A tour of Far East Asia

I know it has been a while. It has been a very, very hectic few weeks. However, over these last few weeks Mel and I have gone on a culinary tour of East and South East Asia. We have been cooking dishes from Japan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, etc. Without further ado, here are some of the dishes we have made.

Korean Short Ribs w/ Korean Sesame Soy dipping sauce, and  Watercress Salad

One of the first dishes we made was a marinated and grilled Korean beef short rib. It was marinated in a sauce of soy, sesame oil, garlic, chili's , and a host of other good things, The sauce is soy, chili powder, sesame seeds and oil, green oil, and garlic. It all works together very nicely. I love the sesame notes in the sauce as well as a little bit of heat from the chili's. The beef is tender, and has a salty and savory flavor to it from the marinade. It's not overpowering, and the beef flavor really shines. To cut through the richness of the beef we paired it with a watercress salad from Cambodia. The dressing is made from lime juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and pepper. Green onion, onion sliced paper slim, and garlic are also present on the salad. The dressing actually starts to pickle the onion slightly if left to sit in it. It adds a nice bright, acidic flavor that helps to cut the richness of the meat and dipping sauce.

Wonton Soup with Spicy Pork Salad

Next we made a homemade wonton soup and spicy pork salad. The salad comes from Thailand. Traditionally it is made with ground/minced chicken, but we didn't have any, so ground pork stood in. And it was a great substitute. There were shallots, chili's, fish sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, Sriracha sauce, and garlic to dress the pork. It was all then set in a lettuce cup. It was sweet, salty, spicy, and sour. It was delicious. The wontons, from China, were filled with pork, with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, onion, and rice wine. We used store bought wonton wrappers. The broth was made from chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. The wontons were delicate, and had great flavors or sesame, ginger, and pork. The broth was salty and nicely balanced the slightly sweet filling.

Corn Fritters and Potstickers

From Indonesia came corn fritters. Corn, chili, ginger, ground coriander, flour, salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger were combined to form the fritters, which were then pan fried. The fritters were sweet from the sweet corn, with a nice heat from the chili. There was also a nice spice from the coriander. The dipping sauce was made from sweet soy sauce, Sriracha sauce, and rice vinegar. It added a nice acidic note that complimented the salty, sweet, spicy of the fritter. Coming from Japan was a pork potsticker. Pork and veggies, with more ingredients than I can list, were combined for the filling. It was stuffed into a wonton wrapper and all folded up. It was then fried in a pan to brown and crisp up the bottom followed by water added to the pan to finish steaming the potstickers. The sauce to go with it was a Tamari-sesame dipping sauce. The two played with each other very nicely. 

Lemongrass Beef and Chicken Satay

Finally, the latest made was Lemongrass Beef from Cambodia and Chicken Satay from Indonesia. The beef was marinated in lemongrass, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and chili paste. The beef was grilled and topped with cilantro, and put in a lettuce cup. The sauce had fish sauce, hot chili, garlic, sugar, lime juice, and rice vinegar.  The sauce was very spicy, and went well with the lemony flavor imparted in the beef. The chicken for the satay was marinated in coconut milk, madras curry powder, garlic, ginger, and cilantro. It was grilled and paired with peanut sauce, admittedly store bought but very good. I loved the curry flavor of the chicken and the sweetness of the coconut milk. Paired with the rich peanut sauce, it produced a sublime orchestra of flavor in my mouth. 

So there you go. Our journey through East Asian so far.