Category Archives: Asian Recipes

Asparagus Fry — With Mustard Seeds and Coconut

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A simple saute of asparagus that gets dressed up with Indian flavors.
A simple saute of asparagus that gets dressed up with Indian flavors.

Spring may signal bountiful flowers. But for me, first and foremost, it brings asparagus.

I can barely contain myself when the first spears start showing up at the farmers markets. Because from then on out, I eat my fill of those sweet, thick spears every week until they disappear all too rapidly at the end of their short season.

Asparagus aren’t often highlighted in Indian cooking. So, when I spied a recipe for “Asparagus Fry” flavored with chilies, mustard seeds, and shredded coconut, I was all in.

This quick and easy recipe is from the new “Mindful Indian Meals,” of which I received a review copy.

It’s by San Franciscan Shivangi Rao, a designer and product manager in the healthcare industry, who founded the blog, Raody Recipes.

Growing up, Rao was plagued by digestive and cognitive autoimmune illnesses, which even impacted her ability to walk at one point. She eventually learned that certain foods triggered her symptoms, which led her to eliminate them. The only problem was many of them were the beloved foods she had grown up with: Indian sweets made with refined sugar; lentils high in starch; and rice and roti, both high in simple carbohydrates.

So, she set out on a path to reclaim those flavors that are so integral to her family and culture.

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Vietnamese-Style Sauteed Artichokes

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Artichokes take to Vietnamese flavors uncannily well.
Artichokes take to Vietnamese flavors uncannily well.

Besides the abundance of raw, fresh herbs and addictive umami of fish sauce, the other aspect of Vietnamese food that I adore is the French influence on the cuisine.

Case in point: “Vietnamese-Style Sauteed Artichokes.”

Artichokes are certainly not a veg you’d normally see in Vietnamese dishes. But they work beautifully in this recipe from the cookbook, “Tasting Vietnam” (Rizzoli, 2021), of which I received a review copy.

Written by Anne-Solenne Hatte, an actress and model of French and Vietnamese heritage, the book showcases the home-cooking of her maternal grandmother, who grew up in the rice fields of Hanoi, then emigrated to Washington, D.C. and then France, where she opened the restaurant, La Hanoienne.

From surviving the famines of Vietnam to raising nine children in France, her grandmother’s cooking sustained and satiated through the decades, preserving tradition but also adapting to her surroundings along the way.

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The Cake That Hides A Dramatic Surprise

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Put some green in your life in a different way this St. Patrick's Day.
Put some green in your life in a different way this St. Patrick’s Day.

There are cakes, which when cut, tumble out a hidden torrent of rainbow sprinkles or M&Ms.

This cake also boasts a surprise center, but a far more sophisticated one.

Cut into it with a fork, and a gush of melty, brilliant-green, matcha-chocolate will flow out instead.

This genius recipe for “Matcha Chocolate Lava Cakes” is from “The Honeysuckle Cookbook” (Rodale, 2020) by Dzung Lewis, a former Bay Area financial analyst who moved to Los Angeles to pursue her passion for cooking with her YouTube channel “Honeysuckle.”

There are several techniques to create the molten center of lava cakes. This one relies on freezing matcha ganache — melted white chocolate mixed with matcha and a little oil — in an ice cube tray until solid. The frozen cube then gets set into the cake batter, so that during baking, the frozen ganache slowly liquifies within the set cake.

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The Pureness of Miso Soup with Halibut

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Soup does a body good, and this miso one with halibut surely does that in a most delicious way.
Soup does a body good, and this miso one with halibut surely does that in a most delicious way.

As much as I love halibut, it can be precarious to cook.

A lean fish, it can easily go dry and tasteless.

But “Miso Soup with Halibut” solves that conundrum by gently poaching halibut fillets in flavorful miso soup.

This fantastic recipe comes from “The Complete Autumn and Winter Cookbook” (2021), of which I received a review copy, by America’s Test Kitchen.

Yes, with spring around the corner, I just squeaked in under the wire with this recipe.

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Low-and-Slow Spiced Chicken Legs with Garlic Crunch-Crumbs

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Chicken leg quarters roast in the oven in an unusual method.
Chicken leg quarters roast in the oven in an unusual method.

When it comes to battered, fried foods, I often think the best part is the little bits of golden, crunchy crumbs that fall off, which get eaten with your fingers with no shame, just total abandon.

If you’re with me on that, then you’ll go crazy for “Low-and-Slow Spiced Chicken Legs with Garlic Crunch-Crumbs.”

Because crunch crumbs — galore.

The recipe is from “That Sounds So Good’ (Clarkson Potter, 2021), of which I received a review copy, by Brooklyn’s Carla Lalli Music, former food director of Bon Appetit magazine, and founder of “Carla’s Cooking Show.”

The book includes 100 recipes for weekday and weekend fare, each helpfully complete with suggested ingredient swaps, in case you don’t want to run to the store for something you don’t have on hand or if just want to shake things up a bit.

For instance, “Pasta with Cacio e Walnut” can be made with Pecorino Romano or aged Gouda instead of the original Manchego; or almonds or pistachios can stand in for the walnuts. In “Grilled Squid with Blackened Tomatoes,” sea scallops or large peeled shrimp can be used instead of squid; and fennel seeds can trade places with the original cumin and coriander seeds. If the “Vanilla-Brown Butter Pear Tart” has caught your eye, but it’s not pear season, then use Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples; or peaches, nectarines or plums with a smidge of cornstarch to thicken their juices.

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