Thai Chicken and Cashew Nuts

This is one of my ultimate favourite Thai dishes. The chicken recipe is adapted from Six Sister's Stuff. The chicken is cooked in a slow cooker but you could very easily adapt the recipe to be straight stir-fry. You can also omit the chicken to make a delicious Thai vegan stir fry.

Serves 2-4

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce or Bragg's Aminos
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato paste or ketchup
1 tablespoon sucanat
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or Thai chili paste
1/2 cup water
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup whole cashews
2 green onions, chopped
handful of cilantro, rough chopped

1. Trim fat off chicken and place in slow cooker.

2. In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, vinegar, tomato paste, sucanat, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes and water. Pour sauce over chicken.

3. Cook on low for 3 hours for breasts and 3 1/2 to 4 hours for thighs.

4. Once chicken is cooked, remove from slow cooker and set on a plate to cool slightly. Once cooled, roughly chop chicken into cubes. Reserve sauce.

5. In a walk over medium heart, stir-fry onions and peppers for 2-3 minutes. Pour in sauce from the slow cooker and bring to a boil to reduce slightly. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.

6. Add chicken and cashews to wok and mix together. Remove from heat and mix in green onion and cilantro. Serve immediately with rice or quinoa. If you aren't serving immediately, do not add the cilantro until just before serving.

If you plan to modify the recipe so it is not a slow cooker recipe, I would cut the chicken into small pieces and stir fry it in a small amount of sesame oil. Once chicken is browned, remove from wok and set aside, then begin with step five.

To make this recipe vegan, omit the chicken and use extra veggies or tofu in the stir fry (step five).

Chicken Hekka

Another tropical recipe from Sam Choy. Mr. Choy says while growing up, his family always made Chicken Hekka for mainland guests. He describes this dish as being "comfort food" and a "cornerstone recipe" in his cookbook.

But what the heck is Chicken Hekka? There isn't much about it online. Hekka is apparently a Hawaiian word but when I played around with Hawaiian/English translators, I found no entries. Other blogs claim Hekka is based on Japanese cooking and is pretty much the same as Japanese sukiyaki - a one pot meal made with thin sliced vegetables and meat.

Regardless of what it is, Chicken Hekka is easy to make and it's pretty good.

Marinade:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into cubes
1/4 cup soy sauce*
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp sucanat

1. Combine marinade ingredients in a shallow dish. Add chicken and toss well to coat. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Sake Sauce:
2 tbsp agave syrup
1/2 cup soy sauce*
1/4 cup chicken broth*
1/4 cup sake or Chinese cooking wine

1. Mix everything together in a small bowl and set aside.

Hawaiian cooking does not involve spice. You may wish to add a dash or two or Sriracha to spice things up, or leave as is for a mild flavour.

Stir Fry:
marinated chicken (as above)
1 tbsp sesame or peanut oil
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
1 can sliced bamboo shoots
1 carrot, julienned
1 stalk celery, julienned
3 stalks green onion, cut in 1 inch lengths
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 cups watercress leaves
1 bundle (2 oz) thin rice noodles, cooked, drained and cut into 1 inch lengths
prepared Sake Sauce (as above)
1/2 block firm tofu, drained and cut into 1" cubes (optional)

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add ginger and chicken. Brown chicken.

2. Add bamboo shoots, carrot and celery. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Add onion and green onion and stir fry for another minute or two.



3. Add 1/2 cup Sake Sauce and rice noodles. Let simmer for 5-8 minutes. Sauce will absorb into noodles.

4. Gently stir in tofu and watercress. Mix everything together well. Remove from heat. Serve with rice, more rice noodles or as is.



*Use Gluten Free, if needed.

Ahi Tuna Asian Salad

It's left overs for lunch.

Top a big plate of lettuce and veggies with left over Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna pieces. Drizzle generously with the Sweet Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce (from the Ahi recipe). Sprinkle with crispy wonton pieces and mandarin orange segments. Add a dollop of Wasabi Mayo to the centre (to dip your Tuna into) and voila. Left over lunch perfection!

Yum yum!

My Sister's Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna

My sister made this dish for my Dad's 60th Birthday Cocktail Party. I absolutely loved these delicious little tuna bites with two dipping sauces and I have been craving more ever since. On the way home from work tonight I stopped by the store, picked up a small piece of fresh Ahi and made my own version.

