Soup with Pancakes...Weird Combination?

This post isn't as weird as the title makes it seem. I made my take on a spicy Korean kimchi veggie soup with green onion pancakes.

Spicy Korean Kimchi Veggie Soup

The soup consists of tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, tofu, kimchi, all in a chicken stock mixed with a few tablespoons of the kimchi base and black pepper. Usually, this soup isn't vegetarian (besides it being in chicken stock) because I like to add in sausage the majority of the time.

The green onion pancakes ARE vegetarian, and surprisingly not as difficult to make as I thought. Peter from Taiwan Om Nom taught me how to make these. These "pancakes" are more similar to a tortilla then a typical pancake. I'm not sure why they're referred to as pancakes since the Chinese translation doesn't translate to pancake either...

Green Onion Pancake dough

The green onion pancake dough consists only of 2 parts all-purpose flour to 1 part of water. Mix the two thoroughly with your hands, feel free to flour your hands and use a bit of extra flour to prevent stickiness. Then let the dough sit for 30-45 minutes, covered with a towel. I got impatient and didn't do this...make sure and take the extra time to do this because the texture of your pancakes won't turn out as well if you don't! I learned this the hard way. Mine were definitely not as good as the ones Peter made in this post.

Green Onion Pancake spiral shell

Separate the dough into small palm sized portions and roll each of them out. A tip is to use wax paper on the kitchen counter with a generous amount of flour when rolling out the dough. I also didn't have a rolling pin, so I usually either use a cylindrical tall drinking glass or a tall shot glass depending on the size of the dough. Take about half a teaspoon of vegetable oil and spread it on the surface of the rolled out dough and add salt and chopped green onions. Roll the dough up like a fruit roll up; remember those sweet, "healthy" childhood snacks?. Then roll the "long rope" of dough into a snail shell shape. After it's in the snail shell shape, roll it out once again and then fry it in a shallow pan of vegetable oil.

See, it's not TOO weird. Okay, maybe it is a little bit. Definitely not as weird as the pancakes you were thinking of though, right?

Time to be Vegetarian

I tend to eat like a vegetarian fairly often. It's not necessarily that I'm purposely trying to eat that way, but because I really like vegetables, am sometimes too lazy to prep and prepare meat dishes, and it's also healthy!

I really like tofu, but only when it's used/cooked correctly. I don't eat tofu when it's right out of the package... So I can see why some people have a bad impression of it since they've never had it prepared in a tasteful manner.

I didn't fry my own tofu, but bought prepackaged fried tofu puffs/balls (not exactly sure what they're called in English, haha) for this dish. This dish is really simple. I stir-fried the fried tofu, broccoli, and mushrooms with black bean garlic sauce, soy sauce, black pepper, and only about a teaspoon of sugar to balance the saltiness from the two sauces. To thicken the sauce, I added about a teaspoon of corn starch that was mixed with a bit of water beforehand. I served this simple but healthy dish over white rice.

Madam Mam's

Madam Mam's has a huge menu now! It's pretty much a book. They seem to always change something every time I go back. Last time it was their choice of tofu; they now have a choice of fresh or fried. I always go with the fried.

They have some of the best Thai tea, though it is really sweet. I usually like to let the ice melt down a bit before drinking it. I also love the color of Thai tea...maybe I'm just easily amused.

Thai Tea

One of my favorite go to dishes is the Pad Sea Ew with the flat noodles. This time I got fried tofu with it, but I also like the beef and shrimp versions as well.

Pad Sea Ew with fried tofu

With their new menu now, it feels even more intimidating to decide on what to order than before. It's great they have such a great selection of Thai food, better than many other restaurants, but it takes me forever to choose something.

Can I have a bowl of rice with that?

Rice Bowl Cafe opened after I moved from Austin, but I heard many great things about this place from friends that I knew I had to try it when I was in town. The noodles for their noodle soups are made fresh, so they have a distinct chewy texture that's delicious and filling.

Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup

The portions are also very large. I can usually get two meals out of an entree. I ordered the Pork on Rice which has this really flavorful sauce that's perfect with the crispy pork, and comes with one of my favorite Asian veggies, bok choy. And yes, it came with two huge pork fillets!

Pork Chop on Rice

My friend ordered a tofu dish. I believe it was the Bean Curd Homestyle, but I'm not positive. Tofu can be really good if you know how to make it correctly, and Rice Bowl knows exactly how. This dish has a good balance of flavor and spiciness, but it's also light because of the great mix of vegetables. I had to help myself to some of my friend's food. That's what friends are for, right?

Bean Curd Homestyle

There are so many other dishes I want to try in the future. Hopefully I'll have a chance to go back soon.