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Chinese-ish: Home Cooking Not Quite Authentic, 100% Delicious
A cookbook celebrating the blending of cultures and identity through food, with a bounty of Chinese-influenced dishes from all over South-East Asia
As immigrants with Chinese heritage, 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 mashed potatoes, or forge a new path where flavor 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. You’ll find a bounty of inauthentic Chinese-influenced dishes from all over South-East Asia, including all the best rice and noodle dishes, wontons, and dumplings. There are also plenty of tips and shortcuts to demystify any tricky-sounding techniques, and a reassuring list of pantry staples and where to find them.
As immigrants with Chinese heritage, 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 mashed potatoes, or forge a new path where flavor 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. You’ll find a bounty of inauthentic Chinese-influenced dishes from all over South-East Asia, including all the best rice and noodle dishes, wontons, and dumplings. There are also plenty of tips and shortcuts to demystify any tricky-sounding techniques, and a reassuring list of pantry staples and where to find them.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published November 8, 2022
6 people are currently reading
317 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 23, 2022
Old dishes I've learnt from my parents, actually written down. A bunch of the stuff I knew how to make, having my very Chinese ancestors whispering in my ears, in a format my very white, very 'what's the recipe' husband can understand.
Godsend. Truly godsend.
Godsend. Truly godsend.
April 7, 2023
4.5 stars. Wasn’t sure what to expected but loved the life stories, the hand painted illustrations and was pleasantly surprised by the recipes! I wasn’t sure if it had anything new to add to the Chinese / Asian cookbooks we already have in existence but I did want to try a lot of the dishes - regional noodles dishes rarely seen in an English language cookbook, interesting condiments made home made friendly as well as staples like fried rice and congee. Definitely worth taking a look.
June 20, 2023
Typically I only review cookbooks on Goodreads if I intend to buy a physical copy, and this one qualifies.
This one started as a pandemic project for two Melbourne-based friends, and wound up as a cool, quirky and beautifully printed volume. I borrowed this one from the public library and I loved the feel of its matte pages and its vibe which was totally hip and hand drawn, except for the big, clear photos that every cookbook should have.
The authors spend a lot of bandwidth explaining their merge-y ethnicities and how the recipes are merely Chinese- inspired so don’t come here looking for authenticity. For me, I wouldn’t know the difference, but all look achievable and/or a fun afternoon project, such as how to make dumplings. Lots of shortcuts, too, just in case you’d rather just get dinner on the table.
This one started as a pandemic project for two Melbourne-based friends, and wound up as a cool, quirky and beautifully printed volume. I borrowed this one from the public library and I loved the feel of its matte pages and its vibe which was totally hip and hand drawn, except for the big, clear photos that every cookbook should have.
The authors spend a lot of bandwidth explaining their merge-y ethnicities and how the recipes are merely Chinese- inspired so don’t come here looking for authenticity. For me, I wouldn’t know the difference, but all look achievable and/or a fun afternoon project, such as how to make dumplings. Lots of shortcuts, too, just in case you’d rather just get dinner on the table.
August 10, 2022
Originally published here: https://joyfulantidotes.com/2022/08/1...
It can be a little difficult to review a cookbook (especially if you haven’t made any of the recipes yet). Let me just tell you what I think you need to know about Chinese-ish.
There are some delicious recipes in there. However, there are also some practical tips on how to cook things like rice. If you are anything like me, this simple advice alone is worth buying the book for. None of the recipes seem over complicated and appear to use ingredients that are easily accessible. There is a good mixture of veggie and meat/fish based options.
There are also some interesting pages on heritage and owning your identity. To be honest, I wish there was more of this but that is just a personal thing on my part.
If you do buy a copy, it’s well worth picking up a physical copy as the illustrations in this book are absolutely stunning.
It can be a little difficult to review a cookbook (especially if you haven’t made any of the recipes yet). Let me just tell you what I think you need to know about Chinese-ish.
There are some delicious recipes in there. However, there are also some practical tips on how to cook things like rice. If you are anything like me, this simple advice alone is worth buying the book for. None of the recipes seem over complicated and appear to use ingredients that are easily accessible. There is a good mixture of veggie and meat/fish based options.
