Join The Cult Of Celtuce

Do you have a moment to talk about our root and savior, celtuce?

Perhaps this girthy stem lettuce doesn’t have a cult following, and I’m not exactly the most convincing salesperson, but tasting is believing. I’m on a mission to spread the good word for this sadly unsung Chinese vegetable that deserves a fervent fan base. Since we last spoke of our planted redeemer, I haven’t seen a surge in popularity, so I’m back with another pitch that won’t miss.

Why You’ll Love This Celtuce Stir Fry

Pretty much anything can be stir fried with great success, but celtuce is a truly exceptional selection.

  • Cooks in minutes. High heat lightly cooks the food while keeping it tender-crisp throughout, making this a dish you can get on the table at a moment’s notice.
  • Minimal ingredients. Just a few pantry staples and fresh aromatics stand between you and instant gratification.
  • Bold, savory flavors. This is the real reason you’ll want to make this recipe again and again. A touch of nutty sesame oil goes a long way in adding depth and richness, bolstered by umami garlic chives and scallions. Warm fresh ginger and peppers spice things up, while a touch of black vinegar adds acid that cuts through it all, lingering with a gentle sweetness at the end.

How To Cut Celtuce

The thick skin protecting each stalk makes celtuce seem intimidating to break down, but it’s really a snap to hack.

  1. Use a sharp peeler or knife to cut away the thick outer skin. Remove the dried out bottom and leafy top.
  2. Slice it on a bias to make long strips, about 2 – 3mm wide.
  3. Stack a few of the strips at a time and cut those into thin ribbons.
  4. Repeat until the whole stalk is thinly julienned.

If you have any means of getting your hands on fresh celtuce, you’re doing yourself a disservice by leaving it at the store. Support your local Asian market, ask your closest specialty store to carry it, or even order it online. There’s nothing else quite like celtuce and once you’ve been enlightened by its virtues, you’ll become a believer, too.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments

Jerk It Out

Certain foods fly under the radar, overshadowed by classic crowd-pleasers or passing trends. No matter how delicious, versatile, or accessible, they remain firmly out of sight, out of mind. Occasionally, something will shake us out of our stasis, forcing the question: Why don’t I eat this more often?

Speaking for myself, I’m talking about plantains here. Satisfyingly starchy, subtly sweet, I like to think of them as tropical potatoes rather than fruits. Anything spuds can do, plantains can do, too. Not to invoke Bubba Gump, but you can boil them, fry them, saute them, bake them, mash them, stew them… You get the picture.

Thus, inspired by my Za’atar Melting Potatoes from The Everyday Vegan Cheat Sheet, Jerk Melting Plantains are encrusted with jerk seasoning, roasted at high heat to a blackened, crispy finish while retaining a downright buttery interior. The result can only be described as downright juicy, succulent in a way that you might not expect from a starchy vegetable. Hopefully this will help you and me both remember to put plantains on the grocery list more often.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)7 Comments

No Cook? No Sweat

When it gets hot enough to bake cookies in the car, a considerable portion of the day is devoted to simply staying cool. Just flipping on the AC will never be an effective line of defense against this unstoppable foe, finding every crack in the foundation to slip right through. That’s assuming the increasing demands on electricity don’t cause power outages in the first place. Each summer is only getting hotter than the last, so we need better ways to stay cool.

Step Away From The Stove

The key is to generate as little heat as possible. There’s no need to adopt a fully raw diet, but who wants to eat a boiling vat of thick stew right now anyway? Still kissed from the chill of the fridge, no-cook recipes are the refreshing, re-invigorating ways to beat the heat.

Eat Well With Ease

Stay far away from the oven, put away that saute pan, and embrace a fresher approach to summertime meals. Fortunately, with such a wealth of incredible produce waiting in the markets, they don’t need extensive prep work to be transformed into unforgettable seasonal treats.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments

Noodles You Should Know: Thukpa

Pronounced with a percussive rhythm akin to a drum, or perhaps a steady heartbeat, thukpa lives up to its name. Granted, “thukpa” is simply the generic Tibetan word for any soup or stew with noodles, which doesn’t exactly inspire great poetry. Dig a little deeper and you’ll learn that “thuk” means “heart.” This understanding clearly speaks to how deeply a bowlful of the stuff can restore the spirit, beyond merely satisfying basic bodily hunger. Warming the eater’s very heart, right down to the core, in brutally cold winters and times of need, it’s the original soup for the soul.

Those noodles, however, are the real star of the show, sometimes dwarfing the liquid to such a small component of the dish, you’d think it was just a brothy sauce. Many different variations exist, changing ratios and ingredients across cultural boundaries, but the basics remain the same: Noodles, soup, and vegetables.

My personal favorite is the Nepalese version, which is often naturally vegetarian and has a spicier flavor profile. Not many vegetables can thrive in the harsh tundra, so inclusions remain basic: cabbage, onions, carrots, and radishes are the prevailing options. Modern versions take advantage of greater access to worldwide markets, adding everything from bell peppers to tomatoes to green peas, and relish the opportunity to finish each bowl with fresh herbs like cilantro and scallions.

Types of Thukpa

As more of an umbrella term than the definition of a single dish, thukpa include many different, distinctive combinations of noodles and soups.

  • Thenthuk: A Tibetan soup with hand-pulled flat noodles.
  • Gyathuk: A Chinese-fusion soup featuring round chow mein noodles, often with chicken or pork.
  • Pathug or Thugpa: A Tibetan variant with hand-rolled, pinched noodles that are more like dumplings or gnocchi in texture.

Other spellings and pronunciations include thuppa, thuggpa, and drethug. Occasionally you’ll come across shortcut recipes that call for rice noodles, but this is another contemporary twist that purists would disqualify.

How To Make Thukpa

There’s no wrong way to make thukpa, just different approaches based on your needs and wants.

Any vegetable is fair game, in any quantity you want, which is also true of spices. Indian versions will include garam masala as a quick flavor boost, leaning on cumin for more body. It’s always a treat with homemade noodles, but there’s no shame in using regular spaghetti or fettuccine as a shortcut.

Thukpa is a food born of strife, created by migrants dispersed throughout the Himalayas to seek refuge as they forged new lives in Sikim, Darjeeling, Arunachal Pradesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, transforming the dish at every turn. It serves a need, both physical and emotional, while weaving together communities. It embodies the warmth of togetherness, reminding us that food has the power to forge connections beyond borders.

Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments