Asian Nachos

Welcome back to my blog. Sorry for the delay in this post. I ran into a bit of a problem with my last blog and have been trying to figure out the best way to address it. Let me explain. You see I am an Aristologist. Aristology is the art or science of cooking and dining. It encompasses the preparation, combination, and presentation of dishes and the manner in which these dishes are integrated into a meal. In short, I love everything about food. I love to grow it, shop for it, and most of all I love to prepare and eating it. Yes I put them at equal status, prepare and eat. I truly do love to create with food. I like to take ordinary ingredients and transform them into works of art, both for the palate and the eye.

All that being said, that explains why I do what I do for a living. I am the owner/operator of

du jour fine catering and I am an independent consultant for The Pampered Chef. I truly believe that The Pampered Chef has some of the finest quality product on the market.

In my last post I linked my post with my personal Pampered Chef web site so that if you were in need of any of the tools I am using in my recipes you would know where to get them. As it turns out that is against The Pampered Chef policy. It took some investigation to learn that I can mention The Pampered Chef but I may not link the site to my blog. So this is what I will do, any word that is blue indicates that I am talking about an item that you can purchase from The Pampered Chef. If you have interest in making an purchases just let me know and I can direct you to my web site.

Anyway, are you ready for the recipe for my Asian Nachos? I should tell you that my recipes for both the Thia Tacos and the Asian Nachos came out of a visit to one of my favorite restaurant down town Chicago, The Grand Lux. The Grand Lux used to have Thai Tacos on there menu and they do still offer the Asian Nachos. If you get there you must try them. If not try my version.

Asian Nachos

1 cup long grain brown rice

2 cups water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup Ginger-Wasabi sauce

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 green onions, sliced thinly both whites and greens

1 package small won ton wrappers

peanut sauce (can be the home made from my last post or bottled)

bottled wasabi sauce (optional)

First make the "fried" won tons. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut won tons in half, I like to use a pizza cutter for this. Place the cut won tons in a single layer on a baking sheet that has be spritzed with oil. It will take several batches to get this accomplished. I prefer to use my large bar pan stoneware for this. Spritz the top of the won tons before placing them into the oven. "Fry" them just until they start to brown. Remove to a cooling rack.

Next make the rice. This can be done on the stove top or in the microwave. On the stove top pour the water into a 3 qt. covered sauce pan, add the salt and rice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer rice covered for 45 minutes.

If you would like to speed up the cooking time for then rice you will need a 2 qt. micro cooker. Pour water and salt into micro cooker, add rice and cover. microwave on full power for 5 minutes and then for 15 minutes at 50% power. I suggest that you place a paper towel under the micro cooker to catch the bubble-over. Let rest with the cover on until all the moisture is absorbed.

When rice is ready add the Ginger-Wasabi Sauce, peas and 1/2 of the sliced green onions and mix.

Now pour the rice mixture onto the center of your serving plate. Arrange "fried" won tons around the rice mixture.

Now for the final touch. I like to put my prepared peanut sauce into a squeeze bottle and squirt it in a pattern over my rice and won tons. Do the same with the wasabi sauce if you want more heat in our dish.

I would love to hear your thoughts when you make one of my recipes as well as on anything else I talk about.

Oh yes! the winner of the bottle of Thia Peanut Sauce. I decided to have two winners and they are:

Kim P and Lisa Dozema. I will be sending a bottle of sauce to you very soon!

P.S. My thumb is healing nicely. It has a long way to go but I am happy with the progress.