(Part 3) Best asian cooking, food & wine books according to redditors
We found 657 Reddit comments discussing the best asian cooking, food & wine books. We ranked the 255 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
![Burma Superstar: Addictive Recipes from the Crossroads of Southeast Asia [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51krldBvwqL.jpg)
![The New Indian Slow Cooker: Recipes for Curries, Dals, Chutneys, Masalas, Biryani, and More [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/612xwqQ71gL.jpg)
![Japanese Cooking: Contemporary & Traditional [Simple, Delicious, and Vegan]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61PYum-G5bL.jpg)
Christine actually won the whole competition. Her cookbook, Recipes from My Home Kitchen: Asian and American Comfort Food was published two days ago.
you get 10,000 points for "Sightseeing"!
I can't think of too much fiction... The Windup Girl is an excellent book, but the Thai setting feels a little cringey and forced. It doesn't ruin the book but it doesn't have to be in Thailand either.
Three non-fiction books I think are essential for anyone who hates being clueless:
edit: I remember an
awesomehilarious collection of anecdotes/essays by a prototypical farang sexpat in the late 40s but I forget what it's called, I'll look for it tomorrowedit #2: Lonely Planet's "World Food Thailand" is also excellent and well-researched
edit #3: "Letters from Thailand" is interesting too, it's about a boy who immigrates to Bangkok from southern China in the 1940s and it follows the rest of his life in Thailand.
Recipes (although I didn't follow all of these):
This is a direct copy from a post elsewhere on the thread, but I'll repeat it here (sorry folks!).
I make this Roast Chicken Dinner Ramen Soup. I've made it with leftover turkey and homemade turkey stock, and chicken. Both ways are excellent.
It's sort of an Asian Twist on Chicken Noodle Soup. Both my husband and I are obsessed with it. I bought the Hondashi powder at a local Asian Grocery Store. The recipe calls for 1 TBLS of Hondashi powder, but I cut it down to slightly more than half TBLS. Otherwise, I find it a bit overpowering.
The recipe is from my favourite cookbook Asian-American: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from the Philippines to Brooklyn by Dale Talde from Top Chef (can't remember which season).
I highly recommend this Coconut Chicken Curry recipe (it's from Burma Superstar, a Burmese restaurant in San Francisco. They've published an excellent cookbook too). The ingredients aren't that expensive or hard to find. It's pretty easy to make, but somewhat time-consuming because of all the prep work. Then you have to cook the curry for an hour, and let the curry sit for awhile to let the flavors meld. Definitely worth it in the end though. It's literally a restaurant-quality dish that is very approachable for home cooks!
World Food : Thailand
Vij's At Home. So good, so cheap and so healthy.
I LOVE Burmese food. One of my favorite restaurants finally published their cookbook - Burma Superstar: Addictive Recipes from the Crossroads of Southeast Asia. It's kinda windy and cold in SF this weekend, so I figured it was a good time to try some comfort-food soup.
This took me about 3 hours, but only because there's a lot of chopping and I take my time when trying a new recipe. A full hour was just letting the soup simmer while I watched episodes of The Office at my kitchen table. :D Now that I've run through the recipe once, I'll bring my boyfriend in to help with the chopping while I focus on the soup.
The recipe is fairly straightforward and it was INCREDIBLY flavorful. I used some flat rice noodles for this batch, but next time I'll try it with egg noodles. Almost all of the ingredients are easy to find (limes, chicken, ginger, etc). My chickpea flour is made by Bob's Red Mill, which is a brand carried in a lot of health food stores and supermarkets. In addition to the usual toppings (cilantro, red onions, lime juice) I tried to recreate the topping used by my other favorite Burmese restaurant (what up, Burmese Kitchen!), which is fried chickpeas crumbled on top as a sort of crouton. I tried this Serious Eats recipe and it's way too thick - if I reduced the amount of chickpea flour and added more liquid to thin it out, I think it would be perfect and crispy.
