Reviews

Amazon.com
Udon, ramen, pho, pad thai -- there's a seemingly endless array of Asian noodle dishes that have found a very comfortable niche in Western foodie culture. And for good reason: they're nutritious, inexpensive, and darn tasty. Now Nina Simonds, Chinese scholar and author of China Express and Classic Chinese Cuisine, shows how to make them beautiful as well.

Cooking Editor's Recommended Book
Making those slurpy, crunchy, satisfying noodle dishes you enjoy in restaurants (or dream about if you don't live near one) is easier than you think. Just cook your way through Nina Simonds's colorfully illustrated, well-organized book crammed with 75 recipes and everything you need to know to cook Vietnamese Pho, Thai Pork with Slippery Noodles and Pineapple, Chinese Garlic Beef on Golden Noodles, and more. Inexperienced hands may struggle occasionally--this slim volume cannot provide the detailed guidance on technique needed to duplicate precisely the mouth-watering photos--but everyone will enjoy eating the delicious results. This book is handsome and well-priced; give it to any noodle nut you know.

Book Description
Simple, mouth-watering recipes for the world's original fast food.

Synopsis
For great food that is fast, cheap, and healthy, nothing fills the bill like noodles. Dubbled "a candidate for the next culinary craze" by Newsweek, pasta, Asian style, has wound itself around the forks and chopsticks of Americans everywhere. Now, one of America's most popular authoritites on Asian cuisine shows how fun and fabulous these satisfying noodle dishes can be to make at home with a collection of 75 great recipes. 35 color photos.

Synopsis
One of the most popular authorities on Asian cuisine demonstrates a wide range of satisfying and delicious noodle dishes that can be made at home, featuring seventy-five recipes for noodle soups, salads, starters, sides, and complete suppers.

Excerpted from Asian Noodles: Deliciously Simple Dishes to Twirl, Slurp, and Savor by Nina Simonds. Copyright (c) 1996. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
From page 42

SPICY SESAME NOODLES

TOASTED SESAME PASTE IS THE CREAMY BASE for the spunky sauce here. Drizzled over smooth flat noodles and a spray of crisp vegetables, it transforms them into a luscious appetizer, perfect for a picnic basket. For a sumptuous vegetarian salad, leave out the chicken and add more vegetables.

1 pound flat Chinese egg noodles or other flat noodles, such as fettuccine or linguine, cooked until just tender, rinsed under cold water, drained, and tossed with 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2 English (seedless) cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and grated

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced

1 l/2 cups bean sprouts, rinsed and drained

1 l/2 cups sliced cooked chicken (cut into thin strips)

3 tablespoons minced scallion greens

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Spicy Sesame Dressing (page 120)

1. Arrange the noodles on a large deep platter.
2. Scatter the cucumbers, red pepper, and bean sprouts over the noodles, leaving a shallow well in the center for the chicken. Arrange the chicken in the center. Sprinkle with the scallion greens and sesame seeds.
3. Serve with the spicy sesame dressing on the side.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

The following is taken from page 120:

SPICY SESAME DRESSING

DON'T CONFUSE DARK, RICH CHINESE SESAME PASTE with the blander untoasted Middle Eastern tahini paste; the two are not interchangeable. Peanut butter, though, is an acceptable alternative here.

8 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half

One 1/2-inch-thick slice fresh ginger, peeled

7 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste, stirred well to blend, or more if necessary

5 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

5 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or sake

1-1/2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons Chinese Chicken Broth (page 53) or water

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a blender, finely chop the garlic and ginger. Add the remaining ingredients in the order listed and process to blend. The dressing should be the consistency of heavy cream. If it is too thin, add up to 2 tablespoons additional sesame paste. Refrigerated, in a covered container, the dressing will keep for up to a week.

MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

From the Inside Flap
Move Over Spaghetti and Macaroni!

Pasta lovers are heading in a delicious new direction: east to Asia. Noodles, Asian style, are "a candidate for the next culinary craze," says Newsweek magazine, and simple delights like soba, somen, udon, rice sticks, and cellophane noodles are being wrapped around the forks and chopsticks of Americans everywhere.

Nina Simonds has traveled all over Asia to bring the splendor, diversity, and versatility of noodles into the American kitchen. At last, an authority on Asian cuisine who appreciates the way Americans eat, shows that the most satisfying and delicious noodle dishes are also fun, healthy, economical, and easy to make at home.

In Asian cuisines, noodles are a mealtime staple, morning to midnight, the year round. And whatever the season, the pop-'em-in-the-pot convenience of noodle cookery is perfect for busy American kitchens too. What could be more refreshing in the blazing heat of midsummer than cooling Pad Thai, the classic noodle dish made with slim noodles twisted around plump shrimp and crunchy bean sprouts, dressed in a sweet-and-sour sauce, and topped with crunchy peanuts and fresh cilantro? Or what could be more comforting, on chilly fall days, than Saucy Garlic Pork Lo Mein -- stir-fried noodles tossed in a rich, velvety sauce and generously garnished with slices of garlicky pork, smoky black mushrooms, and pungent garlic chives? Of course, spring days call for a celebration of the season's freshest offerings, which can be sumptuously showcased in creamy Spicy Sesame Noodles, or tossed with garlic and toasted pine nuts in stir-fried soba noodles. And for winter warmth, you'll find the perfect chicken soup here too.

For confirmed Asian noodle lovers, there are recipes for classic dishes, such as Seafood Hot Pot, Rainbow Noodles with a spicy peanut sauce, and Mushroom-Beef Udon Soup. But for the uninitiated or for those who already love packaged ramen noodles -- and who are hungry for more authentic flavors and textures -- Nina Simond's recipes will be a revelation. She demonstrates how easy it is to jazz up a simple meal of grilled meat or seafood by serving it atop a bed of stir-fried vegetables and noodles; and how a peanut sauce or spicy sesame dressing transforms a simple salad of cold chicken and noodles from ordinary to exceptional.

Asian Noodles has a trove of useful and well-organized charts and tips on using the recipes, types of noodles, and how to prepare, use, or substitute the noodles -- all designed to make any noodle novice an expert in no time.

  Buy this book.