Farm to Table Asian Secrets (9780804847230)

In this delightful Asian cookbook, you'll learn the secrets of vegetarian and vegan Asian cooking—how to blend flavors, textures, aromas and colors—to create full-flavored vegetarian dishes that are missing none of the umami associated with meat and dairy.

Each chapter based on seasonal vegetables provides a wide range of choices using produce that is available at that time of year—making it easy to plan a variety of menus that are never dull. Here are just a few examples of the tempting Asian recipes in this book:

• Starters and Snacks such as Crispy Spring Rolls, Green Apple Salad with Tangy Thai Dressing, Butternut Squash Pot Stickers and Korean-Style Buffalo Broccoli
• Family-Style Meals such as Asparagus in Lemongrass-Coconut Cream Sauce, Grilled Vegetable Kebabs with Two Marinades, General Tso's Eggplant and Kung Pao Potatoes
• All-in-One Meals such as "Have It Everyday" Pad Thai, Crispy Noodles with Savory Vegetables, Sweet Potato Rice Stew and Easy Miso Ramen

Author Patricia Tanumihardja is an experienced food writer and expert on Asian and sustainable farm-to-table cooking. She shows you how to buy and use the freshest in-season produce to create delicious dishes with startlingly new flavors and textures by adding a few "secret ingredients"—the traditional sweet, sour, spicy, savory seasonings that every Asian cook knows. She also explains in this Asian cookbook how the use of contrasting textures (for example silky tofu with crunchy peanuts) can create greater food enjoyment and a stimulating new dining experience.

A home cook at heart, Pat's recipes are very straightforward without lots of exotic ingredients or specialized tools. They are also easy and quick to prepare. She shows you how adding a few Asian fermented and pickled vegan products like miso or pickled greens will add a new universe of flavors to your cooking. The same is true for flavor-enhancers like fried shallots, crispy fried garlic and the flavored oils that Asian chefs and restaurants use on a regular basis.


About the Author:
Patricia Tanumihardja is an experienced writer who reviews restaurants, profiles chefs and artisanal food producers, and writes about travel and food. She was born in Indonesia and brought up in Singapore before moving to the U.S. and settling in Northern Virginia, where she now lives with her husband and son. Growing up in several different food cultures, she learned to appreciate a wide variety of foods and flavors from a young age and learned to cook as soon as she could tell the difference between garlic and ginger. As a writer, she sees the world through a multicultural lens and enjoys covering topics relating to food history and food culture. She contributes to Edible Seattle, Seattle, Seattle Met, Monterey County Weekly, Sunset and Saveur and her debut cookbook was The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook: Home Cooking from Asian American Kitchens. Pat writes the "Pickles and Tea" food blog in collaboration with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center which showcases contemporary Asian food culture in America.