• sck on December 17, 2025

  I don’t understand the hype around this book. We’ve made two recipes and both were below average. A not very flavorful pho and bland but peppery shrimp dumplings. I’m donating it to save someone else from spending money on it.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Chineasy cucumber salad

  • Rinshin on February 18, 2017

    Excellent taste but I did skip on cilantro as I thought that was too assertive for this dish and really did not need it except perhaps for color but green was already prominent with cucumbers. Chopped peanuts was a good idea and I added more chili bits from my chili oil.

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    Tasty, but I think the cucumbers could benefit from marinating just a bit. If making as a side, would prepare first so the flavors can marry while the rest of the meal is prepared.

  • hbakke on June 04, 2019

    Good salad. Enjoyed the black vinegar. I would probably cut the cucumber into smaller pieces since I used an English cucumber.

  • Dannausc on August 06, 2020

    Quick and easy. Quite good.

  • bernalgirl on April 25, 2021

    So easy and tasty, agree with the note about letting the cucumbers marinate a bit before serving. Also would salt crushed and cut cucumbers before adding dressing.

  • fultre on December 11, 2023

    Low effort fairly tasty side. I assume marinating a bit would increase flavoring of cukes, but didn’t have time; will see for leftovers in tomorrow’s lunch. Skipped cilantro and sesame seeds, don’t skip the peanuts, they’re a great textural addition.

  • westminstr on July 14, 2024

    This was really easy and tasted great. Subbed rice vinegar & no cilantro.

  • nicole_lmgml1 on January 20, 2026

    Perfect, easy, in our permanent rotation

  • Stephenn31 on March 22, 2026

    Nice with the roasted peanuts

• Silken tofu snack

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    Quite good, but I definitely want to use a firmer (not soft) tofu next time around.

• Oshitashi

  • twoyolks on May 23, 2016

    I think this may be an acquired taste that I just haven't acquired.

• Gado gado dip

  • metacritic on March 01, 2020

    Delicious. Not what I've had in Indonesia nor found in Indonesian cookbooks but absolutely worth making. I served on roasted broccoli, on spinach, and as a dipping sauce with spring rolls from the same book.

• Scallion salad

  • TrishaCP on October 21, 2019

    A great accompaniment to the Korean grilled chicken.

• Soy sauce eggs

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    These are so good! Have done both hard and soft boiled eggs and find the soft are even better!

  • hbakke on June 03, 2019

    Tasty eggs. I would try less hard boiled next time. I used Gochugaru for the chili flake and it was detectable in the final product.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    Tasty but not as good as Dave Chang/Momofuku's version

• Spicy cold celery

  • hyperbowler on December 28, 2016

    Celery will never go to waste again! The recipe calls for a condiment called laoganma (which has chili oil, MSG, Sichuan peppercorns, etc.) or plain chili oil. I used some homemade chili oil (Fuchsia Dunlop recipe), a sprinkle of ground Sichuan peppercorn, and a dab of miso to replace the MSG.

  • clcorbi on February 20, 2017

    Yum! The dressing on this simple salad is delicious. I bet it'd be awesome over cucumbers, too. It really improves after marinating for a bit.

  • shoffmann on April 04, 2017

    I used homemade chili oil for this recipe. It definitely got better after sitting for a couple days, but I wasn't overly impressed. Still, it was quick and easy and a good way to use up celery.

  • Yildiz100 on September 27, 2017

    Delicious with chili crisp sauce. Pretty sure it would be kind of ordinary with plain chili oil.

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    This is so good! I love to serve these with the Economy Noodles (p122) or rice bowls. Would definitely try with cucumber.

  • Dannausc on January 17, 2021

    Good and easy.

• Dollar dumplings 1

  • twoyolks on October 19, 2017

    I wanted to like these a lot more than I did. There really wasn't much flavor to the filling. The filling got really dry when it was cooked. These just weren't very good. There's an inconsistency in the recipe where in one location it says a tablespoon of filling and another it says teaspoon. I used closer to a tablespoon which seemed to work fine with the dumplings.

  • westminstr on May 10, 2020

    These were great for us! Not sure why our experiences were so different but they tasted pretty much like the dollar dumplings we are used to, with a bit more ginger. I had to use square wrappers and those take a teaspoon of filling. You can fit more filling in the round wrappers I think.

• Dumpling dipping sauce

  • twoyolks on October 19, 2017

    Simple but nice.

  • nutrica6 on July 16, 2025

    Good base recipe. I doubled it, added two tsp of corn starch and used it as the sauce for a dumpling stir fry.

• Shrimp and chive dumplings

  • hirsheys on September 03, 2017

    These are delicious. Delicate and different from my usual (pork) ones.

  • Kduncan on April 02, 2021

    These were great, really easy to make (for dumplings), and lots of good flavor. Dipping sauce was also easy to make to go with them.

• Vegetable dumplings

  • crandall57 on January 30, 2026

    Delicious filling. I made gluten free dumplings wrappers from The Very Hungry Coeliac's Gluten Free Feasts. The dipping sauce worked perfectly with the dumplings.

• Com tam breakfast

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    Very good! If not making with the Nuoc Cham, I would season the sausage a bit more.

  • MmeFleiss on October 29, 2017

    A quick and delicious meal. Worth a repeat.

• St. Paul sandwich

  • Rinshin on May 13, 2020

    Fascinated with these immigrant inspired regional American dishes and make them as I learn about them. This one is certainly unusual using egg foo yung as a sandwich filling. The author claims egg foo yung is not found in China, but egg foo yung known in Japan as tenshin from Tienjin China (jiangbin?) is a very common home cooked as well as inexpensive restaurant offering normally served over a mound of rice (as in donburi) with a thin slightly sweet sauce. Used crab surimi instead of ham and skipped on hot green pepper. This recipe will easily make 3 pancakes instead of 2. We liked these fine, but still prefer them with sauce and served with rice. The ingredient quantity was perfect.

• Okonomiyaki

  • rosten on February 16, 2017

    Easy to throw together, super tasty weeknight meal. Great way to use up cabbage.

  • rstenson on March 31, 2017

    Pretty good. Make sure you get an accurate amount of cabbage - the smallest one at the store was 2.5 lbs, so I needed a lot more batter to make it work.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    This version was easy for me because I didn't have to find grated yam. The texture suffered a little because of this but I didn't mind it.

• Kimchi pancake

  • shoffmann on March 28, 2017

    Delicious and came together super quickly. Even my kimchi ambivalent husband really enjoyed this. I will likely divide and cook two pancakes next time because it was a bit difficult to flip.

  • KarinaFrancis on September 08, 2018

    Super easy and really yum. We split the mixture in half and made 2 pancakes (thanks for the tip shoffmann) will make again.

  • patioweather on March 07, 2024

    I have never successfully gotten a kimchi pancake to cook through all of the way and this was no exception. Other than that, it's dead easy, so I can practice this one on the reg until I get it right. The proportions are easy to remember too so I won't have to refer to the book.

• Moo shu pancakes

  • hyperbowler on February 04, 2017

    The recipe cuts a lot of corners, but it delivers 12 pancakes as promised. To ensure the 12 pancakes were the same size, I weighed the dough, divided by 12, and wound up making 12 36 gram dough balls. Rolling them out to 6-7", each pancake was thinner than a tortilla but much thicker than a supermarket Mandarin pancake. I liked the toasty flavor. For a thinner pancake, see Barbara Tropp's "Modern Art of Chinese Cooking." Her recipe uses the quantity of ingredients and yields almost twice as many pancakes! However, her recipe is far more complicated the Lucky Peach one.

• Sichuanese chopped celery with beef

  • chefdiane on June 08, 2019

    This is good with lamb too - really enjoyed it with fresh farmer's market celery.

  • shoffmann on March 04, 2017

    This came together quickly. We ate it with plain white rice. It was a bit salty, but well balanced with the rice. Would make it again.

• Miso claypot chicken (no claypot)

  • westminstr on September 22, 2016

    I made the stovetop variation with fresh shiitakes. Also I had no shao xing wine so added a bit of wine vinegar to the marinade. It was very easy and, I thought, very tasty but the kiddos did not like it so I won't be making it again.

  • twoyolks on October 12, 2016

    This packs a lot of flavor into a simple, one-pot recipe. The marinade adds a lot of flavor to the rice and mushrooms (a bit less so the chicken). The mushrooms were particularly good. I made the stovetop variation and it required a temperature much closer to medium-low than to low to actually cook.

  • chawkins on October 06, 2016

    This is very good. With most other chicken rice recipes, you need to add soy sauce and sesame oil when cooked to season the rice, there is no need to do that here. I scaled the recipe up 1.5 times for everything except the salt and the sugar which I substituted with agave nectar and used skinless boneless thighs and added Chinese sausage. I cooked it in the instant pot using the rice mode and natural release. ETA: I now cook it in the instant pot with high pressure for 7 min and natural release for 15.

  • mamacrumbcake on July 06, 2018

    This was very easy and exceeded my expectations. It was very flavorful. The shiitake mushrooms were especially delicious.

  • Kduncan on June 04, 2020

    Another winner from this cookbook, really great unami flavors and really easy to make.

  • jenmacgregor18 on July 21, 2023

    I used my rice cooker and basmati rice. When I first pulled it out of the pot it seemed mushy. But leftover, it firmed up a bit. It had a pleasantly stodgy texture. The closest I can come to explaining is to say the texture is a bit like stuffing. I agree with all, for a simple preparation, it's really savory. I would make again.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    Maybe it's an issue with my rice cooker (zojirushi 3 cup capacity) but it came out mushy

  • Feelingsamtastic on April 29, 2025

    Really enjoyed how easy this was, and the flavors/textures were great. I followed another note's suggestion to use the instapot. I used 10min under the manual setting and I let it natural release - Everything was cooked perfect. Will plan to make again

• Sichuan pork ragu

  • Breadcrumbs on March 07, 2016

    If this recipe is any indication of what this cookbook has to offer, I may just have to order it as we loved this dish. I didn’t change anything and I’d prepare it the same way again as the flavours in the dish were balanced and perfect for our palates. Top marks from everyone, this one’s well worth repeating. We especially loved the fresh crunch from the bok choy. Photo here: http://www.chowhound.com/post/show-winter-2016-meals-1030300?commentId=9820261

  • BethNH on September 30, 2016

    Everyone in my family enjoyed this and I found it easy enough to cook even on a week night. Lots of flavor with heat that sneaks up on you.

  • Astrid5555 on April 09, 2016

    Made this based on Breadcrumb's review and it did not disappoint! Husband licked the plate. Delicious with just the right spicyness and excellent over Thai steamed rice.

  • twoyolks on May 12, 2016

    This had good flavor but was a bit too sweet with the amount of added sugar. It also is quite spicy and I'd dial back the chile pepper some.

  • hirsheys on May 30, 2019

    This was easy and delicious. I used gochujang and ground turkey (instead of pork), but otherwise followed the recipe. I served it with udon, which worked great. Great discovery through EYB as a way to use up some of the bok choy that's been building up because of my CSA.

  • rachel_q1lg6q on April 02, 2026

    Good but not memorable

  • TinyCitiKitchen on July 21, 2023

    I love this book, and this is my favorite recipe. It's delicious, easy to put together, and even freezes like a dream (I add in the bok choy before I freeze). So as well as having this in my regular rotation, I keep it up my sleeve when I want something I can make ahead for a dinner party. Everyone likes it. I serve over fresh udon, because I like the way the fat, slippery noodles work with sauce.

  • mimisingh on November 08, 2025

    I liked it and it wasn't very difficult. I agree with user who said their gochugaru was too mild, because I was expecting the dish to be spicier given the amount of peppercorns used. To account for this, I added a bit extra doubanjiang at the end. Next time, though, I would also add less peppercorns (1/2 - 3/4 tbsp). Also, my peppercorns became bitter and unpleasant to eat. Next time I would maybe try toasting them before adding, or frying them in the oil. I also may try omitting the water so that my sauce becomes thicker, especially since you add the bak choy at the same time which has some moisture

  • Logan92995 on May 28, 2023

    Very tasty and simple to make ragu. The flavor of the gochujang was pretty dominant, but that only added to the flavor. Served it over some soba noodles.

