• Eat Your Books

  There are some minor differences between the indexed Australian edition and the edition in the ROW. Please let us know if you feel any of the differences warrant an EYB Comment to alert members.

• Ganga108 on October 02, 2021

  I have the Australian version of this book. The differences between the recipe indexes on EYB and the actual recipe in the book are disconcerting and at times frustrating. But love this book so very much. Every recipe is full of flavour - Hetty is the Queen of Umami and Carbs. It has reignited a love of Asian/Chinese food. Learning to make dumplings is a game changer. Also, and very important to all vegetarians, the book is purely vegetarian - we don't have to spend time scanning ingredient lists to see if what we want to make is meat-free. Thank you again Hetty! Such a refreshing change.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Shawarma 'Singapore' noodles with corn and cauliflower

  • Jane on October 11, 2021

    This wasn't a hit for me. I felt it was rather bland as a stand-alone dish. It may be better with some marinated chicken or meat so the noodles and veg are the background. But as a dish on its own it was boring.

  • Astrid5555 on February 05, 2022

    This is perfect for a quick lunch. Since my cauliflower florets were still crunchy after stir-frying for the specified time (I must have cut them too large), I added my frozen corn and peas and a little water and steamed the vegetables for 5 minutes which worked perfectly.

  • Ganga108 on July 18, 2021

    I made this with the hand-made pulled noodles from P76 (in the edition that I have), rather than the vermicelli. It still worked very very well.

• Celery, mushroom and leek 'dan dan' noodles

  • Jane on October 25, 2021

    I wasn't keen on my last noodles from TAWL (Shawarma 'Singapore' noodles) but these I loved. There was so much flavor in the caramelized mushrooms, celery & leeks plus the very flavorful dan dan sauce. Definitely a repeat for me.

• Pad Thai salad with shredded cabbage and kale

  • Jane on November 01, 2021

    I liked this a lot. Leftovers survived well for a couple of days and the salad did not mind being heated up. There was lots of flavor from the dressing and a good range of textures with radishes, cabbage and peanuts for crunch.

  • sayeater on October 14, 2021

    Really enjoyed this salad! Would probably sweeten up the dressing with more brown sugar next time, other than that all the flavors and textures were wonderful.

• Banana and black sesame loaf

  • Jane on October 25, 2021

    This was OK though I was relieved when it was finished (not a good sign with a cake). There was a slightly gritty texture which could have been the GF flour or the ground black sesame seeds. I baked it the max time and the tester came out clean but on cooling the center was rather underdone. There are lots of other banana bread recipes I prefer, both regular and GF, so this will not be a repeat for me.

• Life-changing udon with soft-boiled egg, hot soy and black pepper

  • IvyManning on May 13, 2022

    Not really "life changing," though the addition of butter to udon is a nice touch.

  • Astrid5555 on June 28, 2021

    So good, also used homemade stock (in my case frozen beef stock I had on hand). A family winner, will go into regular rotation for a quick midweek dinner.

  • Barb_N on April 29, 2021

    I made the version on Alexandra Stafford’s blog with baby bok choy, I quartered mine and blanched with dry udon noodles. I omitted the sesame oil and pepper, not being a fan of either flavor. I used artisanal Kishibori shoyu (? light soy sauce?) and the depth of flavor was noticeable. I also used homemade chicken stock which I always have in the freezer. This was excellent, if not ‘life changing’...

  • Ganga108 on August 23, 2021

    I was expecting "life changing" but found it rather unimpressive. I don't cook with eggs, and I think this made a lot of difference even tho Hetty says it can be omitted. Also, to have some Asian greens included (like the photo here from Barn_N) would have been great! On the plus side, it is a quick and easy meal.

• Baking tray chow mein

  • Apollonia on September 06, 2021

    This was a big hit for us. I hate baby corn, so skipped that and doubled the asparagus. I used a separate sheet pan for the noodles, and I think that's the right call to make sure everything gets crisp.

