Vietnamese food isn't all about beef pho and meaty banh mi. It's about agriculture. My new cookbook, Ever-Green Vietnamese, is a jam-packed, stunner that explores timeless foodways and presents my modern interpretations of traditional Vietnamese plant-based eating and cooking. It offers the best of many worlds! Incredible news! Ever-Green Vietnamese was named among the best cookbooks of 2023 by major newspapers, magazines and radio programs. I hope you agree. Content ...
Vietnamese Bolognese (Bo Kho Meat Sauce)
Where do I get recipe ideas? From all over. Much of my career has been about presenting classics in doable but not dumbed down fashion. I believe in understanding foundations before riffing. I love classics and icons but also appreciate well done twists on the ultra familiar. Last year someone on Instagram told me that after eating a Vietnamese bolognese at the Le family’s The Pig and the Lady in Honolulu, she made my bò kho beef stew with star anise and lemongrass from Vietnamese Food Any ...
Hawaiian Tofu Watercress Salad Recipe
Watercress used to be easy to find at American supermarkets but nowadays, I mostly buy it at Chinese or Viet markets, or I grow it. The spicy greens are called rau cải xoong in Vietnamese; “xoong” halfway mimics cresson, French for watercress. Viet people make salad with watercress, favoring it for the salad portion of shaking beef, for example. We also drop handfuls of watercress into a pot of quick canh soup, where it releases its spicy, pungent flavor to flavor and perfume the broth. ...
Japanese Fried Chicken (Karaage) + Video Tips
Japanese cooks deep fry extra well and karaage embodies their simple techniques and pure flavor. I've been looking for an exceptional recipe and found one in Love Japan by Sawako (“Sawa”) Okochi and Aaron Israel, the chefs and owners of Shalom Japan in Brooklyn. Their unique blending of Japanese-Jewish-American foodways (shaved bonito cured lox! matzoh ball ramen! okonomi-latkes) were captured in a terrific book co-authored with Gabriella Gershenson. Why is this Karaage Recipe ...
Easy Slice-and-Bake Matcha Cookies
Each year, I have a favorite new cookie. For 2023, it's this one. Soft and chewy, these matcha cookies are delightful to make and equally fun to eat. You can serve them as is or use them for ice cream sandwiches, writes Sawako Okochi in Love Japan, a cookbook she authored with her husband Aaron Israel and collaborator Gabriella Gershenson. Sawako and Aaron are the chef owners of Shalom Japan, a restaurant in Brooklyn that cleverly merges the foodways of their heritage to create their unique ...
Vietnamese Chile Sauce Recipe (Tuong Ot Vietnam)
Many people associate Sriracha with Vietnamese food because the hot sauce is present at many Viet restaurants. Truth be told, Sriracha is of Thai origin and the hot sauce enjoyed in Vietnam is called -- tương ớt (chile sauce) and it's friendly spicy. You can buy it easily in Vietnam and I used to cart some back with me on visits to the Motherland. However, you can also make it easily. Today, I'm sharing with you my easy recipe for Vietnamese hot sauce, which was published in my latest ...