Asian style pickled cucumbers

Asian style pickled cucumbers

Start with 2 quarts of skinned, seeded and sliced up (cubed) cucumbers, put them in a fairly large bowl and toss with 4-5 tblsp (yes that is tablespoons) of salt.  Then boil about 2.5 cups of water and add to the cukes to cover.  Let sit 30-40 min.

While they are soaking you can make the sauce.  Add together:

1 cup water
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp if you want them extra spicy)
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp grated ginger (best to grate ginger when frozen with small-holed grater)
5 tblsp sugar

Rinse the cukes in cold water.  Put into one large container or a few jars and cove with sauce )in theory this amt of sauce should cover them perfectly but I often find I come up a little short).  Store in fridge.  Best to eat next day.

Thai Style Ground Beef

Submitted by Becca Leeper, from the following.....http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/thai-style-ground-beef-10000001141966/

Ingredients

Cooking spray

1 cup thinly sliced leek

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1 pound lean ground sirloin $

1 teaspoon red curry paste (such as Thai Kitchen)

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup light coconut milk

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon grated lime rind

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

3 cups hot cooked short-grain rice

Iceberg lettuce wedges (optional) 

Chopped cilantro 

Chopped green onions (optional) 

Preparation

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add leek; sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add beef; cook 7 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in curry paste and tomato sauce; cook until half of liquid evaporates (about 2 minutes). Add milk and next 4 ingredients (through fish sauce); cook 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve with the rice and lettuce wedges, if desired. Garnish with cilantro and green onions, if desired.

Tofu/Vegis Teriyaki Kabobs

Submitted by Allie Jones

(NOTE: Either night before or morning of get things soaking in the terriyaki marinade for best results!)

about a dozen kabob skewers

1 rather large or 2 smaller containers tofu (maybe a pound total?)

1 red bell pepper

1 gr bell pepper

1 can pineapple (already chopped into cubes best)

one white onion

veg oil

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup mirin

2 cloves garlic 

ginger root (frozen), grated enough to make about 1 tsp, packed

Start with tofu - (don't need to press for this recipe) cut into about 1 inch cubes.  you need to firm it up to make sure it doesn't disintegrate from the skewers on the grill.  The best way to do this is to fry it.  Start tofu simmering in a generous splash of oil in a large skillet over med-high heat.  You might want to cover to keep oil from splattering, but not necessary.  Only need to fry two sides of cubes  (but try to make those sides be the ones with most surface area, if the cubes are not perfect cubes).  Flip when underside is a light golden brown (remove when both sides of all cubes are light golden brown).  

While tofu is cooking you can chop rest of veggies and prep the terriyaki sauce.  Chop all veggies into ~ 1 inch pieces so will fit on skewers The basic terriyaki recipe is 3 parts soy sauce to 2 parts white sugar to 1 part mirin.  For this recipe I would use a 1/4 cup for those parts (see exact measurements above).  Put these 3 ingredients in a sauce pan on low heat to melt sugar.  While that's happening finely mince the garlic and grate the frozen ginger and stir those in - as soon as sugar is melted its done.  Put in a glass jar and put in freezer for a bit, b/c you don't want to immediately add the boiling sauce to your veggies to marinade b/c it will start cooking them.

Put all veggies (but I would hold off on the pineapple for now) into one large ziploc, put all tofu cubes in another.  Add enough of the cooled T. sauce to each baggie so the veggies/tofu are more-or-less covered up with sauce (you will have extra T. sauce - which is good to have around - especially for marinating salmon for the grill - FYI).  I reckon you will use between 1/2 to 2/3 of all your sauce for this recipe between the two bags.  Place bags in fridge until time to assemble kabobs

When time to assemble kabobs, add pineapple to the marinating veggie bag and start soaking the skewers and give both things about 15-30 minutes.  Then pre-heat your grill to med heat.  If you forget to soak the skewers or only have a minute to soak them, its OK just line the top and bottom of the grill with aluminum foil to keep the very top and bottom (exposed, without veggies) parts of the skewer from burning.  Grill for about 6-8 minutes, flip over once to grill other side for same amt of time, and serve (for people who like extra sauce on their kabobs you can use the extra terriyaki sauce to drizzle on them, or even a sweet thai chili sauce for a nice compliment, but they shouldn't really need either)

Coconut Rice

Submitted by Kimberly Felix
via http://allrecipes.com/recipe/asian-coconut-rice/detail.aspx

Ingredients:
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups uncooked jasmine rice

Directions:

• In a saucepan, combine coconut milk, water, sugar, and salt.  
• Stir until sugar is dissolved.  
• Stir in rice.  
• Bring to a boil over medium heat.  
• Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 18-20 minutes, until rice is tender.

