7 posts tagged “asian”

The other day I posted an entry for Mochachocolatarita’s Chinese Take-Out Party…(if you guys haven’t checked out her party yet, get over there!  There are tons of delicious dishes to be had!)…Of course, once the round-up was posted, my fingers couldn’t click the mouse fast enough to get to her site.  There are main dishes, rices, noodles, appies, soups and desserts.  There were a couple (ok, ok *more* than a couple!) of dishes that really caught my eye.  The Kung Pao Chicken entries were especially insistent with the powers that be within my grumbling stomach.  Kung Pao Chicken is basically chicken and peanuts, stirfried in a delicious brown sauce.  But take this simple dish and add a bunch of ginger and vegetables, and you have elevated it to something sublime.  The entries on Rita’s page inspired me to go out and make some Kung Pao, go and see what inspires you!

For the Kung Pao Chicken recipe, please visit: http://canarygirl.com/?p=183

Doing my morning blog rounds I was over at Peter’s site (Kalofagas) longingly looking at his Eggs Benedict recipe (by the way, go and check that out you guys…it is seriously killing me I want it so badly), and realized there was a post just below that one that I hadn’t seen!  WHAT?  He had posted a delicious Chinese Take-out menu, and mentioned that it was part of a round up to be found at Mochachocolatarita’s Website.  I am SO glad he posted that, because her website is fantastic!  It’s so cool how we bloggers network and find each other through others’ blog posts.  I had never seen Mochachocolatarita’s site before.  That is a sin right there…her site is awesome.  No, more like AWESOME!  And Right now she’s hosting an event celebrating her 88th post, called, “Chinese Take-Out Party,” where each entrant submits their take on Chinese take-out. 

I think that this might be sheer luck on my part, because I had planned to post this anyway, but to come in just under the wire like this and be able to participate in a fun event?  Even better!

This recipe was something I came up with after having taken out a loin roast, and began wondering what to do with it.  The weather has been pretty warm, so regular roast with mashed potatoes didn’t really seem to fit the bill.  Avocados are currently at over 11 euros a kilo (that’s like $8-9 a pound), so Tex-Mex was out (you know it’s illegal to eat Tex-Mex without guacamole, don’t you? )…what to do?  Hmmm.  Why not go Asian with it?  Yes!  That was the answer I was looking for. 

 

For the recipes, please visit: http://canarygirl.com/?p=179

So, as most of you already know, yesterday was Chinese New Year.  While I’m not Chinese, I must admit I’ll look for any excuse to celebrate! LOL  So, I made some Asian treats in honor of this special day.  Chuck over at Sunday Night Dinner posted his mom’s top secret recipes for Nuoc Cham (dipping sauce) and Cha Gio (Spring Rolls) recently, and I just couldn’t go another day without making some of my own…my Gawd that stuff is good!  It’s also been a while since I’ve made fried rice, and my dear hubs really loves a chicken curry version that I do, so it was set…spring rolls and fried rice would be our menu for the day.  I realize that my menu doesn’t have all of he traditional elements of a Chinese New Year menu, but heck, it’s the sentiment that counts, right? lol  I decided to do a step by step for the spring rolls, like Chuck (sheesh I’m such a total copycat!), for those of you who might not have rolled them before…I know that before I tried to make them the first time I was a little intimidated by the idea.  But, it’s really very simple, as you’ll soon see. Go and check out my site for the step by steps and recipes: http://canarygirl.com/?p=147

First of all, the Curry Chicken Fried Rice:

 

And now the Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)….I was much inspired by Chuck’s recipe, though I just had to make some changes (you know me!)…I sort of morphed his mom’s recipe with mine, and the resulting roll was just fab.

