Shrimp Noodle Soup

Last night we had a lovely dinner with friends at The Helmand in Baltimore. I had plenty of leftovers for my dinner tonight. So my hubby made this soup for his own dinner! I thought it looked pretty so I snapped a photo.

The base is a soy ginger broth from Trader Joe's. Hubby added noodles, shrimp, baby napa, fungus, shitake, and green onions. He said the broth was a little too mild for his taste, so he added some Sriracha when eating the soup.

Salt-Baked Eight-Flavor Chicken

My hubby made this for his dinner tonight! Salt-Baked Eight-Flavor Chicken from our Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking cookbook. The chicken is seasoned, then wrapped in parchment paper, covered with rock salt, then baked. He used two bone-in chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. One breast has already been removed in these photos.

"Recipe" for Potato Momos

Last week I made potato momos for the first time. This photo is from one of my bentos last week. Beastmomma requested that I post the recipe, so here it is! Only, it's not really a recipe because I was experimenting when I made them. I was trying to recreate the taste of momos that I ate in Nepal many years ago.

Anyway, here's how I did it:

• First I peeled about 6 medium potatoes, cut them into chunks and boiled until tender.
• Meanwhile, I took half of a yellow onion and diced it VERY fine -- almost minced but not quite. I minced two large cloves of garlic and about an inch of fresh ginger root. I sauteed the onion, garlic, and ginger together in a tablespoon of canola oil until they were soft but not too brown.
• I drained the cooked potatos and put them in my stand mixer bowl. I blended them with a few dashes of milk, a tablespoon of butter, and several dashes of salt.
• While the potatos were blending, I added to them: 1 tsp ground Cumin, 1 tsp ground Coriander, 1 tsp Garam Masala, 1 tsp Turmeric, a few dashes of Cayenne Pepper, and more salt to taste. (These measurements aren't exact -- I'd recommend adjusting the measurments to taste if you make these.)
• Finally I added the onion mixure to the potatos and mixed it all together by hand.

Here is the finished filling, quite yellow from the turmeric:

I used round gyoza wrappers to create half-moon dumplings. Momos can also be round shaped, but I couldn't manage that shape! I stuck with the half-moons. My cooking method is similar to potstickers or gyoza:

• Heat about 2 Tbs of vegetable oil in a pot or deep skillet over medium heat. (I use a nonstick pot for this.)
• Place the dumplings seam-side UP in the oil and let them cook until golden on the bottom. (I do this in batches of 10 or less.)
• I like to turn each dumpling on its side and let one side turn golden as well.
• Then I turn the dumplings upright again, pour water into the pot just enough to cover the bottom of the pot, and place a lid on the pot.
• Let the dumplings steam until most of the water is absorbed.
• Done!

Here is a great tutorial on making and cooking gyoza, which is the same method I used for the potato momos, the only difference is my filling. (And I like to brown them on the bottom AND one side, not just the bottom.)
http://www.cookingcute.com/gyoza_pleating.htm

By the way, I wouldn't call my momos "authentic" because I was experimenting a bit. If you search for "Tibetan momos" on the internet, you can find some authentic recipes. I recommend it! Momos can also be made with meat or vegetables.