Gluten-Free Kung Pao Shrimp
an incredibly quick and simple meal to make, this kung pao shrimp is sweet, salty, sour and spicy, with a distinctive ma-la / 麻辣 (numbing hot) sensation from the sichuan peppercorns. I’ve toned down the quantity of it in this version as I don’t like it to overpower.
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Chicken and Squash Panang Curry (w/ Vegan Substitutes)
your mind will be blown the first time you make fresh curry paste. pounding each ingredient in the mortar and pestle and smelling the wafting perfumes that are released is absolutely intoxicating. even if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, the satisfaction of making fresh curry paste from your food processor, blender, whatever it may be, is well worth the effort. your curry will turn out more fragrant, flavourful, and luscious, plus, you can freeze portions of it for a quick weeknight meal! this does require some ingredient hunting, but most of it can be found at your local asian market. if you’re okay with store bought paste, skip to part 2 of the recipe for instructions. serve with steamed white rice, or try our coconut rice for some extra richness.
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Gluten-Free XO Stir-Fried Rice Cakes
soft and chewy rice cakes are decadently coated in umami-rich xo sauce made from dried seafood, shallots, garlic, and chilis. tossed with ground pork, shrimp and greens, this dish makes for a quick and texturally satisfying meal.
note - not all xo sauces are gluten-free so make sure to read the labels!
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Charred Baby Bok Choy with Pickled Red Onions and Peanuts
a simple side dish that delivers tons of flavour in not a lot of time. baby bok choy is sliced in half and charred on the grill to become deliciously roasty vessels that soak up a bright and zesty vinaigrette. top it off with tangy pickled onions and toasted peanuts for zing and crunch.
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Hong Kong Café Style Macaroni Soup
the word fusion may have fallen out of favour, but I love nothing more than when food sits at the intersection of two cultures, bringing different ideas and histories together, and bringing different people together. hong kong style cafes, or cha chaan tangs, are a beautiful example of intersectional cuisine at its homiest and most satisfying.
I have so many treasured memories of sneaking quiet afternoons at cha chaan tangs in toronto with my dad. ma may not have approved of the sugary drinks, buttery buns and white bread egg sandwiches, but it was always my decadent little haven with pa.
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Pandan Kaya French Toast with Poached Eggs
a fun spin on a singaporean classic. french toast is made with pandan kaya, a rich coconut based custard flavoured with asia’s ‘vanilla’ and served with a savoury, yolky poached egg. best enjoyed with coffee.
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Sambal Maple Quinoa Bowl with Peanut Dressing
an all around feel-good grain bowl with glazey carrots, charred broc, jammy onions and savoury shroomies. a lot of the time, peanut sauce is too thick for my liking so this sauce is thinner than most without sacrificing on flavour. feel free to sub the peanut butter with any other nut butter (or even tahini!) if there’s an allergy involved.
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Photo by Jess Kal Photography
Smacked Cucumber Salad
a refreshingly tangy and savoury cucumber salad that comes together in a snap.
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Gluten-Free Sichuanese Liang Mian (Noodles with Sesame Chili Dressing)
sichuanese cold noodles, known as liang mian, are zingy, fiery and packed with flave! they should really be called BIG FLAVOUR NOODLES as the sesame chili dressing leaves a party in your mouth after every bite.
I personally like to eat these noodles warm or at room temp, but if it’s a particularly hot day, you can refrigerate them for 20 minutes before consuming for a refreshingly punchy treat.
you can be pretty flexible with the additions in terms of vegetables and proteins, as the sesame chili dressing will enhance the flavour of just about anything.
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Easy Miso Salmon
with minimal effort, you can achieve this flavour-packed miso-glazed salmon in no time at all! buy a big portion of fresh salmon at your local seafood store and portion it out into freezer bags for convenient portions to defrost during the week. serve this dish with steamed rice and veg and you’ve got a meal in less than 30 minutes.
