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Vegeterian cooking

Half reference, recipes, but full satisfaction

By J.M. HIRSCH, Associated Press
Published February 2, 2005

CONCORD, N.H. - My cooking rarely has time for the esoteric.

Granted, my idea of run-of-the-mill meals tends to the international, and my spice collection runs in the 100-plus range. Even so, I rarely have time to chase hard-to-find ingredients or master foreign techniques.

So when I received Wendy Hutton's A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables (Periplus, 2004, $24.95), I was convinced that it would be a nice reference guide but it would never actually make it into my kitchen. I'm happy to report how wrong I was.

When food encyclopedias and cookbooks combine, the result generally isn't pretty. The authors too often pour their energy into one half, leaving the other feeling like an afterthought.

In addition - and especially when tackling a cuisine as broad as Asian - an added danger is losing the reader by focusing on ingredients the average home cook not only never has heard of, but also is unlikely ever to find.

Hutton avoids these pitfalls and instead offers an approachable text that informs and entices you into the kitchen.

Part of the reason for her success is that Hutton accounts for most people not only being unfamiliar with many Asian ingredients, but for them not even being sure where the ingredients fall in the food world.

Is Asian pennywort an herb, a spice or a tuber?

The table of contents helpfully guides the reader through that mess (Asian pennywort is an herb), clustering the entries by type so that all the beans are together, as are the herbs, the leafy greens, the mushrooms and the tubers. Each entry has a color illustration so you know exactly what to reach for.

The entries are great: not too long, but with plenty of depth. Most important, they provide key information to help the novice cook navigate an Asian market.

"If bunches of ferns are sold in Asian markets, it is safe to assume they are edible," she writes about fern tips. I would have assumed they were decorative.

The range of Hutton's book also appealed to me. She includes the obvious Japanese and Chinese items (including nori and baby corn), along with plenty from Southeast Asia and India (such as galangal and curry).

For vegetarians, she includes a helpful note at the front with suggested substitutions for the recipes that aren't naturally meat-free.

And for Hutton, the recipes were no afterthought. I had trouble narrowing the list I planned to test. This is unusual.

The recipes are grouped with the chapters that explain their key ingredients. That's a big help for the unusual items, though I found that many recipes used ingredients likely to be found at well-stocked mainstream groceries.

My favorite was Spiced Indian Kidney Beans. This was a fantastic currylike bean dish that went really well with rice and flat bread.

Spiced Indian Kidney Beans

14-ounce can red kidney beans

1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil

1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

1 medium onion, minced

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon minced red chili or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

8 ounces canned crushed tomatoes

1 large green chili, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon garam masala

Preparation time: 30 minutes.

Place beans in mesh colander and rinse under cool water. Set aside to drain.

Heat oil over medium flame in medium saucepan. Add cardamom and onion, and cook until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and chili or red pepper flakes, and cook 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add coriander, cumin and turmeric. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and cook another 2 minutes. Add green chili, 1 tablespoon of cilantro leaves, salt and water.

Increase heat to medium and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Add kidney beans and a pinch of the garam masala. Simmer another 8 minutes.

Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with remaining cilantro and garam masala. Makes 4 servings.

[Last modified February 1, 2005, 10:50:20]