101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die

Tila’s debut cookbook and his best starting point. It collects 101 recipes spanning Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian cuisines, all written for home cooks who want bold Asian flavors without spending all day in the kitchen. Named one of the Top 10 Cookbooks of 2017 by the Los Angeles Times.

Why Start Here

This is Tila at his most focused and generous. Each recipe is paired with a chef tip explaining the technique, the ingredient logic, or the cultural context behind the dish. The range is remarkable: you move from pad thai to pho to Korean BBQ short ribs without ever feeling like the book has lost its footing. Tila’s half-Thai, half-Chinese heritage shows in the natural ease with which he crosses between traditions.

The recipes are designed around what you can find at a regular grocery store, with honest notes about when a specialty ingredient is worth seeking out and when a substitution works fine. The cooking times are realistic and the instructions are clear enough for someone who has never cooked Asian food before.

What to Expect

A 192-page cookbook with vibrant photography and a relaxed, encouraging tone. Most recipes are weeknight-friendly, requiring 30 to 60 minutes of active cooking time. You will need to build a small Asian pantry (soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha), but Tila walks you through that process in the introduction. The book is organized by cuisine, making it easy to explore one tradition at a time or hop between them as the mood strikes.