My two Ahi tuna pieces equaled just over 330 grams (approx 12 ounces). Very small indeed, but plenty to serve two for dinner. The recipe is based on the amount of fish I had. Adjust measurements up or down based on the size of your fish.

Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna:

2 small pieces fresh sushi grade Ahi tuna
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1/4 tsp Fleur de Sel with Wasabi (I used one made by The Cape Herb & Spice Company. It's available at IGA. My sister got her blend from Choices Market. If you can't find Fleur de Sel with Wasabi, try using a 1/2 tsp course sea salt with a small pinch of wasabi powder.)

1. Place sesame seeds and salt in a shallow bowl. Wet tuna lightly with water. Press both sides of tuna into the mixture to coat.

2a. Heat grill to high. Spray lightly with oil. Place coated Ahi pieces on hot grill and grill for 2 minutes per side.

or

2b. Heat small amount of oil in a pan over high heat. Place coated Ahi pieces in hot pan and sear for 2 minutes per side.

3. Place Ahi on a cutting board and let cool slightly. Using a very sharp knife, slice Ahi into thin slices, going with the grain. If serving as a main dish, you could cut the pieces larger.

4. Serve with Wasabi Mayo and Sweet Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce. Can be served warm or cold.



Wasabi Mayo:

2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp wasabi paste
or
1/2 tsp wasabi powder

1. Mix together in a small bowl. Add more wasabi to taste.

My sister adds a dash each of green and yellow food colouring to get a nice "wasabi green" colour. I opted not to take this added step. Wasabi Mayo would taste great with an Ahi Tuna burger too!

Sweet Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce:

1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp finely chopped cilantro (optional)

1. Add everything to a container with a tight fitting lid. Shake well until blended.

This would also make a good marinade or salad dressing!


This recipe was featured on the front page of Tasty Kitchen on July 15, 2010!

Curried Lemongrass Chicken

The chicken marinade comes from Food & Wine Magazine. Their recipe calls for stir frying the chicken with a calorie rich caramel sauce. I can do without the excess sugar so I just went with the marinade portion of the recipe then stir fried the chicken with aromatics and vegetables. I served it over plain vermicelli noodles and topped it with left over Spicy Almond Dressing. The finished dish was very spicy. If you aren't into spice, omit the chili peppers where you see fit.

Marinade:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small cubes
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Thai chili pepper, cut in half & seeded
1 stalk of fresh or jarred lemongrass, cut in half and smashed (If using fresh, see here on how to prepare it. Follow directions on preparing for soup.)
1 tbsp mild curry powder
2 tbsp sucanat
1 tsp salt

1. Add everything, except chicken, to a shallow bowl and mix together well. Add chicken and toss to coat.

2. Marinate in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours.

Stir Fry:

splash of cooking oil
1 piece lemongrass, minced
1 green onion, sliced thin
1 Thai chili, seeded and sliced thin
1/2 red onion, minced
marinated chicken, marinade discarded
1/2 medium zucchini, sliced thin then cut into quarters
1/2 large red pepper, diced



1. Add oil to a wok and heat over medium-high heat.

2. Add lemongrass, green onion, chili and onion and stir fry for a couple minutes.



3. Add chicken and stir fry until all sides of chicken are no longer pink. Place lid over wok and let chicken cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Add zucchini and red peppers. Stir everything together. Place lid back on the wok and cook for another 5-8 minutes until chicken is cooked through. (Internal temperature should be at least 165 degrees.)



5. Pour contents of wok over cooked rice or noodles. Top with fresh cilantro.







This recipe was featured on the front page of Tasty Kitchen on July 16, 2010!

Poached Chicken Salad with Spicy Almond Dressing

I'm back from Vacation and in need of a diet detox. Twelve days of pure indulgence: brisket, baked beans, crab, steak, bacon & eggs, pancakes, butter, chips, candy, pop, alcohol, FRIED PICKLES! It was heaven. Unfortunately, a week and a half of heaven is reflected on my scale this morning. No fear! A few weeks of clean, healthy cooking and I should be back on track. Fingers crossed. :)

This recipe is adapted from "The Eat Clean Diet - Recharged". It's Fresh, wholesome, filling and tasty.

Serves 2 lunch sized salads. For entree size, use one whole chicken breast per person.

Chicken:
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 Thai chili pepper, cut in half and seeded
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1. Add stock, ginger and chili to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add chicken and let cook for about 10 minutes until inside is no longer pink.

2. Remove chicken from stock. Place on cutting board and shred chicken using two forks or cut into thin slices. Set aside.

Dressing:
2 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp honey
1 Thai chili pepper, seeded and sliced
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
1/4 cup stock used to cook chicken

1. Add all ingredients to a blender. Pulse until well combined.

Salad:
Chicken
Dressing
1 x 3" section English cucumber, seeded and cut into matchsticks
1/2 medium carrot cut into matchsticks
2 green onion, sliced into 1" thick pieces
4 handfuls romaine lettuce, chopped
handful fresh cilantro
crushed peanuts or sliced almonds (optional)

1. Split romaine lettuce between two plates. Top each with half the cucumber, carrots and green onion.

2. Top each plate with half the shredded chicken. Drizzle with as much dressing as desired and sprinkle fresh cilantro and nuts over top of everything.



Cook extra chicken for left overs and use the left over chicken stock to make soup! Use the left over dressing over soba or vermicelli noodles, topped with veggies.

Spicy Mongolian Beef (Sweet & Spicy Beef)

Mongolian Beef. A delicious dish of succulent beef, bathed in a sweet, spicy and savoury sauce. A delicious dish that has nothing to do with Mongolia. Odd, eh? This dish is actually an Americanized "Chinese" dish. Mongolian Beef uses Asian inspired ingredients, but you won't find this in China and you definitely won't find it in Mongolia. I vote we change the name to Sweet & Spicy Beef. But that's just me.

P.S. I LOVED this dish.

Marinade:

1 lb flank steak, cut into very thin slices against the grain
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (rice wine)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sucanat (or dark brown sugar)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp garlic chili sauce
2 green onion, cut into 1 inch lengths

1. Place steak into a shallow dish.

2. Mix all ingredients together and pour over steak. Toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. The longer you marinate the better. Drain remaining marinade before using beef in the stir fry.

Sauce:

1/3 cup orange juice
zest of half 1 large orange
1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine (rice wine)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp garlic chili sauce
1 tbsp corn starch mixed with a splash of warm water

1. Mix everything together in a bowl and set aside.


Stir Fry:

Marinated beef
Prepared sauce
4 green onions, cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 Thai chili peppers, seeded and sliced thin
2 tbsp peanut oil

1. Heat a wok over high heat. Add 1 tbsp peanut oil and roll wok to coat. Add beef pieces. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes until beef is mostly browned. A little pink here and there is okay. Remove beef from the wok and set aside.

2. Add another tbsp of peanut oil to the wok. Add onion, green onions and chili peppers and stir gently for a minute.

3. Pour the sauce into the wok. Stir for a couple minutes until sauce starts to thicken. Add beef back to wok. Toss together so beef is well coated in sauce.

4. Remove beef from wok immediately. Serve with rice or rice stick noodles. Sprinkle sliced green onion and grated orange zest on top to finish.

Wonton Soup with Baby Bok Choy & Shirataki Noodles

Now that you've made wontons, it's time to make wonton soup. My version of wonton soup is very easy because I use a powdered wonton soup mix (Lee Kum Kee brand). It's probably not good for me (MSG! ACK!) but it's quicker and easier than boiling chicken and fish bones for a few hours to get the perfect homemade wonton soup broth. To make the broth more "interesting", I add in a few aromatics to spice it up a bit. The results are quite tasty.

I also add Shirataki Noodles to my soup, which are gluten free and made from yam starch. They can be found in the cooler section of your local Asian market or specialty grocery store. My package looked like the one on the bottom in this picture:

But I've also seen these ones at IGA in the Asian foods aisle (not refrigerated).

Read a review of the noodles here and here.

Wonton Soup with Baby Bok Choy & Shirataki Noodles:

Serves 2 (entree) or 4 (appetizer)

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups water
3 1/2 tbsp wonton soup mix (my mix called for 2 tsp per 1 cup water)
2 cloves garlic, cut in half
1 inch piece ginger, cut in half
2 Thai chilies, left whole
8 pieces of baby bok choy
1 pkg Shirataki Noodles
12 fresh or frozen wontons
1 green onion or chives, sliced thin, for garnish

Directions:

1. Fill stockpot with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add wonton soup mix and stir well to dissolve. Add garlic, ginger and chilies. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Drain and rinse shirataki noodles under cold water. Add to the soup along with wontons and simmer for another 5 minutes.

