A Taste of Asian Cooking

Summer is almost over and once again we're approaching fall.  As much as I love summer, I am still quite sad to say good bye to Summer 2011.  I guess the highlight of my summer was of course my trip to China with my husband and mother.  We had such fun visiting my brother and his family in their beautiful home.  I am so proud of my nieces.  They have adjusted so well and are just as active over in China as they were back here in America.  The culture in Asia is dramatically different which was a bit troubling but for the most part.........we loved Asia, especially the authentic Chinese Cooking.  They sure know how to prepare fresh veggies that are irresistible.  So once again I will do my best to experiment in my own kitchen with some Asian dishes for my guests.


We started with some Vegetarian Egg Rolls, Dumplings, and Spicy Chickpeas. 

The Spicy Chickpeas were my favorite but my husband loved the Dumplings, but then again, he is a pasta lover no matter how it's prepared. For the Chickpeas I soaked some Garbanzo beans the night before, cooked them till they were tender, drained them and than the fun begins.

I sauteed a small onion for a few minutes, added a 1 1/2 in piece of fresh ginger finely chopped and a couple cloves of garlic also finely chopped.  Next of course whats adds to the beautiful coloring is a small amount of tumeric.....1/4 tsp.  Stir fry this for less than a minute and than add 1 lb of peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes.  Cook this up till it has reduced to a thick sauce and just before the end of cooking I stirred in chopped Cilantro and Garam Masala.  You can serve at once with some Raita (yogurt combined with scallions, cumin seeds and fresh mint and if desired a pinch of cayenne pepper), however these are quite yummy at room temp or even cold!

After about an hour of great conversation while sipping on some wine, enjoying some wonderful egg rolls, dumplings and of course the Chickpeas, we moved on to the main course.  So far my guests approved of my Chinese Cooking which I have very little experience with besides the standard "American" stir fry that most of us probably have prepared.  However, after so many wonderful dishes in China, I was eager to learn more and possibly duplicate some of those dishes we enjoyed on our trip.

I decided on a Green Salad with a spicy Dressing paired with Fresh Raspberries and Goat Cheese,  Chinese Greens with Oyster Sauce, and Finally, Glazed Chicken with peppers and Cashew Nuts.  Instead of serving the Chicken dish with the usual white sticky rice, I used a specialty Asian pasta which I ordered from the Internet.

 
Here the Chinese Greens are prepared in a very simple way - stir fried and served with an oyster sauce.  I used about a pound of Bok Choy.
Step 1 Trim the Chinese Greens by removing any discolored leaves and damaged stems.  Chop these into manageable pieces.
Step 2  Heat a wok (or heavy cast iron skillet - my personal choice) until hot, add 2 tbsp of peanut oil and swirl it around.
Step 3  Add the Greens and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the greens have wilted a little.
Step 4  Add the Oyster Sauce and continue to stir-fry a few seconds more until the greens are cooked but still slightly crisp.
Serve immediately

To prepare the main course of Glazed Chicken with Cashew Nuts I used a Hoisin Sauce which lends a sweet yet slightly hot note to this chicken dish.  Both my husband and I love a bit of spice!  The Cashew nuts add a pleasing contrast of texture too.  LOVE this dish!

This serves 4

3/4 cups cashew nuts
1 red bell pepper and one yellow if desired like me for color
1 lb of skinless and boneless chicken breasts
3 tbsp of peanut oil
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or medium dry sherry
3 tbsp of hoisin sauce
2 tsp of sesame oil
5-6 scallions green parts only, cut into 1 inch lengths

Step 1  Heat a wok until hot, add the cashew nuts and stir-fry over low to medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove and set aside
Step 2 Halve the peppers and remove the seeds.  Slice the pepper and chicken into finger-length strips.
Step 3  Heath the wok again until hot, add the oil and swirl it around.  Add the garlic and let it sizzle in the oil for a few seconds.  Add the pepper and chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Step 4  Add the rice wine or sherry and hoisin sauce.  Continue to stir-fry until the chicken is tender and all the ingredients are evenly glazed.
Step 5  Stir in the sesame oil, toasted cashew nuts and scallion tips.  Serve immediately with rice or noodles.

So that was our Asian Experience for this time.....YUM!

I was fortunate to receive the cookbook as a gift titled:   A FLASH IN THE PAN by Shirley Gill and Liz Trigg.  In their book they have 100 fast and furious recipes for wok and stir-fry.  Every recipe has step by step instructions and not only that, a very helpful ingredient list at the beginning of the book.  I recommend taking your cookbook with you to a Asian market or coop to purchase all yourspices.  You'll be glad you did.......at least my husband is happy to have me cooking more Chinese since it's one of his favorites:-)  and becoming one of mine too!