There are also some interesting pages on heritage and owning your identity. To be honest, I wish there was more of this but that is just a personal thing on my part.
If you do buy a copy, it’s well worth picking up a physical copy as the illustrations in this book are absolutely stunning.
October 29, 2023
I found I wanted to eat the food more than I wanted to cook it.
There were slightly too many ingredients I don't usually have at home and the cooking instructions were slightly too long and complex (lazy cook - one pan, less than 30mins style). Except for some of the veggie recipes, I'll try a few of those.
It was interesting to read and explains well some principles I can put into practice to get close to a restaurant style stir-fry.
There were slightly too many ingredients I don't usually have at home and the cooking instructions were slightly too long and complex (lazy cook - one pan, less than 30mins style). Except for some of the veggie recipes, I'll try a few of those.
It was interesting to read and explains well some principles I can put into practice to get close to a restaurant style stir-fry.
December 14, 2022
Didn’t love it or hate it. All of the food looked and sounded delicious, however, most of the recipes had a lot of ingredients, instructions or both. You really have to know what you are doing. I wouldn’t buy this but it would be a great find for someone who was familiar with this type of cuisine
July 7, 2025
this is a beautiful cookbook but I found the recipes lacking. I made the Dan Dan noodles, they were mediocre but I am glad I have the ya cai now. The burnt scallion noodles were very very underwhelming, barely any flavor. We did enjoy the creamy tofu noodles alot, I would definitely make those again. Lastly I made the dong po braised pork, it was not worth the price or time at all.
January 17, 2023
Pictures are beautiful. There were a handful of recipes that I was very excited about and will definitely try including two of my absolute fave dim sum dishes: cheong fun and shrimp balls. Overall though not a book I need on my shelf but glad I was able to look through.
November 3, 2023
Oh man. The wonton recipe. 270g meat with 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp soy. Seems way too salty. Against my better judgement I tried it anyway in case this level of salt unlocked amazing wontons flavours I didn't know about. Sadly no, just way too salty. Aiya, tai harm!
March 29, 2024
Me ha gustado bastante, las recetas son sencillas y lo bastante interesantes como para plantearme seriamente hacerlas. Además, tiene una parte de la vida de la autora en general y en concreto con casi todos los platos presentados. Hay fotos y dibujos, visualmente también es muy curioso.
August 19, 2022
My review for this incredible recipe/food memoir is on my blog https://thefallenlibrarian.wordpress....
December 24, 2022
Jesus Christ I love narrative-focused immigrant cookbooks so fcking much 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
April 10, 2023
Lovely to read through accompanied by gorgeous illustrations. Made me very nostalgic and also could convince me to give up my vegetarianism for a few of these dishes.
June 22, 2023
There are some good recipes in this book!
November 5, 2023
Fun writing and illustration
July 29, 2025
found this at the library during my stroll through today and it was such a well written, in depth cookbook. loved all the art and the photographs that came with every recipe, everything was great
August 11, 2022
HiI'm a huge lover of Chinese food so was delighted to be taking part in the tour.
I'm definitely going to be buying myself a copy of this for the shelf as there were so many fantastic meal ideas and authentic ways of cooking them.
I wish there had been more images of the dishes, maybe one alongside each recipe. But hey, it still made me drool at the delicious looking food.
My personal favourites include the Mango Pudding and all of the steamed dumpling recipes sound divine.
You also get snippets of the author's lives and how they became foodies.
I read from the Netgalley version, which was pretty chopped about and you couldn't appreciate the full beauty of the book from a screen.
I'm definitely going to be buying myself a copy of this for the shelf as there were so many fantastic meal ideas and authentic ways of cooking them.
I wish there had been more images of the dishes, maybe one alongside each recipe. But hey, it still made me drool at the delicious looking food.
My personal favourites include the Mango Pudding and all of the steamed dumpling recipes sound divine.
You also get snippets of the author's lives and how they became foodies.
I read from the Netgalley version, which was pretty chopped about and you couldn't appreciate the full beauty of the book from a screen.
March 5, 2023
Easy to make Chinese recipes and stories about food.
February 25, 2023
Simple familiar recipes
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews