Spicy Miso Chicken Katsu Ramen

This recipe has been passed along time and time again. My sister's friend shared it with her, she shared it with our mom, and my mom shared it with me. It's a quick and easy dinner option you can make in under an hour.

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Mongolian Beef

Mongolian beef is an easy weeknight dinner that tends to be a crowd pleaser. The ingredients are easy to find and the flavor is fantastic. Leftovers reheat well, and I have even frozen this when I have made too much for grab and go lunch options later in the month. Serve with rice or noodles.

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Rotisserie Chicken Thai Curry

There are times when a rotisserie chicken, or leftover chicken, makes for delicious leftovers. This recipe is one of those times. Personally, I don't like rotisserie chicken on day 2, but if it's made like this recipe, you'll wish you had more chicken to use up. You can use this recipe as a guide and use whatever vegetables you have at home.

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Sheet Pan Szechuan Chicken and Brussels Sprouts

Once I discovered how easy sheet pan dinners are, I've added a couple more to my rotation. This one is the newest addition and is just as easy as the rest. The flavor is fantastic and with a little planning ahead, makes for a quick dinner.

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Vegetarian Asian Noodle Salad

My office recently had a potluck and I often struggle whit finding out the best options to bring to these. There are always too many appetizers and dessert, so my aim is usually for something a bit heartier. Since I don't own a crock pot, I am limited to cold options. I decided and Asian noodle salad would be a great option. These are best served cold so it makes the perfect potluck menu item. I kept this dish vegetarian so that everyone could enjoy it. You can make this a day ahead and just mix it before serving it the following day.

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Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

My sister first made this soup a couple of years ago and my whole family loved it. It has been on rotation ever since then and is an easy, delicious Thai inspired soup. Your can make this recipe even simpler by using rotisserie chicken instead of cooking chicken yourself. This recipe and be adjusted to suit your flavor preferences and will still be great! We've had version with less chilies and have had to omit the fish sauce as well for dietary restrictions. Any way we've had it, this soup does not fail and the leftovers are just as great as day 1. My photos don't do this justice as I skipped the garnishes this time around, but trust me, this is delicious!

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Chopped Thai Salad with Curry Coconut Dressing

Without realizing it, I have been on an Asian-inspired food kick lately. I've been making spring rolls and dumplings and noodles and have been loving all of them. I found this recipe and though it would make a great, hearty salad. I made a few small changes to the original recipe based on my preferences (I don't love kale when baby kale or a delicate lacinato kale aren't available). I also tried this recipe with almonds and almond butter instead of peanuts and peanut butter and it was still delicious. If you know someone with a peanut allergy, the almond substitution is very good. If you have leftovers, these will still be good on day 2.

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Spicy Thai Noodles with Zucchini and Mushrooms

 

One of the easiest dinners to make is a quick noodle stir fry style meal. This dish is delicious and comes together very quickly for an easy weeknight dinner. Feel free to add your favorite protein to this dish if you're not a big fan of vegetarian dishes. I love this version and you can always add another egg to make it heartier. This is great fresh from the pan, or can be warmed up the next day. Feel free to adjust the seasoning to your liking. I like to add cilantro and peanuts, as well as use 1/5 tablespoon of chili garlic sauce in the sauce.

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Chinese Style Chicken Dumplings

I am a huge fan of all things dumplings and dim sum. I could eat my weight in dim sum on a regular basis, I love it that much. For some reason I had never tried making my own dumplings, but now that I have I don't think I am stopping any time soon. These dumplings are really easy to make (though they do take some time) and I was beyond happy with the end result. Serve these with a little soy dipping sauce and you are good to go! I made these for dinner, along with a salad, and it was a great meal. For wrapping the individual dumplings, I followed this YouTube tutorial, which was simple and easy to follow. I used coconut aminos in this recipe since one of the guinea pigs trying these dumplings has a soy allergy. This is a very easy swap and it still tasted great.