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Red Bean Date Balls
these red bean date balls (that taste like mochi filling!) are a delicious low sugar, high fibre snack that’ll keep you going throughout the week. once the beans are cooked, they come together in a snap and last about 5 days in the fridge.
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Lemongrass Turmeric Soba Bowl
perfect as a weeknight dinner or meal prep option, this lemongrass turmeric soba bowl comes together in no time and contains ingredients you can feel good about.
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Pork Chops with Blood Orange Herb Vinaigrette + Roasted Tomatoes
at legacy greens, I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day!
from deliciously plump, greenhouse ripened tomatoes available all year long to their pick-your-own herb station (where you can grab reasonable quantities of what you need), @legacygreens provides a haven of produce when everything else is drab and lackluster.
this recipe features some of the beautiful varieties of citrus available along with heritage pastured pork from @littlefieldscsa!
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Easy Broiled Sichuan Green Beans
there’s just no way a home burner can get hot enough to produce restaurant-quality-sichuan-green-beans. having said that, there is a way to produce restaurant-quality-sichuan-green-beans with the use of your oven broiler! it’s fast, approachable, and even healthier since you’re using less oil. all you need to do is broil your green beans until blistered and charred, then toss them in a flavourful aromatic paste consisting of garlic, ginger, chili paste, along with the quintessential fermented black soybean. so much flavour for so little work. a great side for any occasion - I could crunch on these any day.
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Roasted Sweet Potato, Brassica and Kimchi Bowl
I used to think that I needed a protein with every meal to make it a substantial one. during my early days of cooking, I would have to plan out exactly what type of meat, vegetable, and carb I had to buy at the grocery store. if I didn’t have all 3 components, the meal was incomplete. it’s been years since I’ve shopped and cooked that way, and now it seems only intuitive to grab what’s fresh and what’s in season.
this bowl is great for this frigid time of year as you can utilize any root vegetable and brassica available. feel free to sub the sweet potato with carrots or squash, the broccoli and brussel sprouts with other brassicas, and the noodles with any other grain. kimchi adds the perfect tang, spice, and crunch to brighten all the deeper notes. if you do want the protein, add a poached or sous-vide egg for extra unctuousness.
with a well-stocked pantry of grains and sauces, plus the addition of well-seasoned vegetables, it’s extremely easy to have super delicious and filling meals at your fingertips! this is just one version of what you can do.
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Grilled Lamb Chops with Minty Nuoc Cham
another favourite from saigon star (see singaporean curry crab post), these grilled lamb chops are served with a minty, sweet, tangy, and punchy dipping sauce. you can definitely change up the protein here, but the classic mint-lamb combo is a classic for a reason as the vibrant mint marries well with the gaminess of lamb. serve as an app, or with some lettuce and rice vermicelli for a more substantial meal.
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Gado Gado Bowl
one of the national dishes of indonesia, gado gado is a ‘mix mix’ of vegetables and rice in a thick peanut sauce. I like to use quinoa at times for a lighter option, but you can sub in other grains as well. you can also make it a heftier meal by adding traditional fixings like boiled eggs, tofu or tempeh. feel free to add whatever vegetable your heart desires as the peanut sauce goes well with just about everything.
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Gluten-Free Dan Dan Mian
‘dan dan mian’, a symbol of sichuanese food, translates to ‘street vendor noodles’ or more literally to ‘carry carry noodles’ as this iconic bowl was sold off of bamboo shoulder poles back in the day.
consequently, it is not a soupy dish and relies on the incredibly savory ground pork for most of its flavour. these are the types of dishes that I want to make more accessible to reid as traditional restaurants will always make it the way its been made. with some minor tweaks to ingredients, asian dishes like this can easily be made gluten free.
we use soba king millet and brown rice noodles as they have the same ‘al dente’ springy texture as ramen.
you can sub the pork for ground round and the chicken stock for veg stock for a vegan version.
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