Over 100 favourite recipes from a Chinese family kitchen
By Amy Zhang and Julie Zhang
We can hardly believe that what started out as a few fun cooking tutorials on YouTube has turned into a proper grown up cookbook.
An actual printed, fully photographed, bound collection of our recipes!
It was our baby for over a year and the first time we held it in our arms was truly like holding a newborn. Only you can eat what’s inside it, if you knock a few pans about in the kitchen.
We hope you love it as much as we do.
Where to buy
See the list below for places where you can get your hands on a copy of The Dumpling Sisters Cookbook. There are options aplenty!
Hardcopy:
Amazon (UK)
Amazon (US)
Waterstones (UK)
WHSmith (UK)
Or find your local UK bookshop at Booksellers.org.uk
Whitcoulls (NZ)
Paper Plus (NZ)
Bookworld (Australia)
Booktopia (Australia)
eBook:
Book description (the official version written by our lovely publishers)
Amy and Julie Zhang have been entertaining and educating their thousands of followers on Youtube with their recipes for deliciously easy homemade Chinese food – now THE DUMPLING SISTERS CHINESE COOKBOOK brings you more of the recipes and advice that those fans have been clamouring for.
Dedicated to and destined to be adored by every Chinese food lover, this book is full of Chinese-food favourites, impressive sharing dishes and even sweet treats that have been little acknowledged in a western understanding of Chinese food – until now. This is Chinese home cooking at its best.
The recipes are structured as to give a gradual introduction to Chinese dishes, beginning with the simple; Best Ever Fried Rice, and working up to the more elaborate Cracking Five-Spice Roast Pork Belly, and are interspersed with the insider tips and tricks that the girls’ Youtube fans adore.
There is also a focus on Chinese culture and eating etiquette (for perfecting those chopstick skills), including sharing menu planner and a guide to shopping at the Chinese supermarket. Amy and Julie write with wit and gusto – they are the perfect cooks to take any food lover on a journey to discover real Chinese cooking.
About the authors (also written by our publishing team)
The Dumpling Sisters are an engaging and charismatic duo who have referred to themselves as the ‘young, Asian, and (much) less hairy Hairy Bikers’. They are exceptionally bright girls; Amy has a PhD in science and Julie has a masters in psychology and criminology, with a passion for cooking.
The Zhang family is from Guangzhou in China, a city famed for its incredible Cantonese cuisine. After moving to New Zealand the family set up a Chinese food cart which was as a family – giving Amy and Julie invaluable experience of cooking Chinese food to the highest standards. In 2014 the food cart is still going strong.
Dumpling Sisters 
Pingback: Ants Climbing a Tree VIDEO | Dumpling Sisters
I’ve tried some of your recipes. My family and I loved them. Thank you for sharing. I have a health problem that does not allow alcohol. What can I substitute for it in your recipes?
LikeLike
Hi there Margaret! Thanks so much for your lovely feedback, we really appreciate it!! As for the Shaoxing, it is absolutely fine to leave it out or use the equivalent amount of water. Most of the time it will not make too much of a difference 🙂
LikeLike
Doesn’t the alcohol in alcoholic ingredients cook off with heat? Hence the reason brandy flambes eventually go out.
LikeLike
Good question Matt – it depends on how you use it. If added to a hot wok yes a lot of the alcohol will vapourise, but if in a marinade the liquid has a better chance to seep into the meat before cooking. In any case, most of the time we use alcohol like rice wine because we want the flavour in it to come through, rather than for the alochol (the ethanol) itself. Think beer flavour rather the part of the beer that makes you tipsy 😉
LikeLike
I love all your recipes son much that I’m thinking of buying a chinese wok. What kind of wok do you use, coated nonstick or carbon uncoated? Please help me :)
LikeLike
Hi Eliott. First up, it’s great to hear that you’re enjoying our recipes, thanks! In terms of a wok, we usually suggest an uncoated carbon steel one. They’re super affordable and will last a lifetime. The only slightly tricky thing is to get it ready for using, a process called “seasoning” (otherwise the steel rusts). There’s a great article on how to do this over on Serious Eats: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-season-a-wok-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-171893. If you don’t want to go down that route, I’ve started using a non-stick wok recently and I’ve found that it’s really easy to use for every day meals. The only downside is that you don’t get the smokey flavour that you get from steel woks. Having said that, you only get that if the wok gets really really hot (which is why non-stick woks don’t give you that flavour, as their coating is not really designed to cope with such intense heat). But for most people the biggest limitation is getting the wok hot enough, because home hobs usually aren’t powerful enough! So I think it depends on what you’re after – ease of use (go non-stick) vs. authenticity and feeling more like a stir-fry master (go steel). Hope that helps a bit!
LikeLike
So glad I purchased it! I LOVE this book! Thanks Amy & Julie! Your recipes rock! My local Chinese restaurant misses me terribly (I only go when supremely lazy now and in the mood to have second rate food compared to my own cooking with the help of you two lovely women)!
LikeLike
Aw thanks Stephen that’s so nice!! What are your favourite dishes to cook?
LikeLike
Sooooo many! Pork potstickers, spring onion pancakes, Mapo tofu, the broccoli oyster sauce noodles with fried onions, ow ho fun, ants climbing a tree and the cauliflower satay! Also I really enjoy Kung Pao beef so I used your Kung Pao chicken recipe and substituted beef for the chicken and was delighted with the resulting dish! Can’t thank you ladies enough!
LikeLike
Aww thanks Stephen! So chuffed that you’ve made so many of our recipes! If you have any requests, send them through 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Five-Spiced Banana Fritters RECIPE | Dumpling Sisters
Hello Girls!
I found Your recipes quite recently, but Oh my how much I love them!!! It’s amazing to watch how easy is to make a delicious meal at home and in terms of the amount of ingredients, how little goes a long way! It’s not greasy at all, super fun to make, especially watching You cracking some jokes and having great time in the kitchen. Love Your energy! Thank You and please keep doing it!
LikeLike
I love your dumpling recipe and have made it three times within the last 2 days absolutely love the ease of cooking them and the authentic taste! Thanks muchly!
LikeLike
Thanks Ann! Three batches in 2 days is dedication! x
LikeLike