Notes about Recipes in this book

• Red curry ginger squash soup

  • Rutabaga on January 16, 2018

    This soup has great flavor, but was quite spicy when made with one tablespoon of red curry paste (I used Mae Ploy brand). It wasn't a problem for me, but made it too spicy for the children. On the plus side, using a pre-made curry paste makes this a very easy soup to prepare.

• Esti's hot and sour soup

  • nadiam1000 on April 13, 2022

    First time making Hot and Sour soup and first recipe from this cookbook. I used medium firm tofu that I froze and thawed - next time will not freeze - did not prefer the texture. I did not have wood ear mushrooms. This is a pretty thick and hearty soup and we really enjoyed the flavor. Served it with my homemade egg rolls.

  • jenburkholder on August 14, 2020

    This was a good, if not exceptional hot and sour soup. It was very straightforward and easy, and we will likely make again.

• Grilled corn with Sriracha butter

  • Rutabaga on September 14, 2020

    I substitued gochugang for the Sriracha, and it was delicious! It paired so well with the corn. Instead of grilling, I made it as instructed in a cast iron skillet on the stove, rolling it first in the oil with salt and pepper. This technique worked well, and while my kids preferred to eat theirs with plain butter, they still loved the lightly charred corn. I had a lot of leftover butter, but it could be used in a variety of ways. So far, I've also used it as a spread on fried egg breakfast sandwiches, which was fantastic.

• Sichuan dressing

  • anya_sf on August 23, 2018

    The flavor was too intense (for lack of a better word) for our taste. Maybe the sichuan peppercorns were too fresh? Or we just don't care for them.

• Sugar snap peas with ginger goddess dressing

  • Rutabaga on June 12, 2019

    The dressing here is quite nice, even though I omitted the tarragon and parsley since I had none on hand. Using a mix of peas, pickled shallot, and candied sunflower seeds gives the salad an appealing variety of tastes and textures. Unfortunately, mine was marred by the fact that many of my sugar snaps turned out to have tough outer shells. With good peas, this would be a stand out salad.

• Taiwanese dan dan noodle salad

  • anya_sf on July 07, 2018

    I wanted a heartier dish, so I added some sliced red bell pepper, blanched snap peas, and cooked shrimp. I used roasted peanuts and canola oil instead of cooking the peanuts in the oil and the sauce was still very tasty. Only about 1/3 of the sauce was sufficient to coat everything. The noodles were delicious.

  • Rutabaga on August 27, 2019

    Rather than serve this as a salad, I added chicken and served it warm. I should have still rinsed the noodles (mine were quite thin) and tossed them with the chili oil to prevent them from clumping, but I skipped this step and added them straight to the pan with the cooked chicken, then stirred in the sauce. The noodles stuck together, but they tasted good regardless. Adding peppers and sugar snap peas like anya_sf would definitely be a welcome addition, but as is, the marinated cucumbers provide a nice contrast to the rich, nutty sauce. If you make the sauce in advance, this would be quick to prepare.

• Dan dan sauce

  • Rutabaga on August 27, 2019

    Very peanutty, this sauce has a deep, rich flavor. Although my peanuts were already lightly roasted, I roasted them again as instructed (but used avocado oil in place of peanut oil), which worked well. If you make the sauce in advance, you can quickly throw together a tasty meal. Made as written, it's fairly spicy, but that can be adjusted to taste.

• Buckwheat soba noodles with fresh tofu and lemon-ginger dressing

  • TrishaCP on November 28, 2022

    We really liked this. We air-fried the tofu, and I would do that again (skipping the dredging though). We used about half of the dressing.

  • anya_sf on June 28, 2020

    Quick and easy. Half the dressing was the right amount for me; I just used a tiny bit of cayenne. I fried the tofu as suggested, as I liked the idea of crispy bits, but won't bother next time unless I can find a good recipe for frying it. I didn't have the vegetables called for, so I used grated carrot, cooked green beans and edamame. The nori strips did add nice flavor, but the salad would still be enjoyable without them. With the salty dressing and nori, I only added 1 tsp kosher salt. Overall, I enjoyed this, but my family not so much - think they would have preferred chicken instead of tofu.

  • jenburkholder on April 26, 2021

    Quite tasty. I actually upped the dressing (I like things saucy, and used more noodles and cucumber than called for). I fried the tofu. Looking forward to eating this for the rest of the week.

