Bang Bang Chicken (Salad)

  This is a great salad if you are trying to eat healthfully in the new year; It's got TONS of flavor, and the only fat is from the tahini in the dressing. The dressing tastes sort of like peanut satay sauce. 
Use tofu rather than chicken to make this a vegan dish.
The whole recipe can be made ahead of time-- perfect for entertaining.




Bang Bang Dressing
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 and 1/2 tablespoons Vietnamese garlic.chili sauce (spicy)
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)

1) Mix the vinegar and sugar together until the sugar dissolves, then whisk in the soy sauce and chili sauce. Now whisk in the tahini until smooth. If you find it difficult to get the dressing smooth, use an immersion blender to whip it all together. Stash in the refrigerator until ready to dress the salad.
Makes 3/4 cup dressing, enough for 4 entree salads.

Salad
1 English cucumber, cut into match sticks
Big handful of shredded carrots
4 green onions, sliced thin up to the dark green part
1 head Romaine lettuce, sliced very thin
Handful chopped, fresh coriander
Equal parts fish sauce and lime juice (optional)
1/2 chicken, poached or roasted, or 3 cooked chicken breasts, meat shredded, cold

Lay the vegetables nicely on four plates, drizzle the fish sauce/lime juice over top (if using). Lay the shredded chicken on top and spoon over the dressing.

Serves 4 entree salads

Asian Poached Chicken with Noodles

This dish is as simple to make as your Granny's old fashioned chicken and noodles recipe. It's just as comforting, too, but more delicate and delicious. 
Top with steamed or sauteed vegetables, like: Asparagus, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, snap peas, edamame, grated carrots, bok choi, etc.
Using whole grain pasta amps up the health benefits to this.


1 whole chicken (giblets, neck removed)
1, 3" piece ginger, not peeled, cut in half
1/4 cup miso paste (I used the light, shiro miso)
2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass-- 1 or 2 stalks
1/2 lime
1/2 lemon
3 cloves garlic, peeled, halved
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Handful of chopped green onion

1) Trim any excess fat from the chicken (if you want to remove the skin, that's cool, too). Place the chicken into a deep pot and cover with water by 1 inch. Add in everything except the fish sauce and green onion, cover and bring to a gentle simmer, then crack the lid and continue to simmer very gently.

2) After 90 minutes, check the chicken, it should be faling apart, if this is the case, remove the chicken, ginger pieces, lemon and lime halves. Allow the chicken to cool then shred the meat. Set aside.

3) Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add in 1 pound pasta. Cook until just al dente, then remove from the heat-- do not drain. Toss the shredded chicken and sliced green onions, as well as the fish sauce into the noodle/soup. Serve up a bowl of noodles with broth and chicken and top with cooked vegetables.

Serves 8

Japanese Ginger Salad Dressing

When I turned 16 years old, my parents told me that I could take my five best buddies out for dinner at a nice restaurant of my choosing. My favourite restaurant at the time (and still a fun place to go on occasion today) was the Japanese Teppanaki restaurant in our city, The Japanese Steak House. I loved the drama of sitting around the chef as he chopped, diced and tossed our dinner ingredients in the air before stir-frying them alongside a volcanic, fire-spitting onion. 
It was magical.
And delicious.

Eating in that Japanese Steakhouse was a rare treat, and one that I coveted. Although the food served there was a far cry from authentic Japanese food, (sort of what Taco Bell is to Mexican cuisine), it introduced my teenage taste-buds to Japanese flavours, (soy sauce, ginger root, miso paste, to name a few) and lead the way for my life-long interest and love of all foods Japanese.


The first Japanese food revelation I had at the Steak House was the salad dressing. It was not creamy, but it was thick. It wasn't vinegary, but had an acidic bite. It was fresh and light and I always ordered a salad when eating there. 


I still love that dressing, and today and finally got  around to figuring it out. It couldn't be easier to make at home-- if you've got a blender, you are set. A food processor or immersion blender work great, too.


1/2 vidallia onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup ginger root, peeled and chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 small clove garlic, peeled, chopped
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon good quality soy sauce (I like Kikkoman)
2 tablespoons ketchup
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup rice vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt flakes (less if using fine salt)
1/4 teaspoon wasabi (optional)

1) Place everything in a blender and puree. Stash in the refrigerator until ready to use. Keeps for at least 4 days. Makes about 1 cup.

