Asian

Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China

A bold and eye-opening new cookbook with magnificent photos and unforgettable stories.

In the West, when we think about food in China, what usually comes to mind are the signature dishes of Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai. But beyond the urbanized eastern third of China lie the high open spaces and sacred places of Tibet, the Silk Road oases of Xinjiang, the steppelands of Inner Mongolia, and the steeply terraced hills of Yunnan and Guizhou. The peoples who live in these regions are culturally distinct, with their own history and their own unique culinary traditions. In Beyond the Great Wall, the inimitable duo of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid—who first met as young travelers in Tibet—bring home the enticing flavors of this other China.

For more than twenty-five years, both separately and together, Duguid and Alford have journeyed all over the outlying regions of China, sampling local home cooking and street food, making friends and taking lustrous photographs. Beyond the Great Wall shares the experience in a rich mosaic of recipes—from Central Asian cumin-scented kebabs and flatbreads to Tibetan stews and Mongolian hot pots—photos, and stories. A must-have for every food lover, and an inspiration for cooks and armchair travelers alike.

5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices

The premise is simple: with five common spices and a few basic ingredients, home cooks can create fifty mouthwatering Indian dishes, as diverse as they are delicious. Cooking teacher Ruta Kahate has chosen easy-to-find spices coriander, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper, and turmeric to create authentic, accessible Indian dishes everyone will love. Roasted Lamb with Burnt Onions uses just two spices and three steps resulting in a meltingly tender roast. Steamed Cauliflower with a Spicy Tomato Sauce and Curried Mushrooms and Peas share the same three spices, but each tastes completely different. Suggested menus offer inspiration for entire Indian dinners. For quick and easy Indian meals, keep it simple with 5 Spices, 50 Dishes.

Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking

Elizabeth David had it easy. All she had to do was eat her way through France and Italy and translate the essence of the encountered cuisines for a ravenous, literate, English-speaking public. Fuschia Dunlop, on the other hand, went to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan in China, where she ended up the first foreign student enrolled at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. That was nearly 10 years ago. After annual return visits and endless research she has produced, in English, a magnificent introduction to the food and foodways of Sichuan. She is in every way the dharma inheritor of Elizabeth David.

You too may start to salivate halfway through the introduction to Dunlop's magnificent Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. Perhaps it begins when she explains xian, "one of the most beautiful words in the Chinese culinary language." It describes an entire range of flavor and sensation, "the indefinable, delicious taste of fresh meat, poultry, and seafood, the scrumptious flavors of a pure chicken soup..." Before you know it you are running headlong into a world of 23 distinct flavors and 56 cooking methods (they are all listed at the end of the book). Sichuan is the place where "barbarian peppers" met up with a natural cornucopia and a literary cooking tradition stretching back to the fifth century A.D. Innovation with cooking technique and new and challenging ingredients remains a hallmark of Sichuan. After describing basic cutting skills and cooking techniques, Dunlop presents her recipes in chapters that include "Noodles, Dumplings, and Other Street Treats"; "Appetizers"; "Meat"; "Poultry"; "Fish"; "Vegetables and Bean Curd"; "Stocks and Soup"; "Sweet Dishes"; and "Hotpot." Yes, you will find Gong Bao (Kung Pao) Chicken with Peanuts--Gong Bao Ji Ding. It's named after a late 19th-century governor of Sichuan, Ding Baozhen, which brought on the wrath of the Cultural Revolution for its imperial associations. Until rehabilitation, the dish was called "fast-fried chicken cubes" or "chicken cubes with seared chilies."

Land of Plenty is literary food writing at its best, as well as a marvelous invitation to new skills and flavors for the home cook. Read it. Cook it. Eat it. And take pleasure in the emerging career of Fuschia Dunlop, a big new voice in the world of food. --Schuyler Ingle

The Chinese call the province of Sichuan in southwest China "the land of plenty" and "the place for flavor." Although it is mostly known in the West for its hot-and-spicy dishes, the Chinese love Sichuan food for its inventive use of seasonings and its many styles of preparation. Fuchsia Dunlop immersed herself in Sichuanese cooking and culture for two years, gathering from regional chefs and home cooks a full range of recipes from soups to desserts. She provides glossaries of Sichuan's ingredients and cooking methods, and Chinese characters for and definitions of the twenty-three flavors at the heart of the Sichuanese culinary canon. Equally valuable for novices and experts, Land of Plenty teaches everything from how to wield a cleaver to how to make delicious Kung Pao chicken, offering a unique user-friendly introduction to one of China's richest cuisines. 16 pages of color photographs.

Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking

Morimoto's cooking has distinctive Japanese roots, yet it's actually, as the chef calls it, "global cooking for the 21st century." Morimoto's unique cuisine is characterized by beautiful Japanese color combinations and aromas, while the preparation infuses multicultural influences such as traditional Chinese spices and simple Italian ingredients, presented in a refined French style. Bringing all these elements home, with helpful step-by-step instructions and gorgeous photography, this accessible book explains Chef Morimoto's cooking techniques and plating philosophies and brings Japanese cooking to your own home. AUTHOR BIO: Chef Morimoto has been the Japanese iron chef on the Food Network's weekly show, "Iron Chef," and its spinoff "Iron Chef America," since 1999. The show airs in the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, and Hong Kong. Formerly the Executive Chef of the Sony Club and Nobu, Chef Morimoto now has his own restaurants in New York, Philadelphia, Tokyo, and Mumbai, and also created his own brand of sake and beer.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food

If you think McDonald's is the most ubiquitous restaurant experience in America, consider that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendys combined. New York Times reporter and Chinese-American (or American-born Chinese). In her search, Jennifer 8 Lee traces the history of Chinese-American experience through the lens of the food. In a compelling blend of sociology and history, Jenny Lee exposes the indentured servitude Chinese restaurants expect from illegal immigrant chefs, investigates the relationship between Jews and Chinese food, and weaves a personal narrative about her own relationship with Chinese food. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles speaks to the immigrant experience as a whole, and the way it has shaped our country.

Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go

This book offers an elegant way to enjoy delicious, healthy food on the run. Includes more than 40 main dish recipes and step-by-step illustrations.

Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes

Now busy home cooks can bring the fantastic flavors of Thai cuisine into the kitchen with a simple trip to the grocery store. Nancie McDermott, experienced cook, teacher, and author of the best-selling cookbook Real Thai, presents this collection of 70 delicious recipes that focus on easy-to-find ingredients and quick cooking methods to whip up traditional Thai. With recipes like Crying Tiger Grilled Beef, Grilled Shrimp and Scallops with Lemongrass, Sticky Rice with Mangoes, and Thai Iced Tea, along with McDermott's highly practical array of shortcuts, substitutions, and timesaving techniques, anyone can prepare home-cooked authentic Thai meals -- as often as they like.

Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors

When author Andrea Nguyen's family was airlifted out of Saigon in 1975, one of the few belongings that her mother hurriedly packed for the journey was her small orange notebook of recipes. Thirty years later, Nguyen has written her own intimate collection of recipes, INTO THE VIETNAMESE KITCHEN, an ambitious debut cookbook that chronicles the food traditions of her native country. Robustly flavored yet delicate, sophisticated yet simple, the recipes include steamy pho noodle soups infused with the aromas of fresh herbs and lime; rich clay-pot preparations of catfish, chicken, and pork; classic bánh mì sandwiches; and an array of Vietnamese charcuterie. Nguyen helps readers shop for essential ingredients, master core cooking techniques, and prepare and serve satisfying meals, whether for two on a weeknight or 12 on a weekend.

Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

Ever get a midnight hankering for onion fritters, or for a plate of lamb stewed in coconut milk? The recipes for these Indian delicacies are widely considered to be on the forbidding side. Yet Madhur Jaffrey, an international authority on Indian food and the host of several tandoori-driven TV shows, makes it all seem relatively easy. The kicker: more than 70 of the dishes can be prepared in a half-hour or less.

With more than ten reprints, it's clear cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey wins the popular vote for delicious Indian recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Now with a beautiful new design and all-new photographs, Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking is ready to wow another generation of home cooks. Written by the world's foremost authority on Indian cooking, this terrific volume boasts a tantalizing array of appetizers, entr es, beverages, and desserts for every occasion. From Silken Chicken and Pork Vindaloo to Fresh Red Chutney with Almonds and Sweet, Pale Orange, Mango Lassi, Quick & Easy Indian Cooking makes this exotic cuisine accessible and enjoyable as perfect for entertaining as it is for everyday cooking.

Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China