Michael Hudson Feb 4, 2010:

thnx David..off to Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch Calling food "Asian" in a generic way as opposed to Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc. is pretty common now in US. 'Oriental' is out; some find it offensive, others say it is shorthand for exotic, mysterious; e.g. the La Choy brand used to label its cans 'Oriental', now the labels read 'Asian'. "Baby vegetable" IMO would not refer to broccoli sprouts or snow pea shoots but other vegetables in the mix. Bean sprouts are not considered baby vegetables; more mature sprouts would be just sprouting beans. 'Baby vegetables' in American cooking usually refers to miniature bok choy, small zucchini & squash, and other vegetable bits. "(Asian) vegetable stir fry" works, but bean sprouts are special to people. Adding it is more descriptive as in, "Asian vegetable stir fry with bean sprouts" as Jeux de Mots proposes. As Lonnie and Kerstin point out, the ultimate choice of words here depends on how Gemüsesprossen is intended.
"Asian" modifies type of vegetables used / how they are prepared, not the dish. "stir fry" already implies the dish is "Asian". W/out more context assume this a non-Asian Gasthof or menu offering different fare, thus they used "Asian".

David Williams (asker) Feb 4, 2010:

Is that Asiatisch though? I believe that would be either "Orientalisch" or "Exotisch".

Sarah Bessioud Feb 4, 2010:

Are you sure? If it's sold in British supermarkets - whyever not in a restaurant? (http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Food/Recipe-search/Index/O/Orient...

David Williams (asker) Feb 4, 2010:

Errrm No. You'd never find "Oriental stir-fry" on an English menu, I'd be willing to put money on that!

Sarah Bessioud Feb 4, 2010:

@ Colin I like your suggestion of 'oriental'. I wasn't particularly happy with 'Asian' here and didn't want to limit myself to 'Chinese' - but oriental is great!

Colin Rowe Feb 4, 2010:

A possible alternative for "Asian(-style)" might be "oriental". Just a thought... The food you are describing sounds tasty, anyway!

David Williams (asker) Feb 4, 2010:

I see your point but English menus normally refer to dishes by their name rather than being so descriptive/verbose or vague, but how about "Asian-style vegetable stir-fry with beansprouts and strips of pork with fragrant brown rice"?
Calling it Asian or Asian-style seems terrible to me, that could be any one of a multitude of styles, after all!
P.S. No, no more information I'm afraid, Lonnie.

Lonnie Legg Feb 4, 2010:

"Gemüsesprossen" or "Gemüse und Sprossen"? Do you have more information? The dilemma with "Gemüsesprossen": As Kerstin proposes, it could refer to "vegetable shoots"--or the more common "Gemüse" und "Sprossen", i.e. vegetables and (bean) sprouts.

Kerstin Green Feb 4, 2010:

I would not try to translate it into a specific dish like chow mein or sweet and sour. Who knows what spices are actually in it, so I'd just keep the - admittedly very general - term 'Asian'.