The cover of Kapi'olani Community College's new book, "A DASH of Aloha," says it all. Not just in the words of the subtitle, "Healthy Hawai'i Cuisine and Lifestyle," but in the gorgeous food photography by chef Adriana Torres Chong that effectively communicates of the book's key ideas: that living deliberately doesn't mean living deprived.

The book, writer Daniel Leung tells you in the first paragraph, "is about eating, not dieting ... about variations, not restrictions."

And the recipes by Alyssa Moreau and Sharon Kobayashi, both experienced cooks with a background in recipe development, bear out this message. For example: Moreau's cold ginger tofu or Kobayashi's chicken adobo wilted salad. Both allow you to enjoy familiar and beloved flavors — that wonderful Asian-style cilantro and ginger sauce we're used to having with cold, steamed chicken, and the tang of vinegary adobo marinade normally found in a meat stew. The only thing that's missing in either dish is the bad-for-you stuff: fat, cholesterol, sodium, refined sugars.

"Telling people to do something because it's good for you doesn't work," said Leung, "but telling them this tastes good does work. A lot of times, people's health issues and bad eating habits are just because they like food, they like to eat. So we tried to change it around and take a positive approach. Yes, go ahead and eat, but here's how to do it in a way that won't make you sick."

Take the process Moreau followed in creating cold ginger tofu.

A FAMILIAR SAUCE

Moreau recalled how much she used to love cold ginger chicken. She wanted to experience those flavors and that texture again but didn't want the high salt and oil content of the conventional recipe. Changing the protein from skin-on chicken to pressed tofu took care of part of the problem, and she found she could drastically reduce the salt and oil in the Asian "pesto" that is the dish's main feature. The tofu slices are infused with ginger and star anise by simmering them in a spiced broth or sauteing them in a flavored oil.

"I got so into that sauce after I played with this recipe that I started using it on other things — stirred into brown rice as a side dish or tossed with soba noodles," said Moreau, who is a private chef specializing in healthful vegetarian foods and who teaches classes in KCC's noncredit culinary program. "I'm always thinking about how you can have wonderfully flavored food without anyone asking, 'Where's the beef?' And because I cook for families, everything has to be kid-friendly. My style is healthy comfort food, not fancy, but something anyone would cook, and that is exactly what this book was about."

BOOK'S BEGINNINGS

The book project got its start when KCC's culinary program partnered with the Department of Human Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Hawai'i and got a U.S. Department of Agriculture/Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service grant to create recipes that adhere to the principles of the DASH Eating Plan, Leung said.

DASH, developed by the National Institutes of Health, stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension and is based on studies that show blood pressure can often be controlled by consuming a diet low in fats in general and saturated fats in particular. Elevated blood pressure is associated with a number of dangerous health conditions.

Everyone involved — UH dietitians, KCC chef students and instructors — learned a lot in developing and testing the recipes. The project also dovetailed with efforts the college has made to partner with and support farmers since, although it's not a vegetarian plan, the dishes concentrate strongly on fruits and vegetables.

The next logical step seemed to be to spread the word. KCC was able to secure a grant from the Hawaii Medical Service Association to produce the $15.95 book, released by Watermark earlier this month. Both the American Heart Association and National Kidney Foundation's local chapters signed on to assist, too.

OUR FOODWAYS AND LIFESTYLE

One key goal was to produce a book that understands the Island way of eating; most material about the DASH eating and exercise plans was produced on the Mainland and doesn't take into account our foodways or lifestyle. Still, the book's authors strongly recommend readers also obtain a copy of "The DASH Eating Plan — Your Guide to Lowering Blood Pressure with DASH," which can be downloaded free online or purchased in bound form. Go to www.nhlbi.nih.gov or call 301-592-8273 or 240-629-3255.

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.