Cooking an Asian recipe? Pick a wine that imitates beer

Most of us take for granted that beer, not wine, is the proper partner for Asian cooking. Suds just seem right — a cool cold one at hand, light, sparkling, slightly bitter, a ready match for those hot, sour, salty-sweet flavors abounding in Asian foods. Frankly, as a matter of course, Asian cooks serve neither beer nor wine with their cooking. They’d more likely offer water, fruit juice or broth-based soup. So, if you’re after the wine meme for Asian eats, just drink water or broth or — here’s the kicker — imitate beer with low-key sparkling wine.

The food: Asian Chicken Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing

In a large bowl, combine 2 carrots, julienned; 1 gala apple, cored, cut in strips; 1/2 each red bell pepper and yellow bell pepper, sliced in strips; and 1/2 head romaine lettuce, chopped. Shred 1 cooked chicken breast into thin strips; add to the salad along with 1/2 cup canned fried chow mein noodles. Whisk together 1/4 cup peanut oil, 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons brown sugar and 1 teaspoon each minced ginger root and Asian chili paste. Toss the salad with the dressing. Serve, sprinkled with chopped dry roasted peanuts and diced green onions. Makes: 4 servings

Recipe by Sandra Wu

The wines

• NV Gruet Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine, New Mexico: All pinot noir, from this country's best-value Champagne-method producer of sparkling wine; crisp, aromatic, hugely flavorful. $15-$17

• 2013 Domaine Spiropoulos Ode, Mantinia, Panos, Greece: Nice job with the peach-scented moschofilero grape; lots of bubbles lift the creamy, richly turned-out texture across the palate. $20-$25