Suggested Activites -- Making Asia Part of Your Life

MAKING ASIA PART OF YOUR LIFE

FOOD FOR THOUGHT......
Food is part of every culture and it is one of the most enjoyable and adventurous ways to get to know another culture. Recipes to try and serve during the week- you can have a little Asian feast.. Depending on the location you are holding your event at, you may or may not have access to the home economic kitchen. If you do, great, all the better, you can create these recipes together, if not you could have people break into groups and create at home. Your local super market may or may not have an Asian food section, but most will have products such as tofu, soya sauce, sticky or basmati rice somewhere on the shelves. If you live in a city which does have speciality Asian food stores, try to find time to do your shopping there.

Japan
*Onigiri...rice balls

Japanese sticky rice ( you can use Italian if you can not get Japanese) sushi rice vinegar
salt
nori, Japanese seaweed
salmon
umeshisho , picked plum paste and leaf

**Tofu starter _ Japan

food required:
soft tofu...sometimes called dessert tofu
minced ginger
soya sauce
bonito fish flakes (optional...mainly because they are hard to find outside of an Asian food store...)

The tofu should be cold for this dish.
Cut the tofu into two inch cubes, place carefully on a small plate, scoop about two tablespoons of ginger ( and some of the juice ), over the block of tofu splash about two tablespoons of soya sauce

The challenge is you must try to eat this dish with chopsticks

****Tom Yum Soup- Thailand

Tom yum soup paste ( comes in a jar)
hot chilies ( little red ones)
scallops ( bay- small ones)
shrimp ( 12 large)
coconut milk
white mushrooms, chopped in quarters
vegetable soup base
fresh cilantro
lemon grass

Really easy...just chop up the cilantro, thinly slice the lemon grass length-wise and throw everything into the pot on medium....gets better and spicier with time!

****Kimchi-Korea (these four stars are pretty spicy)
cabbage
really really hot spicy peppers
vinegar
garlic

This is not really an easy dish to make. To get the taste right, it is best with the really hot Korean chilies. It is spicy spicy spicy if you buy it in Korea, but if you buy it in Japan it is made milder for the Japanese taste buds.

****If all this is too much you could always go the easy way and ORDER IN or try to see if one of the local Asian restaurants will SPONSOR an evening and provide food for your group!****

Star guide:
* represents something fishy
** represents chopstick challenge
*** represents fit to be"Thai"ed
**** represents mouth fire

asia@tgmag.ca