When I first started cooking with quinoa in 2008, I was living in Beijing and needed a change from the noodles and rice that I was eating every day. Quinoa had just started to be widely covered in magazines and food blogs, but wasn’t virtually impossible to find in Beijing. I finally found organic quinoa [...]
Tag Archives | Salads
Japanese Cucumber Salad
Whenever I need a quick appetizer or side to go with an Asian main course, I turn to cucumbers. These slick, crunchy workhorses of the kitchen are always reliable when you need that last-minute “something extra.” Sure, you can pickle cucumbers, jar them, and save them for the future, but my favorite way to eat [...]
Spicy Pickled Cucumbers
Home pickling can be incredibly fun and rewarding, but these days I’ve been way too busy to set aside time for the canning process. So when a craving hits, I’ve been making what I call instant pickles. They’re great for a quick dinner appetizer, pot luck barbecue treat, or mid-afternoon computer break snack. I first [...]
Thai Ground Pork Salad (Larb Mu)
Pork salad! If these two words make you perk up at your desk, please read on. [But before I begin, an apology first to anyone who has used the "Contact Me" form in the past couple of months. It had been broken for a while before a vigilant reader got a hold of me through [...]
Mandarin Chicken Salad
Although I write a blog on Chinese cooking, every once in a while I get a craving for concoctions that are a far cry from what anyone in China would actually eat. Take Mandarin Chicken Salad, for example, also called “Asian Chicken Salad”, “Chinese Chicken Salad”, or the very archaic “Oriental Chicken Salad”. (Note to [...]
Vietnamese Pomelo Salad
The first pomelo I bought this season was the size of a bowling ball. The other person in my house does not eat pomelo, and it took me 2 weeks to finish. Winter is pomelo season, and sure enough, these big fat babies are everywhere. It’s the grapefruit for people who don’t like grapefruit. The [...]
Eggplant, Cumin, and Black Bean Salad
I am a huge fan of cooking with whole spices. Ground cinnamon can never substitute cinnamon sticks in a braise. Ground Sichuan pepper doesn’t have the same punch as whole or crushed peppercorn. And I’m prone to ignoring a recipe’s call for ground cumin, when whole cumin has been the friend that never disappoints. The [...]
Tofu and Almond Salad Bowl
In my attempts to eat healthier when not dining out, I have been trying to think of filling vegetarian dishes to make at home. Because of deadlines and pure laziness, 7 out of the last 8 meals I made at home was farfalle with cherry tomatoes and olives. And as much as I love pasta, [...]
Appetite for China is all about fresh and simple Asian cooking. Welcome and bon appetit!
