The Lederman Kitchen

On Friday night, we walked by Neon , which is a newish Asian Street Food restaurant in Dublin.  We recognized the name from a fellow Dublin Blogger,  An American Girl In Dublin , who posted about Neon serving Pho, which apparently you can't find anywhere in Dublin.  To put it nicely, her experience with the Pho was disappointing , but her overall review of the restaurant was positive. We decided to check it out on Saturday, sans Pho.  The restaurant had a cool atmosphere, and was definitely a popular spot.   We ordered Ginger Shrimp, Green Curry and Duck Spring Rolls - all dishes were really good, and authentic.  We still can't get over the Pho they served .  I'm hopefully determined that they just ran out of the correct ingredients that night, and threw something together.  How can they get Green Curry and Ginger Shrimp so "right" and Pho, so "wrong".  It just doesn't make sense.  At some point, we'll be desperate enough f...

I didn't go to the store planning on making crab rangoon.  I was looking for wonton wrappers to make wonton soup, but on the back of the package was a recipe for crab rangoon and I couldn't resist.   This actually was not my first time making crab rangoon.  When I worked at Kirin in high school I used to have to form crab rangoon when we were slow during shifts.  I was bad at forming the shapes back then too...  This was my first attempt at making the filling though and it turned out great. Surprisingly, there aren't too many ingredients needed: 8 oz of crab meat 8 oz of cream cheese 1 garlic clove 2 green onions 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil (optional, don't buy it if you don't have it on hand) 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce 24 wonton wrappers (approximately)  Typically crab rangoon are fried, but I baked mine at 425 for about 12-15 minutes.  Again, this is an easy one. ...

Two of my favorite things: soup and Chinese food...  I am continuing my mission to expand my Asian cooking skills.  Wonton soup is one of my favorite comfort foods and perfect for this time of year.  While it's easy to get delivery or take out, I was surprised at how easy it was to make at home.   You can actually follow this wonton recipe to make pot stickers.  Just fry them up at the end instead of boiling in the broth for delicious homemade pot stickers. For the soup (at least 4 servings) you will need: 1/2 lb of ground pork 1/4 lb of shrimp 1 teaspoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar 1 tablespoon light soy sauce 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce 1 green onion stalk 1 teaspoon chopped ginger wonton wrappers 8 cups of chicken broth You can make Wor Wonton Soup if you want by adding some noodles, meat, veggies, and so on. Again, this is super simple.  Chop the ginger, shrimp, and green onions.  Then...

I think that a lot of ethnic food seems scary to make.  The truth is though, it's generally pretty easy, you just need the right ingredients.  The great thing is, you buy the ingredients, particularly the seasonings once, and then you have them on hand for a quick weeknight recipe.  I have always loved the Pumpkin Chicken Curry from Osha Thai .  This being pumpkin season and Michelle wanting to have everything pumpkin, it seemed like a good recipe to try and tackle.   For a delicious dinner for two, plus leftovers for lunch, you will need:  1 small pumpkin or butternut squash, about 1 1/2 lbs (I used a Sugar Pie Pumpkin, they have them at Whole Foods this time of year) 2 shallots 3 garlic cloves 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste 2 tablespoons water 1 can unsweetened coconut milk 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce 1 lime 2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar 3 tablespoons peanut oil 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs ...

Like any red blooded Jewish American, I love Chinese food.  I would definitely have my last meal at Kirin , I would just have the ever present problem of figuring out what to order.  Tonight I made Dan Dan Noodles , they're no Combination Chow Fun, but they were tasty on not too hard to make.  I found the recipe on SeriousEats.com , if you're not reading it, you should be. I have always been nervous about making any type of Asian food at home.  The dishes often call for special ingredients that I never have on hand, and the dishes just seem a bit intimidating.  I have made a few Asian dishes now though, and the nice thing about the ingredients is you generally just have to buy them every once in a while.  I bought fish sauce, peanut oil, and hot sauce a few months back and now have the ingredients on hand whenever I want to satisfy my Chinese food cravings.  The nice thing about the Dan Dan Noodles is that I already had almost everything req...