  • TrishaCP on November 10, 2021

    This is really good but I think my chile flakes (gochugaru) were too mild, even though I used the amount specified. As a result, I thought there was an imbalance between the heat and the mala from the Sichuan peppercorns (not enough heat, too much numbing).

  • Kduncan on February 28, 2019

    Easy to make, good flavor, with very few ingredients. Overall good. Though the recipe also calls for scallions, yet I don't see them in the ingredients.

  • mamacrumbcake on June 02, 2020

    Perfect dish for pandemic dinner as it can pretty much be made with what’s in the pantry. Except for substituting cabbage for bok choy and reducing chili flakes to 1/2 teaspoon, I made the recipe as written. When the ragu was finished I tossed it with cooked ramen (8 oz dry weight was slightly more than needed). It needed salt at serving. Very tasty, however, I found that I could not tolerate biting into the whole Sichuan peppercorns. Next time, I will grind it, and possibly use less.

• Spicy mushroom ragu

  • Breadcrumbs on March 31, 2016

    p. 137 – Putrid. A nasty, salty inedible mess. As I was preparing the sauce for this dish I couldn’t help but feel the quantities of ingredients were off but I decided to throw caution to the wind and trust the author on this one since we had such a terrific experience with the Sichuan Pork Ragu from this book. That was a mistake. The 1/3 cup of gochuhang and ¼ cup of soy sauce overpowered everything else and made this dish taste as though you’d just dumped prepared sauces in a bowl and hoped for the best. I can’t recall a time where we’ve deemed a dish inedible and I was annoyed to have wasted my lovely farm-fresh mushrooms. I searched online to see whether I could find reviews from anyone else who made this dish but came up empty handed. I wish I could give this negative stars, simply the worst thing I've ever made.

  • rstenson on March 31, 2017

    Pretty good, but need to dial down the salt. Didn't come out that moist either.

  • thecharlah on May 01, 2018

    Generally good and a unique way to create a hearty mushroom-based 'ragu'. I agree that the salt needs to be reduced.

• Lacquered roast chicken

  • Breadcrumbs on April 06, 2016

    p. 183 - Fantastic! Simply one of the best roast chickens I’ve ever made. I let my glazed chickens rest in the fridge for 36 hours before roasting. I was surprised that there wasn’t any discernable sweetness to the delightfully crispy chicken skin given the honey in the glaze. The meat was tender and incredibly juicy. It was a nice surprise to find the breast was perfectly roasted and had not over-cooked. One item to note though, the glaze drips onto the baking sheet as the chickens rest in the fridge so I need to swap it out for a clean one before roasting next time as the mixture immediately started smoking/burning and I had to swap it out mid-roast. The crispy-crunchy skin is reminiscent of that on Beijing duck. An exceptional recipe I’m thrilled to have discovered. Photo here: http://www.chowhound.com/post/cookbooks-bought-lusting-april-2016-edition-1034698?commentId=9834844

  • twoyolks on February 03, 2017

    This was just a simple roast chicken. I don't think that the glaze added much of anything to it (except browning the skin more).

  • chawkins on April 20, 2016

    Thanks to Breadcrumbs whose comment drew me to this roast chicken. I marinated my 4 lb bird for 26 hours and roasted for about an hour to get the internal temperature recommended. The skin was quite crispy but not as suggested by the picture accompanying the Dallas Daily New article where I found the recipe. But that might have to do with the fact that my honey was really gooey, so I heated it up and as a result it might not have adhered too well. Recipe was found here: http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/food-wine/food-wine-headlines/20160330-the-chicken-recipe-that-changed-my-life.ece

• Lion's head meatballs (Shih tzu tou)

  • mirage on January 01, 2016

    We loved it. Very homey. My version was a soup, vs a stew: the recipe called for adding enough broth to get almost to the top of the meatballs, which the ingredient list said was 2c. It took almost 4 cups in my pot. But, as I said, it was a homey and very tasty soup, so I'd probably do it the exact same way in the future. Served on rice noodles.

  • kari500 on March 05, 2016

    Thanks to mirage for the note. I made my meatballs smaller, and with ground turkey, and then did the same thing - used more broth, and served with rice noodles as a soup/stew. Big hit, and will be made again.

  • TrishaCP on November 04, 2018

    The meatballs were very tender, but I didn't love this as much as the other reviewers. I thought the broth made otherwise tasty meatballs a bit bland.

  • Astrid5555 on October 23, 2016

    I was inspired by the other notes about this recipe and it did not disappoint. I made the meatballs smaller than directed and they were beautifully tender. Also the broth was delicious after simmering the meatballs and the pak choi in it. Served over steamed rice. Will definitely repeat, since this was a dish the whole (!) family loved!

  • mamacrumbcake on September 18, 2019

    As the others mentioned, these meatballs were very tender. I made them large, according to the recipe instructions, but they easily fell apart. Next time I will make them smaller. This is very tasty, and more soup like than I expected. It would be wonderful on a cold evening. Although I made my meatballs with pork belly, neither the meat nor the soup was greasy. In fact, the whole meal felt very light. This was also surprisingly easy to put together, even with grinding the pork belly myself, from start to finish, it probably took about an hour.

  • alex9179 on October 15, 2016

    Our favorite recipe from the book, so far. I made it as directed and served over rice noodles. We would increase the amount of broth because it was delicious after simmering the meatballs, which were wonderfully tender.

  • bernalgirl on April 25, 2021

    This recipe is a bit too stripped down. Add white pepper and cornstarch to meat mixture, add soaked vermicelli noodles in last five minutes of cooking.

  • hbakke on July 30, 2019

    These were pretty good. I probably used too much ginger in the meatballs and added quite a bit of broth. This turned into more of a soup, but it wasn't bad. Added rice noodles to the soup.

  • jhallen on April 25, 2021

    This was really good. Made as directed - I kept to 2 cups of chicken broth and it was great. Not particularly unique but good. Meatball size was fine for me - didn’t fall apart.

• Cumin lamb

  • Gio on January 03, 2016

    Pg. 208. Fantastic. Prodigious amount of seasonings and a pristine cut of boneless lamb leg created a full flavored, exotic tasting dish. It's important for us that the recipe we use is relatively easy to recreate, we're two fossils wanting to keep eating wonderful reasonably healthy food. This is one recipe to which we will return again and again. All we needed was a bowl of hot jasmine rice that we steamed in homemade chicken stock. It was a perfect combination..

  • Astrid5555 on March 12, 2016

    This is a fantasic and quick dish! The spice mix adds a delicious twist to the lamb. We also had steamed Thai jasmine rice as a side, which complements this dish perfectly. Will go into the regular rotation!

  • chawkins on May 07, 2019

    Quick and simple dish. I halved the recipe, using a mixture of shaved lamb and beef that I had in the freezer, leftover from winter hot pot. With only a quarter of an onion, no cilantro at all and a tad more scallion than called for, the dish still turned out delicious.

• Korean grilled chicken

  • Gio on April 18, 2016

    Terrific tasting finished dish that we both enjoyed. Only managed to marinate four whole chicken legs for about 10 hours. Next time I'll make certain it gets a full 24, but even so all the flavors of the marinade came through beautifully. We've been having very good luck choosing great recipes from this book.

  • TrishaCP on October 21, 2019

    We loved this too. We also used boneless, skinless thighs.

  • crandall57 on May 29, 2017

    Great dish. Enjoyed the scallion salad as well. Love this cookbook.

  • alex9179 on September 12, 2016

    Used the marinade on pork for about 4 hours. Reduced it into a sauce and tossed with noodles. Delicious! Great for any protein. Subbed with sriracha and tahini for the white miso.

  • clcorbi on November 21, 2018

    Delicious marinade, and I love how caramelized the chicken gets when broiled. I made this with boneless/skinless chicken thighs and loved the result. You could definitely shred these and turn them into an awesome Korean taco situation.

  • hirsheys on January 25, 2021

    I used this very tasty marinade on boneless skinless chicken thighs that I marinated for an hour. I roasted them for 20 mins (basting, as the recipe recommends), but felt worried about the complete lack of any bbq flavor and switched them to the broiler for the last few minutes. If I were to make this again, I'd maybe broil them from the start. Still, these came out well.

  • chawkins on May 17, 2020

    Great tasting dish even though I only marinated for about 3 hours. I used bone-in skin-on thighs and drumsticks.

  • halfasleep on December 25, 2020

    Did a 24 hour marinade, it was tasty but feel like it still could have had a bit more flavour. I didn't have a proper roasting pan and tried to wing it with a regular baking sheet and some foil. This resulted in a little burning on the baking sheet and chicken skin (boo), though the timing for the meat was pretty perfect. Super duper juicy. I would love to try this again with a longer marinade (maybe another day) and a grill or proper roasting pan. PS. If you boil it for a few minutes and cook it down, the leftover marinade makes a pretty good sauce.

• Lamburgers

  • Gio on December 20, 2015

    With an unusual cooking method, this recipe creates a lamb burger that's full of deliciousness; slightly chili hot and loaded with Asian flavors. I loved it. Served on a warm naan with the merest swipe of mayo. Lactofermented Gingered Carrots on the side. Fab!

  • chawkins on February 23, 2018

    Delicious and easy to prepare. I used half of a medium red onion, a jalenpo with probably half of the seeds discarded as they fell off when sliced and together with the red pepper flakes provided just enough kick to balance the numbness from the Szechuan peppercorns.

  • mimisingh on August 29, 2025

    Really good for the amount of effort required. Takes basically no time to prep and has a nice unique flavor for a burger from the peppercorns. Noticed that this gets dry a little easier than the lamb burgers I have been making a lot from Meera Sodha's book, figure it is from the moisture from the onions and cilantro in that recipe. Will cook a little shorter next time, was still just a little pink for me at the 6 minute recommended time so left them on a few more minutes. Might also try grilling them next time instead. Just served with mayo, don't think a sauce is needed here

  • swagner on December 31, 2017

    Wow, based on the ingredients you wouldn't think much of it, but these burgers are delicious. Ate with potato buns exactly as written. Outstanding.

• Chicken adobo

  • BethNH on April 14, 2017

    We had this for dinner last night. I had no expectations about the recipe having never had Adobo before. I followed the recipe exactly - moving the chicken to the broiler for 5 minutes to crisp the skin. My sauce never reduced as it should have. When I poured off the sauce I noticed quite a layer of fat from the chicken skin. We poured the sauce over rice. I expected the chicken to be more flavorful from the braise. The skin had good flavor after I broiled it with sauce spread on top. But the chicken itself didn't seem that flavorful. I thought the chicken was quite good but I'm not sure that I'd make it again.

  • hirsheys on April 08, 2017

    I was very intrigued by the concept of making an adobo with coconut milk, since I tried one a while back without and found it a little meh. I used EYB to narrow my search down to this recipe in Lucky Peach, which was actually a cookbook that I put aside due to uneven success with the recipes. I will be returning to the book again, though, because I really loved this recipe! It's a dead simple and greater than the sum of its parts. I made a couple changes to the recipe: 1) I was cooking just for myself and didn't feel like going to the store for chicken legs, so I made the choice to use skinless breasts, knowing that they might get dry (just a little). 2) Because the recipe called for a Filipino brand of soy sauce that they note is less salty than Chinese or Japanese soy sauce, I cut it down to 3/4 c, but next time I may cut it to 1/2 c. The chicken was fantastic - next time I will just make sure not to douse my rice with the sauce (which was a bit too salty).

  • Beacooks on September 26, 2017

    Tasty, quick, adaptable recipe. Low on soy sauce so I used half kikkomen low sodium and half black soy (sweeter) and about 1 1/4 cups of water to get enough liquid to partially cover chicken. Still a bit salty after reduction. Will make again using recommended soy sauce or less soy sauce and coconut milk.

  • MmeFleiss on August 16, 2017

    I guess we're a terrible Filipino family because we all dislike the recommended soy sauce brand. I used the full amount of regular kikkoman and would definitely cut back a bit next time, but the addition of coconut milk was a really nice change for us. I didn't bother reducing the sauce.

  • sarahkalsbeek on January 21, 2020

    Very delicious, but we only had shoyu soy sauce, which I suppose is saltier than the brand they recommend. Like other reviewers, we would lower the amount of soy sauce next time, because we weren't able to reduce the sauce enough without it getting too salty. Otherwise, the flavor of this was so delicious!! We loved it. Used what was leftover in my can of coconut milk to add to our white rice (in place of some of the water). Very yummy.

