As the dust cover says it’s Asian Bites – A Feast of Flavours from Turkey through India to Japan. It’s a great concept and teaches you how to produce a colourful range of traditional and contemporary dished presented in a different way. It’s marvellously illustrated, with photographs not only of the recipes but also of Asian landscapes and ingredients.
The list of contents gives us the expectation of delicious foods: Smoking Hot, Crisp and Fiery, Fresh and Aromatic are just a few of the headings. You can mix and match these dishes to produce a wonderful array of flavours, colours and ethnic diversity. Each recipe has a list of other dishes to serve with it. For example, Sak Ju (stir-fried bean sprouts with hot red bean paste) would be partnered with Pork and Cabbage Dumplings and Fried Squid Flowers with Ginger and Spices. We find Ponzu (citrus dipping sauce) together with Prawn and Chive Spring Rolls.
New to me
The recipes are somewhat different from the usual Asian cookbook offerings; I admit that lots of them were new to me. Sri Lanka has an aubergine dip that is a much spicier version than that you would be familiar with from the Middle East. It’s served with Seared Scallops and fried puffed potato bread.
There is a section of menu ideas that would be ideal for entertaining and make stunning presentations. Menu number four consists of Burmese split pea fritters (seasoned with coriander, cumin, garlic and chilis); Thai Isaan-style grilled chicken (with garlic and coriander); prawn cakes from Vietnam (with ginger, lemongrass and chillies); Malaysian bean sprouts and clams (ginger, coriander and chilis); and potato with turmeric and mustard seeds from Singapore. You will see that they make an interesting and balanced mix.
I think that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the menu suggestions to start with. You can select individual recipes and pair them yourself once you have a feel for the combinations, which would be endless. It’s fascinating to mix Indian with Japanese, Korean with Chinese. I think it works much better than the contemporary “Fusion” cuisine which mostly concentrates its efforts on marrying European and Asian foods. Asian Bites has a different slant and it works.
Tom Kime has written for the BBC’s Good Food Magazine, Olive, and Waitrose Food Illustrated, as well as being a chef and food consultant.
Asian Bites
Author: Tom Kime
Published by: Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
Price: £12.99
ISBN 978 1 4053 1961 4
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Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker © 2018