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BOOKS
165
July14
Dim Sum: A
Flour-forward
Approach to
Traditional
Favorites and
Contemporary
Creations
Janice Wong and
Ma Jian Jun
Gatehouse | 176
pages
Though Chef Janice
Wong of Singapore’s
2am: de s s e r t ba r
is best known for
her artistic pastry
creations, her latest book, written in collaboration with Chef Ma
Jian Jun, focuses on the art of dim sum – a staple of Chinese
cooking.
Eager to explore the Cantonese dishes she grew up eating,
and intrigued by the variations of flour used in making dim
sum, Chef Wong sought out classically trained Chef Ma,
who prepares dim sum daily. Together, they came up with a
collection of traditional dim sum recipes and others reinvented
with Western ingredients – think truffle cheese dumplings, foie
gras and cognac dumplings, and snow-skin popcorn balls.
Dim Sum
presents the origins, ingredients and techniques
behind dim sum through beautifully photographed recipes
and accompanying tips, beginning with types of flour – wheat,
potato starch, glutinous rice and mung bean flour, among
others. Over 80 recipes are organised by dumplings and their
various skin textures – crystal, elastic, matte and sticky, for
instance – followed by buns, flourless creations and pastries.
It’s obvious that these dishes require some major skills, and
this cookbook won’t make the process much easier for those
of us who are culinarily challenged. Nevertheless, Chef Wong’s
inventiveness is fascinating, and each recipe is showcased as
a piece of art. I, for one, plan to keep my copy of
Dim Sum
on
the coffee table, rather than in my kitchen; it’s certainly a great
conversation-starter.
Amy Greenburg
Deco Roll Cake Party
Junko
Marshall Cavendish Cuisine
This cute and kitsch recipe book jazzes up the humble Swiss roll into a party talking-piece.
Japanese graphic designer turned food-blogger, Junko, has made a name for herself
by pre-baking patterns onto parchment paper, which is then used as the baking paper
to line a Swiss roll tin.
The result is intricately pretty designs on Swiss rolls, the sponge in a range of flavours
from vanilla to matcha green tea, filled with cream and fruit. Her first book
Deco Roll
Cakes
and this latest “party book” together offer a variety of cake recipes, fillings and
baking tips, plus a collection of patterns from teddy bears to skulls. Simply photocopy the
patterns and use them under parchment paper for a shortcut route to baking success.
Beate Baldry
Living in Singapore, 13th Edition
Reference Guide
American Association of Singapore | 463 pages
Updated every two years, this is the indispensable
reference guide to living in Singapore. Each of the
chapters, from The Big Move and Settling In through to
Education, Health & Fitness, Motoring & Transportation,
Arts & Culture, Nightlife, Shopping and many more,
is a written by a long-term expat with a thorough grasp
of his or her subject, and is a comprehensive mini-guide
in itself.
Even if you already have a well-thumbed past edition,
it’s worth getting the new one – it’s been redesigned
and updated, and is still hot off the press. Taking the
Education chapter as an example, RosanneWoodmansee
has included invaluable new information, including
insider-type advice for those considering local schooling
as an option.
I loved Laura Schwartz’s chapter on Lifestyle, particularly
her refreshing reflections on the dating scene, LGBT
issues, and even
“nudity, naturism
and swinging”.
It was slightly
disappointing,
though, to learn
that sex is strictly
prohibitedduring
any gatherings
of the members
of the Yahoo!
SgNudClub.
Verne Maree