Category Archives: asian

asian, Cooking, recipes, South Beach

Asian Meatballs

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I’m thinking about doing the South Beach Diet. The problem is, I love pasta and noodles. I had a hankering for gyoza tonight, so I thought I’d just make the filling in the form of meatballs and ditch the noodle.

Turned out I didn’t really miss the won ton wrapper after all. This meal is quick and uses common fridge ingredients. Put whatever veggies you prefer in the stir fry. I happened to find a tasty edible mushroom in my yard right before dinner, so I tossed that in at the last minute.

Asian Meatballs

Ingredients (I eyeball everything):
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup panko flakes (not South Beach friendly, so omit if needs be)
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
2 green onions, finely chopped
salt and pepper

For the sauce:
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs. rice vinegar
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
1/2 tsp. corn starch (again, not South Beach friendly)
1 Tbs. oyster sauce (optional)

Broccoli, tofu, zucchini, and other stir fry veggies

Directions:
If using tofu, drain it and cover in paper towels. Place a heavy pan on top to get more liquid out. Mix together the meatball ingredients thoroughly, cover and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form meatballs and place on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet so the fat is allowed to drain away while they cook. Bake for 30 minutes or until they are browned and cooked all the way through. Set aside.

Whisk together the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the tofu into cubes and cut your stir fry veggies up into bite-sized pieces. Heat 2 tsp. cooking oil in a wok over high flame until the oil shimmers. Add the tofu and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Set aside. Add another teaspoon of oil to the wok and reheat. Add the veggies and half the sauce. Mix well, cover and let cook for about seven minutes or until veggies are tender.

Uncover, add the rest of the sauce, the tofu, the meatballs and toss till everything is thoroughly coated.

Serve alone or with brown rice or farro if you aren’t in Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet.

Asian Meatballs

asian, recipes

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

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I’ve never really cooked Thai food before. I love to eat it and I respect those who are able to concoct it, but I always thought I was unable to create the spicy, sweet flavors on my own.

I was inspired by a recipe that called for five ingredients for Thai soup. I decided to try it out but to add my own flair to it as well. Turns out I can make something that tastes like Thai! Watch out, it’s spicy!

It’s worth noting that you could probably find these ingredients at a normal grocery store, but usually it’s a lot cheaper and there’s a lot more variety at an Asian market. I found all of my ingredients at the Red Apple Market in Mountain View and it probably cost about $7. I wish I was able to find bean sprouts, but my grocery store didn’t have them. I would add that next time.

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 oz. of yellow curry paste (I chose a 4 oz. can that looked like it had Thai writing on it. It also had a photo of soup on it, so that’s why I went with it).
One 13.5 oz. can of coconut cream (not milk or water)
1/3 package of rice noodles (again, I wasn’t sure what to get so I looked at the photos on the packaging)
1 cup chicken stock
1.5 cups water
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced (optional if you want less spice)
1/2 brick of extra-firm tofu, cubed
1/2 cup or so of cooked shredded chicken
2 tbs. cooking oil
a couple of dashes of fish sauce (the magical Thai ingredient)
a couple of tablespoons of fresh cilantro
several sprigs of fresh basil
squeeze of fresh lime

Directions:
Cook noodles according to packaging. I boiled mine for six minutes and then strained and ran under cold water for one minute and set aside till I was ready to add to soup.

Bring the 1.5 cups water and chicken stock to a boil. Set aside. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and add the curry. Stir and cook for 30 seconds or so. Add the coconut cream, the water and the stock and stir till the coconut cream is melted and soup starts to simmer. Add the noodles, fish sauce, tofu, chicken and jalapeños to the soup and return to a simmer. Turn off heat and serve into bowls. Top each bowl with cilantro and broken up pieces of basil. Squeeze a wedge of lime over it all.

This soup was quite filling. It made more than I expected, and I’m happy to have leftovers for tomorrow!

asian, Cooking, recipes

Baby Bok Choy Stir Fry with Tofu Steaks

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My mom dropped off some baby bok choy yesterday. I’ve never cooked with it before, so I thought I’d make something healthy for dinner.

My husband wants to start the South Beach Diet and I’ve been researching recipes to make for him. I found a yummy-sounding recipe for baked tofu steaks and I thought that would go great alongside some sort of Asian-style bok choy.

Here’s the recipe for the tofu, from a really informative cooking site http://www.kalynskitchen.com.

And here’s how I prepared the baby bok choy. All liquid measurements are approximate as I eyeball pretty much everything.

Ingredients:

6-8 baby bok choys, cut in half lengthwise
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp hot sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
2 packages of top ramen, spice packets discarded
sesame seeds

When there’s about 10 minutes left on the tofu steaks (they take about an hour), bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat oils in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Toss in the garlic and begin to brown it. A couple of minutes later add the green onions. When the garlic is lightly brown, add the chicken stock, soy sauce and vinegar. Then add the bok choy, turn the heat to high, and cover the pan for about 6 minutes.

When the water is boiling, add the two noodle packets and cook for about three minutes, or until al dente. Drain the noodles and add to the bok choy. Add more stock if you want a little more liquid. Toss all of the ingredients together and fry until bok choy is tender, just a couple of more minutes.

Serve with tofu steaks and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

asian, Cooking

Gyoza with lemon ginger sauce

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This is home cooking at its finest.

Click here for my homemade gyoza recipe. The following is a lemon ginger sauce I made.

Ingredients:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
a few tablespoons of Ponzu (orange-infused soy sauce)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
a couple of teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
2 scallions, chopped finely
several dashes of chili sesame oil

Comine all the ingredients. Serve alongside gyoza. SO GOOD. Here is a picture of Stephen full of gyoza:

asian, Cooking

Homemade Shrimp and Pork Wontons

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As per Muggle in Pink’s request, here is my recipe for pot stickers/dumplings. You could use round gyoza wrappers to make a pot sticker shape, or you could use the square ones and make a dumpling where it looks like a Scrooge McDuck money sack.

Homemade Shrimp Wontons | Alaska Knit Nat
 

Homemade Shrimp and Pork Wontons with teriyaki sauce
Makes about 36 dumplings
 
Ingredients for pot stickers:
½ lb ground pork
Less than ½ lb shrimp, cooked or raw, chopped finely
2 green onions, chopped finely
Less than one egg, beaten
Salt and pepper
Dash of soy sauce
Dash of sesame oil
Dash of rice vinegar
Pot sticker or won ton wrappers
 
Ingredients for teriyaki sauce:
1 cup chicken stock
¼ cup soy sauce, or to taste
Dash rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
Directions:
Mix all the pot sticker ingredients together, making sure it’s not too sloppy (measurements may vary). Spoon about a teaspoon into wrappers and dab edges with water. Fold into half moons (or make little pouches with square wrappers). Crimp edges for decoration.
Heat a large pan with a little sesame oil and vegetable oil, enough to coat pan. When hot, fry one side of pot stickers till brown, just a few minutes. Then add the teriyaki sauce ingredients, turn down heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve with rice and steamed edamame.
For a vegetarian version of pot stickers substitute shrimp and pork for chopped cabbage, blanched for a minute in boiling water and one shredded carrot.
To make a wonton soup, use the square wrappers and use egg to seal pouches shut. Instead of frying, you can boil this in a pot with the teriyaki sauce and serve with thin rice noodles and the broth.