How to Make Asian Style Grilled Vegetables

As summer, approaches and the weather warms up, a lot of people want to start cooking outside. All too often though, it is the same things that end up on the grill. Sausages, burgers, and chicken wings are great, of course, but what about learning a new recipe this year to impress your family and friends?

Grilled fresh vegetables have a wonderful smoky flavor and vegetables cook really well on the grill. A grilled vegetables recipe makes a great meal or side dish and there are lots of ways to grill vegetables.

Ideas for Exciting Grilled Vegetables

If you want to add some Asian spice to your grilled vegetables recipe, what about chopping the vegetables and making foil pouches? Add some herbs, spices or seasoning to the pouches and grill the vegetables in there. You can use soy sauce, sesame oil, coconut, lemongrass or any of your other favorite Asian seasonings.

Another way to flavor your vegetables is to marinate them before you grill them. Marinated grilled vegetables can be given any flavor you like, depending on the marinade you use and you can use ingredients like lime juice, soy sauce and honey for a wonderful Asian flavor.

Recipe for Grilled Thai Style Vegetables

This mouthwatering grilled vegetables recipe makes enough for two people as an entree or four people as a side dish or appetizer. If you are making this as an entree, serve it with boiled rice.

The vegetables should marinate for at least ten minutes but you can leave them in the marinade for up to an hour if you like. Acidic marinades do not tenderize vegetables, like they tenderize meat, so a long marinating time is not required.

What you will need:

1/2 sliced eggplant
2 sliced Portobello mushrooms
1 chopped red bell pepper
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

For the Marinade:

1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sherry
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

How to make it:

Combine the marinade ingredients, and then add the vegetables, tossing them well to coat them. Let them marinate for between ten minutes and an hour in the refrigerator. Preheat the grill to hot and grill the marinated vegetables, basting them with leftover marinade as they cook.

The vegetables should be ready at more or less the same time. The bell pepper will be bright red and still a little crisp. The eggplant and Portobello mushrooms will be slightly shriveled and soft.

Stir the remaining ingredients together and pour this mixture over the grilled vegetables, tossing them well so they are evenly coated. Add more sugar if the vegetables taste bitter or more soy sauce if they need more salt. You can add some more cayenne pepper if you want them spicier.

Grilled Orange Miso Glazed Salmon - A Salmon Dish With an Attitude

Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning made by fermenting soya beans, with salt and the kojikin fungus sometimes fermented rice or barley is mixed with the soya breans. Once fermented miso is a salty thick spread a condiment used to flavour the pickled vegetables, or meats.

It is mixed with dashi, the staple Japanese soup broth to make a soup called Misoshiru. Miso is important to Japanese food for its taste but it is also nutritious as it is high in minerals and vitamins. How it is fermeted affects its taste, acidity and colour, it may be red or brown and it can be fruity, or earthy, salty sweet or savoury.

Robust meats dishes can be left in the marinade for twenty four hours, but the acidity of this marinade tends to cook the fish. If you would prefer to barbecue this it is perfect on the barbecue. or baked in the oven.

Grilled Orange Miso-Glazed Salmon

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets

Marinade
2 tablespoons miso paste
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sake
1 teaspoon good quality sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
black pepper to taste

Method

Place all the marinade ingredients into a bowl. Open up the salmon and remove any pin bones with tweezers. Place the salmon in the marinade and leave for half an hour. Fry the salmon skin side down until it is crisp and then turn the fish over and gently fry for about five minutes until the fish is just cooked. Take care not to over cook the fish as it will dry out.