This flavorful grilled beef needs to make an appearance on your summertime dinner soon! Literally speaking, bulgogi means “fire meat” in Korean.  You can grill on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle. The thin slices of meat cooks quickly, and it’s so tender. The meat with its delicious glaze is often enjoyed with an addictively tasty dipping sauce.

 Serve 4

650g (1.5 pounds)       sirloin steak, thinly sliced

Marinade sauce

• 2                       spring onions, thinly sliced
• ½                      medium-size yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1                       large Asia pear, core and chopped into cubes
• 2                       garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoons  dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon    sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons     lime juice
• 1 teaspoon       freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons  caster sugar

Dipping sauce

• 1 tablespoon               spring onions, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon             Korean chili powder
• ½ tablespoon              caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon                rice vinegar
• 1 to 1.5 tablespoon     light soy sauce (adjust the quantity to your taste and the sodium level of your soy sauce.)
• 1 teaspoon                  sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon                  sesame seeds, toasted

Method

1. To make the marinade sauce, place the sliced spring onions and yellow onions in a large bowl. Core and chop the Asian pear, being careful to save the juices. Then add into the bowl. Combine rest of the marinade ingredients and mix well.
   

   
2. Tenderize the steak by bashing with a meat mallet or rolling pin – this is optional. Then slice the sirloin steak into bite-size strips. The key here is to slice the meat as thin as possible. Throwing the steak in the freezer for 20-30 minutes helps with this process tremendously. Add the beef pieces to the marinade, stirring to coat them, leave to stand for 30 minutes to 2 hours to allow flavors to permeate and the meat to soften. Do not marinade it too long. The meat will become too salty.
   

   

   
3. Heat a heavy griddle pan or frying pan. Add the beef slices and cook over medium heat. The meat cooks  very quickly, literally in seconds. Once the meat is cooked through, serve immediately with the dipping sauce. Garnish with the sliced green spring onion if necessary.
   

   

The recipe makes a good use of canned or frozen vegetables and dried herbs you would already have in your well-stocked pantry. You can cook a large quantity to make a hearty meal or scoop out a few of those tender and juicy meatballs as your tapas choice.

Serves 3-4

• 350g ground beef
• 1 cup and half (80g) bread crumbs
• 5 tablespoons Freshly grated Parmesan or Manchego Cheese
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 spring onions, minced
• 2 teaspoons, fresh thyme, chopped, or ½ teaspoon, dry Thyme
• ½ teaspoon, Turmeric powder黄姜粉
• 2 large eggs
• Salt and ground black peppercorn for seasoning
• 3 tablespoons             extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 can (400g)                   plum tomato, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons             dry red wine
• 5 tablespoon, fresh basil, roughly chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1 tablespoon, fresh rosemary, roughly chopped, or use 1/3 dried rosemary
• 1 cup, peas, use fresh or frozen ones

Method

1. Combine the beef, bread crumbs, cheese, tomato paste, garlic, spring onions, thyme, turmeric powder, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well. Shape the mixture into 16-18 small meatballs.
   

   
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, Add the meatballs and pan fry browned all over, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the canned tomatoes, wine, basil and rosemary. Simmer gently until the meatballs are cooked and the sauce is reduced. 10-15 minutes. Add the peas, cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.
   

   

   

Pad Thai is such a tasty dish when done right, and it’s something we should be able to make reliably at home. You will want to use a wok that produces high heat to get that elusive wok flavor镬气（huò qì）or 锅气 found on the Thai street food. If you’ve got a bit of spare time, you may want to separate this shrimp pad Thai into two batches to really get the full effect of the Thai street food vendors who make pad Thai to order one serving at a time. Smaller portions, while not always practical, almost always guarantee better results when cooking at home. This Shrimp Pad Thai does require quite a bit of prep work and organization, but once everything is assembled, it really comes together quickly.

Tamarind is widely available in supermarkets. The fruit is a kind of a pod, 12 to 15 cm in length, with a hard, brown shell. The fruit has a fleshy, juicy, acidic and edible pulp. You can easily find canned Tamarind paste in Asia grocery stores. The consumption of tamarind pulp is widespread due to its central role in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, especially Mexico. In Western cuisine, tamarind pulp is found in Worcestershire Sauce and HP Sauce.

