New Years recipe ideas with Asian flavors

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is the sixth and final post in this series and it will be focused on Asian flavors and inspiration

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu with Asian flavors

Appetizers - these appetizers is quite light in flavor and is a great start to any meal.

Vietnamese spring rolls with sesame seeds and soy dipping sauce
Calamari with cilantro, lime and spring onion
Mussels with Thai flavors

Starter

Scallop in dashi with wakame and chili oil

I love this dish, the sweet scallop in combination with the wakame and dashi makes it one of my own favorites and I think it´s perfect as an Asian inspired starter.

Main course

For the main course it´s time for some meat, soy braised ribs with some Momofuku quick pickles and rice balls on the side.

Soy braised ribs with chili and cilantro
Momofuku quick salt pickles
Rice balls with cilantro and chili soy dip

Mussels with Thai flavors #99

This is a great recipe when you want to spice up your basic Moules Marienere recipe, it´s more or less the same thing but I add some Thai flavors to the recipe to spice it up a bit. I have seen some recipes where the cream have been replaced with coconut milk but I think using cream with the Thai spices gives a much better result.

Mussels with Thai flavors

fresh mussels
dry white wine
cream
lemon grass
lime leafs
red chili
garlic
onion
fresh ginger
oil
salt, pepper

Clean the mussels and discard any broken ones, rinse under cold water. Roughly chop lemon grass, lime leafs, red chili, garlic, onion and ginger. In a big pot add oil and the chopped ingredients and let them cook for a few minutes in the oil on medium heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the mussels and white wine and turn the heat to max, put a lid on and let the mussels steam for a few minutes. When the mussels have opened the remove them and set aside. Add some cream and bring the sauce to a boil, adjust salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the mussels and serve immediately.

Pork skewers with lemon grass & Sriracha #97

Ground pork meat is not something I use that often but with Asian flavors and a little bit of heat it´s great, it´s also a great way to serve something really tasty when you´re on a budget since ground pork is usually really inexpensive.

I shaped the meat around lemongrass but I also put some finely chopped lemongrass in the meat so you can replace the lemongrass with wooden skewers, but don´t forget to soak them in water before you use them, this will keep them from splitting and catch fire when on the grill.

Pork skewers with lemon grass & Sriracha

ground pork meat
mixed fresh herbs for example, cilantro, parsley, chives
red chili flakes
lemon grass
garlic
lime juice
salt, pepper
Sriracha sauce, or your own favorite (for serving)

Finely dice the thick part of the lemon grass with the herbs and garlic. (Only use the thick end of lemongrass when it will be chewed because the closer you get to the top the chewier and woodier it will be.) Combine with the ground pork, salt, pepper, chili and a few drops of lime juice. Fry a piece of the meat and taste before you start making the skewers, adjust the taste if necessary.

Shape the meat and put them on the skewers. Grill the skewers on medium heat until they are cooked through. Serve with some Sriracha sauce or your favorite hot sauce.