Fresh Noodles with Poached Salmon and Shrimp

If you can find fresh, thick noodles, like Udon, in an Asian store, snap them up! They are infinitely better than the dried type—thick and chewy and really satisfying. If you do not have access to fresh Asian noodles then use dry Udon and if you cannot find Udon at all, use fresh linguini.

What you place on top of the noodles is completely up to you and your taste buds. I like seafood (salmon and shrimp here) but poached chicken would be nice or grilled, rare beef slices would be delicious, as well. Going all veg would be the healthiest choice—and tasty, too.

Broth

1” piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thick pieces

2” piece fresh lemon grass, white part only, smashed with the back of a knife

2 heaping tablespoons (dessert spoons) white miso paste

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon sake or dry white wine
Pinch of red pepper flakes

3 cups water

Noodles to serve 2 (dependent upon which type of noodle you are using)

1 6 oz. filet salmon

4 large shitake mushrooms, stem removed and sliced

½ pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 heads bok choi (pak choi), sliced

4 thin green onions (spring onions), sliced up to the dark green part

Soy sauce to taste

1) Place all the broth ingredients into a pot and bring just to a gentle simmer, reduce heat to low and allow to steep.

2) While the broth is steeping, bring a large pot of water on to boil and cook the noodles to package directions until al dente (be careful not to over-cook). Drain and set aside.

3) Poach the seafood and veg: Turn the heat up under the broth, bring it to simmer and place the salmon and shitakes into the broth, simmering for 3 minutes, then add in the shrimp and continue to simmer until the shrimp turn pink (3 minutes or so). Remove from the broth, cover to keep warm and set aside. Also at this time, pick out the ginger and lemon grass—discard. Now add the bok choi into the broth, remove the pan from the heat and cover. Leave covered for 5 minutes to steep.

4) Toss the sliced green onion into the broth with the bok choi. Place the noodles into 2 bowls and pour the broth over and lay the seafood on top. Drizzle with a bit of soy sauce and serve warm.

Serves 2

Fortune Cookies

I found this recipe on About dot com and was surprised at how easy fortune cookies are to make. I baked these with kids from my daughter’s school. All the children wrote their own fortune and folded it into a cookie. This part must be done while the cookies are pretty hot, so parental guidance is a must.

You can personalize the fortunes depending on the event-- think how much fun you could have writing racy fortunes for friends!

2 large egg whites

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract (I didn’t use this)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 and ½ teaspoons corn starch (corn flour)

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 teaspoons water

1) Preheat the oven to 300F (150C). Sift the flour, corn starch, salt and sugar together. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites, extracts and oil until frothy, but not as far as soft peaks. Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stir well to combine, then drizzle in the water and mix until it forms a smooth batter (similar to pancake batter).

2) Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Spray with non-stick spray, too. Spoon about 1 tablespoon batter  onto the tray, making sure the batter rounds are at least 3” apart from one and other (I could fit 6 cookies on a tray comfortably).

3) Bake until the cookies are golden just around the edges (about 15 minutes), no more or they will crack when you fold them.  Remove from the oven and IMMEDIATELY slide a cookie off the tray, flip it over and place the fortune on one half of the cookie, fold the other half over to form a half circle and bend the cookie (in the middle) over the edge of a coffee mug, to make the classic fortune cookie shape. You can have helpers hold them in that shape, to wedge the cookies in between something to hold them in that shape until they are cooled and firmed up.

Makes about 8-10 cookies

Thai Fishcakes

These are such beautiful little babies. Small and green with flecks of red—and the taste… well, they taste even better than they look. Although there are some not-so-mainstream ingredients in here (really just one, the fish sauce), these fish cakes are not over the top with exotic flavours. All four of my kids as well as our dinner guest, Jude, the village historian, loved them. I thought I had made enough for leftovers the next day, but we gobbled them up without a care for tomorrow.

