Oriental Recipes

China

Chinese Egg Rolls

Yield: 18 egg rolls

1/2 c Carrots, chopped
10 Napa cabbage leaves, chopped -and ends removed
2 Stalks bok choi, chopped
4 c Fresh bean sprouts
1/2 md Onion, chopped
4 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c Bamboo shoots, chopped
1 c Water chestnuts, chopped
1 lb Ground pork, cooked
1 lb Small shrimp, cooked
1/2 lb Ground beef, cooked
1/4 c water
1/4 c Soy sauce
3 tb Sesame oil
1 pk Egg roll skins or wrappers
Oil for frying

1 Egg, beaten

Mix filling ingredients together. Put mixture in the freezer awhile to cool. Warm meat tends to soften the wrappers and make things messy.
Heat vegetable oil in fryer to 325 degrees.

To roll, place about 3 tb filling mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold 1 corner over mixture and fold in ends. Continue rolling. Brush egg mixture on exposed corner of wrapper to help seal egg roll.

Put egg rolls in hot oil, a few at a time, and fry a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove to drain on paper towels. Serve warm with soy sauce, hot mustard, or sauce of your choice. Makes 18 egg rolls.

Japan

Seaweed and Cucumber Salad

Serving Size : 4

1/2 Cucumber
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 cup bean sprouts
3/4 cup fresh wakame seaweed

-- for Dressing:

4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Japanese chili pepper powder
1/2 clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ginger root -- peeled and chopped

Wash cucumber and slice thinly. Saute in sesame oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Boil bean sprouts until crisp and tender, about 1 minute. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Wash salt off fresh wakame seaweed and soak for about 5 minutes. Chop into 1-inch pieces. If you use dried seaweed, soak it in water for about 20 minutes, remove the hard parts, and chop into 1-inch pieces.

Arrange cucumber, seaweed, and bean sprouts on a platter.

Combine dressing ingredients and mix well. Toss with salad just before serving. Garnish with chopped ginger.

Korea

Beef Bulgogi

Ingredients:
1 1/3 lb top round or tenderloin of beef
3 T sugar
2 T water
5 T chopped green onion
2 T chopped garlic
6 T soy sauce
1 T sesame salt (I'm not sure what this is, so I generally use sesame seeds and figure that the extra salt is unnecessary)
2 T sesame oil
black pepper to taste

Directions: Slice beef thinly and score each slice lightly. Stir together sugar and water and marinate beef in this for at least a half hour.

Meanwhile mix the rest of the ingredients together and then pour over the beef and mix well. You can either grill the meat or broil it at 500 degrees for 10 minutes.

As a variation, for Pork Bulgogi, slice meat and score. Sprinkle with 1 T grated ginger and stir. Set aside. meanwhile mix all the ingredients except the rice wine together and add 4 T red pepper paste (found in asian markets). Rub this mixture into the meat well and grill.

Thailand

Thai Bananas

Ingredients:
6 bananas -- cut into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups of cocnut milk
2 tablespoons palm sugar or honey

pinch of salt.

In a small pan heat the coconut milk, add sugar or honey and salt, and warm until not quite boiling. Add bananas, and simmer, gently for 5-10 minutes. Serve warm.

Nam Jim Viet ('Vietnam' Sauce)

Description:

This is a popular dipping sauce in Thailand, though exactly why it is called 'Vietnamese' nobody seems able to tell me.

The sauce may be thickened with gelatine or any of the typical vegetable gelling agents sold for preserve making: simply use them to thicken the sugar syrup as if it were water.

Some commercial versions of this sauce puree the chilies but home made versions are usually made from paper thin slices of chili.

A tablespoon of vinegar can be substituted for the tamarind paste.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup kratiem (garlic), chopped very fine
1/4 cup prik chi fa (Thai jalapenos), sliced paper thin
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon nam manao (lime juice)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Gelling agent (optional)

Warm the water and soak the tamarind paste in it for an hour, then squeeze it thoroughly to extract as much juice as possible, and then pass it through a chinois or other very fine sieve to remove the pulp.

Bring the water to a gentle boil, and stir in the sugar, dissolving each addition thoroughly, and continuing until all has been added, then continue to simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, to thicken it, by reducing the mixture to about 1 cup.

Slice the chilies and chop the garlic. Then when the sugar syrup is reduced, add the lime juice, and fish sauce (and the gelling agent if you are using it), and allow to cool.

When the mixture is down to a warm room temperature, stir in the chilies and garlic, and leave to stand for about 30 minutes, before tasting and if necessary adding a little more lime juice or fish sauce to taste.

Store in a well sealed preserving jar. It will keep 6-8 weeks in a refrigerator.

Vietnam

Pho

This recipe make about 10 servings, but you can cut the quantity of water by 1/2 for 5 servings. Mother always makes this much for the family. The broth is very important. A good "pho" needs a GOOD broth.

Ingredients:
* about 10 lbs. of bones(beef, the leg part)
* fresh ginger root, about 1 inch
* 5 small shallots
* 2 star anise seeds
* 1.5 gallons water
* one package of fresh rice noodles (banh pho)
* salt to taste (1 tsp.)
* fish sause to taste
* 1 lbs. beef fillet mignon, cut in thin slices
* one toe sized lump of rock sugar (available in Vietnamese market. OR use 1 tsp. table sugar. This is optional)
* fresh basil leaves
* green onions, chopped
* fresh cilantro, chopped
* fresh bean sprout (optional)
* fresh lemon (optional)
* fresh jalapeno pepper or hot red pepper (optional)

For the Broth:
Submerge the bones in hot tap water and bring to boil, then discard this first "broth" so that the "pho" final broth would be nice and "clear" and not muddy looking. Now for the real broth, add 1.5 gallons of water and 1 tsp. salt and bring to boil. While waiting for boiling point, add these:

Lightly charbroil the ginger root and shallots over open flames on your stove. For the ginger, roast until you can easily peel the skin, about 3 min. Peel off the out skin. Add to the broth. For the onions, charbroil until the outer skin layer are burnt, but don't over do it, about 3 min. Lightly roast the aniseeds for about 1-2 min. in a pan. Add all of these to the broth. Add the sugar (optional). When the water boils, lower the heat and simmer for about 6 hrs.

When you are ready to eat:
For the rice noodles preparation, boil some water in a pot. Put the amount of rice noodles you want in a strainer (the kind with a handle, and small enough to fit in the pot you're using.) and submerge it in the boiling water for a few seconds and quickly take it out!! The timing is important for a good rice noodle. You don't want to overcook the rice noodle for too long ( even 15 sec. can be too long!!) and have soggy noodles! Just dip the noodles in the boiling water and lift it out (about 5 sec., or just done) quickly and put it in your bowl.

If you have a lot of broth and only wants to make one or two servings, take out enough broth you want and bring it to a boil in another pot. Dip in the amount of sliced beef you want, just enough to cook the meat, depends on how well done you want it. Put the cooked meat into your bowl of rice noodle and add enough broth to submerge them. Then add the green onions & cilantro to garnish. Add fish sauce to taste, if needed. Usually the broth is good w/out any extra salt or fish sauce. Then garnish with fresh basil leaves and/or bean sprouts (a handful)if you like. I love to squeeze a slice of fresh lemon and a bit of red hot pepper (or jalapeno) to taste. This is optional. If you're using hot red pepper, becareful! It can too very hot, depending your your taste buds tolerance!!