Bucket List Foods: Asia
Bucket lists aren't only for places, they can be used for anything. Make one for food you want to try, experiences you want to have in life or even for simply what you want to within the year. Today's post is all about foods from Asia which should have a bucket list of their own.
Sashimi & Sushi from Japan
Sashimi is a Japanese delicacy consisting of fresh raw fish or meat sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce.
Sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared vinegar-ed rice, usually with some sugar and salt, accompanying a variety of ingredients, such as seafood, vegetables, and occasionally tropical fruits.
Xiaolongbao and Peking Duck from China
Xiaolongbao is a type of Chinese steamed bun(baozi) from Jiangsu province, especially associated with Wuxi and Shanghai. They are traditionally filled with pork. One popular and common variant is pork with minced crab meat and roe. More modern innovations include other meats, seafood, shrimp, crab meat, and vegetarian fillings. The characteristic soup-filled kind is created by wrapping solid meat aspic inside the skin alongside the meat filling. Heat from steaming then melts the gelatin-gelled aspic into soup. In modern times, refrigeration has made the process of making xiaolongbao during hot weather easier, since making gelled aspic is much more difficult at room temperature. They are also called a soup dumpling in English-speaking countries because they are filled with hot soup (and therefore must be eaten carefully).
Peking duck is a dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era. The meat is characterized by its thin, crisp skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. The meat is often eaten with spring onion,cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings. Sometimes pickled radish is also inside, and other sauces (like hoisin sauce) can be used.
Kimbap & Korean BBQ from Korea
Kimbap is a Korean dish made from cooked rice and other ingredients that are rolled in gim—dried sheets of nori seaweed—and served in bite-sized slices. The dish is often part of a packed meal, or dosirak, to be eaten at picnics and outdoor events, and can serve as a light lunch along with danmuji and kimchi.
Korean barbecue refers to the popular method in Korean cuisine of grilling meat, typically beef, pork, or chicken. Such dishes are often prepared on gas or charcoal grills built into the dining table itself. Some Korean restaurants that do not have built-in grills provide customers with portable stoves for diners to use at their tables. Alternatively, a chef uses a centrally displayed grill to prepare dishes to order. The most representative form of gogi-gu-i is bulgogi, usually made from thinly sliced marinated beef sirloin or tenderloin. Another popular form is galbi, made from marinated beef short ribs. However, gogi-gu-i also includes many other kinds of marinated and unmarinated meat dishes, and can be divided into several categories. Korean barbecue is popular in its home country, but has also gained popularity worldwide.
Paratha & Tandoori Chicken from India
Parathas are one of the most popular unleavened flatbreads in the Indian Subcontinent, made by baking or cooking whole wheat dough on a tava, and finishing off with shallow frying. Parathas are thicker and more substantial than chapatis/rotis and this is either because, in the case of a plain paratha, they have been layered by coating with ghee or oil and folding repeatedly using a laminated dough technique; or else because food ingredients such as mixed vegetables have been mixed in with the dough, such as potato or cauliflower, green beans, and carrots. Parathas can be eaten as a breakfast dish or as a tea-time (tiffin) snack. The flour used is finely ground wholemeal (atta) and the dough is shallow fried. Perhaps the most common stuffing for parathas is mashed, spiced potatoes (aloo ka parantha) followed perhaps by dal (lentils). Many other alternatives exist such as leaf vegetables, radishes, cauliflower or paneer. A paratha (especially a stuffed one) can be eaten simply with a pat of butter spread on top or with chutney, pickles, ketchup, dahi or a raita or with meat or vegetable curries. Some roll the paratha into a tube and eat it with tea, often dipping the paratha. Plain parathas can be round, heptagonal, square, or triangular.
Tandoori chicken is a chicken dish prepared by roasting chicken marinated in yogurt and spices in a tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven. The dish originated from the Indian subcontinent and is popular in many other parts of the world. The raw chicken is marinated in a mixture of dahi (yogurt) and tandoori masala, a spice blend. It is seasoned and colored with cayenne pepper, red chili powder, or Kashmiri red chili powder as well as turmeric or food coloring. The skin is generally removed before the chicken is marinated and roasted. The marinated chicken is placed on skewers and cooked at high temperatures in a tandoor oven, which is heated with charcoal or wood, which adds to the smoky flavour. The dish can also be cooked in a standard oven, using a spit or rotisserie, or over hot charcoal.
Egg Tart & Pineapple Bread from Hong Kong
The egg tart is a kind of custard tart found in Greater China deriving from the Portuguese pastel de nata and having the influence of the English custard tart; it can also be referred as "po tat" in Chinese or simply "daahn tāat" in Cantonese. The dish consists of an outer pastry crust filled with egg custard. The custard filling may be flavored with chocolate,green tea,abalone or bird's nest, and the outer shell may be made with shortcrust pastry or puff pastry.
