Simple Vietnamese Food To Cook At Home
Vietnamese By Uyen Luu, published by Hardie Grant 2021, £22
Did you know that the Vietnamese way of asking, ‘how are you?’ is to say, ‘have you eaten rice yet?’ Food is central to the lives of Vietnamese people, who tend to eat for the love of eating. They don’t just eat to live, they believe life is nothing without the enjoyment of good food.
In Vietnamese, Uyen Luu demonstrates that Vietnamese food is just as easy to whip up as a bowl of pasta – all you need is a good bottle of fish sauce and a little enthusiasm!
She shares 85 of her tastiest recipes – some traditional, some with a modern twist – using a handful of essential ingredients that are readily available at your local supermarket. Simply follow the rule for sweet, sour, salty,
umami, bitter and hot, and you’ll be well on your way to creating a delicious Vietnamese feast.
Recipes include hearty noodle soups, vibrant salads, family-style sharing plates, one-pot wonders and dinner-party showstoppers, which are all easy to prepare, adapt and enjoy. The recipes are impressive yet simple: try the Crispy Roast Pork Belly, Sea Bass in Tomato, Celery & Dill Broth or Fried Noodles & Greens. Readers wanting to recreate their favourite classic dishes can delve into Beef Pho, Wonton Noodle Soup, Banh Mi and Fresh Salad Rolls.
Filled with fuss-free, delicious recipes that are quick to prepare, this book will have you eating Vietnamese meals on a regular basis.
My Vietnamese Kitchen By Uyen Luu, published by Ryland Peters & Small 2013, £16.99
My Vietnamese Kitchen is a collection of recipes passed down through Uyen Luu’s family. Uyen was born in Saigon and spent her childhood there before leaving Vietnam in the aftermath of the war.
She regularly travels back there to visit family and pick up more classic and modern recipes for dishes found in the homes and on the streets of Vietnam. The recipes in the book tell a story – about Uyen’s family, about the culture of her heritage, about the rising popularity of this cuisine around the world. In essence, the food of her country aims to strike the perfect balance between sweet, sour, salty, bitter, hot and umami, and to cater for any occasion and time of day, every mood and ailment. Uyen describes some of the most commonly used produce and offers easy-to-find alternatives so that every recipe is accessible.
She guides you through chapters such as Soups, Snacking, Noodles, Dinner and Desserts, weaving in tales of etiquette, personal history and tradition and providing evocative photos of her travels throughout. Popular recipes include pho soup, banh mi baguettes and summer rolls.
Foreword by Raymond Blanc.
“Uyen Luu sets this wonderful cuisine in the context of her own family and kitchen. She tells us exactly what ingredients are needed for the most authentic experience of Vietnamese food (and we can be thankful – and grateful to the Vietnamese emigrants who have settled here – that so many of these are now available here in Britain). But she is not a fusspot: she even gives her own, playful recipe for spaghetti Bolognese – and you have to look carefully at it to spot the splash of fish sauce that gives it a tiny Vietnamese twist. Her fish and chips variation involves raw tuna. Wonderful! …
A very good book, serious and with plenty of delicious and simple recipes.”
You can buy signed author copies directly from me. (Let me know who it’s for) Sent by first class Royal Mail. Please share and tag me on Instagram @loveleluu so I can see how you get on and if you enjoyed the recipes. It would be great if you can give a positive review on Amazon too.
My first book book published by Ryland Peters & Small 2013