Category: Asian cuisine

Asian cuisine12 Comments

Chicken Ramen From Scratch

StefanGourmet

Most people associate Chicken Ramen with instant noodles in a foam cup. You just need to add boiling water and it’s done. It doesn’t taste bad, but it is very different from the chicken ramen that I prepared today. I made everything from scratch, including the chicken broth and the noodles. Instead of cooking the chicken sous-vide like I did in my previous post about chicken ramen, I wanted to show you how you can approach the same result by cooking the chicken at a low temperature (between 65C and 70C or between 150F and 160F) and then taking the chicken meat off the bones and finish making the broth Making ramen noodles from scratch is just like making fresh Italian noodles, with the exception that baking soda is added to make the noodles alkaline (i.e. the opposite of acidic). This will give them a firmer texture when they are cooked in the broth.

I was very happy with the result. The broth had a very nice flavor, the chicken was tender and juicy, and the noodles had a nice texture. It takes a lot of time, but most if it is inactive so this is a great project for a rainy Sunday. Continue reading “Chicken Ramen From Scratch”

Asian cuisine16 Comments

Homemade Ebi Nigiri Sushi (Shrimp Sushi)

StefanGourmet

One of my favorite types of sushi is ebi nigiri. The shrimp has a very nice slightly sweet flavor that goes very well with the rice and it also looks pretty. Although most people think of raw fish when they think of sushi, the shrimp is actually parcooked for this preparation. I’ve already explained how to make sushi rice and shape nigiri sushi in a previous post. In this post I will only deal with how to prepare the shrimp. For this preparation it is important to buy raw shrimp with the shells on. It is not important to have … Continue reading Homemade Ebi Nigiri Sushi (Shrimp Sushi)

Asian cuisine9 Comments

Homemade Pancakes for Peking Duck

StefanGourmet

I haven’t been able to write a new post for almost a week because I was in bed with a pretty bad case of the flu 😦 This has been my longest time without a post since I started blogging. Making your own Peking Duck turned out to be quite simple, and so is making your own pancakes to eat it with! I found this recipe on Christine’s Recipes. Making these pancakes from scratch is easy. A good tip in the recipe is to roll out two pancakes on top of each other, as this makes it easier to make them very thin. … Continue reading Homemade Pancakes for Peking Duck

Asian cuisine16 Comments

Simple Peking Duck

StefanGourmet

I love Peking Duck, but I always thought it was very difficult to make at home. I could hardly believe it when I saw the very simple recipe described by Stéphane on his blog My French Heaven. He just boils the whole duck with some honey and soy sauce, allows it to dry in the refrigerator and then roasts it for 1.5 hours at 250C/480F. I tried this and the result was quite good! Thanks Stéphane! Peking Duck is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. You eat pieces of crispy skin with some cucumber and scallions with a sauce, rolled … Continue reading Simple Peking Duck

Asian cuisine14 Comments

35aweek’s Potstickers (Guotie)

StefanGourmet

Pan-fried Chinese dumplings are called “guotie” in Chinese, which literally means “pan stick”. In North America these are known as potstickers, and I had  only had them there. The interesting thing about them is that they are pan-fried and steamed at the same time. When I read 35aweek’s recipe for what she calls “Best-ever potstickers”, I just knew I had to try making these. Since this was my first attempt at making Asian dumplings, I decided to use store-bought dough. I think I may have ended up buying wrappers that were slightly thicker than they should be, because the edges … Continue reading 35aweek’s Potstickers (Guotie)

Asian cuisine11 Comments

Gado-Gado (Indonesian Vegetables with Peanut Sauce)

StefanGourmet

  Gado-Gado is an Indonesian salad with a peanut sauce dressing that can be served as part of a “rijsttafel” (rice table, a spread of different Indonesian dishes to be eaten ‘family style’) or as a meal by itself. This version just has vegetables and eggs, but you could also add fried tofu and tempeh to add more protein and change it into a full meal. Unlike many salads, most of the vegetables in gado-gado are steamed or boiled rather than raw. Key to Gado-Gado is to use a good peanut sauce, which means home-made. The peanut sauce makes it quite … Continue reading Gado-Gado (Indonesian Vegetables with Peanut Sauce)

Asian cuisine16 Comments

Indonesian Peanut Sauce

StefanGourmet

Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony, and Indonesian food still plays a major role in the Dutch food culture. One of the most common Indonesian foods is “saté”, grilled marinated skewers of chicken or pork served with a peanut sauce that is referred to as “satésaus”. This sauce is even served with french fries (“patatje oorlog”, also with mayonnaise) and other snacks. Home-made peanut sauce has a more interesting taste and you can make adapt it to your own preference. Most satésaus is store-bought, but apart from finding the right ingredients it isn’t hard to make by yourself from scratch. … Continue reading Indonesian Peanut Sauce

