The Chinese Takeout Cookbook, by Diana Kuan
Publisher and publication date: Ballantine Books, 2012
Amazon link: Buy it here
I am an avid collector – and all-around reader – of cookbooks. Vegetarian, vegan, homestyle, Ladies’ Auxuliary, salad, dessert, nondairy cheese-making, bread-baking … you name it, I love it. And though LeeLee and I have been vegetarian for going on 20 years now (!), I don’t eschew the meat-based books either. I just modify them, veg-i-fying the dishes as I go, as I’ve done for years. (As an aside, one of my cardinal beliefs in the kitchen is that if you’re having trouble making a meat-based dish vegetarian, you’re just not being creative enough.)
I’ve been in love with Diana Kuan’s “The Chinese Takeout Cookbook” for a long, long time. I stumbled across it at our local branch of the Alexandria Public Library years ago, checked it out at once, and to be perfectly honest, that same sweet copy has been at my home more often than it’s on the library shelves. LeeLee says I should just buy my own for home, buy at this point this book, this particular copy, is a dear friend of mine, and I would hate to say goodbye to it for a new one.
So the photos you see here of the book are, indeed, the public library’s edition. As I type it sits here by my side, an amiable companion from week to week. With our current quarantine situation, the library is shuttered for the foreseeable future, so its stay in my home is even longer than usual. I think we’re both enjoying the journey.
What appealed to me first and foremost about this book is its promise to bring Chinese takeout cooking to your home for less time and less expense (and, honestly, less hassle) than ordering takeaway from someplace. As someone who has always adored the topic of Chinese takeout cuisine, this is a high bar indeed. But Kuan delivers; I’ve yet to make a recipe from her collection that hasn’t turned out great, a far better testament to her instructions than to my cooking.
Take, for instance, her Dan Dan Noodles recipe. Oh man. I can’t think of greater comfort in a bowl, and it comes together in a snap. The sultry spice of the chili oil and Sichuan pepper (Kuan blessedly allows red pepper flakes to stand in for the latter if you get in a bind) infuse beautifully with the Chinese noodles, and the saucy ground veggie-beef that tops the dish brings an earthiness to everything that bursts with flavor. And – this may be the best part for me – it doesn’t take all day! Just 20 minutes from end to end and you’re on your way to an impressive dinner.
Quick and easy – and wonderfully tasty – are also the watchwords for Kuan’s Moo Goo Gai Pan recipe, which is a frequent attendee at our dinner table. We simply substitute chik’n strips or, more often, seitan for the chicken and go about our merry way with no ill effects whatsoever to the final product. Mushrooms, snow peas, garlic and ginger make the dish sing with a deeply rich umami flavor as well as some high notes, and the seitan pulls everything together into prefect cohesion. And, like the Dan Dan Noodles, the whole thing comes together in less time than it takes the accompanying rice to cook. Amazing.
And the list goes on. Kung pao chik’n. Mongolian beef. Fried rice. A passel of desserts. Veggies on the side. It’s all here. And it’s all delicious. Make this cookbook your friend in an instant and it is sure to become a bestie in very short order.
:)