies that are exposed to the air are more likely to mold thus botching your batch. I write the date of production on the jar with a grease pen or a sharpie because I will not remember a few weeks down the line when I made the damn thing. I suppose it would make more sense to write the "ready by date". Ah well.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs of white cà pháo | firecracker eggplant (aka S. macrocarpon, gboma or African eggplant), cut in half 
• (optional) dried shrimp or fish sauce
• (optional) fresh bird's eye chile peppers
• (optional) garlic & chile paste

Brine

• 1 qt of water
• 1 tbs of celtic or himalayan sea salt (can use more for a saltier pickle, but no more than 2 tbs or you will bypass ferment to preserve)

Dissolve salt in the water (can use lukewarm water but allow to cool before pouring over veggies.)

Pack the eggplants and any other ingredients into the jar. Pour the brine over to cover and weight it down. Let it sit for 28 days (though you can eat it along the way). Every few days you open the airlock to release gas; this helps it from spilling over especially if it's filled to the brim.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Dưa Cải Chua|Fermented mustard greens

We can pickle that!

1.5L Kilner, Day 3

I first learned how to make dưa cải chua | pickled mustard greens by calling up my mother a few years back.  Her recipe though called for white vinegar and sugar which is not a true ferment dense with natural probiotics.

Wanting to have a fermented greens rich with probiotics, I turned to the internets.  I found this real foods recipe from Garden Betty and tweaked it to suit my tastes (northern so not spicy and despite being cured of my onion allergies, I still don't love the flavor of raw onions), and I use mineral-rich sea salt rather than bleached/processed pickling salt.  I also don't use her baggy method of weighting since 1) chemicals in plastic such as BPA are endocrine disruptive toxins, and 2) it's not sanitary.

I get my mustard greens from the Asian market or the farmers market since we don't grow it (yet).  Most Asian produce is pesticide-free and not GMO. 

L to R: Fido 5L, Kilner 1.5L, Ball 2QT, Fido .5L, Ball 1QT

You can reuse any old jar or mason jar, however ferments build up pressure as they release gas so you will have to open the lid daily to prevent an explosion.  Salsa jars and kimchi/kimchee jars are better designed to deal with fermenting gases and are preferable to a mayo jar. If you've ever opened a kimchi jar to have it volcano erupt on you, your counter and your clothes, you will come to value an airlock; ferments are not a seductive odor. I've noticed with jars, the veggies are not airtight and therefore go sour faster.  If you are into acquiring ferment specific kitchen gadgetry, at the low end I would recommend an Italian Fido jar that has a clamp which allows gases to release (self-burping) and is airtight (Kilner is another okay UK brand but it's not quite as airtight and it leaks more).  Now that canning is making a comeback, you can frequently find these airtight clamp jars at lower prices in Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Homegoods type discount stores.  (Note: they must indicate they are for home preservation, not just storage or decorative use.  The Ikea clamp ones are not airtight and not suitable for fermenting for example.)  You can get Fido jars and extra gaskets (very important) inexpensively throughout Crate & Barrel Outlet.  For the DIYers, you can make your own airlock ferment jars from mason jars; I've never tried this myself.  This blogger conducted a science experiment to determine which was the best way to ferment.

5L Crock, weights, and búa
(SE Asian pestle)

For those who ferment more frequently or consume more, at the high end, you can get an airtight fermenting crock (Fancypants store William Sonoma has this and so does my favorite Amish homesteading store Lehman's).  I just got my first one, a Boleslawiec, I bought through an HMN member temporarily based in Poland.  It has a water gutter to allow gases to escape and keeps air out.  Crock weights I got from William Sonoma and the pestle I picked up at the Asian market sometime back.  The ones specifically for fermenting are called sauerkraut cabbage crushers and I'm sure are more expensive.

(FYI I am not affiliated with any of the aforementioned stores or companies.  This is my personal opinion.)

Ingredients:

• 3.5 pounds mustard greens
• 2 tablespoons grey salt (or 1.5 tbs himalayan salt)
• plus hot water & 1 tbs grey salt for brine

Materials:

• 1.5L or 2 QT jar
• (optional) a wide mouth funnel
• rock sterilized in boiling water
• a pestle, cabbage crusher, your fist & forearm

The traditional way of washing greens uses less water than letting the faucet run.  Fill a bucket or large bowl with water and submerge the mustard greens to wash them.  Plunge the greens up and down to get the water sloshing; the dirt and sediment sink to the bottom.  Rub your thumbs across the inner stalks to remove any dirt.  Remove the greens and compost the water lightly rinsing any residue off the bucket.  Repeat at least once more until clean.

