Tried and Tasted:
A week of cooking from Tonight's Dinner
Five nights, five dishes, one book: what happened when Liaw’s recipes hit the weeknight grind.
The five recipes tested from Tonight's Dinner by Adam Liaw.
Cooking from a cookbook is one thing, cooking through it is another.
Each week in Tried and Tasted, I pick one cookbook and live with it for five meals. No special prep, no curated shopping trips, just real weeknight cooking in a real home kitchen. I test five recipes, eat the results, and reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and whether I’d make them again.
This week’s book? Tonight’s Dinner by Adam Liaw. A collection that promises globally inspired meals with everyday ease, no-fuss, full-flavour recipes designed to fit into the rhythm of modern life.
Could it deliver something delicious after a long day at work, without turning dinner into a second job? I put it to the test.
Here’s what happened.
Liaw's Lamb Ali Nazik - Tonight's Dinner pg. 62
Lamb Ali Nazik
In the Kitchen
Barbecues are just fun, there’s no two ways about it, so I was more than happy to fire mine up. (One of the many perks of a Sydney winter.) The eggplants and garlic cloves go straight on with no prep, left to grill for 30 minutes. I rotated them four times during cooking to get an even char.
That said, 30 minutes on medium heat was too long for the garlic. Instead of going soft and caramelised, the cloves hardened and dried out. Next time, I’ll throw them on for the last 10 minutes and see how that goes.
While everything was grilling, I prepped the rest of the ingredients, but there wasn’t much to do, so I got to relax a little while the barbecue did its thing.
Once the eggplants were cooked, I cut them open and scooped out the silky, caramelised insides. It smelled amazing. Liaw suggests roughly chopping the flesh before mixing it into the yoghurt, but I found it just fell apart on its own.
Cooking the lamb was another sensory highlight: the smell, the sizzle, the pop of colour from the vegetables. Everything about it was satisfying.
And then there’s the plating. If you’re looking to impress with something that looks as good as it tastes, this dish is a winner. I served it with a few warm pitas on the side, which worked perfectly for scooping.
The Verdict
This was absolutely delicious and it looked beautiful on the plate. It was rich and full of flavour, but somehow still felt light. Eating it with pita bread gave it a relaxed, shared-dish feel that made it all the more enjoyable.
Would I Make It Again?
Yes, I’d definitely make this again, probably when family is visiting. It feels like a great summer dish, ideal for sharing as a starter out in the sun with a cold drink in hand.
Worth Knowing
If you don’t have a barbecue or chargrill pan, Liaw does offer instructions for making the eggplant and garlic in the oven. It’s a great alternative for colder days or when you want to be able to set-and-forget, though you will lose a bit of that smoky flavour.
Liaw's Beef & Broccolini - Tonight's Dinner pg. 84
Beef and Broccolini
In the Kitchen
This recipe was a breeze to make, and everything came together quickly.
The beef is placed in a marinade at the start, which needs to sit for roughly the same amount of time it takes to prep the remaining ingredients and get the first aromatics into the wok.
Starting with the onion, garlic and ginger may have helped flavour the oil, but with the high heat of the wok, I found they ended up quite crispy even after flipping the beef below them. Personally, I prefer to soften them briefly, remove them, and then add them back toward the end of cooking for better balance.
Using broccolini instead of regular broccoli was a great twist. It needed minimal prep and was cooked through in just a few minutes. The finished dish looked glossy and vibrant, with those bright green stems adding real visual appeal.
The Verdict
Yum. There are countless stir-fry recipes out there, but beef and broccoli is one of my all-time favourites, and beef and broccolini? An easy, elegant upgrade. This recipe nails my favourite flavour-to-effort ratio: simple, satisfying, and totally worth it.
Would I Make It Again?
Absolutely. It’s inexpensive, quick enough for a weeknight, and most importantly: delicious.
Worth Knowing
Liaw swaps in broccolini here for its elegant shape and fast cooking time, which does work beautifully in a stir-fry. But if you’re after a more budget-friendly version, standard broccoli will still deliver on flavour. Just blanch it briefly first so it cooks evenly in the wok.
Also worth noting: this recipe is designed to serve four as part of a shared meal. If you’re serving it as a standalone dish with rice, I’d say it’s more comfortably portioned for two.
Liaw's Chicken Paprikash - Tonight's Dinner pg. 114
Chicken Paprikash
In the Kitchen
First off, if this dish is anything to go by, Hungarian comfort food smells incredible. The house was filled with a rich, creamy, tomatoey aroma that lingered in the best way for a full 24 hours after cooking.
The method was straightforward: soften the aromatics, coat the chicken, add it to the pot with the liquids, and leave it all to simmer.
I was surprised at the quantity of pasta, almost double what I’d normally cook for the same number of servings, but I decided to trust the process.
Liaw suggests orecchiette or another short pasta. I couldn’t find orecchiette locally, so I used conchiglie rigate, which is similar in size and has that same lovely concave shape.
Tossing the butter through the hot pasta at the end was deeply satisfying. The result was glossy, golden, and looked good enough to eat on its own. This is definitely bowl food, and I made sure to serve the pasta and chicken side-by-side as Liaw recommends, in proper pasta-with-ragù fashion.
The Verdict
The sauce was tasty, comforting and creamy with a flavour profile not unlike stroganoff. It was particularly cold the night I made it, and it felt like the perfect thing to wrap your hands around.
That said, there was a lot of pasta. I ate about half, while my fiancé finished his but was very full by the end. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the chicken, it was a little too chewy for my taste.
Would I Make It Again?
