Week 3: Dan Dan Mien and Fuji apple salad with kimchi, bacon, and maple labne

For the potstickers:

buy potstickers or gyoza (the way I see it, unless you make your own dough it it isn't really worth making your own, and the dough rolling takes a lot of time)
heat frying pan to medium high
put 1 t of oil and 2 T of water in pan
add dumplings
cover and cook for 10 minutes
uncover and evaporate all water
serve with dipping sauce--1/2 vinegar, 1/2 soy sauce
add scallions, ginger, chili garlic sauce, and/or sesame oil if desired
my favorite is black (chinkiang is best), but red or white rice vinegar also work.

For the salad:
This recipe is from David Chang's Momofuku cookbook and is one of the few recipes I make from a single recipe. The maple-yogurt mixture is addictive. He includes a recipe to make kimchi, I just use a local Korean market's.

4 Fuji apples
1/2 cup Napa Cabbage Kimchi, pureed
1/2 cup labne (strained yogurt--just strain plain yogurt overnight in a coffee filter or cheesecloth)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 pound bacon
2 cups loosely packed cup arugula
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the apples into ~1 cm cubes. Toss the apples in 1/2 c. kimchi puree. You can do this just before making the salad or up to 6 hours in advance—any longer and the apples will be overwhelmed by the kimchi.

Combine the strained yogurt and maple syrup in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.

Heat the oven to 350F. Arrange the bacon on a rack above a baking shee and pop it into the oven. Bake for 18 minutes, or until it is browned and crisped. It needn't be any more than lukewarm when you serve the salad, but it shouldn't be cold or greasy. (If you're preparing all the elements in advance, slightly undercook the bacon up to a couple hours ahead of time and then reheat and recrisp it in a 200 to 300F oven.)

Just before serving, toss the arugula with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, plop a dollop — 1 to 2 tablespoons — of the maple-yogurt in the middle of each plate and top with one-quarter of the kimchi apples. Sprinkle bacon over the apples and drop a handful of the dressed arugula over the bacon.

For the noodles:

Dan-dan (or tan-tan) noodles have many variations, the major difference being whether they incorporate a sesame/peanut sauce or not. I prefer with sesame sauce, but made it separately and optinal in the shared version. Vegetables aren't traditional in the noodle dish, but the recipe for dry-fried string beans/ma-po tofu have such similar seasoning that I like to just add them to the noodles according to my nutritional desires.

1 lb. noodles--I like udon for their width, but chinese wheat noodles are traditional. Given that these are just wheat and water, pasta also works.
1/2 lb. ground meat
garlic
shallots
ginger
preserved vegetable
scallions
sesame oil
soy sauce
chinkiang vinegar
chicken broth or water
chili bean paste
(sesame paste)
(toasted sesame seed)
(szechuan peppercorn/prickly ash)
(actual vegetable)

If using dried noodles, cook noodles according to directions and cool. coat with 1 t sesame oil.

Toast szechuan peppercorn in dry pan until fragrant. Grind finely in spice grinder or mortar and pestle. The sichuan peppercorn is somewhat numbing, and the idea of ma-la (numbing-spicy) dishes such as dan-dan noodles have have sichuan peppercorn to balance red chili heat. Plan on using 1 t. ground peppercorn at the most, though roasted ground peper can be stored for a month or so.

Marinate ground meat in 1 t. soy sauce, 1 T rice flour/cornstarch/cassava flour, 2 t. rice wine, 2 t. chili bean paste, 5 garlic cloves, and 1 t chopped ginger. Vegetarians can just leave this out, and not worry about thea seasongings, though adding more garlic and ginger later can't hurt.

Everything is to taste, so I'll approximate my tastes in the amounts. I like things spicier and slightly saltier than most people, so keep that in mind.

Cook the meat mixture over medium heat. I usually break up ground meat with a potato masher in the pan. Add additional garlic and shallots when meat bgins to release fat. I use 1 shallot and 5-6 more garlic cloves. Add rinsed, chopped preserved vegetable after garlic and shallots start to brown. Add 1/2 t. ground roasted sichuan peppercorn and additional chili bean (or chili garlic) paste to taste. I like 2 T, but this is on the spicy side.

If adding vegetables such as green beans I use the same technique I usually use to add veggies (usually broccoli) to a stir-fry. Microwave the beans for 1 minute, then add to the frying pan and toss with other ingredients.

Mix equal amounts light soy sauce, chinkiang vinegar (or rice wine vinegar), and chicken stock (or veg. stock or water). Make enough to make the noodle mixture saucy--probably about 1/2 c. each. Add 3 T sesame paste and/or ground peanuts if desired.

Add noodles and above sauce mixture in to preserved vegetable/ground meat mixture. Turn off heat immediately and mix.

Serve. Toppings may include toasted sesame seeds, chopped scallions, cilantro, additiona chili/chili paste, sichual peppercorn, and/or ground peanuts.