¾ pound mild, white fish (I used Pollock/Coley), roughly chopped

½ pound raw, shelled shrimp

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro (coriander)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoon soy sauce

½ red bell pepper, roughly chopped

4 green onions (spring onions), trimmed, roughly chopped

Zest of ¼ lime

1” fresh ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped

Between ½ teaspoon and 1 tablespoon red Thai curry paste (this depends entirely on how much heat you want. My curry paste was very hot and I was serving these to the youngins, so I used just ½ teaspoon)

1 Egg

Vegetable or nut oil

1) Place everything except the oil in the bowl of a food processor and process until well chopped, but not a paste. Set in the refrigerator to cool and firm up for at least 30 minutes, but this can be made a day ahead.

2) With wet hands, shape into golf ball size rounds, then squish into patties. You should make about 25. Now, either brush with a bit of oil and broil or grill. Turn once when the cake gets golden brown, and cook the other side—roughly 3-4 minutes per side—this time could easily vary. Otherwise, the cakes can be sautéed for about 3 minutes per side.

Serve with lime wedges and Crackin’ Asian Slaw. 

Crackin’ Asian Slaw

I made this for a Welsh friend who he told me it was ‘crackin’. This is a good thing.

1 teaspoon fine sea salt (or table salt)

1 small head savoy cabbage

dressing

¼ cup fresh, chopped cilantro (coriander)

1-2 tablespoons fresh, chopped mint

2 tablespoons sliced green onions (spring onions)

1 tablespoon heaping, minced, fresh ginger root, (peeled)

¼ cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar (white or brown)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

¼ cup peanuts, chopped

1) Chop the cabbage very thin, either by hand or in a machine. Place into a large colander and sprinkle salt over, toss and allow to sit undisturbed, colander over a bowl or the sink, for 1 hour.

2) Mix up the dressing ingredients. After the cabbage has wilted a bit, do not rinse it, transfer to a large bowl, pour the dressing over and toss. Stash in the fridge, scattering peanuts over top just before serving.

Serves 4-6. Serve with Thai Fish Cakes

Japanese Fried Chicken (Tori no Karaage)

Traditionally deep fried, this is such a tasty way to serve up chicken! 'Tori' means chicken and 'Karaage' refers to fried. Marinating in soy, mirin and sake make the chicken salty, sweet and succulent! I chose to oven-fry these, (so I guess they are not really Karaage)-- the chicken remains crunchy, but infinitely healthier. This was an instant family favourite!

1/2 cup good quality soy sauce (Kikomman is great)
2 tablespoons Mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1 tablespoon Sake, or white wine
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 green onion, roughly chopped
1" piece ginger root, roughly chopped

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (halved)

2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups good quality, unseasoned breadcrumbs (Japanese Panko would be best)


1) Mix all marinade ingredients up in a resealable tub or plastic bag. Dump the chicken pieces in and stash in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but up to 4 hours (better flavour).

2) When ready to bake: Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200C). Spray a baking tray with Pam or rub with a bit of oil. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the mustard. Have the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl. Remove the chicken from the marinade (discard the marinade). Dip a few pieces of chicken into the egg/mustard bowl, then dredge in the breadcrumbs, packing the crumbs onto the chicken. Place all of the coated chicken pieces onto the baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, until crunchy and just cooked through.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Hot and sour, healthy and nourishing—this is such a great soup to serve for dinner on the days that you're felling any of the following: Blue, bloated, healthy, skinny, apprehensive about bikini season, generally optimistic. It soothes and encourages all moods, and tastes like something you would pay top dollar for in a swanky restaurant.

*6 cups good quality chicken broth (homemade is best, but a good tinned type is okay, too)

1 stalk lemon grass, outer layer peeled off and discarded, the rest trimmed and sliced very thin

1 small red bird’s eye pepper (Thai pepper), sliced thin (keeping the seeds will add more heat, discarding them will give it less kick)

3 green onions (scallions, spring onions), trimmed then sliced thin

1 teaspoon salt (only if using no-sodium broth, if the broth already tastes salted, skip this)

2 teaspoons sugar

*¼ cup good quality soy sauce

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Juice of ½ lime

2 heads Bok Choi (Pak Choi), sliced into thin strips

Handful of frozen, shelled edemame

2 parcels Udon noodles (or Soba—could also use angel hair)

18 Thai Chicken Meatballs (raw) 

* This ingredient is critical to the dish— Use the best quality you can get your hands on

1) Make the soup by placing the first 9 ingredients into a large pan or wok. Bring to a simmer and allow to gently cook, uncovered for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. May be made up to this point and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, then reheated.

2) Bring the soup to a strong simmer, add in the raw meatballs and the noodles, bring back to a simmer and cook for about 6 minutes, then add in the frozen edemame, bring back to a simmer and cook 2 minutes more, until the noodles are tender (the meatballs take only a few minutes to cook). Throw the bak choi (pak choi) into the soup, stir and cover with a lid. Turn off the heat and allow the greens to wilt in the soup for 5 minutes.

Ladle into large bowls, garnish with chopped mint or cilantro (coriander), if desired.  Serves 4-6

Thai Chicken Meatballs

OMG—LOVE these! There are some fairly freaky ingredients here, but you don’t taste any ONE of them—you don’t taste the fish sauce, or the mint, or the cilantro—they all meld together and you just taste GOODNESS. Seriously, serve these on a fancy skewer at your next posh cocktail party and you will be a rock star, or better yet, make them for your kids and they will thank God (and you) for being born with taste buds. These are the bomb in Thai Hot and Sour Chicken Noodle Soup, too.

6 green onion, trimmed, dark green tops discarded, the rest roughly chopped

2” piece fresh ginger root, peeled, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled, roughly chopped

12 whole water chestnuts

A small handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

8 mint leaves, roughly chopped

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 1 pound each, chicken thighs and chicken breasts, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons Nam Pla—Thai Fish Sauce (yes, it stinks—just do it!)

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon salt

1 and ½ tablespoons corn flour (corn starch)

1) Place the first 5 ingredients into a food processor and work until chopped. Remove to a large mixing bowl. Now add the roughly chopped chicken, working in batches, place the roughly chopped chicken into the food processor and process until well chopped. Place all the minced chicken into the same mixing bowl as the herbs.

2) Add in the Nam Pla, sugar, soy sauce, salt and corn flour and mix with your hands to combine well. When you are done, wash hands well in hot soapy water (derrrrr). Place a teaspoon size amount of the chicken mixture onto a microwave-safe plate and nuke for about 20-30 second, until cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning, if desired. 

Lop the chicken mixture into a re-sealable tub and stash in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but up to one day, until ready to cook. Roll them with wet hands, to prevent sticking, then cook as you would any ‘ol meatball—bake, sauté, steam or simmer.

Miso-Glazed Monkfish

This is a great marinade for any sort of fish—salmon, cod, catfish, scallops—whatever you like. I used monkfish cheeks (literally the cheeks of monkfish) and it was outstanding. This marinade would probably be good for chicken, pork or beef, too.

¼ cup of each of the following:

Mirin

Sake

Miso paste (white is best, but I used brown and it was great!)

3 tablespoons sugar

     1)   Mix up all the marinade ingredients in a small pot and heat until the miso and sugar dissolve into a smooth consistency. Allow to cool completely before adding to the fish. Stash in the refrigerator for as little as 30 minutes (but up to 6 hours).

  2)   Remove fish from the marinade and roast at 450F (220C) until cooked through—this completely depends on how much fish you are roasting, how thick the fillet is, etc. A general rule of thumb is, in a hot oven roast for 10 minutes per inch thick, so a fillet that is one inch thick at the thickest part would roast for 10 minutes, a 2 inch thick fillet would be 20 minutes, and so on.

Serve with steamed sushi rice and simmered Samphire.

Korean Beef Ribs

I had these about fifteen years ago at a museum event and I never forgot them.  After slowly braising and roasting in the oven the ribs emerge in a sticky, mahogany glaze with the meat literally falling from the bone... This is Manna from Heaven for carnivores.

4-5 pounds meaty beef ribs (‘short ribs’ in the States, ‘flat ribs’ in the UK), separated and each cut to be 3” in length

Braising Sauce

½ cup good quality soy sauce (Kikkoman is very good and a good value)

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon Mirin, or rice vinegar (even cider vinegar will work)

3 heaping tablespoons sugar—brown, white, whatever you got

2” piece of ginger, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

6 green onions, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon flour

½ cup cold water

1) Preheat the oven to 300F (150C). Mix all the braising sauce ingredients together in a bowl.  Pour over the ribs and toss to coat well. Now pour it (ribs, sauce and all) into a large oven proof, lidded pot or onto a deep baking tray or casserole dish—just make sure to cover with a lid or heavy aluminium foil.