3. Add baby bok choy. Place lid on pot and leave to simmer for 5 more minutes.

4. Remove chilies, garlic and ginger. Spoon soup into bowls. Garnish with sliced green onions or chives, if you wish!

Miso Glazed Salmon with Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy & Veggies

This dinner takes 20 minutes or less to prepare - prep & cook time, start to finish. Quick, super tasty and healthy. If you'd like, add a side of seamed brown or wild rice.

Note about the tags: The stir fried veggies are a vegan side dish.

Serves 2

Miso Glazed Salmon:

2 small wild salmon fillets
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp light miso paste
2 tbsp honey
splash Sriracha or other chili sauce (optional)

1. Set oven broiler high and ensure rack is in the centre of the oven.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, miso paste, honey and Sriracha. Taste and adjust ingredients to suit your tastes. I added a tad more honey. You might prefer to add a tad more chili sauce.

3. Spray a baking sheet with oil and place salmon fillets on the baking sheet, skin side down. Lightly baste the salmon fillets with the miso mixture.

4. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Baste again 5 minutes through cooking and again when done.

5. Remove from oven and plate.

*Don't overcook like I did! Although, the crunchy bits were kind of tasty!*

While the salmon is in the oven...

Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy & Veggies:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thin on a bias
1 stalk celery, sliced thin on a bias
1 cup green beans, trimmed
8 pcs baby boy choy
1 inch piece ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tbsp soy sauce

1. Heat wok over medium-high heat and add olive oil.

2. Toss in carrots, celery and green beans. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add green beans, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir fry for another couple minutes.

3. Toss in baby bok choy and stir around or try the Jamie Oliver wok flip as seen from 4:32 onward in the attached video. It's fun!

4. Pour in soy sauce. Toss well. Lower heat and leave veggies to simmer for a couple minutes.

5. When salmon is done and plated, remove veggies from heat and plate beside the salmon.

If you time it right, your salmon and veggies will be done at the same time. :-)

Sushi Fail

One of my recent experiments into Japanese cuisine was Sushi making. I made maki (rolls) and cones (hand rolls). I tried to be healthy and fancy and used wild rice instead of sushi rice. Big mistake. Wild rice, even when mixed with rice vinegar, does not stay sticky, especially once it cools. As well, rolling sushi is not as easy as it looks. My rolls were very loose and ended up coming apart as we ate them. I couldn't figure out how to roll the cones properly so they ended up being weird cylinder shapes. The plus side is that the "sushi", and I use that term loosely, was pretty good.

I'm not going to give instructions on how to make what I made, because I am certainly no expert. You can probably find hundreds of sushi tutorials on the net that can help you just fine. I will tell you what I put into my rolls.



Crab and Veggie Rolls

I had "California Rolls" in the back of my mind when putting these together, but I didn't want the heavy mayonnaise/crab mix. Instead I used fresh Alaskan King Crab meat and omitted the Japanese mayo entirely. The results were surprisingly good - light and fresh.

- Alaskan King Crab meat (bought bulk at the local seafood shop)
- yellow mango, sliced into matchsticks
- English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
- avocado, sliced
- carrot, sliced into matchsticks
- brown & wild rice blend
- nori seaweed wrap
- wasabi



Shrimp & Veggie Hand Rolls (Cones)

- Baby shrimp
- English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
- yellow mango, sliced into matchsticks
- avocado, sliced
- carrot, sliced into matchsticks
- brown & wild rice blend
- nori seaweed wrap

If I had any leaf lettuce or pea shoots I would have used those too... and I also considered baking a yam and adding that (I love yam rolls!) but I wasn't quite that prepared. Sushi making isn't my forte that's for sure, but it was a fun experiment!

Sunomono Salad

Japanese Sunomono Salad is a cold dish of rice noodles, thinly sliced raw vegetables and seafood marinated in a vinegar based dressing. ("Su" means vinegar in Japanese.) The result is a light, refreshing dish, most often served as an appetizer. Sunomono is easy to prepare as it requires no cooking.

