We love foods from different cultures, and my daughter started us getting really into Asian. Every year on Christmas Eve, she and her boyfriend host an Asian-themed dinner party. See my post on cooking with kids of all ages.

Winter-time where we live is incredibly cold, and there’s something so warming about the spices and flavors of Asian; whether it’s Chinese, Japanese, Korean or even Thai. It’s all SO good, and there are an incredible number of meal options. The dishes are honestly quite easy to make (comparatively), and mostly healthy.

We all bring something so it makes it that much easier. Anything someone wants to make works- just let the group know so you don’t duplicate. Here are some dishes we usually serve that go together great and make for the yummiest meal.

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Appetizers

Seafood Tower, above. Simulating the shrimp table at the Chinese buffet a bit, I think it’s an awesome touch for frankly any party to have a fresh seafood tower. I absolutely love this aluminum one, it’s so versatile in showcasing many things to include desserts! This one I made above just has shrimp and some imitation crab, but I definitely love it with snow crab legs, and for those who like them (me)- clams or fresh oysters. Watch for an upcoming post on buying, opening, preparing and serving oysters, if you’re interested!

Coconut Shrimp.

Honestly who doesn’t love it? An easy assembly line- flour (with some salt and garlic powder), beaten egg and coconut flakes (unsweetened). Dry the shrimp thoroughly then take each one though the process, making sure to completely dredge in each bowl- you want that coconut to really stick on there!

I like to use olive oil for pretty much everything. It honestly doesn’t matter, but you want the oil to be very hot before dropping in the coated shrimp. Make sure not to crowd them. A wok works perfectly for this process, because it’s big and somewhat shallow. Plus it has the rack where you can conveniently drain the cooked shrimp as you go.

Sunomono (Japanese cucumber salad). My youngest daughter and I went for sushi recently and decided to try this salad that we never had before. YUM. If you like really a really fresh asian flavor and bite (ie sashimi, ceviche), you will love this too. It couldn’t be easier.

Cut three Japanese or Persian cucumbers (they are crunchier and you can leave the thin skin on) . Either julienne (small thin slices) or cut into very thin rounds (a mandolin would work great- I’m a bit scared of them…). Sprinkle 2 tsps of salt over the cucumbers and let sit about ten minutes. After that time, squeeze as much water out as you can, ten rinse off the salt. Julienne the same amount of crab. I go with imitation crab flakes or legs. It tastes authentic and is MUCH cheaper than fresh crab for sure. Make the dressing: 2.5 tsps rice vinegar, .5 tsp sugar, .2 soy sauce. Pour over the cucumbers and mix. Let it sit at least an hour for flavors to meld- overnight or longer even better.

Dumplings. A MUST for any Asian meal. You can find them in every grocery store freezer section these days, and in all sorts of varieties. Pork, crab, chicken, vegetable- whatever suits your fancy. For a party, I select a nice variety of a few flavors. And they usually come complete with dipping sauces. If you have the time and ambition, make them!

We use wonton wrappers, that for some reason, I usually find in the produce section of the grocery store. The filling is just any ground or minced meat or veggies you want, with a little egg for binding, some diced green onions and some soy sauce or Worcester to bring out flavor.

Investing in a dumpling maker is smart, because you can use them for raviolis and pierogies too. This one is so cute and comes in four sizes. You just fit a wrapper into the mold, scoop in your filling then squeeze together. Tada, your perfect dumpling. Drop into boiling water for about ten minutes until they float to the top, pan fry in sesame oil, or our favorite- make in a bamboo steamer!

Bao Buns. These are a huge hit every year. I originally was getting them at an Asian grocery store, until I realized they’ve become popular in regular stores now too. I was thrilled to see them recently at Trader Joes! They can really just be microwaved, but steaming them gives a much better texture in our opinion. Steamers like the one above go right over a pan of water on the stove, and have two layers for the optimum amount of buns or dumplings. They also make a great serving dish for self-serve (which I love).

