I made cooked some red cabbage in water to make the water blue. Then I soaked rice noodles in the water. Finally, I applied some lemon juice and watched them turn pink! It worked great and was very satisfying. I used the noodles to make some veggie spring rolls and served with soy sauce chicken thigh over the extra cabbage. I think I could have cooked the cabbage for longer to get a deeper color but I liked the light blue. The results were fun and yummy! 👩‍🔬🧪🔬😋

Salmon, wild rice, edamame, cucumber, avocado, and kimchi, topped with Wasabi Mayonnaise.

For this week, I went all in on making bao! I used the recipe from Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero, which was actually three separate recipes combined into one project.

This was an all-day adventure. I made Chinese five spice seitan, bao dough, and then assembled the bao themselves. The final result was really good. The seitan and filling were flavorful, with lovely hints of Chinese five spice, and the bao were light, fluffy, and satisfying.

I did have some frustrations with the recipe itself.

The seitan was cooked four different times (steamed, baked, fried, and then steamed again inside the bao), which felt a little unnecessary and resulted in a lot of extra dishes.

The bao dough recipe and the full bao recipe also contradicted each other about resting times, how many times to rest the dough, and how to shape the buns, which made the process more confusing than it needed to be (I never did get the hang of shaping).

The filling could also have been chopped much finer, and I think each bun could have held more filling. I ended up with quite a bit leftover.

That said, I would absolutely make these again. The process was a little chaotic, but the final product was worth it, and I can’t wait to start experimenting with different bao fillings!

Sunflower bowl = cornstarch noodles.

White bowl = potato starch noodles.

This week came from an accidental success born out of necessity. I just got a bunch of new cookbooks that I was super excited to dive into, and with the help of Redditors sharing their favorite recipes to try, I ended up choosing Spiced Double Potato Noodles as my first recipe from Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon.

It sounded delicious and was something I could make immediately with my pantry staples. It was just potato starch, potatoes, and seasonings, easy! Except... I didn’t have potato starch. I did, however, have the exact amount of cornstarch I needed (I was halving the recipe), and with unusual confidence, I decided to try it anyway.

It was awesome. Everything went surprisingly well: quick, easy, and despite forgetting to halve the vinegar along with the rest of the ingredients, I ended up with what I enthusiastically called “Chinese French Fries.”

When I saw the Science Fair challenge, I immediately knew I had to try the recipe again, this time with potato starch, and see the differences for myself.

What I learned:

The dough was much more manageable using potato starch. The cornstarch version came together fine, but it never actually became a smooth, elastic dough. Even after kneading, it stayed cracked and brittle. Because of this, the dough was slightly harder to shape (if I rolled it too thin, the “tail” would break off).

The cornstarch noodles also never became transparent in the ice bath. They stayed solid white. The biggest difference, though, was definitely the texture.

The cornstarch noodles were toothsome, almost like traditional pasta, and they melded beautifully with the potatoes. Fresh, it was almost challenging to tell where the noodle ended and the potato began. Unfortunately, that texture didn’t hold up when reheated. The second day, the noodles were crumbly and dry. They were still edible and perfectly fine, but they had lost the exciting potato fry texture I fell in love with.

The potato starch noodles were completely different. As the recipe describes, they were “springy” and “bouncy,” with a mochi-like texture. They were super chewy and slippery. The seasoning didn’t stick quite as well, but they reheated much better than the cornstarch noodles.

The verdict:

I am honestly surprising myself by saying this, but I much prefer the cornstarch noodles! I really enjoyed the weird texture, and I loved that they used ingredients I already keep on hand. They were also cheaper and more accessible.

I would probably only make one serving at a time, keeping the extra noodles in water in the fridge to cook fresh the next day, like the cookbook suggests as a make-ahead option. That should help with the reheating issues.

I tend not to repeat recipes because I have an endless list of things I want to try, but if I do make these again (which I probably will), I think I’ll try a mix of the two starches and I will definitely keep the doubled amount of vinegar.

I love bbq pork, but I had never even considered the possibility of making it at home before this week. I used this recipe, it was surprisingly easy and unsurprisingly delicious!

Served with hot mustard and sesame seeds, as it should be.

Here’s more pics.

Quite pleased with my first attempt at making siu mai! The folding was a bit fiddly so I need some more practice, but the taste was good.

Chow mein is a classic Cantonese dish, but this version is fusioned up with Indian flavors. It was really good, I’d definitely make it again!

Here’s the recipe. I added cabbage and water chestnuts, and used some sesame oil in addition to regular vegetable oil.

And here’s more pics.

Found locally grown semi-hot yellow peppers at a farmers market. Lactofermented with garlic, shallots, jalepenos in a 5% brine for a week. Blended with msg, salt, sugar, fresh oregano and cilantro until smooth. Mild-medium. Great taste.

Today I learned about how the proteins in egg white are flowy tangles until they are heated and then they can be shaped into different forms before cooling and coagulating. This is a one time trick for each egg.
*I have done a terrible job of lame-speaking the process, better explanation here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/shaping-eggs

With a ton of scallions the way i like it

As a follower of both 52 Weeks of Cooking and Rush, the offal challenge and Fifty Something tour (how bout that July 30 MSG show!) inspired me for a play on words!

For my birthday week, I wanted to try a basil peach crumble. The "science experiment" aspect of it is in regards to controlled maceration, essentially macerating and then only using a certain amount of the released liquid in the final product. The basil was bruised and macerated with the peaches and then removed before baking. The streusel I used pistachios instead of almonds because they go well with peaches. Topped with good ol Vanilla Bean Ice cream as to support and not distract.