This was a fun dish to try, but it’s not one I’d add to my regular rotation. The flavour reminded me of stroganoff, and I already have some go-to recipes in that lane that I really enjoy.
Worth Knowing
Liaw uses chicken thighs here, which are great for affordability and moisture, but they’re also a bit chewier, especially in quicker-cooked meals. Because thighs are higher in fat, they’re a bit like the rump steak of chicken: forgiving and flavourful, but not always the most tender unless slow-cooked. Since this only simmers for 15 minutes, I’d be tempted to try it with breast next time.
And about that pasta - it’s a lot. I’m not one to count calories, but out of curiosity I crunched the numbers and this dish clocks in at around 1,200 calories per serve. Not necessarily a bad thing, but for me, it felt like a very big meal. Halving the pasta wouldn’t impact the ratios too much and would still result in something hearty and filling.
Liaw's Gobi Manchurian - Tonight's Dinner pg. 132
Gobi Manchurian
In the Kitchen
With a dish like this, everything moves quickly, so having everything sliced, diced, measured and ready before the heat goes on is key. I used the time while the oil was coming up to temperature to prep.
Liaw recommends using a large saucepan for deep frying, but with 10cm of oil, I found it came dangerously close to the top of my biggest pot. That’s without even accounting for the 10% expansion oil gains when heated. I swapped in a stockpot instead, plenty of room, and much safer.
I ended up frying the cauliflower in four batches to get a nice, even crisp. At five minutes per batch, that significantly extended the cooking time beyond the 15 minutes Liaw estimates. You could do larger batches, but you’d need to adjust the frying time to ensure everything cooks evenly.
The hardest part? Not eating all the crispy cauliflower straight off the cooling rack while I waited the required five minutes.
The sauce smelled incredible in the wok, and tossing everything together was deeply satisfying. I served this with plain rice, which I’d recommend having ready to go. This is one of those dishes that should hit the plate immediately, so you still get that bit of crunch.
The Verdict
Our resident vegetarian gave this a 12/10. I thought it was fantastic to, so much so that I kept forgetting I was eating cauliflower, not chicken.
Would I Make It Again?
Absolutely. This is a delicious, affordable vegetarian stir-fry that tastes like something you’d happily order from a great local Chinese takeaway. It feels like a treat, but it’s surprisingly light and easy to make.
Worth Knowing
This dish is best eaten fresh. Leftovers will still taste good, but you’ll lose any crispness and end up with a softer, soggier result when reheated.
Since there are two of us in my household, I’d recommend this approach: prepare all the sauce and batter the cauliflower on night one, but only cook half. Then store the rest and cook it fresh the next night. It won’t take any longer than reheating leftovers, and you’ll get that crunchy, just-fried magic all over again.
Liaw's Tofu Doughnuts - Tonight's Dinner pg. 196
Tofu Doughnuts
In the Kitchen
This might be one of the least involved desserts I’ve ever made. The most effort was smoothing out the silken tofu, an oddly satisfying task that involved pressing it through a sieve. After that, it was as simple as sifting in the three dry ingredients and mixing. The batter rests for thirty minutes in the fridge before frying.
Liaw gives an approximate flour quantity and suggests adjusting as needed to reach the right consistency, but I found the listed amount worked perfectly.
Just like with the Gobi Manchurian, I used a stockpot to handle the four litres of oil and cooked about four doughnuts at a time. Because the batter was chilled, I noticed the oil temperature dropped slightly with each batch, so I gave them an extra minute or two to ensure they were golden and cooked through.
Once cooled for a couple of minutes on a wire rack, I dusted them with cinnamon sugar using a small sieve, and the smell was incredible.
The Verdict
These were surprisingly delicious straight out of the fryer. I was initially sceptical about a tofu doughnut, but the end result was soft, warm, and gently sweet. That said, I think they’d benefit from a dipping sauce. Melted chocolate worked well.
Would I Make It Again?
While they were tasty, Liaw’s note to “serve immediately” turned out to be more of a warning than a suggestion. Once they cooled to room temperature, they became very soft and spongey. Still edible, but they lost their magic.
With the recipe making 12 and each person likely only wanting a couple, I can’t see myself making them again. It’s not the kind of thing I’d prepare for guests either. If people are coming over, I’d prefer to have dessert done in advance so I can spend time with them, not deep-frying doughnuts to order.
Worth Knowing
Liaw’s recipe has you dust the cinnamon sugar over the top of the doughnuts, but I found this wasted a lot of sugar. A better method is to pour the cinnamon sugar onto a plate and roll each doughnut through it. Easier, neater, and gives a more even coating.
Cooking from Tonight’s Dinner for a week felt like handing the reins to someone who genuinely gets weeknight cooking. The meals were practical, fast, and mostly low on stress - exactly the kind of food you want after a long day.
Not every recipe was a personal favourite (the tofu doughnuts, while fun, didn’t hold up once cooled, and the chicken paprikash was a little too heavy on the pasta for me), but others more than made up for it. The beef and broccolini was a total weeknight win, the gobi Manchurian made me forget I was eating cauliflower, and the lamb ali nazik looked and tasted like something from a restaurant.
There’s a quiet confidence in these recipes. They’re not flashy, but they don’t need to be. They’re the kind of meals that fit easily into real life, with enough flavour to make the everyday feel just a little bit special.
Want to Try It Yourself?
If Tonight's Dinner sounds like your kind of cookbook, straightforward, flavourful, and perfect for everyday cooking, you can pick up a copy below. It’s the exact edition featured in this review.
I may earn a small commission if you buy via this link, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting City Slicker.
Hungry for more?
Join our mailing list and get fresh cookbook reviews, tips, and more delivered straight to your inbox.
