Gordon’s ‘Year of the Tiger’ Sauce, Nam Jim Jaew, and Chinese New Year

Fortune Cookies

Dare To Dream

The Year of the Tiger

(Rice Noodles)

The Year of the Tiger, February 1, 2022 – January 21, 2023

The Tiger is known for Courage, and Strength.

The Tiger ranks 3rd. of all the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. You see, there was a race between a Rat, a Snake, a Monkey, a Pig, a Dog, a Rabbit, a Dragon, a Horse, a Rooster, a Goat, a Tiger, and an Ox.

The Chinese Zodiac is Based on a Race Between the Above Mentioned Animals

A long time ago in Ancient China, The Jade Emperor, Ruler of Heaven and Earth, decided to hold a Race between the Animals. He declared that the first to cross over to the other side of a mighty River, would have a Year named after them and forever be a part of the Chinese Zodiac.

The Tiger Finished the Race in 3rd. Place

The Tiger is Also Known as King of the Jungle in China

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Our Stacked Wonton Crab Salad

Ready to Assemble…

For this dinner I wanted to make it a bit festive. The small table that you see above, we purchased at an Asian Supermarket a few years ago. I love that it gives height to a regular table, once placed upon it. I then placed some of our Chinese Lantern lights underneath the table to symbolize the Lantern Festival.

Gordon Adding the Finishing Touches

(Recipe Down Below)

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Chinese Red Envelopes

The Red Envelopes are filled with coins and treats for Chinese New Year. It is a tradition. The Envelopes are Red with beautiful prints on them. Children love to receive them.

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For this Chinese New Year (2022) Gordon wanted to make his own Tiger Sauce.

It All Starts With A Good Fish Sauce

Grinding White and Brown Rice

Gordon’s Year of the Tiger Sauce

AND,

Our Nam Jim Jaew

Nam Jim Jaew is a Dipping Sauce from Thailand

It is a Chili Sauce Packed with Herbs

Delicious, Served With Many Asian Foods

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Egg Rolls and Nam Jim Jaew

(Recipe Down Below)

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Our ‘Year of the Tiger Sauce’ Dinner

Potstickers, with Dipping Sauce

Potstickers, Dipping Sauce, AND Shrimp Rolls with Red Radicchio

A Drizzle of Tiger Sauce

A Sprinkling of Black Sesame Seeds

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Chinese New Year

My Fun Accessories

I Love My Asian Things….

Take Out Box Purses, My Thrift Store Tea Pots, and Cups, and Chinese Jelly Candies, along with my Dragons, Orchids, and Money Tree Plant.

I always love buying up Asian Snack Goodies for the people that are special to us. Here are some Asian Sesame Snack Treats, Fortune Cookies, and Red Envelopes of Treats.

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I love my Blue Chinese Take Out Purse with a few of the Sculpy Clay Craft Items I’ve made years ago.

Green Lanterns and Panda Bear Coffee

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Asian Store Stuffed Buns

(Some are Sweet, Some are Savory)

It has always been a big treat to us and ours, when we buy the tasty buns at The Asian Supermarket. Some are stuffed with a Pineapple Filling, others are stuffed with a Taro Filling, and others are stuffed with a Bean Stuffing. We decided to purchase the Buns Stuffed With a Red Bean Stuffing for our Ice Cream Treats.

And Here They Are…..

Sweet Red Bean Ice Cream, and Sweet Red Bean Buns

Just Slice Them Open, and Add The Ice Cream

Absolutely Delicious, Ice Cream Sandwiches

You Can Also Add Some of Our Fried Wonton’s

Don’t Forget The Fortune Cookies

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This is a Delicious Platter of Fried Rice and Wonton’s with a sweet Chili Sauce

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Mulan, Little Brother, Moo Shoo, and her Dragon

(The print that you see above covering the table was a chalk print that I bought years ago from an Asian store. I don’t know the origin of it, but the design is very colorful and seems to feature fireworks. The paper is of some construction paper and the drawings are done with chalk.)

Shrimped Wrapped Deliciousness w/ Dipping Sauce’s

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Our Tiger Dinner

I suppose that everything on this website page can be our “Tiger Dinner.” But, this specifically was.

We wanted to create something new, but we also wanted our old favorites.

So, we present to you, our Tiger Dinner.

