Beyond Bok Choy: A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables

by Rosa Lo San Ross, Martin Jacobs (Photographer)

Beyond Bok Choy is the first book to help consumers identify, choose, and--most importantly--cook the enormous variety of increasingly available Asian Vegetables. Top chefs discovered these tasty leafy greens, squashes, peas and beans, mushrooms, and herbs several years ago, and many varieties are appearing in supermarkets, farmers' markets, and seed catalogs as well as in Asian flavors, there has been little information available to home cooks on how to add these vegetables to their repertoire. With this book, Rosa La San Ross, a New York-based cooking teacher and caterer who grew up in Hong Kong, guides readers through the many varieties of bok choy, mustard cabbages, melons, edible gourds, sprouts, and shoots. her 70-easy-to-prepare recipes--including both classic Chinese stir-fries and original fusion recipes--will send curious cooks to unexplored regions of their supermarkets and then to the kitchen. The book's guidebook-like format makes it east to carry on shopping expeditions.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Gardening, Food and Drink

191 pages, Hardcover

First published January 5, 1996

Reviews

[Happyreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am recommending this book for its pictures and its veggie info. I went to Argyle today (one of the Asian market areas in Chicago), picked up some Ya Choy from a Vietnamese market and had no idea what it was and what to do with it.

Since Asian veggies have different names in different regions, the name is only so helpful. I searched through multiple Asian cookbooks and this is the one that helped me positively identify my Ya Choy -- also known as Yau Choy, You Cai, Oil Seed Rape, and Flowering Cabbage. This book has beautiful full-page color photos of all the veggies. Plus her preparation tips were right on. Ya Choy does taste like a milder version of broccoli rabe. A valuable Asian reference cookbook.

[Komal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to Asian vegetables and how they are used. It's actually nice to finally know what "jie lan" and "cai xin" and other Chinese greens actually look like and be able to pick them at my local Asian grocer. Very usual and a definite essential if you cook a lot of Asian foods. The only drawback is that there are no pictures of the dishes of the recipes listed. But otherwise, very interesting and useful!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, practical, informative, accessible. Lovely and delicious.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer for all those wonderful Asian vegetables I’ve encountered in restaurants and markets and wondered how to use. Beautiful photos and great descriptions of each vegetable along with buying tips, cultivation tips, preparation tips and at least one intriguing recipe for each. A very useful and informative book.