also makes a nice choice.
A dish accented with the fresh flavors of lemongrass, mint or cilantro (coriander), such as Vietnamese Summer Rolls (page 44), is complemented by a wine with a similar grassy, herbaceous profile like a Sauvignon Blanc, particularly from either New Zealand or Chile.
If you have a dish that is rich or fried, such as Firecracker Shrimp (page 48) or Asian Crab Cakes (page 83), cut through it with a highly acidic white wine also based on Sauvignon Blanc grapes such as the French Pouilly-Fume or Sancerre.
White wines aren’t the only choices for Asian meals. Meaty dishes such as Indonesian Beef Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce (page 93) or Hoisin and Honey Glazed Baby Back Ribs (page 88) that have intense flavors including chilli and garlic sauces or smokiness are best served with a light-bodied red wine. One of the least known but most worthy picks is a Chinon, a light bodied, savory and earthy red wine composed of Cabernet Franc grapes with distinct violet aromas from the Loire Valley of France. Another great option is a Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon or New Zealand (looks for pinots from the Central Otago region). Hearty dishes such as Grilled Steak with Balsamic Teriyaki (page 90) are suited to medium-bodied spicy, flinty Shiraz. On the more adventurous side, try a Valpolicella from Italy or a slightly chilled Beaujolais Cru from France; both are perfect with pork dishes.
When in doubt, you can’t go wrong pairing Asian dishes with Champagne. The effervescence steadily matches the many layers of flavor present in any Asian dish. Prosecco or a fresh and fruity Cava make excellent sparkling wine choices as well.
by Anu Karwa
ENJOYING SAKE WITH ASIAN FOOD
Sake, often labeled “The Drink of the Gods” by the Japanese, is making a new and improved debut in the wine and cocktail community. While many of us cringe with the memory of hot sake served in those funny carafes, premium, chilled sake has become the new rage. The word “sake” is used commonly outside of Japan, but it literally translates to mean all alcoholic beverages in Japanese. Sake as we know it, is created from rice, water, yeast, and koji (a mold used to convert starch to sugar for fermentation), and is brewed more similarly to a beer. However, Premium Sake should be served lightly chilled and consumed more like a fine wine. Lower grade sakes are often served hot to mask impurities and poor quality.
There are generally four types of sake, each requiring a slightly different brewing technique. Honjozo has a small bit of distilled alcohol added during the brewing process. Sakes without that added alcohol are labeled Junmai, literally meaning “pure” in Japanese, as they are made simply with water, rice, koji, and yeast. Ginjo and Daiginjo (the highest grade possible) are sakes that are distinguished by the degree of milling of the rice, a process that is necessary in order to get to the complex starches at the center of each grain for the best level of quality. Namazake, the final type of sake, is unpasteurized and difficult to find outside of Japan. These designations of sake combine to form the category of Premium Sake, a very special category that accounts for less than 15 percent of all of the sake produced today.
Premium sake, like a fine wine, is enjoyable on its own or paired with a wide variety of foods. Flavors of sake, depending on the style, range from light, fragrant, floral, and tropical, to rich, bold, and earthy. Some are on the sweeter side, others very dry. Nigori Sake, a popular style of sake that is unfiltered, and characterized by a degree of cloudiness, is on the heavier and sweeter side and perfect for spicy dishes such as Thai Coconut Chicken Curry (page 103).
Junmai Daiginjo sake, on the other hand, tends to be more delicate and floral, so lighter dishes like oysters with Asian Mignonette (page 38) or Baked Tofu Salad with Mustard Miso Dressing (page 64) are good choices. Some sakes, especially those coming from the more mountainous regions of Japan where root vegetables, pickles, and heavier meats dominate the cuisine, are brewed to be heavier, bolder, more earthy in flavor. Pair these with Grilled Lamb Chops with Asian Pesto (page 95) or Chinese Beef Broccoli (page 94).
For something a little different, try a lightly alcoholic sparkling sake (one popular brand is called “sake2me”), which is premium sake that’s undergone a second bubble-inducing fermentation. It goes with a wide variety of Asian dishes, and can sometimes be infused with different flavors, such as Asian pear or green tea. Sparkling sakes can be enjoyed with any type of dish or as a fun cocktail.
Without a doubt, sake can be a great match for many different Asian cuisines, not just Japanese foods. Don’t be afraid to experiment, as sake can be as diverse as fine wine, and certainly can complement a great meal, or just good company!
by Morgan Hartman
the tools
Okay, I admit I’m a gadget freak. My kitchen is so full of doodads that I’ve begun creeping over into my husband’s garage area and also the kid’s closet. Yes, I have a problem. But luckily for you, my editor only allotted a handful of pages to “Tools” so I can only highlight my tried, trusted and true. The Resource Guide (page 156) includes shops for buying specialized Asian tools.
Bamboo Spider These handy spiders (another word for strainer) have long bamboo handles and are perfect for lifting food from boiling water or hot oil. When deep-frying, I always use this bamboo spider to lift the food and the excess oil just drips away.
Bamboo Steamer I have a nice, big bamboo steamer that I set over my wok and use for steaming large batches of steamed buns, fish fillets and well, just about anything. They usually come with three or more trays (make sure that you rotate the trays during cooking so that the food in each tray cooks evenly). If you don’t have a wok to set over, Helen Chen makes a steamer ring that you can use with any pot for just $6.00. It’s genius. For small steaming jobs, I use any available empty pot with lid and a metal steamer insert that folds down like a flower.
Knives It took me twelve years of spending money on different knives before I finally found my soul mate and fell into a steady groove with the collection that I own now. In college, I got sucked into the magical world of infomercials and bought the super-duper Ginsu knives that can decapitate a soda can in one swift motion and the scissors that can cut a penny in half with just the power of your pinky. Well, those lasted for three months and then the only way to cut a chicken breast was to stab it repeatedly with all six knives in my hand, Edward Scissorhands style. As a working girl, to celebrate my becoming a useful member of society, I splurged on an expensive knife block that held like twenty-two different knives, each one designed to complete a specific kitchen task most efficiently. Need to carve a tomato into a butterfly? I had a blade shaped just for that task. But I hated those knives. They were too big for me and felt like I was shaking hands with an electric saw, not to mention twenty of the knives in the block went totally unused. I finally decided to save my money and just get one good knife that felt right in my hands. It was expensive, but it was the Ferrari in my kitchen and I loved using it so much that I went around the house every day looking for things to dice. It’s been eight years and I still grab for that same 8-inch (20-cm) Shun chef’s knife (www. kershawknives.com). And my latest love is a New West KnifeWorks Fusionwood Santoku (www.newwestknifeworks.com). This baby feels like a dream in my hands—it’s sturdy, balanced and the wood handle is a piece of art. The only Chinese cleaver I like is Martin Yan’s cleaver. It’s about $40 and the knife has a small handle, very well balanced. It’s got a traditional fat blade so you can use it to smash as well as to scoop and carry food. The blade edge is curved, so that you can rock back and forth to mince just like a regular chef’s knife. Most of the other Chinese cleavers are straight edged, so you have to really use that up and down motion to Chop! Chop! Chop! And come ’on, who better to design knives than the King of Chinese American cooking? I remember watching Martin Yan on television, totally in awe that he could carve an entire chicken in eighteen seconds.
