Kristina Cho bridges cultures in 'Chinese enough' cookbook

Growing up in Ohio, Kristina Cho learned to blend Cantonese cooking with a Midwestern sensibility. Her new cookbook, Chinese Enough: Homestyle Recipes for Noodles, Dumplings, Stirfries, and More, addresses a challenge that many first-generation Americans face — how to bridge cultures and feel complete.

Kristina Cho: If you've ever visited San Francisco, you might realize that there's a heavy Asian influence throughout the city, all different types. I lived in Inner Richmond for about six years, and it was the first time in my life that I lived in a place where a majority, so many people, looked like me. I could go to the Chinese grocery store or go to a bakery just a block away from my house and hear Cantonese spoken in the restaurants walking down the street. Living in inner Richmond allowed me to experience a life that I didn't really know was imaginable and that was just not being so different.

Evan Kleiman: I'm so happy to have you. We loved your first book, Mooncakes and Milk Bread. 

Thank you. 

You live in the Bay Area now but grew up outside of Cleveland. Can you describe your early years and how they informed the title of your latest cookbook?

I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. My grandparents actually lived in downtown Cleveland, in what's considered Chinatown. It's called Asiatown now, but I spent a lot of my childhood going back and forth between the suburbs, where my parents lived, where my grandparents lived in Chinatown, and then also at my grandparents' restaurant, which gave me, I think, a dynamic childhood.

I grew up around a lot of food, a lot of cooking, spending time at the restaurant, but then at the same time, I always felt like I was kind of traversing between different worlds. When I would have to go back into the suburbs, going to school, interacting with my friends again, there were definitely moments where I felt like I was too Asian or not American enough. So I spent a lot of my early years doing a bit of a balancing act.

Let's get into the book, Chinese Enough. You organized the chapters in such an interesting way. There's kind of an exuberance to them but quite unusual.

I wanted my chapters to be a little more dynamic than, say, "the seafood chapter" or "the main course" or "side dish" even though there is more than a side chapter in there. I wanted the chapters to be a little bit more thematic. 

The first chapter is called Best With Rice, and I would describe that as a chapter that's full of really good weeknight, quick meals, things that are obviously best served with rice, like my Tomato Eggs or Sticky Maple Tofu Sticks. 

A lot of those recipes are designed in a way that they take as long to cook as a pot of rice takes to steam, depending on which rice you make.

Bay Area resident Kristina Cho grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, spending time in her grandparents' restaurant. Photo by Kristina Cho.

The book opens with several engaging egg recipes. I'd love to touch on a few of these because they're relatively easy to make and seem like such a good solution to not only a quick dinner but what can you eat for breakfast that isn't a carb? You mentioned tomato eggs. Let's start with them. I'm seeing them more and more on social media. What makes them different from simply scrambling eggs with tomatoes? 

Well, scrambling eggs with tomatoes is definitely a way of making tomato eggs. My version of tomato egg, I like to describe it as leaning more in the Cantonese direction, where the tomatoes are cooked down almost into this gravy, and it's thickened with a little bit of corn starch, so it has this glossy, silky texture. You almost make this tomato sauce first. Then, you crack the eggs into a small bowl, whisk them up, drizzle the eggs over the top of the tomatoes, and let that sit for a few moments. Then, you take a spoon or spatula and start to stir the eggs into the sauce. It creates these curdles of eggs that are super tender. It's a really quick and easy and satisfying meal to make.

And the tomato sauce itself, it has oyster sauce in it, doesn't it? It has something in there to amp up the flavor.

Yes, it has oyster sauce. It also has white pepper, which I think adds a really nice kind of back-of-your-throat heat to it. But definitely the oyster sauce has this sweet and salty flavor profile that amps up tomatoes, even if you're making tomato egg in the dead of winter and you can't get really great tomatoes, adding a little bit of that will make them taste incredible.

Staying with the egg theme, talk to me about how you use that bundle of wilting herbs in the fridge. 

