Amazing food! Most Chinese cook books seem to focus on meat when actually a lot of Chinese food is mostly plant based with meat often more as a kind of side dish oder flavouring Agent. I loved this approach and all the recipes.

Love having more and more diverse cook books both culturally and alternative eating. Good add to any cookbook collection.

Excellent recipes for stir-fries, rice and noodle dishes. Book contains helpful information to follow on equipment, pantry ingredients with substitutions, ways to season and maintain a wok, and other useful tips. Most recipes are easy to follow, some can be a bit complicated. Nevertheless, I tried a few of them and they came up great! Highly recommend it!

This book is amazing. The photos in it are gorgeous and I love that show a variety of the recipes and ingredients. The introduction gives information about Chinese food culture and where to shop for some of the specialty ingredients. I appreciate especially the photo help on folding dumplings, which is really helpful when you're making them for the first few times.

The variety of authentic recipes is mouthwatering. The directions are comprehensive and you won't feel overwhelmed even when trying something totally new for you. I cannot wait to try these out!

There are many delicious Chinese recipes that are vegetarian friendly. Not everyone will seek out vegetarian Chinese food but I am sure many will enjoy it once they try it. Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food has a good mix of recipes that people will recognize.
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The author provides excellent recipes for stir-fries, rice and noodle dishes, soups, braises, pickles, and vegetarian versions of Chou's dumplings. There is helpful information to follow on equipment, pantry ingredients with substitutions, ways to season and maintain a wok, and other practical tips.

While some recipes are easy to follow, some feel overwhelming to give a try; however, all the information you need is here to make your own at-home Chinese vegetarian food.

From the simple (wok fried egg with onion oil) to the more complex (steamed vegetable bazoi), everything I cooked was a standout. The mapo tofu, kung pao tofu puffs, egg foo yung, and soup dumplings were all accessible and, more importantly, delicious.

We have enjoyed the recipes in this book and look forward to trying more. Our family, while always loving our veggies and often eating vegetarian and vegan dishes, welcomed the opportunity to try new ways to enjoy our favorite vegetables and discovering new ingredients.

I lived in Shanghai for 4 years and I absolutely loved the food from Day 1. As someone who eats vegetarian for the majority of the time, I was looking for ways to get back to that delicious food in a vegetarian way. Chou's recipes will require you to initially stock up on some Asian staples, but once you're there you can make some delicious food! What I loved about Chinese food were how the vegetables were prepared and I found ways to attempt recreating those flavours in this cookbook!

Such a wonderful collection of plant-based Chinese dishes. I especially welcomed the different ways to prepare tofu. Necessary for anyone wishing to add more plant based meals to their diet.

This was a nice cookbook! I've just gotten interested in exploring vegetarian options. The material is well written and presented in an easy to follow manner. I look forward to trying out several of these recipes.

I fell in love with the cookbook Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food. It's divided into sections such as dumplings, stir-fries, steamed dishes and so on and it had several recipes I'd love to try. One of them being Fried Brown Rice With Oyster Mushrooms and Greens.

Overall, I enjoyed Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food by Hsiao-Ching Chou.

I love vegetarian recipes, as I do not like touching meat So that got my attention right away.

I found the intro very long. I think most of it was necessary if you are new to this type of cooking, but it is very long. I think in a physical book it would be easier to pick and choose what to read. On an eReader it is much harder.

I thought the recipes were interesting. Some ingredients I can find more easily than others, which will alter how much of this book I would use. I wish there had been more suggestions for dumpling fillings. Overall, a nice variety of options.

I do not think I would buy this book, but I have already submitted a recommendation request for my library to purchase it, as I think it would be great in their collection.

I received an eARC from Sasquatch Books through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

So I love meatless monday and I’m always looking for a great recipe. Can you go wrong with vegetarian Chinese? No questionable meat right?

What did I like? Ok I’ve been searching for a great dumpling sauce and although vegan it does the trick. Easy to navigate recipe book and you really had me at dumplings! This book is versatile because it still adds meat if you need it! Even the Chinese donuts were a hit!

Would I recommend or buy? I think this is a great vegetarian book and I’m all for it. It’s versatile and it has great recipes. I’d buy and recommend such a great Chinese cookbook! Four stars!

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review!

The Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food Cookbook is completely inspiring, as the author does a good job of combining flavors and textures in a way that eaters will not even realize the meat is missing. The cookbook starts out with a good introduction, describing important ingredients, techniques, and equipment that is necessary for success. As the cookbook segues into the recipe sections, the one thing that is missing from the introduction is descriptions and pictures of the ingredients that may be unfamiliar. It would be helpful to be able to see what a lily bud looks like, for instance.

The recipes are divided into the following sections, with some of the standout dishes.

Dumplings: Classic and Gluten-Free Dumpling Dough, as well as a great dipping sauce

Dim Sum and Small Bites: Spring Rolls; Steamed Vegetable Bao

Soups and Braises: Hot and Sour Soup with Dried Lily Buds; Rice Cake Soup with Veg; Sweet Corn Soup

Stir-Fries: Wok-Seared Edamame and Corn; Lucky 8 Stir-Fry

Steamed Dishes: Simply Steamed Baby Bok Choy; Gai Lan with Sesame Sauce

Rice and Noodles: Simple Vegetable Fried Rice; Rice Vermicelli with Vegetables

Tofu: Meatless Ma Po Tofu; Seared Tofu with Baby Bok Choy

Eggs: Zucchini Egg Crepe; Homestyle Egg Fu-Yung

Salads and Pickles: Chili Radish in Soy Sauce; Chinese Cabbage Slaw

Overall, this cookbook has several dishes that are both easy to make and very flavorful. There are not photos for every dish, but the author has some good technique based photos that are extremely helpful. I would definitely recommend the Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food Cookbook to those who want to try something new.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food
Deliciously Doable Ways to Cook Greens, Tofu, and Other Plant-Based Ingredients by NetGalley and the publisher, Sasquatch Books. The choice to review this cookbook was my own.

