Asian cuisines for Thanksgiving

By Vincent Hoang

On Thanksgiving, many families and friends will come together to enjoy the great holiday. However, even though coming together is great, food is very essential to these gatherings. That is why The Legend wants to give some options for foods anyone can make this upcoming Thanksgiving.

Although the traditional turkey is the obvious, delicious option for Thanksgiving dinner, a seafood option can work just as well. More specifically, a lemon dill grilled salmon can be a fantastic alternative than turkey. It’s simple, tasteful, healthier and less expensive. Using lemon sauce for this dish will help enhance the fish’s flavor, turning it a bit sweeter. Along with grilling the salmon flavors the surface of the fish, giving it a smoky taste as well. Most salmon dishes have the skin taken off, but, in my opinion, leaving the skin on gives a crunchy feeling to the dish in contrast to its soft counterpart.  After being put on a grill on medium heat, you are left with a tender, sweet and savory meal for the entire family. Served with white rice and green beans, this quick and easy meal can be done in around fifteen minutes.

Another amazing option is a Thai Chicken Coconut Curry. This meal is a bit more difficult than salmon, but as long as you have the ingredients and spices, you can make this meal in under 30 minutes with a great quantity of it. The ingredients consists of chicken, curry paste, carrots, canned coconut, coconut, ginger, white rice, basil, spinach, lime juice and red chili pepper. How to make it is first having a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Add onions after and stir for five minutes until it softens. Add your chicken to the pot and cook until chicken is done. Add some garlic and ginger and stir for around one minute. Then add your curry paste, salt pepper and carrots. Let the skillet boil for around 5 minutes under medium heat now then add lime juice, spinach and red chili pepper and stir for two minutes to finish the meal. What’s good about this meal is that it has many powerful flavors, from spicy to savory from the chicken and coconut flavors, it’s a very filling meal with the white rice balancing these flavors out. Since this dish creates a great amount, there will always be good for everyone, this is fantastic meal for the whole family.

Some side dishes now are another great way of filling the stomachs of everyone on the dinner table. One being a chicken satay. Having peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, curry powder, garlic and small portions of chicken breasts, this can be great sides other than the classic mash potatoes or green beans. Using a mixing bowl, mix all the in a bowl and place the chicken breasts in to marinate in the refrigerator for at least a while. After place on grill on medium heat for five minutes on each side and you have a mouth watery, juicy side to go along with your other dishes.

Instead of mashed potatoes, pan-fried potatoes is a spectacular alternative for a side dish. Simply skin and cut potatoes into small, cube shapes. Put it into a container, add some olive oil and season to your preference with one clove of minced garlic. Add to a low-heat pan to cook the potatoes slowly in the inside without burning the outsides. Let the potatoes sit in the pan for around a minute then stir or shake the pan to cook all sides then let the potatoes sit once again and repeat the process. After the potatoes turn brown on all sides, they are ready. With a crispy outer and a fluffy interior, it has a beautiful taste to go along with the many other dishes you have on the table.

There are many more options rather than the regular turkey, potatoes, and green beans. However, in order to make each Thanksgiving different and fun, we must find different ways of making it enjoyable, such as creative meals from different cultures.