• Jap chae

  • mcvl on August 21, 2018

    Good, but needs some acid to brighten the flavors. (Lime juice worked well.)

  • Kduncan on March 11, 2019

    Used sweet potato noodles, which I undercooked. But overall this dish was not great, specially compared to other recipes in this book. Would not cook again.

• Chinese sausage fried rice

  • RosieB on July 01, 2016

    This was a really tasty and easy fried rice. I followed the authors tip and had my mise en place ready before I started cooking. It came together well and was not too salty.

  • rstenson on March 31, 2017

    Tasty!

  • clcorbi on March 02, 2018

    I really like this fried rice, having made it a few times. It's sort of bland, but in a good, comforting way--exactly like takeout fried rice! Also, I have to credit this recipe with teaching me that you should briefly cook your egg, then pull it out of the skillet before stir-frying the other ingredients. Since learning that trick, I've never gone back to my old ways, and it really does result in fluffier, more delicious chunks of egg.

  • twoyolks on August 02, 2020

    I made this with char siu in place of Chinese sausage and used the soy sauce instead of fish sauce. And this was just bland. I've made the Thai fried rice variation before and it was much more flavorful. I suspect it may be the replacement of the fish sauce with soy sauce.

• Lemongrass chicken

  • MollyB on May 29, 2018

    Fairly easy and delicious recipe. We served it with the suggested nuoc cham and that made it even better. I'll definitely make this again. It was not, however, a hit with the 6-yr-old in the house, who didn't like the fact that the turmeric made the chicken yellow.

  • TrishaCP on June 06, 2018

    I made this without the nuoc cham and it was still really good. We used six boneless skinless thighs instead of legs, and marinated it overnight. I used a whole jalapeno with seeds and that was the right spice level for us.

  • pomegranate on May 04, 2023

    Used boneless skinless chicken thighs and pan fried. So good and easy.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    Honestly my favourite recipe from this book. Fool-proof for a weeknight dinner.

  • Kduncan on May 27, 2020

    Easy recipe, with an easy marinade made the night before. Great flavor without the nuoc cham. My biggest regret is that I didn't make a good side dish to go with this to make a complete meal.

  • lils74 on May 27, 2022

    Made yesterday (using the grill-in-the-oven option) as a snack when friends came over. Served with the nuoc cham that I made from page 252, which was not as big a hit as the chicken, which they liked a lot. I was a little underwhelmed by it, to be honest, but I think it's because for me it would have been better as part of a meal with other textures and flavors. Again, they liked it so maybe that's just me. Had the leftover meat in a sandwich with some lettuce and mayo and liked it that way a lot more.

• Thai-style lettuce cups

  • TrishaCP on January 10, 2019

    I concur that this was both fast and good. The pork was flavorful even without the sauce.

  • mrsmadam on September 10, 2018

    Second clcorbi. Delicious and easy to throw together. To make it even better the majority of the prep work can be done ahead. Like the idea of a quick pickle on the red onions too.

  • stockholm28 on March 07, 2019

    This took 20 minutes from start to finish. The sauce really makes the dish. Will definitely make again when I want a quick meal.

  • clcorbi on March 27, 2018

    Wow, these are really delicious and SO fast to throw together. Although the dish is not super-reminiscent of an authentic larb (which the authors admit in the headnote), you still get all the awesome bright flavors of the lemongrass/fish sauce/lime juice, which really make these pop. To send them over the top, I might quick-pickle the red onions next time. And there will be a next time because we loved these and they came together in under 45 minutes, which for me is a big weeknight win.

  • wcassity on June 26, 2022

    Delicious, quick, flavorful.

  • twoyolks on June 13, 2021

    This is supposed to be an easier (or at least with more common ingredients) version of laab. This is pretty good but it was not nearly as good as a more authentic laab.

• Moo shu vegetables

  • hyperbowler on February 04, 2017

    This is basically a hoisin flavored tortilla with a minor amount of crunchy vegetables inside. There needed to be more filling per pancake, especially since the vegetables have a high water content and there's no eggs, meat, or substantial mushrooms in the dish. Next time, I plan to make two separate batches of filling, one after the other-- the amount of vegetables in one recipe is the maximum you'd want to put in a wok--- any more and the veggies would steam instead of stir-frying.

• Miso-glazed eggplant

  • hyperbowler on December 28, 2016

    The unfussiest eggplant dish I've ever made--- no need to salt to wick out moisture and minimal oil and effort. The glaze dominates the flavors, and I'm encouraged to scale it back a bit or pursue this technique with other Asian umami-rich pastes.

  • SenseiHeidi on August 18, 2024

    A very easy and tasty way to serve eggplant. The skin is edible and the Japanese eggplants are not very mushy.

  • TrishaCP on September 11, 2022

    Easy and very flavorful. I served it with rice.

• Hainan chicken rice

  • twoyolks on October 16, 2017

    I wanted to like this more than I did. The cool chicken with the warm rice was off putting. The chicken was a bit bland. The rice didn't cook all the way.

  • crandall57 on December 09, 2022

    Excellent! Moist chicken. Made this again in January of 2026 and really enjoyed it. We did find pandan leaves (frozen) at the Asian market and that, along with the aromatic paste, gave the rice great flavor. I made Dave Chang's Ginger-Scallion Sauce and purchased sambal oelek to further flavor the rice. We mixed all three things together on our plates. In my opinion, the chicken, even though it's really good, is really just a supporting role for the rice.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    This is the only hainan chicken rice recipe I've cooked and it has always worked out well. The chicken is room temp/a bit cold but it's similar to how I've had it in restaurants.

• Miso clam chowder

  • twoyolks on January 05, 2017

    The flavor of the broth was good but it was too salty. I used half clam juice and half water.

  • Patrickn on December 13, 2020

    This makes for a delicious smoky flavored chowder — I used water instead of clam juice and it worked very well.

• Rotisserie chicken ramen

  • twoyolks on February 03, 2017

    This creates a basic, simple broth. It's a very easy ramen to make and a good use of leftover chicken. I've definitely made and had better ramen but the ease of making it makes it a winner. was good with a little bit of sesame oil on top.

