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 ...
How to Read a Tofu Label like a Bean Curd Boss
I've been professionally writing about tofu and developing tofu recipes since 2010. It a wondrous Asian ingredient but communicating how to shop for it isn't easy. How to read a tofu label? It's hard! There's so much information. Add to that, a recipe in a book or online can only contain so much information. You -- the cook, have a certain attention span. But, if you know about (1) tofu textures, (2) coagulants and (3) package weight, you'll be able to read a tofu label like a bean curd boss. ...
Tofu FAQs: What is tofu? Is tofu Healthy? How to cook tofu well?
Tofu is a gentle food that has oddly generated both fear and confusion. Since writing my Asian Tofu cookbook, I’ve fielded lots of tofu queries. People typically need clarification about: (1) What is tofu? Is tofu a processed food? Is tofu fermented? Tofu is made from 3 ingredients — dried mature soybeans (not immature edamame!), water, and coagulant. With a very high protein content, soybeans are the vegetable that’s closest to being like an animal! Tofu is prepared like ...
The Mediterranean Diet Needs a New Name. Here's why.
Yes, there are reasons why the revered Mediterranean Diet needs a new name. It started with the Sunday New York Times. My husband set aside this special section pullout for me to peruse: Assembled by Well, the Times’ health and wellness department, the pullout aims to be a handy guide to cooking and eating the Mediterranean diet for a healthier life. Unless you have super keen vision, you’ll need help with the subtitle: "How the time-tested Mediterranean diet can offer real benefits, ...
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. ...