Asian cuisine15 Comments

Noodle Soup with Beef and Cabbage

StefanGourmet

Our trip to France disrupted my usual routine to decide every Friday what to eat for the upcoming week and to do all of the grocery shopping needed for that. So on Tuesday after work there were no groceries in the fridge for cooking, nor a plan. So I went to the supermarket (since specialty stores like butchers were already closed) and had to decide on the spot what I wanted to make with the produce available. I bought some wet-aged south american sirloin and Chinese cabbage to stir-fry and serve with rice. When I came home, I decided to … Continue reading Noodle Soup with Beef and Cabbage

Asian cuisine4 Comments

Japanese Mixed Grill

StefanGourmet

This is one of my favorite dishes from “Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art” that is surprisingly easy to make and absolutely delicious. As often in Japanese and Italian cooking, the key is in the quality of the ingredients. I used very fresh line-caught sea bass from the North Sea. You just wrap the ingredients in foil and cookt them in a hot oven for a bit, that’s all! It may not look like much in the photo, but you better believe me that the taste is outstanding. I adapted the recipe and made it even more simple, since there is … Continue reading Japanese Mixed Grill

Asian cuisine13 Comments

Japanese Simmered Eggplant

StefanGourmet

I made this simmered eggplant dish as a side for the wagyu teriyaki. I adapted the recipe for Spicy Eggplant from “Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art” and the result was delicious. If you serve it in a nice bowl (as you should with any Japanese food), the result will be impressive even though it’s quite easy to make (if you had already made the dashi anyway, that is).  I used a western eggplant rather than small Japanese eggplants (which are not available around here), and I replaced the dried red peppers with shichimi togarashi because that is what I had on … Continue reading Japanese Simmered Eggplant

Asian cuisine12 Comments

Wagyu Flank Steak Sous-vide Teriyaki

StefanGourmet

Recently I tried wagyu flank steak sous-vide for the first time, and liked the results with 24 hours at 56C/133F, but decided that I wanted to try 48 hours at 55C/131F as well since I was expecting that would be even better. Turns out my expectation was correct! This time I made it teriyaki style and it was outstanding. Please note that you could use the same method to prepare regular steak teriyaki, the only difference is that the steak would only need 4 hours or so at 55C/131F instead of 48. In this recipe, the teriyaki sauce is not … Continue reading Wagyu Flank Steak Sous-vide Teriyaki

Asian cuisine11 Comments

M&M’s Ginger Glazed Salmon

StefanGourmet

Fellow food blogger Meatballs & Milkshakes is a good source for reliable recipes. And so I was intrigued a while ago when I saw a recipe for Ginger Glazed Salmon that she called her favorite salmon recipe, and is basically salmon teriyaki with the addition of ginger and sake substituted by red (?!) wine. But since I trust M&M I decided to give it a try anyway and I was glad I did, because it was great! Not only is the sauce very good, also the way of cooking the salmon medium rare in a low oven is given sous-vide … Continue reading M&M’s Ginger Glazed Salmon

Asian cuisine6 Comments

‘Japanese’ Salad

StefanGourmet

This salad isn’t truly Japanese, but it does include some Japanese ingredients and I did find the dressing in a booklet with recipes that are supposed to be Japanese. This post is all about the dressing which is really good. The salad is good too, it just isn’t very authentic. Ingredients lettuce shii take mushrooms bean sprouts green onion 2 Tbsp oil cherry tomatoes For the dressing 2 Tbsp rice vinegar 3 Tbsp Japanese soy sauce 2 Tbsp sesame oil 1/2 fresh red chile pepper Preparation Remove the tough stems from the shii take mushrooms and slice them. Sauté the … Continue reading ‘Japanese’ Salad

Asian cuisine14 Comments

Easy Chicken Yakitori from the BBQ

StefanGourmet

One of the first Japanese foods I fell in love with was teriyaki and yakitori. Yakitori actually just means grilled chicken in Japanese (yaki = broil or grill, tori = chicken), whereas Teriyaki means grilled & glazed (teri = gloss or luster, yaki = broil or grill). Teriyaki can be used for different types of meat or seafood, where yakitori is obviously always chicken. The sauces used to make them are very similar, with Japanese soy sauce, mirin (sweet sake), sake, and sugar as the main ingredients. The main difference between chicken teriyaki and yakitori is that yakitori is grilled … Continue reading Easy Chicken Yakitori from the BBQ

Asian cuisine18 Comments

Japanese Fried Chicken, Drenched Daikon and Noodles in Broth

StefanGourmet

I’ve been trying more recipes from Shizuo Tsuji’s great “Japanese Cooking:  A Simple Art”. Since I had some left-over dashi, I decided to make two dishes that require dashi. I am not sure if this would be served together in Japan, but it did taste well together and I was well pleased with the result. I pre-cooked the chicken sous-vide for an easier way to get chicken that is cooked through (and pasteurized) as well as juicy, but the original recipe doesn’t require that so you can also make this without sous-vide equipment. The recipes make use of light Japanese … Continue reading Japanese Fried Chicken, Drenched Daikon and Noodles in Broth

