Exploring South-East Asian Cooking

For christmas, I asked for a specific cookbook, Helen, my sister was kind enough to get this for me.

The cookbook was South East Asian Food, written by an aussie Rosemary Brissenden who first published this book in 1969, at that time it was a significant publication as little had been written for the western market that so comprehensively documented the cuisine of this area. In some ways there are parallels to the role Madhur Jaffrey played in introducing Indian (and vegetarian) cooking to the general British public.

The version I have is updated and is nearly double the size of the original edition, with many of the recipes adjusted to more accurately reflect authentic ingredients which are now available in the western market.

I've coveted this book for quite a while, as in my browsing of similar books in oz, I've found that aside from Thai (and maybe Vietnamese) there is a complete lack of any substantial cookbooks that cover other South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Laos and Cambodia. This is explained by the exteme popularity of Thai (and more recently, Vietnamese) from a resturant going perspective.

Aside from a craze/fad for Laksa in the 80's, we seem to have picked up one or two signature dishes from each country (Gado Gado for example) that might be served in a more pan asian resturant and left it at that.

I think this is a pity as the dishes from these countries can be richer and more complex than the bold contrasted or fresh flavours of Thai or Vietnamese.

So, I've cooked one dish from the book so far, a Malay version of the Indian Korma - which was fantastic. Planning to cook another Malay/Nyona dish tonight and then possibly move on to the Indonesian section to try a few dishes using Candlenuts.

Thanks very much Helen, this one will keep me cooking for many months to come!