Vietnamese pickled eggplants super easy to make and take about 3-4 days to ferment. You can find these round eggplants called “kermit” or white “cà pháo” at the asian markets. They can also be referred as south macrocarpon, gboma or African eggplant.

“Thai” eggplants during the summer months and they are the size of small golf balls. Traditionally the white or Kermit Eggplants are the ones that we used growing up but all I could find were the Thai variety which still turned out pretty darn nice!

Another classic family favorite, Do Chua, which adds that pickled sour and sweet crunch to the infamous Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich 🥪 and is used in a variety of other dishes as a condiment or garnish as well.

Growing up my dad used to make these pickled mustard greens all the time. In Vietnamese culture we would have these pickled sour things to accompany very salty meats. I never really realized but we ate these when we were kids so I guess my fermented infatuation started off very young!

To make these delicious vegetarian “Scallops” I made a thick miso and butter broth, reduced it down, and braised my mushrooms in it which really brought out a nice umami flavor since the mushrooms absorb so much flavor. Then dredging them in a little rice flour and pan searing them in a cast iron skillet produced a nice brown, caramelized edge. I further reduced down the miso broth and added some chopped cilantro and drizzled it on top of the “scallops”... mmmm.

See post for recipe and more photos!

Learn how to pick fresh chinese broccoli (also known as Cai Lan), how to keep it bright green & glossy when cooking, and how to prepare your own restaurant style oyster sauce for that ooey delicious drizzle. You can also use the same method and instructions below for regular broccoli, bok choy or broccoli rabe as well! MMmmm

Sauerkraut is super easy to make and it’s only two ingredients, cabbage and salt! We added garlic and siracha just to add a little asian kick to make this more of a krout kimchi (aka krout-chi) but you can use this technique and recipe (without garlic, siracha) for a more basic/traditional sauerkraut.

These meatless kimchi dumplings pack in a lot of flavor and can spice up a boring ramen packet! I made these dumplings and just parboiled some bok choy, bean sprouts, and added some kimchi and some of my Sate Sauce (ớt sa tế) sauce to the top! Yum!!

Whenever you go to an authentic Vietnamese restaurant they always have a plethora of side dipping sauces like a fish dipping sauce (nuoc mam cham), scallion oil (mo hanh), fermented mustard greens (du chua) or even vegetarian dipping sauces if you’re lucky! They compliment, and are a staple in creating many Vietnamese dishes. Below are a few of my favorite staples which you’ll see served with many of my concoctions to follow!

Mmm simple Vietnamese garlic fried rice (Com Chien Toi Trung) with fried shrimp!

Super simple, I even bought pre-cooked/peeled shrimp for this and fried it in Annatto sesame oil for that dark sunset orange shrimp 🍤 color!

The secret to get that extra yellow, eggy color and taste is to mix in one raw egg with your cold day old rice prior to frying up the rice. I also like partially scrambling eggs separately as well for those bigger egg chunks in your fried rice! Mmmm

#vegansushi! Last night we tried something totally new and vegan. Julian was my little sous-chef, aka, our little vegan in the house was craving some sushi so we thought it would be silly to film us being us in our kitchen!

Salt and pepper crab (cua ran muoi) is one of the most visually appealing and popular dishes in Vietnam. It’s like finger licking good- the crab is first deep fried in a light flour batter then tossed with roasted salt and pepper, jalepenos and green scallions.

Sauerkraut is super easy to make and it’s only two ingredients, cabbage and salt! I added garlic and siracha just to add a little asian kick but this recipe is perfect just plain!