Market Talk: A Conversation with Tammy Wong, Part II

Tammy Wong's Curried Summer Vegetables

Several weekends ago, I had the pleasure of touring the Minneapolis Farmers' Market under the guidance of Tammy Wong, chef/owner of the popular and well-regarded Rainbow Chinese Restaurant, located on Minneapolis' culinary corridor, 'Eat Street' (Nicollet Avenue). In addition to cooking for the restaurant, Tammy also caters private dinners, for which she works closely with her clients to create menus that reflect their tastes and her skills.

Tammy and I talked about the farmers' market and the Twin Cities' ethnic (particularly Chinese) food scene, some highlights of which I posted in Part I. Now, I'm pleased to share more of Tammy's insights on her cooking inspirations and about encouraging others to try new flavors with confidence.

On finding, and providing, inspiration at the farmers' market:

Tammy has been doing cooking demonstrations during Market Talk at the Minneapolis Farmers' Market, where she uses ingredients purchased there that morning. While the fresh offerings inspire her to create original recipes, Tammy also inspires the market's vendors by showcasing their food in new, delicious ways. In turn, they often share her cooking tips with their customers.


"I shop from the farmers' market [for her restaurant and catering menus] because it's just a completely different group of people who love food . . . It's really rewarding for me that many of the growers know me now much more. [They would ask], 'Tammy, do you cook this weekend*?' Or this sweet woman [a local grower who supplies her with long beans] would come up to me and ask, 'How are you going to make this? Could you please tell me how you cook it to make it taste soft, not hard?'"

"[I've had vendors] tell me, 'Normally, I don't have time, but whenever I take a break, I just listen to you and I think [the demonstration] was really good. I learned something from you, too!'"

*Tammy will be at MFM this Saturday (9/19) at 10:30am, preparing a dish of my current favorite - wild rice! She'll also share her recipe for candied crabapples, which she created for a client's dinner party after spotting them at the market.

"I was able to find crabapples and I had never seen it before. First of all, it looked beautiful - bigger than a kumquat and it was pale yellow with a little bit of pink. Beautiful. And so [I said], 'I'm going to get this' . . . I did gingered candied crabapples [for the clients] knowing that they would appreciate it. And they did - there were a lot of children at the party and it was a lot of fun for them to eat."

On being a better cook than writer:

In addition to the candied crabapples, Tammy had also picked up rhubarb, which she paired with rock sugar, ginger and tapioca for a delicious-sounding dessert. After my unsubtle hints about sharing the recipes, she admitted to being lax about saving the details of her creations:

"I was telling [my sister] how I'm inspired to make this and this dish, and how you put them together. And she said, 'Tammy, you really have to write them down because you're going to forget!' [She's right] because every [catering] job is very different, and it depends on what I find at the market and who is my client . . . but I don't write. I can tell you stories all day long [but] I don't have the patience and I don't feel confident to write." (I should offer my services as recorder and taste-tester!)

What confidence she lacks in the composition of words is more than compensated by her talent for composition with food. And she's not intimidated by cooking in less than optimal conditions, as is often the case at the farmers' market:

"Cooking comes very natural to me, since I was very young . . . I'm not afraid to cook. In Vietnam, I was cooking with fuel or coal or wood - I've done it all! Cooking outside is definitely challenging. The first [MFM demo], it was really windy and the second time, it was raining. Everybody was holding down the tent and here I was, trying to coordinate the time and I didn't have assistants. [It can be hard] trying to keep the audience interested. People are curious, they want to learn but they also want to taste!"

Something new: amaranth leaves

On encouraging others to find a similar confidence in trying new foods:

Tammy takes into account her clients' preferences when developing a menu but she also tries to encourage diners to venture into new flavors:

"[Clients] will say they are only meat-and-potatoes people and they don't like this or that, but it turns out they love [all kinds of] food. As long as you do food really simple, people are willing to try it . . . so you have to start with very good ingredients."

She understands that many diners are reluctant to go beyond familiar and comforting foods. She's particularly sympathetic to native Chinese diners for whom the authenticity of Chinese cuisine is important in reconnecting them with home; she will even go so far as to recommend other restaurants if customers are looking for regional dishes that she does not offer (many want Szechuan food, whereas Rainbow offers primarily Mandarin- and Cantonese-style preparations). But Tammy would also like diners to judge food on  its own qualities rather than just on a sense of familiarity:

"People will ask me to come up with a menu that would please their guests from China. When I come up with one that I think would be a really nice experience for them to try, they will say, 'Well, this is not Chinese, this is American.' I thought that was really interesting. Now, when I'm going to New York or to Hong Kong, I wouldn't expect to have the same experience that I would find [in Minneapolis or America]. It would be different [because] different chefs make different things, and sometimes people don't understand that."