Hsiao-Ching Chou’s Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food is a comprehensive and delicious collection of plant-based Chinese recipes. I love the wonderful full-colour pictures as well as the very thorough introduction which covers everything you need to know about Chinese cooking and more! This book is perfect for vegetarians and Chinese food fans. It is also a treat for those of us who want to incorporate more vegetables in our diets.

The book begins with an informative introduction and a super helpful chapter on key ingredients, equipment, and techniques to help you prepare for whipping up vegetarian Chinese goodies. Chou takes us through important tools like canning jars and steamers. We also learn about core pantry ingredients. Items include the usual suspects like hoisin sauce and rice wine to more interesting fare like dried lily flowers and tofu puffs.

There’s even a little section on soy sauce—I never thought of soy sauce in such detail before and I will never see it the same way again! I loved learning little titbits of cultural information like chopstick etiquette and about the Lunar New Year (Chou even includes a sample menu!). She teaches us about ingredient soaking times (red beans and mung beans soak overnight but dried kelp only needs 30 minutes) as well as tips on combining ingredients and flavours.

The rest of the book features chapters on Dumplings; Dim Sum and Small Bites; Soups and Braises; Stir-Fries; Steamed Dishes; Rice and Noodles; Tofu; Eggs; and Salads and Pickles. I loved learning how to make classic dumpling dough as well as popular staples like Spring Rolls, Vegetarian Wonton Soup, and Flaky Ribbon Pancakes. There are recipes for classic favourites like Sweet Corn Soup, Mu Shu Vegetables, Seaweed Salad, and Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf. There are also other dishes like Red Bean Soup, Shao Bing (sesame flatbread), and Garlic Yam Leaf.

Chou’s writing is clear, informative, and detailed. However, it is a bit dry. I enjoyed the little anecdotes and would’ve liked more. The recipes are clear and easy-to-follow. I like that each one begins with tips, or trivia. The recipes are approachable for all levels of cooks with a wide variety of simple and complicated dishes. I also like that there are suggestions for including meat and seafood.

Although there aren’t pictures for every single recipe, I didn’t mind because the book is still filled with many bright full-colour pictures. I also like that there are detailed pictures of the dumpling making process as well as the various ingredients and tools. However, I do wish the pictures were labelled.

Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food is a great, comprehensive, and yummy cookbook. It will be a wonderful addition to any cook’s collection.




🥢🥢🥢🥢 ½ out of 5 chopsticks!

Vegetarian Chinese Soul Food by Hsiao-Ching Chou
Deliciously Doable Ways to Cook Greens, Tofu, and Other Plant-Based Ingredients

This cookbook appealed to me because I am moving toward a plant based whole foods way of eating that leans more and more often to vegan fare. These are my thoughts after looking through this cookbook:

What I liked:
* The photographs were gorgeous
* Ingredients, techniques and equipment were listed and explained well
* There were charts with interesting information to refer to (soaking dry ingredients & soy sauce comparison)
* Recipes were easy to read and follow…I think
* The chapters included: dumplings (beautiful), dim sum and small bites, soups and braises, stir-fries, steamed dishes, rice and noodles, tofu (intrigued me), eggs, salad and pickles
* being able to mentally “taste” the dishes as I read
* The sweet and sour sauce recipe is one I could easily make at home
* The information about all of the vegetables

Downside for me:
* Living where I do in the Middle East during this pandemic…I won’t be able to buy many of the items necessary to make the recipes
* I believe that some of these recipes, like the dumplings, would be easier to make in with someone skilled to assist
* I would have liked to have labels on the photo pages indicating what the vegetables and cooking items were

Did I enjoy this book? Yes, it was interesting
Would I be likely to buy it? Probably not where I live now since I can’t find many of the essential ingredients.

Thank you to NetGalley and SasquatchBooks for the ARC – This is my honest review

4 Stars

This book looks very promising. Because the ebook version I got really messed up the formatting it was impossible for me to actually use it, which makes it a bit tricky to review.
The recipes are simple to follow, and the ones with more tricky steps have got plenty of pictures showing you what to do. I would have liked to have more finished product pictures in it though.
The author takes his time to explain the typical Chinese ingredients you will need, where to get them, and what to replace them with if you cannot find them. She also gives a lot of suggestions on which recipes to combine with each other, making it a nice and flexible book to work with.
This is also a very nice book to look into if (like me) you are vegan. There are some recipes with eggs in them, but in most cases you can just leave them out.
This is a great book to make more traditional Chinese food more accessible for us western home cooks.

This is my dream cookbook. I really struggle to find useful vegetarian cookbooks, but this one really hits the spot. All the recipes look delicious, they are well set out and easy to follow.

I love the guidance given at the beginning of the book regarding tools and ingredients. I have not ventured forth to make anything yet so I cannot give an opinion of the veracity of directions for recipes. I won’t lie, I am daunted to make most of these recipes. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.