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!

Growing up my dad usually grilled Vietnamese pork ribs but every once in a while we’d get beef ribs. They were much more expensive than pork ribs so we didn’t have them often. They’re prepared the same way too and when you throw it in a vermicelli noodle bowl it was so so good!

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

Making kombucha is fairly easy. Below are some of my personal brewing tips and my easy to follow chart and guide for making perfect kombucha.

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

This is popular traditional Vietnamese dish, thịt nuong, is one tasty grilled pork! NOM NOM NOM

And, since it’s finally warmer out- throwing these on a grill gets those perfect charred marks and a more smoky flavor. When my parents wanted an easy dinner this was often served with just rice and a side of my parents fish dipping sauce, Nuoc Mam Cham (see recipe for dip below).

*Fun fact- even though I’m Vietnamese American, I can’t speak Vietnamese but I can understand it almost fluently. Part of my food journey is not only to document all my parents recipes, but also learn how to properly pronounce these dishes and learn a little background on the dishes.

Today I’m making Vietnamese stir fried noodles with beef aka Pho Xao in Vietnamese. This is a super delicious & popular dish made with tender cuts of flank steak beef and flavorful rice noodles.

This entire dish comes together in just 30 minutes. My parents like to cook the meat separate so that the meat doesn’t get overcooked and it retains all that juicy meat sauce! A couple key ingredients that really make this dish familiar for me is the Vietnamese soy sauce, Golden Mountain (its the bottle with green cap), Huy Fong Siracha (the iconic and the only Siracha you should be using), and Red Boat Fish Sauce.

#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!