But she's confident that given enough encouragement and opportunity, most diners are willing to be adventurous. So, she makes it a point to greet her restaurant customers at their tables:

"When they see me and they know me, they say, 'You know what, I'm going to try [a different dish].' They feel more confident to try - people are willing to try when they see you and how you do it. That is the comforting part."

"[When people] really love food, they pay attention to every little thing that I serve and they will tell me what they like or what they don't like about it. People have really loved the food [if I] just give them a different kind of experience."

**********

And a different kind of experience is exactly what Tammy inspired me to attempt with a couple of strange vegetables that piqued my curiosity: amaranth and Thai eggplant. Fortunately, and despite her admission to the contrary, Tammy posted on her restaurant's website the recipes for Curried Summer Vegetables and Stir-Fried Amaranth, which she prepared during Market Talk demos this season.

I recently made both dishes with a few changes, which I hope Tammy doesn't mind. The original recipes can be found at Rainbow Chinese Restaurant's website.

Curried Summer Vegetables with Walleye
(adapted from a recipe by Tammy Wong)

Tammy used young squash in her recipe; I decided to incorporate a fillet of walleye with the intent of having nice chunks of tender fish. But I added it too early and the fish flaked apart during the cooking process. Happily, my mistake resulted in the flavor of the walleye being spread out, even if the texture of the fish was missing. Tammy also used Penzey's Hot Curry Powder spice mix, which I didn't have, so I used a variety of spices found in that product.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

1/2 lb green beans, end sliced off and cut into approximately 2" pieces

1 lb cauliflower florets, cut from stalks (I used Romanesco broccoli**, a.k.a Roman Cauliflower and fractal cauliflower - superb flavor!)

1/2 lb (approximately 5) round Thai eggplants, tops cut off and quartered)

2/3 lb fresh walleye fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 large onion, chopped

1" piece fresh ginger, slivered

1 shallot, sliced thinly

5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves

1/4 cup canola oil

Patis (Filipino fish sauce) to taste; salt may be used

1 (14 oz) can coconut cream (coconut milk, which contains at least 25% water, may be used)

1/2 tsp EACH of turmeric and cayenne pepper

1 tsp EACH of ground coriander, ground ginger, cumin, Jamaican allspice (for cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)

**For another great recipe using Romanesco broccoli, check out this dish from Amy at Green Your Plate!

To make:

1. Boil 1.5 quarts of water in a pot to blanch vegetables (approximately 2-3 minutes), one at a time. For each, remove from boiling water and run under cold water to stop the cooking process, then add next vegetable to the pot;
2. In a large wok, heat oil and sauté ginger, onions, garlic and shallots until soft and fragrant;
3. Add walleye (this tender fish will flake up and all but disintegrate during the remainder of cooking; if you prefer, add at the very end);
4. Add Thai eggplants and beans, stirring until beans turn bright green;
5. Add cauliflower, followed by spices;
6. Add coconut cream and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add patis to taste, followed by Thai basil, stirring until blended and basil leaves are slightly wilted;
7. Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.

Stir Fried Amaranth
(adapted from a recipe by Tammy Wong)

During the market tour, Tammy commented that amaranth was used in Filipino cooking, proving that she knows a lot more about my native cuisine than I do! Called kulitis in Tagalog, it is used in such favorite Pinoy dishes as sinigang (a sour soup). However, in the Americas where it originated, the grain is more widely used, first as an ancient dietary staple in both Incan and Aztec civilizations, and today, as a popular food in South America and Mexico (such as popcorn-like snacks). In the U.S., it is perhaps best known as a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour (source: Wikipedia/Amaranth). Its similar taste and texture make it an excellent substitute for spinach.


Tammy's original recipe was for a simple stir-fry of the leaves, but I opted to add shrimp and tofu. I also replaced the main flavoring ingredient, miso paste, with balaw-balaw - a fermented rice and shrimp paste similar to more traditional Filipino bagoong, a by-product of fermented fish sauce.

The pinkish tinge comes from balaw-balaw, 

a fermented rice & shrimp paste from the Philippines

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients:

1/2 lb fresh shrimps - peeled, deveined and chopped into small pieces
1 cup diced firm tofu
1" piece fresh ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs canola oil, divided (2 & 1)
1 bunch amaranth, stems removed
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsps balaw-balaw or bagoong

To make:

1. In a large wok, heat 1 Tbs canola oil over medium heat and sauté 3 cloves of garlic and minced ginger, being carefully not to brown. Add shrimp and tofu, cooking until shrimp is done (I neglected to add the tofu at this stage, which is why it looks rather pale in the above photo). Remove shrimp and tofu from the wok;
2. Add 2 Tbs canola oil to wok and heat; add amaranth, remaining garlic and balaw-balaw and cook, stirring constantly, until leaves turn a bright color and become wilted; add cooked shrimp and tofu, and stir to mix;
3. Garnish with green onions and red pepper flakes, and serve with steamed rice.