Chickpeas in Asia

If someone told me that I could make a dinner that is easy, quick, yummy, and contains only six ingredients, I would tell them they're either crazy or just warming up a frozen dinner with a bagged salad.

Luckily today is not frozen dinner and bagged salad day. Today is Asian Chickpea Sweet Potatoes day and that day might come around a few times in the near future too. It's even easier than Twice Baked Mexican Sweet Potatoes day and just as yummy!

Thai One On

I never thought I'd be one of those girls that could order a salad for dinner and be satisfied. And, to be fair, normally I'm not satisfied. Normally I'm still hungry after eating just a salad.

But the salad I'm sharing today is different. It's full of Asian flavour, filling because of the peanuts, and incredibly healthy so you don't feel bad going back for seconds or even thirds.

Ok, so maybe I ate a lot of the salad and that's why I was full.... But I swear, it's a good one!

Thai-ed Up

After I get home from work I have had days where I am completely exhausted. It's hot out, I've had a busy day, or I just don't feel like cooking. But I usually want to eat something healthy, so I'm not ordering a pizza.

Those are days I hope I remember this Peanut Butter Thai Noodle Salad recipe. This dish is no-cook, quick, healthy, and yummy. Plus it makes enough for leftovers for the next night and that's always a plus - if the dish is good!

Grapefruit and Wasabi

I don't know about you, but when I think about wasabi I think solely about sushi and grapefruit never crosses my mind. So when I heard that Dawn from Spatulas on Parade decided on wasabi and grapefruit for May's Crazy Ingredient Challenge, I felt a wee bit unsure about what to make.

At first I thought about making a new kind of sushi that featured grapefruit, but couldn't come up with the right concept. Then I thought of trying to make a grapefruit dessert with a spicy wasabi glaze, but I got scared off that idea before I started experimenting.

Finally I decided on reinventing one of my favourite side dishes, Miso Garlic Asian Greens. I subbed in wasabi for the red pepper flakes, grapefruit juice for the water, and made a few other small changes to make it unique. And who would have guessed it, but I came up with a dish that features wasabi and grapefruit and still manages to taste great!

Japanese Desserts

I was reading about a local Victoria, BC tea shop called JagaSilk and how they had delicious looking Strawberry Daifuku treats. I had no idea what those treats were, but I knew that I wanted to get my hands on one of them. The only problem was that this tea shop was open only from Tuesdays to Fridays and only from 12:00-5:00pm. I knew I would never get there. 

So I did what I do best, I researched how to make the treats myself. And I'm actually happy I did it this way because I'm pretty proud of the dessert I created. They look and taste great, plus I learned a new technique! 

Read on the recipe, inspired by one from Just One Cookbook, it's easier than you might have thought! 

The Canadian Harvest on Vancouver Island

There's something about the crispness in the air that makes me think of root veggies. And although root veggies go perfectly with a roast chicken, my favourite way to serve them is Asian tempura style.

Maybe it's because tempura done right is just as crisp as the autumn air or maybe it's because of the amazing China Town in my home of Victoria, BC, but I think that root veggies and tempura are a perfect pairing. So when I found out that our November Canadian Food Experience Project challenge was to write about a Canadian harvest experience, I knew I had to share my delicious tempura recipe.

My only secrets to perfect tempura are to use only drier veggies like squash, beans, and broccoli and to make sure that your batter is really cold. Now that you know those two tricks, you'll be making tempura like pro. So read on for my recipe and get started!

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Broccoli and Pumpkin Puree

I really enjoyed this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge and didn't really think that our pairing was too difficult. Chocolate and cauliflower - that was weird but I didn't really embrace the challenge with my Spicy Chocolate Dusted Cauliflower. Caramel and avocados was tough too but I think my Creamy Avocado Salad with Caramel Almonds turned out great. And I barely made tomatoes and coconut work with my Tomato Soup Cupcakes and Caramel Frosting. But pumpkin purée and broccoli - I paired those veggies together in a flash and made a delicious dinner too! 

I suppose it helped that I love eating both those veggies. And it probably also helped because I like to think my Thai curries are one of my best dishes. Read on to see if you agree!

Southern Asian Fusion

When I watch reality cooking shows I love the episodes where the chef-testants have to fuse together two entirely different cuisines. I think of much of my cooking as fusion and think it is incredibly fun to cook that way. Not only am I always coming up with new dishes, but I'm also teaching myself new tricks. 

If I was on a cooking show today and pulled both Asian and southern cuisines, I wouldn't know what to cook. But today's dish is awesome tasting and shows that Asian and southern cuisines actually can go well together. 

Read on for my yummy Hoisin Glazed Tofu and Southern Veggie Medley. 

A Doll of a Dal

Dal is a delicious and easy first vegetarian dish. It's made with lentils which are easy to make and little protein powerhouse to boot. 

To make lentils all you do is simmer them away in salted water. They're pretty hard to mess up and taste great in everything from appetizers to dinners and even desserts. 

Dal is an Indian dish, but I think it would taste great with a lot of different spices. I know I will be trying out a few different combinations and I hope you do too. 

Old Favourites

Sometimes I feel really creative in my kitchen and come up with tons of new dishes. And other times I slightly less creative and merely take a past winning dish and work on it a little to make it even more winning. 

Tonight's dish is a reworked favourite and if you love Asian foods stuffed full of garlic, ginger, peanut butter, and lime - I know you'll love it. I amped up these flavours from the original dish and made it into a complete meal with a side of sautéed spinach and some crispy tofu. 

Read on for my reworked recipe!

Asian Spaghetti

This dish may not actually be spaghetti, but it is one of the best spaghetti squash recipes I've ever eaten. It's got sweetness, tang, spice, and somehow even a rich comfort all mixed up together in one delicious bite. 

