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A Heavenly Asian Cookbook

“If food doesn’t smell good, it doesn’t  taste good,” said Carol Selva Rajah. That’s what she learned from the Chinese amah who cared for her as a child. And that’s why her 10th and latest book is called “Heavenly Fragrance” (Periplus Editions; $39.95).

Rajah grew up in Malaysia and Singapore, where richly flavored food is commonplace. Her parents were Sri Lankan and Malaysian, introducing her early to these fascinating cuisines.

“People cooked with aromas. They stir-fried very slowly so they teased the aromas out,” she said during an appetizer party and book-signing at Tanzore in Los Angeles. Rajah, who now lives in Sydney, Australia, brought some seasonings with her, then borrowed others from the Indian spices on hand at Tanzore.

Her large, handsomely illustrated book is a wonderful guide to fresh and dried Asian ingredients. Although I use such things regularly, I found much to learn, and I would recommend the book to anyone interested in Asian cooking. especially that of Southeast Asia.

Gathering the ingredients may require trips to ethnic shops, but the effort will be worth it. There is plenty of inspiration in such recipes as tuna salad with green mango and papaya, Cambodian pineapple fish soup, plum sauce chicken wings baked in a flash and lemongrass and coconut creme caramel.

Cooking in Tanzore’s kitchen, Rajah produced a fragrant sampling of the book. The dish that especially intrigued me was an intricately-spiced eggplant sambal. Although the recipe seemed to require a lot of work—dry roasting and grinding two sets of spices—I tried it anyway. The procedure was straightforward and easy, rewarding me with clouds of exotic perfume.

In the book, Rajah suggests serving the sambal with baked ham, moussaka and crisp lettuce or with steamed or fried fish. But at Tanzore, she presented it as an appetizer, spooned on top of plain yogurt in a small glass. And that is the way I like it.

It's best to make the sambal the day before serving. This allows the seasonings to blend, and the flavor will be heavenly, to borrow a word from Rajah’s book.

EGGPLANT SAMBAL WITH BLACK MUSTARD AND CASHEWS
From “Heavenly Fragrance” by Carol Selva Rajah (Periplus)

Fish curry powder (see recipe below)
1 ½ pounds slender Asian eggplants
2 teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons grated fresh turmeric root or ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 cup light olive oil, for frying
¼ cup raw cashews, dry-roasted

Spice Paste:

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, dry-roasted
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, dry-roasted
2 stalks lemongrass, thick bottom part only
2 inches gingerroot, peeled and sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 onions, peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fish curry powder
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds, roughly crushed in a mortar
2 teaspoons ground red pepper
½ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons shaved palm sugar or dark brown sugar

First prepare the fish curry powder and set aside.

Cut the eggplants into 1-inch-thick slices. Combine the salt and turmeric in a small bowl and mix well. Brush the eggplant slices with the mixture and set aside for 10 minutes, then press between paper towels to dry them.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and in small batches, fry the eggplant slices over medium heat until light brown and tender. Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels. Roast the cashews and set aside.

To prepare the spice paste, grind the cumin and fennel seeds in a spice grinder until fine. Discard the outer layers of the lemongrass and slice the inner part. Combine the roasted spices, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and onions and grind to a smooth paste in a mortar or food processor.

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a skillet, add the ground paste and sauté over medium heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the fish curry powder and sauté 1 minute longer.

Move the spice mixture to the sides of the pan, increase the heat to high and add the mustard seeds. Cook until they begin to pop, then combine them with the spice mixture and mix well. Stir in the ground red pepper, vinegar and sugar.

Add the cashews and fried eggplant slices and toss until the eggplant is coated well with the sauce, taking care not to tear the pieces. Adjust the seasonings and remove from heat. Serve hot or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Fish Curry Powder:

3 tablespoons coriander seeds
4 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 dried finger-length red chiles, stems discarded, broken into pieces

In a small skillet, separately dry roast the coriander, fennel, fenugreek, cumin and mustard seeds and the chiles until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes each. Let them cool and then grind all the spices to a fine powder in a mortar or spice grinder. Store in a sealed jar, refrigerated or frozen.

Makes ½ cup.

Yum, Yummy Panang Curry

It’s not nice to miss out on something really good.  But that was the plight of hundreds (was it thousands?) of people who attended the Thai New Year Festival in Hollywood.

What they missed was a taste of Chef Jet Tila’s silky, sumptuous chicken panang curry. Tila prepared a massive amount in a giant pan, but it still wasn’t enough to provide samples for more than a handful of those who watched his cooking demonstration.

Tila’s panang combines the key elements (sweet, salty, sour and spicy) involved in the taste sensation that Thais call yum and we call yummy, plus the  fresh herbal flavors of kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil.

Luckily, there is still a way to taste Tila’s panang, and that is to make it yourself, with his recipe. It’s an easy dish, once you’ve accumulated the ingredients. Shop for them at Asian or Thai markets (I found everything at the Bangkok Market, 4757 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90029).

The photo shows the panang dished up at the festival. Instead of chicken, you can make it with shrimp or tofu, Tila says. The outcome will be the same—yummy.

