Category Archives: Asian Recipes

Eggplant Donburi Equals Comfort In A Bowl

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Easy-peasy, miso eggplant served over rice.
Easy-peasy, miso eggplant served over rice.

There are times when I look at my garden plaintively and pleadingly.

I’ve watered you, I’ve fed you. I’m given you sun and shade. So, why aren’t you cooperating and growing like you should?

Thankfully, though, there are other times when I examine something gleefully and come away filled with surprise.

That’s when I peer at my Japanese eggplant plant, and find it offering up not one, not two, but handfuls of slender, glossy, deep purple fruit (yes, fruit because technically that’s what they are).

“Eggplant Donburi” proved the perfect way to enjoy my latest harvest.

This rice-bowl dish couldn’t be easier or more homey tasting.

It’s from “Rice” (Smith Street Books), of which I received a review copy. Eight different writers contributed more than 80 recipes from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India and elsewhere in Asia. The recipes highlight the beloved staple grain, and span both sweet and savory, and incorporate various cooking techniques.

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Endive Salad With Indian Flair

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An endive and romaine salad gets jazzed up with seared paneer and a punchy tamarind chutney dressing.
An endive and romaine salad gets jazzed up with seared paneer and a punchy tamarind chutney dressing.

Like so many ethnic households, my family’s included a pantry where fermented black beans, three types of soy sauce, and tubs of tofu had equal billing as ketchup, mustard, and frozen hash browns.

Same for Khushbu Shah, whose family arrived in the first wave of Indian immigration to the United States.

The former restaurant editor at Food & Wine magazine, the Los Angeles-based Shah grew up in a home where Bisquick, peanut butter, and Taco Bell burritos were as beloved as curry leaves, coconut milk, and moong dal.

It’s that blending of heritages that informs her new cookbook, “Amrikan” (W.W. Norton), of which I received a review copy. Just what is “Amrikan”? As Shah explains in the book: Both a noun and an adjective, it is the word that Indians use to describe all things American. Or in short: “It’s America — with a desi accent.”

As such, the 125 recipes showcase the clever, surprising, and inspired ways that Indian American families have adapted what they found in American grocery stores or added a Southeast Asian spin to American comfort food classics.

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Hawaiian-Style Lemongrass Adobo Grilled Chicken With Pineapple

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Savor a taste of Hawaii -- in the comfort of your own backyard.
Savor a taste of Hawaii — in the comfort of your own backyard.

If you’re braving the record-setting crowds to fly off to some tropical paradise this Fourth of July, more power to you.

Me? I’ll be mellowing out at home instead, and creating my own sunny island feast with “Lemongrass Adobo Grilled Chicken With Pineapple.”

Marinate the chicken overnight with plenty of fresh ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and adobo seasoning. When ready to eat, fire up the grill to cook the flavorful chicken plus juicy sweet rings of pineapple. Then, sit back and enjoy.

This easy recipe is from “Islas” (Chronicle Books, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Von Diaz, an Emmy Award-winning documentarian, food historian and food writer who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta, GA.

A celebration of tropical cuisines, this cookbook is all about summer cooking from beginning to end. It’s a collection of 125 recipes from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean Islands.

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For The Love of Crispy Bits

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Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you'll ever enjoy.
Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you’ll ever enjoy.

Raise your hand if you covet those cooked grains of rice that turn golden and ever so crispy on the bottom of the pan.

Then, “Sheet Pan ‘Fried’ Rice” is made for you.

Because this is fried rice that’s cooked not in a wok or saute pan on the stovetop, but in the oven on a sheet pan that’s preheated until it’s blazing hot.

That means far more surface area for the rice to come in contact with to turn exceptionally toasty and crunchy.

This genius recipe is from “Hot Sheet” (Harvest), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook was written by Olga Massov, an editor at the Washington Post’s Food section; and Sanaë Lemoine, a novelist and former cookbook editor, who worked at Martha Stewart and Phaidon Press.

As the title implies, this book is all about recipes made on a sheet pan, one of the hardest working and most useful pans in our kitchens.

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Black Garlic Adds A Twist to Barbecue Sauce

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Ribs slathered with black garlic barbecue sauce.
Ribs slathered with black garlic barbecue sauce.

What’s sweet, tangy, full of umami, and looks like mole but isn’t?

“Black Garlic Barbecue Sauce.”

Best yet, it requires no cooking, just whizzing everything in a blender before using.

This fabulous recipe is from “Preserved Condiments” (Hardie Grant, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

It’s part of a new series of books on food preservation by Darra Goldstein, founding editor of Gastronomica and winner of the 2020 “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the International Association of Culinary Professionals; Cortney Burns, no stranger to anyone in the Bay Area for co-founding Bar Tartine in San Francisco; and Richard Martin, a media executive and lifestyle editor.

This compact book contains 25 recipes for creative and versatile condiments that are sure to add a spark to a bevy of dishes. Learn how to make the Yemini sauce known as “Zhug” to accent salads and seafood; “Red Plum Hoisin Sauce” sure to elevate any simple stir-fry; “Honey Mustard” that’s more complex than store-bought; and “Bumper Crop Ketchup” that may replace Heinz as your go-to.

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