Sesame Oil

A little goes such a long way - roasted sesame oil is one of the most flavorful and aromatic oils around. As little as a half-teaspoon is enough to impart a roasted, earthy flavor to whole batches of everything from soups to entrees to salads. There are actually two kinds of sesame oil on the market. There's light or natural sesame oil, which is very mild and pale. I use it in salads, not for cooking. And there's the more popular dark-roasted sesame oil that is dark brown and used typically in Asian-inspired dishes.

Maybe it's time to look beyond claims of virginity in the oil aisle. Because you see, our 20-year love affair with olive oil has had fallout. We've forgotten that there's a whole world of oils that don't come from the olive tree. And they can do a heck of a lot more than just saute and make a fine dressing. OK, maybe we didn't forget. Maybe we didn't know about them at all. It's not as though before the EVOO revolution we were all swilling avocado and grape-seed oils. But olive oil has done a fine job of elbowing out other up-and-comers.

Hot Thai peanut sauce and shiitake mushrooms give a new twist to tostadas. Traditional tostadas have a deep-fried base, but it's easier and more healthful to crisp the tortillas under the broiler. Don't let Asian ingredients gather dust in your pantry. Sesame oil gives a nutty flavor to sauteed meats and salads, while peanut sauce is great on kebabs or as a dip for cooked meats. Mexican-Asian Tostadas 1. Heat broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with oil. Spray both sides of the tortillas and place on the sheet.

Chinese food, once thought too exotic for home cooks, has been so de- mystified in recent years that many dishes have actually become American family standbys. Stir-fry recipes abound. So do East-West combinations such as hamburger casseroles made crunchy with water chestnuts or chicken dishes enlivened with soy sauce and fresh ginger. The menu that follows - one designed for cooks In a Hurry - requires some ingredients that are slightly unusual but that store well, so you can keep a supply on hand after an initial shopping trip.

One of Peking's more famous dishes is lamb, marinated in a mixture of soy sauce and sherry, stir-fried with garlic and scallions and finished with a simple, sweetened soy sauce. The whole process takes less than half an hour, yet the result is rich, full-flavored and satisfying. But suppose you don't like, can't find or can't afford lamb? Then consider an updated version of the dish made with convenient turkey cutlets. Turkey has enough flavor of its own to stand up to distinctive seasonings like garlic, scallions and sesame oil. The cutlets are available in most large supermarkets, and though they are more expensive than bone-in parts, they are still affordable.

East-West Pork and Clams will remind Portuguese-food fans of Portugal's unique pairing of meat and mollusk. But a close inspection will reveal a few Asian ingredients, such as ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. The dish is a new one designed for cooks in a hurry. Because the pork steak - cut from a fresh ham - is sliced again into slender strips, it cooks in a matter of minutes. If this cut is unavailable, well-trimmed pork chops will work almost as well. Canned clams add to the convenience of this dish.

Grilling enthusiasts won't let even the dead of winter stop them from using their favorite cooking technique, but there must be at least one more date left on the calendar to fit in a final grill for the rest of us. And if this must be the closing act of the season, why not stage something sort of showy in your back yard? It doesn't take much more preparation to give grilled chicken a Chinese accent than it does to mop on another rerun of barbecue sauce or butter and garlic. The recipe for Chinese Chicken Kebabs that follows features cubes of chicken breasts that are briefly marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, garlic and ginger.

KATHY HUSCHKA loves Chinese chicken salad, but she wanted to lighten up her recipe for it. "The dressing scares me," she wrote to me. "Can you slim it down? Half a cup of oil sounds like so much. " I started by adding more vinegar to the dressing and reducing the amount of oil. Baking the chicken with some soy sauce and a bit of toasted sesame oil pumps up the salad's flavor so the dressing doesn't need a lot of oil. I also substituted Splenda for the sugar and cut out the extra teaspoon of salt, because the chicken seasoning packet comes loaded with sodium already.

