Asian Ginger Dressing

Asian Ginger Dressing
Once you start making your own salad dressings...you'll start to wonder why you ever bought the bottled ones! You can save your store bought jars or just use a pint size Mason jar. (Thats what I do.) Homemade dressings can also be made at a fraction of the cost with premium ingrediants and freshness; And the best part is that they tend to help you eat more glorious greens and raw veggies! This is one of my favorites and it always gets rave reviews.

This dressing has many flavors coming through it, with ginger only being one...you don't have to be a "ginger lover" to really appreciate this dressing. This is also tasty as a merinade for chicken, or used to dress cole slaw (instead of the typical white sauce).

3 cloves of Garlic, minced
2T minced fresh Gingerroot
1/2C Olive Oil
1/4C Dark Sesame Oil*
1/3C Rice Vinegar
1/4C Soy Sauce***
3T raw Honey**
1/4C Water

Put all ingrediants in a pint jar and mix.

Shake before serving. Makes 20 servings - store in fridge.

*There are two kinds of sesame oil, dark and light. The dark is a very dark brown in color and this is used to flavor dishes. It is rich and delicious. Light sesame oil is a shade similar to other typical cooking oils and has a slight sesame flavor, but used more as a cooking oil (much like olive oil or grapeseed, etc) because the flavor is very subtle. There is a big difference in how it affects your recipe's flavor.

**If your honey is cold and thick, just add hot water in the recipe to disolve than mix. Let it cool.

***I use Bragg's Liquid Aminos

For a large selection of delicious salad dressings, visit A Dressing a Day Challenge

Crockpot Fried Rice or Quinoa

This recipe can be increased 4x to fill a large (5-6qrt) crockpot. It is a quick and easy way to use up leftover rice.

2C leftover, cooker rice or quinoa

3T butter

2T soy sauce (or Braggs Liquid Aminos)

2tsp Worchestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 onion, diced

1C frozen or left over veggies

leftover cooker meat (optional)

1 egg, beaten

seasame seeds for garnish when serving

Put all ingrediants in the crock, stir well to combine.

Cook on High 2-3 hours

Low 3-4 hours

I am pretty sure I got this recipe from http://www.crockpot365blogspot.com/ a while back. Its a winner.

Mongolian Beef - Crock

This is a family favorite. We love Chinese food, so I am always looking for recipes to make at home. If I achieve this in the crock pot, that is a BONUS! This is one of the recipes. Because we use lean grass fed beef, the slow cooking it real benefit because like venison it is a leaner meat that really works best when marinated or slow cooked for many of the cuts. We double this recipe.

1/4C cornstarch

1.5 lb beef, sliced into thin strips

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp dr. onion

1/2C Tamari Sauce (I use Braggs Liquid Aminos)

1/4C white wine (I have used both dry and sweet, both are good, sweet is better)

1/4C sherry (or red Chinese wine if you are lucky enough to have a source!)

1.5 tsp white wine vinegar

1tsp sesame oil

1tsp molasses

1tsp dr. ginger + (If you have grated fresh, use 1-2 T instead. This is my preference.)

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp dr. red pepper flakes

1.5 tsp peanut butter

3T maple sugar (rapedura, sucanat or brown sugar)

8 green onions, chopped to garnish at the end (Or 1 large onion, cut into large pieces thrown in the pot to cook with th rest of the stuff.)

1. Put meat strips in a ziplock bag with cornstarch and toss to coat well and set aside.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients in the crockpot.
3. Put the coated meat in the crock and toss gingerly to coat with the sauce.

Cook on Low for 4-6 hours

Served over rice, or noodles. I like to serve a green veggie with it like brocc, peas, greens or green beans.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

This was a delicious recipe I got from my friend Dawn J. SOOO Yummy; It's now a family favorite!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Sauce: (premix in small bowl and set aside)
3T grated fresh Ginger
2T Tamari (Soy Sauce)
1T Rice Vinegar
1T Rice Wine
1T Lemon Juice
1T Rapedura (Sucanaut)
1/3 tsp dr. garlic powder

The Wrap/Salad:
Coconut Oil
2# ground turkey (or gr beef)
2 carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, diced
2C water chestnuts, sliced
4 green onions, sliced (or dr. chives)
2 dozen large lettuce leaves (or spring roll wrappers or cabbage leaves)

1. Brown meat in skillet w/ oil, than add carrot; cook a few more minutes.
2. Add peppers; cook unitl desired tenderness (crisp tender preferred)
3. Add sauce and water chestnuts, cook about 2 minutes more.
4. Serve with large lettuce leaves as wraps or on a bed of lettuce like a salad.

