A Spoonful of Ginger Irresistible, Health-Giving Recipes from Asian Kitchens A [Paperback]

From the best-selling authority on Chinese cooking, a groundbreaking cookbook based on the Asian philosophy of food as health-giving. These 200 delectable recipes not only taste superb but also have specific healing properties. It’s a question of balance: countering yin, or cooling, foods, with yang, or hot, foods, and neutralizers like rice and
noodles. It is all here in this remarkable book. From the exotic to the earthy, Simonds will convince you that you can enjoy marvelous food every day—relishing its good taste and knowing it is good for you.

“Nina Simonds’s recipes are recipes for health as well as for sensory delight. This book will be a classic.”
   —Andrew Weil, M.D.Nina Simonds has lived, studied, and traveled throughout Southeast Asia. She has written forGourmetandThe New York Times,among many others, and is the author of numerous award-winning cookbooks. Her website, www.spicesoflife.com, and video blog have been featured inThe New York Times, The Washington Post,andThe Boston Globe.Nina Simonds lives in Salem, Massachusetts.I was seated in front of Mr. Li Lian Xing, a Chinese herbalist who was trying to diagnose my malady. I complained that I had no appetite and that I was constantly cold. He checked the pulse of my right hand; it was weak and slow. He inspected my tongue and noticed that it was pale and slightly white. He made his diagnosis. You are too yin, he solemnly pronounced, and prescribed an order of baked lamb with Chinese wolfberries and a pot of double-boiled chicken soup (two yang dishes).

This was no ordinary herbalist's office, although I was surrounded by Chinese herbs. We were seated at the front of the Imperial Herbal restaurant in Singapore, where Mr. Li is the resident herbalist. From the day it first opened five years ago, the Imperial Herbal has drawn praise from its local and international clientele for its masterful marriage of ló·