Yesterday was one of those lucky days that I was able to make it to my Asian grocer.  Man I love that place.  They have the freshest produce at the lowest prices.  Huge bunches of baby bok choy, scallions, cilantro, spinach, basil and bean sprouts for a mere 90 cents each (that’s euro cents, but in US dollars it works out to about 1.35 I guess?).  And the Napa Cabbage…Wow…a humongous bunch for a buck.  You can’t beat that.  This week they also had fresh tofu, which will show up hopefully tomorrow (we celebrate Thanksgiving day on Friday here, so the hubs can join us).  With the abundance of fresh produce and some lovely chicken breasts that my local grocer had on sale this week, the obvious choice was a stir-fry.  Don’t be frightened by the lengthy ingredient list here…just change it up according to your tastes, and what you have in the fridge.  It’s all good. :)  The possibilities for this recipe are virtually endless, to make it vegetarian/vegan, change the chicken to tofu and substitute vegetable broth for the meat based, or mix it up a bit with beef, chicken and shrimp or other seafood.

MEK had mentioned that perhaps including a wine suggestion with my posts would be helpful, so for this particular entry, I'd suggest a fruity white, or even a rosé...preferably a young Rioja. :)

For the recipe, please visit:  http://canarygirl.com/?p=119

 

When I was in college, I worked at an Asian restaurant. My boss, Cam, made the best curry chicken for us–this was special, off the menu, employees only stuff…I tried for years to recreate it, and finally, *finally* got it right. Since then, it’s evolved a little. I’ve added my own touches to it, and it has become one of hubs’ favorite foods. Add more vegetables at will.

For the recipe, please visit: http://canarygirl.com.

 

 

Way back when, while I was a college student, I worked at a Chinese restaurant...My boss, Cam, made the best sesame chicken...I have been trying forever to copy his recipe, and I just can't do it.  This time is no exception.  The chicken was good, but it wasn't Cam's.  Back to the drawing board!  One of the reasons it didn't turn out like his is that I didn't batter fry the chicken first (in the interest of calories), but the sauce definately needs work to be like his too.  This sesame chicken was good, though, so I'm posting the recipe as a work in progress. :)

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken, diced

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup sweet soy sauce

1/2 cup pineapple juice

2-3 tablespoons sunflower or peanut oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons grated ginger

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

green onions to garnish

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients except chicken and green onions in a medium sized bowl.

Add chicken and toss to coat.

Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

Heat wok over high heat, then drizzle with sunflower or peanut oil.

Toss in chicken and stir constantly, until cooked through and sauce begins to thicken.

Serve over white rice, garnished with chopped green onions and extra sesame seeds.

 

It's been a while since I've made an Asian inspired meal, so today I put on my apron and fastened it tight, and got bizzy in the kitchen.  Most of these recipes I've been making for quite a while, they're all pretty easy, albeit a bit putzy.  Most of the time I just eyeball the ingredients, it makes prep time a lot quicker--and prep time is the main portion of preparing any Asian meal.  Once the prep is done, the dishes come together fairly quickly.  The fried appetizers can be made in advance and frozen (raw or cooked) and thawed before deep frying or reheating in the oven.  The temperature of the oil when frying should be quite hot--about 375º F (190º C).  And I find the best recipient for making fried rice is a wok.  Be sure that for the rice, you start with *cold* cooked rice, it'll make all the difference in the world (hot rice causes the rice to stick together and become unmanageable, not to mention unappetizing).

So why don't we start with the Wontons?

 

Ingredients (for about 20 wontons):

1/2 pound ground pork

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 geen onions, chopped

1 egg (size small)

salt and pepper to taste

a few drops of sesame oil

20 wonton wrappers

Preparation:

Mix all filling ingredients in a bowl and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Fill each wrapper with a small amount of filling and pinch the top, forming little packets.

Deep fry at 375ºF/190ºC for 7-10 minutes or until golden.

Drain on paper towels.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

The Dumplings are similar to prepare, but instead of frying, we steam them.

 

Ingredients:

For Dumplings:

1/2  lb ground pork 

3  green onions, finely chopped 

1  clove garlic, minced 

1/4  teaspoon sesame oil 

salt and pepper 

1  package dumpling wrappers or wonton wrappers, about 20 

For Sauce:

1/4  cup soy sauce 

2  tablespoons rice vinegar 

1/4  teaspoon sesame oil 

2  tablepoons sugar   

2  cloves garlic, minced 

1/2  teaspoon grated ginger (or more to taste) 

3  tablespoons water (optional) 

1  tablespoon cornstarch (optional) 

Preparation:

In a small bowl combine pork, onions, garlic, sesame oil, salt and pepper.