Serves 2

1 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp sake or mirin
dash soy sauce
dash sesame oil
1 tbsp agave syrup
1/2 cup warm water (use more water if you'd like to dilute the vinegar taste a bit more)

1/2 carrot, sliced very thin
1/2 cucumber, sliced very thin
2 thin slices of lemon, cut in half
handful of cooked baby shrimp (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup per person)
1 cup softened rice vermicelli noodles (prepared according to package directions)

1. In a small bowl whisk together marinade ingredients and let stand while you slice the vegetables.

2. Place carrot and cucumber slices in the marinade and leave for 5-10 minutes then remove the veggies and set aside, reserving the marinade.

3. Use small soup bowls to assemble the Sunomono. Place 1/2 cup softened rice noodles in the bottom of each bowl. Pour some marinade in until it just reaches the top (approx 1/2 cup).

4. Arrange carrots, cucumber and shrimp on top of the noodle/vinegar. Garnish with lemon slices. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve (no more than a couple hours).

Miso Soup

This is another recipe inspired by the 5 Factor World Diet cookbook. Apparently miso soup is a common breakfast dish in Japan. I can't get it in my mind to have soup for breakfast so I've been making a pot for work lunches. This is the quickest and easiest recipe yet.

Serves 2

Slightly modified from the original recipe.

1 can vegetable broth (or 1 cup homemade chicken broth)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp light miso paste
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 button mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 cup frozen peas
3/4 cup firm tofu, sliced into small cubes
1 green onion, sliced thinly

1. Pour broth, water and rice vinegar to a small sauce pan and warm over medium heat.

2. Stir in the miso paste and continue stirring until dissolved and well combined. Simmer 3 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add mushrooms and peas and simmer for another 5 minutes.

4. Remove the pot from heat and add the tofu. Let sit for 2-3 minutes.

5. Ladle into two bowls and garnish with green onion.

5 Factor Chicken Yakatori

This recipe is from the 5 Factor Wold Diet cookbook. The book is actually quite interesting. Trainer to the stars, Harley Pasternak analyzes the traditional lifestyles, culinary habits and diets of ten of the healthiest countries in the world (based on life expectancy and obesity rates), then bases his recipes and meal plans around them. It should be no surprise that four of the top 10 countries are in Asian and five are around the Mediterranean (the tenth is Sweden, praised for it's "rustic and practical" diet, which includes a great deal of fish). The 5 Factor Diet itself isn't much of a diet at all. The principles making up the "5 Factors" are kind of "no-brainers" to healthy living;

1. Eat 5 small meals a day.
2. Follow 5 specific nutritional criteria for each meal (protein, complex carbs, fiber, healthy fat & a non-caloric beverage).
3. Each meal should contain no more than 5 core ingredients and take only 5 minutes to prepare (this isn't so much for health as it is for convenience).
4. Work out for a minimum of 25 minutes, 5 days a week.
5. Enjoy one "free" day a week.

I bought the book mainly for its recipes for healthy, quick and easy Asian dishes. So far I am quite pleased.

Chicken Yakatori

Serves 2

Slightly modified from the original recipe.

1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut vertically into 1 inch strips
8 wooden skewers, soaked in water at least 20 minutes

1. Whisk together mirin, soy sauce, agave, rice vinegar and ginger in a deep glass bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of marinade for basting. Add the cut chicken pieces to the marinade and toss well to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to a couple hours. Once marinated, thread chicken pieces onto skewers.

2. Pre-heat grill or non-stick grill pan over high heat. Place the skewers on the grill and cook for 3-5 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through. Brush chicken pieces with reserved marinade.

3. Serve over warm brown rice with a side of marinated cucumber salad or serve as an appetizer.

Marinated Cucumber Salad:

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp agave syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 English cucumber, sliced very thin
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
1/4 Thai red chili pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp black sesame seeds

1. Combine vinegar, water, salt and agave syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat.

2. Cook until boiling then set aside to cool.

3. Place sliced cucumber, onion and chili pepper in a bowl. Pour vinegar over top of vegetables.

4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

5. Using a slotted spoon, scoop vegetables onto plate. Top with course fresh ground pepper and black sesame seeds.

Faux-Fried Wontons

Please excuse the repeat photo. I cheated. :)

Yesterday I taught you how to make wontons and today I'm going to give you an idea of what to do once you've made them.

