The Simply Ming cookbook features recipes from Season 1 of the Simply Ming television series. Since Chef Ming Tsai has all the recipes (and video!) from Season 1 on his website, you can test out the recipes online first to see if the ingredients or dishes are to your liking.

The basic premise is that the home cook can prepare a large batch of a master sauce, which then can be used to create different flavorful dishes throughout the week. I couldn’t figure out the Soy-Lime Leaf Syrup. I tried it a few times, but the sauce always came out extremely salty. And, I don’t know if there is some secret about the kecap manis, but that sauce is difficult to pour. I just noticed in Ming’s video that he already had the kecap manis out in a bowl. From my experience, the sauce is so thick that it drips slowly out of the bottle. I might have to give it another try once I can get some kaffir lime leaves again at the farmer’s market.

The one recipe that worked really well for me is the Blue Ginger Cracker Dough, which I’ve used to make scallion pancakes. This version, with bread flour and yeast, ends up thicker than the traditional green onion pancakes, but just as good. In addition to the scallion pancakes, I have also used the dough to create red bean pancakes. Instead of the sesame oil, salt, and green onions, I use Morinaga Ogura-An Sweetened Red Beans as the filling and prepare the pancakes in the same way.