Bibliography 336
By Country 342
By Category 350
Preface
When I wrote Siamese Cookery more than twenty years ago, I was blissfully ignorant of the hazards of too much fat, cholesterol, and sodium in the diet. Having spent many years in Thailand, I was addicted to all the mouth-watering foods of the area, especially, the salty sauces and the deep-fried dishes. Monosodium glutamate had a niche next to my salt shaker, and I used soy sauce, fish sauces, and Chinese condiments liberally. I also loved eggs, steak, butter, cream-rich desserts, and especially French cheeses. I had the best of both worlds, and, insofar as good health is concerned, the worst.
I fear this may be happening to affluent Japanese in Japan today. To their salty diet they are adding the West's penchant for beef, cream, butter, and eggs. The trend is noteworthy enough to make news in the American press. An article from the New York Times describes exquisite French-inspired pastries by Yukio Sakase available at a Japanese pastry shop in Tokyo. His green-tea genoise contained four whole eggs and one egg yolk and his green-tea mousse, one cup of heavy cream. They were described as "maintaining the incomparable softness of the genoise and the silken airiness of mousse and Bavarian cream." I'm sure that if I were in Japan today I. would have a difficult time resisting such tantalizing temptations.
My purpose in writing this book was to prove that it is possible to prepare conspicuously delicious Asian dishes without the use of salt. It proved to be an enormous challenge, but the variety of seasonings and exotic flavorings that these countries have to offer can not only substitute for the taste for salt but also overcome the need for it. What follows is a collection of recipes for lovers of Asian foods who are seeking better health without sacrificing the pleasures of good eating. I hope also to appeal to those who are not familiar with Asian foods but who watch their diets and wish to enlarge their repertory of good-tasting recipes that are low in fat, sodium, and cholesterol. My concern is lowering the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer—to the extent that such a diet can do so—by eating good-tasting and attractive foods.
I go on the assumption that if the food doesn't taste good, the chances are excellent that the diet, and the good intentions behind it, will disappear within a short time. The principles and guidelines I have followed are recommended by the American Heart Association, the National Academy of Sciences, and other leading medical authorities.
I have selected only those dishes that could be satisfactorily adapted to remain as good tasting as the originals. Very little fat is used in their preparation, and salt and monosodium glutamate have been wholly forsaken. In their place stand those miracles of flavor and aroma: garlic, fresh ginger root, spices, and herbs to add zest and pungency; pepper, chilies, horseradish, and mustard powder for those who like food hot; and wine, lemon juice, vinegar, and sugar for a sweet-and-sour touch. All these ingredients can spark foods to new taste pleasures without the need for salt. Keep in mind that it took a lifetime to acquire this taste for salt and salty condiments, so you cannot expect to change it overnight. If you cut back a little at a time, your taste buds will gradually become so used to savoring other flavors that some foods and seasonings that were once craved and found palatable will seem intolerably salty and wholly inedible.
—Marie Wilson
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to the many writers and cooks who brought me closer to the cultures and cooking of Asia, and to those in the fields of health and medicine whose writings helped me to understand more fully the connection between diet and health. Reading their works started me on long and pleasurable journeys of experimentation, and without their help this book would not have been possible. Their names and works are listed in the bibliography.
I am also grateful to the University of California East Asiatic Library and the South/Southeast Asia Library in Berkeley, from whose collections the drawings for this book have been derived.
My special thanks also go to those who helped with the following chapters: China: Zhang Yaqi, an exchange teacher from Hunan Teachers University, who demonstrated to me that large quantities of soy sauce are not necessary to prepare good-tasting Chinese food; India: Amrita Sengupta; Indonesia: Tati Conomondo and Krishni Simanjuntak; Japan: Masayo Watanabe Wilson, my very dear daughter-in-law and friend; Korea: Clare You, who introduced me to Korean food and who gave so generously of her time; Pakistan: Naheed Aftab; and Vietnam: Chanh Nguyen. For professional advice about the nutrient analysis of foods, thanks to Carol Lynn Carr, R.D., Helen Black, R.D., Nan Moon, R.D., and to Teresa Chew, R.D., for the use of her work on Chinese condiments in sodium-restricted diets. Her article is also listed in the bibliography. Thanks are also due to Jack and Mary Murchio for advice on weights and measures and for the use of their art library, to Barbara Phillips for her editing skills, and to Stephen Comee for his. My thanks to him also for six of the recipes. I could not have been luckier. I am deeply grateful to all, but I alone am responsible for any mistakes.
Acknowledgment is also due to The Centre, a meeting place for families from all over the world who are visiting the United States as students and scholars at the University of California at Berkeley. They came together and generously shared their customs and foods.
My biggest debt is to my children, Elizabeth and Stephen, who spent a significant part of their formative years in Thailand and Japan, for their professional advice, gentle encouragement, and unflagging support. No words of thanks will ever be enough. As medical practitioners, talented cooks, and loving children, they both sustained me to a degree that only I can appreciate.
Introduction
You've heard the warnings loud and clear: cut back on meats, salt, eggs, butter, cream—all those rich, zesty, fatty, flavorful foods—or risk developing heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. You wonder what to do. Must you give up all the foods you love and face a lifetime of thin soup and boiled mush? Happily not! At least not if you take advantage of the variety of exciting flavors that Asian cooking has to offer. You can still eat delicious food, and lots of it, while automatically protecting your health and maintaining your ideal weight. Whether you have a family history of disease, or have no health problems at all and want to stay that way, the recipes in this book are for you.
Asian cookery is remarkable for its variety of delectable taste sensations and health-promoting benefits. The dishes I've selected and modified for this book retain the tantalizing flavors—the redolence of ginger and garlic, the zing of sweet and sour—while further increasing the nutritional advantages. The main health benefits of Asian cooking come from its emphasis on plant foods: vegetables, legumes, and starches. Meats play only a supporting role: in a meat recipe, just two or three ounces per portion, but it is appetizingly cooked with lots of vegetables that contain no cholesterol.
"Two or three ounces!" (I hear you protest), "What about protein?" If you're a Westerner, you were probably brought up with the idea that if your dinner plate wasn't dominated by a big slab of meat you'd suffer a dire protein deficiency. Science has proven that to be wrong. You were probably told that to be healthy and slim you'd have to cut out carbohydrates, including starches such as bread, rice, potatoes, and noodles, in favor of protein foods, such as meat, cheese, and eggs. Wrong again. In fact, red meat is loaded largely with fat, not protein, and that fat is packed with heart-threatening cholesterol. It may also lead