  • ellencooks on March 18, 2021

    Bland

  • Smokeydoke on November 11, 2016

    The broth is too bland. It tastes like water. They want the broth to cook down one-third, why didn't they just start with less water? No amount of soy sauce can remedy the broth. One and done.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    I used to make this as a student all time and the outcome was very dependent on the broth you're using.

• Braised chicken wings

  • twoyolks on May 23, 2016

    The sauce for the chicken wings was good but I couldn't help but feel that an ingredient was missing.

• Soy-braised short ribs

  • twoyolks on May 23, 2016

    The short ribs and the sauce were great. The sauce was particularly good over rice. The potatoes added nothing and I wouldn't make them in the future. I'd also consider thickening the sauce with a little cornstarch.

  • rosten on March 10, 2016

    This was fanatastic. Never stewed with asian pears before. Adds a great flavor!

  • lesliewolfhard on March 27, 2016

    Really good! We've been eating leftovers for 3 days. I would take off half a star because in my perfect recipe the sauce here would be a little thicker, and I found the potatoes kind of boring. But it's truly delicious.

  • TrishaCP on May 09, 2021

    Agree with all of the rave reviews. We skipped the potatoes based on the other notes and didn’t miss them.

  • Dannausc on December 26, 2017

    Super tender, really good, and easy to make!

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    Good but considering how expensive short ribs are these days there are better recipes out there

  • katie_ypp90l on March 22, 2026

    Super good. Skipped the potatoes per other comments. When we make it again, we’ll pre-brown the ribs to render off some of the fat.

• Mall chicken

  • twoyolks on June 03, 2016

    The chicken was a little too heavy on the sweet and not enough of the sour. It would also have done nicely with some sort of chile flavor.

  • Kduncan on September 28, 2020

    Wasn't a huge fan, but then again I probably had expectations that just didn't pan out. SO liked it a lot, so I might try it again to see if I did anything wrong.

  • NathalieS on July 19, 2019

    This recipe is easy enough to make on a weeknight. I've reduced the sugar content and always double the recipe. It's a family favourite. Expect to create a mess with the stovetop when cooking the chicken but well worth it!

  • hbakke on July 23, 2019

    Does not look like the picture at all. The sauce was alright, but a bit too sweet for me. We had to cook it a bit longer for the sauce to thicken. I might make this again with a bit more vinegar or something to offset the sweetness. I also added a chopped bell pepper and would definitely add more vegetables next time.

• Economy noodles

  • hirsheys on April 08, 2017

    I found this a bit boring. My notes suggests using a less dry noodle next time - maybe glass noodles? The sauce was a bit one note. Still, it was super easy, so may be worth making again.

  • clcorbi on August 19, 2017

    I like these noodles a lot. We generally make them with ramen noodles, since glass noodles are sort of finicky to me. The sauce definitely has a simple flavor, but I think it has a nice balance balance of sweet/salty from the sugar. I never have bean sprouts on hand but I like adding scallions to these, as well as garnishing with sliced cucumber/any veggies I have on-hand. A fried egg on top would also be great.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    My go-to late night recipe. Very simple and satisfying

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    These are super easy for a quick stir fry meal. I serve it with whatever protein I have on hand (leftover pork or chicken works great) and the Spicy Cold Celery (52).

• Beef noodle soup

  • Rinshin on June 20, 2017

    Very good taste. This uses boneless beef shank meat but I used leftover Asian style beef rib bones with meat and tendons still attached and cooked it down for flavor and tenderness. All other ingredients were followed. Great way to make soups with leftover bone in meat.

• Chicken noodle soup

  • thecharlah on January 12, 2023

    Somewhat bland as written, but easily dressed up.

• Dry-fried green beans

  • clcorbi on April 28, 2017

    I actually made this recipe with asparagus. The result was delicious! Perfectly salty and addictive from the soy sauce. I think asparagus is hard to beat here, but I'm sure it's delicious with green beans as well, and this side is so easy and quick that I'm sure we'll be repeating it.

  • westminstr on September 26, 2020

    Made w 12oz wax beans cut to 3 inch lengths, and I left out the scallions. Also simplified procedure by adding ginger/garlic directly to the wok w the beans (just cleared a hole in the middle). This was so good! Definitely would make again.

• Hot and sour soup

  • clcorbi on July 10, 2017

    Tasty and very weeknight-friendly. We went ahead and used the full package of tofu, rather than just 8oz. I agree that you could skip the meat here, especially if you added some sliced sauteed mushrooms. The instructions were a bit unclear on when to add the dried mushrooms. Next time I'd finely dice them and fry them with the other aromatics.

  • olive515 on January 31, 2017

    I find myself making this all the time on weeknights when I'm in a bind. It's so easy, comes together fast, and very versatile/forgiving- we've made it with chicken, vegetarian, with extra veggies, etc. and it always tastes good.

  • patioweather on November 13, 2020

    This is a delicious hot and sour soup, even leaving the pork out as I did. Note to self however: eat it as a side and do not try to eat a big bowl of it straight.

• Doenjang jigae

  • clcorbi on April 12, 2018

    I have been eyeballing this recipe ever since I bought the book a few years ago, and I'm so glad I finally tried it! Other than all the chopping, this dish is very straightforward and can easily be made on a weeknight. The broth is so flavorful and rich from all the miso and bacon. The suggested vegetables are delicious in this stew, but I think you could substitute in any number of other veggies with success (I'm thinking asparagus instead of the zucchini would be lovely for spring). One thing I noted is that the recipe photo shows the broth as a reddish, spicy color, but there are no ingredients in the recipe that would make it that color. I liked the idea of spice so I added in a generous spoonful of gochujang as well as some extra red pepper flakes (since my jalapeno wasn't super spicy). I'd definitely do that again next time. This will be repeated as it's healthy, flavorful, fast, and makes a lot of food.

  • kari500 on December 18, 2020

    Made a covid/ingredient-lacking version of this yesterday. No zucchini, so I used a carrot. No jalapeno, so I used a ton (maybe a tablespoon and a half or two?) of red chili flakes. Doubled, because I'm never sure how much a serving of soup is supposed to be (would be useful if cookbooks said "4 appetizer servings or 4 meal servings or whatever), and now we have tons leftover. I liked this soup, but not as much as I love the soft tofu stew in Koreatown (different dishes, and both good in their own ways, I just prefer the other).