The Dinner Consists of Fried Shrimp Wrapped Pancetta, and Shrimp Wrapped Prosciutto.

Potstickers, Rice with Seasonings, Kim Chi, and Gordon’s Tiger Sauce.

Gordon’s Year of the Tiger Sauce and our Potstickers

Frying the Italian Wrapped Shrimp

Using a Spring Onion WAND for Distributing the Sauce…

Or, an Asian Spoon….

(Recipes Down Below)

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Palm Sugar

We love discovering interesting ingredients and finding ways to incorporate them into our foods. We used the Palm Sugar in a few of our recipes here.

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Store Bought Tiger Sauce

This is what Gordon is basing his Tiger Sauce on.

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Grinding Rice

Mortar and Pestle, Get at it!

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OPTION!!!!

Using a Mortar and Pestle, grind down your Rice into a sand consistency and add it to the bowl. This will take you a while to accomplish. The ground Rice with help to thicken the Rice.

The above method is ancient and difficult. Down below, Gordon will show you an easier way.

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Making Gordon’s Year of the Tiger Sauce

Pretty Decorative Bottles

Ingredients:

1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper – chopped thinly

1/2 Red Bell Pepper – chopped thinly

1/2 Orange Bell Pepper – chopped thinly

6 Garlic Cloves – minced

1 Cup Fish Sauce

1 Heaping Cup Palm Sugar – sliced into chunks

1 Cup Coconut Sugar

1 Cup Sweet Soy Sauce

1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Peel of 2 Limes

1 Cup Lime Juice

2 Tbsp. Hot Pepper Flakes

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In The Kitchen Ready To Get Started

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TO BEGIN:

Slice your Bell Peppers in half then remove their stems and seeds.

Slice the Peppers lengthwise then slice them into thin slices as shown.

Do this for all the Bell Pepper halves and place them in a bowl to use later.

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Slice off the root ends of the Garlic Cloves as shown.

Then slice the cloves thinly.

Now, place them all together and mince them as shown.

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Place your Fish Sauce into a large bowl.

Here is a closeup of some of the ingredients we used. I love the swirled Palm Sugar, but they were hard to dissolve (seen later in this recipe.)

Carefully chop your Palm Sugar with your knife.

Here I thought it would fully dissolve when I added it to the Fish Sauce… but it didn’t.

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I like to use a variety of sweeteners so I thought Coconut Sugar would be nice in this recipe.

Add your Coconut Sugar to the bowl.

Carefully measure and add your Sweet Soy Sauce to the bowl. It was about a Cup, I am sure.

Now, add your Apple Cider Vinegar to the bowl.

Here I have a great peeler that will cut the peels into thin shreds. Use the Peel of two Limes and set them off to the side.

Gordon In the Dark, Thanks TECO!

(Tampa Electric. This is typical for us. Every time a squirrel urinates we seem to lose power.) Julie:)

Back to you, Gordon…

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Here I used fresh and bottled Lime Juice, and added it to the bowl.

I stirred and stirred the mixture and still the Palm Sugar didn’t dissolve much.

I figured I could either heat it or blend it to dissolve the sugar. I chose to blend it as it wouldn’t change the ingredients composition.

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Add your wet ingredients from the bowl into you blender and let it go until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Here it looks like a Stout Beer with just a little bit of froth at the top.

When done, pour the mixture back into your large bowl.

Now, add your Lime Peel and Bell Peppers…

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Also, add your minced Garlic.

We like it hot as you can tell by the amount of Hot Pepper Flakes I am using.

You don’t have to use this much though.

Stir all your ingredients together.

Give the mixture a small taste and add any combination of the ingredients until it suits your taste.

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Here we cleaned some nice bottles that close with stoppers, which were perfect to hold the Tiger Sauce.

This is a Great Dipping Sauce perfect for gift giving, or just for your own use. This mixture will last a long time as it contains sugar and acids that prevent bacterial growth.

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Setting the Tables for our Stacked Crab Salad Wonton’s

Fried Wonton’s and Crab Salad w/ Tea

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Delicious!