Teriyaki Salmon

Submitted by Allie Jones

Ingredients:

• 1 lb wild caught salmon (sockeye usually best) fillet (with skin on)
• Soy sauce
• Sugan
• Mirin
• Garlic &/or ginger
• Sesame Seeds (optional)

The basic teriyaki sauce is a 3 to 2 to 1 ratio (soy sauce to sugar to mirin).  If you use tablespoons, you will really only have enough for one night marinade, so I would double or triple if using tablespoons, or you can go big and use some sort of (1/3  or ½) measuring cups.  You need to stir up the liquid ingredients briefly in a warm saucepan to get the sugar to dissolve but try not to bring it to an actual boil.  The basic recipe also calls for a clove (or 2, if making extra) of finely minced garlic, and about a tsp or so of finely grated ginger (grate frozen with small grater for best results).  If you like sesame seeds in your teriyaki, you can add directly to the sauce, or just sprinkle on the fish after you grill it.

So – marinade the salmon the night before you plan to grill it and let it sit overnight and through the next day for best results.  Pre-heat grill on just above med heat (med-high heat OK if very thick slab of fish).  Start with salmon skin down first, for somewhere between 5 to 9 minutes based on how thick it is.  Then flip over to flesh side down for an additional 4-8 minutes (6-7 minutes per side seems to be about average in my experience).  I like adding extra teriyaki sauce when its done.  Can serve hot or cold.

Asian-Style Broccoli/Slaw Salad

Submitted by Allie Jones

Salad:

1 head cabbage

1 bunch broccoli about same size or a little bigger than your head of cabbage

½ cup dry roasted sunflower seeds

1 cup toasted slivered almonds

1 bunch green onions or scallions

2 pkg. Ramen noodles (raw and all broken up)

Dressing

Ramen noodle seasoning packets

~3/4 veg oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

½ cup sugar

Toss everything together with dressing (and whisk it well before you pour the dressing on) right before serving

Mooshoo Pork

Submitted by Allie Jones

~ ¾ lb to 1 lb pork (butt - I think, that’s what the guy at whole foods said to use), diced up very small

~ ½ - ¾  head of cabbage

2 large carrots or 3 medium ones

One bunch scallions

One small can water chestnuts, roughly chopped up

Flour tortillas (the Chinese use the delicate rice pancake things that I would bet you can find in asian food store but flour tortillas work fine)

Hoisen or plum sauce from asian section of store

(stir fry sauce)

6 tblsp soy sauce or tamari

4 tblsp mirin

2 tblsp sugar

Start on veggie stir fry first.  “julienne-cut” your carrots (very skinny little sticks or strips).  Start that frying in some oil in a large skillet, then shred/finely chop the cabbage and add to skillet and cover.  Make your stir-fry sauce and add about half to the veggie sauté and cover again.  Now get the pork cooking in a pan to brown it.  Once cooked, drain water off if there’s more than just a little in the pan, and add some of the stir-fry sauce (or all that’s left – use your judgement) and stir and put on low/warm heat.  Chop your scallions into about one inch long pieces and add to veggie sauté.  Next add water chestnuts and the pork to the veggie sauté and put down on warm/low heat.  Either steam or nuke tortillas in microwave to make them soft.  Spread about t tblsp of hoisen or plum sauce all over your tortilla, add a generous ladle of the moo-shoo, and roll like a burrito and serve.

(Egg strip option)  I like to put into my moo-shoo – especially since I actually do not eat pork – these Japanese style “egg strips.”  Simply beat up 2 or 3 eggs in a small dish, add a couple tsp of sugar, and pour in a small skillet and flip it like a flat omlette (sp?) and cut into strips.  Kids love these.

Fried Rice

Submitted by Kimberly Felix

Recipe by Our Best Bites, adapted from Disneyworld’s Ohana Restaurant

2 c. white rice + 4 c. water (OR 4 c. cold, leftover rice, which is actually better)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. minced red onion
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 c. chopped carrots
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
8 oz. (1/2 bag) of coleslaw mix
3-4 generous Tbsp. soy sauce

SEASONING:
1 Tbsp. dried onion
1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 ½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. celery salt
1 ½ tsp. sugar

Boil water and add rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. This step can be done even up to 2-3 days in advance (and for some reason, fried rice tastes better when the rice is cold). Heat butter over medium heat and saute onions, carrots, and cabbage until carrots are tender. Add cooked rice, soy sauce, and seasoning to taste (you won’t even come close to using all of it; save the rest for future fried rice or use as you would seasoning salt.)

OPTIONAL ADD-INS:

–Peas, snap peas, or pea pods
–Ham
–Shrimp