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The Novice Gardener

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The Novice Gardener

Tag Archives: Asian food

Fiesta Friday #5

28 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Fiesta Friday, Food Photography & Styling

≈ 148 Comments

Tags

Asian food, bibimbap, dinner, Fiesta Friday, Fiesta Friday #5, Fiesta Friday Features, Korean food, link party, recipe

This party is getting rowdier every week, and I LOVE it! Hmm…what does that say about me, I wonder? Lest you think I’m like one of those girls gone wild on spring break, let me assure you I’m so not. I’m a responsible and upstanding citizen, always doing the right thing, including my civic duty of voting.

In fact, that’s probably why I’m always summoned for jury duty, because every time you vote, I think your name gets automatically entered for random selection. I’m not sure if that’s how it works, but I seem to get a good share of these summons. Strangely, though, they’ve never selected me to be a juror. Is that lucky or unlucky?

It doesn’t matter, I’m feeling lucky today. Lucky to have you come to my party. Lucky to have you count me as your buddy. Lucky to be a part of this FF (Fiesta Friday) community. I think I just shed a tear.

And you’re lucky, too! Lucky to have the following cool people to party with:
— (Ignore that Angie person in the #1 slot. She’s only here to chaperone.)

Angie

Patty

Mr Fitz

Juju

Dimple@Shivaay Delights

Sadia

Laura

Indira

Elaine

Nancy

Ngan

Lauzan

Jillian

Anna

Alex

Julianna

Selma

Weebirdie

Seana

thebrookcook

Saucy Gander

Jess

Justine

Laila

Jess

Linda

timethief

Polianthus

Sofia

Sue

Prudy

Fae

Hilda

Sonal

Indu

Johnny

Jenna

NancyCreative

Margot

Petra

Sylvia

Paul

Janine

Nell

Margherita

Diana

Mila

Rakhi

Nick

Aditi & Nikhil

Gerard

Jun & Priscilla

Juju

Miyuki

Katie

You’re next!

You’re next!

If you’re new to Fiesta Friday, please read the blah blah blah (guidelines) here.

***

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November Greens

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Edible Flowers & Weeds, Foraging, Gardening, Photography

≈ 57 Comments

Tags

Asian food, chickweed, edible weeds, fish, fish fillets, fish in chili sauce, lemongrass, recipe, turmeric, vegetables

November greens are a sight for sore eyes. Even if they are the weedy kind, they offer a little taste of the now impatiently awaited next year’s Spring. Just when the garden is about to be gone, I begin to miss it. The cause is obvious. This gardener has not stepped outside to check on it for a few weeks.

Oh, I picked herbs here and there, but when I did, mostly confined myself near the deck, close to the kitchen, where most were grown. They were still green, protected by the side wall and a cement walkway. The ones in the garden proper were brown. Visibly so, even from the kitchen window. Making venturing into the garden an unwelcome proposition.

But today I got the urges. To go out and touch the dirt. To nibble on something fresh. To look at something living, of the botanical kind, preferably green. Considering the month, is it too much to ask? Looks like Mother Nature indulges me one last time.

lemongrass, snap pea, arugula

snap pea, cilantro, carrot, chickweed

fresh turmeric, lemongrass

How fortunate for a green-starved gardener. And how rewarding for a curious gardener. Did you see the lemongrass and the turmeric? They started as a stalk and a couple of rhizomes. They were stuck into the ground, quite casually, many months ago, and promptly ignored. Now they have bestowed a most unexpected, but welcomed, tropical harvest. In November!

So this mind flew into the tropics. Phuket, maybe, or Bali. And I brought my family with me, with this dinner, inspired by the flavors of the tropics.

fish fillet in turmeric lemongrass chili sauce
massaged greens salad
fennel flowers
flounderin chili sauce
chickweed and red russian kale
edible weeds chickweed

Fish fillets in Turmeric & Lemongrass Sauce

4 fish fillets (flounder is good, or any other mild-flavored fish. Tilapia? Or chicken, if you’re not into fish.)
1 stalk of lemongrass, minced (mine was gigante, so I used half.)
2 smallish turmeric rhizomes, cut into slivers (about 1 inch long each, or substitute with ginger. In fact, I think ginger would be very nice, nicer than turmeric probably, but turmeric does have excellent health benefits.)
1 red hot chili pepper, thinly sliced (omit, if you can’t stand the heat.)
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 medium sweet red pepper, julienned
1 small carrot, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. agave nectar (or sugar, but you may need more than 1 tbsp. Agave nectar is sweeter than sugar.)
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1/2 – 3/4 cup chicken stock (*Read the comment from ohlidia. She added coconut milk. Brilliant!)
2 – 3 tbsp. olive oil
Cilantro for garnish
Salt & pepper
Cornstarch for dredging

