Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea - by Natalie Keng (Hardcover)

About the Book

Ni hao, y'all! Welcome to the dining table, a special, sacred place. Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea: Asian Inspired, Southern Style is in part a memoir of Natalie Keng's personal food journey growing up in the deep South, but make no mistake: This is a cookbook full of tasty Asian-American and Southern fusion dishes, sauces, and drinks that home cooks will enjoy preparing and sharing.

Book Synopsis

Southern foodways intersect with various Asian-American tastes in this fusion cookbook of 100 recipes celebrating inclusivity and diversity at the dinner table with the best from various cultures, cooking styles, and comforting foods.

"'Can food be the catalyst for accepting diversity?' asks Sauce Maven founder Keng...in the introduction... Keng gleefully mixes cuisines and high and low culture: an elegant recipe for a whole fish fit for a banquet is followed by instructions for frozen fish sticks atop congee. The fusion is clever...This playful collection answers its opening query in the affirmative, and has fun along the way."--Publishers Weekly

Ni hao, y'all! Welcome to the dining table, a special, sacred place. Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea: Asian Inspired, Southern Style is in part a memoir of Natalie Keng's personal food journey growing up in the deep South, but make no mistake: This is a cookbook full of tasty Asian-American and Southern fusion dishes, sauces, and drinks that home cooks will enjoy preparing and sharing.

With recipes like Fried Chicken Spring Rolls With Honey, Rainbow Black-Rice Salad, Okra and Tomato Stir-Fry, Black-Eyed Pea Hummus, Georgia Bourbon Coca-Cola Meatloaf, Golden Milk and Sorghum Hot Toddy, and of course, several recipes for egg rolls and sweet teas.

More accolades:

A 2024 Book Every Georgia Should Read, Georgia Center for the Book

2024 Finalist, Georgia Author of the Year, Specialty Book

"Keng's first cookbook is recommended for all libraries, especially those with regional interest."--Library Journal

Review Quotes

"Can food be the catalyst for accepting diversity?" asks Sauce Maven founder Keng, a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants raised in Atlanta, in the introduction to her chatty debut. With these creative recipes, Keng gleefully mixes cuisines and high and low culture: an elegant recipe for a whole fish fit for a banquet is followed by instructions for frozen fish sticks atop congee. The fusion is clever: egg rolls contain collards, bacon, and cellophane noodles, while bao buns are stuffed with pulled pork. Keng also has an eye for color: "snushi rolls" (a portmanteau of snack and sushi) incorporate crushed potato chips, cheese curls, pork rinds, and purple rice; dumpling wrappers are dyed vibrant pink with the cooking water from beets. Keng's parents play supporting roles in life and on the page: she relates how her mother cracks jokes and wields a fast-moving cleaver before sharing her recipe for spaghetti with ginger, garlic, and scallions. A recipe for her father's spiced boiled peanuts, meanwhile, serves four--or one "if Mom gets a hold of 'em." This playful collection answers its opening query in the affirmative, and has fun along the way.-- "Publishers Weekly" (6/26/2023 12:00:00 AM)

Keng (nicknamed the Sauce Maven) believes cooking and sharing a meal can transcend cultural differences, political beliefs, and more, allowing people to better understand and empathize with one another as they get to know the people behind the food. While many of the recipes within are the perfect fusion of American Southern meets Asian cuisine (wasabi deviled eggs), some of the dishes are simpler and lovely (sautéed lemon pepper snow peas), and still others are unexpected, interesting combinations (Vindaloo-inspired ratatouille ziti). The book is personal, with several family anecdotes, and well-illustrated with photographs of dishes and trickier techniques like how to roll rice paper wrappers. The "Wild About Rice" chapter includes various types of rice--black, red, brown, basmati, jasmine, and even cauliflower. The book concludes with a resource guide of ingredients and where to find them. VERDICT Keng's first cookbook is recommended for all libraries, especially those with regional interest.--P.J. Gardiner "Library Journal" (6/1/2023 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Natalie Keng is a pioneer in the area of innovative leadership development and is the Founder and CEO ("Chief Eating Officer") of Global Hearth, a multi-faceted business that leverages the power of food and culture to promote team-building and employee engagement in support of corporate initiatives through its Cooking Up a Better World(TM) platform of inspiring, interactive, and impactful presentations, tours and events. Keng is the creator of an award-winning line of Georgia-grown, Asian-inspired sauces (launched at Whole Foods Market) that feature natural ingredients and harken heritage recipes, earning her the title The Sauce Maven(TM). Before starting her own business, Keng was a strategic marketing executive in a Fortune 100 corporation. She has also headed leadership development initiatives at national non-profit organizations and served in public office. Keng is a recipient of the Greater Women's Business Council's Trailblazer Award and was appointed to serve on the Governor's Health Task Force. A graduate of Vassar College, Keng holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She lives in her hometown of Smyrna, Georgia.