Vietnamese Market Cookbook: Spicy Sour Sweet

Carry the Flavor of Vietnam to Your Kitchen

Salty, sweet, severe, harsh, and zesty: these are the delightful precepts of Vietnamese food. This elating culinary culture is rich however light, profoundly delightful yet made with straightforward fixings, and filling while additionally simple to get ready. That is the message that creators Van Tran and Anh Vu needed to bring to a ravenous group when they opened their banh mi slow down in London, a universal city that shockingly came up short on the flavors of the creators' childhoods in Hanoi. As their business extended, The Vietnamese Market Cookbook followed. The plans are less difficult than you may might suspect however detonate with the most perfect kinds of vegetables, fish, lean meats, flavors, chiles, and cherished Vietnamese toppings like fish sauce. Old and new top picks impact: Asparagus and Crabmeat Soup, Papaya Salad with Crispy Anchovies, Claypot Chicken with Ginger, Sea Bass Carpaccio, Kumquat Jasmine Iced Tea, and Crème Caramel. From sections like "Pleasantness and Happiness" to "Heat and Adventure" and "Saltiness and Healing," this deliciously filling book will bring a smidgen of Vietnam into your home.

About the Author
Van Tran and Anh Vu began their first street-food stall in Broadway Market in 2009. BanhMi11 now has stalls across London markets, including Broadway and Berwick Street. They opened their first shop in 2012 and host a series of regular pop-up dinners. http://www.banhmi11.com/. Born in Vietnam, both spent their childhoods in Hanoi. Van moved to Sweden with her family aged 12, and Anh moved to England by herself aged 17. They met while studying at Oxford University. They have appeared on Jamie's Great Britain and Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries. The live in East London.

This book deserves much better reviews than it currently has. Its quality goes beyond the appetizing pictures, the beautifully written stories and the delectable recipes. My wife is from Hanoi and we spend a lot of time with her family who still lives there. We find a taste of Hanoi in this book, something most celebrated cookbooks sold in the West are lack of. Oftentimes, Vietnamese cookbooks are written by people who are not from Vietnam or who spend most of their lives away from the country and thus, their interpretation of Vietnamese culture, philosophy, cuisine and way of life can be distant from what's really going on there. The authors of this book are much more rooted with their Hanoian origin; their recipes as well as philosophy and point of view when it comes to cooking Vietnamese food are much closer to what I find with my in-laws in Hanoi. Perhaps the biggest question in bringing a cuisine outside of its country of origin is how to balance authenticity, adaptability and creativity. In this book, authenticity comes from the philosophy and tastebuds that the authors/chefs developed through their Vietnamese upbringing. Adaptability comes naturally from the fact that they spent their adulthood in some of the most diverse metropolitans in the world - New York and London - and the authors are open-minded enough to tweak their recipes to include ingredients and way of cooking to a lifestyle that most of us can identify with. Creativity shows through the recipes and the story-telling - in this book, the stories are as tasteful as the recipes themselves. What I appreciate the most is how they understand, respect and give credits to the way the locals have been doing and tell readers when they bring in some change. After all, Vietnamese women never consult a cookbook when they cook. Vietnamese food is about sensibility and balance. Each family, each street vendor can offer you a different version of the same classic dish, all of which are balanced, fresh and tasteful. The approach to cooking Vietnamese food in this book, which is all about reaching the subtle balance of the five tastes (add a dash of fish sauce to find the sixth taste - umami - as the authors suggest), is what my wife, my mother-in-law, and the best Vietnamese unnamed chefs I know have been doing instinctively. Good luck in your culinary adventure and I hope you find wonder like I did.-Mr.G

Good recipes, --easy to follow and make at home. If you enjoy making the foods of other cultures or are looking to replicate a dish you discovered on your travels, this book is for you. For many years I lived in a city-- a great melting pot. I had the great please of tasting many of these dishes offered at little restaurants right around the corner from my home. Then I moved away. Now I find myself longing for tastes that are no longer easily available. This book has all the recipes I needed and longed for. And-- I can find the more exotic ingredients online. Thank goodness for the internet and Amazon!-Marian Librarian

Got this for my partner for Christmas, best book I could ever of brought. She has become more adventuress then ever in the kitchen producing fantastic results. She was a great cook anyway but this has made her better still!L. -Ben Loader