Everyday Asian: From Soups to Noodles, From Barbecues to Curries, Your Favorite Asian Recipes Made Easy

by Marnie Henricksson

Overview

Love Asian food but too intimidated to make it at home? Do you find yourself flipping through an Asian cookbook, and then going out for Thai noodles or Korean Barbecue, rather than going into your kitchen? When Marnie Henricksson gave up her noodle shop in Greenwich Village, and settled down to raise her kids in the 'burbs, she had difficulty finding her favorite Asian ingredients at the local supermarket. So, Marnie tweaked her recipes to work with readily available ingredients, allowing her and her family to enjoy Asian food everyday. In Everyday Asian, Marnie shares seventy-five of her favorite dishes with home cooks.

As the recipes draw on the traditional cuisines of Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and India, Marnie begins the book with a chapter detailing how to find, make, and store necessary ingredients, as well as giving advice on invaluable kitchen equipment for Asian cooking.

Here's your opportunity to master classicdishes such as Pad Thai, Chinese Pork Roasts, Spring Rolls, and Vietnamese Pho, and expand your imagination with Marnie's innovative recipes for Asian Pesto (replace pine nuts with peanuts and Italian basil with Thai basil, cilantro, and mint) and Spicy Chicken Wings (an American classic with a good dose of Asian spices).

It's clear from the abundance of Japanese, Korean, Indian, and Vietnamese restaurants that Americans are crazy about Asian food; however, cooking the real thing at home has always been a problem if you don't live near an Asian market. Now, with Marnie's easy-to-follow recipes, enjoying Asian food as often as you like is just a supermarket aisle away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062032706
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	631 KB

About the Author

Marnie Henricksson was born and raised in Minnesota and first became interested in food at Cornell University. At Cornell, she studied Economics but between classes made and sold French pastry to coffee shops on campus. Marnie then spent a year and a half in Asia, sampling local ingredients and cuisines, and becoming hooked on Asian food. In 1991 she opened "Marnie’s Noodle Shop" in New York City, where she put to use all that she learned in her travels. Marnie is a full-time writer and lives in Putnam Valley, NY.

Read an Excerpt

Tossed Salad With Lemon-Ginger Dressing

Serves 4

So simple, but this salad always brings a little smile of pleased surprise. It was the house salad at my restaurant, and customers constantly asked me for the dressing recipe. Serve it with an Asian meal instead of a salad with the usual olive oil and vinegar dressing. It is oil free, light, and tangy and goes equally well with fried food, cold noodles, or a barbecue.

Ingredients

Dressing

3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds
1 head red leaf lettuce, or romaine, leaves torn into small pieces
1 carrot, grated 4 thin slices red onion

Instructions

1. Make the dressing by combining the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
   
   
2. Place the cucumber slices in a bowl and pour the dressing over them. Let them marinate for 15 minutes.
   
   
3. Combine the lettuce, carrot, and onion in a bowl and toss with tongs. Pour in the cucumbers and dressing and toss again. Transfer to a serving bowl.

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Vietnamese Spareribs

Serves 4

China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Korea each have distinctive ways of cooking spareribs -- grilled, baked, braised, fried, or deep-fried. Vietamese ribs are marinated in a tomato paste mixture that is first fried in oil to intensify the tomato flavor. Allow them to marinate overnight for a deeper flavor, and baste the ribs with the leftover marinade as they cook.

Asian ribs are generally not served with a barbecue sauce.

Before marinating, for easy turning and even cooking, slice three-quarters of the way down between each rib, leaving intact he backbone that holds the rack together. It is quick work to make he final separation with a sharp knife after they are cooked. Spareribs are frequently served as an appetizer in Asia, so, if you like, after separating the ribs, chop each one in half with a cleaver serve them before a meal.

Ingredients

1/2 Onion, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 pounds pork spareribs, ribs separated but still attached to the rack (See headnote)
Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Instructions

1. Combine the onion, garlic, pepper, and sugar in a food processor or blender and pulse until you have a rough paste. Remove the mixture to a pan large enough to hold the ribs, add the fish sauce, and stir.
   
   
2. Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the tomato paste and fry while stirring until it becomes shiny, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly and stir it into the onion paste.
   
   
3. Spread the marinade over the ribs, making sure you get between the ribs and under the flaps. Let them marinate for 3 hour or overnight. Try to let at least 2 hours of the marinating time be at room temperature.
   
   
4. Prepare your grill and cook over gray coals, turning frequently and basting with leftover marinade until well done, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve on a platter garnished with the cilantro sprigs.
   
   
5. Alternatively, you can separate the ribs completely with a sharp knife and bake them in a 400°F oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Stir them up in the pan a bit after half an hour.

Everyday Asian. Copyright © by Marnie Henricksson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

In her first book, the former owner of Marnie's Noodle Shop in Manhattan comes off like the Laurie Colwin of Asian food. Henricksson cares a lot about authenticity, but she cares more about the experiences of cooks who live outside America's urban centers and have trouble finding many Asian ingredients. She offers robust but stripped-down versions of dishes like pad Thai and Vietnamese beef pho, and the ginger sauce she puts on her striped bass is so zingy that we spread the leftovers on practically everything we ate for a week. This is a model of what a smart, honest, populist cookbook should be. — Dwight Garner

The New York Times

Offers robust but stripped-down versions of dishes like Pad Thai and Vietnamese beef pho… a smart, honest, populist cookbook.

New York Times Book Review