Good Asian food often achieves that strange mix of perfection and I think that might be why I love it so much. Italian food does beat Asian on the comfort, Indian food beats it on the spice, and desserts of any origin always beat it on the sweetness, but no where else are you ever going to find a combination of tastes that so perfectly combine all those taste bud sensations. 

Read on for an amazing spaghetti squash recipe with a taste so good it's going to make you reach for seconds and maybe even thirds! 

Potluck-y

I love going to potlucks and seeing what goodies everyone else has brought, but I hate coming up with what I should bring. 

Potlucks are tough because I always want to bring a dish that tastes great without it haven't to be reheated, with it having sat for a while, and still being tasty enough to have someone scrape the sides of the bowl to get the last bite. 

If anyone feels the same as me and thinks that their friends are getting tired of their same old standbys, here's a new dish to throw into the mix - Pineapple and Bok Choy Slaw. You'd never warm a slaw, it actually tastes best after it has sat for awhile, and it's so unique that everyone's going to want a taste! 

Faux Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese dish where I just don't see the appeal. I like everything that goes into it on its own, but I just don't like slurping up long dripping noodles from a bowl of broth. 

Since I do like to eat Wonton Noodle Soup I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, but there's a difference between the two soups. Pho has really long rice noodles and they're super slippery. Wonton Noodle Soup has a different kind of noodle that's much easier and less messy to eat. 

Alright, that's a big stretch. They're pretty much the same. But since my honey loves them, I keep giving them a try. 

Here's my first successful version of a Pho. Mine's a Faux Pho as it has fish instead of beef and I have to admit that I like it. Somehow it feels less uncomfortable to eat a drippy soup in the comfort of my own home! 

Throw Back

Today's post is not really a re-post, it's most of a what else can do with an old favourite post. 

I love my basic Thai curry recipe. It's something I make about even two weeks and considering how many different types of recipes I like to cook, that's practically every night! 

But today's recipe doesn't have any chicken in it. Instead it has tofu in it. And truth be known, I don't really like tofu. At least I didn't think I did. 

After Luke decided he didn't want to eat much meat, I wanted to be supportive and got a ton of library books out on vegetarian cooking. Some of the cookbooks had mainly macaroni and cheese and other heavy foods, but others had tips of for making veggie food sing. 

One of the best tips I learned was that tofu is like a sponge and take on whatever flavours you put with it. That's probably why it's doesn't taste so delicious alone! The other thing I didn't like about tofu was the texture. I found the firm variety too squishy. 

Today's recipe helps to make tofu flavourful and makes it crispy too. Read on for the recipe! 

Oyster Mushrooms

Last Christmas Luke was given a kit that would grow oyster mushrooms. I was very excited to see how it would work, but a little unsure of the results would be because some similar kits I be received in the past didn't amount to much. 

This kit was different though. Seeing that first little mushroom erased every doubt in my mind and I was excited. Growing mushrooms we easier than I thought, once they got going, and I knew that a just picked mushroom would taste like a million bucks. 

Today's post doesn't feature oyster mushrooms I grew myself, they're still busy growing. Instead, I made a dish with mushrooms and oyster sauce. I like to think if it as a little snack before the main event of eating my harvest!

Duck and Cover

Yesterday I went to China Town and bought a half Peking duck. I don't normally get excited about buying pre-cooked poultry but Peking duck is something I have no interest in making. It just sounds way too time consuming and they're done right in China Town, so why bother. 

I was planning on making some amazing duck spring rolls, but my wrappers wouldn't cooperate and I ended up with a delicious salad instead. I guess it just goes to show you that a new recipe is just around the corner and you never know where you'll find it. 

Stay tuned for my duck spring roll recipe in the future and read on for this tasty salad recipe now.

Curry In a Hurry

Fast Food doesn't have to be burgers and fries from a chain restaurant. It can be food prepared in your own kitchen too! 

I just bought Michael Smith's new cookbook, Fast Flavours, and it's already one of my favourite cookbooks. Not only is it full of delicious recipes that can be prepared quickly, it's also full of awesome pictures. Beautiful pictures are important to me in a cookbook because if the food doesn't look good, how will I know if I want to eat it?

I changed a few things from the chef's original recipe, but not a lot. It was almost perfect for my taste buds! 

Oodles of Noodles

Today marks the year of the snake as the Chinese New Year begins. And since long noodles symbolize long life in Chinese culture, it seems only fitting to revisit my delicious post on BBQ Pork Buns.

Except today will be a little different. Today I'm making dinner, not dim sum. And as much as I love dim sum, I don't want to eat it for dinner. So instead of making the whole BBQ Pork Bun recipe, I'm going to double the amount of marinade and stop after slicing the meat.

After you get that far into my recipe, read on to find out how to make this long life inspiring dish. Or you could buy some Char Sui in your China Town after watching the Lion Dance and save yourself a little time!

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Chicken noodle soup always makes me feel comforted, but this winter I seem to have more sniffles than normal and I am getting bored with my typical soup recipe. It's not that I don't like my usual soup, it's just that Sometimes I need something a little spicier than normal. Luckily, today's recipe is the perfect solution. 

This soup is full of Asian flavours and a little heat, but it's still a comforting hug on a cold day. Read on for my Asian Chicken and Rice Soup recipe! 

Smothered

Some sauces are meant to be messy and that's just because they taste so delicious that they make you want to dive into a big bowl. However, instead of diving into the sauce, it's a bit more normal to just smother everything in sight with it. 

That's this sauce. It has everything I crave in it - curry, coconut cream, citrus, and peanut butter. You might not think that all these would go together, but they do. You'll just have to try it to believe me.