The Good-For-Your-Health
All-Asian Cookbook

This collection of over 220 easy-to-follow recipes, with ingredients that can be bought at most local foodstores, will please all lovers of Asian food. Marie Wilson offers savory recipes from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and India without the dreaded fat, calories and cholesterol that can make Asian foods unappealing to the health-conscious.

The warning has been sounded loud and clear: reduce your intake of red meats, salt, eggs, butter, and cream--or run the risk of high blood pressure, heart problems, and cancer. But does this mean that all your favorite foods must be forsaken, or that bland is better? Not at all! Fortunately, Asian cuisines offer a wonderful selection of delicious, colorful, and easy-to-prepare dishes that actually help to promote better health.

The Good-for-Your-Health All-Asian Cookbook presents over 220 exciting Asian dishes.from eleven Asian countries, from Japan to Pakistan--that are low in fat and cholesterol, low in salt, and low in calories. Very little oil or fat is used in the recipes, and salt and MSG have been wholly eliminated. Instead, generous use is made of Asia's miracles of flavor and aroma: garlic and fresh ginger root, to maintain full-bodied richness; spices and herbs, to add zest; rice wines, lemon juice, and vinegar, to provide the sultry pungency of sweet-and-sour dishes; and peppers and chilies, for those who like a little more 'heat' in their lives.

From Japan's simple Broiled Fish with Sesame Seeds and China's delectable Pot Stickers to Thailand's pleasing Hot-and-Sour Shrimp Soup and India's mouth-watering Chicken with Spices, this cookbook has a recipe for every palate and every occasion. The author has also provided fat, cholesterol and sodium counts for each recipe; good-tasting substitutes for many of the unhealthy ingredients used in traditional recipes, that make the food healthier while still maintaining authentic flavors; the history and background of all the countries from which recipes have been selected, as well as discussion of each country's cuisine; an extensive bibliography; and two handy, easy-to-use indexes.

For anyone wishing to eat better for better health, this new collection of the best of Asian cuisines is truly the only easy-to-follow good-gor-your-health all-Asian cookbook that no one who loves good food and good health can afford to be without. Marie Wilson had to look at the map to find out where Thailand was before she went there to meet her fiance, who was then teaching and studying in Bangkok. She stayed long enough to learn quite a bit about the local customs and language, and began what was to turn out to be a lifelong love affair with Asia and its cuisines. The author of Siamese Cookery (Tuttle, 1965), Mrs. Wilson has now adapted the recipes of Asia for the health-conscious West. She resides at present in Berkeley.

The Food of Vietnam

Authentic recipes from the heart of Indochina. With its fresh herbs, light seasonings, and raw vegetables, Vietnamese cuisine is one of Asia's healthiest; the tastes explain why it is also rapidly becoming one of Asia's most popular. This exciting collection of over eighty authentic recipes, gathered and photographed in Vietnam, presents a diverse range of dishes from all major culinary regions of the country. Included are such favorites as Shrimp and Green Mango Salad, Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Grilled Eggplant with Crab and pho bo, Vietnam's famous beef noodle soup. Detailed information on ingredients and cooking techniques from local culinary experts will help the uninitiated look into the Heart of Indochina.

In Dalat, just a few hours north of Ho Chi Minh City on the southern plateau, the hillsides are terraced with all sorts of western fruits and vegetables--strawberries, artichokes, oranges, mushrooms, carrots, eggplants and lettuces. The abundance of vegetables is so great that many of the region's inhabitants are vegetarians almost without thinking about it. Vast tea and coffee plantations surrounding the area could earn international attention if the quality of the harvest were improved through better handling and more sophisticated processing methods. Heavy trucks leave Dalat every morning to deliver a bounty of fresh produce to the burgeoning markets of Ho Chi Minh City. Farther east, down the steep, winding road out toward the coastline and the South China Sea, the lowlands are blanketed with canopies of dark purple table grapes...

Recipes in this book were provided by Trieu Thi Choi and prepared by the chefs of the Saigon Floating Hotel, in Ho Chi Minh City, coordinated by Marcel Isaak.

Abbanel Jackson-Doling is a prominent Macau-based food and wine writer who has been living in Asia for seven years. She first visited Vietnam in 1990, and has been a regular visitor since that time.

Heinz von Holzen, originally from Switzerland, is a professional chef by training who has lived and worked in Indonesia since 1990.

If you have any easy, tasty Asian recipes to share, please send them to us at P.O. Box 23744, San Diego, CA 92193-3744. E-mail: editor@jadedragon.com. If we use your article, we will send you a Jade Dragon Online t-shirt.

Cuisine

Whether you're just beginning, or have plenty of cooking experience, Cuisine will guide you through the world of food and help develop the skills needed to tackle some of the more challenging culinary techniques. Additionally, illustrated recipes provide step-by-step solutions to your cooking questions.