Chinese-ish
Home Cooking, Not Quite Authentic, 100% Delicious
-
-
4.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $16.99
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
'Utterly delicious, compelling, idiosyncratic and refreshingly honest, by two of this country's most dynamic young talents.' Kylie Kwong
James Beard Award 2023 winner for Best Visuals
As immigrants with Chinese heritage who both moved to Australia as kids, Rosheen Kaul and Joanna Hu spent their formative years living between (at least) two cultures and wondering how they fitted in. Food was a huge part of this journey - should they cling to the traditional comfort of their parents' varied culinary heritage, attempt to assimilate wholly by learning to love shepherd's pie, or forge a new path where flavour and the freedom to choose trumped authenticity?
They went with option three.
Chinese-ish celebrates the confident blending of culture and identity through food: take what you love and reject what doesn't work for you. In these pages you'll find a bounty of inauthentic Chinese-influenced dishes from all over Southeast Asia, including the best rice and noodle dishes, wontons and dumplings, classic Chinese mains and even a Sichuan Sausage Sanga that would sit proudly at any backyard barbecue. There are also plenty of tips and shortcuts to demystify any tricky-sounding techniques, and reassuring advice on unfamiliar ingredients and where to find them.
Chinese-ish is modern, unconventional, innovative, vibrant, tasty, colourful, incredibly delicious food.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chef Kaul and illustrator Hu (The Isol Cookbook) offer up a colorful and proudly inauthentic survey of Asian recipes. Drawing on her diverse ethnic background and experience as head chef at Etta in Melbourne, Kaul delivers on her promise of a "Chinese-ish story—vibrant, crispy, tasty, colorful, and incredibly delicious." The recipes are enlivened by whimsical depictions of delicacies by Chinese Australian illustrator Hu as the pair measure out handy tips (their take on XO sauce is a home-based recreation as easy on the budget as it is on time) and classic favorites, including fried corn with spiced salt, and mango dessert pudding. The dishes are rich in heritage and individuality, with staples like pork and prawn wontons that employ ready-made wrappers, Beijing hot chicken based on the Nashville classic but modified with a Northern Chinese spice mix, and a slew of noodle dishes that pay homage to taste and tradition—none more so than Sichuan favorite "ants climbing a tree," where clingy bits of minced pork evoke ants on the noodles. A solo dining section overflows with single-serve choices, and, for balance, Kaul and Hu offer up "great dishes for a crowd," including dong po pork, which is braised in rice wine and aromatics. Hu's illustrations amplify fanciful musings, as in the essay tracking her path away from what her parents considered an "acceptable" career and toward one in hospitality and later in art. Far-away flavors feel close to home in this delectable spread.
