Description
Book SynopsisJames Beard Award 2023 winner for Best VisualsAs 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.
Trade Review'
Chinese-ish completely exhilarates me! Utterly delicious, compelling, idiosyncratic and refreshingly honest, by two of this country's most dynamic young talents.' Kylie Kwong
Table of ContentsIntroduction: On feeling Chinese-ish
PART ONE
CHINESE COOKING 101
Key information for successful Chinese-ish cooking
Chinese cooking techniques
How to cook rice without a rice cooker
How to cook nearly every type of noodle and some great ways to eat them
How to make stock
How to make wontons
How to make dumplings
How to make fried rice
How to make congee
How to make some iconic condiments
How to stir-fry vegetables
PART TWO
THE REBELLION: HOW TO DISAPPOINT YOUR PARENTS
There and back again
The solo diner
An ode to eggs
Chinese-ish snacks that feel kinda wrong
PART THREE
MY LOVE LANGUAGE IS A FRUIT PLATTER
On the love of an immigrant parent
Old Chinese favourites and fond food memories
Dishes for a crowd
A few desserts we don't hate