2)  Roast/braise the ribs, covered for two hours, turning the ribs every 45 minutes or so. Check to make sure that there is always liquid in the pot—top up with warm water if needed. After 2 hours, remove the lid give everything a stir to coat the ribs again in the sauce and allow the ribs to full-on roast, uncovered, for one more hour in order to crisp up just a bit.

Remove from the braising sauce and serve—that’s it—serves 6 for dinner.

Japanese Pasta and Vegetable Salad

I found a recipe similar to this in Food and Travel (a magazine here in the UK) and changed it around just a bit. It is a great family-pleaser. All four of my kids loved it! Great to make ahead on busy nights-- pack the left-overs in lunch boxes the next day. Although I use pork in this dish, it can easily be a vegan meal-- no one will miss the meat.

12 ounces pasta (I used whole wheat Ramen noodles, but any spaghetti shaped noodle will work), cooked and drained

Dressing:
1/4 cup good quality soy sauce (Kikoman is a great quality, well priced choice)
2 tablespoons sesame oil (plus more for sauteing)
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons white wine or cider vinegar
1 birds eye red chili (optional, but not so good if preparing this for kids)

Veggies:
1 or 2 heads bok choi, chopped
2 dozen mange tout (snow peas), sliced
A handful of shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin (optional)
Any other crunchy vegetables you fancy-- carrots, water chestnuts, celery, cabbage, red bell peppers

Add ins:
4 green onions, trimmed and sliced thin
3 pieces nori paper, torn into pieces
1 cup edemame (soy beans), cooked according to packet in salted water
1 pound cooked, shredded pork, chicken, beef or shrimp (a good way to use up left-overs)

1) Shake the dressing up in a jar and dump it over the cooked noodles. Toss well and set aside.
2) Saute the shiitakes in sesame oil for 2 minutes, then add in the rest of the vegetables and saute until just cooked but still crisp-- just a minute or two. Toss the cooked vegetables, plus all the 'add ins' with the dressed pasta. Taste, adjust seasoning with more soy or sesame oil if desired.

Serve warm, room temp or chilled. Serves 6.

Terrific, Quick Tuna Steak

If you like grilled tuna, you have GOT to try this!


Tuna steaks, 1 inch thick (one per person)
Soy sauce
A handful of the following fresh herbs: Thyme, rosemary, parsley (go heaviest on the parsley)
Half a lemon

1) Drizzle some soy sauce over the tuna steaks and allow them to sit at room temperature for five minutes, while you finely chop the herbs.

2) Place a non-stick saute pan over medium-high heat to get it hot. Pat the fresh, chopped herbs into both sides of the tuna steaks. Spray or drizzle the pan with olive oil. Cook steaks for about 2 minutes on each side (they should still be pink in the middle). Spritz lightly with lemon juice. That's it!

I served these steaks with pearl barley simmered in chicken stock, lentils drizzled with more olive oil and yummy steamed kale. It was Heaven and SUPER healthy!

Crunchy, Tasty (really!) Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry

I was not a big fan of tofu, until I developed this recipe. It is delicious and you won’t miss meat one bit. Plus, you can feel so superior to all carnivores when you serve this for dinner...
The most important ingredient in this is the chilli sauce-- make sure it is one you like the taste of, as it is the base for the sauce.

This recipe serves 2 adults, but can easily be doubled or tripled.

1 packet firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes
1 two inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
Several sprinklings of Chinese Five Spice
1 tablespoon veg oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1-2 tablespoon corn starch
A mess of fresh, crunchy veg, like: Carrots (julienned), mange tout/snow peas (julienned), celery (sliced), pak choi, baby corn (chopped), red bell peppers (slices)

Jarred Oyster Sauce, or hoisin for vegan
Jarred WaggaMama Chilli Stir-Fry Sauce, or really good quality Asian chilli sauce
Soy sauce
Green onions, sliced


1) Dry the tofu cubes well with kitchen towel then toss with Chinese 5 Spice, ginger and garlic. Set aside until ready to stir fry.

