January—Asian Food

Delicious, delicious, delicious. A great group of sisters from the ward enjoyed unbelievable bounty of the Asian variety tonight. Among all the noodles and rice, however, everyone was most blown away by April's homemade mochi ice cream balls! See the recipes below...and join us in February for the Jello cook-off!

Pad Thai

Pad Thai
(from Lemon Grass restaurant in SLC; makes 1-2 servings)
4 ounces long, thin rice noodles
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. fresh garlic, diced
1 tsp. sweet radish, diced (optional)
1/4 lb. shrimp or chicken
1 egg, beaten
3 T wine vinegar (you can use rice vinegar)
3 T. fish sauce
3 T. water
Hot pepper to taste
1 tsp. smoked or plain tofu, crumbled
1/2 tsp. shrimp paste with soya bean oil, optional (this can be found at any Asian market; it is a Thai product)
1 c. bean sprouts
2-3 green onions, sliced into 2 in. pieces
2 T. freshly roasted and ground peanuts
Garnish with lime wedges
Soak the rice noodles in water until flexible and soft, about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Combine vinegar, fish sauce, water, pepper tofu, and shrimp paste in a bowl and set aside.
Heat wok or large frying pan and coat with vegetable oil. Add garlic and sweet radish to pan. Cook until garlic becomes fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add chicken or shrimp to pan and cook through. Stir in egg and cook until dry. Add noodles and liquid mixture. Stir fry until noodles have absorbed the liquid. Add bean sprouts, green onions, and peanuts. Toss briefly and remove from heat. Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Spring rolls with Shrimp

Rice paper wrappers

Cooked shrimp

Raw vegetables of your choice (in these: green onions, cucumber, red pepper, chopped spinach)

Directions: soften rice paper wrappers in a bowl of water for 15-20 seconds (will still be somewhat firm). Line up shrimp and sliced veggies. Fold ends of paper and roll up spring roll like a burrito. Serve with peanut sauce.

For peanut sauce, heat the following ingredients on the stovetop:

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon hot sauce

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Sushi (with cooked fish)

Nori rice papers

Cooked brown or white rice (mixed with a little sugar and a little rice vinegar)

Lightly smoked salmon

Crab meat mixed with mayo and sriracha sauce

Sliced vegetables such as cucumber, carrots, avocado

Directions: spread rice over one half of nori, top with salmon or crab, then with veggies. Roll nori into a log, seal with water. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in warm water between cuts if things get sticky.

Hmong chicken

Arrange chicken thighs in a 9x13 pan. Dot with butter and bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Drain and brush both sides with oyster sauce.

Mochi stawberry ice cream balls

Mochi Ice Cream Recipe (with pictures and instructions from www.japaneseicecream.blogspot.com)

Sweet rice powder 50g
Sugar 100g
Water 100ml
Ice cream 150-200g
Cornstarch as needed

1 spread cornstarch onto a cutting board (use plenty so the mochi dough does not stick to the cutting board)

2 Place the sweet rice powder into a bowl, glass is best, and add the water little at a time until it is mixed well. Then add the sugar and mix it well again.

3 Next, cover the bowl with plastic food wrap (leave a breather gap) and cook in the microwave - medium for 2 minutes. Mix with a wooden spoon (dip it in water) and cook for around one more minute.

4 You can tell the dough is ready when it turns shiny and smooth.

5 Dip your spoon in water then spread the sweet rice dough onto the cutting board as flat as possible. Remember the dough is hot so take care.

6 Cover the dough with corn starch and then flip it over. Then pull and stretch the edges and make the dough thinner.

7 Keep pulling and stretching until the dough is around 2 or 3 millimetres thin.

8 Leave to cool a little and when the dough is cool enough, cut it into rounds , use a bowl for the size.

9 You are left with nice round mochi sheets.

10 To freeze the dough, cover each layer of mochi sheet with plastic wrap and dusted with cornstarch then put it into the freezer.

11 Put the ice cream onto the centre of the mochi sheet. For a nice round mochi use an ice cream scoop. Mmm, strawberry.

12 Fold and join the edges and then back in the freezer until it’s eating time!

This is how your mochi ice cream should look, Strawberry and Green Tea Mochi. It's best to eat these when they're slightly thawed, or else it's like biting into a little ball of rock and we all know that would be no fun:)

TIP, you can use a mochi ice cream container ( the tray from mochi you have bought in a store) to help form the shape .

Mochi Ice cream balls