Today’s recipe is something I made this week for the first time, and trying it was like a revelation. It’s simple to make, it’s got an absolutely spectacularly wonderful flavor – light and fresh – and it’s incredibly versatile. It’s damned near perfect. It’s scallion ginger sauce, and once you try it, it will become a staple. To quote David Chang, whose cookbook I learned this from: if you’ve got ginger scallion sauce in the fridge, you’ll never be hungry.

There are two main variations of this: there’s a cooked version, and a raw version. Mine is the raw version. I love the freshness of flavor, and while cooking it will intensify some of the flavors, it will also detract from that delightful freshness.

Ingredients

• Fresh ginger – roughly one inch, peeled.
• A bunch of fresh scallions.
• A teaspoon, give or take, of coarse salt.
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar.
• 1/4 cup oil – peanut oil, canola oil, or something
  other neutral oil.

• A dash of sesame oil.

Instructions

• Mince the ginger. Toss the minced ginger into a food processor.
• Cut the roots off of the scallions, cut them coarsely, and add them to the food processor.
• Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor.
• Run the food processor until everything is finely ground into a smooth sauce.

That’s it. Ginger scallion sauce. Taste it – make sure it’s got enough salt. Don’t add any soy sauce – just use plain salt if it needs any.

So what can you do with it? Just about anything. A few
great ideas:

1. Ramen noodles. Just cook up a batch of ramen, and toss it with a tablespoon of the sauce. You can also add some stir fried meat and veggies to make it a bit more filling.
2. Grilled meats. Use a bit of the sauce as a marinade, then grill it, and dress it with a bit of the sauce when it’s done.
3. Use it instead of mayo on a sandwich.
4. Add a bit more vinegar, and use it as a vinaigrette over a salad.
5. Saute some shrimp, and toss some ginger-scallion sauce in just before they’re done.
6. Get a nice whole fish, steam it cantonese style with just a bit of salt, soy, and sake. Spoon a bit of the sauce over it when it’s done.

If you wanted to try to cooked version, you take the ginger, scallions, and salt, and puree them in the food processor. Then put them into a large pot. In a different pot, heat the oil up until it just starts to smoke, and then pour it over the ginger/scallion/salt mixture. When it cools, whisk in the rest of the ingredients.

But like I said – I think it’s best to just stick with it raw.

I forgot to take a picture of this dish – so Physioprof, shut up 🙂

I don’t even pretend that this is an authentic mexican mole. It’s
something that I whipped together because I felt like a mole, and
I worked from very vague memories of a mole recipe I read years ago,
and ad-libbed this. So it’s absolutely not authentic – but it is
yummy.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken breasts, bone in.
• One large onion, diced.
• 2 cloves garlic, minced.
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder.
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder.
• 1/4 teaspoon cinammon powder.
• 1 teaspoon mexican oregano.
• 1/2 teaspoon epazote.
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely minced.
• 1 large dried ancho chili pepper.
• 1 dried serrano chile pepper.
• One can diced tomatoes.
• 2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped.
• 1/4 cup tequila.
• 1 dozen corn tortillas, lightly toasted.
• 1 tablespoon whole almonds.
• chicken stock.
• Cheese. (I use cheddar; you should use a mexican queso blanco,
  but I don’t have access to a decent one.)

Instructions

1. Put a pan on high heat. When it’s good and hot, start
   adding chicken thighs, skin side down, to the dry
   pan. (You’re going to get fat from the chicken skin.)
   Brown them well on both sides, then remove.
2. Reduce the heat to medium, and add the onions to the pan with
   the chicken fat. Stir, and let them cook for several minutes until
   they’re translucent.
3. Take the dried peppers, remove the seeds, and crush/chop them
   finely. (Depending on the peppers, they may be brittle, in which case
   you’ll need to just crush them in a mortar and pestle; or they may be
   leathery, in which case you’ll need to mince them.)
4. Add the garlic, chipotle, and dried chilis to the onions, and
   let them cook for about 3 minutes.
5. Add the tequila, and let it cook until most of the
   liquid has evaporated.
6. Add the can of tomatoes, the cumin, the cinammon, and the coriander.
   Stir it to mix, and then re-add the chicken. Add chicken stock until
   the the chicken is covered.
7. Let it simmer on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.
8. Turn off the heat, and remove the chicken from the sauce. Set it
   aside and let it cool.
9. In small portions, move the sauce to a blender, and puree it to
   a smooth sauce.
10. Put the pureed sauce back into the pan, and turn the heat on low. Let
    it simmer for another 10 minutes.
11. Pull the chicken meat from the thighs, and shred it. Move it into
    another pan. Add a couple of tablespoons of the sauce, a cup
    of chicken stock, and simmer it for half an hour.
12. Shred one half of a corn tortilla, and the almonds into
    the blender. Add just enough chicken stock to cover them,
    and puree until smooth.
13. Add the pureed tortilla and almonds into the sauce, and stir
    them in. Let it cook until the sauce starts to thicken.
14. Lower the heat on the sauce to low. Add the chocolate to the sauce, and
    stir until it’s melted and well-blended in.
15. Taste the sauce, and add salt, black pepper, and sugar to taste.
16. Toast the tortillas lightly until they’re softened.
17. Into each tortilla, spoon a couple of teaspoons of the shredded
    chicken, roll it, and then put it into a baking dish.
18. Spoon the sauce over the fill tortillas. Don’t overdo it – you want
    them nicely coated, but not drowned.
19. Shred cheese over the top of the sauce.
20. Bake the casserole with the tortillas for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve it with a nice mexican rice and beans.