Simple Chinese Cooking: A Cookbook

by Kylie Kwong, Earl Carter (Photographer)

Cooking Chinese food at home has truly never been easier--all you need is this book, a wok, and a quick trip to the supermarket Simple Chinese Cooking offers Kylie Kwong’s philosophy of marrying the freshest ingredients and the simplest techniques to create amazing flavor. Kylie grew up devouring the mouthwatering heartiness of her mother’s traditional Cantonese cuisine. Armed with the fundamental techniques, she set out to give ancient tradition a modern twist and bring the joys of Chinese cooking to all. Now, people from all over the globe flock to her popular restaurant in Sydney, billy kwong. But in this book, she brings her delicious recipes to Chinese food lovers everywhere. Simple Chinese Cooking demystifies the preparation of Chinese cuisine—with ingredients that are readily available in any grocery store, and recipes that are friendly and easy-to-follow. From soy sauce chicken and steamed fish fillets with ginger and spring onions, to prawn wonton soup, this book offers delicious everyday meals, as well as dishes that are perfect for entertaining. With succulent 4-color photographs throughout and step-by-step instructional pictures, Simple Chinese Cooking will guide anyone to create a delectable feast.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Asian Literature, Reference

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Kylie Kwong is a restaurantuer and TV Chef in Australia, specialising in Chinese cooking.

Reviews

[Justin Walshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kylie pushes the envelope and attempts to cook a Chinese person. It doesn't end well.

[Sophie Roseby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is still my favourite Kylie book and I return to it again and again. So it deserved a review.
The first time I ever cooked from it I created an entire banquet and the results were fantastic. Her casual style makes the cooking approachable and I don't feel intimidated to try things completely foreign to me (and my kitchen).
And if you are ever just stuck, too tired at dinner time, do her eggs. They are so simple but everyone thinks you're super fancy.

[Maggie Leayr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on some classics

[Laurla2]

i marked a lot of recipes i liked

[Matthew Gatheringwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

This big, beautiful, cookbook with lots of recipes really is simple--too simple, if you ask me. The flavor profiles of the recipes are all pretty much alike! Some non-Chinese cooks will find this a convenience, since it means they won't have to look for exotic ingredients, but adventurous cooks may find it disappointing.

I like the way the cookbook is divided into techniques and I was encouraged to move on from stir-frying and to try some of the steamed dishes I have enjoyed so much in restaurants but had never attempted at home. It turned out to be much easier than I expected.

Unfortunately, this cookbook does not offer nutritional information about the recipes.

I would be interested in reading other books by this author.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The six or so recipes I made from this book tasted good. The salads are particularly interesting.

More importantly, the recipes actually are simple as promised and help you gain an understanding of cooking. Generally, there is a sauce or marinade, and then vegetables or meat to chop up. Anyone can handle it, yet the result is restaurant quality food (well, at least better than the local carryout places) that you couldn't produce by improvising.

The instructions are mostly very clear. The only problem I've had is where she tells you to heat oil in a wok until it starts to "shimmer slightly." I don't know what that means, but I've done all right by waiting for bubbles to start forming.

[Vom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. On the plus side, it's an all color, beautiful book. On the negative side, I found the recipes were quite repetitious. There is one dish that is shown with seafood, then chicken, then pork, then beef. Why not simply say that the meal can be made with either seafood, pork, chicken, beef, etc?

The recipes are also not very interesting or tasteful. I felt that other cookbooks, such as Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian, had recipes that were simple and flavorful. I tried several different dishes in this book, but none of the results were worth repeating. The recipes are not *bad*, they just aren't very good. Too bad.

[Ade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can say this is the best cooking book I read since I've been here in Sydney. All of the recipes are make sense. We can cook it in no time and no fuss. Following these simple recipe made me like an expert in Chinese cooking (hahah, exaggerating!).
My fav recipe is Gai Lan in Oyster sauce. I can simply make this beautiful cooking in 5 minutes. No kidding. That suits a very busy (hahaha) fulltime working Mum like me.
I also love to cook steamed silk tofu with spinach in soy sauce. It works. I impress my husband.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

i CRAVE these flavours.....and when i discovered this book for a novice like me, i simply had to try it. so far i've started with bok choy with oyster sauce and it was simply amazing - all the flavours i longed for now in my kitchen.. made me very happy. i will move onto poultry or tofu next. we'll see... my sister plans to prepare the sweet corn and chicken soup.

p. 196 bok choy with oyster sauce is one of my favourites. yes, it requires three different oils and oyster sauce but its wonderful. bok choy, chicken and jasmine rice, my go to comfort dinner.

[Hannysan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a collection of simple recipes that can be learnt very easy even for someone who never cook Chinese Food before!

What I like from this book is: Kylie also descriptively and visually explained the brands of all ingredients that she had used - this is awesome as usually cooking some recipes will produce a bit different taste to what we expected since we do not know exactly the brand of ingredients/spices that should be used to produce the desired outcome.

Have tried cooking some of the simple recipes in this book and the result is absolutely brilliant!

[Toni NB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful cookbook with, indeed, simple recipes. Many of the recipes use the same basic flavors: garlic, onions, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, etc. and yet each recipe has it's own unique flavor. Enjoyed the large, colorful images as well. I always like to see what I'll be eating!

[Angela Aroozoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small collection but quality recipes for home cooking. Balance in flavours and sauces cannot be faulted. I bought it so that my husband and kids could replicate the food that used to be learnt by hanging around family kitchens.

[Jane Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. It's the best one of hers if you're just begining to cook Chinese. It's simple, straight forward, authentic and fun...love herrrrrr

[Doron Yam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A realy easy chinese cooking for everyone.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well laid out and easy to understand, this cookbook has some merit. Still, it is terribly repetitive and because of this, many dishes taste similar ( at least the few I tried.)

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book! I keep coming back to it over and over. Really authentic flavours and the sweet and sour sauce is brilliant.

[Elsie Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

very clear and simple recipes to follow for Chinese home-cooking

[Michelle Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book. It's taught me a lot about Chinese flavours. All the recipes I've made I have loved

[Stephanie Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking forward to trying several of the recipes in this book.