Serve 4

• 200g dried pad Thai noodles （thin rice noodles）
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon,  caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons  tamarind paste罗望子膏
• 3 tablespoons  fish sauce鱼露
• 2+2 tablespoons  cooking oil
• 200g                       shrimp, shelled and deveined with tail on
• 1 medium shallot or half of 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tablespoons  salted preserved Chinese turnip or radish, washed in warm water and julienned (optional)
• 2 pieces of extra firm tofu, cut into thin rectangles, 豆腐干
• 2 large eggs
• 2 spring onions cut in inch long pieces
• 1 cup  mung bean sprouts，washed and drained， 豆芽
• 2 tablespoon roasted peanuts, crushed
• For garnishing, use a handful of cilantro leaves, lime, or use banana bud if you are able to find them.

Method

STEP 1

Soak the pad thai noodles in warm water for about 20 minutes, and drain in a colander. If the noodles are in really long strands, you will want to cut them into 10- to 12-inch lengths, or you will end up with a huge noodle ball when cooking. And nobody wants a huge noodle ball.

STEP 2

Let’s prepare the pad thai sauce by combining water, tamarind paste,fish sauce and sugar in a sauce pan, and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes or till the sauce thickens. Transfer to a bowl and put aside.

STEP 3

1. Heat a wok of 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat and sear the shrimp for 1 minute. Remove the shrimp immediately after they’ve gone opaque and are a little golden at the edges, leaving any excess oil in the wok. Set the shrimp aside.
2. In the same wok, add into shallots and garlic over medium high heat and fry till aromatic. Add tofu and turn up the heat to high. Fry for 1 minute.
   

   
3. Time to add the noodles! Add the noodles and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, or until all the ingredients are combined. Pour the pad thai sauce (made in the step 2) mixture over the noodles, and stir fry for 30 seconds or so. Push the noodles to one side of the wok to make way for the eggs. Add two tablespoons of oil to the clear area of the wok. Crack the two eggs in, stir and cook till set. Toss the eggs well with the noodles.
   

   

   
4. Lastly, add the bean sprouts and spring onions. Stir fry everything at high heat until the bean sprouts are just cooked (about 1 to 2 minutes, depending upon how hot your flame can get). Toss in the cooked shrimp, and serve the Shrimp Pad Thai with crushed peanuts. Garnish with cilantro leaves and or/lime. Or even use Banana bud if you are able to find them.
   

   
5. Serve immediately.

Truly miss this spicy, flavorful and delicious Malaysia street food. Fortunately, we can find all the ingredients in the Asian grocery stores here in America. Jarred sambal paste (Malaysia chili paste) is available online or in the grocery store. But this Malaysia chili paste can be quickly made at home.  The sambal paste can go well with other vegetables like asparagus, cucumbers and sweet potato leaves.

Serve 2-4

• 2-3 Asian purple eggplant (about 300g)
• 5 tablespoons       cooking oil 
• 3 tablespoons       Sambal paste (homemade recipe as below)
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked in warm water before use and drain
• ½ teaspoon          brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• ½ teaspoon fresh lime juice

Homemade Sambal Paste叁巴酱

• 8-10 red bird chilies or 4-5 long red chilies
• 1   medium-sized tomato or 3-4 cherry tomatoes (this helps make the paste look red and bright, alternatively, you can use 4-5 red chilies based on your tolerance level of spiciness.)
• 1 tablespoon belacan (Malaysia dry shrimp paste)
• 3 medium-size shallots, peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon, cooking oil
• ½ teaspoon, fresh lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Method

1. Cut the eggplant as you like, add 3 tablespoons of oil, fry until cooked, strain excess oil. 
2. To make the sambal, using a blender, blend together red chilies shallots, garlic, belcacan,  salt, sugar, cooking oil and lime juice.  (add a little bit of water to help the blender motor get going.
   

   
3. In a pan, place 2 tablespoons of oil, add the sambal paste & dried shrimp. Stir-fry over medium heat until sambal is well cooked and oil begins to appear on the surface, take about 5 mins. Sambal is done when the liquid has evaporated & the texture becomes scrambled. Adjust the seasoning, add fish sauce & sugar to taste.
   

   
4. Add the fried eggplant, stir to mix. Cook just shortly and remove from heat. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of lime juice. Serve hot with rice.