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East Asian

Japanese Soup Stock

Dashi Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 30 min Elizabeth Andoh's recipe for dashi provides more than you'll need for the dipping sauce but just enough extra for two nice bowls of miso soup: Heat up the stock and stir in a couple of tablespoons of miso, a handful of diced tofu, and a sprinkling of sliced scallion.

Chinese Style Steamed Fish

Complement the entrée—and the Chinese theme—with rice, stir-fried snow peas, then pineapple sherbet topped with coconut.

Five-Spice Fortune Cookies

You might want to begin by baking one cookie to get the hang of folding before trying two at a time. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 hr

Salt and Pepper Shrimp

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

Grilled Sea Bass with Miso-Mustard Sauce

An easy dish that uses some traditional Japanese ingredients, including miso. Made from fermented soybeans, miso paste comes in various shades, with the darker ones being stronger in flavor. This recipe calls for white miso (also called shiro-miso), which is sweeter and more delicate.

Szechuan Sesame Noodles

Spicy Szechuan dishes were quite the thing in the seventies; around that time, pasta was also coming into its own. This recipe features ingredients that are widely available in the Asian foods section of most markets. If you like, add snow peas and sliced red bell pepper for some crunch.

Cherries in the Snow

This is a poetic version of the traditional Chinese almond milk gelatin dessert. Whipping the milk gives the top layer of this dessert the appearance of snow. Fat-free (skim) milk will create the most foam.

Japanese Chicken, Water Chestnut, and Scallion Yakitori

*Please note that this recipe had a missing step which has since been fixed.

Spicy Chopped Eggplant and Mushrooms in Lettuce Packages

A vegetarian takeoff on the classic Chinese minced squab dish. Chopped raw vegetables, not fried noodles, add crunch.

Chinese Cabbage Soup

Ginger and Garlic Broccoli

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Herbal Soup

When I was growing up, my mom periodically brewed a pot of this bitter, allegedly medicinal soup and forced me to drink a bowl (she says the ginseng promotes general well-being). Although I used to sit at the kitchen table for an hour, slowly spooning each dreadful bit into my mouth, I've since discovered that the only way to tolerate it is to gulp the liquid down as quickly as possible. Now nearly every time I go home, she prepares this special (and unfortunately simple-to-make) soup just for me — which probably explains why I don't go home very often.

Mushroom Fried Rice

For this recipe you may use whatever mushrooms you happen to have on hand. Serve the dish as an accompaniment to grilled or roasted meats, seafood, or chicken or with soup as a light lunch or dinner.

Korean Barbecued Beef

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

Grilled Shrimp with Ponzu Sauce

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. A popular Japanese sauce perks up the grilled shrimp. For side dishes, garnish purchased sesame noodle salad with chopped green onions and peanuts, and put out a plate of carrot and celery sticks. As long as the coals are hot, grill slices of fresh pineapple, then top them with vanilla ice cream and shredded coconut.
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