Simply Ming One-Pot Meals: Quick, Healthy & Affordable Recipes

I've ordered several Asian cookbooks in the past, and been absolutely uninspired to cook with any of them. They all seemed to list either really obscure ingredients they tell little or nothing about, too many ingredients per recipe, or both. And they usually included a lot of steps to do a recipe I had no earthly idea whether I'd even like (because no one bothers to tell you what the ingredients TASTE like, or what they are generally used for!). Ming does list in the front of the book the ingredients his recipes call for--and explains what each one is like, and how to use it--and yes, they are inexpensive ingredients, overall. (A few fancy dishes thrown in in case you want to entertain with ease.) He also goes over cooking techniques in refreshingly simple terms. But what intrigued me was opening to the first recipe to see him describe a Chinese technique for cooking chicken that I've been using for years--having gotten it from an American restauranteur. (And just like the book says--it's delicious!)Then I looked at the recipes. Oh yeah. Most of them actually use ingredients anyone who has ever done a stir fry will already have on hand--and in combinations I already know taste good, because I use them all the time. But he knows how to amp the volume by adding a few unexpected twists that'll have you drooling. He also describes everything in such simple and non-intimidating lingo that you feel, "Hey--I can DO this!" And pretty easily, too.I should note that he does have more than Asian recipes--osso bucco, Morrocan, etc.--but most do have an Asian flare. They're also, for the most part, very healthy. I can't wait to try these recipes, and I have no doubt they'll all be good (I'll be updating on that as I make them). Having worked in the past with a Taiwanese chef (sadly, didn't pay attention to the recipes being too focused on slurping them down), I DO at least recall that some truly amazing dishes are really made very simply. And this cookbook HAS everything down very simply. Each recipe seems to have maybe eight ingredients and three to four steps to make the dish--SHORT steps, best of all! These one pot meals really are something special for such an easy method of cooking. (They include some lovely salad recipes too, so don't let the one pot thing put you off--there's a good variety here.)So if, like I was, you're looking for a cookbook that will inspire you to cook and not intimidate you out of the whole process, I can recommend this one, right out of the gate. WAY beyond what I hoped for. P.S. A few recipes the book includes: Kung Pao chicken, oxtail & shiitakes with quinoa, curry beef with potatoes & onions, beef, shiitake and broccoli stir-fry, pork kimchee with noodles (OMG! Can't wait to try that one!), scallop and bacon fettucine, lamb chops with eggplant & lemongrass tzatziki, asian spaghetti, asian sloppy joes, soba noodle carbonara (wow!), thai basil shrimp risotto, lemongrass scampi with papardelle, mushroom chicken fricassee with edamame, ginger-orange duck 'cassoulet', jerk chicken with mango, morrocan spiced lamb with bell pepper couscous--and LOTS more. Pretty close to a hundred, I'd guess, and I didn't see one that took up more than one page for both ingredients and directions to the recipe. You can't lose with this book. Ming Tsai kicks butt!

I've always loved Ming Tsai's style, and this book has made me even more of a fan. One-Pot Meals is packed with 80 recipes, lots of beautiful photos, and a brief tutorial on the less common ingredients used. Everything we've made from this book has been awesome, including my personal favorite: minin clams and leeks. If I got this meal in a high-end restaurant, I would be very happy! I can't wait to make it again. Double the bacon though! =)The gimmick of the book is "one pot meals" and this format works out very well - one page, one recipe, one pot. Divided up into seven sections (braise, wok, saute, roast, high temperature, soup, and toss) - each one has a bunch of recipes that I can't wait to try and lots of preparation tips. It's worth noting that most of these recipes aren't just 'toss a bunch of stuff in a pot and cook for a while', which I have seen before... there's a decent amount of preparation involved, mostly chopping and slicing.As a final note: after making a recipe from this book I'm always psyched (and usually surprised) that there's only usually one pot and a cutting board to clean up. Awesome!

We became fans of Ming while watching him on PBS. He makes really tasty dishes that are healthy, not because they replace unhealthy items with the low-fat version, but because the real recipe starts out healthy and pure. His recipes are great because they appeal to people with high-brow tastes while being easy to make (as opposed to say, some fussy French recipe). His recipes have a wide appeal, I would serve these to my pickiest relatives as well as the down to earth ones.The book is beautifully put together. The recipes all have full-page photographs of the meal. What I love is that he recommends a wine/beer to go with every dish. You'll be able to achieve the right pairing the first time you make the meal, without having to taste it first. I am no chef, but I do love to cook; I find myself having all of the tools necessary to make the meal, the only issue I have is finding the ingredients. Granted, I live in a suburban area of a boring city, but even if I moved back to a major city, I wouldn't know off the top of my head where to get oxtail. The harder to find ingredients don't make me like this book less, because I feel it rounds out my recipe collection, but I was surprised that the meals in this book contained more hard-to-find ingredients than his show does. That is the only reason for four stars. I will likely look for others of his cook books to try to find more of his recipes that contain ingredients I am familiar with cooking. In addition to the drink pairing tips, Ming provides lengthy descriptions of the meals, so that you can imagine what you are about to make and know how to aim for that end. He gives tips at the bottom of the page about, for example, handling various meats or cutting a certain vegetable.Examples of some of the recipes are:- Star anise-ginger "braised" whole chicken- Red-roast duck legs with sweet potatoes and daikon- Oxtail and shiitakes with quinoa- Aromatic short ribs with root vegetables- Curry beef with potatoes and onions- Orange-ginger lamb shanks with barley- Garlic with osso buco with celeriac- Pork belly with jalapeno-pineapple salsa- Chicken and tri-bell pepper chow mein- Kung pao chicken with house rice- Beef shiitake and broccoli stir-fry- "French Dip" orange beef- Green peppercorn beef with asparagus and rotini- Pork kimchee with noodles- Gingered pork with leeks- Scallop and bacon fettuccine- Clams with pork and jicama- Black bean scallops and zucchini- Black pepper sake mussels with granny smith apples- Mirin clams and leeks- Sweet and sour mango pork- Beef and onion "sukiyaki"

I have to start by saying that I never write reviews on anything unless the product is REALLY horrible or REALLY amazing. I had to write a review on Simply Ming because it is definitely one of the BEST cookbooks I've ever found. I've made several recipes from this book and they've all turned out great! I've never found any other cookbook where every recipe I tried was not only delicious but also turned out to look just like the picture in the book. The food I made tastes like it came from a restaurant! The majority of ingredients were available at a typical grocery store (although there are some that you have to go to an Asian market to find), the recipes were easy to follow, and the pictures are very helpful. If you love Asian cooking, you will definitely not be disappointed. I highly recommend this book!

Ming doesn't give actual times for making these recipes. That's because they take forever. The preparation of the ingredients alone can often take over an hour if not hours. Also, the directions for some recipes have you do ridiculous steps in order to make the recipe conform to the "one-pot" only concept (e.g., cook a grain and set it aside for many HOURS before the rest of the recipe is ready to mix together, just to use the grain pot for preparing the meat). On a positive note, some of the flavor profiles are yummy (e.g., bouillabaisse). However, many of the dishes simply taste like one-note casseroles with a slightly "Asian" flavor.