Fun Asian Themed Dinner
Our honourable hosts
Each year at approximately the same time, we join good friends from Toronto at the lake house that they retain at Willard lake. Designating a theme for each weekend we are together, happened quite by accident but has been one of the highlights of our time together. We were lucky this time as BIL David had gifted me with a real kimono when he traveled around the world a number of years back. D was able to find a judo uniform at Value Village so we were all set.
Saki Mojito Cocktails were served as we were perched on the floor.
This was after the entrance of another guest (check out the beard!)
We were assigned to the appetizer and dessert and D had done a dry run the weekend before so we would have a sense of timing and recipe difficulty. The recipe for Korean shrimp and green onion pancakes was suggested by Sister #3 who had a Korean student live with her for a year (recipe below).
Dinner stretched into the evening with prepping together and visiting our host as he barbequed double-boned pork chops that had been marinating all day.
- Pancakes:
- 2 eggs
- 1½ c cold water
- ½ t salt
- ½ t gochu garu (Korean red pepper powder-we found it an Asian specialty market). If you are unsuccessful you can substitute a ⅛ t cayenne pepper or a quick glug of sirachi sauce.
- ¼ t pepper
- 1½ c flour'1/2 lb. uncooked shrimp, peeked deveined, cut into ⅓ in pieces
- 1 medium onion, halved, very thinly sliced
- 8 green onions cut into 3-4 inch matchstick size strips
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut as green onions
- Sauce:
- ½ c soy sauce
- 2 T water
- 2 T fresh lemon juice
- 2 t sesame oil
- 1 t gohu garu
- Pan preparation:
- 4 T canola oil
- Pancakes:
- Whisk eggs in medium bowl to blend. Whisk in 1½ c cold water, ½ t salt, gochu garu and pepper.
- Add flour and whisk until smooth.
- Mix in shrimp all onions and carrot.
- Let batter stand 1 hour at room temperature.
- Sauce:
- Mix all sauce ingredients and divide into small dipping bowls.
- Heat 1 T of oil into each 10" non-stick skillet that you have.
- Add 1 c pancake batter to each, spreading to the edge of the skillet.
- Cook until edges are firm and bottom is golden brown about 4 mins.
- Using a couple of spatulas or egg lifters, turn pancakes over.
- Cook until second side is golden brown and shrimp is cooked through, about 4 mins. more (centre will still be soft).
- Cook until underside is deep brown, approximately 1 min. more per side.
- Slide pancakes onto a cutting board.
- Repeat with remaining oil and batter, forming to more pancakes.
- Cut pancakes into wedges.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with dipping sauce.
The pancakes were a novelty and a big hit.
Next up was a simple salad of cellophane noodles and slivers or cucumber.
Our entree was the hearty pork chops, caramelized onions and roasted sweet potato halves.
We let ourselves rest a bit before we were in the kitchen again on dessert duty, preparing a Vietnamese dessert of battered and fried bananas with a sweet coconut milk dipping sauce and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
The evening and rest of the weekend was picture perfect. We recounted our joys and sorrows of the year since we had last been together. Then we toasted the time together, the time past and the time ahead.
Kath’s quote: “They talked in the shorthand of old friends and shared memories.”
― Dee Henderson, Before I Wake
As we opened fortune cookies over the weekend, they were taped to these antlers to be a permanent record of our time together.
Love never fails.
