Asian Wraps: Deliciously Easy Hand-Held Bundles To Stuff, Wrap, And Relish

Going still further afield, Simonds fuses Asian and Caribbean flavors in her Chinese Jerk Chicken in a flour tortilla, including ginger, scallion, and rice vinegar in the jerk paste. Her Hawaii-style grilled swordfish kebabs served with pineapple salsa almost dare you to skip the wrapper and enjoy the lightly soy-sauce-marinated fish simply with its piquant accompaniment. As in her previous book, Asian Noodles, Simonds details all you need to know about special ingredients, covering 17 kinds of wrappers, from wonton skins and rice paper to lotus leaves and Indian flatbread. To make dishes accessible to everyone, particularly when there is not an Asian food store nearby, Simonds offers more readily available tortillas, pita bread, and lavash as substitutions. Asian Wraps resembles other recent books by Simonds, including A Spoonful of Ginger, in its generous use of beautifully styled color photos of prepared dishes and key ingredients. --Dana Jacobi

Product Description
In this beautifully photographed full-color book, Nina Simonds shares her culinary expertise in more than seventy-five delicious recipes for all manners of wrapped Asian delicacies. Throw away those forks and knives and dig into these fresh and flavorful wraps, stuffed with everything from succulent, plump shrimp glazed with vibrant sweet-and-sour sauce to fragrant curried coconut chicken. Asian Wraps is a delightful exploration into the varied flavors of Asia, from small enticing tastes of Bite-Size Wraps and the delightful crunch of Salads in a Wrap to satisfying Entree Wraps and cutting-edge New Asian Wraps.

Nina Simonds tempts us with her inspiring and fabulous creations, such as Flaky Curried Turnovers, Lemony Thai Salad Packages, delectable Seared Garlic Beef with Roasted Rainbow Peppers, Barbecued Halibut with Cilantro Pesto, and Singapore Noodles in Napa Leaves. Asian Wraps wouldn't be complete without suggestions for a variety of wrappers, whether store-bought--leafy greens, pita bread, tortillas, and nori; or homemade--Mandarin Pancakes, Steamed Lotus Buns, and Baked Indian Flatbread. Asian Wraps is sure to make eating a tasty and handy experience!

The book doesn't just concentrate on fillings - there are instructions for making some of the most popular Asian wrappers from scratch - not many people will go that route, I suspect (I haven't as yet), but it is nice to have the option there.

Some of the recipes are nothing short of brilliant. I've always struggled with sesame oil - I love the flavour, but it is far too easy to swamp a recipe with it. Ms. Simond is a master of the stuff -- her sesame vinaigrette is alone worth the price of the book. She uses sesame oil in several of the filling recipes, too, and the results are always wonderful.

Some of her other recipes, while always interesting, exhibit some rather strange choices. The first time I make an unfamiliar recipe, I like to follow it exactly, because I can never be sure what its author intended. Only when I make the recipe again will start to incorporate my own ideas into it. I wouldn't advise doing that with this cookbook - if you are merrily cooking along, and read something that gives you pause, like adding lb of frozen peas to an otherwise wonderful filling, or using "finely-chopped lemongrass" rather than "lemongrass pureed in a blender so that you don't have to hand toothpicks out to your guests," then by all means make the change immediately.

With that one caveat out of the way, I can highly recommend this cookbook.


Asian Wraps   February 2, 2000
 55 out of 57 found this review helpful

Being a novice on the topic of asian wraps, I wanted to find a cookbook that was simple, well written and not costly, and I found all of the above in Nina Simonds "Asian Wraps". This cookbook is well written, the recipes are easy to understand, and the cost was very reasonable. I would recommend this cookbook to any of my family or friends who wish to add versatality to their menu's.