• Roasted squash with red glaze

  • clcorbi on October 30, 2017

    Really good squash preparation and a very nice winter side dish for Asian meals. I made this with kabocha squash. The final product didn't look much like the photo in the book--the glaze never turned red for me at all--but it was extremely delicious and pretty easy, so I'd definitely repeat.

  • kari500 on August 29, 2020

    I used acorn squash, and had to sub minced onion for the scallions. Never turned red. I love the sauce, and look forward to making this again. Cook the squash longer.

  • hbakke on September 24, 2019

    This was pretty good. It wasn't red by any stretch of the imagination. The kabocha could have been cooked longer.

  • chawkins on October 31, 2025

    Quite good for the kabocha from the garden. Timing was perfect, kabocha was soft but not mushy.

• Slow cooker pho

  • DragonWell on January 02, 2017

    The beef broth is stronger in flavor than a typical corner pho; and surprisingly delicious for doctored store bought beef broth. Be sure to salt the finished broth well and heavy on the fish sauce.

• Pad see ew

  • kfinch on March 13, 2019

    Darn near perfect first time. Used both chicken breast and flat iron steak. I fiddle with the proportions on my second attempt and was disappointed.

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    Look I tried Andy Ricker's version and this one is almost the same but way easier

  • Stephenn31 on October 31, 2025

    Easy decent version. Not the best but flavourful for a quick chicken stir fry.

  • HeatherPCooks on June 09, 2026

    Used beef instead of chicken. Lacking a little bit of "oomph" overall, but easy and versatile enough to make again.

• Thai herb fried rice

  • twoyolks on April 11, 2020

    This recipe is great. The fried rice is quite good and only needed a little bit of salt. The instructions for making the fried rice are well written and they actually work.

• Jumuk bap

  • mfranklin125 on October 09, 2017

    This is really good and pretty easy.

• Umeboshi onigiri

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    I love onigiri and umeboshi but find the rice wants to fall apart if I stuff a whole pickled plum in the center. I prefer chopping the plum and then mixing it into the rice.

• Tuna onigiri

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    So easy! I love these, especially with a little spicy mayo on the side.

• Kimbap

  • Jnicksy on December 08, 2024

    Nice and easy! Adding a little salt and sesame oil to the egg crepe enhances the flavour.

• Bok choy with oyster sauce

  • twoyolks on May 07, 2020

    Reading the recipe, I was skeptical but this was really quite good.

  • metacritic on January 17, 2022

    Good, albeit pretty straightforward. Anything with fried garlic and garlic oil is going to be appealing. i don't know if the oyster sauce really boosts those other ingredients or not. I can imagine using just the one option (oyster sauce) or the other (garlic and garlic oil) with an equally good outcome.

• Stir-fried asparagus

  • clcorbi on May 17, 2018

    This recipe is a favorite of ours. When I don't have oyster sauce I'll substitute hoisin, and just use a bit less and decrease the sugar to account for the extra sweetness. Really good side dish for most Asian meals.

  • lorloff on June 20, 2021

    Great dish. I look forward to trying it with other vegetables. I thought it would be too much sauce and that blanching might over cook the asparagus. But as you would expect from David Chang, Peter Meehan and Andy Ricker it was brilliant and delicious. We used Japanese fish sauce and Japanese sugar from Okinawa so it was less sweet. With Megachef oyster sauce (Grace Young’s Favorite) it was perfect. Highly recommended. There will be extra sauce that I think I will try to use with other vegetables this week.

  • Dannausc on December 26, 2017

    It was good but a little heavy on the fish sauce.

• Corn cheese

  • Dannausc on December 26, 2017

    Good and easy but makes you feel heavy. Not a light dish!

  • hbakke on July 23, 2019

    Tasty corn! Not a light dish by any means...a little scoop is more than enough. I thought the miso would be overshadowed by the dairy, but it was a nice addition.

  • Logan92995 on April 06, 2023

    Gotta love foods that are self-descriptive. It's literally corn and cheese (with a little bit of bacon and cream). As others have noted, this one is definitely on the heavier side, but tasty nonetheless. Though as the book states, this is definitely a dish that's much better eaten after during or after a night of drinking

• Chinese chicken salad

  • pomegranate on April 28, 2023

    This is one of my favorite dressings

  • ndschmidt on June 02, 2026

    Great version of Chinese chicken salad. I cheated a bit and used bagged coleslaw mix which made prep a bit faster. The dressing is particularly good.

• Red roast pork (Char siu)

  • hbakke on June 07, 2019

    I made the fast version. We botched the recipe and forgot to slice the pork into pieces before marinading it, but it turned out okay. We had to cook the pork longer than the recommended time (maybe 10 minutes more) to get it crispier. Also, I think next time I might reduce the amount of Chinese five spice. It was too cinnamon forward for me.

  • twoyolks on December 11, 2017

    I made the "fast" variant. The marinade added some nice flavor to the meat. The meat was well cooked (but took a bit longer than the recipe specified). I would've liked the pork to be a bit crispier; particularly, the fatty portions.

• Fish sauce spareribs

  • twoyolks on June 04, 2016

    The flavor of the ribs was great but they were way too salty. Also, the glaze tended to run off the ribs and burn into a sticky mess on the bottom and sides of the ribs.

  • AnneScram on May 23, 2017

    Just made these yesterday, and I found them to be...perfect! Salty, sweet, spicy w/assertive aromatics. I added more acid(rice wine vin) ...and do lube up the sheet pan w/a bit of oil, in reference to earlier post.

• Pan-roasted rib eye with Ms. Kwok's black pepper sauce

  • jenmacgregor18 on July 15, 2023

    The steak prep and a simple & turned out great. I wasn’t sure how the pepper sauce would be, but it’s really very good.

• Tod mun fish cakes

  • clcorbi on May 24, 2017

    These were pretty good. I had to sub a mixture of sriracha and honey for the thai sweet chili paste, so the flavor of the dipping sauce ended up being a bit too sweet, but that was my fault and not the recipe's. The fish mixture is extremely sticky and almost impossible to place in neat little cake shapes in the pan--mine didn't look anywhere near as pretty as the picture's. The flavor is good, though, with a nice spiciness from all the curry paste. I'm not really rushing to repeat these, but they did the trick over rice for dinner.

