S&A Snap Cooking Ep.2 - Homemade ShopHouse and My Favorite Food to Make

When people find out I enjoy cooking, one of the most frequently asked questions I get asked is "What is your favorite food to make?" I get kind of frustrated when I hear this question as I don't have a "favorite" food to make. Sure, some foods may be more "fun" or "playful" to make like pizza (who doesn't like playing with stretchy dough?), but that doesn't mean that I don't equally enjoy making a roast or a pasta dish. Each different dish and cuisine is enjoyable for different reasons, whether it be technical skills involved, the opportunity to pull out a fun tool or gadget, or the finished product being rich and savory or light and sweet. Each dish is unique, and while that may sound like the wishy washy, politically correct, United Nations answer, it is true.

Now, if I gave the full answer above to everyone who asked me that question, I'd probably would have been committed to an asylum by now or have next to no friends. After thinking it over more, I did realize I did appreciate one group of food more for how bold their flavors are, and that is South East Asian and Indian Cuisine. 

Recently I had a craving for ShopHouse, a local South East Asian food chain and experimental idea by Chipotle to bring their dining format into new cuisines. Their menu of highly spiced grilled meats, rich curry sauces, fiery vegetables, and zesty garnishes had me salivating for something similar. The only problem is that there isn't a ShopHouse yet in the area I work or live. So what is a hungry man with a craving to do? Well make it himself, of course. 

In the spirit of the Chipotle-esque "assemble as you go" approach to this type of food, I prepared all my toppings and rice noodles separately and then assembled bowl after bowl until everything ran out. And thus, this Snap Cooking Story was born. The individual parts all took about 2 hours from start to finish, but it was well worth the effort.

The parts included:

• Chili Spiced Chicken Thighs
• Roasted Broccoli
• Cumin spiced roasted Green Beans
• Charred lime corn
• Yellow Coconut Curry Sauce
• Rice Noodles
  

So what does this meal have to do with my favorite cuisine? Well, being inspired by the cuisine of India and South East Asia, ShopHouse highlighted some of my favorite features of that region's food - bold spices, bright flavours, and the flexibility to combine and play with flavours like the deluxe LEGO set I always wanted a child (I'm still waiting for the set, mom). The cuisine of the region embraces flavours that most Western Cuisines and even many East Asian cuisines ignore or even fear, things like intense spice, sour, bitter, and earthy, smoky notes. Yet even with these bold flavours, the individual dishes and toppings are able to maintain their own distinctness and complement one another rather than compete against each other or get drowned out in a sauce ladled too generously on top. I can be creative and enjoy bold, exciting food. What's not to love?

If you want to give this recipe a try, download the recipe below and from the library on the sidebar:

Recipe: Homemade ShopHouse
File Size:	354 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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