Asian Archives - Indu's International Kitchen

Crispy Fish bites (Paleo, Gluten free)

Published on June 4, 2017June 4, 2017 by

I recently started eating Flounder and I love its delicate flavor and its soft, flaky texture. Since it doesn’t have a strong flavor of its own, it can easily take in the flavor of the marinade the you cook it in. So I have been experimenting cooking it with different spices. It tastes great just pan fried by marinating it lightly with cayenne pepper, salt and turmeric. A few weeks ago I decided to make these the same way as the ‘Crispy Chicken Bites’ I make with Indian and Asian flavors. Lots of ginger and garlic, along with cayenne and soy sauce (or coconut aminos). Lightly coated with tapioca starch and pan fried to get crispy, spicy fish nuggets!

So glad I decided to experiment – these crispy fish bites are so tasty! They can be perfect as an appetizer or pair it with a salad like I do for a complete meal. My family also loves to just eat it along side our Indian traditional meal of Rice and Dal.

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Crispy Fish bites (Paleo, Gluten free)

Author:

Recipe type: Appetizer, Main course

Cuisine: Fusion, IndoChinese

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 3-4

Fish filets marinated with the flavors of ginger, garlic and cayenne pepper and coated with tapioca starch and fried to get crispy fish nuggets

Ingredients

1 lb Fish filets, cut into bite size pieces (Use Flounder or any other white fish)

For marinade:

2 tbsp tapioca flour
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder or cayenne pepper( skip for AIP version)
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp fresh ginger and garlic paste (made by crushing equal quantities of fresh ginger and garlic without any water in a mortar pestle or a food processor)
2 tsp coconut aminos or soy sauce (use coconut aminos for paleo)
About 3-4 tbsp coconut oil for shallow frying

Instructions

In a large bowl, add the fish pieces and blot dry using paper towels.
In a small bowl, mix all marinade ingredients and stir using a spoon to form a thick paste.
Add this paste to the bowl with the fish pieces. Mix gently using your hands to coat the fish pieces completely.
Add about 1 tbsp oil at a time in a small frying pan and shallow fry the fish pieces in batches until they are cooked well and crispy on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

Notes

For AIP version, skip cayenne pepper

Asian Style Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings (Paleo friendly)

Published on February 7, 2017March 8, 2017 by

Super Bowl was this past weekend and game night is synonymous with lots of food. This year we hosted the party for our neighborhood friends at our home. Folks signed up to bring different kinds of appetizers and dips. We had a good balance of junk food with healthful foods – grilled vegetables and salads made for a less greasy overall meal! And I decided to make Chicken wings. Since I am on a Paleo diet these had to be strictly paleo with only natural ingredients with no artificial anything!

So I decided to bake the chicken wings asian style! I added kashmiri chilli powder for the heat and used honey for the sweetness. Sesame oil and coconut aminos (soy sauce for non paleo) provided the distinct asian flavors and ginger, garlic provided additional flavors that made these chicken wings unforgettable!

My son called these ‘wickedly insane’ ! I think that translates to ‘fantastic’ in high schooler lingo 🙂 These babies are double baked to give them the extra crispiness and the extra sauce on top makes these simply ‘to die for’!

I am not a big sports fan. Game night is exciting to me only for the company of friends and for the food! However last weekend’s game was pretty exciting …at least the last quarter. And I personally thought it had a good message for everyone in all walks of life. And the message is ‘ Do not give up, ever. Keep positive till the very end and you can indeed turn things around magically if you believe enough in yourself!’

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Asian Style Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings (Paleo friendly)

Author:

Recipe type: Appetizer

Cuisine: Asian

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 40-42 pieces

Delicious, sticky chicken wings marinated in a chill vinegar lemon marinade and double baked to get perfectly crisp on the outside and smothered in a sticky sauce made with honey, soy sauce, red chilli and ginger-garlic.

