East Asian-Style Cuisine
Make Stir-Fries, Fried Rice, and Other Asian-Style Dishes Gluten-Free: It's Easy!
Asian-style cuisine appeals to many people from all around the globe. Lots of "Asian" dishes, however, at least the ones served in the United States, aren't exactly authentic. Here, so many of us think that if the meat is cut up and fried, and served on rice with water chestnuts and a shaker of soy sauce, it's real "Chinese" cooking.
In a small-town community cookbook I received as a gift decades ago, there was an "authentic Chinese" recipe, as follows:
[Don't make this - it's not gluten-free! And it tastes terrible!]
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
3 cans chicken, drained
3 cups prepared instant rice
1/4 cup chow mein noodles to sprinkle on top
In a saucepan, heat all ingredients except rice and chow mein noodles. Heat through, serve over rice, and top with noodles.
I
don't know about you, but that doesn't seem too authentic to me (!).
Finding authentic foods commercially can be difficult. In my town, anyway, many of the Asian restaurateurs have decidedly "americanized" their menu selections, avoiding those "acquired taste" items that are part and parcel of their patrimony. While the loss of opportunity to experience true traditional food is regrettable, it's a good business decision here.
We humans are funny: we demand variety, then turn our noses up at anything that's different from what we're used to eating.
All that is simply a preamble to my caveat that my suggestions for meals are east-Asian-style; they are not all authentic east Asian recipes - though they do come closer, at least in spirit, to authentic cooking than the recipe from the cookbook, above.
The same can be said about all the other "ethnic" cuisines that will be featured here: they are "in the style of", but not necessarily authentic.
Still, these recipes make nutritious, health-giving, balanced meals using fresh, minimally processed foods, spices and herbs, that will add much-needed variety to our diets.
And that's the value in traditional cuisines, and why you should add them to your menus.
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