I love that you noted that detail. I actually have some in my fridge right now but I almost always have some cilantro slowly wilting away in my refrigerator. I grow basil in my backyard but oftentimes I have to harvest it, and I just have basil sitting on my counter. I love to incorporate a lot of basil and cilantro, whatever sort of tender herbs, into my recipes, just to use them up and so they don't go to waste. 

So one of my favorite ways to use up these slowly wilting herbs is in a steamed egg. Steamed eggs are really common, really home style. It's a really home style recipe in Chinese cooking. All you do is blend up the herbs with eggs, not too much, so you don't get too much air in there. Then you gently steam them for about 15 minutes until it sets into this almost custard. The eggs also take on this really beautiful green color. In a way, it could be like a play on Green Eggs and Ham, if you want to serve it with a pork chop on the side, or something like that at dinner. Those are really yummy and really fun to make.

Cutting tofu into thick sticks makes for a satisfying vegetarian meal. Photo by Kristina Cho.

I understand that you inadvertently became a vegetarian for a little while, while you were in architecture school. What are some of your favorite meat-free meals?

Yes, I lean heavily on tofu, so the Sticky Maple Tofu Sticks are one of my favorite meals. I made that for dinner last night, they are actually sticks of tofu. I think that's a really satisfying cut. You can cut them in any way you want but cutting them into thick logs makes them a bit more satisfying.

Kind of like fish fingers?

They evoke a little bit of childhood nostalgia because they look like fish sticks or they look like french toast sticks just by the way they're cut. I think that's fun. And you crisp them up in some oil with a corn with a cornstarch breading, and you have this crispy coating, but then you add it into this sauce that has maple syrup that's reduced down so it gets really nice and sticky. And there's a little bit of vinegar in there and soy sauce and spices. It becomes this complex, rich sauce that's also well-balanced. That's one of my favorite meat free meals.

Do you feel like you have to also have some kind of vegetable?

A lot of times, I'll make a simple, stir-fried Asian green on the side. In the Know Your Vegetable chapter, there is a recipe for Tried and True Gai Lan in there. It's a way of preparing an Asian green that can also be applied to not gai lan. You can add bok choy in there, yu choy, any type of Asian green. You can also cook spinach the same way.

What is the technique that you teach us for those greens?

The technique is essentially a shorter version of making blanched and stir fried greens. Typically, at a Chinese restaurant, the gai lan is first boiled or blanched in water and then stir-fried. But for me as a home cook, I want to reduce as many pots and pans I have on the stovetop going at one time, especially if I'm making tofu on the side or steaming rice on the stove top. 

The way to make this tried and true gai lan, or any Asian green, is I start off in a pan with a little bit of oil, and I add my vegetables in there. I give them a quick stir fry then I add a little bit of water, cover the pan so the water can evaporate and create steam. It cooks the greens, makes it nice and bright green. Then, you remove the lid and allow any moisture to cook off and you have that residual oil that's still in the pan and hasn't gone anywhere. You let the water cook off, let the oil do its thing and then you add your flavor, which is often oyster sauce, a little bit of sesame oil if you want, a little salt and sugar, white pepper. You can adjust all those flavors to your own liking. 

"Chinese Enough" explores Kristina Cho's Cantonese roots, her Midwestern sensibility, and her love for California ingredients. Photo courtesy of Artisan Books.

Yum. Which of your recipes do you feel is the best representation of bridging cultures?

Oh, that's such a hard question. I have thought about this in the past. If there is one recipe that blends everything in one, for some reason, in this moment, my brain immediately went to my Mom's Spaghetti. I go to that recipe because of the story behind it. 

Mom's Spaghetti is essentially a version of Chinese spaghetti, which I didn't realize was a phenomenon until I started sharing recipes on the internet, and especially when I started testing this recipe and having other people taste it. My friends who are also Chinese American, they're like, "Oh, my mom also made a version of this Chinese spaghetti but we added this or we added mushrooms to it instead." Chinese spaghetti is an example of how Chinese food can evolve and adapt into a new environment but still feel, in a way, Chinese enough and very Chinese in its own way.