A pineapple bun is a kind of sweet bun predominantly popular in Hong Kong and also common in Chinatown's worldwide. Despite the name, it does not traditionally contain pineapple; rather, the name refers to the look of the characteristic topping (which resembles the texture of a pineapple). The top of the pineapple bun (the part which is made to resemble a pineapple) is made of a dough similar to that used to make sugar cookies, which consists of sugar,eggs, flour, and lard. It is crunchy and is quite sweet compared to the bread underneath. The bread dough underneath is the same as that used in Chinese-style Western breads, which is a softer and sweeter dough than in Western breads. It is popular at breakfast or afternoon tea.
Papaya Salad & Coconut soup from Thailand
Green papaya salad is a spicy salad made from shredded unripe papaya. The dish combines the five main tastes of the local cuisine: sour lime, hot chili,salty,savory fish sauce, and sweetness added by palm sugar. The ingredients are mixed and pounded in a mortar.
Thai Khao soi is a noodle soup dish prepared with egg noodles, coconut milk, curry and meats such as beef and chicken, and served with pickled mustard greens and raw shallots. Red curry is a Thai soup prepared using coconut milk, meats and red curry as main ingredients.Tom kha kai(Thai coconut soup) is a Thai soup prepared using coconut milk, chicken, mushrooms, chili peppers, galangal,lemongrass and other ingredients.
Turkish Delight & Doner Kebab from Turkey
Turkish delight is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often flavored with rosewater, mastic, Bergamot orange, or lemon. The confection is often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with icing sugar, copra, or powdered cream of tartar, to prevent clinging. Other common flavors include cinnamon and mint. In the production process, soapwort may be used as an emulsifying additive. The origin of the confection is not precisely known, but the candy is known to have been produced in Turkey as early as the late 1700s.
Doner kebab is a type of kebab, made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on the rotisserie, next to a vertical cooking element. The outer layer is sliced into thin shavings as it cooks. The vertical rotisserie was invented in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, and doner kebab inspired similar dishes such as the Arab shawarma, Greek gyros, and Mexican al pastor.The sliced meat of a doner kebab may be served on a plate with various accompaniments, stuffed into a pita or other type of bread as a sandwich, or wrapped in a thin flatbread such as lavash or yufka, known as a dürüm (literally meaning roll or wrap in Turkish). Since the early 1970s, the sandwich or wrap form has become popular around the world as a fast food dish sold by kebab shops, and is often called simply a "kebab". The sandwich generally contains salad or vegetables, which may include tomato, lettuce, cabbage, onion with sumac, fresh or pickled cucumber, or chili, and various types of sauces.
Pho & Bánh Mì from Vietnam
Pho is a Vietnamese soup consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat (usually beef), sometimes chicken. Pho is a popular street food in Vietnam and served in restaurants around the world. Pho originated in the early 20th century in northern Vietnam, and was popularized throughout the world by refugees after the Vietnam War. Because pho's origins are poorly documented, there is disagreement over the cultural influences that led to its development in Vietnam, as well as the etymology of the name. Pho is served in a bowl with a specific cut of flat rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). Variations feature slow-cooked tendon, tripe, or meatballs in southern Vietnam. Chicken pho is made using the same spices as beef, but the broth is made using chicken bones and meat, as well as some internal organs of the chicken, such as the heart, the undeveloped eggs, and the gizzard. When eating at pho stalls in Vietnam, customers are generally asked which parts of the beef they would like and how they want it done.
Bánh mì is the Vietnamese word for bread. In Vietnamese cuisine, it also refers to a type of short baguette with thin, crisp crust and soft, airy texture inside that is often split lengthwise and filled with various savory ingredients as a sandwich and served as a meal. Plain banh mi is also eaten as a staple food. A typical Vietnamese sandwich is a fusion of meats and vegetables from native Vietnamese cuisine such as chả lụa (pork sausage), coriander leaf (cilantro), cucumber, pickled carrots, and pickled daikon combined with condiments from French cuisine such as pâté, along with chili and mayonnaise. However, a wide variety of popular fillings are used, from xíu mại to ice cream. In Vietnam, sandwiches are typically eaten for breakfast or as a snack. The baguette was introduced to Vietnam in the mid-19th century, when Vietnam was part of French Indochina, and became a staple food by the early 20th century. During the 1950s, a distinctly Vietnamese style of sandwich developed in Saigon, becoming a popular street food. Following the Vietnam War, Overseas Vietnamese popularized the bánh mì sandwich in countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Would any of these foods be on your bucket list? I know a few of the items would definitely be on mine. There are even recipes online that would be easy to try out before you are able to travel to the different places.
