A couple weeks into our Covid-19 quarantine, I wanted to eat Char Siu (a common Chinese BBQ meat). However, many restaurants were closed and I was isolating in a country house far away from New York City with little access to authentic Asian cuisine. If I wanted Char Siu, I would have to figure out how to cook it myself! This led me to create this blog…a journal of simple & easy to cook authentic Asian dishes at home!
What inspires my recipe postings?
I am a child of Chinese immigrants but raised in the Midwest United States, so I identify myself as an Asian American. Growing up my mother cooked Chinese food most nights, because there were not a lot of Asian restaurants where I grew up. On weekends, we frequently ate at the few Asian restaurants that were in the area. My parents often reveled in the ability to build a rapport with the Chinese restaurant owners to make special authentic dishes just for us. They pointed out how lucky we were to find authentic Asian cuisine where we lived. My family would also spend months during the summer in Hong Kong, their hometown and essentially my 2nd home, where they took me to eat all sorts of foods they missed while living in the United States. During college, my Asian friends also shared and introduced me to numerous foods they loved to eat. When I moved to New York City after college, I was spoiled by the numerous Asian food options available and often ate out or ordered in the numerous authentic dishes I ate growing up. I frequented Chinatown, Flushing, and Koreatown. I ate at a number of popular Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Malaysian restaurants too. When I met my husband and his family, I also learned much more about Taiwanese home cooking. I love all these various Asian flavors and during the Covid-19 pandemic, I not only became appreciative of the easy access I had to the plethora of Asian cuisine in New York City, but I was also missing it incredibly. My stomach was counting on my ability to figure out how to cook Asian foods myself! Desperate times called for desperate measures and I embarked on this journey to figure out how to cook dishes that I love.
How do I learn to cook Asian dishes?
I am a self-taught home cook as many home cooks are. I consulted family, friends, and researched. I experimented with different cooking techniques and recipes, including my own family’s dishes, before drafting my recipes. In cases where I find a recipe I wholeheartedly like written by someone else, I post my experience cooking it, what I liked about the recipe, and provide a link to the original recipe. I’m only happy with recipes if it tastes like what I ate growing up, enjoyed eating at authentic restaurants or consumed during my travels in Asia. The goal of this blog is to gather and share those authentic tastes, flavors, textures, and dishes for all to cook at home, eat and enjoy. Therefore, if I can cook these recipes, you can too! It does not take a professional cook to make delicious Chinese or other Asian dishes!
Quick & easy, authentic dishes
The focus for this blog is quick & easy authentic Asian recipes for home cooking — hence the name “Simply Asian”. What is “authentic” though? This can probably be debated, but to me, “authentic” means it is a dish that a Chinese immigrant family would prepare at home or order in a restaurant. You can view the recipes on this blog as dishes a good Chinese/Asian friend might introduce you to either in their own home or out at a restaurant. You will find a number of Chinese home comfort food dishes and easier restaurant-style dishes. I believe that sometimes the more complex dishes should simply be reserved for the professionals because we don’t have all the tools available in our homes nor the time and manpower! I think the more simple the recipe, the more likely you’ll cook it at home again and again. I have made these recipes a part of my regular home cooking and I hope you will too! Chinese and Asian cuisine has a lot of diversity and in fact, different regions of China (not just different Asian countries) are accustomed to different flavors and ingredients. The goal of my blog is to share what Chinese immigrant families often cook and eat at home and other Asian foods they might enjoy.
Sharing is the important part
The final reason for me to document these recipes is to preserve some family heritage and pass down these recipes to my children eventually. One day I hope it reminds them of home and they are curious to learn more about their ancestral roots. In the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these recipes too! I enjoyed learning how to cook them myself and am constantly learning new things about my heritage and ancestors’ love of foods too! Lastly, if you are interested in learning how to start your own food blog and share your own family or ethnic recipes, check out my post about how to start a food blog.
