Easy Asian Cooking : An Interview with Bizymoms Top Blogger 2010 Recipients Karen Coates

1. What do you think of cooking Asian food as a whole? Is it complex or easy?

I love cooking Asian food. Some dishes are incredibly simple and others are supremely complex. Time is a significant factor. Asian cooks often spend hours preparing ingredients by hand. Even simple curries and vegetable dishes can seem complex because of the time it takes to peel garlic, pound spices or simmer a soup to perfection. The Asian dishes I love best require patience and care.

2. What’s different in the easy Asian cooking recipes you have showcased in your blog? What have you done to make them easy?

I tend to post recipes very similar to the actual foods I have cooked and eaten in Asia, which means I don’t often alter recipes for time or convenience. I use mortars and pestles at home (rather than electric blenders or food processors). I devote far more time to chopping and pounding in the kitchen than perhaps I should — and I realize most people can’t do that. Still, simplicity is one of the greatest beauties of many Asian cuisines. The quality of ingredients is paramount. A quick stir-fry of homegrown greens and garlic, a little fish sauce and chopped herbs tastes magical when the ingredients come straight from the kitchen garden. My favorite “easy” recipes rely on just a few fresh ingredients.

3. You seem to be an expert in preparing dishes from a vast number of Asian countries. What similarities and differences do you see among the recipes?

“Expert” is a strong word. The more I learn, the more I realize how much more I need and want to learn.

I’m intrigued by what seem to be geographical bridges linking food cultures and histories. For example, northeastern India is home to curries and stews using hot chilies, lemongrass, fresh herbs and many of the same ingredients used in Southeast Asian dishes, plus the dried spices key to most Indian curries. As another example, the northern Lao noodle soup known as “khao soy” involves tomatoes, pork and chili—very similar to what’s eaten in Myanmar’s Shan State. These consistencies reflect centuries of migrations and intertwining histories.

Moreover, I find similarities in ingredients based on climate, geology and soil conditions. That’s largely because many villagers throughout rural Southeast Asia grow what they eat and eat what they grow. Long grain rice varieties are similar across the lowland paddies that span southern Vietnam, Cambodia and central Thailand. But highland sticky and mountain rice varieties dominate the dry hillsides of northern Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. I love discovering rare regional fruits, vegetables and herbs that grow in one village or one province alone.

4. What advice can you give our mom readers on cooking authentic Asian food?

Don’t shy from unfamiliar ingredients. Be adventurous and approach recipes with an open mind. So often I see Americanized recipes calling for substitutes (soy sauce rather than fish sauce, for example) or omitting ingredients entirely (galangal, tamarind, shrimp paste). You can’t reproduce authentic Asian flavors if you don’t use these staple ingredients. Most are widely available at Asian markets.

Beyond that, buy fresh ingredients and focus on quality. If you can’t pound your own curry pastes or mix your own garam masala, find a reliable spice source (such as Penzeys, http://www.penzeys.com/).

5. Out of all the Asian culinary delicacies, which ones are the easiest to prepare?

Again, tough question. I’d have to say Lao jaeow (chili paste) is one of the simplest yet critical condiments. There are so many varieties, but the essentials are chilies pounded with salt or fish sauce. To that, you can add various combinations of lime, ginger, galangal, lemongrass, tomatoes, cilantro, and dill. Sometimes fish; sometimes insects. It depends on your mood and what you have available. But the aim is to create a paste or dipping sauce full of flavor, heat, salt, and nutrients. Jaeow, rice and raw vegetables alone can make a healthy meal.

6. What are the key ingredients needed to come up with authentic-tasting Indian food?

Indian food can vary substantially from region to region, but its philosophy remains largely consistent. Many Indian cuisines are based on Ayurveda, which (and this is a very simplistic, incomplete description) perceives food as medicine. This ancient tradition tries to maintain balance throughout the body, and this is achieved through the tastes of sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Thus, key Indian ingredients often fit into those taste categories.

Fresh garlic, onions and ginger are extremely common in Indian dishes. Curries rely on a wide variety of spices using chili, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, mustard, fenugreek, fennel, cardamom, and nutmeg—among others. Additional ingredients include lime, tamarind, cilantro, curry leaves, coconut, yogurt and butter (ghee).

7. Which attributes and qualities do you think are the most important for food photographers to be successful?

My husband, who photographs my blog, is a journalist, as am I. We both come from a photographic tradition that emphasizes people and events. I’m far more interested in the context of food than the food alone. In that respect, I think a great food photographer should be able to capture the life around food—the people who cook it or grow it, the scene in which it’s consumed. This requires rapport. It requires a personality to which people open up. The best food photos are up-close and personal, often in someone’s home kitchen. That means the photographer must be invited and trusted.