Rice Flour

Crispy calcium bites by Janine Doran, chef at Cafe Flora in Seattle.

In Mexico, a quesadilla is more like what we think of as a grilled cheese sandwich, but with tortillas instead of bread. In Guatemala, these sweet little cheese things are like buttery cupcakes, and they are baked as special-occasion treats for children who've had a good report card or lost a tooth.

These crisp golden crêpes, filled with shrimp, pork, and vegetables, are both delicious and fun to eat. Simply wrap each crêpe in a lettuce leaf, tuck in fresh herbs like mint and basil, and dip it in the sweet-and-sour sauce.

Once a favorite breakfast of the Chinese, this dish might more accurately be called a daikon scramble. But the Chinese words for carrot and daikon are almost the same, and "cake" refers to the way the rice flour binds the ingredients.

If any cake could be called refreshing, this would be the one. Rich but light, it loses absolutely nothing from the absence of white flour.

Bente Birkedal-Hansen of Bethesda, Maryland, says that Azalea Restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, does a great job with catfish, serving the whole fish with an Asian-style black bean sauce. It would make an impressive main course at a dinner party. If whole catfish are difficult to get at your local supermarket, order them from the fishmonger and have the fish cleaned.

Shortbread is the ultimate sugar cookie, crisp yet tender, and bursting with buttery flavor. It's a good cookie to make when the cookie monster in you growls but you don't have any eggs in the house. Gluten-free rice flour (cornstarch can be substituted) is used with regular flour to give it a delicate crumb.

Pla Phad Phrik Khing The pummelo salad makes a nice first course with this dish.

Walnut Soup (Hup Tul Woo) is a favorite snack soup, often eaten in place of dessert. The Chinese believe that walnuts resemble the shape of the brain and, thus, are good for nourishing the brain. Any foods that resemble the shape of a body organ are said to be god for that organ. Walnuts are also associated with longevity, since walnut trees live for hundreds of years. Regardless, this is a delicious soup. The oven-roasting brings out the fragrance of the walnuts, and it is rich and creamy despite the fact that there is no dairy added. I think Walnut Soup is a wonder because it tastes so good while also being good for you. Be sure to use rice flour and not glutinous rice flour.