  • lean1 on May 02, 2020

    I love this dish. The dressing is the best part. It's easy to mix in a jar. It's very flavorful. I left out the hot pepper. I didn't have tofu so I used roasted chicken instead and left out the extra oil. I rinsed the noodles and added a bit of the dressing instead. I will likely add this to my favorites.

• Christopher's Chinese chicken salad

  • damjih on October 05, 2020

    This worked out pretty well for me. Have made it a few times. Great for lunch ~

  • jenburkholder on August 14, 2020

    Meh - felt like something was missing. Far from the best Chinese chicken salad out there. The dressing was a bit too sweet, as well. Fine, but won't repeat.

  • anya_sf on February 02, 2018

    I added extra vegetables, as always - used 2 hearts of romaine, 1 Persian cucumber, 1/2 lb blanched asparagus, 1 stalk celery, 1/2 diced avocado (omitted the scallions, as I don't love them). I used about 1/2 cup cashews - seemed like plenty. There was enough dressing for the whole salad, even with the extra veggies, plus a bit left over. The combination of flavors was very nice. I was worried that the dressing would be too sweet, but the sugar perfectly offset the spice from the sriracha. My husband thought it was the best Chinese chicken salad ever.

  • Rachaelsb on May 14, 2020

    So delicious. We all really enjoyed this tonite. Dressing was perfect - exactly what you would expect for this salad.

• Thai ginger chicken salad

  • twoyolks on June 04, 2018

    I liked this but it wasn't as good as other laab recipes I've made. The flavor wasn't quite as complex as I'm used to with laab.

  • anya_sf on June 27, 2018

    I failed to read the directions far enough ahead so I didn't have time to bake the khao koor for 1.5 hrs, but instead did about 30 minutes at a higher temperature. It seemed to work anyway, at least for this purpose. I used ground chicken and it was fine. I used more lettuce and also added cucumber and snap peas for more veggies. We loved the flavors - very refreshing.

  • bwhip on March 26, 2018

    Oh man is this good. Really interesting! Great mix of textures and flavors, with the chewy noodles, fresh soft bibb lettuce leaf, and the funky tang from the lime juice/fish sauce based dressing (Nuoc Cham), and the little crunch from the Khao Koor. Delicious.

• Pan-roasted soy-glazed salmon with cool cucumber salad

  • bwhip on January 23, 2018

    It's always great to find a simple, easy weeknight recipe that turns out to be a complete flavor bomb of goodness. It's easy to see why the author said she still enjoys having this about once every week after all these years. Quick, easy, and really delicious.

  • anya_sf on July 14, 2018

    Absolutely delicious! There are multiple components, but each is quick to prepare. I served this bowl-style on a bed of brown rice, adding sauteed spinach, blanched snap peas, and diced avocado. There was a lot going on - next time I probably won't bother with the crispy shallots. The salmon was perfectly cooked with crispy skin.

  • twoyolks on January 31, 2018

    The salmon sauce is quite flavorful. While the flavor is strong, it doesn't overpower the salmon.

  • TrishaCP on September 25, 2022

    Wow, this salmon is incredible. We also skipped the crispy shallots since they aren’t in line with my current dietary restrictions, but I didn’t feel that we missed out by omitting them.

  • meggan on January 20, 2019

    Great - I would add a tad more sugar to the cukes.

  • Zosia on August 15, 2018

    As others have noted, this is very flavourful and quite easy to prepare. Family loved it.

  • Rachaelsb on April 12, 2018

    True to other reviews this is quick, easy with lots of flavor. Great to have such an easy alternative for a night of salmon.

  • jenburkholder on August 14, 2020

    We didn't make the cucumbers, only the salmon. The fish was easy and delicious, an excellent taste-to-effort ratio. All pantry ingredients as well. Will repeat.

• Salmon sauce

  • anya_sf on July 14, 2018

    Very quick and easy to make. Great with the salmon. It would probably be good with chicken or tofu as well.