  • Astrid5555 on May 31, 2021

    Excellent! Don’t overcrowd your sheet pan, otherwise your noodles won’t crisp up. Next time I would leave out the canned baby corn, but this is just a personal preference. Will go into our regular dinner rotation!

  • Ganga108 on September 16, 2021

    A huge hit. Used snow peas instead of asparagus. Added some crispy fried glass noodles too, couldn't help myself. But the tops of the baked noodles crisp up really nicely - you do need to bake them long enough or hot enough for them to crisp.

• Sour and spiced coconut noodle soup

  • Apollonia on September 08, 2021

    A lovely meal to eat on a rainy day. I increased the vegetables and decreased the noodles.

  • Rutikazooty on May 21, 2022

    Made this and those of us eating thought it could use a bit of tweaking. We started with refrigerated fresh rice stick noodles (vacuum packed) that said to boil for just a few seconds. Next time, I will take them out very quickly! My bad for letting them get a little gummy. The critique of the soup itself starts with making sure you have a good broth base--I used a no-chicken vegetarian broth that was fine but may have been part of the issue with the soup not having enough umami. Better with homemade or maybe a homemade dashi broth. We used the whole can of coconut milk and one recommendation was to start with half a can as it was a tad too rich. We used king trumpet and shiitake mushrooms, sweet potato (these were cut into small dice and cooked too long so they were a little mushy--watch your cook time or make larger cubes), and added beansprouts. So the final dish was tasty but needed better chef-ing in the kitchen to be a knock-out. Worth trying again.

• Cucumber and cabbage noodle salad with black bean sauce

  • Apollonia on January 15, 2022

    We enjoyed this a lot with the black bean sauce from the book. Very light and tasty. I probably used double the amount of bean sauce called for (we like fermented beans!) but the recipe made plenty.

  • MollyB on August 03, 2021

    Very nice recipe! We made it with the black bean sauce from the cookbook, with some of the "Everything oil" on top. Make sure to add enough salt - I forgot to salt the noodle water and it would have been better with that added salt. I served the leftovers cold with some leftover chicken, and that worked really well.

  • Jenny on October 13, 2021

    I left off the cucumbers as my husband is not a fan. I used regular pasta instead of rice noodles because I didn't want to search the pantry. I used Napa cabbage and left the pieces longer to add more texture. This is an incredible dish. I always salt my water - whether the recipe calls for it or not - it makes a huge difference. Even soaking rice noodles in hot water - always add a little salt. Next time I'll add a little of the everything oil as Molly B suggested.

• Cumin tofu stir-fry

  • Apollonia on January 21, 2022

    This was not our favorite dish from this book. It's been a long time since I ate meat, but I have had my share of xi'an cumin meat dishes before going vegetarian and part of why they work is the unctuousness of the meat with the dry spice. Tofu, which I will normally inhale in any preparation, just didn't cut it here. My cauliflower also took substantially longer to cook.

  • Astrid5555 on May 08, 2021

    Like the other reviewer I was also sceptical about the raw cumin spice mix going in at the end, but this really made the dish. While we adults really liked this, the kids asked not to repeat it, what a pity!

  • Lepa on May 11, 2021

    We really liked this dish but my husband and son weren't fans of the texture of the tofu because it got gloopy from the potato starch. I might just fry the tofu without it next time. Like the other poster I found that it took a bit longer because cauliflower takes a long time to cook on the stove top. I just used 1 teaspoon of gochugaru so the final dish wouldn't be too spicy for the kids and sprinkled extra on the adult portions. We also ate this with a gojuchang dipping sauce (Mother in Law brand tangy dipping sauce) on the side, which was an excellent flavor combination and added a bit of extra spice. We will definitely repeat this, as it's so unusual and good.

  • Rutikazooty on April 28, 2022

    First recipe made from this book. Took me about 1-1/2 hours to make. Subbed cauliflower with farmers market black pearl mushrooms and some broccoli florets. Used half the gochugaru because some of family has low spice tolerance. I fried the spice mixture a little longer since she has you adding it at the very end and, really, Indian spices need to have that time in the oil and heat. Like other reviewers, we found the resulting recipe flavorful but very very dry. Too dry to repeat -- although I ate up my portion. I've made a similar dish with lamb (and Szechuan peppercorns) which is also dry-ish but the lamb does indeed have the fatty unctuousness (thanks to reviewer Apollonia for giving me the words to use to describe this) that the recipe needs. Still can't wait to cook more from the book. And if anyone has suggestions for what to add to the final recipe to mitigate the dry-thing, please comment in the notes for this recipe! I want to learn how to do that.

  • cdglamontagne on April 19, 2021

    Loved this, though it took longer to make overall than the recipe suggests. I was skeptical of the raw cumin mixture at the end but it was amazing. Will make again.

  • jenburkholder on September 27, 2021

    I thought this was super meh - too dry, and very one-dimensional. A bit of Sichuan peppercorn and rice vinegar perked it up. I was also reminded of why I don't coat tofu when frying, as the coating just sticks and peels off; it would be better without.

• Homemade black bean sauce

  • MollyB on May 16, 2021

    Fabulous sauce!

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    This was SO much better than the jarred counterpart I bought just in case I messed this up (I didn't.) Super easy but disappears a little too quickly...

• Simple vegan wontons

  • MollyB on January 06, 2022

    Very tasty wontons! The seasoning is (as the recipe title suggests) fairly simple and gently flavored, but delicious. We served with both the Everything Oil and dumpling dipping sauce, and were happy to have both My 10-yr old loved them plain and unadorned (especially the ones he shaped himself).

  • Ganga108 on September 22, 2021

    Absolutely delicious. I made them according to the recipe except I had to use round wrappers. I could still curl them around Ok. Cooking time is spot on. Addictive once you start eating them.

• Green beans with black bean sauce

  • MollyB on May 16, 2021

    Great recipe! I made the black bean sauce from the cookbook, and it adds an amazing depth of flavor to an otherwise simple green been stir-fry.

• Sesame rice noodles with 'everything oil' and charred broccoli

  • MollyB on June 24, 2021

    A very nice, easy recipe (if you have the 'everything oil' made). Who would have thought that just noodles and broccoli could be so good? We roasted the broccoli rather than pan-frying, and used Trader Joe's pre-cooked "Thai wheat noodles" and those variations worked well.

  • Astrid5555 on June 28, 2021

    While the kids did not particularly like the tahini in the sauce, we adults found this to be an excellent midweek dinner. Quick to make, needs the everything oil on top!

• Green bean goma-ae and chilled soba noodle salad

  • jenmmcd on January 04, 2022

    Really liked this. Full of flavor and came together quickly. Topped with grilled shrimp. Kiddo called it a “definitely make again” recipe.

  • Ganga108 on December 31, 2021

    I love TAWL in many different ways. One of those is that most of her recipes are not only flavour/umami packed, they come together in minutes. This noodle, green beans and sesame dish is absolutely delightful.

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    This made a tasty and quick lunch. I added some pan-fried tofu to pad it out a little. I don't have a pestle and mortar so my sesame seeds weren't crushed; I didn't find it to be a problem.

• Spicy sesame 'tantanmen' ramen

  • Astrid5555 on January 05, 2022

    Both of my teenage boys loved this. The broth was exceptionally good, considering that it only took minutes to make using vegetable stock powder and only a little bit of unsweetened oat milk I had in the fridge.

  • Ganga108 on October 05, 2021

    This is a rare "not as good as the others" recipe from TAWL. I would have liked the broth to be punchier and the tofu could have been more flavoursome. Adding Chilli Crisp as a topping improved the flavours. Will use my favourite scrambled tofu recipe if I make this again.

• Buttery miso Vegemite noodles

  • Astrid5555 on April 13, 2022

    This dish will go into our regular home-office lunch rotation, very tasty and so quick to make. Hubby actually licked the plate.

  • hbakke on April 13, 2022

    I scaled the recipe down for one serving and probably should have decreased the miso and Vegemite down even further than 1/4. The resulting noodles were VERY salty, nearly inedible. It was quick and simple, but I don't think I would make it again.