Fill each wrap with a small spoonful of the pork mixture and seal with water, pressing edges and folding a bit to"ruffle" them.

Heat water to boiling, and place bamboo steamer (or seive) lined with a large cabbage or lettuce leaf (to prevent sticking) over the pot.

Reduce heat to medium.

Place dumplings in a single layer (not touching each other) on leaf, cover and steam for 20 minutes or so--until cooked through.

Meanwhile, make sauce.

In a small sauce pan,  heat soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, then add garlic and ginger.

Cook until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.

If desired, whisk cornstarch and water to make a slurry and use this to thicken the sauce.

Thickening the sauce allows for better coating of the dumplings while dipping, but is not necessary.

Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds.

Serve hot dumplings with sauce. 

The Spring Rolls are probably the most time consuming, but they are easy to do, and freeze well (I like to make a double batch and freeze half for later.)

 

 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork

1 (4  ounce) package rice vermicelli, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes,drained and chopped 

1 egg 

1 green onion, minced 

1 small onion, minced 

2 cloves garlic, mashed

2 tablespoons grated ginger 

1/4 cup finely grated carrots 

1 cup finely grated cabbage 

1/2 cup bean sprouts 

3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped 

2  tablespoons white wine  

salt 

white pepper 

20  spring roll wrappers (I like the frozen ones, though the dry rice wraps are good too, just more difficult to work with) 

oil (for frying) 

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients except wraps and oil in a bowl.

On a damp tea towel, place a wrap, and fill with a couple of tablespoons of the pork mixture in a sausage like shape at one end of the wrap.

Fold sides in, then begin rolling spring roll at the mixture side.

Seal roll by moistening edge with water.

Heat oil over medium-high heat.

Fry rolls, turning frequently until cooked through and golden, about 5-7 minutes.

Drain on paper towels, and serve with Spring Roll Sauce (Nuoc Mam).

Keep warm in heated oven.

Note: The spring rolls may be made ahead, and frozen, and then fried when thawed.

Spring rolls may be kept in fridge until ready to fry too, up to a day or two in advance.

Ground chicken may be substituted for the pork, and chopped shrimp or crabmeat may also be added.

The Spring Roll Sauce is really quick to make, and really rounds out the flavor of the rolls.

 

Ingredients:

4  tablespoons nuoc nam (fish sauce) 

2  cloves garlic 

2 1/2  tablespoons powdered sugar 

3  dried red peppers (the tiny ones) 

1/2  lime, juice of or lemon, juice of 

1/4  cup water, maybe a little less

Preparation: 

Using a mortar and pestle, mash garlic and cayenne peppers together with the powdered sugar.

Add fish sauce, water and lime (or lemon) and mix well.

This recipe can easily be doubled.

Add finely shredded carrot and thinly sliced cilantro and green onion for garnish.

And the Fried Rice...a recipe which I tried to recreate from a Japanese restaurant we go to, by watching the Teppanyaki Chefs do their thing....it's pretty good (if I do say so myself).

 

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked and cooled rice

3 tablespoons peanut oil

2 eggs, previously beaten, fried and chopped

3-4 tablespoons butter

2-3 cloves garlic

chopped vegetables to your liking...this time, I added a piece of red pepper, green onions and bean sprouts

1/2 cup soy sauce (maybe less, I eyeballed it)

3 tablespoons white wine (or Mirin)

sesame oil to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

First of all, it's very important to start with pre-cooked and cooled rice--if your rice is still hot, it will get sticky.

Heat oil and butter in a wok over fairly high heat.

Add garlic and sautee until golden, but not burned.

Add vegetables and toss until brightly colored, then immediately add rice, soy sauce and wine, tossing constantly.

When the rice appears to be well coated, toss in a bit of sesame oil and season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat and serve immediately.