• Indonesian fried chicken and ginger-sesame waffles

  • AndieEats on May 16, 2021

    This was great, and would make it again. Made the fried chicken, waffles, sesame honey butter, and accompanying honey butter and surprise sauce (ish). A couple adjustments for what was available - bone in skin on chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken, white sesame seeds instead of black, regular sesame oil instead of toasted. The chicken fried much more quickly than the recommended 10-12 minutes per side. Given the amount of oil they recommended, frying per side was not needed as it was all submerged and only took about 5 minutes to finish cooking through. The waffles were my first savoury ones, and they were good but benefited from being served with the chicken. Fudged with the special sauce recipe as I didn’t gave dried chiles or Thai basil around.

• Honey-sesame butter

  • AndieEats on May 16, 2021

    Part of the Indonesian fried chicken and waffles meal. Made much more butter than we needed. Used regular sesame oil instead of toasted - the sesame smell and flavour were quite strong so I'd probably decrease a little. The flavours definitely worked well with the ginger-sesame waffles.

• Panko-crusted lemon chicken

  • Rutabaga on January 16, 2018

    The method used here turns out beautifully crisp breaded chicken cutlets. I enjoyed them with just a small amount of candied lemon sauce (that sauce is delicious, but also incredibly sweet) and appreciated how the watercress and radish kept the dish grounded. For kids, ketchup was the preferred accompaniment. As for the recipe itself, I think you can really pare down on the amounts. For example, I only used about half the flour called for, and a little over half the panko. When marinating the chicken, little more than a cup of buttermilk was necessary. Scale back to avoid unnecessary waste.

• Candied lemon sauce

  • Rutabaga on January 16, 2018

    Delicious, but (as implied by the inclusion of "candied" in the title) intensely sweet, this sauce was a fun pairing with crispy chicken cutlets. The only thing is, since the sauce is so sweet, you can't load up on it, so your chicken cutlet will still be fairly dry. This doesn't bother me, but an additional squeeze of lemon juice over the chicken would be welcome if you want a little more zing.

• Shiitake mushroom and spinach dumplings with classic dumpling sauce

  • bwhip on April 26, 2020

    Another wonderful dumpling recipe from this excellent cookbook. Labor intensive, but so worth it.

• Mama Chang's pork and chive dumplings with black pepper-scallion sauce

  • bwhip on April 26, 2020

    These turned out fantastic. Labor intensive, but not at all difficult. Makes a lot of dumplings! The sauce is just perfect, with an amazing blend of spice and sweetness. Delicious.

  • Rachaelsb on May 10, 2020

    These were amazing and much easier to make then I thought. Found the Twin Marquis dumpling wrappers at Asian Market as well as garlic chives. Sauce is delicious. A very satisfying cook...you feel really proud of yourself!!!

• Red curry cauliflower with tofu

  • anya_sf on January 17, 2018

    I used Mae Ploy red curry paste and a bit less oil (1 Tbsp for curry, 3 Tbsp for frying). I also added some Asian baby greens. I thought it was very good and even liked the tofu, which isn't usually my favorite. Of course you could use meat instead, but the tofu really worked well here. The curry was thick and not super saucy like some curries, but there was just enough sauce for everything. The spice level was perfect for my taste, but of course would depend a lot on the curry paste. The curry sauce was perhaps a bit too tart from the lime - my lime was quite juicy. Next time I might use less. I'd definitely make this again.

• Chicken and rapini stir-fry

  • Zosia on November 27, 2018

    Family enjoyed this simple dish that I made with broccoli in place of rapini. The sauce was quite hot but that heat was balanced by sweet and salty flavours - and lots of brown rice - and the chicken was very tender. I did cut back on the oyster sauce a little so its sweetness wouldn't overwhelm the broccoli, blanched the chicken in water instead of oil (as per Grace Young, Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge), and used half the oil to stir fry.

  • Rutabaga on February 11, 2020

    I made this again using broccolini and bok choy, which worked well, and was also more appealing for my eight-year-old.

  • Rutabaga on January 13, 2018

    Very good; I especially like how the light bitterness of the rapini contrasts with the rich oyster sauce. My six-year-old, however, would probably prefer it with broccoli or broccolini, as he liked the chicken, but wasn't so fond of the veg. It's a fairly simple stir fry, especially if you prep in advance.

  • anya_sf on December 01, 2020

    I made this using just baby bok choy, quartered, which I steamed for a minute or so in a few tablespoons of water. Omitted the red pepper flakes; the chili oil and black pepper still added zest, rather than heat. The sauce was sweet and salty, but not too much so when served over plain rice. Velveting the chicken definitely resulted in tender meat, but I hate using so much oil - will need to look up that water method Zosia mentions.

