We were making some finger foods for guests and while dumplings are not the typical “finger food” they were a good munchie to have out. We kept it pretty simple with pork, ginger, and green onion. We tried a few different cooking types as can be seen above before deciding on the best.
I always love to order panang curry when I go to Thai restaurants. It has a slightly bolder flavor than the red, green or yellow curry dishes and is so tasty when paired with coconut milk. I once stumbled across a recipe for it online and I realized that just like making red or green curry it all begins with the paste.
I have always loved fried rice but have never had too much success with it at home the few times that I tried. This time went much better with a spicy shrimp version!
Posted in Asian
Tagged Asian, carrots, Egg, fried rice, hot chili oil, onion, peas, Rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, shrimp, shrimp fried rice
We were heading to a family Labor Day cookout and decided on this cold sesame noodle salad. I guess it’s not the most American dish for Labor Day, but it worked out just fine.
Cook the noodles and run them under cool water. Then toss with sesame oil and set aside until the sauce is ready. The sauce was a blended combination of many ingredients that was then tossed with the cool noodles.
The base seasonings headed for the blender
Can be a little fluffy at first but will settle
These did not go into the blender, but were tossed with the noodles and sauce.
Noodles with chopped vegetables waiting for the sauce
Sauce is here!
Once the sauce is prepared, veggies are chopped, and noodles are cooked and cooled, combine all ingredients and chill before serving.
The colder the better
Directions for Cold Sesame Noodle Salad
Greg
Posted in Salads, Uncategorized
Tagged Asian, cold, easy, garlic, Ginger, good leftovers, Green onion, Noodles, quick, Rice wine vinegar, Serrano peppers, Sesame, sesame oil, sesame seeds
When we made the pork and peach spring rolls we also made a delicious peanut sauce to dip the spring rolls in. I intentionally made a lot of the sauce because it is that good and I knew I would want to use it in another dish. Alas, here is what I came up with! The peanut sauce was made in advance and stored for about 2-3 days before I made this.
I started off with some onion, which I sauteed in some toasted sesame oil. I kept the onion pieces pretty big as you can see- I guess they were technically quarters. Typically I add my aromatics (garlic, ginger, etc) once the onions cook for a few minutes, however, this step was not needed here because the peanut sauce already includes these ingredients.
Next, I added some carrots.
And then some spinach.
Time for the peanut sauce! I thinned it out using some chicken broth.
I blanched some broccoli and then added it to the mix.
For my protein I used skirt steak. I went to Whole Foods for lunch and they were giving out samples of their skirt steaks, which were also on sale. One bite and I was sold. It worked really well in this dish too!
I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper and grilled it. When it was ready I sliced it up and threw it in with the veggies and sauce. This dish really came together nicely- I give a lot of credit to the peanut sauce. As I mentioned it packed a ton of flavor, so for this dish it was really just a matter of putting it all together.
I wanted a more broth like sauce, so I thinned it out to my liking, but you can easily adjust this depending on your taste. I ate it as is, but I am sure it would be great over rice or some thin rice noodles. It was also great leftover.
And this was going on while I was cooking! So starving!
All in all, I thought this came out great. See our post about the spring rolls for the link to the peanut sauce recipe!
– Eileen
Posted in Beef
Tagged Asian, Beef, good leftovers, homemade, low carb, one pan, Peanut sauce, sesame oil, skirt steak, stir fry, Thai, vegetables
This was another leftover use of the pulled pork. We were invited to a gathering and thought of using the leftover pork in an appetizer. The intention was to make spring rolls, but they did not have spring roll wrappers at the grocery store and I was too lazy to go to the Asian store to get them so I used egg roll wrappers. The wrapper said they could also be used as spring roll wrappers. They were not the consistency that I was looking for, so I ended up adjusting the plan half way through and it worked out.
First off was to prepare the filling which involved sending peaches, carrots, cucumber, and jalapenos through the food processor.
Then adding some of the leftover pulled pork.
I guess it works out that we don’t know how to cook for just 2 people (tons of leftover pork!)
I mixed the filling together.
Fillings are not meant to be pretty. That's why they are hidden.
Then I prepped the rice stick noodles.
Keep them in the water until you use them otherwise they will all stick together.
At the same time, I warmed water to just about as hot as I could put my hand into. Then I would quickly dip the wrapper into the warm water to soften it up.
Just a real quick dip
Then to the assembly process which can be a bit tricky.
First add a small twirl of noodles.
Then a scoop of the filling. It is hard to be disciplined enough to put in the right amount of filling. Remember that less is better and easier to wrap up.
It's tempting to put so much filling in!
Then to the wrapping process. Much the same as a burrito. Over from one corner first.
Then the two outer corners over and try to pull the filling in a bit and tighten it into a roll.
Then flip it over onto the remaining flap and try to tighten it and round it. You can do this by rolling it back and forth a bit.
Next onto the peanut topping and dipping sauce.
I followed this recipe from Ellie Krieger, which was first introduced to us by Ashley. This recipe is easy to follow- I just threw everything in the blender- and it is delicious! I doubled the recipe so we’d have some leftovers. Believe me, you’ll want some leftover!
I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
YUM!
Like I said, the original plan was to have spring rolls so I was not planning on cooking these at all. However, when it came down to it the egg rolls were really wet and sticky and needed to be cooked. We baked them in the oven for a few minutes, just enough to stiffen up a bit and this worked pretty well. We also ended up with a few of these leftover and later fried them in a skillet with a little sesame oil, which created a nice crunchy outer shell. Both cooking options worked well, so it’s really up to you and what type of consistency you want. Enjoy!
Posted in Appetizers, Pork, Sauces
Tagged Asian, Carrot, cucumber, jalapeno, Peanut sauce, pulled pork, Spring Roll
I have become slightly obsessed with peanut butter lately! So when we were wondering what to do with some leftover chicken the other night it only made sense to have it with said new obsession. We stir fried some broccoli and chicken in an Asian inspired peanut sauce. We topped it over some jasmine rice and garnished it with some (more!) chopped peanuts and green onion, mmm. We made it rather spicy by adding a diced jalapeno, but the spice level you desire is completely up to you.
Unfortunately, we did not take many pictures of the cooking process. Here is a shot of the peanut sauce, which is comprised of 2 types of oil, vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter, and some chicken broth.
We added broccoli- actually cooking it in the sauce and some already cooked chicken.
This was an easy recipe that took very little time. It was a great way to utilize the leftover chicken to make an awesome new dish. I highly recommend this one!
Starving Kitten 