Asian

Hoisin Grilled Flank Steak

This was an easy and tasty modified Cooking Light recipe – modified because I marinated it for 8 hours, rather than putting sauce on it and cooking it. Being a flank steak, I was skeptical of how tough it would be if it had no marinade at all. This came out well, especially because Shawn grilled it – thank goodness we’re getting back to grilling weather! 🙂  We had this with spiral zucchini, carrots, and radishes as a “noodle” side, tossed with some soy sauce and black vinegar.
hoisonsteak

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Chicken and Bok Choy

Stir fry is not something I usually bother with a recipe to prepare, as it’s a great clean out the fridge opportunity.  But I saw this on Rasa Malaysia and wanted to give the idea of it a try, simply because we love bok choy.  I almost never use chicken in my stir fry, because I suck at cooking it any way but braised/baked/handed to Shawn to grill.  Otherwise it’s gummy, tough, and dry, yum yum!   But this was actually a great technique and I will do it again.  The sauce was light, and I found myself thinking that this would be a lovely summertime meal with additions from the garden to accompany the bok choy.  We bulked this up with some shirataki noodles instead of rice.

chickenbokchoy

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Meat and Chinese Chive Dumplings

Another awesome dumpling from Andrea Nguyen’s “Asian Dumplings” book.  I had wanted to try one we’d never made before.  These are actually pot stickers, and as bad as I am at pan-frying, I still gave it a go.  Verdict – filling is awesome, but I should stick to steaming or boiling our dumplings.  I overcooked these bad-boys like whoa.  But they were still good, which stays pretty much everything you need to know about how ridic they are.  Luckily, we have another 30 or so dumplings from this batch frozen for another day, and I am super excited to steam them next time!

poststickers

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Tibetan Beef and Sichuan Peppercorn Dumplings

My favorite cookbook is definitely, “Asian Dumplings,” by Andrea Nguyen.  I’ve yet to make anything I didn’t like, and some of them I really love.  They are great to share with friends!  We had a great time with our friends for a dumplings, ramen, and games night, and this was one of the meat dumplings I made.  I really enjoyed it…different than the pork dumplings I’m used to, and very interesting!  These are called Sha Momo, and I highly recommend you check them out, as well as the entire book!   Forgive the photo – it was post-steaming and it was…well, steamy. 😉

photo 1 (3)

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Hoisin Cocktail Meatballs

We recently hosted a dumplings, ramen, and games night and thought we wanted something…well, not wrapped in a dumpling wrapper or part of a noodle bowl.  Or really, I saw these, thought they looked awesome, and they were. 😉  We kept these warm in a slow cooker during the party, which worked well but I’d advise making sure you stir them now and then, which I forgot to do.  I would definitely make these again, especially for a party – I might double the recipe next time as well.  Leftovers were pretty good. 😉

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Sesame Udon Noodles

This is a great base recipe to use for a side dish.  It is very versatile…add as many veggies as you want, or even add some chicken, pork, or tofu and turn it into a main dish.  I just used what I had on hand.  It also makes plenty, so can easily serve a crowd or make leftovers for lunch.  We loved this one.

sesamenoodles

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Okonomiyaki

Shawn learned how to make this when he was stationed in Japan for two years.  In the restaurants there, the okonomiyaki pancake is cooked on the table right in front of where each person sits, and it comes in a variety of types and flavors.  It is topped with okonomi sauce and mayo.  I’d never had (or heard of) this before, but he made it for me a while back and I absolutely love it.  Very versatile and makes for a fun and easy dinner that we both like.

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Steamed Vegetable Dumplings

Dumplings are possibly my favorite food.  I don’t think I ever get tired of them, and I recently decided I wanted to learn how to make them myself.  I got a bamboo steamer, some wrappers and wonton skins, and away we’ve gone!  And we have not been disappointed.  I got this recipe from my Asian Dumpling cookbook, by Andrea Nguyen, which has been awesome so far.

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Pork and Napa Cabbage Water Dumplings

This was my first attempt at making dumplings from scratch, and they were a hit.  I did use store-bought dumpling wrappers, but after subsequent trips to H-Mart, I think I have enough ingredients to start trying to make my own.  In theory, they taste better and are more forgiving when wrapping (a good thing, I must have destroyed a lot of wrappers while learning to do this!).  This is a great starter recipe for learning dumplings!  From my Asian Dumplings cookbook, by Andrea Nguyen.

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Thai Chicken Curry

An extra chicken from El Pollo Rico last night (yes, we got two, don’t judge) led us to contemplate what we wanted to do with leftover chicken.  My immediate answer was chicken curry, and I love this Thai chicken curry…super simple and always delicious.  No Thai basil on hand today, but it was still good with regular basil.

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