If you recall, I once had a soft spot for deep fried wontons. These days I'm trying to avoid deep fried products so I tried baking my wontons to see what would happen. The little bundles of goodness turned out surprisingly well. The skins bake to a crunchy texture and the insides stay moist and tender.

You'll need as many Pork and Shrimp Wontons as you'd like to consume (or serve to guests, if you must).

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

3. Arrange wontons in a single layer, spaced evenly apart, on the parchment.

4. Lightly spray with cooking spray.

5. Bake in the hot oven for 10-12 minutes or until the skins start to turn golden brown.

6. Serve with sweet chili sauce, sweet and sour sauce or plum sauce for dipping!

How To Make Wontons

I grew up eating Chinese food once or twice a week because my dad, who is an excellent cook, took Chinese cooking classes. Stir fries and sates were his specialty. Wontons have always been my favourite Chinese staple, especially deep fried. I remember as a teenager, sitting at the kitchen table for hours, folding wontons so my dad could make soup. He would always make a small batch of deep fried ones just for me. Drizzled in sweet and sour sauce, deep fried wontons, at one time, were my ultimate guilty pleasure. Nowadays I like to fit in my pants so I don't indulge in wontons quite as often as before. When I do find the desire and time to make a batch, I often make extra to freeze. Straight from the freezer, wontons can be dropped into boiling broth for a quick and delicious lunch of wonton soup.

Makes about 5 dozen

Ingredients:

1lb ground pork
1/2lb (225 grams) baby shrimp, chopped into smaller pieces
2 green onions, sliced thin
1 inch piece of ginger root, chopped fine
1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped
2 tsp sucanat
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 pkg wonton wrappers
small dish of water

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients, except wonton wrappers, to a large bowl. Using your hands, mix together well so everything is incorporated.



2. Using your finger, lightly wet the top and bottom edges of a wonton wrapper.



3. Scoop a small amount of meat mixture onto the middle of the wonton wrapper. The scoop should be just under one teaspoon full. Anymore and the wonton won't seal properly.



4. Fold the wrapper in half, on a diagonal, to form a triangle. Press down the edges to form a tight seal.



5. Dab a bit of water in the bottom centre of the triangle. Gently pull the right point of the triangle over to the centre and press to seal it to the centre.



6. Do the same with the left point.



7. Arrange completed wontons on a parchment lined baking sheet until ready to use.



Coming soon... Faux-Fried Pork & Shrimp Wontons and Wonton Soup!

Soba Noodle Salad

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living.

The cast of characters:



Dressing:

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp garlic chili sauce
1 tsp sucanat
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp grape seed oil

1. In a container with a tight fitting lid, add all ingredients and shake well to combine.

Salad:

12 oz soba noodles, cooked per package directions and cooled
1 mango, peeled and julienned
1 small red pepper, julienned
1/2 cup snap peas, sliced vertically
2 carrots, sliced then julienned
3 green peppers, sliced thin on a bias
1/4 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
prepared dressing (may not need all of it)

1. Place chilled soba noodles in a large serving bowl.

2. Add vegetables and herbs. Toss to combine.

3. Shake dressing again and drizzle 1/2 over top of salad and toss well. Add more dressing to suit your tastes.

Variations:

- Add some cooked, diced chicken or shrimp. Use this sauce to marinade the chicken or try the marinade from my Vietnamese Salad recipe.
- Add fresh, chopped cilantro.
- Kick it up a notch by adding finely sliced fresh Thai chilies.
- Serve the noodles warm and lightly stir fry the vegetables (peppers, carrots & peas) then toss.
- Use rice vermicelli noodles instead of Soba noodles.

Chinese Chicken and Snow Peas over Ginger Rice

This is another recipe inspired by my dad. He will often make this using shrimp instead of chicken or with bell peppers instead of snow peas. I can't eat bell peppers and I don't have shrimp so this will have to do!

Serves 3-4

Chinese Chicken and Snow Peas

Chicken Prep:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp baking soda

Sauce:
2 tbsp gluten free oyster sauce
2 tsp gluten free soy sauce
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/3 cup fresh chicken broth
1 tsp sucanat
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch

Stir Fry:
1/4 cup cashews
1 1/2 cup snow peas, washed and trimmed
1/2 small onion, diced medium
1/2 can sliced water chestnuts

1. Place chicken in a shallow bowl and coat well with baking soda. Let rest for 15 minutes.

2. While chicken is resting, combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.

3. Rinse chicken well and pat dry. Cut into small cubes. Place chicken in a bowl and coat with 1/4 of the sauce mixture. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

4. While chicken is marinating, blanch snow peas. Heat 1-2 cups water in wok over medium high heat. Fill a bowl with water and ice and set aside. When wok water is boiling, toss snow peas in and leave for 30-60 seconds. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Remove from ice bath and set snow peas aside until ready to use.

