CHAR-med to Eat Ya

September 9, 2020
Arctic Char and Rice Noodles in Curry Broth
Pg. 55
Samuel, Season 2
36 down…63 to go!

Is anyone getting sick of hearing me say, “I’ve never heard of this” or “This is my first time cooking with…” because I feel like I say it SO MUCH. Well, I hope not… because it’s pretty much always the case and will be for the rest of the recipes. Prepare yourself because we still have over 60 to go. Lord, help us.

This week I was interested to learn that Arctic Char is in the salmon family, and by now you might know that I love salmon. This recipe instructed to pan fry the fish with the skin on. I was a fan (Side note: I also used to only eat the skin off my Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was a tid). My sweetheart, on the other hand, wasn’t into it. However, he really enjoyed the dish as a whole, especially the curry broth.

The broth was bursting with the flavors of fresh ginger, ground turmeric, toasted coriander seeds, saffron, lemongrass, and more beautiful ingredients. The boiled rice noodles soaked up the incredible flavors and the fried rice noodles added a great texture to the dish.

I absolutely loved the veggies. This is the second MasterChef Junior recipe that used baby bok choy, and I was thrilled. It was also my first time cooking with shiitake mushrooms. I am so thankful for Central Market and their high quality ingredients… but more specifically, that I’m able to buy the exact amount that I need. I only grabbed a handful of mushrooms and didn’t have to spend $50 on jars of spices because you can buy spices in bulk by the spoonful. It’s literally a lifesaver.

With this recipe, the only thing me and my fella weren’t big fans of was that I used every pan we own (which means a lot of dishes) and I made a bit of a mess. It’s times like these when I wish I was in the MasterChef kitchen so I could have two stovetops and all the space I need. Maybe one day… =)

What I did differently: (kind of a lot, there were a lot of unique ingredients on the list)

I used light unsweetened coconut milk.
I couldn’t find galangal at Central Market, so I substituted more ginger.
I could only find Thai red curry powder, whereas the recipe called for just red curry powder… but I think it’s the same thing. Plus, the dish was supposed to have Asian flavors, so I thought it was okay.
I couldn’t find vadouvan, so I made my own replica spice blend.
The vadouvan was supposed to be sprinkled on the fried rice noodles, so I sprinkled my copycat mixture with the addition of furikake, which is a Japanese spice with a fishy flavor.
I didn’t want to pay $20 for black Himalayan salt so I just used the pink we had at home. You would do the same, right?
I fried the rice noodles longer than the instructions said to so I could get a better, golden brown color. They came out great, in my opinion.

All my love,
Dani, a big tid

P.S. When I was younger, I didn’t like mushrooms. Crazy, I know. But I just kept exposing myself to them, cooked in different ways, and eventually I came to love them. What was one thing you didn’t like when you were younger that you like/love as an adult?