ode to soup noodles.

there is something to be said for one's own culture. people say i'm american (and i agree with them) but i was born to chinese parents, and there will always be part of me that loves good chinese food.

gardenburgers and fries get old,
falafel and hommos get old,

dal and samosas and bhindi masala are wonderful,
but i couldn't eat them all the time.

on the other hand, a mai-fun noodle bowl with choy and with veggie shu-mai can't be beat. it is easy to make at 3am, which is a true test of a comfort food.

i could eat it on the hottest day of summer, sweat for an hour, and still be happy. as it happens, the calendar favors me now, and i can warm up to soup noodles [1] all winter long .. (-:


[1] "noodle soup" reminds me of chicken noodle soup from bad cafeterias. this is not what i mean. i mean noodles served in soup, but not as a stew.

to cook well, then (1) make a menu, and (2) use parallel processing.

occasionally i adjust my strategies, in efforts to cook more often.

one of them includes writing a menu for the week. by necessity they require ingredients and preparation times, which immediate gives rise to setting up schedules and shopping lists.

anyway, here's a rough draft of this week's menu:

southwestern special:

spicy black bean stew w/ adobo,
savory corn muffins,
vegetable fajitas [1]

lazy noodle bowl [2]:

miso soup with rice noodles,
sauteed choy from the asian market
pan-fried gyoza.

proper stir-fry:

curried asian eggplant, mushrooms, and tofu,
rice-quinoa pilaf.

soup which i can cook, while writing a seminar talk:

as made with potatoes, lentils, peas, carrots, maybe fish or seafood, too, and served with good bread and hommos.

---

cooking notes:

[1] along with the standard saute veg like bell pepper, mushrooms, and such, i'll follow a friend's style of adding mashed potato or yam, as a twist on refried beans. it would save me the stylistic redundancy of having beans in two dishes.

[2] this is not so much 'lazy' as impatient. if you stack the steps, then it takes very little time to make this.

it's the cook's version of parallel processing. if you know how to code, then think of the soup as one thread. the gyoza and choy form another thread where the racing condition for the saute pan is solved with a lock; since the choy needs more prep than the gyoza, it goes last.

the key is that you don't have to watch the saute pan every minute. if only for reassurance to newbies -- for a conventional stove on "high" heat settings, there wouldn't be enough time to burn anything anyway ..

first,
(1a) boil water for the soup,
(1b) wash/chop the choy,
(1c) thaw frozen gyoza in microwave (1min),
then add with oil to a frying pan -- 5 minutes.

then,
(2a) add noodles to the boil,
(2b) turn the gyoza over,
(2c) smash/chop a clove of garlic -- 3 minutes.

and then,
(3a) place the gyoza in a separate bowl to cool,
(3b) turn off the boil, remove from heat -- 30 seconds.

lastly,
(4a) add miso paste to the noodles & water,
(4b) fry the choy and garlic,
(4c) dice 3 fingers of tofu, 1 finger of green onion,
add to the noodles, raw -- 3 minutes.

(5) add everything together,
voila: a noodle bowl in <12 min: game on!

today's breakfast: oatmeal, with untried possibilities.

this dish is good but makes poor photography, so as a result: no photos attached.

• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, old-fashioned or steel-cut,
  cooked in a bath of boiling water, then drained;
  
  
• 2 big spoonfuls of unsweetened applesauce;
  
  
• a drizzle of honey;
  
  
• a few shakes of garam masala
  

remarks:

1. i'm not opposed to milk or cream or soy milk; it's just that i didn't have any in the kitchen.
   
   
2. i have no real loyalty to garam masala, either. it's just that i was unable to find the cardamom this morning.
   
   
3. cut, fresh fruit would probably be good in this, but nothing too acidic. maybe really ripe peaches.
   
   for something more exotic, sweet red beans and condensed milk (in place of honey) could work really well. any takers?