1. Season fish with salt & pepper, then dredge in cornstarch. Fry in a little bit of oil, until cooked and crisp. Remove and set aside.
2. Add more oil to the pan, stir lemongrass, garlic, turmeric, and chili. Cook until fragrant.
3. Add the rest of the vegetables (carrot, sweet pepper, onion).
4. Add sugar/agave nectar and let it caramelize a little.
5. Add chicken stock, oyster sauce, and vinegar. Let simmer for a couple of minutes. Return fish fillets to the pan, and move them around a little to soak up the sauce. Garnish with cilantro.
5. Serve immediately.

The rest of the family ate their fish with rice. I ate mine with a side of olive oil-massaged raw green salad, consisting of senposai, kale, arugula, and chickweed, with just a few pieces of carrot to sweeten it. I’m planning to lose a few pounds before the season’s eating begins, so I can gain them back. See, there’s a method to my madness.

Linking to:
Daphne’s Harvest Monday

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Spring Rolls or Summer Rolls?

13 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Gardening

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Asian food, Chinese cuisine, fresh summer rolls, herbs, recipes, spring rolls, summer rolls, Vietnamese cuisine

All three of them opted for the spring rolls, outvoting me. But I’m the cook, and I was craving summer rolls, so I made both.

spring rolls1
summer rolls1
spring roll
summer roll

Spring Rolls and Summer Rolls

First the summer rolls (sometimes also called fresh spring rolls), since they’re the cook’s favorite. How could anybody not like these? They’re the perfect healthy finger food for warm summer days.

I eat a lot of these, but I hardly ever make them myself at home. I think I had trouble rolling these before, into what I considered perfect cylinders, like the ones served in restaurants. So, I abandoned the idea of homemade summer rolls altogether.

But I’m a more confident cook these days, and after consulting a couple of cookbooks and online recipes, I gave it another go. Besides, I already had most of the basic ingredients on hand. Leftover rice papers from a previous attempt (good to know they last a long time, those papers), rice noodles, and all these herbs from the garden.

Herbs

These rolls can be filled with anything you like, really. The ones you get from the Vietnamese restaurants are usually filled with pork and shrimp. But to me, the best part of the filling is the fresh vegetables and herbs. And the rice noodles; they help give the rolls some body and are the perfect vehicle to soak up the sauce.

So, fill away. As long as you have the noodles and the fresh vegetables and herbs in them, I’d say you’ve made summer rolls.

I filled mine with rice noodles, julienned carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber sticks, grilled chicken strips, lettuce, and different kinds of herbs. I liked the ones with mints the most. And if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you can omit the chicken, and will still enjoy an incredible meal.

But just in case you wanted chicken in yours, here’s the marinade recipe for it:

2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced finely or crushed into paste
1 tbsp minced lemon grass

Marinate chicken pieces (from 2 breasts) for at least 30 minutes, prior to grilling.

To make the rolls, assemble your ingredients first (mise en place is the fancy term for it) around either a chopping block or a large flat plate. I like using my glass chopping block for this.

summer roll filling mise en place

First, dip your rice paper in a shallow bowl filled with hot tap water. Not boiling hot, but hotter than warm. Don’t soak for too long; that was my initial mistake. It would render the paper too soft and thus tear easily. Around 5 seconds is all it needs. Don’t worry if the paper still feels rigid in some parts when you take it out of the water. It will continue to absorb the water as it lies on the chopping block or plate. Then, it’ll get all sticky. That’s what you want to happen. It’s now ready for filling.

Stack your filling ingredients into a neat rectangular pile on the bottom 1/3 of the paper. I started with a half lettuce leaf, then noodles, then chicken and other veggies and herbs. Then while pressing down on the filling with one hand, I folded up the bottom of the paper with my other hand. You can fold the sides at this point, if you like, and continue rolling up, tucking in the filling as you go. I found out they were easier to roll with the sides unfolded. And they looked prettier that way.

summer roll filling

After a few ugly rolls (too thin, too fat, torn wrappers), I was able to make pretty ones for the camera. Practice, practice, that’s all I can say, which means more rolls to eat!

summer rolls

Besides the fresh vegetables and herbs, the sauce also plays an important part in what makes summer rolls so yummy. I like peanut hoisin sauce best for my dipping sauce.

peanut hoisin sauce

Peanut Hoisin Sauce
This is taken directly from Mai Pham’s “The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking.”