Sushi. My youngest daughter who loves sushi was very interested in making this herself. A book like this one below is awesome to have on hand, giving lots of different varieties that you might not think of yourself. Click here for this sushi making kit too, that comes with a mat, roller, sushi knife and even sets of chopsticks. It was surprisingly easy to fill the rollers with rice, add your fillings, and roll it up. If you want a nori (seaweed) crust, just add that first. This is a fun project to do with friends or family before your Asian party, maybe the day before. Then all your home-made sushi is packaged up and ready to go. I bought a tube of wasabi and jar of pickled ginger to have on the side for a nice touch.

Main Dishes

Generally, my daughter and her boyfriend make the mains, and we usually chip in for all the sides and apps. These are ALL delicious, and pretty easy to make. She uses this blog justonecookbook.com regularly to look up Japanese dishes. Check it out.

Beef Bulgogi (Korean Barbecue). A super flavorful way to make steak. Just whisk together these ingredients for the marinade:

• Five tablespoons soy sauce
• Two tablespoons sesame oil
• Two and a half tablespoons sugar
• Two minced garlic cloves
• A quarter cup diced green onion

Put about a pound of flank steak in a shallow bowl and cover with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour but best overnight. Grill the steak and enjoy! Use the hotpot grill below!

Japanese Beef Curry. I love this stew with some jasmine rice. So easy!

• Brown about two pounds of cubed beef chuck in a stock pot for five minutes
• Add three chopped onions and stir until translucent
• Add a teaspoon of ketchup and 1.5 teaspoons Worcester sauce, and cover the mixture with water
• Add four chopped carrots, three chopped potatoes, and three ounces of Japanese curry mix.
• Simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes, until meat and veggies are soft.
• Try this with chicken too!

Hotpot. We’ve tried these in restaurants and they are amazing. So we bought one (see it here). This was a great investment, because it is so much fun to use and a real crowd pleaser at parties. Half of this is a table-side grill, and the other half has two pots for broth. I got a variety pack of these hot pot seasoning packs, so we could try them and see which we liked best.

You honestly just boil water and seasonings and start grilling whatever you like. Some sort of meat and/or seafood, and Asian vegetables like baby wok choy, mushrooms, and/or green onions. Throw some rice noodles into the broth if you’d like (and aren’t having them elsewhere in your meal) until those are cooked through.

While everything is cooking, boil a few soft boiled eggs…we think they are the perfect accompaniment to a warm asian bowl like this.

Dipping Sauces

You can buy a variety of sauces that can go with dumplings, bao buns, coconut shrimp. Or of course, make them!

You can really experiment with the basics – soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. A classic dipping sauce we like, that goes well with the appetizers in this post, is made this way.

Whisk all these ingredients together. If you’d like it thicker, feel free to add corn starch, a little at a time until thickened.

• 3/4 c. water
• 1/3 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• red pepper flakes to taste

Drinks

We honestly don’t go so far as extending this theme to drinks, and prefer to stick to traditional wines and cocktails. Wines that pair well with Asian foods are, coincidentally, some of my favorites, because I love a good semi-dry wine, especially whites. Savaugnon blanc (see an upcoming post on the best ones for flavor and value), Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, or Pinot Gris are good bets.

You can certainly embrace the theme further with drinks like bubble teas or saki. There are Asian beers (Tsingtao, Sapporo) and sodas like Ramun as well. You could select an Asian flavored seltzer water like Moshi Asian flavored sparking water (variety pack at Amazon) or Yuzu Mandarin (Good and Gather brand at Target), to make mixed drink or have on their own.

We tend to use disposable paper dishes and chop sticks to make it easy clean-up for a large group. There are also sets like this one myJapanese friend got me for my birthday several years ago. The special spoons are perfect for the hotpot and other main dishes, and there are even chopstick holders!

We do this each year with our family, but I would personally LOVE to be invited to this kind of delicious, warm and FUN winter party!

Let me know if you have any Asian party foods you recommend! And see some upcoming posts for other themed-dinner parties!