Vegan Noodles Were The Star

Well, besides the pizza...

Some weeks are all leftovers and low motivation. Others end with pizza dough in your hands and a blazing-hot oven in the backyard.

I really need to get better about taking pictures of things that aren’t part of my “projects,” like working my way through The Wok. That becomes especially obvious in weeks like last, where leftovers carried us through a couple of days or we just didn’t feel like cooking.

Valentine’s Day was a break from the current norm, with pizzas fired in the backyard Ooni. During COVID, Friday night was pizza night—every week, for over a year. I’ve made pizzas from all over and eaten pizzas all over, but I still think my backyard pies are easily in the top five I’ve ever had. I’m also a sucker for a good Detroit-style pizza… homemade, of course. I’ve been seriously neglecting my pizza game lately and decided this past weekend that I need to do better. I’ll try to sprinkle in more sushi and dim sum while I’m at it.

While I didn’t get pictures of the pizzas, I did work through a few new recipes this week. The first was Velvet Chicken with Snap Peas and Lemon Ginger Sauce (pg. 78). This recipe appears early in the book and is meant to get you focused on the velveting technique. Maybe it’s the baking soda, but this process yields meat so incredibly tender that you’ll never fully recreate restaurant-quality results without it. The water method only takes a few minutes, and I can’t recommend it enough.

This particular dish was especially interesting. Lemon isn’t a common Chinese flavor, but it works beautifully here. The result is deeply satisfying while still feeling light and fresh.

The next dish was Stir-Fried Fish with Ginger and Scallions (pg. 139). Interestingly, this recipe also calls for velveting, though you don’t wash and press the fish afterward. We used frozen monkfish, which was good, but I think I’d try a different white fish next time. This dish comes together incredibly quickly and doesn’t make a large portion—it’s really just fish, ginger, and scallions—so plan on something like broccoli on the side, along with the obligatory bowl of rice.

The final dish of the week, Easy Stir-Fried Noodles with Mushrooms, Carrots, Basil, and Sweet Soy Sauce (pg. 350), was hands-down my favorite. It’s relatively quick, easy, and makes a ton of food. I doubled the vegetables, kept the noodles the same, and added tofu for protein. I also ended up doubling the sauce, knowing the tofu would soak it all up and wanting to make sure the noodles were well coated.

I did burn a few noodles to the pan—I clearly overcrowded things, and it was tough to keep everything moving and avoid sticking—but the new wok recovered admirably. The dish has a nice bite from the chili paste and subtle five-spice vibes from the sauce. It uses kecap manis, an Indonesian sweet soy sauce cooked with spices like star anise and cinnamon. I searched everywhere at HMart but ultimately used the book’s recipe to make my own. This is a vegan dish that makes you forget it’s vegan.

Finally, I’m not quite ready to do a full review of the new wok, but so far I’m loving it. In terms of general performance, the biggest difference I notice is how little food sticks. You really notice it when it’s time to clean up—everything, whether it looks burned on or not, just wipes right out. The double nitride process on this thing is no joke.

I’m hoping to capture some slow-motion video of a food flip soon, which also feels much easier with this wok thanks to the taper of the pan and its lighter weight.