2) Heat oils in the wok. Toss the tofu with corn starch and place immediately into the scortching-hot wok. Stir-fry for a few moments, then add in the veg. Stir fry until just al dente, then add in a dollop of oyster sauce and several dollops of chilli sauce. Taste, adjust seasoning with soy if needed. Remove from the wok and top with sliced green onion.

Shanghai Beef Stir-Fry

This really is so very delicious-- as good as a Chinese restaurant, in fact. Plus, you know what has gone into it and how fresh it is. If you are serving to children who don't like spicy foods, simply negate the bird's eye chillis.

1 pound rump steak, sliced into thin pieces
1 small head broccoli, sliced

Marinade:
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Black pepper

Sauce:
2 tablespoons ginger root, minced
2 tablespoons garlic, minced or pressed
1-2 small bird’s eye chilli peppers, seeds discarded, chopped very fine
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sake or dry sherry
½ cup chicken broth
3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

sesame sees if desired


1) Slice beef into small strips. Cut broccoli into slices or small florets, set aside. Mix together marinade ingredients, add beef slices to it, toss to coat, cover with cling film and set in fridge until ready to stir-fry (up to 2 hours).

2) Chop up the ginger, garlic and chillis very small. Set aside. Shake the soy sauce, sake (or sherry), chicken broth and sugar together in a jar.

3) When ready to stir-fry: Allow the wok to become very hot, setting it over high heat. Pour in the vegetable oil—as soon as it is quivering and very hot, toss in the ginger, garlic, chilli mix and stir fry for just a moment or two, then add in meat (with the marinade). Cook for a minute or two then add in the vegetables and continue to cook until just barely al dente, then shake up the sauce in the jar and add it in. Bring to a strong simmer until it is just glossy. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (if using). Serve with rice at once.

Serves 4

Baked Crab Rangoons

The crunch is achieved by brushing the wontons with melted butter and vegetable oil followed by a sprinkling of sesame seeds. While this will add a bit of fat, divide 4 tablespoons of butter/oil by 45 rangoons, and the fat per Rangoon is miniscule. If making these for a party, you can prep them ahead of time, then brush with butter/oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake just before serving.


200 grams (6 ounces) package cream cheese (you can use low fat, not fat-free)
1, 170 grams (about 4 ounces) can crab, drained
2 green onions, using all by the dark green part, sliced thin
1 teaspoon plus one dash soy sauce
½ teaspoon mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)—optional
Couple of dashes of Tabasco
1 package wonton wrappers (about 45 2 inch by 2 inch sheets)
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Sesame seeds

1) Mix all of the filling ingredients together. Taste it and adjust seasoning, if desired. Scoop into a zip-top plastic bag, do not close the top, and snip off one bottom corner. You will then be able to pipe the filling into the wontons easily.

2) Pre-heat oven to 200 C (400 F). Beat the egg with a bit of water. On a clean counter top, lay out a row of wonton wrappers with a point facing you. Brush the two sides that come down to a point with egg wash, then pipe about 1 teaspoon of filling into the middle of the wonton wrappers. Fold the wrappers over so that form a triangle. Press all of the air out and press the edges well to seal. Keep the prepared rangoons under a slightly damp dish towel while you are making the rest.

3) Melt the butter and oil in the microwave. Lay the rangoons on a parchment paper lined baking tray and brush them with the butter/oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 15 minutes, until they are golden.

Serve immediately. Makes about 45 crab rangoons.

Gingered Lemon Chicken Soup

Grammy contributed this one. She gleaned it from a cooking class she attended in her town in Ohio. She is an excellent cook with an even better palate—if she says this one is good, it most certainly is.
Of course, I like a little heat-- a few birds' eye chillis would be swell in this. Also, if you like, soba noodles would complement the soup nicely.

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon minced, fresh ginger
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
¼ of an onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
Zest of half a lemon
Juice of half a lemon
1 quart free range chicken broth
1 chicken breast, cooked & cut into bite size pieces
4 oz dried egg noodles
splash soy sauce
dash Chinese 5 spice

Melt butter in skillet, add ginger, mushrooms, carrots, onion, celery. Saute until soft. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest, chicken broth and chicken and bring to a simmer. Stir in noodles, soy sauce and 5-spice. Simmer until noodles are tender. Add salt & pepper to taste.

