Cookbook club - February - Good Morning Vietnam

[Catinthecorner]

Back up and running the cook book club. This month it’s Vietnamese cooking from any book/website you fancy with a general focus on Mai Pham’s recipes from New flavours of the Vietnamese Table.

A couple of links to get us started (shamelessly stolen from the previous thread)

Recommended Blogs:

www.theravenouscouple.com/

www.uyenluu.com/recipes/

Recommended Recipes:

ww.epicurious.com/contributors/mai-pham

shadowcook.com/2008/03/10/mai-pham-ginger-lime-dipping-sauce-and-warm-beef-on-cool-noodles/

www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pad-see-yew

Just attempted my first Vietnamese dish - Hanoi Rice Noodles with Grilled Pork. Much easier to make than I expected and got a huge thumbs up from everyone. The dipping sauce was a bit spicy for Ds so he only had a tiny amount. Really satisfying meal, lovely umami from the fish sauce and just the right amount of chilli heat.

Well done, that looks really tasty!

It Looks lovely Englishgirl! I have found Vietnamese much easier than expected too.

I made jo sffc jalfrezi curry pastes today to freeze. I had a taste and the paste is good- I've high hopes for it when I eventually get around to making a curry. Freezing portions in clingfilm lined egg boxes is a great tip for the freezing too

It was loads easier than I expected so looking forward to trying more! I haven’t picked anything from JO yet but I like the idea of making a curry paste, always happy to eat curry!

So made Stir fried chicken with lemongrass and chillis yesterday, served w rice.

It all went - but all said they preferred our “normal” stir fry (mixed veg, chicken, garlic, ginger, chilli and sauce made from honey sherry soy sesame oil and cornflour ).

It was easy and quick, the fish sauce stank out the kitchen as per usual.

So probably wouldn’t make it again. I should’ve done a side veg dish but didn’t have time.

It’s made me realise I am lazy and prefer certainly midweek meals to have veg included in main.

That’s on my list tafetta, do you think some steamed pak Choi or something would have helped it?

I think pak choi would be good - but also another veggie side too perhaps? Mustard greens with garlic p 229? Or maybe even salad and a dipping sauce

I can’t help thinking these dishes are best served with 3-4 and have a bit of each

I might make a smaller quantity and do a few dishes tapas style then

I made the lemongrass roasted chicken last night. I've never made it before but have been eyeing up the recipe for ages. I would definitely make it again - simple and delicious, and I like how the lemongrass marinade gets pushed under the chicken skin before roasting. I hadn't spotted that you're supposed to marinade overnight, so I'd do that next time. The soy lime dipping sauce really made it - definitely don't skip that. I served it with brown rice and cabbage salad with shrimp and pork like she suggests. Except I missed out the shrimp and pork to make it a simple cabbage salad. Was a good accompaniment to the chicken. All together it was more work than I'd normally put in for a weekday dinner, but definitely would do it at the weekend or if I was having people over.

Feeding how much prep time would you say it took? I'm thinking I might make that this week, generally I have more time on weekdays as I work from home so hoping I can fit it into my day.

@Englishgirl The chicken is really easy. Just a few things to chop and measure then it all goes in together. I used normal onion as I hate peeling shallots. The dipping sauce was pretty quick too as not many ingredients. You can do all that in advance and then just bung the chicken in the oven. The salad was a bit more involved though - the ingredient list is quite long. But it would probably feel quite easy if your chicken was already prepped and all you had to do was make the salad. I think doing it all together was what made it feel labour intensive for me.

DH made the mulligatawny soup from JO SFFC last night. It was really delicious and tasted v wholesome as it has loads of vegetables and pulses in it. I would definitely make it again.

Thanks feeding, I’ll give it a go this week sometime. I haven’t picked a JO recipe yet still need to find one everyone fancies trying!

Those of you who have done the vietnamese meals - would you recommend cooking a couple of small dishes for on meal? Or one big one? Not sure if there are suggested menus or anything.
Still trying to decide what to cook!

@koalas in Mai Pham's intro she says a normal family meal would be 2 meat/seafood, 1 veg dish, 1 soup and rice. Whenever we go to my Vietnamese in-laws it is always like this - lots of different dishes on the table, cooked by various different family members. But personally I find that way too much work to do on my own, and would go for a curry or stew or something with rice and salad.

Thats actually super helpful thanks @FeedingFrenzy5

Koalas- it seems repeated in the books and blogs I have that the Vietnamese dishes are sharing food- four or five different things served for a meal rather than one.
BUT -embarrassingly I have been reading "serves 4-6 as part of a main meal" and then using that to serve 2-3 as a main meal because I can't be making three or four dishes. Not for lack of enthusiasm, but lack of space! I've loved it all though and purposefully chose dishes with noodle and veg and meat etc.

We just had JO's Japanese miso stew. It was super quick to put together, but the soup was v bland. It seemed like it needed a lot more miso. DH said 5/10. Unlike the mulligatawny which tasted lovely and healthy, this felt punishingly healthy to me

Have we decided what the choices for next month are? As to order books from library etc now is the time.

I've enjoyed this months format of a cuisine and a book, I thought it opened up the available choices far more.

Bun thung ( Hanoi chicken vermicelli soup) from songs of sapa.

I made this yesterday evening and it went down a storm. It was simple, and delicious, both dc asked for seconds.

But having searched online for a comparable recipe to the one I followed, I can't find one. All sources refer to a complex dish, with many steps, and a host of ingredients I didn't need. So this leads me to conclude that whilst mr Nguyen recipe is wonderful, it's perhaps less than authentic.

what that looks lovely! We enjoyed the Hanoi grilled pork so much we’re having it again tonight.

Good idea to choose for next month, I like the idea of doing a cuisine and a book again. I’ll put an early vote in for Middle Eastern after watching Nigel Slater, and I always like what I make from Jerusalem so I’m keen to try a few new recipes.

I love middle eastern! And the new Nigel show! I spent last weekend making various pide after watching him in turkey- he's so emotive I'm his description, I truly believe he could make a car tyre seem appetising.

I made the Vietnamese Foody version on egg drop soup for lunch yesterday, and must say that it was beautiful. I was apprehensive about a tomato and egg soup, but with subtle Vietnamese flavouring I needn't be. It was lovely vietnamesefoody.com/egg-drop-soup-with-tomato-canh-ca-chua-trung

I definitely need to try some soups, I make loads but generally just veg and pulses so it would be good to mix it up.
I’m enjoying watching Nigel in the new series but don’t feel like what he’s cooking really reflects what he’s seen in the show? Not much cooking from him at all really, more assembling ingredients? I’m hoping the book has more if the locals recipes in.

No his cooking on the new show is , unusually so, uninspiring. His experience is captivating and the food he is eating is very appealing, but his cooking is only vaguely related to the show. In fact, I think any of the things he's cooked could just be switched and changed into any of the turkey/Lebanon/Iran programme- which I think was intended. The travel obviously took precedence and the cooking seems to have been a production afterthought.

That's exactly what I thought, he saw all of that amazing food in Lebanon and then made a salad . I'll forgive him though, the series is really watchable either way. What recipe did you use for Pide? I've been wanting to try it but never seem to get around to it but DS is going through a phase of eating everything I put in front of him so now might be a good time to try it!

I saw on twitter that NS isn't doing a book related to this series - I agree that his cooking doesn't seem to match the experience he's had - which has been really heartwarming.

Re Pide - I've not made it but have made lahmacun which I think is similar? I've used Sabrina Gayhor's recipe from Persiana which works a treat