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    Another quick, easy, tasty lunch - and I didn't have to go to the shops for any of these ingredients. I scaled the recipe to serve just one, guessed at the miso and vegemite amounts - probably went a touch too heavy, will try 1 teaspoon of each next time. But I'd eat this any time, even despite going too heavy on the vegemite (not Hetty's fault.)

• Rayu

  • Astrid5555 on January 05, 2022

    Very tasty, perfect for adding some spice to a lot of dishes.

• Everything oil

  • Astrid5555 on June 28, 2021

    Delicious, could drizzle over everything!

  • jenburkholder on December 28, 2021

    Very good, flavorful and super easy to make.

• Egg, pea and ginger fried rice

  • Lepa on May 11, 2021

    I took some liberties with this recipe and used it more like a blue print. I sauteed the ginger and scallion first, added rice and when everything was warm made a well for the egg to cook in before mixing it into the rice. This was easier than making the egg, taking it out and then frying the rice. The resulting dish was quick and easy- perfect for a delicious and healthy lunch!

  • j.va on August 04, 2021

    made using corn and peas. delicious, especially with some ginger-scallion sauce to top at the end.

• Red curry laksa noodle soup

  • Lepa on June 03, 2021

    This recipe is brilliant. It's easy and quick and has a wonderful, complex flavor. I mostly followed the recipe but used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken base instead of vegetable broth. In addition, I didn't have fresh egg noodles so I used dried egg noodles. I used bok choy for the greens and reduced the red curry paste to 1 TBSP so it wouldn't be too spicy for the kids. My husband and I topped ours with sriracha to add more heat. We all loved this recipe. I expect it will be on heavy repeat at our house.

  • Ganga108 on September 12, 2021

    Quick and easy, wonderful recipe. I added a variety of veg (wombok, beans, snow peas, broccolini, yuba, sliced shiitake). Topped with Chilli Crisp, Crispy Fried Shallots, coriander leaves and sliced spring onions. I had some Asian herbs lying on the bench top so simmered them with lime and dried shiitake to make a veg stock for the laksa. This is a comforting dish. Wear a bib or put a tea towel around your neck to soak up the splashes from the noodles and broth.

• Peppery bean sprouts with tofu

  • Lepa on June 09, 2021

    This is simple and good- especially with some Chinese Chile Crisp!

• Sweet potato with black-eyed peas and coconut vinaigrette

  • Lepa on January 21, 2022

    This is a quick and easy salad that feels healthy and is really good. I particularly liked how the sliced sweet potatoes cooked quickly and perfectly (they were soft without burning, which never happens for me)! My kids also liked this so I'll be making this again.

• Soy sauce chow mein with a fried egg

  • Agaillard on October 18, 2021

    I definitely have progress to make on how to handle rice noodles, and especially vermicelli like the ones I had, and ended up to be a really strange texture after the panfry step (a giant mash which I then managed to break up and cook dry, but I am sure there is a better method, I am just very inexperienced with noodles). For the rest, the recipe is (deceptively?) simple, but that might be because I was lacking the dark soy sauce the author is referring to! Nevertheless, it was quite tasty and pleasant, I might do again once I determine how to handle the noodles!

  • Ganga108 on July 10, 2021

    I made a veg version using a chickpea flour "omelette", crispy garlic and roasted chilli pumpkin instead of the egg.

• Cacio e pepe udon noodles

  • Rutikazooty on May 21, 2022

    My son made this for dinner for our group and it was devoured by all. It meets his needs for simple dinner prep since he will be off his meal plan at university. We used frozen udon noodles boiled in salted water. I would suggest using less salt in the water as the udon we used had salt in the noodles and I thought the overall dish was just a tad too salty.

  • gamulholland on May 16, 2021

    So delicious. Meat-eater husband asked me to make it again. :) I added edamame, which was perfect on it. Will definitely make again.

• Mapo tofu

  • luluf on January 19, 2021

    Very easy and tasty. Would make a lovely breakfast

• Reliable dumpling dipping sauce

  • et12 on January 16, 2022

    Easy to make and tasty but felt it needed more saltiness.

