Touring Around Asia

I have a rather large collection of cookbooks. Maybe not as big as some, but pretty big. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a pretty cookbook with pretty pictures. This week I cooked out of “Lemongrass and Ginger”, by Lee Mei Tan. This book covers recipes from Japan, Korea, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, and Sri Lanka. She also has a blog that is pretty cool at http://mycookinghut.com

I originally got this book because it had a recipe for Dan Dan Noodles, which until now was the only recipe I had used. I explored a bit more last week by making Japanese Beef Stew, Chicken and Vegetables Steam Buns, Gado, Gado, Claypot Chicken Rice, and Sticky Coconut Rice with Caramelized Mango (mango and sticky rice…yummy).

My steam buns didn’t have that nice dim sum look to them, but the tasted good. The Gado Gado was healthy and delicious. My Claypot Chicken Rice also didn’t look as nice in the picture, but also had a good flavor. The stew came out great, which was good because I had to do several substitutions. It’s not really a time for shopping around and a few of the items were not at the grocery store. Funny enough, the daikon was back this week. The one I was the most proud of was my mango and sticky rice. That came out great. I ate this stuff almost everyday in Thailand and it’s probably my mom’s favorite thing.

I liked the food. The recipes are easy to follow and not too complicated. Most of the recipes have meat in them, so not great for vegetarians. Although, I imagine the meat could be swapped out for a vegetarian option pretty easy. Our current situation does make it so one can’t really shop around, as I said before, so knowing what to sub with what is very helpful. I don’t know why the store was out of daikon. I guess a lot of people are cooking Japanese food in my neighborhood. Anyhoos, this week I am on a soup binge. The spicier, the better.