Asian food recipes

For the peoples of Asia, noodles and dumplings rival bread and rice as sources of energy, starch, and dietary fiber. From China to Indonesia, dishes are made with noodles or dumplings as their starting point. On Asian streets, noodles and dumplings dispensed from small carts, hole in the wall counters, and restaurants sustain millions of locals daily, from sunrise to well into the night.

Noodle types vary across the Asian continent. Those from northern China are tougher, made from wheat or barley and water; farther south, wheat noodles become more pliant with the use of egg; and in the wetter climes of Southeast Asia, the soft textured rice noodle is more common. The Vietnamese and Cambodians have perfected the gorgeously soft and sensuous rice noodle; the Japanese are experts with soba and udon; and the Koreans have the unique dang myun, a translucent cellophane vermicelli made with vegetable starch, and a more textured version of the soba, naeng myun. In Malaysia and Singapore, where noodles were introduced by the Chinese, wheat, egg, and rice noodles weave their way into everything from soups to stir fries.

In China, noodles are served on birthdays symbolizing long life, they are considered as important as birthday cakes. Usually the e-fu, or long life noodle, is used, and the noodles are never cut, because this would suggest shortening one's life. Another noodle, from China's Shandong province, is the la mian, or dragon's whisker. A work of art in itself, this noodle is hand-drawn and hand thrown from a length of dough by specially trained master chefs. Within the Taoist tradition of yin-yang, flavors and textures come together to create perfect harmony and balance cold with hot, crunchy with soft, wet with dry, smooth with crisp. Noodles, whether steamed, boiled, braised, deep-fried, or stir fried, make a vital contribution. When many dishes are to be shared at the table, the cook needs special knowledge of all the ingredients and skill in their assembly to achieve a true balance of yin and yang.

Dim sum and dumplings Dumplings have a slightly different role in the lives of Asians. The ritual of taking dim sum, traditionally served with jasmine tea, is practiced in the late morning and lunchtime in Chinese restaurants all over the world. Minuscule dumplings and pastry pillows are paraded before the customer ingenious morsels with delicious centers, created daily by an army of cooks, and devoured within seconds. Vying for attention are deep fried or boiled egg rolls or wontons, melt in the mouth fried taro pastries called wu gok, and steamed har gau translucent pastries with luscious shrimp, pork, or scallop centers. There are steamed siu mai, with their ground pork, shrimp, and water chestnut filling; jai gau, glutinous rice wrappers stuffed with green leafy vegetables and ginger; and wondrous pot sticker dumplings, Chinese jiaozi, or Japanese gyoza, consisting of a special dough made with boiling water and usually filled with ground pork. Other components are the sublime duck pancakes; wafer thin sheets cooked in a hot pan, steamed, and wrapped around crisp Peking duck, cucumber sticks, and green onions, seasoned with a hoisin or plum sauce. The Vietnamese make an egg roll using rice-paper sheets for a light, crisp texture. The same rice paper sheets are used to make cold rolls filled with shrimp, crab, pork, or vegetables, with fresh rice vermicelli usually added to enhance the soft textures. Malaysia has given us the popiah, another version of the fresh roll in which the pastry sheets are made paper thin, in the same way as you would a crêpe, then filled with vegetables or ground pork and chili. Dumplings can be made from glutinous rice flour, potato or water chestnut flour, eggs, wheat flour, duck fat, lard, rice paper, mung beans, or even green vegetable leaves, like screw pine or banana.

Whatever the wrapper or pastry used to encase the filling, it should be paper thin, with the texture and consistency of a floating cloud. It is important to consider the ratio of wrapper to filling, since the wrapper is there simply to hold the filling in place and shape, not to dominate the finished dumpling.