Beef Satay served over Chinese egg noodles with quick pickled vegetables with pineapple chili dipping sauce

The marinated, skewered beef with a selection of raw vegetables waiting to be pickled

For most Canadians of my generation, and for generations before mine, the first non European food that we experienced was Chinese food.  The Chinese came to Canada to build the railway and later as they immigrated across the country, to introduce Canadians who had emigrated from Europe, to the cuisine  of the far east. 

When I was a kid we would have “Chinese” food maybe once a year, on New Years Eve, my parents night out on the town: the meal most often consisted of sweet and sour pork, chicken fried rice and beef in some awful orange sauce.  Chinese food was exotic, mysterious and way too sweet; it was an adventure. 

Chinese food was exotic, something special and my first tentative steps into the world of new cuisine. On the first date that I can remember going out on, we were going to a high school play, but before the play, we when out for dinner.  Chinese food.  The only thing I can remember about the meal is the advice offered by my older sister, “…Offer to serve your companion  (she wasn’t my girlfriend, just a date) before you serve yourself.  And don’t fill your plate right away, you can always get more food after you’ve finished what’s on your plate…”  That was Chinese food in Hamilton.  Not a hot bed of the oriental cuisine.

Not surprisingly, Chinese food is something more than the stuff that I experienced in Hamilton.  It has become old hat, a part of the back ground; as time has gone by, it has been surpassed as exotic food in Canada by Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian – in many variations - and north and south African cuisine, each in their turn becoming the new in food.  But in study the cuisine of Asian, I have come to recognize the many and varied cuisines of China as the first and the mother of Asian cooking.  It is the foundation on which other cuisine have build and its more than sweet and sour, too clinking sauces and way too sweet.  It is intriguing and complex and fascinating.  My first experience of Chinese food beyond “Hamilton Chinese” was from the Time-Life series of world foods and expanded to maybe a hundred cook books, endless meals in a wide variety of Chinese/regional restaurants and the realization that I am only beginning o understand the depth of the food.  Each journey is started with a single step, and this is a step into the culture of Chinese cuisine.

This is a simple recipe for a light lunch or dinner.  I use skirt or flank steak for the satay and I marinate the beef at least overnight; but if you have the time, let the meat marinate for 2-3 days. 

The longer the time in the marinade, the more the meat is infused with flavour; quick marinating leaves the flavour on the surface and gives no depth to the complexity of the marinade.  I am offering two variations on serving the noodles: the first is a warm, crispy noodle cake with the pickled vegetables on the side; the second is a cold noodle salad with the pickled vegetables topping and tossed with the noodles.  This is a quick pickled vegetable recipe – quick and simple and not to be confused with the fiery flavour of true kimchi and other pickled vegetables.  The selection of vegetables is a basic suggestion; if you choose to use a cucumber just pickle it for about 15 minutes, as it tends to get much too soft if pickled longer – or simply save yourself the trouble and use a zucchini.  The quick vegetables are “chopped” on a benrider – a Japanese mandolin; if you don’t have one – GET ONE – or process the vegetables into match stick sized chop.

Beef Satay

 served over Chinese egg noodles, with quick pickled vegetable salad

and a pineapple-chili  dipping sauce

for the marinate:

1 cup pineapple juice                                    ½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup sake                                                      ¼ cup soya sauce

1 lime –juice and zest                                    2 Tbsp. each garlic and ginger, chopped

2 Tbsp. brown sugar                                      1 Tbsp. jalapeno pepper, in thin rings 

Combine all the ingredients and marinate the beef overnight.

for the pickled vegetables:

½ cup rice vinegar                                          ¼ cup sugar

½ tsp. kosher salt                                           2 tsp. Szechwan peppercorns   

2 Tbsp. jalapeno pepper, sliced in thin rings

1 Tbsp. ginger, minced                                 1 tsp. garlic, minced                                                        

Toast the salt and peppercorns; grind and set aside.  Combine the vinegars and sugar; heat until the sugar is dissolved.   Whisk the spice mix, pepper, ginger and garlic into the simmering vinegar mixture: combine with spice mix and ginger, return to a boil and pour over the vegetables.

suggested vegetables:

2 cups nappa cabbage, thinly sliced                   2 cups daikon

1 cup each carrots and zucchini                          1 cup red onion

1 cup sweet pepper                                                2 Tbsp. sesame oil

½ cup green onion, thinly sliced                          ½ cup cilantro, chopped

Combine the nappa, daikon, carrot, zucchini, onion and red onion; pour the pickling liquid over the vegetables and let stand for an hour.  Strain off the excess pickling liquid; toss with the sesame oil, green onion and cilantro to serve.

for the noodles:

1 lb. egg noodles – to serve about 4-6 people

sesame oil

Boil the noodles until al denta; toss lightly with the oil, spread out to cool.  If making noodle pillow, form into 6 noodle nests.  To cook brown in a well tempered cast iron or non stick pan – really, it depends on how well you maintain you pans.  Unfortunately too many people abuse cast iron pans and they are left with rust rings and scraped out so anything sauté in them sticks like crazy.  If this sounds like you, then use a non stick pan.  The noodle cakes can be warmed up in an oven for a few minutes before serving.

for the pineapple-chili drizzle:

1 cup pineapple, chopped                           2 cups each orange and pineapple juice

½ cup seasoned rice vinegar                      ½ cups sesame oil

½ cups each mint, cilantro, with stems      ¼ cup ginger root, cut into coins, smashed

¼ cup shallots, thinly sliced                         4 Tbsp. jalapeno pepper, cut into rings

1Tbsp. garlic, smashed                                ¼ cup brown sugar

1 each bay and keffir lime leaves     

Combine all the ingredients and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes; remove the cilantro, mint and bay leaves.  Puree and strain.  Adjust seasoning.

                                    

                  

Beef Satay served over a noodle and pickled vegetable salad with pineapple-chili sauce.
The bowl's from a soup and food fundraiser held at the Glebe Community Centre annually.