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Asian Inspiration

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Cucumber and Avocado Summer Rolls with Mustard-Soy Sauce. Rich, nutty avocado is a great carrier of flavors, like the fresh herbs and cooling cucumber that star in these fresh rice-paper rolls. The savory dipping sauce features tart, sweet and salty ingredients that mimic an exotic salad dressing—fitting, as these rolls are like a salad that is eaten out of hand. In a small bowl, stir together the lime juice, oil, vinegar, mustard, soy sauce and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves; set aside. Halve, pit and peel the avocados, and then cut them into 1/2-inch dice. Place a wide, shallow bowl of warm water on a work surface. Lay a clean kitchen towel next to the bowl. Center a lettuce leaf on top of the stacked rice papers. Cut each roll in half crosswise and arrange, cut side up, on a platter. Adapted from Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Appetizers, by Amy Sherman (Oxmoor House, 2008).

Chicken Pot Stickers. This is a fun and tasty recipe to make. I used leftover roasted chicken breast tonight but you can also use ground pork or ground chicken. I have always been intimidated by cooking Asian food but I have finally gotten this recipe down. It’s fun to make and the kids have a lot of fun helping. My dipping sauce of choice is a sweet chili sauce but it’s too spicy for the kids so I make a soy dipping sauce too. I usually serve with an Asian Noodle Salad and fresh steamed broccoli. It’s a delicious and healthy meal that my kids really enjoy – especially my daughter. Dipping Sauce: 1 cup of soy sauce2 tbsp of seasoned rice vinegar2 tsp sesame oil2 tsp sugar1 clove of garlic, minced2 tbsp water Pot Stickers: 3 cups of boiling water2 cups napa cabbage, sliced finely2 cups roasted chicken breast, diced2 green onions, diced1 clove of garlic, minced1 tsp corn starch1 tbsp soy sauce1 tsp sesame oilSea salt and fresh cracked pepper to tastePot sticker wraps1 tbsp olive oil (for cooking)

Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn. We've seen a few versions of this dish around the web lately. Most of them contain sesame oil for that distinct, toasted flavor. Not all of them, however, have peanut butter -- which is one ingredient we really love. It makes the noodles a little sticky, especially when they are really cold, but we prefer a hearty peanut flavor mixed in with the scallions and Asian ingredients.

We also like to keep the vegetables simple: chopped scallions and cucumber sliced into tiny, thin matchsticks (a mandoline helps). And speaking of noodles, any long, thin variety is fine. Cold(ish) Peanut Sesame Noodles serves four as a main course 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts4 teaspoons peanut or canola oil, divided2 cloves garlic, minced1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced1 pound spaghetti or soba noodles1 English (seedless) cucumber5 scallions (white and light green parts) chopped2 teaspoons black sesame seeds (toasted white ones would be fine, too) Pad thai recipe. Recipe: pim’s pad thai Did you have as lovely a weekend as I did? I hope so! Even if you don’t celebrate the Fourth of July (let’s say, because you are British) I hope the weekend treated you well. even the yard had red (paintbrush), white (yarrow), and blue (blue flax) We hiked in the mountains, got a little work done, ran a few errands, ate some great food, and saw brilliant, spectacular, thrilling fireworks!

Boom! You can see more of the fireworks photographs on my photo blog. So I am finally posting about a recipe that took me years to tackle. Rice noodles soaking in water salted turnip If I don’t have a knock-em-out recipe, then I feel like I’m wasting time making something I won’t be satisfied with. Brown sugar, chili powder, tamarind concentrate, fish sauce the sauce and eggs It took me over two years to finally attempt Pim’s recipe even though I knew it was the winner just from reading it, just from the conviction in her writing. Sautéing the chicken It was fan-freaking-tastic. Orange Chicken.