Secrets from a Healthy Asian Kitchen

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Ginger, garlic, ginseng, soy, green tea, and shiitake mushrooms take center stage in this creative Asian cookbook, which takes full advantage of those foods' disease-fighting properties. Ginger lowers cholesterol; garlic, soy, and shiitake mushrooms fight cancer; ginseng boosts energy; and green tea has so many remarkable properties that Ying Chang Compestine uses every opportunity to incorporate it into her cooking.

Compestine, a frequent contributor to Cooking Light magazine, weaves one or more of these healing ingredients into each of her 150 recipes for soups, stews, hot pots, stir-fries, and grilled foods. Many of the recipes are Asian (Lion's Head Soup, Pan-Fried Shrimp Dumplings, Mu Shu Tofu), but some are variations on American recipes. Wild Rice with Cranberries and Pine Nuts, for example, is a perfect Thanksgiving side dish that features shiitake mushrooms and green tea among its ingredients. Most of the recipes are dairy free; many can become wheat free, with slight variation.

Compestine, whose mother was a traditional herbal medicine doctor, still follows her mother's diet advice to balance menus between yin and yang, adjusted for the seasons. Her salad recipes, a blend of cooling vegetables and warming spices, furnish a perfect example, though untraditional in Asia. Compestine also gives information on the Asian Diet Pyramid she recommends for healthy eating, different from the American Diet Pyramid in that most of the daily protein comes from legumes, seeds, and nuts. (Ginger Curwen)

Publishers Weekly

Compestine (Cooking with Green Tea) delivers another health-oriented book specializing in Asian cuisine and culture. Heavily emphasizing the Chinese belief in balance, Compestine applies the concept to food, which she divides into cool (yin) and hot (yang) foods with neutral foods in between. After starting with an Asian food pyramid to show the balance of a healthy diet, she offers the "Six Key Ingredients to a Healthy Asian Kitchen," which include the staples of ginger, soy and ginseng. Each ingredient is discussed in all its permutations before going on to "Cooking Basics," which contains sections on cooking equipment, methods and other ingredients. Her recipes begin with the basics, flavorful sauces, some aromatic like the Spicy Sesame Sauce, some cool as with the Yogurt-Mint Sauce and ideal accompaniment to spicy or grilled dishes. Finger foods are not forgotten and include the traditional Fresh Spring Rolls, which are given a healthy twist by using dried rice paper wrappers. She then offers Western salads with Asian influence, such as the Spinach Salad with Avocado and Tofu. The salads lead into "Meals in a Wok," where she explains the technique of stir-frying. Filled with tips, variations, cultural notes and anecdotes the book is well-thought-out, accentuating health and applying it to a popular cuisine. (July) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.