Recipes from The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook

Asian grandmothers, whether of Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, or Indian descent; are the keepers of the cultural, and culinary, flame. Their mastery of delicious home-cooked dishes and comfort food makes them the ideal source for this cookbook. Author Pat Tanumihardja has assembled 130 tantalizing dishes from real Chinese fried rice to the classic Filipino Chicken Adobo to the ultimate Japanese comfort dish Oyako donburi. This is hearty food, brightly flavored, equally good to look at and eat. Flavors range from soy and ginger to hot chiles, fragrant curries, and tart vinegars. The author has translated all of the recipes to work in modern home kitchens. Many of them have been handed down from mother to daughter for generations without written recipes, and some appear in tested and written form for the first time. An exhaustive Asian Pantry glossary explains the ingredients, from the many kinds of rice and curries to unfamiliar but flavorful vegetables.

A wooden cutting board with a rectangular plate and spoon on top, the plate has a mound of rice on the back half. On the front half, there's a pile of ground pork, basil, and peppers.

Thai Basil Pork

A little spicy, salty, and sweet and altogether satisfying. A weeknight salvation when you need dinner pronto but you want something that’s not predictable or boring.

A brown bowl filled with stir-fried pea shoots.

Wok-Fried Pea Shoots

A brief fling in the wok with a little garlic and sesame oil is all that’s needed to coax these delicate pea shoots to tender, aromatic perfection.

A white bowl filled with chicken coconut noodle soup, topped with cilantro, lime wedges, and hard boiled eggs.

Chicken Coconut Noodle Soup

This popular Burmese chicken coconut soup features noodles doused in a mild curry sauce with a consistency that’s somewhere between soup and gravy. Delish.