Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner [Hardcover]

This is my first review even after years and thousands of dollars in purchases on Amazon. I felt I owed it to the author after finally feeling thrilled with a cookbook purchase.

As an aspiring "home chef" without talent or experience, I've bought dozens of cookbooks hoping to find one that would enable me to create cuisine, not just mundane meals. Sadly, I have been let down countless times. Sure, my lack of cooking skills puts me at a huge disadvantage, but I'm not buying complex books. I tried to stick with cookbooks that focused on the novice. In the end, my dishes looked nothing like the photos, tasted nothing like the description, and left me with little more than dirty dishes and buyer's remorse.

The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook changed that for me. I've now cooked six meals from within these pages and every single one of them left me literally smiling at first bite. Just like one of those corny food commercials. :) Here's why:

1. The ingredients were all found at my local supermarket...unlike books that sent me to far away places in search of obscure spices that I'd never use again.

2. The book was fun to read, kept my attention, and gave me insight like no other cookbook had given me in the past. Most just started right in with the recipes, leaving me with more questions than answers. Unlike the Steamy Kitchen, they focused on the "how" without ever addressing the "why".

3. The steps were easy to follow, the dishes easy to prepare, and the end result actually matched the photos. The other cookbooks I bought should have come with a sous chef because I was way out of my element. I never realized how inadequate they were until I read and followed this book.

4. The flavors were solid, delicious, and spot-on. I couldn't believe I made these meals. They seemed complex to the taste but they were actually quite easy to make. I wasn't the only one in our family raving about the food I cooked. If you knew me, you'd know how incredible that is.

The Scallops & Fruit Salsa...amazing. The Salmon with Cucumber Relish...amazing (I used her 250-degree slow-cook method instead of steaming). The Crab Cakes...best I have EVER tasted. I could go on and on. And I will, in my kitchen, until I've cooked every meal in the book.

If you are hesitant to purchase this book...don't be. Even if you actually ARE a chef, unlike me, you'll find the dishes and flavors to be divine. But if you're a hazard waiting to happen in the kitchen, like me, this book will literally motivate you to keep trying.

Yeah...it's that good.

I love buying cookbooks. I love the pictures, the recipes, and trying new things. However, not many cookbooks have appealed to me because of their long, complicated recipes, so most of the time, these lovely cookbooks end up sitting on my shelf collecting dust.

A good friend of mine got me this for Christmas, and I literally jumped for joy when I opened the package. Jaden is one of my favorite food bloggers, and I couldn't wait to try out her new recipes.

I feel like she gets it-- who wants to spend 8 hours at work, only to come home and spend another 3 hours on dinner after stopping by the grocery to buy 50 things you didn't have and are only going to use once? She gets that I need dinner now, I want it good, and I want it to only LOOK like I spent a lot of time on it. This book is perfect. Her recipes are fresh, fun, and very simple. I've made some good stuff in a dinky studio kitchen (with no oven), and my husband is happy after a long day at pharmacy school. I HIGHLY recommend it, even for your kitchen-fearing friends!

I also bought this book for a friend of mine who lives in Florida. I told her no excuses about not being to cook Asian food; if Jaden can do it, she can!

I received this highly-anticipated cookbook yesterday afternoon and was very happy to find out that it exceeds all my expectations. This cookbook is real. It's not perfect but it is friendly and accessible. Reading through the headnote of the recipes, I feel like a dear friend is teaching me how to cook and how to eat better. There is nothing pretentious about it, and that alone makes this cookbook unique and appealing.

Most of the cookbooks out in the market are glorified by food stylists and food photographers--this is not a bad thing because cookbooks are meant to appeal to the potential readers at first sight, but they tend to be too perfect and "cold." The recipes are almost too pretty for everyday cooking. The author of this book learned how to take food photography herself and all the photos in the cookbook was done by her. As a result, it really makes me want to rush to the kitchen and start cooking.

All in all though, I think this is a great cookbook done in a very casual "conversational" style with real-life food photography and everyday Asian recipes.