I apologize for not typing out the full recipe - it's two pages long (though it's not hard; simply very descriptive). Please let me know if you have any questions, though!
I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:
Pan-Asian
Burmese
Cambodian
Chinese
Indian
Indonesia
Japanese
Korean
Malaysian
Middle Eastern
Philippine
Russian
Sri Lankan
Taiwanese
Thailand
Turkish
Vietnamese
(edit: screwed up a couple links)
Im glad that video helped. I love Keto Connect, I have made a ton of their recipes because there videos are super easy to follow and short. They have a cookbook too btw, I have not used it nearly as much as the youtube videos but it has some good ones in it. I do make their pancakes regularly :) https://www.amazon.com/Keto-Made-Easy-Dishes-Fast/dp/1628602880/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=keto+connect&qid=1573136333&sr=8-4
Am Korean, am avid home cook, and this is the absolute reference Korean cookbook.
I don't want reiterate all the wonderful things others are saying... but... I bring you... my favorite recipe for when I'm craving mac and cheese or alfredo sauce
Also - if you're feeling overwhelmed and want some "normalcy" a lot of asian dishes are already vegan. So have some fun and make some asian meals together. Lots of great recipes in this book.
Best of luck - so glad your wife is ok and that you're both on the road to a healthier lifestyle.
Get yourself a copy of Rick Stein's "far eastern odyssey" there are some great recipes for spice lovers
Also Anjum Anand has some great books.
If you can't wait to cook a great Chicken Tikka Masala, I can definitely recommend this video.
On Amazon:
The Yunnan Cookbook
Cooking South of the Clouds
Simply Yunnan
Also, GoKunming.com has recipes for Yunnan dishes for free
I would use a recipe. I was just thumbing through my new book by Neela Paniz and admiring the meen moili (Kerala fish curry) that I ate all the time at Neela's in Napa. It has coconut milk in it, as do several others. But just curry powder isn't going to be particularly flavorful, imho.
You've read this, I presume?
I got this japanese one and this thai one for my mum a month ago and she absolutely loved them! Maybe they'll suit your fancy?
She is Japanese-American. I highly recommend her cookbook Japanese Cooking: Contemporary & Traditional
Sure! I made 12 servings for my coop, so most people will probably want to scale down. You're going to want to make everything and serve each serving over ~ 1 cup rice then drizzle the sauce over the top.
The tofu is this recipe but I used the same amount of glaze for 3 blocks of tofu (so 1/3 the glaze to tofu ratio).
Many of the sides are from this great cookbook, but here are my cooking notes:
Earlier in the week make:
- Kimchi
- Daikon from this recipe
Day of:
1 garlic clove, grated
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon chili paste, such as Gochujang
14 ounces enoki mushrooms
Whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, syrup, and chili paste in a small dish.
Remove any root ends from the mushrooms. Separate 1/3 of the mushrooms and set aside. Chop the remaining mushrooms into small pieces. Heat the olive oil over medium-high in a medium skillet. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. They will begin to soften. Pour in the soy sauce dressing and continue to cook and stir as the dressing thickens slightly. Turn the heat to low to keep the mushrooms warm while you prepare the other ingredients.
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
4 peeled, cut into long matchstick-size pieces carrot
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
Heat oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
350g English spinach (or baby spinach)
1 tsp fine sea salt, to add to the water
6 cups water, to boil
2.Boil the water in a pot/sauce pan for 5 to 7 mins. Add the salt (1 tsp). Once the water starts to boil, plunge the spinach into the pot and leave it for 30 seconds.
Drain the boiled water away and run cold water on the spinach for 1-2 minutes.
squeeze the spinach to remove excess water.
Cut the spinach into 2-3 pieces with a knife. (If you are using baby spinach, you can skip this step.
Heat 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 3 chopped garlic cloves and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add spinach, 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar. Stir to combine; season with kosher salt, sesame seeds, and freshly ground black pepper.
