Better than take-out: a quick and healthy Asian dinner from the new Vegetarian Times Low-Fat & Fast Asian Cookbook - includes recipes

Vegetarian Times, Oct, 1997 by Carol Wiley Lorente

A Chinese main dish, served with a Japanese salad and an Indonesian dessert? Why not? This is America, after all, and multicultural is what we're all about. And this sort of ethnic mix is precisely what you'll find in our new cookbook, Vegetarian Times Low-Fat & Fast Asian Cookbook by Macmillan Publishing.

The latest release in our series of Vegetarian Times Low-Fat & Fast Cookbooks offers 175 recipes based on the culinary traditions of China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. From breakfast foods and snacks to appetizers and desserts, the recipes are low in fat (fewer than 10 grams per serving) and quick to fix.

And they're authentic too. Recipe developer Hallie Harron, a cookbook author and restaurant consultant from Minnesota, spends part of each year in Asia where she drinks in--and cooks up--the culture, so she's knowledgeable and adept at using Asian ingredients. (She also acted as consultant and contributed many of the recipes to the menu at Tang's Ginger Cafe, a popular Minneapolis restaurant that excels at Asian cuisine.)

But don't think you have to go to Southeast Asia for the ingredients. Harron, who lives in a small town, says she was able to develop all of these recipes with ingredients she found in markets close to home.

These three recipes can be put together for a delightfully authentic Southeast Asian meal: Moo Shu Vegetables, a Chinese favorite that's usually based on pork but substitutes tofu; Jicama and Mango Salad with enoki mushrooms, a Japanese-influenced dish; and Sweet Rice and Coconut Pudding, a rice pudding with Indonesian flavors.

Moo Shu Vegetables

8 SERVINGS OVO-LACTO

Wrap the Moo Shu Vegetables in Mandarin pancakes available in supermarkets and specialty stores or use thin flour tortillas.

7 oz. firm tofu, drained and diced (see glossary)
1/4 cup brown rice flour (see glossary)
2 tsp. canola or vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
1/2 cup chopped bamboo shoots
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (1/2 cup)
1 cup mung bean sprouts (see glossary)
2 tsp. hoisin sauce plus additional to taste
(see glossary)
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp. dark sesame oil (see glossary)
8 (6-inch) Mandarin pancakes or thin flour tortillas,
warmed (see glossary)