The Zonderwick Potluck

So what seems like ages ago, we went to the Zonderwick home for Sunday Dinner. Pan-Asian fusion was the theme, and M did most of the cooking for our household. He's, um, a little tardy to the blog scene, so I'm filling in on his behalf.

We decided to make 2 dishes: coconut rice and Sichuan green beans. The coconut rice recipe is from a cookbook on Thai cuisine, sort of. For Christmas 2003 he bought me this big, gorgeous tome on Thai cooking (by David Thompson), a historical and culinary epic. We're talking 600+ pages. The other half of the gift was cooking classes, but one thing led to another, baby on the way, weird changes to the palate, can't deal with spicy food ... my taste buds have recovered from pregnancy hormones, but haven't made time for the classes just yet.

And that cookbook? Food pron of the worst kind. Gorgeous pictures, long ingredient lists (with metric quantities, no less!), irrational instructions, and a lousy index. If you look for coconut rice in the index, it's not there. But if you carefully read the chapter on "Street Food" it's in there, nestled in between practical recipes like "Stir-fried water mimosa with minced pork and peanuts" and "fermented pork sausages."

Anyway, here's the modified recipe (served 6-8 as a side dish):
- soak 2 cups jasmine rice in water for 2 hours. Drain and place in a saucepan.
- In a bowl, mix 2 cups coconut cream (or coconut milk if you can't find coconut cream) and 1 cup water. Add a pinch of salt and a tbsp sugar (palm sugar if available), and 2 knotted pandanus leaves if you can find them (we couldn't). Mix well, then add to rice and boil. Simmer over low heat 15 min.
- Remove rice from the heat and stir well. Let rest 5 min. Place in a serving dish, then sprinkle a handful of fried shallots on top (or cheat and use the fried onion bits from Trader Joe's, which are lovely).

The Sichuan Green Beans are a stellar recipe from a recent issue of Cook's Illustrated, again modified slightly:
This recipe ostensibly serves 4, but it is so tasty that you may want to double it in 2 batches.
Don't be tempted by jarred garlic and ginger for this recipe. Fresh flavorings make a huge difference.
- Make sauce with 2 tbsp soy, 1 tbsp dry sherry, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cornstarch, 1/4 tsp ground white pepper, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp dry mustard, 2 tbsp water. Set aside.
- Prep and set in dishes - 1 # green beans in 2-inch pieces, 3 pressed fresh garlic cloves, 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger, 3 thinly sliced scallions.
- Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add beans and cook until they are slightly blackened, stirring with tongs, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add 3/4# ground pork to skillet and cook through, stirring to break up chunks, 2 min. (For vegetarians, substitute minced shiitake mushrooms cooked in a little oil). Add garlic and ginger and heat until fragrant. Whisk sauce to resuspend corn starch and add in, then stir in beans and coat with sauce, 5-10 seconds. Spoon into a bowl, top with scallions and a dash of toasted sesame oil, then serve.

Enjoy!