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All of Our Greens Washed and Ready

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The Recipe For:

Stacked Crab Salad Wonton’s

Gathering the Ingredients

Ingredients:

4 Green Onions – sliced thinly

1/2 Cup Celery – sliced thinly

1 1/2 – 2 inches of Wasabi – add more if you like it hot

1 Cup Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise

1 tsp. Fresh Ginger – ground

2 Cups Premium Crab Meat – canned

1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

3 Tbsp. Aji Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Seasoning

2 Tbsp. Red Bell Pepper – sliced thinly

2 Tbsp. Yellow Bell Pepper – sliced thinly

Fresh Ground Pepper, and Hawaiian Salt to taste

1 1/2 Cups Peanut Oil

Wonton Wrappers – fried

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Garnish:

White Chives

Black Sesame Seeds

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Slice the root ends off of your Green Onions then slice them thinly as shown.

Slice your Celery lengthwise then chop it thinly as shown. You may not use this much of these last two ingredients, but I like to have more, than not enough.

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Add your Wasabi Paste and Miracle Whip to a medium sized bowl.

Mix the ingredients well to fully distribute the Wasabi.

Peel the Ginger you will use with a spoon, then grate about 1 tsp. into the bowl.

Mix the Ginger in with the other ingredients.

Add your Crab Meat into the bowl. If you didn’t have the funds to use the real thing, simply substitute it with the Imitation Crab Meat… as we do love the taste of it as well.

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Then add your Sesame Oil and Mirin to the bowl. The Sesame Oil will provide a distinctive Asian taste to the Crab, while the Mirin will give it a hint of sweetness.

TIP: I also use Mirin in my Coleslaw and Pasta Salads as I like the light sweetness it provides. It is is also good in imitation Crab Meat Salad.

Now I eye the amount of Celery to the Crab. After it is mixed I have the opportunity to add more.

I do the same with the sliced Green Onions as they also make a great garnish.

That looks like enough to me!

For a great splash of color, I thought some diced Red and Yellow Bell Peppers from the previous recipe would go nicely in this.

Gently fold the mixture together. To do this, start from the bottom edge and bring your spatula up and over in a smooth motion. Continue this motion turning your bowl as you fold the ingredients. Folding help to keep the Crab Meat in its small chunk size so you and your guests can see it. After all, its not cheap. 🙂

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Wonton Wrappers

Place your Peanut Oil into your Wok and heat it to medium heat. When your oil is heated, place a single Wonton into the oil…

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Use your tongs to flip the Wontons over to fry the top to a nice golden brown. This process will only take a few minutes. We cut some in half to give some variation. When done, place the fried Wontons on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil

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Here you can see the Wonton in the heated oil.

When done, carefully move them with the others on the plate.

TIP: You could make them sweet by adding a mixture of Cinnamon Sugar or just Powdered Sugar to them directly when they come out of the hot oil.

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Time To Assemble

Grab A Plate

The Final Touches

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Our Nam Jim Jaew

Making Nam Jim Jaew

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Jasmine Rice – pan seared then crushed into a powder

1/2 Cup Wheat Jasmine Rice – pan seared then crushed into a powder

3 Shallots – sliced thinly

1 Cup Roasted Peanuts

1 Cup Roasted Cashews

1/2 Cup Palm Sugar

~1 1/2 Cups Fish Sauce

~3/4 Cup Lime Juice

3/4 Cup Tamarind

1 Tbsp. Hot Pepper Flakes per jar housing sauce, or just as needed

1 tsp. White Chives – chopped

1 tsp. Green Chives – chopped

1 tsp. Parsley – chopped

1 tsp. Green Onions – chopped

1 tsp. Thai Basil – chopped

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Add both your Sweet Rice and Wheat Jasmin Rice to a dry Wok and saute it over medium heat stirring constantly until it pops like popcorn.

Here I am sauteing “To Flip in French” the Rice to ensure it cooks evenly.

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Peel and slice your Shallots thinly as shown. You can do this in advance.

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Continue to saute the Rice as it will become slightly brown during the process, then it will begin to pop.

Here is a great picture of the popped Rice when it has finished cooking, which will take about 8 min.. Doing this will make it easy to make into a powder later in this recipe. Remove the Rice from the pan and set aside.

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Now, saute using no oil in the wok. Heat the Peanuts and Cashews over medium heat for about 5 min.. Doing this will help to bring out the flavor and oils in the nuts. Remove the nuts and set aside when done.

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Palm Sugar

Here is the packaged Palm Sugar.

Be sure to slice it thinly to help your blender not work so hard.