Drain the greens in a colander.  In the ideal world, you would be patient enough to dry them either spread out in the sun or by air dry.  Sometimes, I just salt them somewhat damp.  In the future, I think I will use my food dehydrator to quickly dry the greens which along with salting helps the cellulose to contract making for a crunchier pickle.

Chop up the mustard greens and toss with 2 tbs of grey sea salt.  Let this sit for at least 30 minutes so that the water can release.  If you shortcut this and the greens don't have time to absorb the salt, the mustard greens will be mushy.

While the above two steps are taking place, prep your jar.  With any container, I recommend pouring boiling water over the inside to kill off any mold spores or undesirable bacteria.  

When the greens are ready (bright green, salt is dissolved), put the greens in the jar.  Use your hands to handle the greens to colonize it with the good bacteria from your own micro-biome (that's not just love in your momma's cooking, it's her bacteria!) and build/boost/share your immunity.  Pour the juices into the jar as well.  If it's not enough to cover, make a brine of 1 tbs sea salt dissolved in 2 cups hot water and then cooled to a  tepid temperature so you don't cook the greens or kill the good bacteria.  You need to keep the greens below the waterline to avoid spoilage.  Tamp it down (I use a búa--a Southeast Asian wooden pestle that I picked up for a few bucks at the Asian market a few years back); you could also use your clean fist (rinsed clean, not soaped clean; don't kill off your friendly bacteria!).  Use a weight or a rock to keep the greens submerged.

Note the overflow froth
at the clamp of the Kilner.

Also if the greens are full up to the top, place the jar in a rimmed dish to catch any liquid overflow as it burps.  I always forget this step and the worst was when i made sauerkraut with purple cabbage.  It looked like the Smoochy the Rhino got shanked in my pantry cabinet. (Death to Smoochy clip below.)

Store the fermenting greens in a cool place such as a cabinet.  Check it every few days.  If you smell mold or it's discolored, it must be dumped.  So keep it airtight and the greens under the waterline!  Also, open slowly, contents under pressure!  Greens will be ready to eat in about a week, but if left 4 weeks, it will continue to ferment and develop optimal strains of probiotics.  You can refrigerate after day 28 if you wish however the fermenting is complete (keep in mind fermenting is preserving so it should be shelf stable as long as it is airtight and below the water).

Dưa cải chua is typically served with other pungent sweet-salty dishes like caramelized fish or caramelized pork.

In case you didn't know, the new sports drink is pickle juice.  Like whaaat?  

• H2O--check
• Sodium--check
• Electrolytes--check 

And if it's a real ferment (not made with white vinegar) then it's got probiotics.  Great way to rehydrate.  I think the ferment juice from dưa cải chua would be... special.

BONUS RECIPE

Dưa cải chua xào thịt | Pork & pickled mustard greens stirfry

My stepdad also makes this great dish stir-frying it with thịt heo quay | BBQ pork or with fresh, tender pork.  I'm not sure of the origins of this dish but it's not something you will find in a restaurant.  This be some soul food.  I think there's some Sinic influence as the only other time I've had it outside of my parents' home is at a Ngai Hoa funeral (subethnic Chinese in Vietnam) for my friend Tuyền's father.

I had a hankering for it the other day and stir fried it with some bacon because that is the pork I had on hand.  This is probably a little on the salty side, but sea salt is dịu or less harsh/salty than regular table salt.  The fat complements the tangy, briny bite of the mustard greens.  Pork works best, but you can use other meats but choose a fatty meat/cut like lamb.  I suggest stir frying with pasture-raised lard (yes, lard) and a little bit of freshly ground black pepper.  If you don't have lard, (untoasted) sesame oil or coconut oil would suit.  If you like it spicy, add chile peppers.