• Chicken stir-fry sauce

  • Rutabaga on January 13, 2018

    This is a good match for the chicken and rapini dish, as the rapini nicely cuts some of the richness of the oyster sauce. I used Braggs liquid aminos for the soy sauce. It was quite salty, but not too much so as long as you don't add additional salt to the stir fry.

• Spicy silky tofu

  • meggan on November 16, 2020

    Subbed in cabbage for Bok choy and it was great.

  • anya_sf on January 31, 2018

    I adjusted the ingredient proportions a bit - used 1/2 lb ground pork and almost 1 lb baby bok choy. Next time I'll cut the bok choy into smaller pieces to enable it to cook faster and to make the pieces more bite-sized. I was happy with more greens and thought there was plenty of meat. My chili oil wasn't that hot, so we actually added more spice. I also used regular soy sauce and did not find it too salty at all (maybe due to the extra greens). It was very good with rice, and also very quick and easy to prepare.

  • Smokeydoke on June 27, 2020

    I liked this dish, it sounded very exotic when I read it, but it’s really a simple, homey 30-min meal. I stayed true to the recipe except for the bok choy, which I omitted. And I used unsalted bacon bits because bacon and kimchee is delicious.

  • Kduncan on November 10, 2020

    Had left over tofu I needed to use up, and ended up cooking this. It's quick and easy. We added more pork as all we could get was 1 lb of ground pork, but in the end it came out fine.

• Rainbow beef

  • FatsyRoller on February 09, 2023

    Too much sauce for the recipe -- left with pools of it and/or sodden rice. Cut sauce in half (see note on sauce re: salt level.)

• Rainbow sauce

  • FatsyRoller on February 09, 2023

    Even using reduced sodium soy sauce, this was way too salty for us. I tried to cut it a bit by adding dry sherry (good, actually) but the solution is to use less soy sauce overall. Maybe low-salt stock?

• Wild mushroom lo mein

  • Rutabaga on January 13, 2018

    What lovely umami flavors! Even though I left out the radicchio and frisee, this was a treat. My older son said he "couldn't stop eating" the mushrooms (primarily baby shiitake), but oddly wasn't a fan of the noodles. But never mind - us adults were happy to eat his share!

• Ginger-scallion crab and crispy vermicelli stir-fry

  • anya_sf on June 07, 2018

    I don't know how this is served at the restaurant, but I don't think I had the right dishes. I used large bowls, rather than plates, as I wanted to contain the vermicelli bits, which tend to fly all over the place. However, the crab mixture ended up covering the vermicelli, softening the noodles entirely so they were no longer crispy. So maybe use super large, shallow bowls or put the noodles on top? I'd totally skip frying the noodles next time and boil them instead. I used canned crab, and it was still delicious in this dish. The flavors were amazing and fresh, although fairly rich; I would decrease the butter and oil just a bit next time. I would also use more basil and mint. Don't skip the lemon at the end.

• Wok-charred udon noodles with chicken and bok choy

  • Kduncan on June 19, 2019

    Great recipe, made straight from the recipe. Good way of using the insane amount of bok choy we got from our CSA last week. Found it great as leftovers too.

  • anya_sf on January 27, 2018

    Thanks to bwhip for pointing out the need to marinate the chicken first. I had no problem with the velveting and it did seem to make the chicken very tender. Still, I'd prefer to avoid deep-frying and would try this again just sauteing the chicken to compare the results. I was afraid the noodles would stick, so I used my nonstick wok, so of course did not get as much char. My bok choy were larger, weighing 1 1/2 lbs, which I thought was a good amount. Overall, we really liked this, but I thought there was too much sauce. Plus the sauce was a bit sweet, so I would omit the sugar next time (there's plenty in the hoisin sauce). But I'd definitely make this again with less sauce.

  • damjih on January 08, 2019

    I made this and it was amazing, not so much the next day, Ill make extra sauce to mix in for lunch next time ~

  • D.Barker on April 17, 2021

    This was okay. Kind of a hassle with all the different dishes and processes going on at once. Happy we tried it, but it won't be in our regular dinner rotation.

