Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Asian Fusion Invasion
I know I have been off the cooking grid for quite some time.
I have been back on the road for work and although I have been cooking on those
rare times that I have 24-36 hours at home I haven’t impressed myself a whole
lot. I have, however, made two Asian inspired dishes in the last few months
that are straight up blog worthy.
The first one, Sweet Potato and Shrimp Cakes with Nuoc Cham,
is a great appetizer or main dish. It has excellent flavor and a hint of spice.
This recipe almost reminded me of an Asian inspired potato latke with pizazz.
The second dish, Coconut Curry Chicken Soup, is probably my top 5 soup recipe
of all time. I love curry and I love coconut and this is just a flavor forward,
different and comforting soup recipe. Seriously a must try!
Let me start by telling you about the Coconut Curry Chicken
Soup. I had just come back from Costa Rica, where they truly embrace coconut
curry sauces and I had some incredible island inspired cuisine and I was
missing the tropical paradise as I came back to snowy and cold Michigan. Don’t
worry I am not complaining yet about my new home and winters as I know I do not
have enough seniority in the state, plus we have truly had a very mild winter.
Anyway I digress, I
fell in love with the coconut curry flavors as they are spicy, silky smooth and
exotic, so when I saw this recipe I knew it needed to be made in my kitchen. I
also embraced this recipe as it was from Cooking Light and after a week of
cocktails on vacation I needed anything “light.” It is also a very easy recipe
as you can use rotisserie chicken and so the cooking time is doable for my
short lived spans of kitchen/home time.
To begin with, blanch the spinach and peas in boiling water.
I loved that the recipe only called for 30 seconds of cooking time as it left
the peas with a bit of crunch, which always makes me happy. Drain the veggies
and add wide rick stick noodles to the water, cook 3 minutes and remove.
By the
way, I always love ethnic recipes with easy to find ingredients and this recipe
was one of those. I found the rice noodles, red curry paste, curry powder,
coconut milk and fish sauce without a problem at several commercial grocery
stores.
Next heat the oil and sautee the shallots, red curry paste,
curry powder, turmeric, coriander and garlic. This was probably my favorite
part of this recipe as the house smelled absolutely divine, like stepping into
a foreign land, or at least that is what I told myself as I wore a parka inside
the house (yes being a bit dramatic here). Cook these ingredients for 1 minute
and then add the chicken broth, bringing to a boil. Finally add the coconut
milk and simmer for 5 minutes. 
Add the chicken, green onions, sugar and fish sauce and cook
for 2 minutes. On a side note, I must mention that when I moved in with my
boyfriend his fridge was a jungle of science experiments reminiscent of a 5th
grade science project. I quickly cleaned out the fridge tossing out all
ingredients that had expired over 4 years (not joking) and I have continued to
maintain a veto on all expired ingredients. Therefore, I must admit I was
surprised to find non-expired fish sauce in his fridge especially considering that
he does not cook and by saying he does not cook that is an understatement, as
his idea of cooking is making toast. Not sure where the fish sauce came from,
but thank you to whomever or however it made it into my fridge. And if anyone
needs fish sauce we now have 2.
Pour the broth mixture over the noodles and veggies. Stir in
cilantro, chiles and serve with lime. This truly was sublime! And if you are
one of those people who do not love strong curry flavors I ensure you this is
subtle, but with enough flavor to make this soup enjoyable. And if you like a
bit more heat, like I do, siracha can always be added to anything, well at
least in my opinion it can.
Here is the recipe:
4 cups water
3 cups fresh spinach leaves
1/2 lb snow peas, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
1 (5 3/4 oz) package pad thai noodles (wide rice stick noodles)
1 T canola oil
1/4 cup thinly slices shallots
2 tsp red curry paste
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups chicken broth
1 (13.5oz) can light coconut milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 T sugar
2 T fish sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped
7 lime wedges
1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan; cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan, cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.
2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and the next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime.
The second recipe, Sweet Potato and Shrimp Cakes with Nuoc
Cham, are a cross between potato pancakes,
lettuce wraps and shrimp tempura. The
recipe is also from Cooking Light and it is a Vietnamese inspired recipe. The
sauce, Nuoc Cham, is actually just a generic name for several Vietnamese
dipping sauces which can be sweet, spicy, sour, salty or savory…doesn’t get
much more generic than that, does it? However, to be honest that is the perfect
description as it is all of those things. Sweet-sugar, sour-lime juice and rice
vinegar, spicy-chile, salty-fish sauce and savory, well just the entire
experience.
To begin with the recipe requires removing the water from
the sweet potatoes so that the potatoes hold together without getting mushy. To
accomplish this combine salt and the grated sweet potatoes and massage, yes I
said massage. The recipe says to rinse the mixture, but honestly in my opinion
Cooking Light recipes could always use more salt so I did not rice the
potatoes, I just patted them dry with paper towels.
Combine the potato mixture, shrimp and shallots in a bowl.
Add the flour and rice flour to the mix. By the way, rice flour is easier to
find than I expected as Red Mill makes once that can be found in most gluten
free grocery aisles. Next add in fish sauce, pepper and egg and shape the
mixture into pancakes or hamburger type patties. I made mine smaller as I
served them as appetizers, but if you are doing them as a main dish you can
make the patties bigger.
Heat oil in a pan. Cook the cakes 2 minutes on each side or
until golden brown. One of the things that surprised me the most about this recipe
was how quickly these cakes cooked. I was concerned that they would turn out
undercooked, nothing worse in a potato dish, or that gummy and starchy flavor
and texture. However, none of those concerns came to fruition as they were
crispy, cooked perfectly and they had great flavor.
The sauce consisted of combining sugar, water, lime juice,
rice vinegar and whisking until the sugar dissolves. Stir in fish sauce,
carrot, garlic and chile and let stand 15 minutes or up to 3 days.
The cakes are served with the sauce, lettuce leaves,
cilantro and mint. I also added siracha because as I mentioned above I put it
on everything.
Here is the actual recipe:
2 cups grated peeled white or orange sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2T finely chopped shallots
4oz medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and coarsely chopped
2T rice flour
2tsp all purpose flour
2 1/2tsp fish sauce, divided
1/8tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil, divided
2 1/2tsp sugar
2T lukewarm water
1 1/2T fresh lime juice
1/2tsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2T matchstick cut carrot
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 chile, thinly sliced
8 butter lettuce leave
8 cilantro sprigs
4 mint sprigs
1. Combine potatoes and salt in a bowl; gently massage with you hands until potatoe mixture is moist and limp. Rinse potato mixture; drain. Place potato mixture in paper towels; squeeze to remove excess liquid. Place potato mixture, shallots, and shrimp in a bowl, stirring to combine. Stir in flours, 1/2tsp fish sauce, pepper and egg. Divide and shape potato mixture into 8 (3") cakes.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Add 2T oil; swirl to coat. Add 4 cakes to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and crisp. Remove cakes from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining 4 cakes and remaining 2T oil. Keep warm.
3. Combine sugar, 2T water, juice, and vinegar in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until sugar dissolves. Stir in remaining 2tsp fish sauce, carrot, garlic and chile; let stand 15 minutes, or refrigerate up to 3 days.
4. Serve potato cakes with sauce, lettuce leave, cilantro and mint.
This dish just made me happy. It was light, tasty and had a
great sweet potato flavor. Loved it!
Hope you all enjoy exploring these recipes as much as I did! I will try to be less of a stranger which is becoming more and more of a realist as I get closer to getting off the road for work. 5 weeks and 2 days...but who is counting? Cheers!
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