Viet World Kitchen

Dive in to explore Asian cooking and traditions

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I’m Andrea Nguyen

Author + Teacher + Consultant

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Vietnamese Food Any Day Cookbook Preview!

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Update 12/13/2019: WOW, Vietnamese Food Any Day had an incredible year. Thank you for all the enthusiastic support, pictures, and fun! Closing things out, the Christian Science Monitor, Eater, Washington Post, Library Journal, Here and Now (WBUR), Food52 and NPR spotlighted the book as one of the Best 2019 Cookbooks!!! Earlier this year, the New York Times, and Bon Appetit hailed the book as one of the best books of spring and summer. I'm over the moon happy. I hope you get a copy of the book, ...

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Why I Didn’t Go Pro When Buying my Dream Stove

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new stove

After decades of cooking on so-so to good stoves, I was ready for a major upgrade. I’d been dreaming of owning a race car-ish stove with big burners and lots of gleaming stainless steel. After all, the stove is my culinary conspirator, my lab assistant, my friend.  I told myself: You can choose any stove you want! You deserve a fabulous stove! You saved for a badass stove! My husband agreed that the stove would be the kitchen renovation splurge.  I spent countless hours reviewing ...

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umami-tofu-egg

Umami Tofu “Egg” Salad Recipe

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Without doubt, 2020 has been a roller coaster. In my corner of the world, we've had local wildfires, a kitchen renovation, plus my negotiating perimenopause. Given that drama, I'm been cooking more simple, plant-forward dishes that deliver some life-giving relief. Last week, after I'd given our stove away and there was a delay in delivering the new stove, I made a batch of tofu "egg" salad. This dish is a no-brainer because the tofu does not have to be cooked! Putting it together involves ...

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Refrigerator

How I Buy Refrigerators for my Workhorse Kitchen

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After seventeen years with a trusty, basic Kenmore refrigerator, I bid it a fond farewell. There was nothing wrong with the 18-cubic-footer. It kept things cold or frozen. I regularly packed it to the hilt and it never broke down. It served me well through six cookbooks. But, it loomed large in my 9 by 13-foot kitchen, positioned in the middle of a counter. I often prepped in its shadow and noise. It took years to figure out a simple way to move the refrigerator. When I did, that was the ...

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Chili Plants with MSG

My Dad’s MSG Gardening Experiments and Tips

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There’s a funny term in Vietnamese -- nghịch ngợm, that makes me giggle. Though Google defines it as naughty, to me it denotes activities that are out of the box, experimental, full of tinkering and discovery. It may also signal mischievousness, tomfoolery and goofing around. It’s a positive term in my mind because my dad, who’s 90 years old this year, likes to use the term to frame his curiosity and creativity.  After all, he’s the man who loves to MacGyver things with toothpicks. When ...

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Crying Tiger Thai Grilled Beef with Spicy Roasted Tomato Sauce (Suea Ronghai)

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Do you read weekly supermarket circulars? I do and learned to from my mom, who reads them like the Bible, she says. Nowadays, I scan what lands in my inbox, as well as my snail mailbox. My husband does too (another reason why I married well!). This week, there was a Whole Foods sale on flanken-style beef short ribs. The friendly butcher, Alejandro, had cut beautifully thin pieces of the thin fatty beef. He knew that I like super marbly meat and happily chose half a dozen pieces.  We ...

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