5. After 30 minutes of marinating the chicken, heat a small amount of peanut or sesame oil in a wok over medium high heat.

6. Add marinated chicken and stir fry until meat is nearly cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.

7. Add onion to wok and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until onions are slightly translucent. Reduce heat to medium.

8. Add chicken back to the wok along with the snow peas, cashews and water chestnuts. Stir together.

9. Pour remainder of sauce over stir fry and mix well to coat. Stir and simmer until sauce is thickened, chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender crisp.

10. Serve over Ginger Rice.

If you are in a time crunch, skip the baking soda step. The baking soda helps make the chicken tender by breaking down the tissues, sort of like brining. It isn't absolutely necessary though.

Ginger Rice

A very tasty side dish to serve with Asian stir fry or even curry. Way better than plain old rice!

2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp dehydrated onion
1 green onion, sliced and reserved

1. Combine first five ingredients in a saucepan.

2. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium low and cover.

3. Simmer for 12-15 minutes until water is absorbed and rice is cooked.

4. Fluff with a fork and fold in sliced green onion.

OR... even easier, use a rice cooker!

Serve with Chicken & Snow Peas, Two Potato Curry, Green Thai Chicken Curry or Five Spice Beef & Broccoli.

Thai Chicken Meatballs

I had some extra meat mixture from my Thai Chicken Burgers, so I figured I would put it to use a re-invent one of my sister's signature appetizer recipes. She makes Thai Turkey Meatballs in Peanut Sauce. I love her dish but it has much more mild flavours and was never spicy enough for my tastes. My chicken burger mixture is just the right amount of spice and doubles perfectly as a meatball recipe. Just shape into small balls and cook in a fry pan. Pour some peanut sauce on a platter and place meatballs on top for a quick and easy appetizer. Or serve over noodles and top with peanut sauce for a Thai inspired pasta dish. You can even pop them in your mouth for a quick and delicious snack like I did today!

Thai Chicken Burgers with Marinated Cucumber Salad

Another of my absolute faves. Every once in a while I will make a big batch of these burgers, wrap them individually and freeze them for "quick meals". The burgers are also good broken up and spread over top of salad then topped with peanut sauce.

Thai Chicken Burgers:

1 1/2 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 large shallot (or 2 small), minced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 Thai chili, diced or 1 tsp hot chili sauce (or more to suit your spice tastes)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sucanat
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (optional)
Enough Whole Wheat buns to serve your group
Bunch fresh cilantro leaves
sliced red cabbage or pre-packaged coleslaw mix
peanut sauce

1. Mix all patty ingredients (chicken through to bread crumbs) together in a bowl. Use hands to mix well so all seasonings are spread throughout.

2. Form mixture into burger size patties. Mixture will make 6-10 patties, depending on size.

3. Grill burgers over medium-high heat for approximately 5 minutes per side or until cooked through. According to 10 cent's Internal Temperature Chart, the internal temperature of your ground chicken patties should read 160-165 degrees when ready.

4. To assemble, place a patty on each bun. Spread peanut sauce over patty. Top with cabbage (or coleslaw) and fresh cilantro leaves.

Marinated Cucumber Salad:

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp agave syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 English cucumber, sliced very thin
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
1/4 Thai red chili pepper (optional)

1. Combine vinegar, water, salt and agave syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat.

2. Cook until boiling then set aside to cool.

3. Place sliced cucumber, onion and chili pepper in a bowl. Pour vinegar over top of vegetables.

4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

5. Using a slotted spoon, scoop vegetables onto plate. Top with course fresh ground pepper.

Note: Also pictured is a little dish of Thai Peanuty Coleslaw. No recipe here. I had some pre-packaged broccoli slaw on hand and mixed it together with some peanut sauce, chopped peanuts and diced Thai chilies. Very easy. very delicious.

Variation: Skip the burger and make Thai Chicken Meatballs instead!