Asian, Indian, Thai, Japanese

By Deb Jenkins
Staff Writer

I wanted to find something that would be fun to make during Lent, that would be out of the normal box of tuna and egg salad. I have been looking at all the cookbooks I have and I noticed that I actually have a theme—Asian, Indian, Thai, and Japanese.

I also see that I have used less than maybe a fourth of these books. I thought I would challenge myself, and by sharing it with you I would have to follow through and make some things. What I would like to do is share four recipes with you. I am going to make all of them; I’ll let you know how they turned out. Also, how easy they were to make.

Maybe by the grace of curiosity, someone in HPR reader land will make them too and write in to tell me how it went. So I am going to go through a book I purchased a long time ago, Hsiung, Fernandez and Wheeler, “Fire & Spice,” 2003.

Sweet Cucumber Cooler (A jad)

Sweet dipping sauces such as this bring instant relief from the hot chilli flavours of Thai foods
5 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
¼ small cucumber, quartered and thinly sliced
2 shallots, or 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Measure the water, sugar, salt and vinegar into a stainless steel or enamel saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved, for less that 1 minute.

Allow to cool. Add the cucumber and shallots or onion and serve at room temperature. Makes 4 fl oz / ½ cup

Miso Breakfast Soup (Miso-shiru)

Miso is a fermented bean paste that adds richness and flavour to many of Japan’s favorite soups. This soup provides a nourishing start to the day. Miso paste is widely available in local Asian stores in the FM area.

3 shiitake mushrooms, fresh or dried
2 pints /4 cups Dashi or light veggie stock
4 tbsp miso
4 oz bean curd (tofu), cut into large dice sections
1 spring onion (scallion), green part only, sliced

Slice the mushrooms thinly. If they are dried, soak them first in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Set aside. Bring the Dashi or light veggie stock to a boil. Stir in the Miso, add the mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle the broth into soup bowls and place the bean curd (tofu) in each. Add the spring onion (scallion) and serve. Makes 2 pints/4 cups.

Coconut Rice with Lemon Grass

Serve this dish with Sizzling Steak or other meat dishes

14 oz long grain rice
½ tsp salt
1 piece lemon grass (2 in long)
1 oz creamed coconut
1 14 pints/ 3 cups boiling water

Wash and drain the rice several times in cold water until the water is no longer starchy. Put the rice, salt, lemon grass and coconut in a heavy saucepan, cover with the measured amount of boiling water. Stir once to prevent the grains from sticking to the pan, and simmer uncovered for 10- 12 minutes.

Remove from the heat, cover and allow to steam on its own heat for a further 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork or chopsticks before serving. Serves 4-6.

Braised Chinese Vegetables (Lo Han Zhai)

The original recipe calls for no less than 18 different ingredients to represent the 18 Buddhas (Lo Han). Later this was reduced to eight, but nowadays anything between four and six items is regarded as quite sufficient.

¼ oz dried black fungus (wood ears)
3 oz straw mushrooms, drained
3 oz sliced bamboo shoots, drained
2 oz mange-tout (snow peas)
1 cake bean curd (tofu)
6 oz Chinese leaves
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
½ tsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Few drops sesame oil (optional)

Soak the black fungus in cold water for 20 -25 minutes, then rinse and discard the hard stalks.

Cut the straw mushrooms in half lengthwise, if large; if small, keep whole. Rinse and drain the bamboo shoot slices. Cut the tofu into 12 small pieces. Cut the Chinese leaves into small pieces.

Harden the bean curd by placing it in a pan of boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove and drain. Heat the oil in a flameproff pan or wok and lightly brown the bean curd on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Stir-fry all the vegetables in the wok or pan for about 1 ½ minutes, then add the bean curd, salt, sugar and soy sauce. Continue stirring for another minute, then cover and braise for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle sesame oil (if using) and serve.

So let me know if you tried to make any of these. Don’t be shy, now. Until next week eat well and stay safe.

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