Chicken and Rice Soup with Cabbage

This Chicken and rice soup with Napa cabbage is infused with the Asian flavors of black bean garlic sauce and chili bean sauce. This recipe is succulent and delicious, and the ingredients mimic the results of a long simmered soup. 

This quick throw it together soup gets its beautiful richness from added gelatin to imitate the the richness of long simmered chicken broth. 

Thai-Style Coleslaw with Chiles, Mint, and Cilantro

This Thai-Style Coleslaw with Chiles, Mint, and Cilantro is a wonderfully light side dish. The bright flavors in this salad pair especially well with rich barbecued meats and ribs.

The dressing for this Thai-style coleslaw is made with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, coconut milk, and a minced serrano chile. You steep the the chile in the lime and fish sauce mixture before dressing the salad, which mellows the chile yet still preserves its flavor.

Shanghai-Style Shrimp, Sweet and Sour Cabbage, and Slow Stir-Fried Red Peppers | Wok Wednesdays

For the months of November and December, the Wok Wednesdays group made three recipes from the book The Breath of a Wok. The recipes include Sweet and Sour Cabbage, Shanghai-Style Shrimp, and Slow Stir-Fried Red Peppers. 

This dish is Florence Lin's Slow Stir-Fried Red Peppers. This recipe is so simple, and so delicious. Other than oil and a little bit of salt and sugar, there is just one ingredient, red bell peppers.

Hakka-Style Stir-Fried Shrimp and Vegetables | Wok Wednesdays

This Hakka-style stir-fried shrimp and vegetables is such a simple dish, yet it is so delicious. It is symbolic of the Hakka, as Grace Young (2010) describes, "the gypsies of China." They were originally from northern China, were driven out by a multitude of reasons, and forced to settle in an area where they were second class to the Cantonese. In the 1800's they were again forced to leave their homes due to famine, disease, and natural disasters. Many ended up in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, as well as "contract laborers in Hawaii, the Caribbean, South America, North America," and many other places across the globe (Young, 2010).