Some interesting Asian Food Recipes (Part 1)

There are many Asian foods that I like. However, the following Asian recipes I found in the Internet are the two dishes that I think very easy to make yet still tastes delicious. Besides that, they are good for your health as well with the vegetable included. They are Bibimbap, a typical Korean dish with beef, eggs and many different vegetable. Another dish is Summer Roll, a famous street food in Viet Nam. Let's start with Bibimbap!

1.Korean Bibimbap 

Ingredients

Meat and meat sauce

• 100g beef mince
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar - I used brown sugar
• ¼ tsp minced garlic

Vegetables and other

• 200g mildly seasoned spinach
• 350g mildly seasoned bean sprouts - (You don't have to use them up if you think it's too much but I love having lots of vegetables on my Bibimbap!)
• 100g shiitake mushroom
• 120g carrots (1 small)
• 1 tsp ground salt (1/2 tsp each will be used when cooking shiitake mushroom and carrots)
• 3 to 4 serving portions of steamed rice
• 3 or 4 eggs (depending on the serving portion)
• Some vegetable oil to cook the meat, mushroom, carrots and eggs - I use rice bran oil.
• (Optional) Korean seasoned seaweed, shredded (long thin cut)

Bibimbap sauce - The below sauce might be only enough for 3 servings if you like eating it spicy.

• 2 Tbsp gochujang
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp sugar - I used raw sugar
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds
• 1 tsp vinegar - I used apple vinegar
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Instructions

1. Prepare and cook ingredients as below.
   - For meat, mix the beef mince with the meat sauce listed above. (You can leave the marinated meat for about 30 mins while you are working on other ingredients to enhance the flavour.) Add some vegetable oil into a wok and cook the meat on medium high to high heat. It takes about 3 to 5 mins to thoroughly cook it.
   - Spinach and bean sprouts per linked recipe.
   - Clean/rinse the shiitake mushrooms and thinly slice them. Add some vegetable oil and ½ tsp of ground salt in a wok and cook the mushrooms on medium high to high heat until they are all cooked. (It takes 2 to 3 mins.)
   - Rinse, peel and julienne the carrots. Add some vegetable oil and ½ tsp of ground salt in a wok and cook the carrots on medium high to high heat for 2 to 3 mins.
   - Make fried eggs. (While sunny side up is common, you can make them per your preference.)
   - Mix the Bibimbap sauce ingredients in a bowl.
2. Put the rice into a bowl and add the meat, assorted vegetables, seasoned seaweed, egg and the Bibimbap sauce on top of the rice. Serve it.
3. Mix the ingredients well in the bowl and enjoy!

2. Vietnamese Summer Rolls 

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE SUMMER ROLL

½ tsp fish sauce (substitute with soy sauce)

½ tsp freshly grated lemongrass

freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp sugar

24 small sized shrimp, shelled and deveined

6 oz dried rice vermicelli

12 round rice papers (8" diameter)

1 head of butter or Boston Bibb lettuce, leaves separated

1 cup julienned or shredded carrots

½ cup julienned red bell peppers

½ mango, sliced into thin slivers

24 mint leaves

FOR THE CASHEW BUTTER DIPPING SAUCE

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, finely minced (about 3 teaspoons)

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce

3 tablespoons cashew butter

1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the fish sauce, lemongrass, pepper and sugar. Add the shrimp and stir to coat. Marinate shrimp for 10 minutes. In meantime, boil a pot of water. Add vermicelli and cook for 4 minutes. Drain immediately, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Try to remove as much water as possible. Set aside.

Grill the shrimp in a large skillet with 1 tbl cooking oil on high heat until cooked through, about 2 minutes. You could also skewer the shrimp and grill on your outdoor grill. When shrimp is cool enough to handle, bisect each shrimp down the middle of its back so that you have two identical halves of shrimp. This makes the shrimp thin enough to wrap evenly.

Grab a pie plate or rectangular baking dish and fill it with about 1" of warm temperature water. Dip one rice paper round in the dish for a quick 2-seconds. Lift round and let the water drip off. Place on clean, dry work surface. Blot the top of the round with a paper towel. You'll work one roll at a time.

Now it's time to roll. The wrapper will still be a little stiff. By the time you finish piling on the ingredients, it will have softened enough to roll. Lay 4 halves of the shrimp in a line near the bottom 1/3 of the round. Top with some lettuce, vermicelli noodles, carrots, bell pepper, mango, and finishing with 2 mint leaves. Try to keep the ingredients compact and piled on top of the shrimp. Starting with the side closest to you, roll up the roll tight, stopping halfway to gently tug back on the roll to tighten. The wrapper is self-sealing. You can use a sharp knife to cut off the two ends to make it look neater.

Transfer to platter and cover with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Wipe counter or plate dry and repeat with remaining.

Some rice rounds are made thicker than others. If you find your wrapper is a little too stiff by the time you need to wrap, either blot less water off the rice round next time, let it sit for a few seconds before adding ingredients or dip in just slightly warmer water (but not hot!) Just remember to let the water drip off and wipe your working surface dry each time - a dry surface allows the rice paper to stick to the surface and create a little tension so that you can wrap.

Also, I've found it's best to work one roll at a time - since it only takes a few seconds for the rice round to soften, you really aren't saving a lot of time by dipping all your rice rounds at once. In fact, if 2 rounds touch each other - they will stick and you'll have a heck of a time getting them apart without tearing or wrinkling. If you must dip all at once, separate each wet round with a damp paper towel.