Christmas 2007: Hottest new Asian cuisine cookbooks

Dharma is food and food is love so what better way to show it than a good Asian cookbook. Where to start India, Thailand, there is just too much ground to cover and too many recipes to try. Hard to find ingredients? Not anymore with a wealth of resource on line right at your fingertips. The choice for hot new books was not easy but here a few of my favorites for holiday gift giving.

“Memories of a Philippine Kitchen” by Amy Besa and Romy Doroton with lush, mouth watering photography from Neal Oshina.

Within the first pages you are pulled into the family gathering spot, the kitchen. A cultural journey through food into the heart of the Philippines. Filipino cuisine is by nature a fusion of Native, Chinese, American and Spanish flavors sometimes all in one dish. Amy and Romy take you by the hand and guide you through the history and changes over time of the most traditional dishes. Some of the more than 100 dishes are easily prepared in minutes, other require the whole day such as pig roasting. A beautiful book to look at and a delicious one to experience.

“Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook” by Fuchsia Dunlop

Hunan cooking from the land of Mao. Beautifully written tales and legends surrounding the spirited cooking of the Hunan region. Specialty holiday and banquet foods are explained along with plenty of everyday pleasant peasant fare. Good explanations for new techniques and unique ingredients make this a very kitchen friendly volume. A solid start for a step up to one of the worlds oldest hearths.

“Tibetan Cooking: Recipes for Daily Living” by Elizabeth Esther Kelley

A big ole chunk of love from one of America’s long running monastery cooks. She pulls us to her and weaves a spiritual tale of love through food. These dishes are simple, easy to prepare and most of the ingredients are readily available. Breath in the richness from the bubbling pot and the mysterious mountains of Tibet are only a blink away. This is a great book for whole family cooking. Kids and Grandmothers alike can work side by side with these exotically simple family recipes.

“Into the Vietnamese Kitchen” by Andrea Nguyen

Beautiful explanations of technique and timing. Thorough guides to what may be unfamiliar foods and spices with suggestions for substitutions for what maybe hard to find ingredients. Ms Nguyen gives down to earth descriptions of how to make and use basics like fish sauce. The recipes are well laid out and easy to follow from the easy street snack to the all day one pots. Totally accessible for amateurs and rife with depth for the more astute among us.

“Cradle of Flavor” by James Oseland and Christopher Hirscheimer

This cookbook takes you on a cultural journey through Malaysia, the markets of Singapore to the tips of Sumatra and Java. It brings the home cooking from these vastly diverse yet very close peoples together for a series of culinary treats you won’t soon forget. Based on traditional home cooking the recipes are broken down in a way that makes them accessible to anyone. There is an incredible resource guide for obtaining hard to find items. Intriguing stories and compelling history bring the festival extravaganzas and the quick lunch into reach of us all. There is no other book on the market quite like this one. Though it breaks new ground I feel that this will soon be a coveted classic.