General Tso’s Cashew Chicken

This is a special treat to have fantastic Chinese food at home! Seriously good stuff, this is. I sort of combined two recipes to come up with this and it is a keeper—the whole family liked it.
Don’t be put off by the two-step method; the first bit can be done ahead of time and held in the fridge.
Also, do not skip the first step of frying the chicken—it makes the dish! I replicated the same recipe without the initial frying and it was not nearly as good. I measured the oil as I added it into the pan, then again after fried— not much oil is used per serving.


2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (the best) or breasts (good, too), cut into bite-size pieces
6 eggs or 8 egg whites
1 cup corn starch (aka- corn flour)
Vegetable or peanut oil

Sauce
6 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons sugar (castor or table sugar)
3 tablespoons rice (or plain) vinegar
4 tablespoons mirin, rice wine
2 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons, heaping corn starch (corn flour)

Stir Fry
1 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh ginger
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh garlic
5 birds eye chills (small and hot), seeded and chopped fine (use more or less, this amount just gives a gentle heat)
8 green onions (scallions), sliced, excluding the top 2 inches
Chopped cashews (or peanuts of you’d rather)—optional


1) With a whisk, mix up the corn starch and eggs until smooth then add the chicken pieces. Set aside for 15-30 minutes while you make the sauce.

2) Shake all of the sauce ingredients in a jar and set aside.

3) Set a very large sauté pan or wok over medium heat and pour oil to come 1-2 inches up the side. Cover and allow to reach about 375F (it should spit when water is flicked into it). Fry the chicken chunks in batches, turning over just once (this will keep them crispier and soak up less oil)— for about 2 minutes per side (depending on size of chunks). Remove to a rack or paper-towel lined platter. Do not worry about keeping the chicken warm. All of this may be done up to 8 hours ahead of time—just store the cooked chicken in the refrigerator until ready to stir fry.

4) Time to stir fry! Place a clean, large sauté pan or wok over high heat and allow to get very hot. Have everything ready!! Pour 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil into the pan and immediately add in the ginger, garlic and chills. Stir fry for 30-60 seconds then add in the fried chicken and stir fry for a minute. Now add in the sauce and green onions—stir fry, string constantly until the sauce is thick. Sprinkle chopped nuts over top. Serve immediately over plain white rice.

Serves 6

Soba Good for You

Soba noodles-- Yum. They are Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour. They are hearty and chewy and healthy and absolutely delicious in a flavorful miso broth! They are so healthy, in fact, that you actually lose weight and gain muscle mass when you eat a bowl. In a week you will look like Raquel Welch circa 1965 (boobs optional).

This dish prooved to be a favorite with all six of us. A highly irregular occurrance. Everyone loved the soba noodles, especially after I told them that slurping was not only acceptable, but common etiquette if they were eating these in Japan. So slurp we all did.

This is also a nice recipe because you can put in it exactly what you like; fish, pork, chicken, just vegetables, tofu.. or a combination. It can be as carnivorous or vegan as you please.

Soba Soup

For the broth

5 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)

2 heaping tablespoons white miso paste

1 tablepoon soy sauce

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into quarters
3 plump garlic cloves, smashed and peeled, not chopped

Shiitake mushroom stems (if you are using shiitakes in the soup)
2 teaspoons mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)

4 bundles Soba noodles

To garnish the soup (choose as many or as few as you like)

Sliced shiitake mushrooms

cubed firm tofu
bok choi (pak choi) sliced thin
cubed fresh salmon
cooked, shredded pork
cooked, shredded chicken
sliced mange tout (sugar snap peas)
shredded carrots

sliced green onions

1) Get all of the soup ingredients (except the soba noodles) into a large soup pot. Simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

2) While the soup broth is simmering, cook the soba noodles in boiling water for about 6-7 minutes (or according to package directions). They should be al dente. When they are done cooking, drain well and rinse with cold water. Drain again and set aside.

3) Remove the chucks of ginger and garlic from the broth and discard. Add in any raw ingredients you are using to the broth (salmon, shiitakes, carrots, mange tout, pak choi). Bring back to a simmer and cook until just done (a few minutes).

4) When you are ready to serve: Place a mound of noodles in the bottom of individual, deep soup bowls. Pour the broth and garnishes over the noodles and serve with a sprinkling of sliced green onions.

Serves 6