Thai Basil Chicken (Kai Kraphao)
September 22, 2009 by Andrea 
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Filed under Asian, Grow Your Own, Poultry
This dish is the main reason we grow Thai basil in our herb garden. We’ve grown many kinds of basil over the years and seem to have settled into a routine of Genovese, Lemon (Sweet Dani or similar), and Thai (Sweet Thai or Queen of Siam) basil because they cover the spectrum of our uses. The Sweet Thai variety we grew this year produces plants with purple stems and gorgeous purple flowers. Like most basils, the flowers are also edible and add a punch of anise flavor to Asian dishes. Our basils will last a few more weeks, then it will be time for the final harvest of the season and a marathon session making pesto (basic and sun-dried) and basil ice cubes. Read more
The Daring Cooks Make Vegan Dosas
September 14, 2009 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Asian, Breads
For the Daring Cooks September challenge, we made vegan dosas adapted from the reFresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. Fresh is a popular chain of vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Toronto, Canada with three published cookbooks teaching how to cook Fresh food at home. Our host Debyi of Healthy Vegan Kitchen chose this fun challenge for us, and I for one am grateful because this is the first time I’ve ever made Indian food and witnessed our two older boys actually eat it. Builder Guy (6) has recently developed a taste for spicy foods—good thing because we like our spices—and Top Gun (5) is finally coming around and trying new things. Monkey Boy is still a picky three-year-old, but he did eat one of the plain dosas. We thought the dosas were delicious and would eat that coconut curry sauce on just about anything. Read more
Spiced Vegetable Dal and a Memorial
September 7, 2009 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Asian, Vegetables
My first cookbook from Sheila Lukins was the 1980s classic Silver Palate Cookbook, a popular book that led many people in the United States to change the way they cooked and viewed food. I’ve collected just about all of the books she wrote and have cooked from them many times over the years, learning something new with each dish. My favorite book of hers is the All Around the World Cookbook because it complemented my taste for authentic regional foods, and I’ve gifted copies many times over the years.
After learning of Lukins’ untimely death from brain cancer on August 30, I felt the urge to cook from her books again as a reminder of her importance in my own cooking. I opened my copy of All Around the World Cookbook and chose her Spiced Vegetable Dal, one of my favorites. Read more
Zucchini Soba Salad
August 28, 2009 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Asian, Grow Your Own, Pasta, Salads
My introduction to soba noodles was actually on a plane flying from Tokyo to Honolulu, admittedly not the best place to get good food. The flight attendants came around with breakfast and asked if I wanted the Japanese or the American breakfast, and I chose the Japanese because I could see the noodles that someone else already had on their tray. I swirled them in the sauce and enjoyed the slippery sensation and flavor while the American woman next to me eyed them with a look that said, “I can’t believe you are eating that.” I just smiled and enjoyed my breakfast. Read more
Tatsoi with Garam Masala
June 23, 2009 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Asian, Grow Your Own, Vegetables
When we planted tatsoi last October, I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t sprout until spring. I had heard it would even grow in the snow, so I impatiently drummed my fingers while checking the garden daily, waiting for signs of life. I had planted the seeds under a cold frame and thought for sure we would have greens in December. When the seeds finally sprouted in March, they grew slowly at first, then as spring went on the leaves suddenly jumped from just four or five centimeters long to as much as 15 centimeters. We will continue to plant tatsoi as a cool weather green because we like the flavor and it grew very well in our garden, much better than the spinach which never grew any taller than a few centimeters. Read more
The Daring Cooks Make Chinese Dumplings and Potstickers
June 14, 2009 by Andrea Print This Post
Filed under Asian, Pork
I remember first tasting Chinese dumplings and potstickers when I lived in Saipan, and I always liked ordering them in restaurants, but then I visited Hong Kong and southern China and got hooked. It was so fun to see the dim sum trays in the restaurants, taste different things, and try to figure out what was in all the fillings. Though I have enjoyed Chinese potstickers and dumplings all these years, I’ve never made them from scratch—getting bags of gyoza from Trader Joe’s is just too easy—so I felt a huge amount of excitement when I saw Jen of Use Real Butter had challenged the Daring Cooks to make her family’s recipe for Chinese dumplings and potstickers. Read more
