Dim Sum And Asian Snacks

Awareness of the dearth of dessert recipes in English-language Chinese cookbooks led the Sino-American team of Chang (she is a cooking instructor; he is a chemist) and Kutscher (she has edited 80 books on thanatology; he is a professor of psychiatry at Columbia) to fill the void. Not for the meat, potato and apple-pie diehards, this volume of desserts and snacksalso called dim sumshould delight aficionados of Oriental cuisine and others with a taste for adventure. To ease the transition from East to West, the authors have included a long discussion of basic Chinese ingredients, their uses and availability in the West, American and British conversion guides and a helpful cross-index. Among the provocative dishes are Nona Wong's Prosperous Pudding (the green of kiwis symbolizes growth; the gold of loquats, wealth; and the red of strawberries, good fortune) and snacks with various fruits, nuts and seedshoney-dipped or stuffed and occasionally glazed with Smucker's Magic Shell chocolate topping. The Changs and Austin Kutscher coauthored The Encyclopedia of Chinese Food and Cooking.