Orange you glad it's February? If you eat and shop for food in season, check out the citrus aisle. Now is peak time for oranges, and most stores are loaded with them. Not only is the fruit a bright spot in winter, it brings some juicy health benefits.   Clementine and Five-Spice Chicken Makes 4 servings 10 clementines (mandarins, honey tangerines or oranges) Generous 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder 1/4 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, crushed, or crushed red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon canola oil 4 large, bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 pounds total)

Maybe it's time to look beyond claims of virginity in the oil aisle. Because you see, our 20-year love affair with olive oil has had fallout. We've forgotten that there's a whole world of oils that don't come from the olive tree. And they can do a heck of a lot more than just saute and make a fine dressing. OK, maybe we didn't forget. Maybe we didn't know about them at all. It's not as though before the EVOO revolution we were all swilling avocado and grape-seed oils. But olive oil has done a fine job of elbowing out other up-and-comers.

Here is an excerpt from the blog "My Daughter's Kitchen. " When our three kids come home for Christmas, they always want the meals they remember. It's funny, as I don't think of our dinners together as Norman Rockwellesque. It was always a challenge for me to get home to get it on the table, and someone was always running somewhere five minutes after we sat down. But I guess all of that is part of the family glue. One of the family favorites was this stir-fry dinner that is so old, it was called "Basic Oriental Stir-fry with Chicken.

I like to know where my recipes come from and when they have entered my life. According to a note scrawled on the back of a spattered index card, my recipe for cold sesame noodles came from two sources: the February 1993 issue of Gourmet and Mollie Katzen's book The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Ten Speed Press, 1995), which I've owned forever. In February 1993, I had been married all of three months. Perhaps my new husband and I had enjoyed a bowl of sesame noodles on our honeymoon in Hawaii - I have no recollection.

Patricia Wells wants her salads to have it all - fresh seasonal ingredients, bright colors, crunch and a bit of lean protein, like her recipe for ginger-sesame chicken salad with glass noodles. "Ginger, sesame and glass noodles are a classic Asian combination, [and] the addition of chicken puts it in the healthy, lean protein category," she said. Ginger and Sesame Chicken Salad with Glass Noodles Makes 4 servings 2 tablespoons tamari or other Japanese soy sauce 4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds 2 tablespoons sesame oil 2 tablespoons Chinese black rice vinegar 2 plump, moist garlic cloves, peeled, halved, green germ removed, and minced 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 31/2 cups (about 1 pound)

Try these main-dish recipes as the centerpiece for your Chinese New Year celebration. CLAMS WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE 2 quarts water 30 medium-sized clams, scrubbed with a stiff brush to remove sand and grit For the sauce: 2/3 cup chicken stock 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce 1 1/2 teaspoons dark soy sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon sugar Pinch of white pepper...

Don't be intimidated by these recipes. There are lots of steps, but the steps are easy. And all the specialty ingredients in these recipes are readily available at H-Mart Korean Grocery (locations in Cherry Hill, N.J., Upper Darby and Elkins Park) and at other area Korean grocery stores. KONG-GUKSU (NOODLE WITH CHILLED WHITE BEAN SOUP) 1 cup dried white soybeans, soaked in 5 cups of water for 12 hours 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 pound rice vermicelli 1/2 cucumber, peeled and seeded 1/2 tomato Wash the beans and soak in water for 12 hours.

ANN HAZAN'S FAVORITE LASAGNA 1 medium onion, minced 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 large garlic clove, minced 1 pound lean, ground chuck 1 23.5-oz. jar Francesco Rinaldi no-salt prepared pasta sauce 1 cup water Salt and pepper to taste 1 pound lasagna noodles, no boil or traditional 1 15-oz. container ricotta cheese 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 8 ounces grated mozzarella cheese 2 eggs Additional Parmesan and mozzarella for sprinkling In a large saucepan, sauté onion in oil over medium-low heat until softened.

If you've had the pleasure of meeting the Vietnamese hoagie, may we introduce you to another strange-but-true hybrid - the Korean taco. It was born on a roving lunch truck in Los Angeles. But it made landfall in Queen Village a few months ago at Ansill, where a Korean-American cook does an astonishingly good version. The meat is a beefy shred of braised short rib and London broil, marinated in soy, sesame oil, garlic, scallion, and honey, then stuffed into a warm, crisped flour tortilla, drizzled with barbecue sauce, and topped with brightly crunchy daikon radish kim chi.