David Chang’s Asian Take on Brussels Sprouts — my Fave Underdog Veg — is Delish!

I’ve been cham­pi­oning Brus­sels sprouts for many moons.

Some time in the 1990s, when I was food edi­tor for the Toronto Star, I penned a piece on “under­dog foods” in which I named those that have a bad rep, some of them for no appar­ent or jus­ti­fi­able reason.

The list included these items: Liver, prunes, turnips, tofu, tapi­oca — and Brus­sels sprouts.

Ever one to sup­port the mis­fit and maligned (some­thing that dates back to my child­hood as a sec­u­lar Jew grow­ing up in a white-bread, white-collar sub­urb of North Lon­don, Eng­land), I imme­di­ately came to the res­cue of these culi­nary underdogs.

I sang their praises and offered a recipe that would endear each of these foods to any­one with a palate.

Liver has tra­di­tion­ally suf­fered from over-cooking (except by the French, bless their hearts) ren­der­ing it grainy, dry and akin to a leather sole in tex­ture. I endeav­oured to save its rep­u­ta­tion by offer­ing a recipe for chicken liv­ers (my favourite) done with toma­toes and a lit­tle red wine vinegar.

As for prunes, I can­not bear to hear them crit­i­cized and can see no rea­son they bring a smirk to many a face other than their lax­a­tive prop­er­ties — not a bad thing in my mind. In that arti­cle, I served up the dessert my mother used to make for my birth­day when I was a child (okay, I was always a tad eccen­tric): the prune souf­fle from the Joy of Cooking.

Which brings me back to Brus­sels sprouts.

This cute lit­tle veg is basi­cally a baby cab­bage but with more taste. Maybe it’s the abuse they’ve long suf­fered, espe­cially at the hands of old-school British cooks, in the shape of over-cooking. Admit­tedly, an over­cooked brus­sels sprouts is a nasty thing. But one cooked prop­erly is a beau­ti­ful thing indeed.

I recently raved about the blanched and quar­tered sprouts in the mag­nif­i­cent salad I ate at chef Lynn Crawford’s lovely Toronto eatery: Ruby Watchco. Since then, I’ve been adding them to mine.

I’ve also noticed Brus­sels sprouts pop­ping up on other menus and gen­er­ally — dare I hope? — com­ing into vogue.

So when I saw a recipe for them from David Chang, he of New York restau­rant Momo­fuku fame, in the lat­est issue of “O” (Oprah’s) mag­a­zine, I bought a copy and took to the stove. Chang says this is the dish he brings to his family’s annual Thanks­giv­ing din­ner. It’s a hit there — and it was a hit with me. Enjoy!

Brus­sels Sprouts with Asian Vinaigrette

I used Kikko­man ponzu sauce instead of fish sauce, with good results.

3 tbsp canola oil
2½ lb/1 kilo Brus­sels sprouts, prefer­ably small, tough outer leaves removed, halved
¼ cup Asian fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp rice wine vine­gar
1 to 3 small fresh chiles, such as bird’s eye, thinly sliced
1 clove gar­lic, finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro stems, plus 1 cup leaves (from about ½ bunch)
⅓ cup chopped fresh mint
½ cup puffed rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies (optional)

Pre­heat oven to 400F.

In large, oven-safe skil­let over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add Brus­sels sprouts; cook, stir­ring occa­sion­ally until sprouts start to turn golden and are barely ten­der, about 10 min­utes. Trans­fer skil­let to oven; roast until all are deep golden brown and ten­der, about 15 min­utes more.

Mean­while, in large heat­proof bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp. water, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, vine­gar, chiles, and gar­lic to make a vinai­grette. Stir in cilantro stems and mint; set aside.

Add hot Brus­sels sprouts to vinai­grette, toss well, and trans­fer to a large serv­ing plat­ter. Toss with cilantro leaves and puffed rice, if using, and serve.

Makes about 8 servings.