Make Amazing Asian Food at Home

Best new asian-authored cookbooks in 2022

Make Amazing
Asian Food
at Home

The best Asian-authored cookbooks for your kitchen

Words by

Cory Ohlendorf

Photography by

Courtesy

Published

May 11, 2022

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a period dedicated to honoring and celebrating the history, culture and achievements of Americans hailing from across the Asian continent and the Pacific islands. And is there a better way to celebrate a culture than through its food? I don't think so. Within a country's cuisine, you find stories and traditions alongside flavors and techniques you won't find anywhere else. As a lover of Asian food, I find myself searching out new restaurants to try as often as possible. But it's also a type of cooking that can be easily done at home once you get comfortable and stock your kitchen with the essentials.

And right now, there's no shortage of Asian chefs and food writers sharing stories and recipes of their cultures through cookbooks. From authentic Sichuan recipes to more modern interpretations of classic Korean and Filipino dishes, these books offer up recipes that are all but guaranteed to satisfy. They're not only easy to follow, but the books themselves are all beautiful additions to your kitchen. So get cooking.

The Best
Asian-Authored Cookbooks

Korean American

Food That Tastes Like Home

Eric Kim is a self-taught home cook who worked his way up to being a well-respected food writer for Saveur and the New York Times. His debut cookbook contains a mix of recipes rooted in his Korean American upbringing in Atlanta. He showcases how, for his parents, scarcity of Asian ingredients bred innovation. The food in the book is also so beautifully styled and photographed, that I dare you not to attempt each one.

$29.25 by Eric Kim

Standout Recipe:
Crispy Lemon Pepper Bulgogi

Filipinx

Heritage Recipes
From the Diaspora

Chef Angela Dimayuga's first cookbook explores the recipes that remind her of home, growing up as one of the more than 4 million people of Filipino descent in the U.S. The book features 100 deeply personal recipes that blend her family's home cooking with the training she got in New York restaurant kitchens. Flipping through it feels like a dinner party—full of good food, interesting people and compelling stories. This is one I've gone back to several times in the last month alone.

$20.11 by Angela Dimayuga and Ligaya Mishan

Standout Recipe:
Coconut Milk Chicken Adobo

The Wok

Recipes and Techniques

Beloved by industry pros and home cooks alike, chef/writer/YouTuber J. Kenji López-Alt uses science to explain why delicious dishes work (and how to make them). A follow-up to his cookbook The Food Lab, this handy book outlines more than 200 recipes that range from authentic Sichuan cooking to American-Chinese takeout. There are also simple no-cook sides along with explanations of knife skills, how to stock a pantry and master the smoky wok hei (that great stir fry sear) at home.

$30 by J. Kenji López-Alt

Standout Recipe:
Noodles with XO Pepperoni Sauce

Ammu

Indian Home Cooking
to Nourish Your Soul

The food of India is incredibly diverse and it's a little sad that many of us think Indian cuisine starts and ends with chicken tikka masala. But this book, the star of Netflix's Chef's Table, welcomes you into the Indian culture with a collection of family recipes, including the dishes she was first taught to cook, along with her mother's comfort food from childhood.

$31.99 by Asma Khan

Standout Recipe:
Prawn Biryani

Ayla

A Feast of Nepali Dishes
From Terai, Hills and Himalayas

I'll be honest, I didn't know much about Nepalese cooking. Their food is often overshadowed by the noise of cuisines from neighboring countries, like India and China. But master chef Santosh Shah offers up 60 dishes inspired by the produce grown around Nepal's rivers and mountains. Alongside his own stories from the country, he shares the history of certain foods, from tangy chutneys to traditional momo dumplings.

$25 by Santosh Shah

Standout Recipe:
Thukpa Sherpa
Noodle Soup

Cook Real Hawai’i

Nearly every Asian culture exists in Hawai'i and they're all living and working and eating with the native islanders. This book celebrates that diversity and digs deep into authentic Hawai'ian food. You'd be forgiven if your only touch point to the cuisine is Kalua pork from a vacation's luau. Through stunning photography and poignant personal stories, this book brings a true taste of the backyard cookouts and the legendary mom and pop shops of Hawai'i into your kitchen.

$22.99 by Sheldon Simeon and Garrett Snyder

Standout Recipe:
Pocho Steamed Clams With Portuguese Sausage

Tokyo Cult Recipes

Though not exactly new, this book was new to me and definitely worthy of recognizing. Tokyo-born Maori Murota has put together a collection of approachable and authentic dishes that capture the richness of Japanese cooking today. An avid home cook, she was inspired first by her favorite Tokyo spots and then by the cooking her mother did growing up. The book starts with some basic techniques before branching out into various meal types—from breakfast and bentos to dinners and even snacks.

$23.80 by Maori Murota

Standout Recipe:
Curry Udon

A Cookbook for Your Bar

If you’ve ever been to a cocktail bar in Japan, you know they do it like no other. This handy and handsome book details Japanese cocktail traditions, techniques and recipes, along with a closer look at the history of Japanese drink culture and guides on tools and glassware.

‘The Way of the Cocktail’,
$20.28 by Julia Momosé and Emma Janzen

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