Asian cuisine6 Comments

Dengaku

StefanGourmet

Dengaku is Japanese grilled food coated with a miso topping. Basic dengaku is grilled tofu with dengaku, but since I don’t care for tofu (and Kees even hates it) I decided to make eggplant and scallop dengaku. The flavor of the miso topping is quite strong, so don’t use too much of the topping and realise that a small serving goes a long way. It is probably a good idea to serve this with rice, and next time I will serve either eggplant or scallops with dengaku miso, not both at the same time. The recipe is again from “Japanese cooking, … Continue reading Dengaku

Asian cuisine2 Comments

Tempura

StefanGourmet

Tempura is one of my favorite Japanese dishes, that was actually introduced into Japan by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Seafood and vegetables are battered and deep-fried and served with a dashi-based dipping sauce. Just like with sushi you are probably not able to obtain the quality of professionally made tempura, but if you follow the recipe it should still be delicious! Making good tempura requires both some skill (to get a light and crunchy crust) and fresh high-quality ingredients. Tempura should be eaten as quickly as possible, so it’s best to make it in an informal setting where … Continue reading Tempura

Asian cuisine7 Comments

Home-made Sushi

StefanGourmet

Today calls for a special post, since I am very proud that the 100th follower has just joined this blog! As it happens we made sushi last night, and blogging about that will certainly be special as this will be the longest post yet with over 40 pictures! Making sushi together is a lot of fun, and although the sushi will probably not be as good as sushi at a specialized sushi restaurant, home-made sushi will taste much better than ready-made refrigerated sushi. It is not a coincidence that I like Japanese food besides Italian, as both rely to a … Continue reading Home-made Sushi

Asian cuisine6 Comments

Chicken Ramen sous-vide

StefanGourmet

Since it’s K.’s birthday today, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about a recipe from her blog $35 a week that I tried. Thanks for the recipe and happy birthday! The recipe she used asks for a slowcooker, so I couldn’t resist to use sous-vide instead. I had never made ramen myself before. The chicken came out very juicy and tender and I was happy with the overall result. I do wonder whether you actually need a slowcooker (or sous-vide setup) to make something just as good, so that’s something to try next time. I’ll just sauté the chicken … Continue reading Chicken Ramen sous-vide

Asian cuisine9 Comments

Steak Teriyaki Sous-vide

StefanGourmet

After trying beef short ribs teriyaki sous-vide, I decided to try rib-eye steak teriyaki sous-vide. The main difference between short ribs sous-vide and (rib-eye) steak sous-vide is that short ribs need 48 hours at 57C/135F to get tender, but steak is already tender and only needs to be brought to temperature. The teriyaki short ribs were a bit dry because the marinade had drawn out too much of the juices. For the rib-eye steak I decided not to marinade the steak before cooking, but only to marinade during cooking. This turned out well: the steak had a nice teriyaki flavor … Continue reading Steak Teriyaki Sous-vide

Asian cuisine9 Comments

Beef short ribs Teriyaki sous-vide

StefanGourmet

Since the first time I ever had beef short ribs was Teriyaki style at Roy’s in Honolulu, I decided I should try to make my own short ribs teriyaki. First I found out that my regular butcher has something very close to short ribs after all, which he calls “naborst” (for all you Dutchies out here who can’t find short ribs either). The ribs themselves have been removed, but that’s not a big deal. I decided that marinating in teriyaki would not be required as the beef would be cooked in the marinade for 48 hours anyway. The result was … Continue reading Beef short ribs Teriyaki sous-vide

Asian cuisine3 Comments

Japanese Chicken loaf with Eggplant and Ginger

StefanGourmet

My favorite Japanese cookbook is “Japanese cooking: a simple art” by Shizuo Tsuji. Since some ingredients are hard to come by outside of Japan and because I don’t have a very good reference (unlike Italian food, in many cases I don’t have a clue what it is supposed to taste like) I haven’t cooked as much out of this book as I would like to. One of my favorite recipes from the book that I have cooked many times before is the chicken loaf. Here I’ve served it with roasted eggplant, a ginger-soy dipping sauce and Japanese rice. This recipe … Continue reading Japanese Chicken loaf with Eggplant and Ginger

Asian cuisine1 Comment

Turbot sous-vide Asian style

StefanGourmet

The inspiration for this preparation came from having steamed turbot at a Chinese restaurant. The fish was steamed with fresh ginger, spring onions and chilli pepper and I liked it a lot. I tried to make something similar sous-vide and it came out even better! The texture of sous-vide turbot is amazing, and the Asian seasonings paired well with the fish without overpowering it. Ingredients For two servings Fillets of 1 turbot, skin on (around 900 grams or 2 pounds) 2-3 cm (1 inch) of fresh ginger root green of 2 spring onions 1/2 fresh chilli pepper salt soy sauce … Continue reading Turbot sous-vide Asian style