  • bwhip on January 11, 2018

    Very good dish. My baby bok choy heads were a little larger, so there was plenty of that in proportion to the chicken. Shame on me for not reading the whole recipe through first - the instructions don't begin with the need to marinate the chicken for at least a half hour, so I was already underway with the first step (cooking noodles, mise en place, etc. before discovering everything would have to stop for a while to marinate. They probably could have mentioned that as the first step in the recipe, too :). My noodles kind of fell apart in the wok, as everything was sticking to the surface quite a bit (a newer stainless steel one). Still, flavors were great and we'll likely make this one again.

  • meggan on January 25, 2019

    Liked this but had to use Korean rice cakes instead of fresh udon and so they didn't char in the same way that the noodles might have although they tasted fine. I also had to use turkey breast (which was very tender after velveting) and grown-up bok choy. I thought the amount of sauce was just right.

  • julesamomof2 on December 01, 2018

    I made this with the ingredients as written, but in an effort to majorly cut back on the amount of oil used, I ended up with both the chicken and the noodles sticking to my non-stick wok. The end result was kind of a mess and my noodles ( I used dried, not fresh ) didn't have much char. I would like to find a way of velveting chicken that doesn't use 1/2 c (!) of oil.

  • nadiam1000 on June 19, 2022

    I really enjoyed this but it was pretty involved to make and used a lot of oil. I would like to velvet the chicken without cooking in 2 cups oil. Like others I got some sticking of the chicken but mostly the noodles. I oiled the noodles and the wok but the noodles stuck to the bottom. It all worked out in the end with a really tasty dish. Looking forward to leftovers.

  • twoyolks on January 11, 2018

    This was great. The star of this is really the udon sauce. The chicken was tender but a tad bland. I would've liked more greens (or possibly my baby bok choy are particularly small). I used ~9 oz of dried udon noodles instead of fresh which worked fine. I'm not sure that velveting the chicken added enough benefit for the additional time and complexity of deep frying (it made the chicken tender but didn't add much flavor).

  • Rutabaga on January 04, 2018

    Delicious! I can hardly wait to try more recipes from this book, if this one is a good indicator of what's in store. The flavor is rich and satisfying, My experience velveting the chicken was very messy; perhaps my chicken was too damp, causing the oil to spatter. The chicken also liked to stick to the pan, and I had to really pry at some of the pieces to free them. But it turned out beautifully tender and succulent.

• Udon sauce

  • Rutabaga on January 04, 2018

    This sauce goes with the accompanying chicken udon dish, but I can see that it would be an excellent general purpose stir-fry sauce to have on hand. Make it in advance so that it's easy to pull together a quick dinner.

• Surf and turf black pepper Shanghai noodles

  • Rachaelsb on May 12, 2020

    Good but not the burst of flavor expecting.

  • anya_sf on April 21, 2018

    I accidentally added the sugar with the oyster sauce when cooking the sauce, but it didn't seem to matter. I adjusted the ingredient proportions somewhat, using half the beef and green pepper. Foolishly, I thought I could throw everything in the wok at once. Do not do this! Do as she says and cook the meat and vegetables in 2 batches. I was able to cook the sauce and noodles in one batch at the end, then mix everything in to warm up. We loved this dish. The amount of sauce was perfect and the balance of flavors excellent.

• Sichuan dan dan noodles

  • bwhip on February 10, 2018

    This was delicious, with all sorts of interesting flavors bouncing around on our tastebuds, and a delayed reaction kick from the sichuan pepper. Lots of ingredients (27!), but thankfully it was pretty easy to find everything at our local Asian grocer, and as the author promised, it was worth the trip.

  • coryelizabeth on January 21, 2019

    This was a miss for me. The pork ragu turned out so salty that it was nearly inedible, and the overall combo ingredients just felt....ew.

  • twoyolks on November 01, 2020

    The flavor is definitely different. It starts out sour and then spreads to tangy and hot. I ate a whole serving and I'm still not entirely sure if I liked it.

  • stepharama1 on March 28, 2022

    This was absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it. I used unsalted homemade broth but was still worried the finished dish would be too salty. I doubled the quantities of mushrooms and didn't add salt to the pasta cooking water and it turned out perfect.

  • patioweather on February 01, 2023

    This was great. There are a lot of different styles of Dan Dan recipes out there, and this is the one that got closest to the style of my favorite restaurant. The recipe calls for 1/2 lb pork, so you can easily double it and then freeze half of the pork portion for a quick meal at a later date. I made it with fake ground meat.

