There are dozens of Asian cookbooks out there, but none quite like Modern Asian Kitchen: Essential and Easy Recipes for Ramen, Dumplings, Dim Sum, Stir-Fries, Rice Bowls, Pho, Bibimbaps, and More by Kat Lieu, developer of the popular and fun blog Modern Asian Baking. This cookbook is unique since it includes dishes that are nothing like the same-old, same-old Asian dishes that we know, love and order in Asian restaurants. These recipes are just as mouthwatering as the familiar Asian dishes, but are very different. Most cooks who love Asian food will form a long list of “must make immediately” dishes that they want to make and taste. These dishes will certainly be new ones that we will crave.

The recipes are written in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed first followed by step-by-step instructions, making them easy to follow for both beginning and advanced cooks. Some of the recipes will require a trip to an Asian grocery store, but nowadays most cities have one; it will be worth the trip.

This cookbook includes beautiful, professional photographs of every dish, making it even harder to decide what to make next.

All told, this excellent cookbook introduces Asia dishes from many Asian countries that are different and delicious. It is highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

So many great recipes and the author does a great job of adapting to the modern kitchen. I have her baking cookbook as well and love it. This one is just as great!

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book contained lots of ways to simplify and re-create your childhoood favourite Chinese dishes. I loved learning how to make rice rolls from Vietnamese rice papers in the Microwave and the airfryer Taiwanese popcorn chicken is so easy and classic.

I was an early reviewer for Modern Asian Baking at Home and still use it, so I was very excited to get an early review copy of Modern Asian Kitchen by Kat Lieu. We eat a lot of dumplings at home, so I was excited to change up our dipping sauce to Kat's Everyday Dipping Sauce which now lives in our fridge. It might seem silly, but I'd never tried to make Onigiri at home. It just seemed daunting to me and easier to get at our favorite Japanese market. Well, using the Basic Onigiri Adventure, I was able to make some at home! Yay me! The photography is smart and the recipe instructions are easy to follow. I look forward to more cookbooks from Kat Lieu.

Thank you to the author and publisher for an early review copy in exchange for my review.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this cookbook and this is my freely given opinion.

I have a habit of loving and collecting cookbooks and thank goodness for ebooks as I am seriously running out of room for physical incarnations of them. On saying that, I absolutely love Asian cookbooks because I love the foods of my past and culture and am always looking for different iterations of them. Especially as my grandmother (like so many did) - the noted cook of the family, cooked by feel, and could not read or write so never wrote anything down. To this day, I can make her pork and napa cabbage wontons, her steamed beef rice, and her steamed ginger and onion fish by memory. But I am always on the search for the other comfort foods of my youth that I cannot remember how grandmom did them.

So this is a lovely compilation of various Asian dishes, though mostly gearing towards different styles of Chinese, with some Japanese, Korean, etc. Also they definitely veer more towards the home cook/comfort foods that look familiar to me - and that is what I want. I don't want the fancified restaurant style foods like the scallops in taro nests, sharks fin soup, sea cucumber or abalone this or that that could be served at banquets or for special meals - I want the warms my belly and warms my heart comfort foods that bring back the happy memories of helping out while at Grandmom's kitchen or visiting at her friends at Lunar New Years while everyone makes massive piles of dumpling and treats to share, and there is a huge pot of congee, or something to share for lunch while everyone gossiped and bragged about their children and grandkids. The filled sesame balls in this remind me a bit of hers - she did a peanut filling for it though because I remember one of my jobs was hand crushing the peanuts to the right consistency. Also I vaguely she made one that was similar that had some kind of yam or sweet potato in the dough, and it was wonderfully sweet and glutinous. I have yet to find the recipe anywhere for that and still will be looking....

Many of the dishes here have that look of comfort and familiarity to me, and I love the simple presentations and pictures and the familial backstories to them. This book is right up my alley and I have also requested it for my local library as well.

Now to convince my definitely non-Asian husband that rice porridge/congee is definitely a comfort food - maybe not as famed as chicken noodle soup - but it is definitely what I remember being made for me when I was not feeling so great, and it can be fancied up in so many ways also - like a good mac and cheese!

Also, I totally want to make mapo tofu and stir fried rice cakes again too. The char siu recipe is a bit different from the one I usually use and I will give it a try, since it never hurts to try something new that could be better! Thanks so much for the walk down memory lane and the inspiration to cook my past and culture more, and try some new things as well...

4.25 stars out of 5

Discover the wonders of Asian cuisine with this delightful collection of recipes from Kat Lieu! From traditional favorites to unique creations, there's something here to tantalize everyone in Modern Asian Kitchen. As you flip through the pages, you'll be captivated by the beautiful imagery showcasing these mouthwatering dishes, along with heartwarming family photos from the writer. What's even better? Many of the recipes can be easily adapted to suit vegan or gluten-free diets, making them accessible to all. With clear instructions and easy-to-follow steps, you'll be whipping up these delectable dishes in no time.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Harvard Common Press for this eCopy to review

Modern Asian Kitchen is an easy follow recipe book full of delicious recipes from across Asia, which have their own gorgeous photo so you know what you are cooking. Most of the ingredients are easy to find so no need to go on a treasure hunt to track them all down.

All the recipes in the book look tasty! Easy to follow. I have Kat’s other cookbook so I was super excited when this one came out. I can’t wait to try all of the recipes in the book!

This is a great cookbook! I thoroughly enjoyed the family and friends connections to the recipes. I found the sections easy to flip around to and was happy with the large variety of recipes from different cultures. I'm most excited to try the miso garlic naan and mapo tofu. Cheers!