  • sayeater on November 04, 2021

    Like it says, reliable dumpling sauce. Tastes good and easy to whip up to have with store-bought potstickers or scallion pancakes. Still not as good as the dumpling sauce at my local Chinese place, wish I could get their recipe...

• Brussels sprouts, miso and sesame [dumpling filling]

  • et12 on January 16, 2022

    Delicious and so easy to make! Great vegetarian option for dumplings.

• Shallot / scallion pancakes

  • mooo42 on June 06, 2021

    These are scallion pancakes, made with scallions, not shallots :)

• Salt and pepper eggplant

  • christineakiyoshi on August 02, 2021

    This is delicious! I had a bunch of ripe white eggplants from the garden and this came together quickly for lunch. Will make again!

  • Ganga108 on June 07, 2021

    Absolutely delicious! The soaking in soy sauce or tamari does soften the eggplant as he says. Crispy outer, soft inner and extremely addictive.

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    Fry the eggplant immediately after rolling in cornflour or it will sink in and go gluggy. Only flour as much as you'll expect to eat. Delicious, but sits heavy in the stomach because of the shallow frying. Put this out as snacks at a party once and they got vacuumed up in about 40 seconds.

• Flourless soy sauce brownies

  • j.va on August 04, 2021

    nobody could tell they were gluten-free. They have a texture reminiscent of flourless chocolate cake and the soy sauce gives a nice savory note. will make again.

• Tomato and egg rice noodles

  • Tina_Berlin on September 29, 2021

    I made a tofu scramble to make this recipe vegan

  • Ganga108 on July 15, 2021

    Delish! Used chickpea flr omelette (incl a little cream) instead of eggs, used cherry tomatoes unpeeled and left whole. Added splash pomodero (tomato puree). Thickened with a little left over chickpea flr mix.

• Quick kimchi: kimchi paste

  • Ganga108 on August 14, 2021

    Easy and a great kimchi paste. I have made kimchi for decades using a very similar recipe for the paste - my usual one adds pear as well as the apple and I love the sweetness it gives.

• Quick kimchi: fennel

  • Ganga108 on September 05, 2021

    Fantastic! Excellent eaten as fresh kimchi too.

• Condensed milk French toast

  • Ganga108 on August 04, 2021

    I made a vegetarian version with a mix of besan, milk cream, eno in place of the egg mix.

• Soba breakfast platter

  • Ganga108 on September 27, 2021

    This is the perfect grazing plate. I made it my way with lots of salad veg, the soba noodles topped with yoghurt and the dipping sauce. it is perfect for lunch. I also like it when eating alone - I can eat my fill when hungry then graze for the rest of the evening as I potter around doing odd jobs. Healthy plus!

• Miso oats with egg and avocado

  • Ganga108 on October 02, 2021

    A delicious and healthy breakfast. How good is porridge, especially savoury porridge! I topped the porridge with sour cream and tahini in place of the egg. A delicious beginning to the day.

  • Ganga108 on October 02, 2021

    The Australian version does not have the Everything Oil as an accompaniment, but it certainly is a good idea.

• Easy homemade hand-pulled noodles

  • Ganga108 on June 17, 2021

    One of the recipes suggested with noodles is to drench them in Everything Oil (P77). I can really recommend this, it is so good!

• Bánh mì salad

  • Ganga108 on September 01, 2021

    Absolutely delicious. I added mushrooms, red radishes and beetroot to the pickling veg mixture.

• Seaweed lettuce salad

  • Ganga108 on September 17, 2021

    I was sceptical about this recipe but my love of kombu got the better of me. And the salad ticks all the boxes. The dressing, the soft lettuce, the creamy avo, the kombu with the taste of the sea, the gochugaru - divine. I used less kombu than the recipe states - about half, as I wanted it to sit in the background to the avocado. BTW, the book says that hijiki can be substituted for kelp but there are warnings about the safety of hijiki - do your research. Hetty equates kelp with kombu which is not quite correct (at least here in Australia there are differences). I love kombu and use it a lot - it is hard to get and shops no longer know what it is. So I order it online.

