Ever-Green Vietnamese

March 17, 2023

Following a health scare, Nguyen (Vietnamese Food Any Day) turned her attention to plant-based dishes to get her health back on track and to feel better. Looking to her Vietnamese heritage and the foods that she is most familiar with, she began to focus on vegetables and reconstructed her favorite Vietnamese dishes. The result is over 125 recipes that have either no or minimal animal protein. Most of the cooking techniques featured here are pressure cooking, oven frying, and air frying for faster and healthier results. The recipes include sauces, noodle soups, side and main dishes, as well as desserts. Along with the recipes, Nguyen includes sidebars with detailed instructions and photos of tasks such as rolling rice paper and using lemongrass. Rice is a major focus, and recipes include Hainan-style crispy tofu and rice and shiitake-cauliflower steamed rice rolls. A chapter is devoted to banh mi, a light, crispy baguette that is used in many Vietnamese dishes, followed by recipes for lettuce wraps, a deconstructed vegan banh mi, and more. VERDICT Detailed instructions and tantalizing recipes make this an excellent book for those wanting to incorporate plant-based options in Vietnamese cooking.--Phillip Oliver

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 3, 2023
In this enticing cookbook, James Beard Award winner Nguyen (Vietnamese Food Every Day) enticingly reimagines traditional Vietnamese dishes with a heavy focus on plant-based ingredients. When health concerns caused her to rethink her diet, Nguyen decided to incorporate more vegetables and less meat into her repertoire. The resulting mostly (but not entirely) vegetarian twists on Vietnamese recipes are sure to please. Her broad approach encompasses rice dishes, snacks, soups, salads, and more—all appetizing and accessible—but the real gems are in her chapters on banh mi, “mains without meat,” “veggie-packed mains,” and desserts. Her “grand slam banh mi breakfast combo,” with fried eggs, vegan bologna, and sautéed onion, and deconstructed vegan meatball banh mi are inventive and appealing. Home cooks will find her tofu-mushroom curry and spicy sate tofu crumbles easy and quick enough for a weeknight meal. Vietnamese mocha cake and coconut-coffee pops round out the sweet end of a delicious array of healthful offerings. Nguyen also offers useful advice on Vietnamese herbs, pantry staples such as nori dust and chile-garlic sauce, and techniques for making crepes and rice-paper rolls. For those looking to enhance and expand their plant-based repertoire, Nguyen proves a skillful and creative guide.