Category Archives: Asian Recipes

For The Love of Crispy Bits

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Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you'll ever enjoy.
Use your oven and a preheated sheet pan for the crispiest fried rice you’ll ever enjoy.

Raise your hand if you covet those cooked grains of rice that turn golden and ever so crispy on the bottom of the pan.

Then, “Sheet Pan ‘Fried’ Rice” is made for you.

Because this is fried rice that’s cooked not in a wok or saute pan on the stovetop, but in the oven on a sheet pan that’s preheated until it’s blazing hot.

That means far more surface area for the rice to come in contact with to turn exceptionally toasty and crunchy.

This genius recipe is from “Hot Sheet” (Harvest), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook was written by Olga Massov, an editor at the Washington Post’s Food section; and Sanaë Lemoine, a novelist and former cookbook editor, who worked at Martha Stewart and Phaidon Press.

As the title implies, this book is all about recipes made on a sheet pan, one of the hardest working and most useful pans in our kitchens.

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Black Garlic Adds A Twist to Barbecue Sauce

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Ribs slathered with black garlic barbecue sauce.
Ribs slathered with black garlic barbecue sauce.

What’s sweet, tangy, full of umami, and looks like mole but isn’t?

“Black Garlic Barbecue Sauce.”

Best yet, it requires no cooking, just whizzing everything in a blender before using.

This fabulous recipe is from “Preserved Condiments” (Hardie Grant, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

It’s part of a new series of books on food preservation by Darra Goldstein, founding editor of Gastronomica and winner of the 2020 “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the International Association of Culinary Professionals; Cortney Burns, no stranger to anyone in the Bay Area for co-founding Bar Tartine in San Francisco; and Richard Martin, a media executive and lifestyle editor.

This compact book contains 25 recipes for creative and versatile condiments that are sure to add a spark to a bevy of dishes. Learn how to make the Yemini sauce known as “Zhug” to accent salads and seafood; “Red Plum Hoisin Sauce” sure to elevate any simple stir-fry; “Honey Mustard” that’s more complex than store-bought; and “Bumper Crop Ketchup” that may replace Heinz as your go-to.

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Clarissa Wei’s Taiwanese Steamed Preserved Greens and Pork

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A dish that reminds me of childhood favorites my mom used to make.
A dish that reminds me of childhood favorites my mom used to make.

For many people, their idea of pure comfort food involves sinking their teeth into a juicy grilled meat patty.

Not me.

Instead, I find the ultimate contentment in a tender meat patty that’s steamed.

The kind that emerges from a bamboo steamer in its own deep pool of delectable juices and flavorings all beautifully co-mingled, and just begging to be spooned over a bowl of steamed white rice.

“Steamed Preserved Greens and Pork” is that kind of dish. It’s from “Made In Taiwan” (Simon Element, 2023) of which I received a review copy.

This beautiful, acclaimed book is the work of Clarissa Wei, a Taipei-based food journalist who has been writing about the cuisines and cultures of Taiwan and China for more than 10 years.

While Taiwanese cooking has often been lumped under the all-encompassing umbrella of “Chinese food,” Wei takes pains to give this fiercely independent island nation of 23.5 million people its culinary due. When she describes Taiwan as being shaped “like a sweet potato — curvy and fat in the middle, gently tapered off at the ends,” you know you are in for a mouthwatering time, as well as a captivating read.

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A Clever, Distinctive Riff on Lasagna

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Get ready for the incredible dan dan lasagna.
Get ready for the incredible dan dan lasagna.

Chances are this will be the most unique lasagna you’ve ever sunk your teeth into.

That’s because in this version, the classic Italian dish veers Chinese — big-time.

The expected wide, frilly noodles with tomato sauce, abundant ground pork, and loads of stretchy cheese are there. But so are numbing Sichuan peppercorns, spicy chili oil, fragrant five-spice powder, and salty, funky preserved mustard greens.

Meet you new bestie, “Dan Dan Lasagna.”

This inventive recipe is from “Kung Food” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy. It was written by culinary content creator, and TikTok, YouTube and Instagram sensation, Jon Kung.

Born in Los Angeles, raised in Hong Kong and Toronto, and now living in Detroit, he pivoted from hosting pop-ups during the pandemic to growing a social media presence. His food emanates from what he calls his third-culture kitchen, seasoned and flavored by his personal experience as the child of immigrants who grew up in a new culture adopted by his parents. Feeling neither wholly American or Chinese, Kung considers his cooking American Chinese, or Third-Culture Chinese, a blend unique to his own upbringing.

The result is a collection of 100 recipes that tantalize with fun and flair, such as “SELT (Spam, Egg, Lettuce, and Tomato)” sandwich, “Spaghetti and Lion’s Head Meatballs,” “A Clay Pot Inspired By Jollof Rice,” “Hong Kong Chicken and Waffles,” and “Chile Chipotle Mango Pudding.”

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Kung Pao Sweet Potatoes to Usher In the Lunar New Year

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Sweet potatoes get swapped in for chicken in this clever take on Kung Pao.
Sweet potatoes get swapped in for chicken in this clever take on Kung Pao.

Start the Year of the Dragon off with a bang with something fiery and inspired.

“Kung Pao Sweet Potatoes” certainly isn’t traditional fare for the Lunar New Year, which starts on Saturday. But the dish certainly makes for an exciting and enticing new addition to the celebratory feast. Plus, it’s perfect for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone who enjoys twists on the classics.

This fun recipe is from “Veg-Table” (Chronicle Books, 2023), of which I received a review copy. It’s the newest cookbook by Los Angeles-based Nik Sharma, a former molecular biologist turned James Beard Award-winning, best-selling cookbook author, photographer, and recipe developer.

He brings his scientific background, precision for recipes, and love of big, bold flavors to bear on this collection of vegetable-focused recipes. It’s not a strictly vegetarian cookbook, but even when animal proteins are included, they play a more supporting rather than starring role.

The cookbook features more than 50 types of vegetables with recipes organized by plant family, including such temptations as “Kimchi Creamed Corn,” “Crispy Salmon with Green Curry Spinach,” “Cauliflower Bolognese,” and “Carrot, Apple, and Harissa Soup.”

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