Ingredients

Chicken wings around 4 lbs or about 40-42 pieces

for the Marinade:

Juice of two lemons abt ½ cup
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp black pepper powder
½ tsp chinese five spice ( optional)
2½ tsp sea salt( 2 tsp if regular salt)
2 tbsp olive oil

for the Sauce:

¾ cup coconut aminos (substitute soy sauce for non paleo)
½ cup orange juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp garlic crushed or finely chopped
2 tbsp ginger finely chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

Pat dry the chicken wings using paper towels to remove any excess water.
Mix all ingredients listed under marinade together in a bowl.
Marinate the chicken wings in the marinade for at least 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to 425 deg F (210 deg C)
Line 2 large trays with Al foil and brush lightly with olive oil.
Place the chicken wings on the tray spread separate from each other.
Bake at 425 deg F for between 20-25 minutes (or until the chicken pieces are cooked). Make sure you don't overcook at this point - the wings should just appear cooked but not turn crispy. remove wings from the oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 deg F (180 deg C)
In a small cooking pot, add all sauce ingredients and cook for about 10-12 minutes until you get a thick sauce. Turn heat off. Keep sauce aside.
Reserve some sauce for dipping and dip each chicken wing into the remaining sauce to coat it completely and again bake them at 350 deg F (180 deg C) for about 10-12 mins until crispy on the outside. Flip the wings once mid-way i.e. at after about 5-6 minutes. (It would be best to arrange the wings over a grilling mesh at this point with a pan under to catch the drippings - see picture below)
Serve warm drizzling the extra sauce over top.

Step wise pictures:

Marinate wings in the chills lemon vinegar marinade for 30-60 minutes.

Cook honey soy chill sesame sauce

Cook marinated wings at 425 deg F for 20-25 minutes on a baking tray

Dip baked wings in honey sauce and place on mesh/grill and over tray and bake again at 350 Deg F for 10-12 minutes flipping them half-way through.

Sweet and Spicy Rice Noodles with vegetables

Published on May 2, 2016March 8, 2017 by

A Japanese meal on a weeknight!: Miso soup, salad with Miso Ginger dressing and Vegetable California rolls

Published on February 20, 2016 by

This Monday night at around 5 PM , my husband and I both look at each other and ask the unspoken question -“What are we doing for dinner?” I think for a few seconds and go ‘let’s make something really good’. The ‘really good’ from me was because I am trying to do vegan for a few weeks (not sure how long I will last). So I say ‘let’s make pooris and potato sabzi’! Poori sabzi is one of my favorite vegetarian meals. Hubby says ‘wonderful, let’s do it’ and he volunteers to make the dough for the pooris while I go for a shower. I come back in 15 minutes to see hubby trying to hide behind the children. Finally he says sheepishly ‘Hon I missed the atta (whole wheat flour) from your grocery list. OK so that was the end of the poori sabzi craving 🙂

So it was after that, that I came up with the idea of going Japanese! In my house this is pretty common- to change directions radically especially when it comes to cooking! Hubby being an expert in sushi, I now volunteered him for making the sushi rolls. And I decided to attempt miso soup and miso ginger dressing. The family has always loved this wonderful miso ginger dressing at our local Japanese restaurant and I always wanted to try and make it at home. So today was going to be the day! I washed and kept the sushi rice in a pot to cook while I googled for a good miso ginger dressing recipe. I short listed three that I liked and then mixed them a little bit to try to mimic the taste of the dressing at our favorite local Japanese place. I had to try mixing and changing proportions a little bit until I came pretty close to the benchmark I had set up for myself! Hmm…darned good I must say!

Next the miso soup was a breeze. Just Add spring onions and tofu to a pot of boiling water. And the mix in the miso along with some kombu pieces. I used sesame garlic tofu and so that additionally also added some flavor to the soup. It came out pretty darned good too.!

Hubby dear did a fabulous job as usual with his vegetable california rolls. I have posted the detailed recipe for making sushi rolls here before. What a team we make! So thus we delivered yet another successful and far from boring weeknight meal that all four of us loved!

So what are you waiting for? Turn your boring weeknight meal to a fabulous, fantastic one by making this meal!

Bringing this fabulous vegetarian Japanese meal to Throwback thursdays this week where my Chicken Curry from last week made it to the Features – Hurray 🙂 Also linking to Fiesta Friday this week. Margy @ La Petite Casserole and Su @ Su’s Healthy Living are the co-hosts at FF this week.

