Don't let being gluten free keep you from enjoying a luscious spread this Chinese New Year! Here are 9 gluten free Asian recipes you need in your life.
Must-Try Gluten Free Asian Recipes
In our house, Chinese New Year is pretty much a big deal when it comes to foreign holidays. We're huge fans of a bit of stir fry, some chicken and sweetcorn soup, sticky ribs and of course fried rice, so when Chinese New Year rolls around, we fully indulge. Three years ago, I teamed up with Amoy to provide a stunning gluten free Chinese buffet to celebrate the holiday, but this year, I wanted to share some of the internet's go-to gluten free Asian recipes!
Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, so I've assembled a collection of gluten free recipes from across these cultures. Any of these would make an excellent feast for your celebration.
Warm yourself & your lover this Valentine's day with a romantic homemade rose chai tea latte!
Yield: 1
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Homemade Rose Chai Tea Latte
You know, it makes complete sense for Valentine's Day to be celebrated in winter; there's just something about those long, dark nights that was made for cuddling. Whether you make this romantic brew for your love first thing in the morning or sip it together lazily in bed on Valentine's night, you won't be able to deny how lovey-dovey it makes you feel. Maybe it's the spice of cinnamon, the floral rose petals or the comfort of warm milk--whatever it is, turn the lights down low and embrace those amorous feelings! Valentine's day is for lovers, after all ...
A gluten and dairy free version of a comforting Malaysian noodle curry with fresh cucumber!
Yield: 2 servings
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Quick Chicken Laksa - Gluten & Dairy Free
I love a big steaming bowl of soup this time of year - and January is National Soup Month! There's just nothing more comforting than coming in from a chilly, wet day and pulling off your scarf and hat and gloves and boots and sitting down to a warm bowl of curry or soup. Laksa is a Malaysian noodle curry traditionally made with mackerel, but also delicious with prawns, veggies, or in this case, chicken. It's refreshing too with fresh cucumber and coriander/cilantro and with a kick of spice. This dish is also a great gluten free way to celebrate Chinese New Year!
Kickstart your morning with this gluten free, energy-releasing pimped up porridge!
Yield: 1 portion
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Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Here in Manchester, we're bracing for the coldest part of the winter; with daily frosts and the near-weekly threat of snow, it's comforting to start the day with a warming bowl of hearty oatmeal. Famed for its slow release of energy, oatmeal will keep you full longer than other breakfast alternatives and will ensure you're at your best and ready to start your day, no matter how low the mercury dips! This recipe is a classic combination of tried and true oatmeal flavours suitable for coeliacs, vegans, vegetarians and even those on a dairy free diet.
Ingredients:
For the oatmeal 1/2 cup cashew milk 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 cup gluten free rolled oats 1 small apple, sliced 2 tablespoons brown sugar handful walnuts pinch salt knob cashew or other nut butter Need a conversion? Use this handy chart.
Vegan Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
I absolutely love oatmeal. It's a great blank canvas for breakfast creations, check out this gluten free cashew and Nutella oatmeal, and it makes some pretty boss cookies, too! If you're coeliac and want a good, hearty breakfast ready in minutes flat, be sure to find yourself some suitable oats. Many coeliacs can tolerate traditional oat gluten, but some may be sensitive to it, so opting for a brand that is guaranteed gluten free, will save you from any potential tummy upset. My favourite regular and gluten free brand is Quaker Oats. Their gluten free rolled oats are a bit fluffier than their traditional oats but taste just as yummy!
Instructions:
Prepare the oats according to the packet, either in the microwave or on the stove top, whichever you prefer.
Once cooked, finish with butter, brown sugar, a pinch of salt and cinnamon.
Top with a handful of walnuts and apple slices and serve with a cold glass of orange juice.
The classic breakfast of French toast or eggy bread gets a gluten-free makeover just in time for Christmas!
Yield: serves 2
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Gluten-Free Eggy Bread
Growing up in the American South, elaborate cooked breakfasts were how you started the weekend and one of my all-time favourites is my mom's French toast. French toast, or eggy bread, as it's called in the UK, is a deliciously simple dish of bread dipped in eggs and pan fried, served with maple syrup and fresh fruit. It works best with slightly stale bread, and given that most gluten free bread naturally has many of the properties of slightly stale normal bread, it works great! This is one of those easy to make yet impressive breakfasts that you could pull out of your back pocket when you have guests or even for Christmas morning.
Boost your iron intake with this berry smoothie bowl scattered with chia and flax seeds!
Yield: 1 smoothie bowl
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Gluten Free Berry & Iron Smoothie Bowl
This breakfast is one of those feel-good meals that will invigorate and energise you, whilst keeping you full. You'll notice there aren't any measurements given in the ingredients list, just because I believe smoothies should be made with only the things you like -- and as much or as little of them as you want! I made this recipe in my Nutri Ninja, so the instructions call for you to layer the ingredients so that the biggest bits are closest to the blade. If you are using a traditional blender with the blades in the bottom of the container, reverse the order.