8 oz Shiitake mushrooms
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs dark brown sugar
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs sesame oil
canola oil
pan fry shrooms in oil then add other ingredients
Cut 2 medium zucchinis into matchstick-size pieces. Heat 4 tablespoons toasted sesame oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add zucchini; cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 3-4 minutes. Season with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and gochugaru (coarse Korean red pepper powder).
6 mini cucumbers
4-6 radishes
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced or puréed
2 to 3 scallions, minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Salt to taste
Toss the cucumber with salt to taste and place in a colander in the sink for 15 to 30 minutes. Rinse and squeeze dry. Place in a bowl and toss with other seasonings of the vinegar and sesame oil mixture.Mix 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl; set aside.
Cook 3 cups mung bean sprouts in a large pot of boiling salted water until soft but not mushy, 3-4 minutes. Drain well. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil; toss to coat. Season with sesame mixture and gochugaru (coarse Korean red pepper powder).
Gochujang sauce:
4 tbsp Gochujang (Korean chilli paste)
4 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari for GF version)
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp maple syrup (or sugar dissolved in soy sauce)
2 small garlic clove, finely grated
Fuschia Dunlop is a good source for Chinese food. Her published recipe for Kung Pao Chicken is pretty killer. Eileen Yin-Fi Lo is also a well respected Chinese recipe author, check out My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen.
For Thai Food, Andy Ricker's Pok Pok is pretty interesting (and the restaurants are pretty awesome). There's also a tome, simply called Thai Food from David Thompson, as an outsider, looks complete and exhaustive (it's also daunting to me, but nice to have).
Hot Sour Salty Sweet also features Thai (as well as other SE Asian flavors). And I really like Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges as a more upscale cookbook.
Also, I find this little, unsung book to be a great resource. It has fairly simple recipes that can yield some nice flavors, great for weeknight dishes.
And, Momofuku is a fun contemporary twist with some good basics, but it's not a beginner book by any stretch!
Finally, The Slanted Door is on my wishlist. Looks divine.
I had to find out if she won, so I went to her wiki. Apparently she wrote a cookbook that just came out. Amazon
my coworker just bought Korean Home Cooking but she has yet to try it out. we looked through it and it had some really great recipes in it. she said she bought it because NYTimes mentioned it as one of their favorite books of fall 2018.
If you are serious about getting into thai cuisine, beyond the lime juice, fish sauce, shop bought curry paste get your head around David Thompson's book thai food. It is encyclopaedic, and makes no concessions re hard to get ingredients, but it is epic. The amazon reviews are pretty comprehensive.
David Thompson is the God of Thai food. This is the book you want to buy http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thai-Street-Food-David-Thompson/dp/1840915587/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1292805685&sr=8-2 Also this Rick Stein book is amazing if you want to explore more South East Asian cuisine - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rick-Steins-Far-Eastern-Odyssey/dp/1846077168/ref=pd_cp_d_h__1
I used to follow her on IG, I kind of got the vibe she's just out to sell sell sell and ended up unfollowing her. I got the Craveable Keto cookbook and I've loved all the recipes I've done out of it so far. Also pre-ordered the Keto Connect cookbook because I can't support those two enough!
I was fortunate to receive some awesome stuff on my wishlist: a mandoline, Thermapen, and a 7 1/4 quart enameled Dutch oven.
I also got some cookbooks:
Persiana,
Food of Life, and
Ceviche: Peruvian Kitchen
Edit: formatting
Madhur Jaffrey is really the source for Indian cookbooks. But I'd actually like to mention two others as well:
660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is a big one, with recipes covering all levels of complexity. Some are great, some aren't, but there's just so much content in this book that it's hard to beat for the price.