Ingredients:

• fermented mustard greens
• pork or fatty meat
• lard or neutral oil
• fresh ground black pepper
• optional chile peppers

Sauté the pork with black pepper and chile in a skillet or wok until partially cooked.  Add the pickled mustard greens and sauté until warmed.  Serve warm over rice.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Chinook Salmon Poke

Though I was born in Hawai'i, I didn't have poke (Hawaiian raw fish, pronounce poh-kay) until I was an adult.  By far the two best poke I've ever had was the Costco in Lihue (really!) and the sea asparagus salmon poke at Overland Meat & Seafood in South Lake Tahoe.  Makes me want to go forage in a salt marsh!

Local, wild sustainably caught
Chinook King salmon

When my friend Lenore offered to coordinate a buying coop from a local sustainable fisherman last year, we went in for a whole Chinook King salmon which I filleted myself; i lucked out on getting 15 lbs of everyone else's scrap pieces which included bellies.  The head, collar, and bones made for a nice canh chua (tamarind soup, recipe forthcoming).  We reserved some of the fillet and the belly (toro) for poke.  (Other scrap pieces went to the cats and they were sleek and silky for days!).  

I made poke for the first time last year and it's become my daughter's favorite food; she refuses to eat cooked salmon anymore, more's the shame, so now we cook all salmon rare.  It's April and Chinook King salmon are back in season which means BREAK IT DOWN: STOP, POKE TIME!  

As far as seaweed goes, I prefer sea asparagus (actually a sort of salt marsh succulent)--which can be eaten raw or blanched--and/or wakame.  I happened to have hijiki on hand which works fine; the texture almost as crisp as salicornia, but the taste is a little more "earthy" than other seaweed.  When I buy dried, I go by the picture and choose a seaweed that is in a salad or dry dish over soup seaweed.

Note that "sushi grade" is not a regulated designation.  To avoid contamination, source only fresh wild-caught or sustainably farmed fish from a reputable, sustainable fishmonger and freeze at least 12 hours to kill bacteria and parasites.  Thaw the salmon in the fridge for about 4 hours.  Cut while it is still icy, but pliable.  I've substituted other ocean fish like halibut or swordfish as well.

Ingredients & tools

I picked up fishbone tweezers from Daiso (The Japanese "yen" store where everything's $1.50) to pick out any pinbones   And I eschew our expensive Chicago cutlery knives in favor of my trusty Thai-made Kiwi knife (under $3 at the Asian market) which just stays sharper.  Kiwi knives can be sharpened the old school way using the bottom of a ceramic bowl or with any knife sharpener.  (Also, my aesthetic aspiration is one day, my bowls will all match.)

Ingredients:

I like the briny pops of coarse grey salt.

• 1 fillet of salmon (~1.5 lbs), semi-thawed
• 1 cup kelp (wakame/miyeok, hijiki,etc) or sea asparagus (salicornia)
• 1 large hass avocado
• 3-4 tbs toasted sesame oil
• splash of rice vinegar
• coarse grey or celtic sea salt
• 3 tbs toasted unhulled sesame seeds
• optional 1 tsp kombu powder
• optional splash of gunmaijen sake
• optional kanzuri paste (see comment below)*

If using dried seaweed, soak it for 30 minutes in room temperature water until reconstituted.  If using fresh seaweed, rinse thoroughly.

Use the tweezers to remove any pin bones.  Remove any skin.  I do this my laying the fillet skin side down. I slice down along any whitish tissue (on the left of the fillet pictured above) along the dorsal fin side removing it from the fillet without cutting through the skin.  Then I slice horizontally as close to the skin as I can.  Reserve the salmon skin.  Cube the salmon into 1/2 inch squares and put into a bowl.

Chinook wakame poke for lunch!

Drain the seaweed in a colander, rinse, and squeeze out the water thoroughly.  Add to the salmon bowl.

Cube the avocado and add to the salmon bowl.

Add toasted sesame oil, kombu powder, and 2 tbs of grey sea salt and toss together until mixed.  Cover with a plate and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Just prior to serving, add sesame seeds and another 1-2 tbs of coarse grey salt to taste.  Mix thoroughly.

Serve with kanzuri paste* as a condiment so folks can customize the heat factor.  

Poke can be served over salad.  My daughter likes to roll them up in korean toasted laver (kim) with brown rice and eat them like little kimbap/sushi rolls.

The remaining salmon skin can be cut into strips and lightly brushed with sesame oil and fried til crispy.  Sprinkle with sea salt and eat as you please.

