Category Archives: asian

Coconut, Peanut, & Pea Shoot Salad

Posted by Dave in asian, salad, shellfish, soup, vegan, vegetarian and tagged with , , , ,

Coconut, Peanut, and Pea Shoot Salad

Here’s a delicious salad that I arrived at by accident… and, despite having two nuts in its name, it contains no nuts, since coconut is not a proper nut and peanut is a legume or bean!

I was planning to make Tom Kha Talay, but when I opened the can of what I thought was coconut milk, I found that I had bought a can of young coconut meat instead. No problem, right?

If you’ve ever bought a young coconut, often served in China-towns as a coconut water beverage, then you’re probably familiar with the tender, sweet meat that lines the young coconut cavity.  The canned version I bought is the same, but in a sweet sugar-based syrup.

So, what to do?  I still had a pile of pea shoots for a salad to accompany the soup… how about adding the sweet coconut meat to a soup and a salad?

Here are the salad ingredients: pea shoots, mung bean sprouts, sliced young coconut meat, chopped roasted, unsalted peanut, tossed with a modest amount of Trader Joes’ Goddess dressing and a dash of fresh lime juice, and topped with more chopped peanut and lime zest.

As a fairly quick lunch, a number of the ingredients are off-the-shelf from the store.
If you haven’t had Trader Joe’s Goddess dressing, it is an oil and vinegar-based dressing with a delicious flavor dominated by soy, tahini (sesame), and garlic.

Prepared ingredients

For my  lunch, the salad was accompanied by Tom Yum Goong, made from store-bought Tom Yum Paste, homemade fish stock, diced potato, sliced carrot, sliced scallion, chopped green cabbage, quartered baby bella mushroom, chopped fresh cilantro, peeled shrimp (from frozen, raw), and chopped young coconut meat.

Tom Yum Goong with Coconut, Peanut, and Pea Shoot Salad

Next time you’re in an asian grocery, pick up some young coconut, and give this great salad and/or soup a try!

Asian Fish Tacos

Posted by Dave in asian, fish, texmex and tagged with , , ,

I imagine you’re thinking, “Wow, Dave hasn’t made any asian dishes in a while…”
Not true.

Well, following my visit to no less than four grocery stores today, I am prepared to soon embark on new culinarily adventures, so I’m using up some of these fresh ingredients.

Asian Fish Tacos

I absolutely love fish tacos, thus made up these asian-fused-with-Tex-Mex fish tacos for lunch.
Typically fish tacos consist of three components atop corn tortillas: fish, a cabbage slaw, and a sauce.

For one serving (3 tacos), I first prepared a slaw from the following ingredients (approximately equal parts of the first 3 vegetables):

  • napa cabbage (3 leaves, green separated from white – see photos below, greens finely sliced/shredded)
  • carrot (1 medium, julienned)
  • bean sprouts (a small handful)
  • scallion greens
  • garlic (1 clove, minced)
  • rice vinegar (~2 T.)
  • hoisin sauce (~2 t.)
  • sesame oil (just a splash)
  • toasted sesame seeds or chopped toasted pine nuts (I used the latter)
  • lime zest (~1 t.)


Dissolve the hoisin sauce in the rice vinegar and toss with the rest of the slaw ingredients and let sit until needed.

For the sauce, simply mix equal parts of mayonnaise and chili garlic sauce.

I used about 2 t. each, per serving (i.e., 3 tacos) and taste-tested it… I think I decided to add half again as much chili sauce.  OK, that’s easy!

Chili Garlic Mayonnaise

For the fish, I chose a tilapia fillet (from frozen, thawed in water), and poached it in a salmon-and-vegetable-based fish stock along with a couple teaspoons of soy sauce.  Here, I had just separated some pieces to test for doneness (i.e., if it will flake apart.)  Concurrently, I warmed corn tortillas in a skillet, and then wrapped them in a towel; this keeps them from getting wet underneath, e.g., if set on a plate when they’re very warm.

Poaching tilapia in fish stock

Warming tortillas

Lastly, I assembled the tacos, topped with a dab more of chili garlic sauce and, as you can see, placed “points” of the white portion of a napa cabbage leaf under each taco.  While intended for presentation, this worked out nicely to support the taco in hand; otherwise, one often must resorts to using two tortillas per taco so that they don’t break when the moist ingredients are placed on top.

Napa cabbage "point."

These tacos were easy and delicious.  They’d probably be nice with mu shu pancakes or flour tortillas as well.

Egg Foo Young

Posted by Dave in asian, breakfast, vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Egg Foo Young

Here’s a simple Chinese classic for breakfast, or anytime, and a welcome alternative to an omelet or the same old scrambled egg.

