Category Archives: Asian Recipes

Napa Cabbage — Your New Best Veggie Friend

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An easy and fast side dish to any Asian-inspired spread.
An easy and fast side dish to any Asian-inspired spread.

You want a best friend whom you can count on.

One who has lasting qualities.

One who rises to any occasion.

In short, in the world of vegetables, you want napa cabbage.

Crisp, sweet, slightly mustardy, super versatile, and able to last weeks in the fridge, it’s what you can loyally turn to time and time again.

I love it shredded raw in salads, roasted in the oven, steamed gently, and stir-fried as in this recipe for “Sour and Hot Napa Cabbage (Suan La Bai Cai).”

It’s a fast and easy side dish recipe that first appeared in the March/April 2023 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

It’s based on a favorite dish from a local Sichuan restaurant that the staffers of the magazine frequented before it closed.

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Sink Your Teeth Into Dreamy Scallion Pancake Biscuits

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All the deliciousness of green onion pancakes in biscuit form.
All the deliciousness of green onion pancakes in biscuit form.

Imagine biting into a heavenly allium-scented Chinese scallion pancake — only one that’s loftier, super crunchy on top, and built majestically like your favorite buttery Southern biscuit.

“Scallion Pancake Biscuits” truly are the best of all carb worlds.

This impressive recipe is from “More Than Cake” (Artisan), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Natasha Pickowicz, a New York city-based chef and writer behind the popular pastry pop-up Never Ending Taste.

Her Chinese and California heritages are on full display in the 100 recipes, many of which showcase seasonal fruit and/or imaginative riffs on classic Asian treats or ingredients.

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Time for Thai Cornish Game Hens with Chili Dipping Sauce

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A simple marinade, a toss on the grill, and an easy chile dipping sauce to finish are all that's involved in making this punchy Thai Cornish game hen dish.
A simple marinade, a toss on the grill, and an easy chile dipping sauce to finish are all that’s involved in making this punchy Thai Cornish game hen dish.

You know that favorite, forgotten shirt you stumble upon one day in the back of your closet, and rejoice?

That’s what I think of Cornish game hens.

These small birds are usually hidden away on a low shelf in the grocery store freezer — if you’re able to find them at all.

When you do, and throw them into your shopping cart for the hell of it, you remember just how good they are and how you really ought to cook with them more often.

That’s what ran through my head after one taste of “Thai Cornish Game Hens with Chili Dipping Sauce.”

The recipe is from “The Outdoor Cook” by America’s Test Kitchen, of which I received a review copy.

Perfect for this time of year, this cookbook is filled with 150 recipes for cooking on grills (both gas and charcoal), griddles, planchas, rotisseries, pizza ovens, and smokers.

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Salt and Pepper Tater Tots — A Guilty Pleasure If There Ever Was One

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Salt and pepper tater tots are sure to be your new guilty pleasure.
Salt and pepper tater tots are sure to be your new guilty pleasure.

If you had told me that one day I’d be stir-frying tater tots, I would have called you “crazy.”

But crazy can be mighty good.

And these sure are.

Put your disbelief aside, do yourself a favor, and make these “Salt and Pepper Tater Tots.”

If you’ve ever enjoyed the warm aromatics of Chinese salt and pepper shrimp or salt and pepper spare ribs, then you know the taste sensation you are in for.

This delightful recipe is from “Tenderheart” (Alfred A. Knopf), of which I received a review copy.

It’s the newest cookbook by Hetty Lui McKinnon, the gifted Chinese Australian cook and food writer who now lives in Brooklyn. She’s also the publisher of the multicultural food journal, Peddler, as well as host of its podcast, The House Specials.

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Lollipops For Pops on Father’s Day

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Lollipops of a different sort for Father's Day.
Lollipops of a different sort for Father’s Day.

My dad was a sucker for See’s Candies of any kind or shape.

For Father’s Day, we’d often present him with a big See’s box, which he’d tear into eagerly — even way before dinner.

I have a hunch, though, that my dad would have also gone gangbusters over these lollipops of a different sort.

That’s because he also loved lamb. Most often, he’d turn cubes into stew with loads of carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes cut into large chunks to stretch out the meal for our family of five.

A lamb rib rack, with its higher price tag, wasn’t something he’d pick up at the store. But when I cooked up these “Vindaloo-Spiced Lamb Lollipops,” I couldn’t help picturing him smacking his lips over them.

Smoky from the grill, juicy and tender from a vibrant marinade, they’re redolent of cumin, one of the staple spices in the curry lamb stew he’d often make in winter.

This aromatic and complex tasting dish comes from the cookbook, “Chiles and Smoke” (Quartz Publishing Group/Harvard Common Press), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by pit master Brad Prose, founder of the recipe site Chiles and Smoke. As the name implies, the book is all about grilling recipes featuring an array of chiles. That doesn’t mean necessarily mean they will scorch your palate. The chiles are used judiciously. Plus, you can always decrease the amount used, if you like.

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