• Ms. Vo Thi Huong's garlic shrimp

  • clcorbi on September 07, 2017

    Very good--this reminded me of delicious, salty Chinese takeout in the best way possible. It is also a very fast and weeknight-friendly recipe. I made a full recipe with 1/2 lb shrimp and 1/2 lb broccoli, so that we'd have some veggies, and I let the broccoli sautee a bit to soften it before adding the shrimp.

  • LouiseQuasiChef on January 05, 2026

    More delicious than expected from tasting the sauce pre-cooking. Yes to broccoli! Or snow peas or sugar snaps or Asian greens I bet! I think smaller shrimp are better than the 21-25 I had which I ended up pressing into the wok to sear through! I like easy, delicious recipes and this is that!

  • SenseiHeidi on June 02, 2021

    If you like the yum-yum sauce served at hibachi restaurants you will recognise the flavor of this dish. To make it more of a meal - double the recipe using 1 pound shrimp and 1 pound of broccoli florets. Stir fry the broccoli after the shallot mixture, after 2 minutes clear a space in the middle of the wok and stir fry the shrimp.

  • hughb on September 02, 2020

    Ms Huong I am in love with you. This was super delicious and easy. Made just as the recipe called for, except I ran out of sriracha so used sambal oelek instead. Used very large shrimp because why not? Spot on flavors.

  • kari500 on February 19, 2018

    Very good, easy. This one has made it into weeknight rotation.

  • hirsheys on June 01, 2019

    The longest part of this recipe is prepping the shrimp - otherwise, it is lightening fast and very tasty. I love clcorbi's idea of making this with broccoli, so I might do that next time. Certainly a recipe to keep at hand for quick/easy meals.

  • lorloff on May 07, 2022

    This was a great recipe. My husband could not have enough of the left-overs. We made it with broccoli as well and it was fantastic. Quick easy and delicious. We used small batch Thai Sriracha. I agree we used a pound of shrimp.

  • hilaryhp on January 04, 2022

    Took the advice of others and added broccoli (in between the alliums and shrimp), then some baby spinach at the end for veggie volume. Also did a tsp of sambal olek on top of the other sauce ingredients.

• Miso-roasted fish

  • CheesyKranskyLove on October 03, 2022

    The first time I marinated for 48hr (salmon) and it was too much. The second time I used a white fish and marinated for 24hr which was better.

  • westminstr on September 22, 2016

    I loved the marinade (reduced sugar to 1T) but the cooking method wasn't ideal bc the fish (coho salmon) stuck to the pan. Just try roasting in a hot oven next time. Also T found it a bit sweet so I might try reducing sugar further next time.

  • westminstr on November 20, 2019

    Second time on this one. This time I reduced the sugar in the marinade to 1/2 T and everybody loved it! I also baked the marinated fish in a hot oven, and that was good too. I have enough marinade left over for two more dinners, looking forward to some delicious quick and easy fish dinners! Served w bok choy & homemade bread.

• Coco-curried mussels

  • Lsblackburn1 on July 12, 2020

    So delicious and easy! The spice was right at my limit, but I could not stop eating the yummy broth. Added a bit of Thai basil chopped with the cilantro.

• Kung pao shrimp

  • mzgourmand on February 17, 2021

    Delicious! Never as fast as the recipe says unless you have the knife skills of a seasoned Chinese chef, but it was still reasonably easy. Spice level was low to medium, which I like, but you might want to up if you like toungue-numbing spiciness.I had all the recipe ingredients & only swapped out carrots for celery as I hate cooked celery. It was thoroughly enjoyed

  • Astrid5555 on October 16, 2021

    Super quick and easy weeknight dinner with the delicious numbness from the Sichuan peppercorns.

  • BethNH on September 30, 2016

    This dish has a very typical sauce made with soy sauce, black vinegar, rice wine and a few other ingredients poured over stir fried shrimp, peppers and celery. The entire recipe was super simple to pull together and cook. If I were to cook it again I'd stream line things by changing the order in which things were cooked. It really wouldn't be necessary to cook and then remove things from the wok if the order was changed somewhat. The dish itself was quite good though I'd amp up the spice next time. My son requested that we try it with chicken next time and I think that would be even better.

• Carrot-ginger dressing

  • westminstr on January 05, 2026

    I blended everything at once using an immersion blender. It was delicious and made a great dressing for cabbage slaw.

  • jenmacgregor18 on July 18, 2023

    Simple and good. I used it with chopped iceberg, sugar snap peas & green onion.

  • ripleypickles on December 11, 2020

    Made this with no sugar and a shallot instead of onion, very delicious with good carrots

• Nuoc cham

  • lils74 on May 27, 2022

    I made this accompany the Lemongrass Chicken on page 196. I followed the recipe quite closely and found it to be very fish sauce heavy for my taste. I found this good article https://www.hungryhuy.com/vietnamese-dipping-fish-sauce-recipe-nuoc-cham-nuoc-mam-cham/ that explains how to adjust this sauce to your tastes, which I think is helpful if, like me, you are not as familiar with this style of cooking. Also why does it say "if it is too thick" when there is nothing in the ingredients that thickens it?

• Odd flavor sauce

  • BeckyLeJ on October 08, 2017

    I could drink this sauce it is so good! I did skip the Szechuan peppercorns, though. I find they overpower easily.

  • pomegranate on April 20, 2023

    I made it with tahini. So good, mmm

• Fried rice, two ways

  • crandall57 on June 02, 2026

    I used leftover grilled pork and peas. I will make the eggs this way every time. The dish is delicious. We served it with fresh herbs and hot sauce.

• Food52

  ...a fun, friendly cookbook with a promise: "kitchen ideas that you can turn to for easy eating on a real-life schedule and budget."

  Full review

• San Francisco Chronicle

  Best Cookbooks of 2015: ...an Asian primer that allows home cooks to get dinner on the table. And although it’s still not “easy” per se, it attempts to do what it vows...

  Full review

• Eater

  The book is not an academic glimpse into regional cuisine; rather, it's a fun overview of an impressive variety of recipes for all kinds of home cooks, no matter their expertise level in the kitchen.

  Full review