Egg foo young always reminds me of my father, long passed-away.
When I was a child, my parents weren’t adventurous with food, but once in a while we’d get take-out Chinese food and I recall them always getting a box with egg foo young in gravy.  My dad didn’t believe in delivery, so it was always a treat to ride with him to pick up the food.  (This was probably also a welcome respite for my mom waiting at home.)  My dad had developed a rapport with the restaurant owner, and they would joke and laugh.  This often resulted in something extra for free and I was intrigued by their friendship and tiny bit of human color and cultural diversity in the midst of our whiter-than-white part of the midwest.

Anyway, I never order egg foo young when I’m eating out now, so it’s possible that I haven’t had it in decades – until this afternoon.

For this dish I made two servings of the following ingredients: eggs (4, beaten, with a touch of salt and pepper), whole bean sprouts, finely chopped scallion, chopped baby bella mushroom, and finely shredded napa cabbage.

Mix those ingredients in a bowl, measure out a half cup per patty, and poor slowly into a generous amount of hot canola oil, between 1/8″ and 1/4″ deep, in a fry pan over medium-high heat.  Immediately use a fork to pull the egg at the edges toward the center, so that the patty doesn’t spread too thin.  Cook perhaps 2 minutes, then carefully flip the patty over and cook the other side likewise, until the egg and ingredients are cooked in the center.  Remove patties and drain on paper towels.  I made 2 patties at a time, for a total of 4 patties.

Meanwhile, prepare a sauce or gravy in a separate pan;  combine a stock (1/2 cup, e.g., from water and chicken bouillon granules), brown sugar (1 t.), soy sauce (~1 T.) hoisin sauce (~1 T.).   Heat this mixture, stirring to dissolve ingredients, then add corn starch slurry; to thicken sauce, heat just to a boil while stirring then remove from heat.

I served each patty atop a bed of pea shoots, then topped it with sauce and scallion greens.

Leftovers?  No problem – make a St. Paul Sandwich!

Here are some recipes I consulted:

Sesame Shrimp with Bean Thread Noodle

Posted by Dave in asian, shellfish and tagged with , , ,

Sesame Shrimp with Bean Thread Noodle

Here’s a delicious stir-fried noodle dish with shrimp, inspired by similar dishes at a local Thai restaurant.

Ingredients (for 2):

  • bean thread noodle (2 servings prepared, i.e., soaked in warm water or lightly boiled)
  • raw shrimp, peeled and tails removed (from frozen, perhaps 8 per serving for 18-24 count-sized shrimp)
  • baby bella mushroom, quartered (perhaps 6 mushrooms)
  • bean sprouts  (~1 cup)
  • scallion (one per serving, white portion: finely chopped, greens: large diagonal pieces)
  • minced garlic (2 cloves)
  • canola oil (~1 T.)
  • sesame oil
  • toasted sesame seed (~ 1 T.)

For sauce:

  • fish sauce (~2 T.)
  • oyster sauce (~1 1/2 T.)
  • lemon juice (~1 1/2 T.)
  • honey (~1 t.)
  • chili garlic sauce (~1/2 t.)
  • water (add to prepare ~1/2 cup sauce in total, stir to dissolve honey)

In a pan on medium-high heat, begin stir-frying shrimp in oil, then add white scallion and garlic, and then mushroom.  When shrimp are nearly cooked (perhaps 2-3 minutes), add 1/2 of the sauce (or earlier to prevent garlic from browning), stir, and add bean thread noodles and stir.  Add remaining sauce, bean sprouts and scallion greens.  Stir thoroughly and remove from heat when bean sprouts are only slightly tender but not limp.  Sprinkle sparingly with sesame oil and top with sesame seed.

Plate and garnish with a spoonful of chili garlic sauce and fresh pea shoots!

Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp

Posted by Dave in asian, shellfish, vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp

Tonight I celebrated our ridiculously early spring with these tasty fresh spring rolls for friends!

This is another common restaurant treat that can be easily reproduced in your own kitchen.

The rolls were prepared in moistened rice paper (e.g., 22cm diameter, see video below for wrapping demonstration) with the following ingredients: napa cabbage greens, bean thread noodle (prepared in advance and cooled), cucumber (peeled, seed portion removed, and cut into roll-length spears), pea shoots (yay, pea shoots!), julienne carrot, scallion greens, and shrimp (from frozen, sautéed with a bit of garlic salt, then cooled).

The rolls were served topped with pea shoots, chopped peanut, and accompanied by a sauce of water, palm sugar (dissolved in the water over low heat), fish sauce, fresh lime juice, fresh minced garlic, and a chili garlic sauce to taste.

I served these rolls (one per person) as an appetizer accompanying Rice Stick Noodle and Beef Sauté, however, this time I used more ginger, added strips of red onion, skipped the scrambled egg, and used palm sugar rather than honey.

