Eating Japanese
KEY POINTS:
Have a hankering for good Japanese food at home but no idea where to begin? Fresh Japanese by Yasuko Fukuoka, (Hamlyn, $47.99) is filled with easy Japanese recipes that go way beyond your everyday sushi rolls.
It's predictably high in seafood but there are also some surprises, such as stuffed pumpkin and buckwheat noodles with Japanese pesto.
There's also an extensive desserts section with spectacular sweet treats such as black sesame icecream with beetroot chips. And some good basic recipes for family weeknight dinners such as brown rice with mushrooms and edamame. Our mouths are watering.
Recipe pick: Steamed clams in sake.
Qmin
What? An Indian cookbook without a single curry? Hurrah, at last. Not that we have anything against a good curry, it's just that we've long held the view that the post-pub vindaloo barely scratches the surface of the variety and taste of Indian cuisine.
Qmin by Anil Ashokan (Allen & Unwin, $49.99), blends the country's ancient culinary traditions with a bit of a modern twist. The collection of more than 120 recipes includes everything from quick, one-dish dinners such as zaffrani pulao (saffron pilaf) to full gourmet feasts.
Ashkokan even includes tips for that basic of Indian dishes - boiled rice. There's also an excellent chapter on Indian breads, and by the end of it you'll know your chappatis and rotis from your naans.
Recipe pick: Baked saffron bread.
My Last Supper
This book is a great idea, gorgeously executed. Melanie Dunea's My Last Supper, (Allen & Unwin, $69.99) has taken what was largely a chef's game, planning the menu of their last meal, and turned it into a fabulously entertaining book, complete with great photographs of some of the world's greatest chefs.
It's a splendid way to get these kitchen greats to open up about their lives. The usual suspects are here as well including Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Anthony Bourdain (subject of one of the more startling photographs).
Dunea puts a range of questions to the chefs along the lines of: What would be your last meal on Earth? What would be the setting for the meal? What would you drink with your meal? Who would be your dining companions? Who would prepare the meal?
The recipes for each dish are given in a section at the end of the book.
It's interesting that in many cases these food gurus often revert to traditional simple dishes for their last pleasure. A great conversation starter over canapes before a dinner party.
Recipe pick: Not that we wish him any harm but Jamie Oliver's spaghetti all'arrabiata with three types of chilli sounds pretty good.
- Detours, HoS
