Every gourmet home cook should have a few dishes from these ancient cultures in his or her repertoire. Wondering about how to get started with Asian cooking at home? You are in luck. Celebrate the Year of the Tiger by diving into new and old Asian favorites. Two new cookbooks offer excellent instruction as well as stories that will touch your heart. No excuses now!
Potstickers, Samosas, Springrolls, and Gyoza
Everyone loves a dumpling. Andrea Nguyen’s “Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas and More” is possibly the only dumpling book you’ll ever need. Even experienced cooks will learn recipes, tips for making new dumplings or improving the ones they already serve. Side bars explain substitutions and lead you to the companion website with instructional videos.
One of the best aspects of this book is its comforting, coaxing tone. Photos, illustrations and detailed but clear instruction make something that might seem daunting, feel eminently possible. You feel as though your favorite Auntie is at your elbow, showing you how. There’s a calm patience and a sense of humor, too. Both help newbies feel comfortable diving into dough. This book will have you pleating like a pro, or if not, feeling it’s within reach. The best part of dumplings is even the ugly ones taste good, so it isn’t hard motivating for another round of practice.
Chapters include: Filled Pastas, Thin Skins, Stuffed Buns, Rich Pastries, and more. The photography of Penny De Los Santos is beautifully enticing. You’d almost want to keep this on your coffee table. Alas, it will quickly become to flour-dusted and may not stray far from your kitchen anyway.
- Asian Dumplings, Andrea Nguyen (Ten Speed Press, 2009).
Learning from Asian Grandmothers and Others
“Asian Grandmothers” the words alone simply conjures a sweet, calm presence, a fond memory for so many of us. As Pat Tanumihardja’s own background shows (she is Indonesian and Chinese) the world is multicultural, yet one thing we share are our memories of our Grandmothers' kitchens. Today many cooks blend elements of more than one culture and yet we still cling to those favorite dishes they made.
Tanumihardja collected these treasured recipes and the stories of their creators. She then had the unenviable challenge of picking which would appear in the book. She has lovingly told these stories from cultures including Indian, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese. So many of our mothers and grandmothers cook intuitively, and many of the recipes collected here were replicated with measurements though probably were never previously made from a recipe. Like Nguyen, Tanumihardja also offers help through her website.
Some recipes are very traditional while others show the immigrant’s fondness for adaptation. (Can’t you just hear a grandparent say “we came from the old country so life would be easier, why do you want to go to all that trouble?”) Furikake Chex Mix, anyone?
The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook covers a surprisingly wide array of cultures and recipes. Helpful photos of ingredients accompany the glossary. The ingredients are explained in terms of not only what they are, but how they are used and alternate names. For example, Kalamansi is popular in the food of the Philippines where it grows. The small lime also known as Calamondin, or Calamansi. Its high acid content and floral aroma make it quite different from your typical (Persian) lime.
This loving tribute is fun to read but impossible if you're hungry. Every time you pick it up, you want to make one dish or another. Filipino Chicken Adobo? Korean Kalbi? Mulligatawny Soup? It's all here in heartwarming chapters including stocks, soups, side dishes, meals for a crowd or one-pot meals, sweets. Oh, and there are dumplings too, of course!
- Asian Grandmothers Cookbook, Pat Tanumihardja (Sasquatch Books, 2009).
- Try this Sesame Seed Chicken Wing recipe from Asian Grandmothers Cookbook.
Order these books here, and stop back for two other Asian cookbooks which will be reviewed here, soon:
- The unstoppable Jaden Hair's The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook
- David Chang's Momofuku - Read about this Character here Keep your Oscar, I'll Take my Character.
Jacqueline Church - Award-winning writer, speaker, teacher on topics at the intersection of gourmet and sustainable food issues.
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