Friday, 10/20/17

It was a pan Asian dinner: scallion pancakes, Korean spinach, Vietnamese caramel chicken. The scallion pancakes were from Serious Eats, and though it seems like I have had success with them in the past, these weren't great. The scallions kept leaking out and they were a little doughy. The spinach is from the Maanchi website and I have made it before. Carter HATED it but Jason and I thought it was delicious. No amount a Popeye references could get him to eat more than a few bites. The caramel chicken was from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen . This seemed like it couldn't work: you put diced boneless chicken thighs, a dark dark caramel, fish sauce and ginger into a pot, bring to a boil, and cook just like that. I was sure the chicken would be stringy and hard, but it was nice and juicy. I ought to have made rice to serve it over, and I would like a little more spice, but we all liked it. After making recipes from several books, I must say that Andrea Nguyen is an excellent recipe writer.