Made overnight, this easy chia pudding is sweet and tart with a touch of honey and ripe blackberries!
Yield: 1 bowl
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Gluten Free Blackberry Vanilla Chia Pudding
Breakfast foods are my favourite, but even though I'm a morning person, I don't always feel like getting up and preparing something first thing in the morning. So after I discovered chia seeds, a friend of mine shared with me this revolutionary breakfast of chia pudding. The best thing about it? You just make it up the night before, leave it in the fridge and you can grab it on your way to work. Easy.
This nutty gluten free layered cake is made from meringues and with toasted almonds and hazelnuts!
Yield: 2 mini marjolaine cakes
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Gluten Free French Marjolaine
Here's last week's #GBBOGlutenFree TechnicalChallenge offering! It's really yummy, although I think it's a bit of a nut overload and perhaps not worth all the effort you'll put into this recipe! If you watched the show, you'll know that the contestants and Mary baked a large marjolaine, but that was too big for a family of three, so I've cut the recipe down make these two smaller cakes that are much more manageable. Still, even with all the hard work, I'd say these are great for a special occasion but not an every day bake. They're surprisingly easy to make, although labour intensive!
I am a little obsessed with Halloween! I just love the idea of all that candy, the costumes and the cute decorations. Two years ago, I created a pretty simple orange Halloween macaron recipe that was a big hit, but this year I wanted to take my Halloween macarons one step further! These little Frankenstein heads are just the cutest. They're easy to do -- no, really; they are! And they'll be the talk of the table at your Halloween party! Don't worry if you're not the greatest artist, I'm not either! No one's going to care if your stitches are wonky or your mouths are too small; it's all about their incredible taste!
A couple of notes: feel free to make these as green as you'd like. If you're in the UK and not using American gel colours, you'll probably find that due to EU regulations, the colours aren't exactly vibrant. I think it's fine; there's not many E numbers in the gel paste colouring here. If you're in the US, however, your food dye is a lot more concentrated and will probably yield a deeper green. Either way is fine!
A gluten free interpretation of a classic French fougasse, that's vegan-friendly!
Yield: 4 fougasse
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Gluten Free Fougasse
I first encountered the fougasse about two years ago on a one-day baking workshop hosted by Pinterest. Then, the fougasse I made, with its poppy seeds and delicious herbs, was full of gluten and I couldn't eat it. I never went back to the idea of making a gluten free fougasse. When I saw it on Great British Bake Off last week, I was excited but also nervous. Gluten free bread can be difficult at the best of times, but trying to replicate a recipe from two years ago into a gluten-free version was daunting.
Still, here's my attempt and I have to say, it turned out much better than I thought! Just a few things to remember: gluten-free bread doesn't rely on the structure of gluten to give it that elastic texture. As a result, this is a more dense bread than its gluten counterpart, but it's still delicious! In my reasearch, I learned that the fougasse is eaten in dozens of different ways, from a savoury snack to a Christmas dessert. I decided to keep it simple and stick to French herbs, but you can use whatever you'd like!
Ingredients:
For the fougasse 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 1/2 teaspoons easy blend yeast 2 tablespoons olive oil 30 grams gluten free buckwheat flour 75 ml boiled water 150 ml cold water 270 grams gluten free bread flour herbs de provence sea salt Need a conversion? Use this handy chart.
You can even add some caramelised onions to this recipe or a sprinkle of cheese or even a few twists of salty French salami or other cured meat. As I mentioned, there are dessert versions of fougasse, sweetened with sugar, dried fruits and nuts, giving you endless possibilities once you've mastered this delicious recipe!
Gluten Free Vegan Fougasse
Instructions:
Place the flour in a bowl and stir in the yeast and salt.
Boil a kettle and fill a jug with 75 ml hot water and top with 150 ml cold water.
Add the olive oil and honey to the water.
Create a well in the middle of the dry mix and dump the water, oil and honey mix in the centre.
Mix quickly to make a soft, sticky dough.
Sprinkle a bit of the buckwheat flour onto a clean surface and knead the dough until smooth.
Don't knead too much - remember gluten free dough behaves differently from gluten dough.
Place back in the bowl and cover with a towel for an hour.
Knock back the dough, divide into four equal parts and shape into vague leaf shapes.
Use a bench scraper to cut one vertical line down the centre and three to six diagonal lines on either side.
Sprinkle each fougasse with the herbs and a bit more salt and allow to rest for 20 minutes while the oven preheats to 240c / 450f.
Bake the fougasse up to 20 minutes or until cooked through. If the fougasse isn't browning, feel free to brush each fougasse with a little olive oil or butter and return to the oven.
More Gluten Free Great British Bake Off Challenges:
I'm Anyonita, an American living in Britain, chasing great meals and beautiful places. After years as a food blogger, I'm taking Anyonita Nibbles on the road. Expect food, travel, restaurant finds and plenty of recipes from the archive.
