The Nourishing Asian Kitchen: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Health and Healing

Traditional Asian cooking is perfectly aligned with the trend toward whole foods–based diets, as it embraces natural foods, nutrient-dense organ meats, and collagen-rich bone broths. What’s more, eating this way, some experts hold, can have substantial impacts on overall health and wellness. Eng’s debut cookbook starts with “Mastering the Basics” (fish broth, sticky rice, ghee) before leading readers into sections covering sauces and seasonings, vegetables and sides, soups, poultry and eggs, pork, beef, lamb, seafood, offal (organ meats), and beverages and desserts. While some ingredients, such as lemongrass, gochugaru (Korean red chili powder), and miso paste, may need to be sourced from a specialty grocer, many recipes make use of ingredients that are readily available in the United States. Delicious recipes for Vietnamese crab noodles, five-spice pork belly báhn mì, lamb bulgogi, Chinese fish balls, and honey tapioca boba pearls are paired with mouthwatering photos. Cooks should note that nourishing and satisfying meals like the ones in this guide are not without complexity, and many dishes require lots of ingredients and a time investment.