* May sub any meat, vegies, tofu or tvp
* May stretch by adding in cooked rice at the end or serving with rice or other grain.
* Mat sub 1T each of Rice wine and Rice vinegar for 2T Ricewine Vinigar.. In a pinch you could sub white vinegar and white wine...but it won't be as good. :-)

The Delightful Flavor of Fresh Ginger

Here are few delicious recipes to get you started using fresh ginger or add to your list of favorites. You can find it in the produce section of most grocery stores. It is a tan colored root. You can just break off a small piece of it, than peel the paper like skin off with a veggie peeler (like you would a potato or carrot) than grate it with a hand grater or a food chopper or a sharp knife. (I like to use a micro plane) Fresh Ginger is a lively addition to so many dishes and is so good for you! It also comes pre-minced in a tube which is very handy and keeps longer, so you can have it on hand. Fresh ginger tastes different than dried. It is sweeter and lighter, where as the dried is stronger and spicer.

Ginger Carrot Salad
This was a yummy salad that I whipped up when my husband's family was visiting. We had been hiking the property and enjoying the spring weather when I realized I had not given lunch a thought and I had 12 people who's hunger was quickly mounting. The measurments here are a guess, because I just tossed it together and gave it the "finger test". I suggest you do the same. :-) (I am cutting it in half for the blog, so I am going to say it will feed 6 people as a side dish.) We served this beside and inside turkey wraps (with sweet pea sprouts). It was quite good!

1lb bag Carrots, shredded (I used baby carrots)
1-2 Apples, chopped (I used pink lady, but gala, braeburn or fuji would be very similar.) No need to peel.
a hand full of Raisins
2-3 tsp fresh Ginger
about 2-3T Mayonaise
juice of 1 Lime
1-2 T raw Honey

Mix it all together and serve immediatly.

(This gets soupy as it sits so it is best assembled and eaten immediatly for maximum freshness. If you want to make it ahead, shred your carrots, chop apples and squeeze the lime over them and toss to keep the apple from oxydizing; than add the raisins. Mix the sauce seperatly and store it in a jar. Toss together right before serving.)
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Asian Ginger Dressing
Once you start making your own salad dressings...you'll start to wonder why you ever bought the bottled ones! You can save your store bought jars or just use a pint size Mason jar. (Thats what I do.) Home made dressings can also be made at a fraction of the cost with premium ingrediants and freshness; And the best part is that they tend to help you eat more glorious greens and raw vegies! This is one of my favorites and it always gets rave reviews.

This dressing has many flavors coming through it, with ginger only being one...you don't have to be a "ginger lover" to really appreciate this dressing. This is also tasty as a merinade for chicken, or used to dress cole slaw (instead of the typical white sauce).

3 cloves of Garlic, minced
2T minced fresh Gingerroot
1/2C Olive Oil
1/4C Dark Sesame Oil*
1/3C Rice Vinegar
1/4C Soy Sauce
3T raw Honey**
1/4C Water

Put all ingrediants in a pint jar and mix.

Shake before serving. Makes 20 servings - store in fridge.

*There are two kinds of sesame oil, dark and light. The dark is a very dark brown in color and this is used to flavor dishes. It is rich and delicious. Light sesame oil is a shade similar to other typical cooking oils and has a slight sesame flavor, but used more as a cooking oil (much like olive oil or grapeseed, etc) because the flavor is very subtle. There is a big difference in how it affects your recipe's flavor.
**If your honey is cold and thick, just add hot water in the recipe to disolve than mix. Let it cool.
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Maple Salmon with Pinapple Sauce
This is a recipe I got from Beth Holland (Bread for Life, cookbook series). My husband doesn't care for salmon, but he actually raves about this dish and asks for seconds. He said it beats any resturaunt he has ever tried.

(serves 4)

1 Salmon Side

Marinade:
1T Maple Syrup
1T Garlic Teriyaki Sauce (or regular teriyaki with 1 tsp fresh minced garlic)
1T Pineapple Juice
1tsp Fresh Ginger

Sauce:
1C Pinapple Chuncks
1tsp Honey
1/2-1tsp salt

• Mix marinade.



• Put Salmon in zip lock or dish and pour in marinade. Let sit in fridge for 1 to 24 hours.



• Prepare sauce by cooking all ingrediants in a small sauce pan on low for about 5 minutes. Serve cool or warm in a seperate ramican (side dish).



• Bake, broil or grill salmon about 3-4 minutes on each side.

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Miscellanious Ginger Tip: Use crystalized ginger to sweeten your brewed tea. It is soothing to the digestive tract and very pleasing to the pallet!