• Beef and Chinese broccoli chow fun

  • Zosia on April 09, 2018

    Family and I really enjoyed this dish. It had both great flavour and interesting textures. Note that the fun sauce, which is used as a marinade, must be cool before adding it to the meat and the meat should marinate for several hours or up to overnight. I used only about one-third batch of fun sauce for this recipe.

• The green monster

  • Rutabaga on February 14, 2018

    This is a great option for a meal that's both flavorful and super healthful. I, too, used all of the pesto, and found that to be the right balance. I finally cooked my Bluebird Grains farro to completion; it took a full hour, so I cooked it in advance so that the dish could be put together quickly at dinnertime. For the kids, I set aside some peas and edamame, served alongside rice, since farro isn't really their thing. This could be a nice potluck or picnic dish.

  • bwhip on January 24, 2018

    This was really good, my wife and I both loved it. Made it per the recipe, though I noticed after the fact that you’re supposed to use half of the lemongrass pesto. Wasn’t a problem though, since my pesto ingredients only made about a half cup anyway. I was a little short on lemongrass, so added the zest of one lemon to adjust. A really nice winter salad, hearty and flavorful.

  • anya_sf on January 24, 2018

    I altered the ratio of farro to vegetables, using about 1 1/3 cups farro, but the full amount of vegetables - actually a few extra Brussels sprouts. Used spring mix instead of baby spinach and green onions instead of leek. This recipe lends itself to endless variations. The lemongrass pesto really makes it. Delish! Two people ate the whole thing for dinner.

  • anya_sf on March 24, 2019

    I just made a springtime version with asparagus and artichoke hearts and it was delicious. Topped it with a soft-cooked egg. Love the versatility of this recipe.

• Lemongrass pesto

  • anya_sf on January 24, 2018

    I made 1/2 batch to go with the green monster. Next time I'll make the full batch, as the smaller quantity is harder to process. I made it a day ahead and the color was still OK (plus it got mixed in). Very bright, nice flavor, great mixed with the farro. My pistachios were roasted, which worked fine (maybe better?).

  • apattin on July 09, 2021

    Very very good. I used "lightly salted" pistachios (only kind I could get) and only 1/2 tsp salt. PLENTY of salt for me. A real "mother" sauce!

• Kimchi quinoa bokkeumbap

  • EmilyR on February 27, 2021

    Another vote for tasting better than it looked. I followed the recipe exactly and would likely reduce the oil a bit next time.

  • Rutabaga on November 26, 2018

    This had great flavor, a little sweet and a little spicy (but not too spicy), and tasted much better than it looked, as the marinade from the meat colored the entire dish brown. Like anya_sf's experience, I found that the marinade clung to the meat, then leached out during cooking. I left it in the pan to flavor the rest of the dish - delicious! I used chicken thighs in place of beef, which I very thinly sliced while frozen before marinating. I also set some plain chicken aside without marinade and made a kid-friendly version of the dish seasoned only with soy sauce (and no kimchi) side by side with with the spicy version.

  • anya_sf on February 07, 2018

    I adjusted the ingredient ratios - used 1 c quinoa, 3/4 lb beef (with half the marinade), 3 c broccoli florets, 1/3 c pistachios, maybe half the oil. My pistachios were already toasted, so I didn't roast them with the chili powder. They were good (and I thought there were plenty), though I'm sure the seasoned nuts would be even better, but you could also omit them if you didn't like them. When I stir-fried the beef, the marinade clung to the meat at first, but exuded out during cooking and resting. I wasn't sure if I should add the liquid back into the wok with the beef or leave it behind (it had been cooked). I tasted the quinoa and thought it could use more flavor, so I poured the liquid back in. Watch out when you stir-fry the quinoa as it pops all over the place! I served the bokkeumbap with fried eggs on top, which was good, but didn't add that much, as the dish was already so flavorful. It was really good and came together super quickly with the quinoa made ahead.

• Hakka eggplant

  • jenburkholder on August 14, 2020

    We aren't eggplant people, but this is good for an eggplant dish. The sauce is quite tasty.

• Sweet-and-sour Brussels sprouts

  • Kduncan on January 04, 2021

    We love the restaurant ones, so we decided to try making these at home. They came out very well (still not as good as the restaurant ones), and they don't take too much effort for a weeknight (though you do need to start the pickled shallots earlier in the day/night before). Will definitely be making these again.

