Viet World Kitchen

Salted Caramelized Walnuts Recipe

Walnuts look like brains and I read of an old Chinese belief that if you eat them, you may get smarter! Whether or not you subscribe to that idea, you must try these walnuts. They are so cleverly done – soaked to remove their tannins (the stuff that makes you pucker) and then oven roasted to slowly cook them. The nuts can sit for days until an hour or so before you’re ready to serve.

The final cooking in a skillet coats the nuts with a delicate touch of salt and sugar. While it’s dead simple, remember to watch the skillet temp or the nuts can burn. The refined flavor remains intact, delicious with drinks or even cheese for a cross-cultural approach.

Roasted Kabocha and Vegetable Dumplings Recipe

I’ve had pumpkin dumplings in Monterey Park and Beijing, their pretty tangerine-colored filling of grated winter (hard) squash were unpleasantly bland and sometimes undercooked. It’s an Asian dumpling that I’ve let simmer on the back burner for a while and didn’t tackle till this week, when faced with leftover roasted kabocha squash. My husband Rory said, “Let’s make Italian raviolis with the kabocha.”

I responded with this dumpling filled with roasted squash, earthy shiitake and parsnip, and upbeat celery. The seasonings involve fried shallot, lots of ginger and enough garlic for pungent depth. I wanted the ingredients to support and elevate the natural sweetness of the kabocha. I’d planned on adding soy sauce but in the end, there was so much great flavor from the vegetables that the only seasoning I added was salt. 

In other words, gluten-free dumpling eaters, this filling is for you too! No need to get the wheat-free tamari out. See the link at the end of this post for gluten-free dumpling dough options. 

Step-by-Step Chinese Roast Duck Recipe & Tips

To kick off 2013 last week I roasted a duck. It was a festive way to celebrate New Year but also an excuse to practice my whole duck cooking and use the new stove’s oven. I’ve experimented with deep-fried Sichuan duck and roast Peking duck. Vietnamese people often roast duck with red fermented tofu  (vit nuong chao) so I decided to combine various methods and best-practices into one. It was a delicious duck that we ate over the course of two dinners. 

Instead of a normal recipe format, I’m going to do walk you through the process so you can apply them later on. Hey, Lunar New Year isn’t far away. A roast duck could be part of your menu for launching the Year of the Snake!

Soy-Glazed Black Pepper Chicken Recipe (The Hakka Cookbook)

One of the most interesting Asian cookbooks released this year had no color photographs. Yes, no food porn was in The Hakka Cookbook by Linda Lau Anusasananan. In an era where readers love to cook with their eyes, it was a gutsy move on UC Press to publish a cookbook only graced by simple watercolors. Without photos to distract, you have to read and flip each page (imagine that!), following the author’s journey through a cuisine and culture.

The Hakka Cookbook may seem like it’s for Chinese food geeks -- there are maps, Chinese characters and Romanized pinyin Mandarin. The book begs you to spend time with it. Once that you start looking at it, you’ll be stuck in your chair for at least a good hour. You’ll pick out familiar dishes seen on Chinese restaurant menus.

Asian Tofu Adventures on Canadian TV

The past three days of this week in Vancouver have been challenging -- early morning TV show appearances and evening cooking classes. I'm not a morning person so waking up at 6am three days in a row and going to bed soon after I get back from teaching was, frankly weird. But hey, when it rains, it pours and you just shouldn't say "no" to TV exposure. Plus I like the spontaneity of television.

The day before each TV appearance, I prepped the demo and packed up all my stuff -- small wares, equipment, food, and props -- knowing that I'd only be able to somewhat blindly get everything together minutes before my ride arrived. Here's a recap of how things went:

Monday, September 10: City TV's Breakfast Television
My alarm didn't go off and when I woke up, it was 6:43 a.m.! Random House publicist Trish Kells was picking me up at 7:10 a.m. I showered and did my hair very quickly, then grabbed my bus tub (remember how my favorite piece of gear for food gigs is the bus tub?). Trish was outside waiting and we drove to the studio in downtown Vancouver. Breakfast TV had coffee and rolls, and more importantly  -- a make up person. I needed to be camera friendly.