Nothing calls my name like spicy Asian food. And I know Asian is a very broad generalization, but I mean it, I love it all. Korean - Yes! Japanese - Yes all of it! Thai - can't get enough! Chinese/Cantonese/Sichuan - yum! Hainanese - please give me more! Indian - ummm I can't say no. Filipino - drool! I'm forgetting some key cuisine I'm sure of it. And then there is was Indonesian... quite understated but so good... You had me at "sambal."
And how lucky am I to have a friend with his very own restaurant in LA that makes mouth watering Indonesian inspired cuisine! Yep, right here in LA (Pasadena actually) my friend Eric and his brother Erwin opened a very successful and delicious restaurant called Bone Kettle, serving creative and traditional dishes inspired by Southeast Asian gastronomy like fried ox tail and gado gado. I even had the privilege of joining them and working in the kitchen learning some of the techniques and secrets ;-) But what they are named after and know for is the bone broth soup that comes with noodles and can be toped with some hearty meats like brisket or even bone marrow.
So after one such outing to Bone Kettle I was inspired to make my own Asian cuisine. And on a well planned evening a few gal pals and I got together and made an Asian inspired pot luck. With each of us creating our own dish to fit the theme we ended up with chicken lettuce cups, spicy green beans, cold noodle salad with sesame and garlic and a creamy curry. I love it when a plan comes together!
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