  • Frogcake on October 08, 2018

    We loved this unique, tasty recipe for sprouts. I didn’t change the amount of sugar -the taste was to our liking. Served with turkey and all the fixings. Would make again.

  • anya_sf on November 04, 2019

    Delicious! I only used half the red pepper flakes and it was still plenty spicy for our taste. Don't reduce the hot and sweet sauce too much as it will thicken more as it cools; I did that and had to thin it with hot water. The amount of oil seemed excessive, so I reduced it to 4 Tbsp, which seemed sufficient.

  • Rutabaga on February 20, 2018

    These are quite tasty. I reduced the sugar by about one third, but would probably reduce it by half next time, as we prefer it less sweet. Otherwise, it's great!

  • lorloff on March 27, 2021

    This came out great. Used the french carbon steel pan instead of the wok. There was more surface area for browning. Next time I will make it with the pickled shallots. It was delicious even without them. Doubled the sauce because we had more Brussels sprouts. We made this at the last minute and did not have time to do the advance preparation for the shallots. Highly recommended.

• Red miso-glazed carrots

  • anya_sf on June 07, 2018

    We really enjoyed the flavors. Watch the butter at the end, though, as it can go from browned to burnt pretty quickly. Some char tasted good though.

  • bwhip on December 03, 2019

    Easy and delicious, with great umami for something that comes together so quickly.

  • Kduncan on January 15, 2020

    Easy recipe, I think peeling all the carrots took longer than everything else. Due to my own tastes I probably would have upped the miso in the miso/butter mix, but overall the flavors were great. Good way of using the never ending carrots of a winter CSA.

• Ginger-scallion bok choy

  • Kduncan on November 04, 2020

    We really liked the flavor of this dish, but I agree it was a bit too watery.

  • anya_sf on September 28, 2019

    I had a bit less ginger-scallion sauce as I didn't have enough scallions, but it was still a generous amount of sauce for the bok choy. The sauce wasn't quite what I'd hoped for because the vinegar was more prominent than I expected. It was good, but next time I'll reduce it a bit. Overall, this was very tasty and easy to make.

  • Rutabaga on September 12, 2020

    The flavor here was nice, but my bok choy ended up very watery. I agree that perhaps the sauce should be reduced first. I ended up cooking the bok choy quite a bit longer (I'd say it was well-cooked - no longer as crisp, but not, in my opinion, overcooked or mushy) to try to reduce the liquid, but that resulted in the bok choy itself releasing a lot more water, so wasn't the ideal solution.

• Kung pao chickpeas

  • kari500 on August 18, 2021

    I didn’t like the cornstarch in this, and just couldn’t get past it. I did appreciate stockholm’s suggestion to add Szechuan chilies, which I did and liked. L loved this, and good thing since there is a lot left. Just seemed gloopy to me, and I love chickpeas and vegetables.

  • stockholm28 on March 20, 2021

    This recipe is in the ”sides” section, but I found this a very satisfying main dish. This will definitely be repeated. The dish didn’t exactly mimic Kung Pao chicken; it doesn’t have Szechuan peppercorns and I might try adding some next time. I started with 1 cup dried chickpeas which I soaked overnight and cooked the day before. As a result, I had slightly more than the equivalent of a 15 oz can. I omitted the water chestnuts and subbed yellow onion for red onion. I used Tien Tsin dried chilis from which I removed most of the seeds.

  • anya_sf on July 18, 2018

    My husband was skeptical about this vegan version, but we both really enjoyed it. I substituted a zucchini for the celery. This dish was quick and easy to prepare. Will make again.

  • jenburkholder on August 14, 2020

    These are great - easy, inexpensive and taste like cheap takeout in the best way. Made an excellent week of work lunches together with some brown rice.

• Sichuan zucchini and summer squash

  • anya_sf on August 23, 2018

    Disappointing. The pepitas will burn if made as directed. Cook them over lower heat for much less time. Or skip them - I did not think they added much, as the flavor was completely drowned out by the Sichuan dressing. The dressing itself was very spicy, although I don't think too spicy - the flavor was just too intense for our liking. Maybe because the Sichuan peppercorns were super fresh? It made my mouth tingle, not in a good way, and the zucchini just tasted bitter as a result. This is the first recipe from this book that I would not recommend. Or maybe I just don't like Sichuan peppercorns.