Miso ginger dressing

Servings: Makes about 1 cup
Time: about 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp miso paste

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1″ by 2” piece fresh ginger, peeled

2 small carrots, chopped

Method:

Take all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until you get a smooth creamy mixture.

Miso soup

Servings: Makes 4-5 servings
Time: about 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

5 cups of water

about 1/2 cup chopped scallions (spring onions)

1/2 cup tofu pieces (I used sesame garlic tofu)

4 tbsp miso paste

3-4 kombu pieces

Method:

Boil the water in a cooking pot. Add the scallions and tofu pieces. Cook them for about 2 minutes. Then add the miso paste and the kombu pieces. Turn heat off. Stir well to mix. Serve warm.

Vegetable California Rolls

Check my recipe that I posted for Spicy shrimp Sushi Rolls here for making sushi rolls. Skip the shrimp and only add cucumber and avocado pieces for a vegetarian version.

Nepalese Style Grilled Chicken

Published on December 6, 2014 by

I am often asked how I manage to cook a variety of dishes considering my hectic schedule at work and at home. Well the truth is that trying different recipes is what gets the boredom out of cooking for me and it no longer feels like ‘yet another thing to do’! This past week one evening I came home from work very tired. I made myself a cup of steaming coffee and then sat down browsing the newspaper. Everything else could wait while I enjoyed these few moments of pure indulgence with caffeine! Alas it was short lived since a few minutes later I started wondering what i should be making for dinner. Hmm let’s see … Chicken seemed like a good option since cooking chicken would also take care of lunches the next day as I could easily make chicken wraps with the left over chicken pieces. So chicken it was going to be! I took out the chicken from the freezer and left it in the kitchen sink to thaw. I then drifted over to my recipe book shelf and started browsing ‘Mangoes and Curry leaves’, one of my favorite cookbooks to look for any unusual chicken recipes. ‘Nepali grilled chicken’ with its tomato marinade piqued my interest and seemed like an easy recipe too. I had never ever tried chicken marinated in tomato juice but I could almost taste the tangy marinade with the tomato and lime. The original recipe did not have any heat in it but the ‘Indian’ in me had to add red chili and black pepper to it! But you can skip them if you so desire -I am sure it will taste great even without the heat! I grilled them in the oven and the chicken came out perfect – a little crispy on the outside and soft and tender inside. Not very much unlike tandoori chicken – a reddish color without the addition of any synthetic color! How wonderful! I decided to also make a quick sweet and sour dip with the left over marinade which was good but we just loved eating the chicken with rice and dal. 🙂 I am bringing this yummy chicken dish to Fiesta Friday #45 this week! Let’s party and check out what others brought! 🙂

Nepalese Style Grilled Chicken

Servings: About 4-6 servings as an appetizer or a side dish
Time: About 30 minutes for prep and cooking time and up to 2 hours for marination
Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

3 lbs or about 1 1/2 kg chicken pieces (thigh pieces or you can use drumstick pieces too)

Olive oil for brushing

For the marinade

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or tomato puree

1 1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chilli powder (add more if you like hot)

about 1 by 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger (about 1 tbsp minced ginger)

8 garlic cloves

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

8-10 blackpepper corns (optional)

1 1/2 tsp salt (or per taste)

1/4 cup olive oil

Method: Wash the chicken pieces (cutting them into desired size) and pat dry using a paper towel. In a blender or food processor, grind all the marinade ingredients except the oil into a smooth paste. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the oil and mix well to blend. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl with the marinade and mix well to coat all the pieces well. Keep aside for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Turn the oven on broil setting and take a large tray and line with Al foil. Spray the foil lightly with cooking spray. Place the chicken pieces on the foil and with a brush dab a little bit of oil over the chicken pieces. Reserve the marinade for the dip. Place the tray (uncovered) on the top shelf above 5-7 inches away from the broiler flame. Broil for about 5-7 minutes. Take the tray out and flip the pieces using a pair of tongs. Lightly dab with oil again on this side and again place tray in theoven for another 5-7 minutes until you see slight char on the pieces. Take the pieces out of the oven and immediately cover with Al foil. Serve hot with onion slices and lime wedges For the dip: I heated the marinade in a small pan and added some brown sugar to add some sweetness and cooked it for about 5-6 minutes till thick.