tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1284684 2010-08-30T14:35:39-07:00 Cookbook author Andrea Nguyen's site dedicated to Vietnamese recipes, Vietnamese food, Asian ingredients, Asian cooking tips, Little Saigon communities, and other Asian recipes and food cultures all over the world. TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341ef22f53ef0133f36c99dc970b 2010-08-30T14:35:39-07:00 2010-08-30T14:36:10-07:00

Trade, travel, and empire have fused together the cuisines of Asia in many delectable ways. This spiced chicken-and-rice dish reflects the Muslim-Indian-Thai culinary marriage. You may not know of khao mok gai (also spelled kao mok gai) but it is deliciously complex in perfume and flavor. In fact, in the span of a week, I ate it three (3) times while I was in Sydney, one of the greatest places for Thai food outside of Thailand! Go to one of the Chat Thai restaurants for a very good rendition. Hell bent on replicating it, I found a recipe in David Thompson’s new book, Thai Street Food. I’ve made it several times, the first following the recipe and it was superb. Then I tweaked it slightly for the resulting khao mok gai recipe below. (Disclosure: I provided an official book jacket endorsement for Thai Street Food. Thompson’s recipe for this dish...

Andrea Nguyen tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341ef22f53ef01348675de11970c 2010-08-25T12:56:12-07:00 2010-08-25T15:22:55-07:00

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer This Friday evening, I'm participating in the Lit Fest at the 2010 Eat Real Festival. There are about a dozen writers invited to talk about street food at the Oakland event that spans 3 days. The Eat Real Festival is kinda like the Woodstock of food. It's free too! Friday night's theme is Street Food. I'm in the 7 to 9pm line-up with some buddies of mine as well as other writers and chefs whose work I admire: Pim of Chez Pim, John Birdsall of SF Weekly, Rachel Saunders of the Blue Chair Fruit, Gustavo Arellano of Ask a Mexican, Anamika Khanna of Kasa Indian, Richie Nakano of Hapa Ramen, Sara Deseran of 7x7 magazine, and David Boyk of California Taco Trucks. The other themes cover making, growing, and finding food (Saturday), and food storytelling (Sunday). All the Lit Fest events happen on the...

Andrea Nguyen tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341ef22f53ef0134865fb36e970c 2010-08-22T18:00:10-07:00 2010-08-22T18:00:10-07:00

The sun decided to make an appearance this past week in Santa Cruz for longer than just a couple of hours a day! I was unfortunately stuck in my office reviewing edits on a writing project. After finishing on Friday, it time for a real weekend. To start things off, Rory opened up a liter bottle of a dry Riesling and I made Thai grilled chicken (gai yang). Mymenu choice was inspired by two things: (1) the jar of Thai sweet chile sauce I recently made and (2) memories of a fabulous rendition of gai yang at Sailors Thai, a renowned restaurant in Sydney, Australia. I had basically given up on ordering cloyingly sweet grilled chicken at Thai restaurants, but my dining buddy that evening, Bangkok-based journalist Jarrett Wrisley, convinced me to order the signature Thai dish. He was prescient in saying, “If this is a good Thai restaurant, they...

Andrea Nguyen tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341ef22f53ef01348640201a970c 2010-08-16T16:05:50-07:00 2010-08-16T16:05:50-07:00

As you may know, I've been somewhat disabled by an Achilles heel injury. I'm a temporary gimp. Fortunately, that doesn't see to stop my ability to cook. The other day I scrounged up some leftovers in the fridge -- including some dry rice -- and crafted a curry fried rice on the fly. Mind you, this is not my own creation. If you're a fan of Ramenya in West Los Angeles, this fried rice will remind you of theirs. I posted the recipe and a few tips on how to make fried rice at Mark Bittman's site. Oh, for the curry powder, I used Sun Brand, which you can find online and at gourmet shops and some Asian markets. Look for the tall metal tins. If you're interested in other rice dishes, check these out on Viet World Kitchen: Perfect Rice Coconut Rice Vietnamese Red Rice Hainan Chicken and Rice

Andrea Nguyen tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341ef22f53ef0134863142a5970c 2010-08-13T17:06:24-07:00 2010-08-13T17:05:12-07:00

Americans have a lot of baggage when it comes to Vietnam. I’m often asked if the Vietnamese like Americans. My response is usually, “Vietnamese people are practical. During wartime, they had issues with the US government, not its people. Visitors, even overseas Vietnamese like me, are walking dollar signs. It’s a poor country and our money goes a long way.” Travel writer Kim Fay captures some of those nuances in Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam (Things Asian Press, 2010). It is a work that details her food experiences from north to south Vietnam. She’s accompanied by her photographer sister Julie and Vietnam-native Nguyen Thi Lan Huong. Despite the book’s name, it is not religious. Perusing the work, I tried to figure out with what and whom Fay was communing. The chapters break down into cities and then vignettes of the women’s experiences in each locale. Their culinary journey involves...

Andrea Nguyen