Asian Meals - Fried Rice

2 eggs
1T butter
1 onion, chopped
3T oil
1c peas
1c corn
1 carrot, grated
1 tsp sugar
1T fish sauce
2T soy sauce
4c cold cooked rice (leftover)

• Scramble egg in butter and set aside.
• In dutch oven saute onion in oil
• Add veggies and cook 3 minutes
• Add sugar and sauces
• Add rice, mix in and cook 5 minutes more, stirring.
• Top with cooked egg.

Serves about 8

Asian Meals- Sesame Noodles

This dish is delicious served warm or fridge cold. This is great summer or make-ahead dish of Thai influence. It's one of our favorite warm weather lunches and often serve it to friends who come over for a play date. I often sub veggies with what I have on hand and it is always good!

1 lb Soba Noodles (thick spaghetti works well!)
1/4C soy sauce (I use Braggs Liquid Aminos)
1/4C maple syrup
3T dark sesame oil
2T dr. chives
1 1/2T sesame seeds
1tsp onion powder
S & P to taste
1/2C diced or shredded coconut
1/2C cashews finely chopped
1C bean sprouts or other veggie

Cook noodles and run cold water over top to cool. Put noodles and veggies in a bowl and set aside.

Mix sauce ingredients together and poor over noodles and veggies and toss.

Asian Meals - Orange Beef Stir Fry

This recipe was the start of my love for recreating Chinese Food at home. So often Chinese restuarants use premade sauces they purchase from resturany supply companies and slap the dishes together in the back like fast food. These sauces have all kinds of dies and preservatives in them. Of course it doesn't have to be that way! That is not how millions of Chinese momma's cook, they do it from scratch with items form the local market. That is what I wanted to do! (In PA I had the luxury of a Asian Market, which I do not any here, but many things can be gotten or made from ingrediants that you can find or sub.) We were spoiled in San Francisco by REAL Asian food, the variety and styles from differnt regions are unbelievable. SF is the best place in America to samplea wide variety of Asian fare! (Even better than NYC in my opinion! I've spent time in both places.) Anyway.....Back to this recipe - You can easily sub chicken or Tofu for the beef. Serve over brown rice with either steamed brocc, peas, green beans, or sliced red or gr. bell peppers. Serves 6.

2lbs (or 3C) flank steak sliced thinly against the grain.
1T oil
1/2 tsp + fresh ginger chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, crushed

*Brown the meat together with the ingrediants above, then set aside and keep warm.

Sauce
1c orange juice
1c broth
1/4c maple sugar, rounded. (you may use brown sugar)
3T soy sauce
1T fr. ginger, chopped
1T fr. garlic, minced
1T+ corn starch
pinch of cayenne
pinch of dr. red pepper flakes (to taste)

* Mix sauce together and pour into beef skillet, bring to boil and until thickened. Add meat and toss to coat. Serve over steamed brown rice.

Asian Meals - Bourban Chicken

I am especially excited about this one, because it is an "original". (However the photo is not. I use brown rice!!) This sauce would also be delicious with Tofu or Beef. Enjoy.

Sauce
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2- 1T fresh ginger
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2C apple juice (or water)
1/3C soy sauce
1/2C bourbon
3/4C + - maple sugar
2T of tomato paste or ketchup
1T apple cider vinegar
1T +- cornstarch

* Mix the above ingredients and set aside.

2 lbs boneless skin less chicken breast, cut into thin strips
oil

* Put oil in skillet and cook chicken, allowing it to form some brown crusties on the shillet if you can.
*Add sauce to cooked met in skillet. Bring to a boil, let simmer to blend ingredients and cook off the alcohol.

Serve over rice with steamed broccoli.
Serves 6-8

*If you don't want to use bourbon you could try cutting the ginger and garlic in half and double the juice.

Asian Meals - Pineapple Chicken

Pineapple Chicken
This is a large dish that serves 8. You need a big skillet to accomidate. You can cut it in half, but keep in mind left overs are tasty! :-)

Marinade
1/4C cornstarch
1/3C oil
1/2C soy sauce
2T sherry
Salt and pepper to taste
5-6 pounds of chicken, cut into pieces

• Mix marinade and pour over chicken pieces and marinate for 30 min+.


• Prepare Sauce by mixing the following ingrediants, and set aside: 2T oil, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1C pineapple juice, 1/4C sherry


• Time to cook: Drain marinade from chicken into the prepared suace and set aside, again.


• Heat skillet with 1/4 C oil and brown chicken for about 5 min. Add 1C pinapple chunks, turn down heat, cover and simmer for 12 min.


• Spoon out chicken and pinappel pieces and keep warm.


• Pour sauce in skillet and bring to a boil and simmer a couple minutes, then pour over chicken and serve.

Serve over rice. (Brown Jasmine rice is especially good.)