Thank you to Harvard Common Press and Netgalley for this ARC. Generally, Asian cuisine is something we enjoy, so we had a lot of fun cooking from this - here is what we made:

Miso Garlic Naan: wow wow wow! The miso garlic butter was insanely delicious. These were so easy and so tasty. Plus I found the milk yeast blooming technique very effective and I’ll be stealing that for future bread making

Easy Peasy Sushi Bake: my boyfriend said this was basically my perfect meal and he isn’t wrong. While I enjoyed it a lot with the seaweed, it was also great as a bowl. A very easy weeknight meal (sushi at home!), but doesn’t hold up the best as leftovers (so just eat it all). Next time we might try making it with different seafood

Char Sui: I tried so hard to make this red and failed. But it was moist and the marinade was packed with flavor. I did find the cooking instructions about when to cut it confusing, so our times seemed off. But it still came together well

Pate Chaud (Vietnamese Hot Meat Pie): these didn’t quite puff, but the filling was savory, and who doesn’t love a good meat pie?

Gochujang Chocolate Mochi Cake (97): for some reason this came out very dry (maybe I made it too thin?), which was a shame because I loved the flavor (especially the subtle heat) and the chocolate chunks. Eating it with ice cream did help the dryness though

Rice Paper Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings): these did not stay together whatsoever and the shrimp unevenly cooked. The flavor was fine but nothing special

Overall, definitely some recipes I’d make again! Modern Asian Kitchen is coming out on 4/9

Oh this is a wonderful book. The recipes were easy to follow and the ones my daughter and i tried tasted fantastic. The layout was good and pictures were top notch.

When the cookery book marketplace is so crowded it can be hard to find your place but this is a lovely and authentic addition to the Asian cooking section.

Carefully curated into useful sections there is lots to enjoy here whether you’re omnivorous, pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan and it’s a lovely change to be given so many variations and options on traditional recipes.

Made extra special by the addition of family photos and stories, this is a book that makes you want to immediately dive into your kitchen.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher, Quarto Publishing Group for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Here's to feeding our bodies and, little by little, our souls."

I've been following Kat Lieu on Instagram for ages so I already knew this cookbook would be right up my alley. What I appreciate the most about this book as well as her social media presence is just how approachable the recipes are. It's a great pick whether you're a beginner or someone just looking for variety in your dinners. There's a good reason why Lieu starts the book with a recipe for cooking the perfect rice - something that can seem so fundamental yet is so easy to mess up.

As someone with certain dietary restrictions, I really appreciate the tips and notes Lieu has left for each recipe. I may not be able to find everything for all recipes in my region, but there's a good amount of options to play around with. Speaking of regions - thank you thank you thank you for including metric units and Celsius in your instructions, this tiny European appreciates it greatly 🙏🏻

The photography is simply lovely - and I'm not just talking about the quality of the food images, shining a spotlight on shapes and colours and almost letting you imagine the scents. I appreciate the inclusion of photos of friends and family, adding that sweet personal touch - to top it all of, the scan of the handwritten recipe from Lieu's mum.

The earnestness and personality are really what make this book stand out. Even if you're in it just for the food, take time to read Lieu's introductions between each chapter and the small stories for each recipe, talking about personal experiences of her own, her peers', family members, as well as the histories of dishes. Lieu is equal parts witty and earnest, making you smile and feel tender as she speaks of her love for food, her history with it, and how it binds her to those closes in her life. She dedicates certain chapters and recipes to both those still in her life and those lost, and it's a beautiful tribute throughout.

"Modern Asian Kitchen" isn't just a great cookbook to add to your shelf - it's proof that food is the sixth love language.

Modern Asian kitchen is a beautiful cookbook. The recipes are easy to follow with many repeating ingredients. This allows the reader to try many of the included recipes with minimal shopping required. The photographs are vibrant. I wish that some of the recipes could be a bit more complex. This is a good introduction to Asian cooking and meals, but some of the recipes are a little basic for people who may cook more often.

This book is exactly, what it says on the cover.
The dishes seem modern and easy to make. Espacially the vegan recipes are very interesting.
Moreover, there is a lot of additional background information about all the supplies one might need.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Modern Asian Kitchen is a great cookbook for traditional Asian Recipes. The cookbook provides little descriptions on the flavor components for the staple ingredients which is incredibly helpful for people who are newer to asian cuisine. The cookbook sections are the fundamentals, garden Party, Dim Sum, One-Pan Wonders, The Sharing Table, The Rice is Right, Life is Noodiful, Essential Sauces and the Not-Too-Sweet Treats.

The Cookbook is wonderful with amazing backstories on the recipes and straightforward directions. There is just a wonderful selection of recipes. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL pictures.

This cookbook will definitely be a staple cookbook for me and I can’t wait to purchase a physical copy. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book.

Tried some of these recipes with my family this week, delicious, especially the salmon. I appreciate the simplicity of most of the recipes while still being incredibly unique and varied.

A delightful sequel that exceeds expectations set by Modern Asian Baking. A must-read for any culinary and cookbook enthusiast!

This is a gorgeous cookbook absolutely chocked full of delicious recipes. Most of the recipes are simple with few ingredients and most items I believe would be readily found as I have many in my pantry already. Lots of recipes are quick to prepare making them great weekday meals.

As a casual beginner at Asian cooking, I am thrilled with this cookbook. I was impressed by the helpful list of tools and common ingredients, which makes it perfect for beginners.

Even if you are a more experienced cook of Asian cuisine, this book still offers plenty of great recipes and technique tips. The beautiful photography brings the recipes to life and makes me eager to start cooking. The layout is clean and easy to follow, making navigating the recipes a breeze.

I can't wait to try out all the delicious recipes in this cookbook, including the dessert recipes. Whether you're new to cooking or looking to improve your Asian culinary skills, this cookbook will be a valuable addition to your kitchen. I'm excited to start cooking up a storm with this wonderful resource!