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Soba Noodle Salad with Citrus and Soy Dressing

My office was having a potluck, which is fun and great, but I sometime don't know what to bring to these events. It's almost impossible to warm anything up, so I tend to aim for some sort of cold dish. This year I decided to make soba noodles since we already had an abundance of green and kale salads. This recipe was quick and easy and the dish was a hit. I made everything ahead, packed the cut veggies and garnish in individual containers and mixed in the veggies right before everyone went to the buffet, topping the dish off with cilantro and sesame seeds.

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Quick and Easy Miso Soup

My friends and I have started a tradition where we have make-your-own sushi night. I tend to host them at my place and I usually have some appetizers ready to go since the sushi rolling process can be time consuming. One thing that I have made for each night is this miso soup. It's so simple and you can flavor it to your liking very easily. When I first made this I couldn't believe how easily it came together. I did have to go to an Asian grocery to find some of the ingredients (like the seaweed and the Japanese style bouillon). Once you have the basic ingredients on hand this soup is very easy make a second time. Enjoy this with some homemade spicy tuna rolls of Japanese style ginger and carrot dressed salad.
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Spicy Tuna Rolls

My friends and I decided to have a homemade sushi night after 2 of them took a sushi making course. We are all sushi making novices, so our rolls were not necessarily the most beautiful. But they tasted delicious and we came up with some fun variations. Our one friend was the sushi master as he had the most experience and he helped us all create our rolls. These spicy tuna ones were a huge hit. We made them plain and some with finely sliced avocado on top. The spicy may is a great addition to the roll and I would suggest making it along with these rolls.

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Japanese Style Carrot and Ginger Dressing

I have always loved Japanese carrot and ginger salad dressing, but until now had never thought of making it at home. Turns out it is very easy to make and tastes delicious. I served this for some friends a few weeks ago and the salad was devoured. You need to double the recipe if you want to serve more than 3 to 4 people.

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Thai Chicken with Basil and Red Peppers

I love Thai cooking, especially meals like this which are simple to make and come together quickly. The first time I made this I was pleasantly surprised as to how easily the dish came together and how good it tasted even though I had to make do without some ingredients. I didn't have fish sauce, dark soy sauce, or peanut oil at the time so I made some potentially questionable substitutions and still loved the dish. The one thing you cannot skip is the basil. This dish revolves around basil and without it would lack a lot of flavor. Serve the dish over rice for a simple meal.

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Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry

The other day I realized I had 2 bell peppers sitting in the fridge next to a jar of hoisin sauce and realized it was time for a stir fry. This recipe is pretty easy and doesn't require too much effort. If you want more sauce, add a little bit of water towards the end of cooking, or proportionally increase the ingredients in the hoisin sauce mixture.

Serve this with plain rice and you have a complete meal. You can use different vegetables if desired or make this vegetarian as well. The recipe can be easily adjusted to your liking.

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Hoisin Cocktail Meatballs

I sometime find it really hard to come up with appetizer ideas. I think I rotate the same few ideas and realized that lately I'm tired of those. Recently one of my friends just moved and had a housewarming party where everybody brought an appetizer/finger food. I wanted to make something new and began looking around. I knew I wanted to make meatballs of some sort, but didn't want your classic Italian style option.

I came across this recipe after looking through many, many Asian meatball ideas. I knew I wanted to serve them with a sauce, which surprisingly is not included in many recipes. I also knew that I didn't want to do anything too complicated or with too many ingredients I didn't already have. All I can say is that these meatballs are pretty amazing. This was one of the first dishes to be eaten at the party. Some people didn't even notice the sauce next to them and still loved them. I personally find that the sauce makes these meatballs. It would also make a great marinade if you have some leftover (which I did). If you want, you could even chop in come hot peppers or Thai chilis for an added kick.

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Meat and Vegetable Stir Fry with Sherry

Why does this stir fry have such a vague name? Because you can use veal, beef, or pork as the meat in this recipe. Just choose whichever your prefer. This stir fry recipe is a great way to learn how to make a basic, easy stir fry. The sauce is one you can use with any combination of veggies and meat and once you have the sauce ingredients in your fridge and pantry, this becomes a quick, easy weeknight dinner. Leftover tastes great too, so I always make a generous portion and count on leftovers.

I enjoy serving this over rice to soak up the delicious sauce. I'm sure it would be great over a variety of grains, but I am pretty boring when it comes to that and enjoy jasmine or basmati rice with my stir frys. Don't take the ingredient list too seriously when it comes to the veggies. Use what you have or like and leave out what's not available. I added more veggies than the original recipe calls for since I love stir fried veggies. I've made this with veal and beef and both have turned out great (sadly, it's almost easier to find veal than beef in Switzerland).

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Peanut and Sesame Noodles

I know I have more than enough Asian noodle dishes on this blog, but I keep coming across new ones that are also great, so you can take your pick. I chose this recipe since I actually had all the ingredients for the sauce in my pantry. Usually I find an Asian recipe and realize that I'm missing some key component and then opt against making it. This is a really easy noodle dish. It makes a great lunch if you have any leftovers as well.

In this recipe, the veggies are quickly cooked with the boiling pasta so that they are crisp tender. I often just use raw veggies in an Asian noodle salad, but decided to give this method a try. I actually liked the result, but you need to be careful to not overcook the veggies. If you are hesitant at all, just use raw peppers, carrot, cucumbers, or any other veggie you like in an Asian noodle dish.

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Stir Fried Beef with Bell Peppers and Snow Peas

I remember when I was visiting my sister this past Spring and found this recipe in her collection of Fine Cooking Magazines. OK, it's not really a collection, but I had never heard of Fine Cooking Magazine and I decided to go through about 6 months worth of recipes. Even after reading tons of recipes, this one stuck out. Based on the ingredients, I knew I'd love it, but I wasn't so sure about the other people I was cooking for. My grandma tends to prefer basic comfort foods and my sister is not crazy about spicy food, but I made it anyway. As it turns out, everyone loved it.

Ever since making this stir fry, I have been dreaming about it. As usual, I cannot find some of the key ingredients in my little village (nor in the nearby larger town). I'm getting hungry as I am writing this post, and realize that I cannot wait to go back to the States and live off of various homemade Asian dishes during my first week there. This one will definitely be high on the list. The leftovers taste great too, so I may even add a bit more of everything when I make this next. If you don't eat beef, this would taste great with tofu or just a mix of various veggies. The sauce is delicious, so try not to skip those ingredients. If you don't have flank steak, use what you have on hand. I used a pack of sliced rump steak and found that it worked well, though the meat would probably be even more tender from a different cut.

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Quinoa Noodle and Vegetable Salad

During the summer, Asian noodle salads are a great dinner option. I already have a few different variations of this dish on my blog (like Asian Beef and Noodle Salad and Soba Noodles with Fresh Vegetables), but I can't seem to get enough it. It is such a fresh and light meal, but I generally end up eating about 3 plates full since it's so good. Yes, I love it that much. Another plus side is that these kinds of salads make great leftovers. Possibly one of the best lunches is a cold bowl of leftover Asian noodle salad. Just be warned, the noodles can be extremely slippery, so don't make this if you're trying to impress someone with your table manners.

When it comes to the veggies in this dish, use whatever you like. If I could have found sprouts at the market, I would have thrown them in. I also would have loved to add peanut or cashew pieces to this, but of course didn't have those either. Baby corn or snow peas would have tasted great in here as well. For the pasta, I used quinoa pasta. Never tried it? It tastes almost exactly like regular pasta, so you won't notice the difference, but it is made from a protein rich grain. If you could care less about the health factor of your pasta, use linguine or spaghetti.

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