If you were to do make completely vegetarian rolls, I’d suggest replacing the shrimp with shelled edamame.

Here are the recipes I consulted for ingredient and preparation ideas:
Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls
Fresh Spring Rolls With Thai Dipping Sauce
How to make Asian Spring Rolls (video)
Matchstick Carrots (video)

Shrimp & Mushroom Fried Rice

Posted by Dave in asian, shellfish and tagged with , , ,

Shrimp & Mushroom Fried Rice

Ingredients (to serve 2), in order of use: sesame oil (~2 t.), eggs (2), canola oil, (~2 T.),  scallion (2 large, white portion finely sliced, greens separated), sliced garlic (2 cloves), green bell pepper (1/4 pepper, coarsely diced), carrot (1, sliced), green cabbage (1/4 small head, thinly sliced/shredded), fresh black mushrooms (~6, sliced), sticky rice (2 servings, leftover), ground black pepper, soy sauce (~2 T.), fish sauce (1 t.), rice vinegar (1-2 t.), honey (~1 t., disolved in sauce and vinegar), shrimp (for two servings, e.g., eight 31-40 count), scallion greens (coarsely sliced).

Scramble the egg first, in sesame oil, remove it and return near the end.

Stir fry these ingredients (e.g., in a 12 in. cast iron skillet) over medium-high heat, added in the order above, adding the next ingredients as the prior cook to the desired tenderness, e.g., bell pepper and carrot at same time, musrooms and cabbage at same time.

With leftover sticy rice, return it to approximately room temperature (microwaving is fine), wet hands with water and break it up in a bowl, and sprinkle it with black pepper, prior to adding to the strir fry.

For the shrimp (thawed in water, from frozen), chop or leave them whole (as shown here), peeled but left with the tails intact for color.  To cook, place shrimp under the fried rice in contact with the pan, turning shrimp to cook evenly, and remove fried rice from heat when the shrimp is just cooked through after just a few minutes.

Fancy Cut Carrot

Posted by Dave in asian, tips, vegan, vegetarian and tagged with , ,

Here’s a 1 minute video with a tip on how to cut carrot for presentation: Kitchen Convivial Tips: Fancy Cut Carrot

I like the way Chinese restaurants often cut carrot for presentation in their dishes.
This is simple technique to make carrot slices that are much more attractive than round pieces!

Here’s a related video on how to cut matchstick or julienne carrot: Matchstick Carrots

Leftover Rice

Posted by Dave in asian, tips, vegan, vegetarian and tagged with , ,

Here’s a 2 minute video with a great tip about how to keep leftover rice in your freezer: Kitchen Convivial Tips: Leftover Rice

You can keep leftover rice, i.e., sticky rice, as individually wrapped servings in the freezer.

Then thaw them in the microwave on their own, e.g., to use to make fried rice, or top them with your favorite accompaniment, and reheat them together.
Microwave perhaps 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on high.

Cashew Fried Rice and Baby Bok Choy with Mushroom Sauce

Posted by Dave in asian, vegetarian and tagged with , ,

Cashew Fried Rice and Baby Bok Choy with Mushroom Sauce

Here’s a vegetarian meal and the fried rice could easily be prepared vegan by substituting mashed tofu for scrambled egg, as in the recipe below.

The fried rice contains both peas (from frozen) and fresh pea pods.
I found it to be somewhat bland, so I added green pepper, white onion, sesame oil, black bean sauce, chili garlic sauce, and fish roe as well, as with my Fish Roe Fried Rice.

Baby Bok Choy with Mushroom Sauce

The bok choy was nice as-is (recipe below), although I used palm sugar rather than brown sugar and corn starch rather than potato starch.

Here are the recipes I consulted:
Chinese Cashew Fried Rice Recipe
Chinese-Style Baby Bok Choy with Mushroom Sauce

This one is an indian-spiced variation that I’m anxious to try:
Peas and Cashew Fried Rice

Related (?): DJ Baby Bok Choy :-)

Lettuce Wraps

Posted by Dave in asian, vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Lettuce Wraps

Failing to find a recipe that used a significant amount of whipping cream and Romaine lettuce, I settled on these lettuce wraps using just the lettuce. :-)

They’re much as set out in the recipe below except I used bacon (optional) and fried firm tofu… to see if I could cause a bacon/anti-bacon explosion. Oh, and I added chopped peanut… so, y’know, it was a typical sort of asian lettuce wrap meets BLT.

“Lettuce Wraps”
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/fusionrecipes/r/lettucewraps.htm

Here’s that P.F. Chang’s version that everyone seems to like:

“Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry Romaine Wraps with Citrus Soy”
http://www.pfchangs.com/chefscorner/ginger_chicken_stirfry.aspx