Food From The Heart

Hetty McKinnon shares delicious recipes and delightful stories in her latest book, To Asia, With Love.

- Hetty McKinnon

The food that we grow up eating stays with us forever. My mother didn’t work outside the home, but she was always busy. Her kitchen was constantly in motion. Throughout the house there was always evidence of our next meal, or food for the future.

As is often the case with immigrant cooks, my mother’s food was unfussy and frugal. She grew her own food in our suburban backyard – shallots, gourds, chillies, mandarins, cumquats and greens – and managed to create stunning meals from these humble ingredients. It is with this ethos that I have created the recipes in this book, showcasing big flavours achieved from minimal ingredients, using everyday vegetables. To Asia, With Love offers recipes that are rooted in the East, with hints of the West. The recipes are Asian in origin, but modern in spirit. Most importantly, this book is a celebration of how flavour can so powerfully connect us to our past and create pathways to our future.

Finger-lickin’ good edamame beans with fried curry leaves

SERVES 4, WITH RICE

“Edamame beans in their pods are the consummate pre-dinner snack at Japanese restaurants, but at home this can be a deeply satisfying with-rice dish,” says Hetty McKinnon.

3 tbsp vegetable oil

20 fresh curry leaves

1 tbsp tamarind puree

1 tbsp gluten-free sweet soy sauce

¼ tsp sugar

500 gm frozen edamame beans in their pods, thawed for 20 minutes

Lime wedges, to serve

SPICE PASTE

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 red shallot, roughly chopped

1 cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped