This is a fun post for all of you out there looking to make some yummy and AUTHENTIC Asian food! No measuring cups or recipes needed--just real, fresh ingredients...and three flavorful sauces.
It's true. Simple, real dishes. Feel free to try your hand at these two dishes that I love to make. First, the classic stir fry--an endless colorful combination of meats and vegetables. Stir fry is so versatile and yummy that I actually cook it at least once a week. Second, super flavorful and healthy lettuce wraps. And easy! (That's my favorite part because, as we all know, this white girl was raised on tuna casserole so this cuisine doesn't come that natural to me. By the way, your casserole rocks, Mom!)
But before I go any further with those dishes, you need, need, NEED to have these three sauces, which you can get in the Asian aisle at the grocery store.
Soy Sauce: any brand will do; however, I use the Golden Mountain Soy Sauce, which can only be found at an Asian grocery store. But its flavor is unbeatable!
Fish Sauce: If you're not a fishy person, not to worry! This sauce will
not make your food taste like fish. It's super salty and flavorful, and a staple in Asian cuisine, especially Southeast Asia. It's made from fermented anchovies. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that. Heck, it will enhance your food so much you won't even care.
Oyster Sauce: another title that might make you squeamish, but this stuff goes in ev-er-y-thing. If you can't cook with this stuff, you might as well just kiss your authenticity (and flavor) good bye. Another reminder: this does not taste like oysters.
Now to the fun stuff! Measuring not necessary!
Stir FryGet a wok or dutch oven hot with a few glugs of olive oil. Meanwhile, thinly slice about a pound of beef. (I like the carne asada style beef.) Cut up some asparagus and tomatoes into large chunks. Slice up some red onion.
Get your condiments ready because the frying part goes fast: oyster sauce, soy sauce, black pepper, sugar.
Add the beef to the hot oil and stir for about one minute. Don't overcook the beef unless you want to eat rubber for dinner. Blech. Add a few good glug glugs of oyster sauce and a few glugs of soy sauce. Add a few pinches of sugar and a good grinding of black pepper. Stir it up well. (This should all be done in the first minute while your beef is cooking up.)
Toss in the veggies and stir around until the veggies begin to tenderize. (about a few minutes) Don't overcook the veggies. You want some texture there, not mushy veggies with rubber meat.
Taste! Too sweet? Add some soy sauce. Too salty? Add more sugar. Too bland? Add more oyster sauce.
Serve with steamy jasmine rice. The cool thing about this dish is that you can vary it up-pork, shrimp, beef, whatever floats your boat. And use the veggies
you like.
Delicious.
Lettuce Wraps
You need: a can of water chestnuts chopped up finely. 1 lb. of ground pork. cilantro. onion, diced. garlic, chopped.
Get a dutch oven hot with oil. Add in some freshly chopped garlic (to your taste) and fry up for about 30 seconds. Stir constantly so you don't burn the garlic. Add the ground pork. Let that all cook up. When pork is no longer pink, add a few glugs of oyster sauce and a few glugs of fish sauce. Add a few pinches of sugar and some freshly ground black pepper. Incorporate.
Toss in your chopped water chestnuts and diced onion (any color). Let that fry up together until onions are slightly tender.
TASTE! Too bland? Add more oyster sauce. Too salty? Add more sugar. Too sweet? Add more fish sauce.
Turn off the heat. Add lots of frehly chopped cilantro. Spoon into fresh, crispy, whole romaine leaves. Yummy and authentic!
**Just a reminder: you'll notice that salt is not needed in either of these dishes, so just keep it in the cabinet. The fish sauce and soy sauce are very salty by themselves. But lots of freshly ground black pepper is a good thing. :)
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