We have been celebrating Chinese New Year with friends for several years now, pushing ourselves to try to recreate our favorite restaurant dishes worthy of a celebration. From soup dumplings to giant, whole, fried fish to pork belly buns, we've had some really worthy meals. This year due to winter colds and work travel we were a little late to the table, but the meal did not disappoint. Pork belly buns, Momofuku Style, were garnished with a spicy pickled mustard sauce, rib eye was thinly sliced, fried crisp and tossed in an orange peel chili sauce and garlic crab noodles, my favorite standard every year, were as good as ever.
Once inspired years ago by the famed garlic noodles at Crustacean in San Francisco, we have assembled our own version over the years. Sometimes we add miso, sometimes a dash of cream, but the main concept is the same: lots of garlic, shallots, something sweet (mirin, sugar), umami (soy, miso, parmesan, bouillon), something fresh (cilantro, parsley) and lots of sweet crab meat.
A lot of similar recipes out there will call for bouillon cubes or Maggi seasoning. We have often used dashi granules which help give that umami punch. This time around we used a spoon of the Better then Bouillon Chicken Base because it is easy and great tasting and a staple in our fridge.
This year we took the easy route and bought fresh noodles, but this recipe works and used a Harold McGee-modified recipe from David Chang: http://www.mummyicancook.com/2013/01/how-to-make-asian-egg-alkaline-noodles.html. (My friend reported that the baked soda stripped the polish off her nails....so make note and use caution!) —savorthis
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