Create irresistible and authentic dishes from the East right in your kitchen…
Have you ever wondered how you could make that perfect Satay Sauce? How about Tandoor Rotis in your oven? What would it be if you could make the best sweet rice dumplings and share it with your friends? How about impressing your guest with that authentic tasting Kulfi (traditional Indian icecream)?
All of these may sound difficult to you, but this book, Indian, Chinese, Thai & Asian: 1000 Recipes really breaks it down for you. This book is one of a kind that you’re going to love.
Some of the world’s favorite cuisines come from India, China, Thailand and South-east Asia. You could travel pretty much to any part of the world and still be able to find these cuisines. Last year when I was in Amsterdam, I enjoyed delicious Indian food at the airport right before my flight. In Chicago, I dined at one of the finest Thai restaurants. When I used to live in Michigan, I was particularly fond of a small Chinese restaurant that only did deliveries. Most of us live in close proximity to these cuisines. These cuisines are a commonplace from simple take out joints to world-class fine dining restaurants.
Even though I’ve cooked a lot of food, when my review copy arrived in the mail, I started browsing through the book for several hours reading recipes and looking at the fabulous photos page after page. I was really hooked.
The beauty of Asian cooking is in its variety and this book clearly covers most of it with its 1000 recipes. The book is well organized with sections from soups and appetizers to fish and shellfish dishes, meat, poultry and vegetable dishes. It also has a good collection of side dishes, salads, relishes and chutneys, as well as breads, desserts and drinks. Whether you’re looking for a speedy meal or an elaborate dinner you’re going to love what this book has to offer.
I enjoyed some of the Noodle dishes like Curried Noodles with Chicken, Chap Chae and Thai noodles with Chinese Chives from this book. Some the appetizers and desserts are looking very good. It brought back memories of recipes that I had forgotten about and some that I’ve never even heard of like the bang bang chicken. Yeah, I’ve never heard of that before! Have you?
Whatever it is that you want to cook, this book will show you how to cook them in an authentic eastern style. I particularly liked how creative the vegetarian recipes were. I’ve been trying to include more vegetarian options in my meals and I often find it hard to cook vegetarian. I don’t know what it is but I just don’t seem to be very good with creating vegetarian dishes. One of the things is unlike meat, vegetarian dishes often require very specific details, certain style of cooking and some interesting ingredients to make it taste good. It would be really hard to just take a few random vegetables and make a grand vegetarian dinner. Some of the vegetarian dishes that interested me in this book besides so many others were Peanut & Tofu Cutlets, Mushroom and Okra Curry and Chinese potatoes with Chili Beans.
I have tried quite a few items from the book already and I am very happy with the outcome. The other day for dinner I made stuffed peppers (see the pic here) exactly per the book and my husband told me that if I made things like this for dinner that he wouldn’t mind becoming vegetarian. I also found an interesting way to cook shrimp from this book, it is Prawn with Okra (see the pic here). I can’t wait to try more of the recipes.
The book also discusses about the equipment and utensils you need in order to make your cooking easy and fun. I think the common western kitchen equipment is adequate for most of the recipes. I’d highly recommend a wok if you don’t have one already. It also suggests a lot of useful and easy tips that can do to add an authentic touch such as serving on traditional pots and utensils. You’ll need to read the book to explore all the interesting tips and creative ideas.
Features I like the most in this book:
- The recipes are easy to follow.
- Variety of world famous authentic recipes.
- Cook’s tips
- Colorful photography
- Nutrition information at the bottom of the page (love it).
- The quality of the paper, thick polished paper on hardcover.
The author of the book Rafi Fernandez is an accomplished cookbook writer. She has authored several cookbooks with many popular food personalities. She lives in England.
If you only want one cookbook to help you bring the authentic taste of the East in your kitchen, then buy this book and get your taste buds tingling.
The book is available for purchase on amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and many book retailers around the world.