When done, add it to the blender.

Now add both your Fish Sauce and Lime Juice to the blender.

Here is the Tamarind Paste we used. This has a great flavor and works well in many sauces.

Add the Tamarind to the blender as well.

Blend these ingredients until smooth.

Add more of both the Fish Sauce and Lime Juice to make it more fluid if needed.

Here you can see by adding a little more of each liquid, I am able to pour the mixture into the jars when ready.

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Another great picture showing the popped Rice.

Rice and Nuts Ready

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Use your blender to turn the rice into a powder.

Here is a great shot of the powdered Rice. This makes a great thickening agent.

Blend the Peanuts and Cashews as well.

Pictured are both the Rice and Nuts when done.

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Add your Rice and Nuts into the blender, and blend them until well mixed with the other ingredients.

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Add some of your sliced Shallots to your jars.

We used different sized jars for gifts and to keep as our own.

Add some Hot Pepper Flakes to each jar, to your taste.

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Herbs and Chives Washed and Ready

When ready to eat the sauce, bring out these fresh herbs to add to the Nam Jim Jaew.

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Pictured are Green and White Chives, Cilantro, Thai Basil, and Green Onions.

Remove the Basil leaves from their stems before chopping them.

Chop all the herbs and mix them well in a bowl. Add a good amount of the herbs to your sauce to make it 1/2 herbs to 1/2 sauce.

Make sure to refrigerate all of your Nam Jim Jaew, and the freshly cut Herbs.

You add the Herbs to the Sauce when needed. Otherwise the Herbs will become all soggy and not fresh.

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Pork Potstickers

(A Favorite of Ours.)

Shrimp Roll Cakes

(To be Steamed.)

Use your Wok to help steam your Shrimp Roll Cakes. Simply add about a cup of water into your wok and turn the temperature to High.

Place some Red Cabbage leaves or regular Cabbage leaves into the wok then place your Rolls onto the leaves.

Place the lid of the steamer onto the wok and let them steam for about 10 min. The leaves will help prevent the rolls from sticking to the steamer.

We also fried some of the rolls over medium heat in some Peanut Oil to make them nice and crispy. When the one side has browned, turn the rolls over and cook until they look like the first side. This will take about 5 min. on both sides.

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Shrimp Roll Cakes and Pork Potstickers

To cook the Pot Stickers, simply add 1/2 Cup Water to 2 Tbsp. Peanut Oil. Place the Pot Stickers into the pan and cover it while cooking them for the first 5 min. Then remove the lid to let the steam dissipate which will then just leave the Peanut Oil in the pan. Now, fry the Pot Stickers until the bottom of the Pot Stickers become browned. This will take about 5 min. or so. Remove the Pot Stickers from the pan when done and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil.

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White Rice

Our Nam Jim Jaew

Here I am adding the chopped herbs (White and Green Chives, Green Onions, Cilantro, and Thai Basil) in the bowl making a 50/50 mixture of herbs and sauce.

Everything is Delicious!

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Fried Shrimp Wrapped Pancetta, and Shrimp Wrapped Proscuitto

Buy some nice Pancetta and Proscuitto.

Peel and devein the shrimp if not already done.

Simply wrap a single shrimp in the Pancetta and use a toothpick to secure the wrap if needed.

Do the same with the Proscuitto.

Now add some Peanut Oil to a wok an turn to medium heat. When the oil is at temperature, add your wrapped shrimp and cook until well browned.

You can cook about 10 of these at a time. Remove them when browned and crispy.

I also fried some Pot Stickers.

Gordon’s Year of the Tiger Sauce and Kimchi

Before and After

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Now Add Some Tiger Sauce to the Shrimp

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

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Cute Doggie Break

Lazy Cold Florida Day 🙂

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If you would like to view our other Asian pages:

Click Here For: Whann Way Asian

AND,

Click Here For: Whann Way Asian, E Ho ‘Omau (Continues)

AND,

Click Here For: Julie Loves Asian

AND,

Click Here For: Asian Edible Gifts

AND,

Edible Gifts of the Asian Variety

(Note: Edible Gifts of the Asian Variety is the same post as Asian Edible Gifts. I have both listed here for accuracy, but one is a Page and the other is considered a Post. Confusing, I know.)

AND,

Click Here For: Our Asian Easter