• Smashed fingerling potatoes with Thai chili jam (Nam prik pao)

  • patioweather on September 23, 2021

    I used store bought chili jam. Frying the potatoes was super annoying but the results were delicious enough that I would do it again.

• Mom's stir-fried shrimp and scallions

  • foodgloriousfood on April 05, 2021

    Thanks for your note mzgourmand. I should have said in my second note, even with one egg white not two this recipe would still be the stuff of nightmares. I will proceed with much caution before cooking anything else from this book. On the basis of this one recipe the book should perhaps just go straight to Goodwill!

  • foodgloriousfood on April 02, 2021

    Bizarre and actually kinda horrific recipe! I haven’t had a failure this bad for many years! With two egg whites and the ginger and garlic the shrimp are swimming in a slurry which you then fry in 1/3 cup of oil and then you add 3/4 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup stock? Seriously? No mention of draining the egg white slurry off but that wouldn’t be do-able anyhow as it was so thick - like oatmeal! I didn’t use the ketchup instead used some plum sauce (maybe 1/4 cup) I hate to think what it would have looked and tasted like if I had used 3/4 cup of ketchup and 1/2 cup of chicken stock! Pink slimy ketchup shrimp soup? I had to pick the shrimp out of the slurry to eat them. Wasted 1.5lbs of large shrimp. Flavor wasn’t bad with my homemade plum sauce but the texture wasn’t good as there was no crispness. I am cringing to think of how much worse it would have been of I had added the ketchup!

  • foodgloriousfood on April 03, 2021

    I just googled it and Food and Wine mag has published it with one, not two egg whites! Do not use the two egg whites that the recipe in the book calls for!

  • mzgourmand on April 03, 2021

    Thanks foodgloriousfood - this is very helpful. I was dubious about this book which was given to me as a gift as I have never been a Flour Bakery/Joanne Chang acolytes. At my family's insistence I have tried lots of Flour's various creations from the bakery itself - sticky buns, cookies, brownies, etc. and have just never been wowed. I live in NYC so maybe this is because there is a dearth of good bakeries in Boston?

• Vietnamese espresso ice cream

  • Zosia on April 18, 2018

    Like most no churn ice creams I've made, this was creamy and very rich, and took about 5 minutes to make. It was good but I thought it could have used a little more coffee which would also have cut the sweetness.

• Fun sauce

  • Zosia on April 09, 2018

    I really like the idea of having a ready-made stir-fry sauce on hand that helps to cut down on stir-fry prep and this one not only has good flavour, but lasts 2 months in the fridge. I used it in the beef and broccoli chow fun which was delicious.

  • Rutabaga on January 13, 2018

    I used this sauce for the mushroom lo mein recipe from this book. That was absolutely delicious, so I'm sure the sauce must have contributed. It's not too thick, so nicely coated the the noodles without any goopiness.

• Crispy shallots

  • anya_sf on July 14, 2018

    I sliced them by hand, which worked OK, but it is important that the shallot slices be consistently thin. Watch the cooking time - my shallots were done in a total of 10 minutes, and definitely needed stirring to cook evenly.

• Perfect white rice

  • Rutabaga on January 16, 2018

    I decided to try this method out, because who doesn't want perfect white rice? Unfortunately, mine was far from perfect, but I admit I didn't follow the directions as closely as I should have. I'm accustomed to covering the pot once the rice starts boiling, and while I waited a minute or so, I did not wait the full four minutes specified. I also didn't stir the rice again after covering it. This may be what caused the rice to turn out extremely mushy and gooey. I'm so accustomed to cooking rice in my usual way - using 1 1/2 cups water for each cup of rice, covering it immediately upon boiling, and never lifting the the lid during the cooking process - I'm afraid I was too busy with my other dishes and forgot to follow these new rules. Because this recipe calls for double the amount of water as rice, the extra stirring and cooking time without the lid must be essential in avoiding goopy rice. I'd like to try it again, carefully following the directions, to see if I get better results.

• Food52

  It seems well tested because the recipes actually work—not something that can be said about a lot of restaurant cookbooks.

  Full review

• Eat the Love

  Her recipes are both familiar and comforting but often with a little bit of elevation...the sort of Chinese-American cookbook that was meant for me.

  Full review