[The New Indian Slow Cooker by Neela Paniz] (http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Indian-Slow-Cooker/dp/1607746190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411415629&sr=8-1&keywords=neela+paniz) is a brand new book, but I've had access to a couple of the recipes for a few months now and here's the deal: Neela's recipes are occasionally complex. I've taken a few cooking classes from her and her "normal" vindaloo, for example, is really too long for anyone to do unless you have the whole afternoon to devote to it. But this book, due to its "slow cooker" focus, dumbs down a lot of steps without sacrificing much of the flavor, so it's a good compromise. What's more, even though it's focused for a slow cooker, you can easily convert it to a stovetop with very little effort.
I have this book and really like it:
http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Korean-Food-Best-Loved-Recipes/dp/1565912535
I learned how to make Buta no Kakuni from The Japanese Kitchen This is a different recipe.
I like:
-The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo as an all-around thorough book with recipes that don't necessarily take too much time to prepare. A thorough description of ingredients, how to find the best ingredients, and what to do with them very helpful (Its my current favorite).
-This book is good for beginners but sticks to mostly traditional/homestyle fare (my 2nd fave).
-And this for the super hardcore but with less pictures and more time consuming recipes.
-This book for its individual, everyday/practical recipes.
I've made multiple recipes from all of them.
A bit off topic, but I highly recommend The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. It follows the history of Chinese food in America as it tries to track down the birth of fortune cookies.
The author didn't provide a direct answer as to why there aren't more widespread chains, but does go into how General Tsao's Chicken tastes pretty much the same everywhere despite not having a corporation govern the recipe.
Yeah. Shoot me your email and I’ll send some photos out of the cookbook I have. My parents suffer from there’s-no-written-recipe-itis, but I found an excellent Cantonese style cookbook. Every recipe I’ve tried is solid and some have been vetted by my folks (with a few personal tweaks).
https://www.amazon.com/My-Grandmothers-Chinese-Kitchen-Recipes/dp/1557885052
For those interested in reading more about Filipino cuisine, some great books on the subject include Memories of Philippine Kitchens, The Adobo Road Cookbook, and Kulinarya.
THIS: http://www.amazon.com/Memories-Philippine-Kitchens-Amy-Besa/dp/1584799730
Mung Bean & Coconut Curry
1 cup mung beans
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
3 tbsps chopped garlic
2 cups puréed tomatoes
2 tbsps chopped ginger
2 tbsps ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp crushed cayenne pepper
3 cups of water
2 cups coconut milk, or 1 can.
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Wash and drain mung beans and set aside.
Heat oil in a medium pot on medium-high for 1 minute. Add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for 45 seconds, or until they are a darker brown. Add garlic and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, until brown but not burned. Stir in tomatoes, then add ginger, coriander, turmeric, salt and cayenne. Stir and sauté masala for 5 minutes, or until oil glistens. Add water and mung beans, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. Taste beans to make sure they are cooked (I reduced the amount of water needed; if the mixture is drying out and you need more simply add 1/2 cup at a time).
Stir in coconut milk and increase the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat (if you want to thicken your curry some more, you can let it simmer on medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes). Stir in cilantro and serve.
Adapted from Vijs At Home: Relax, Honey: The Warmth and Ease of Indian Cooking
This book is my go to for Thai recipes.
The key flavours you are looking for a tamarind water/paste and fish sauce. If you like Thai food I cannot recommend this book enough - the guy ended up living in Thailand researching recipes for the book and they are excellent. Also pink/faux-silky cookery book ftw. Outshines everything else!
for many ethnic dishes, a good cookbook is the only resource.
you can look around for variations, some of them are terrible, some aren't. most cookbook authors are experts in their field. There are an extraordinary amount of good and bad recipes online. it;s a lot easier to trust the basics of a cookbook recipe than a random online cook. your mileage may vary.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Indian-Classic-Recipes/dp/1584799137
Check out this cookbook for easy and authentic recipes. Bonus: it also has history and background on all the recipes. I love it!
https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-South-Clouds-Recipes-Province/dp/1909487783