Not all good cookbooks must have a fancy name attached to it. And not all cookbooks written by a popular creator are necessarily good. Or maybe it’s more that titles don’t always reflect the book?
There was a cookbook I took out of the library recently (I won’t mention who the author(s) is/were because that wouldn’t be fair) that I was deeply disappointed with. “Noodles” was in the title but once I was home and reading it in earnest, I realized half the recipes were pasta. I consider some pastas to be noodles, but I do not consider all pasta to be noodles. (Example, I don’t think of orzo as a noodle.) All the pasta recipes were Western style, and honestly half of the noodle recipes were forgettable. I’d be less disappointed if I picked it up because it was titled “Carbs and Sauce” instead.
So I was excited but cautious when I received a copy of Smith Street Books’ “Noods: 80 Slurpable Noodle Recipes from Asia.” My immediate reaction upon reading through the book was that this is a wonderful collection and representation of noodle recipes!
The book is simply broken down into:
- Stir-fried,
- Soup,
- Chilled,
- Instant,
- Basics
It highlights recipes from China, Japan, Korean, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Looking at the pad thai recipe as a measure of accuracy/authenticity, I think this book is probably representing different cultures pretty well. Their pad thai recipe includes garlic chives, pickled turnip, tamarind sauce, coconut sugar (which is an acceptable sub for palm sugar), and fish sauce.
Some of the recipes I want to try:
- Smoked tofu miso ramen,
- Pho chay (vegetable noodle soup),
- Khao soi (curry noodle soup),
- Liangpi (Chinese cold noodles),
- Sudachi somen (chilled noodles with citrus),
- Hiyashi chuka (cold noodles with ham),
- Bun thit nuong (noodle salad),
- Sa cha beef noodles (Hong Kong instant noodle dish),
- Budae jjigae (Korean army base stew),
- Lemongrass sate (basics chapter),
- Vegan broth (basic chapter)
While I really wanted to make some of the cold noodle recipes, it’s not quite the season for it yet here (New England in March). Instead, the first recipe I made was for janchi guksu. This is a Korean recipe made with zucchini, spinach, wheat noodles, egg, anchovy/kelp broth, and yangnyeom sauce. A recipe for yangnyeom sauce is included which is simply soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, Korean chili flakes, black pepper, and scallions. The only swap I made was using yellow squash instead of zucchini, and I cheated by using instant broth. Overall, I was really happy with this dish. I also liked the yangnyeom sauce. I made a second batch of it and used it with some cooked ground turkey.
The second recipe I tried was for kare udon, Japanese curry udon soup. I love Japanese curry but never really thought to use it in soup. Trying this recipe also gave me the excuse to re-stock on Japanese curry. This recipe has a pretty short ingredient list – oil, onion, pork loin, mirin, dashi (I cheated again and used instant), udon noodles, and scallion for garnish. It was really easy and pretty quick to put together. Unfortunately, I lost the image of this so I remade it as a vegetarian variation. The second time I made it, I replaced the pork with roasted mushrooms and garnished with quick pickled red onions. It was good either way, and I’ll remember to keep this soup in rotation during cooler weather.
If you’re a fan of Asian noodles soup, I recommend picking up this cute little book. It’s good collection of recipes with a good variety countries represented.
Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Smith Street Books/Rizzoli New York for this review. I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own. This cookbook is available for pre-purchase from your favorite bookshops, and gets released next week.
Reference Links:
https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9781922754226/
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