Vietnamese Grilled Pork Noodle Salad

Bún Thịt Nướng - a Vietnamese grilled meat noodle recipe - is an excellent dish to help make the BBQ season a healthy season. More veggies and more spices, and more salt. Wait, wait...more salt? That’s the ingredient to keep an eye on in many Asian dishes. You may not see a salt shaker around, but there is always a bottle of sodium packed soy sauce, or in the case of Vietnamese food, a bottle of salty fish sauce.

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops

Thank you again to the over 180 of you who entered our Asian Spice Kits giveaway! It was wonderful to read through your entries and learn about the exciting places you’ve visited in Asia, and also where you dream of going, like Thailand and Vietnam.

Wouldn’t it be great to give away a free trip to Thailand or Vietnam? As our Asian Spice Shop grows, maybe one day:)

But in the meantime, we’ll continue to introduce flavors from the region to take you there, even if it’s just for a meal. And today, that’s Vietnam, with our Vietnamese Spicy BBQ Seasoning…

Spice Kits Giveaway for the Launch of our Asian Spice Shop

Maybe you went on a trip to Vietnam or Thailand, or maybe China, Japan or India, and instantly fell in love with the food.  Maybe you saw a delicious Asian recipe on a cooking show or here on Season with Spice.  Or maybe you read that Asian dishes are often a healthier choice, and you’ve decided to incorporate a few new dishes into your weekly menu at home.

If you’re interested in cooking Asian food, where do you shop to find the flavors – the spices & blends! – that are essential to whipping up those amazing Thai soups, Chinese stir-fries, Indian curries, and Malaysian & Vietnamese BBQ dishes?

After years in Asia – gaining a stronger understanding of the cultural, historical, environmental, and culinary value of spices, and sharing our experiences on Season with Spice since 2011 – we moved back to the US and struggled to find one place we could shop for quality Asian spices & blends.  The grocery store spices & blends were old; the Asian grocery store spices & blends came in giant bags or cloudy glass jars that looked suspicious.

What began as a struggle to source the right ingredients for our cooking needs, transformed into a mission to provide the very place we wanted to shop – an Asian Spice Shop.

And so today, we are thrilled to announce the launch of “Season with Spice – an Asian Spice Shop” as your source for premium Asian spices and handcrafted blends.

We offer a wide selection of responsibly sourced, premium Asian spices, including four types of cinnamon (Vietnamese, Ceylon, Chinese, and Indonesian), as well as hard to find items like Sichuan Peppercorns & Powder, Lemongrass Powder, Dried Kaffir Lime Leaves & Powder, Kashmiri Chili Pepper, Premium Wasabi Powder, Korean Chili Flakes, and Shiitake Mushroom Powder.

We also offer a range of handcrafted Asian blends, including two types of Chinese Five Spice powders (Penang-style and the traditional Sichuan-style), a Vietnamese Spicy BBQ Seasoning, and an assortment of Curry Powders.  Our selection of blends will continue to grow, and we’ll be featuring many of these new products in upcoming recipes.

Mushroom & Tofu Udon Noodle Soup

“I don’t have time to cook.”

Whenever I ask someone if they enjoy cooking – whether it’s to my hair stylist or dentist, or to my friends and family – that’s the answer more often than not.  It’s a quick answer, but a revealing one.  The exhaustion in their tone tells me that their desire to cook, and eat delicious, healthy, home cooked meals, is still there, but for the myriad of reasons in our busy lives, we can’t find the time.

So whenever I ask myself what recipes I am going to feature next on Season with Spice, I hear that answer.  And this time, the result was Mushroom & Tofu Udon Noodle Soup.

Toasted Coconut & Chicken Lettuce Wraps

What were you up to one year ago?  Just thinking about it makes you realize how fast time flies, doesn’t it?  Last May, I was probably walking to the Kuantan morning market in Penang, shopping for all the wonderful tropical fruits that are in season this time of year like rambutan, durian, and langsat.  On my way home, I most likely stopped by my favorite coconut shop – Joez Coconut – to pick up freshly grated coconut flakes for making a Nyonya Kerabu Bee Hoon Salad.

A year later, I’m in Minnesota enjoying our first 90 degree day of spring, dreaming of the foods I miss from home.  I may not be able to replicate those same dishes now, but I think I have even more fun cooking – and eating – the many Southeast Asian inspired dishes I’m challenged to create with the limited tropical ingredients I have available here in Minnesota.

One of those Southeast Asian inspired dishes is this summer recipe of Toasted Coconut & Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

Buttery Shrimp with Asparagus & Cashews

Butter & Shrimp – a combination popular from Asia to America to everywhere in between. The butter just gives the seafood dish a rich, creamy, irresistible taste. 

With the addition of a spring veggie like asparagus, and a few Asian cooking ingredients like cashews, rice wine, white pepper, and sesame oil – this Buttery Shrimp with Asparagus & Cashews is a simple & delicious stir-fry dish.

Spices Unearthed: Black & White Pepper

Not every decision on what spice to use is black and white, especially between peppers.

That’s because black and white pepper are from the same fruit of the pepper vine.  They both have bite, but black pepper is spicier and more flavorful with a earthy, citrusy taste, while white pepper is more sharp and can have a pungent smell.

Why the difference?

Black pepper is the unripe, green fruit (drupe) from the vine, which has been cooked and then dried until the outer skin shrivels and turns black*.  And white pepper is the ripe, dark red fruit, that has been soaked in water for up to two weeks until it ferments and the skin falls off, leaving only the white seed to be dried.  After processing, both are referred to as peppercorns, which can be used in whole, cracked or ground form.