1 cup Hoisin sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup puréed or finely minced yellow onion
1 tbsp ground chili paste, or to taste
1 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts for garnish

Put first four ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add a little water if too thick. Set aside to cool. Transfer mixture to a sauce dish and garnish with chili paste and chopped peanuts.

Now, onto the spring rolls. This is a recipe I’ve developed based on my family’s taste preference, but you can use any meat or vegetables you like.

The most important step of all is to place the filling is a colander lined with a bowl or plate once it is cooked, to make sure that any liquid in it drains away. Filling must be dry to achieve crispy spring rolls. Soggy spring rolls are the worst!

spring rolls

Spring Rolls
2 chicken breast, cup up into small cubes (TG can’t stand ground meat, that’s why. Otherwise, you can use ground chicken, pork, or even turkey.)
2 cups shredded carrots
6 cups shredded cabbage (You can add other vegetables. I’ve added kale, broccoli, even green beans. But cabbage is the norm.)
1 big onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped scallions
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp crunchy fried shallots (optional, but it adds a lot of flavor)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 package spring roll wrappers (about 25 pieces)

1. Marinate chicken in soy sauce, sugar, and pepper.
2. Sauté onion and garlic in oil, until onion starts to sweat.
3. Add chicken, sauté until chicken is just cooked.
4. Add carrots, stir until carrots are wilted, but not totally cooked.
5. Add cabbage and scallions, stir until cabbage are wilted, but not totally cooked. (This is quite an important step. Overcooked vegetables will turn mushy when spring rolls are deep-fried later.) Add salt & pepper as needed.
6. The most important step. Place the filling mixture in a colander to cool, so that all liquid drains away.
7. Once filling is cool, add the fried shallots, and mix thoroughly. Now you can start assembling the rolls.
8. Use about 1 1/2 tbsp filling for each wrapper.
9. Seal rolls with either egg white lightly beaten or a thick paste made of flour and water. I use the paste.
10. Deep fry rolls until golden brown.

Depending on how much filling you put in the rolls, you might end up with leftover filling. No problem, add beaten eggs and turn it into Egg Foo Young!

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Plate Lunch

18 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Family, Travel

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Asian food, food, Hawaii, Hawaiian food, loco moco, plate lunch, rice, Spam, Zippy's

We wanted to take him out to a restaurant. But instead he asked for a Hawaiian plate lunch. That was easy enough. Especially if the fried chicken came from Popeye’s.

I have a funny story about my introduction to plate lunch. When Sabo took me and the kids to Hawaii, I had  known about the luau, of course, and was looking forward to attending one. But luaus were expensive, and understandably so. The entertainment alone was worth the price. So I knew we weren’t going to have luau meals every day  in Hawaii.

However, I wanted to experience other local fare. So while waiting for our car, I chatted with the friendly valets. I asked them where they normally had their lunches. One of them inquired if I was perhaps interested in “cheapest” food. Oh, yes, sure! But is it good? Oh, yeah, the food is very good at this place. We eat there all the time.

So I was happily jotting down the directions to get to this “cheapest, tasty” restaurant. I then joined Sabo and the kids who were already waiting in the car, and passed on the directions. 

With great anticipation, we arrived at what looked like a Hawaiian fast-food joint, called Zippy’s. That was how I came to know about plate lunch. It was tasty alright, and the prices not too bad. But I realized that what I thought I heard “cheapest” really was “Zippy’s.” Not funny to you? You just had to be there!

Plate lunch apparently can consist of any meat and side dishes, as long as it has rice and macaroni salad. We had several different kinds of plate lunch while in Hawaii. Some with Korean barbecued meat, some with lau lau, some with a hamburger patty with a sunny side up on top (a loco moco), but Sabo’s favorite was the one with fried chicken. So that was what he had on Father’s Day.

We didn’t want a carb overload, so instead of macaroni salad, we had Asian salad as our side dish. Is it still a plate lunch? I hope the addition of Spam makes it legit.

plate lunch with spam

Plate lunch isn’t haute cuisine, but it’s tasty cuisine. President Obama can vouch for it.

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