Viet World Kitchen

Vietnamese Food Any Day Cookbook Preview!

November 8, 2018 By Andrea Nguyen 19 Comments

Get ready for Vietnamese Food Any Day! It releases on Tet/Chinese/Lunar New Year – February 5, 2019. I can’t wait for you to get your hands on the cookbook and start cooking, getting it messy, and adding your personal tweaks. I’ve been wanting to write this book for years because one of my not-so-secret life missions is this: Help people make great Vietnamese food part of their regular rotation. The book title isn’t telling you to make Viet food everyday. Heck, I don’t eat Vietnamese food daily. ...

8 Asian Ways to Use Sweetened Condensed Milk

April 2, 2019 By Andrea Nguyen Leave a Comment

“I have something special and very interesting,” my dad said to my husband and me. Then Dad opened a jar of thick, brown liquid. “Try it with your coffee this morning.” I tasted it off a spoon and it turned out to be a caramel-flavored sweetened condensed milk. My husband stirred some into his coffee and pronounced the milk a new flavor taste treat. It wasn’t nutty and not as sweet as regular sweetened condensed milk, he noted. My dad, approving of the approval, explained, “We bought it on ...

Add fish sauce for a Lazy Day (Ancient) Caesar Salad Recipe

March 21, 2019 By Andrea Nguyen 3 Comments

There are many theories about who invented Caesar salad, but many of them point to a resourceful and deft restaurateur named Caesar Cardini. He was born in Italy, moved to San Diego, and then opened Caesar’s Restaurant in Tijuana to get around Prohibition. According to his daughter, the salad was created on a busy July 4 weekend in 1924, when Cardini scrambled to come up with salad for customers. He deployed ingredients on hand and voila, salad history was made. Over time, he and his brother ...

State Bird Garum Recipe — An Asian Twist on an Ancient Roman Treat

March 16, 2019 By Andrea Nguyen 4 Comments

When I met Stewart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, chef-owners of State Bird Provisions restaurant in San Francisco, we chatted about Southeast Asian peppercorns and garum. They source Cambodian Kampot pepper for special dishes and drinks at their acclaimed restaurant, which offers a clever menu of East-West influences. I also recalled the State Bird garum recipe from their marvelous cookbook. Chatting with them, I made a mental note to make the condiment. Commercially-made garum costs a ...

Air-Fried Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe

March 9, 2019 By Andrea Nguyen Leave a Comment

It was raining on Saturday and I was restless, in need of something bright tasting, a fun experiment. I set my sights on air-fried sweet and sour pork. A while back, I’d made a version in the Instant Pot that was super easy. But I missing classic sweet and sour pork, which involves deep-frying the pork cubes to a delicate crunch, then you quickly stir-fry vegetables, add a tangy sauce and once it thickens, return the pork to coat it lightly. When done right, sweet and sour pork is elegant, ...

Red Boat Pork Belly in Caramel Sauce (Thit Kho) Recipe

March 1, 2019 By Andrea Nguyen 2 Comments

What does a family cook when they have access to all the artisanal fish sauce products that they could possibly ever need? The Pham family that owns Red Boat Fish Sauce often cooks up a fast, homey Viet favorite – pork belly in caramel sauce. Ann Pham has a recipe that her husband Cuong Pham (Red Boat's founder) and her children have been enjoying for over twenty years. They simply call it thit kho (“theet kaw”) but you may have seen it as thit ba chi kho or thit ba chi kho man ngot on ...