By Christine Salins.
Growing up in the United States, Jennifer Joyce’s Asian food experiences were limited to American Chinese (read, chop suey and egg rolls). It wasn’t until she began travelling to Asia in the early 1990s that she discovered the deliciousness of authentic Asian cooking.
“It wasn’t just the hot-salty-sour punch I fell for, but the multitude of textures,” she says of her discovery of dishes such as pillow-soft bao, karaage fried chicken, pho, potsticker dumplings and ramen.
My Asian Kitchen, published by Murdoch Books ($39.99), is the result of many years of return visits and experimentation.
This is the 11th book from Joyce, who has lived in the UK for more than 24 years, where she works as a food writer and stylist for magazines and newspapers such as BBC Good Food, Jamie Magazine and The Guardian. Her previous titles for Murdoch Books include My Street Food Kitchen, Meals in Heels and Skinny Meals in Heels.
In My Asian Kitchen, she aims to show how easy it is to create the flavours of modern Asian cooking in a home kitchen. Simple recipes and no-nonsense explanations of ingredients are accompanied by hand-drawn diagrams and beautiful photographs that bring the flavours to life.
The recipes are grouped not by country but rather by style of dish, such as “boiled and bubbling”, “crisp and tossed”, “skewers and grills”, “into the wok” and so on. From dishes such as prawn laksa and miso-glazed ribs, to XO fried rice and gado gado salad, it’s a lovely celebration of the great diversity of modern Asian cooking.
“Asian food is loved and sought after for its mouthwatering tastes, but it also has the added perk of real health benefits,” says Joyce.
Pick up your chopsticks, prepare your wok and get cooking.
Soba noodles are best served cold and are the perfect foil for crisp hot salmon and a zesty citrus dressing. You can use any green vegetable with this, such as green beans or tender-stem broccoli.
Grilled Honey Soy Salmon with Citrus Soba Noodles
Serves 4
500 g salmon fillet
2 tbsp Japanese light soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 seedless or mandarin oranges
250 g dried soba noodles
200 g asparagus, trimmed
1 finger-sized red chilli, thinly sliced
1 tbsp togarashi spice mix
2 handfuls mizuna or wild rocket
Citrus Dressing:
zest and juice of 1 seedless or mandarin orange
1 tbsp Japanese light soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lime juice
75 ml yuzu juice
2 tsp grated ginger
1 small Thai shallot, finely chopped
Slice the salmon into four pieces. Mix the soy sauce with the honey in a shallow glass dish, then place the salmon, flesh side down, in the marinade.
Mix together all the citrus dressing ingredients.
Slice the peel from the oranges using a knife and then cut into discs. Set aside.
Bring a very large pan of water to a boil. Add a cup of cold water and then the noodles (the cold water helps slow down the cooking time to prevent the noodles from becoming soggy). Cook for about 7 minutes or until al dente. Add the asparagus in the last 30 seconds of cooking. Drain, rinse in cold water and leave to sit in the sieve until the salmon is done.
Heat your oven grill. Place the salmon on a foil-covered baking tray. Grill for 6 to 8 minutes until crisp at the edges. If your salmon has skin, then remove it after cooking.
Rinse the noodles again, to detangle. Arrange the noodles and asparagus on four plates. Top with the fish and orange slices and pour on the dressing.
Sprinkle with the chilli and spice mix and serve with some salad leaves strewn over the top.
Note: If you don’t have togarashi spice mix, substitute with black or white sesame seeds.
Images and recipes from My Asian Kitchen by Jennifer Joyce, Murdoch Books, rrp $39.99 Photography by Phil Webb, illustrations by Riley Joyce.