• Ong choy with miso

  • Ganga108 on August 04, 2021

    I added 2 sliced 1-clove garlic in place of the normal garlic cloves, delicious.

• Finger-lickin' good edamame beans with fried curry leaves

  • Ganga108 on August 22, 2021

    If you haven't eaten edamame pods before - make sure you read the preamble. Edamame pods are stringy and inedible. The delight in this dish is sucking on the pods and extracting the beans with your teeth. Delicious! It is good to know your tamarind paste before using in this recipe. If it is extra sour, use a little less.

• Braised lotus root, black fungus and vermicelli

  • Ganga108 on September 17, 2021

    This is a cut-down version of the classic Buddha's Delight. And it is still delightful. I reduced the black fungus considerably, and added some dried shiitake that had been soaked and cooked with the kombu for the Seaweed Lettuce Salad a few pages further on. Used the cooking liquid for the stock in this recipe, and oh the taste of the broth in the finished dish! Recommended for adventurous foodies and those familiar with the more unusual Asian ingredients. Feel free to add bean sprouts and snow peas for a little lightness and colour.

• An ode to Chang's crispy noodle salad

  • Ganga108 on September 02, 2021

    Chang's Crispy Noodle Salad was the darling of Australia in the 1990's - everyone made it, and it was a great, easy salad to take to BBQ's, Picnics etc. Hetty had reintroduced it, and added tofu - an excellent addition. I love the addition of fine diced cucumber and bean sprouts. Shredded carrot and fine diced capsicum can also be added. The dressing is excellent.

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    Made this for four people, it got hoovered up and there were no leftovers. I only used 1 tablespoon of sugar in the dressing, and have continued to do this on repeat makings.

• Green papaya salad, but with apple

  • Ganga108 on September 23, 2021

    I do love a wicked tamarind dressing and this one is no exception. It pairs so well with the pounded salad of tomatoes, apples and snake beans with lime, chilli, peanuts and garlic. This is the sort of salad that you can eat a bowl for lunch, and then go back for a second one. Absolutely delicious.

• Spicy celery, tofu and glass noodle salad

  • Ganga108 on September 08, 2021

    Adorable! and Amazing, this easy salad. I thought the dressing was going to be too acid and only added a little. But I kept coming back to add more. The "sour" of the dressing goes so well with the noodles, greens and tofu, bringing out a sweetness - I guess from the greens. I pan-fried firm tofu as that is what I had (love 5-spice tofu but it's a bit of a drive to get it). The greens I used was the last of a huge wombok that I have been using for everything. It was as big as a fat baby and I reckon I used it in half a dozen dishes. It was perfect in the dish. I also added onion rings to the dressing as there as half an onion left over from another dish. The dressing cured it so the sharp bite was removed and I loved the addition.

• Tamarind apple crisp

  • Ganga108 on December 22, 2021

    From one of my absolute fav cookbooks this year, is Tamarind Apple Crisp. I expected it to be about the apples, like an apple crumble. But no. It is about the tamarind, the beautiful soft texture of the apples, and the crispy oats and almond topping. Delish! I served with sour cream, the perfect accompaniment. (Note that I had far more crumble than shows in the pic in the book.)

• Roasted Brussels sprouts, chickpeas and edamame with ginger-shallot oil

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    My partner call this "a five star salad". Didn't change anything. The ginger takes a while to grate/chop, but otherwise this is a low-active cooking time recipe. Classic Hetty.

• Lychee and ginger soft serve

  • saladperson on February 11, 2021

    This was tasty, but not special. I had mine in the freezer for hours longer than the recipe said and it was still very runny/liquid.

• Peanut and coconut mochi muffins

  • avogel on May 17, 2022

    These really are best heated in the microwave as Hetty McKinnon suggests. Next time I’ll add more peanut butter as it was my favorite part and I wished there were more pockets of peanut butter!

• Eat Your Books

  Hetty knocks it out of the cookbook park with her latest. You will want to cook your way through this volume!

  Full review