Rice Cakes Revisited

Stir fried rice cakes, known as "tongue depressors" in my family, were an early post on No Free Lunch. Since then, I have continued to make them regularly, and Ariel now regards them to be as much of a comfort food as I do. Since the original post, a lot has changed in how I go about preparing these beauties. Today's recipe is basically a more sophisticated, yet still easy update. The main differences are that I'm using marinated strips of pork rather than ground, salted napa cabbage instead of regular green cabbage, and lightly saucing the dish to pull it all together. I have also figured out that there is no need to parboil the rice cakes. Soaking them for a day softens them enough to go straight to the stir frying stage. This also makes them a little less prone to clumping together, though this does still happen.

Since this is the first time I've done a full-blown recipe using napa cabbage, it is worth a short discussion. Napa, known as da bai cai (big white vegetable) in Chinese, is a gentle and versatile vegetable that I have only recently starting using, and I am hooked in a big way. Each piece has a firm white center that is great for stir frying, and green leaves that are excellent raw. I usually trim off the leaves and save them. This particular head of napa provided greens for fish tacos and hot sandwiches. The leaves are also nice in salads. This recipe also uses my old stir frying standbys, bean sauce and ground bean sauce. These two sauces are more or less interchangeable in terms of use, but I elected to use ground for the marinade and non-ground for the sauce. I like the little bean bits to show up in the sauce, but they aren't necessary in the marinade. If you only have one or the other, it will be perfectly fine.

Ingredients

• 1 500g package of dried rice cakes (nian gao)
• 1 lb pork loin (about 4 pieces, if sliced)
• 1 head Napa cabbage (about 1 lb)
• Salt
• Several green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbs bean sauce
• 1/2 cup stock (chicken or beef)
• Vegetable oil

Marinade

• 2 Tbs ground bean sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• Splash of dry sherry
• Splash of black vinegar
• Black pepper

Instructions

About 24 hours in advance, start soaking the rice cakes in room temperature water. You can get away with less soaking, but I try to plan ahead. Change the water the next morning.

The cakes after 24 hours

2-3 hours ahead of cooking time, start preparing the pork. Cut the pork into strips, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. Working with the standard supermarket pork loin slices, I cut each piece in half, lengthwise, and then cut these into the strips pictured. Combine the pork with marinade ingredients in a bag, then leave this to marinate in the refrigerator.

Sliced pork, ready to marinate

Next, prepare the napa. Pull each leaf and trim the leafy parts off, leaving the firm white centers. This can be done with two cuts. Save the leaves for other uses. Cut the napa into half-inch strips, across the grain. For the big, outer leaves, consider halving the strips.

Untrimmed and trimmed napa

Put the napa in a bowl and salt heavily. Toss to coat and let sit for 20 minutes. Working in batches, wrap the napa in a towel and wring out as much water as possible.

After squeezing dry

Heat up oil in a wok on high heat. Stir fry the napa for a few minutes, until lightly browned. Set aside. Next, empty the bag of pork and garlic into the wok. Add oil as needed. Stir fry until cooked through, then set aside.

Frying on the side burner

Add more oil to the wok, then add the drained rice cakes. Try to get as little water as possible in the wok. Stir fry these briefly. Be careful to keep them moving so that they do not stick too much. The rice cakes will start to get softer and stickier as they cook. Finally, add the green onion, pork, and napa. Stir fry everything together for a minute, then add bean sauce and stock. Stir to coat well and reduce sauce to a thin coating on the food.

Atakilt Wat (Ethiopian Vegetable Stew)

Today, No Free Lunch is proud to celebrate its 100th post! Due to end of semester madness, it's been more than a month since my last post, but I'm hoping to pick up the pace again soon. I'm also dipping my foot into Twitter, and I am posting all blog updates there, as well. You can follow me there @SebastianWai.

Looking back at the past 99 posts, there are many I am very proud of, and others that clearly need work. My all-time most popular has been my recipe for Galinha à Portuguesa, which is actually on the first page of Google hits for that dish. The second most popular, the recipe for "tongue depressors," is actually one I may have to revisit, as I have vastly improved the dish over the last three years with my increased knowledge of Chinese ingredients and techniques. Perhaps this means I've carved out a tiny internet niche in obscure Chinese dishes. In any case, I'm looking forward to another 100 chances to share some fun and unique recipes. Today is no exception, featuring my first African dish on the blog.

One evening a few months ago, I was trying digging through the fridge, trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I found I had about half a head of cabbage and some carrots, so I did a Google search for "cabbage and carrots" and came across what I now know to be called "atakilt wat," an Ethiopian stew. This dish is easy to make, and it consists completely of ingredients I generally have on hand. In many of the recipes I've shown recently, the moisture retained in cabbage is a problem that we address by salting it ahead of time; this time, though, the water in the cabbage is the basis for the stew. The result is a gentle and aromatic dish that is great on its own or as an accompaniment.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 Tbs minced ginger
• 4 cloves minced garlic (about 2 Tbs)
• 1 lb red potatoes (about 5 small ones)
• 3/4 lb carrots, peeled
• 1 1/2 Tbs ground turmeric
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 lb green cabbage, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Instructions

It is a good idea to prepare the vegetables ahead of time, as there is a lot of chopping. I cut the carrots into pieces about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, then halved or quartered them according the thickness. I cut each potato into 8 pieces, but you may want to do more with bigger potatoes (to get an idea of size, my potatoes were 5 to a pound).

Onion, garlic, and ginger cooking

Heat olive oil on medium-high in a dutch oven or large pot with a lid. Cook the onion for a few minutes, until starting to soften and brown. Add ginger and garlic and cook another minute, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes, carrots, turmeric, and water. Stir together and cover. Cook for a few more minutes. 

Note the difference in liquid from the lead photo

Next, turn the heat down to low and add the cabbage, one handful at a time. Stir in each batch until slightly wilted, then add more. Once all the cabbage is in, cover and cook for about 45 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes. Once done, the potatoes and carrots will be completely soft and the cabbage will have sweated out. As always, taste and adjust seasoning. I added both salt and pepper. The stew can be served on its own, with rice, or (if you have it) Ethiopian bread.