JET TILA'S PANANG CHICKEN CURRY

2 (13.5-ounce) cans coconut milk
4 whole kaffir lime leaves
2 to 3 tablespoons panang curry paste (depending upon how spicy you like it)
1½ teaspoons tamarind paste
1 teaspoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
1 pound boneless chicken breast, thinly sliced
¾ pound kabocha squash, cut into 1-inch pieces (the squash does not have to be peeled)
½ cup sliced bamboo shoots
¼ cup thinly sliced onion
¼ cup Thai basil, including stems
Sliced red bell pepper for garnish

Open one of the cans of coconut milk without shaking. Spoon out 1 1/2 tablespoons of the thick milk at the top and set aside. Measure enough additional milk  from the cans to make 3 cups. Reserve the remaining milk.

Stack the lime leaves and roll them up tightly, then cut the roll crosswise into very fine shreds. Set aside.

Heat the  1 1/2 tablespoons thick coconut milk in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in the curry paste and shredded lime leaves. Cook and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the paste starts to brown.

Stir in the remaining measured coconut milk and bring to a boil. Boil gently, uncovered, until slightly reduced and thickened, 8 to 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat and stir in the tamarind paste, fish sauce and sugar. Add the chicken, kabocha squash, bamboo shoots and onion. Tear the basil into the pan.

Simmer, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through and the squash is slightly tender, about 15 minutes.  The sauce should be thick but still fuid. If it has thickened too much, thin with some of the reserved coconut milk.

To serve, garnish with sliced bell pepper and accompany with steamed jasmine rice.

Makes 4 servings.

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Easy Indonesian Chicken

Here’s the perfect party dish. You put it together the day before, bake it an hour before the guests arrive, then show off gorgeous, glistening, exotic chicken.   

All you have to do is put chicken pieces to soak in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, wine and a dash of oil. Not just any soy sauce. It has to be Indonesian kecap (pronounced ketjap).

Thick, dark and sweet, with a hint of molasses, kecap imparts mellow flavor and beautiful deep color. It’s available in most large Asian groceries.

In Indonesia, this chicken would be barbecued. A friend who lived in central Java adapted it to western ovens and gave me the recipe.  The photo shows it with Indonesian yellow rice and a cucumber relish.

MARION’S JAVANESE ROAST CHICKEN

4 whole chicken legs or 1 (3½-pound) chicken, halved or quartered
1/3 cup kecap (Indonesian soy sauce)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1½ inches gingerroot, peeled and grated or minced
3 tablespoons white wine or sherry
1 tablespoon oil

Trim excess fat and skin from the chicken. Place the chicken in a refrigerator container with a tight-fitting lid.

Mix the kecap, garlic, ginger, wine and oil in a small bowl. Pour it over the chicken and turn to coat well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. If the lid fits tightly, invert the container occasionally to coat all sides of the chicken. Or remove the lid and turn the pieces.

Place the container at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Or line with foil and spray the foil. Place the chicken skin side up in the pan. Pour any marinade in the storage container over the chicken. Bake 1 hour. Baste two or three times during the last 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and let stand briefly before serving. If using halved or quartered chicken, cut it into serving-sized pieces.

Makes 4 servings.

A Craving for Kimchi

Talk about consuming passions. No, not the usual man-woman thing, but a deliciously spicy passion, an intense addiction, an ecstatic love gratified morning, noon and night with—kimchi.

I’ve not met anyone with more devotion to this fiery hot, garlicky Korean pickle than my friend Clark Akers. Not even the Koreans I know speak of it with such awe.

Clark always had kimchi on hand at home. He would eat it for breakfast with bacon and eggs, at lunch with a sandwich or soup and at dinner instead of a salad. He adored it so much that I think he would have eaten it even with apple pie.

When we would meet for lunch in Koreatown, Clark would demolish all the kimchi that came with the banchan, ask for more, then order more to go. One of the highlights of his life was when a Korean friend brought him a jar of his mother’s homemade kimchi.

Clark has now moved on to other realms where, I hope, the kimchi is as heavenly as he deserves. I never eat Korean food without thinking of him, and I prize the one tangible memento that I have—his recipe for kimchi soup. Clark brought me a taste one day, and it was as good as he claimed. Luckily, I asked for the recipe.

Here it is, in memory of my friend, Clark Edgar Akers.

CLARK'S KIMCHI SOUP

1 quart water
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
½ small red bell pepper
2 to 3 green onions, including some of the tops, thinly sliced
1 slice bacon, cut in bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons frozen green peas
2 mushrooms (any type), sliced
1 beef bouillon cube
1 (3-ounce) package ramen noodle soup with seasoning packet
1 1/3 cups cabbage kimchi, cut in short lengths if in long pieces

Place the water in a large saucepan and set aside.

Cut the carrot in half lengthwise, then crosswise in ¼-inch slices. Cut the celery stalk in half lengthwise, then crosswise in ¼-inch slices. Quarter the bell pepper lengthwise, then cut crosswise in ¼-inch slices.

Add the carrot, celery, green onions and bacon to the saucepan of water. Bring to a boil, then boil gently, uncovered, 15 minutes.

Add the bell pepper, peas, mushrooms, the bouillon cube, the  ramen noodles and their seasoning.  Cook 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the kimchi and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.

Makes 4 side dish servings or 3 servings as a main dish.