Ăn Ngon Lành | Eat Delectably!

Pokemon slow jam

*Kanzuri (かんずり) is a fermented paste of red chili / chile pepper, rice malt (koji), yuzu and salt produced in Niigata, Japan.  The peppers are harvested, salted and left to begin fermenting in the snow, then they are mixed with the other ingredients and aged for 3 years to produce the finished paste. It's difficult to find stateside and I haven't seen it online at all.  Marukai Market imports it.  It's expensive and a little bit goes a long way.  It adds a bright citrus and japanese pepper note to the dish.  Yuzu paste is easier to source by contrast and would make an acceptable (very citrusy, not spicy) substitute.  Or you can use your choice of chile pepper flakes.  I favor Frontier organic chipotle powder myself, smoky is always a delicious note.   I also use Organic Harvest Foods chipotle habanero hot sauce because I love chipotle.

Khao Soi ເຂົ້າຊອຍ | Laotian fermented soybean noodle soup

Well, I find that I have too narrowly defined the scope of this blog to Việt cuisine given how I cook--improvisational and fusion.  My recent millet-stuffed deboned whole chicken, duck a l'orange, gluten-free shin splints (aka thin mints), dairy-free chia avocado chocolate pudding being recent culinary successes that have not made it to the blog because the content didn't quite fit.

So today, I present one of my favorite Laotian-style dishes after nam khao | fried sticky rice salad and sai ua | lemongrass sausage--Khao Soi.  This dish consists of fermented soybeans and ground pork served over rice noodles and pork broth that I first sampled at Vietiane Cafe.  I just learned that it is actually Burmese in origin (thanks internet!).  I reverse engineered it based on taste and then because my pantry is what it is, I improv'd some of the ingredients using dang myun | Korean glass noodles instead of rice noodles since I forgot to soak the rice noodles ahead of time.  And I always add more veggies where I can.  Here, I used blanched cabbage.  The making of this dish reminds me a lot of making Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sa Đéc | Mrs. Five's Noodle Dish from Sa Dec (which I've also learned is Hokkien-Khmer in origin).

I stopped eating soybeans some years ago because of the phyto-estrogens and the GMO issue.  Every now and then I will make an exception for organic, fermented soybeans.  So this is my exceptional recipe for fermented soybeans.  Tương cự đà| is a fermented soybean & roasted rice powder sauce from north Việt Nam; it can be substituted with miso and natto.  Natto has a very strong challenging flavor so you may want to omit if you don't like stinky ferments.  If you wanted to be fancy, you could also add thịnh | toasted rice powder (pan-toasted, finely ground rice grains) but it's not necessary.  Read the labels for miso & natto carefully to make sure it's organic, GMO-free, MSG-free and is naturally fermented with koji cultures (rice or barley malt).

One cooking shortcut tip when I am too pressed for time to mince garlic and onions/shallots by hand, I use an immersion blender to blend quartered onion and whole garlic cloves adding enough water to make it easier to process.  Then I saute until the water steams off.  The traditional way of making seasonings in Southeast Asia is to grind spices and liquid into a paste with mortar and pestle.  I rarely if ever have the luxury of time to do this though I'm sure it tastes amazing.

Khao Soi ເຂົ້າຊອຍ | Laotian fermented soybean noodle soup

Fermented soy (From L to R: miso,
 tương cự đà, and natto.)

• 1 shallot or 1/2 sweet onion
• olive oil
• 4-6 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 lb ground pork or beef
• fish sauce
• black pepper
• sea salt
• tương cự đà and/or dollop of fermented miso and 3 oz of fermented natto
• pork broth
• rice noodles
• cabbage, shredded & blanched
• baby power greens (kale, spinach, chard)
• cilantro

Soak rice noodles in water for at least 10 minutes then cook in boiling water for 7-10 minutes until soft.

Saute shallot/onion & garlic until fragrant with olive oil.  Add ground meat and break it up into small pieces.  Add fish sauce, black pepper, sea salt.  Saute until just cooked.  Turn off the heat and add tương cự đà and/or miso & natto.  Stir until blended and remove from heat.  I add the ferments at the very end to avoid cooking off the beneficial enzymes and probiotics.

To serve, add noodles, veggies, fermented soybean mix, and hot broth to the bowl.  Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Ăn ... Ngon Lành|Eat ... Delectably!