The Vietnamese Cookbook (Capital Lifestyles) (Paperback)

by Diana My Tran (Author) "In Vietnam, rice is considered a gift from God..." (more)
Key Phrases: shrimp paste chips, ground red chile pepper, garden rolls, Main Dishes, Vinegar Salad Dressing, Honey Sauce (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
One page of deliciousness after another is what you'll find once you crack the cover of Diana My Tran's The Vietnamese Cookbook. Tran has a couple of qualifications above and beyond her Vietnamese heritage as underpinnings to this book: She has two impatient children and a very busy career. Time, then, is of the essence. And yet, she wants to pass on to her children the food of their culture--while living in the U.S.

So from the many dishes of her own childhood in Saigon Diana My Tran has simplified technique while making use of the available foods in an American supermarket. The results are quickly prepared, flavorful renditions of Vietnamese classics that give the cook the sense of what Vietnamese cooking is all about. As Tran points out, part of what it's all about is low-fat cooking with lots of vegetables--a veritable diet book.

Tran divides her book by rice, sauces, appetizers and salads, soups, main dishes, and desserts and beverages. She mixes lemon juice and lemon zest to create the Lemon Rice she serves with chicken and seafood. There's also a recipe for sticky rice with peanuts. Her sauces include such standards as Sweet and Sour Fish Sauce and Sweet and Sour Soy Sauce. Among the appetizers you will find spring rolls, both fried and fresh. Also, Shrimp Mung Bean Rice Cakes. There's a Papaya Shrimp Salad as well as a Lime Steak Salad. The wonderful Beef Noodle Soup (Pho Bo) is represented. Main dishes include Ginger Chicken, Honey Roasted Quail, Sesame Spareribs, Caramel Shrimp, Lemongrass Fish, and Vietnamese Crab Cakes.

The Vietnamese Cookbook is an easy way in to this wonderful culinary world. Let your palate be your guide. --Schuyler Ingle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
For fans of Southeast Asian cuisine, here are two excellent cookbooks. An immigrant from Vietnam to the United States, My Tran has developed her own simplified versions of favorite childhood dishes, many of which now appear in The Vietnamese Cookbook. Her excellent introduction to one of Southeast Asia's most colorful cuisines provides more than 100 recipes for such tempting treats as Spring Rolls and Lemon Rice mixed in with a few pinches of personal recollections and some outstanding color photographs. Novice cooks will especially appreciate the clear, easy-to-understand layout of each recipe, which takes the intimidation out of preparing these dishes. My Tran's book will serve as a good complement to other, more classic Vietnamese cookbooks, such as Nicole Routhier's The Foods of Vietnam (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1989), and is recommended for most public libraries. Rather than simplifying or adapting recipes for American tastes and markets, chef and restaurant owner Su-Mei Yu instead serves up a cookbook that pays homage to the cuisine of her homeland while offering detailed instructions on preparing Thai dishes in the old manner. Cracking the Coconut covers everything from the equipment and ingredients needed to traditional preparation methods such as the use of a mortar and pestle. The text not only gives readers 175 delicious recipes but also provides a fascinating look at the history of Thai cooking as well as a few glimpses at the people and forces that have helped shape it. For the most part, the author forgoes the traditional cookbook arrangement by type of dish (i.e., appetizers, salads, desserts, etc.) and instead devotes chapters to a specific ingredient such as rice or a signature dish such as Thai salads. A sumptuous feast for both serious and armchair cooks, this lavishly detailed cookbook is highly recommended for all public libraries.DJohn Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Capital Books (October 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931868387
• ISBN-13: 978-1931868389
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #210,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast, Easy Vietnamese Home Recipes, May 29, 2003

By	Kim Ha (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Vietnamese Cookbook (Capital Lifestyles) (Hardcover)

Diana My Tran's unassuming cookbook is a real treasure for several reasons:
1) Recipes are easy and tasty!
3) Lots of Vietnamese dishes that are ubiquitous in the home but uncommon in Vietnamese restaurants.
2) No boring, pretentious, affected prose about how charming life in Vietnam was before the war a la Mai Pham.
4) Recipes do not compromise authenicity but their flavor profiles should appeal to the Western palate.
5) Color photographs of the star of any cookbook - the food.

I am Vietnamese and I've bought all of the popular Vietnamese cookbooks on Amazon. This slim little book by a woman who is not a professional chef is the best one out there for all of the reasons above. It's not a perfect 10 because Diana My Tran doesn't use caramel sauce and recipes like Ginger Chicken and Caramel Shrimp should start with caramel sauce. Honey just doesn't work -- you're better not even attempting it. Also the Pho Bo recipe is way too streamlined -- but if you live in a major metropolitan area then there's no reason to make it at home when you can just go to your local noodle house. The best thing about this book is the large number of Vietnamese recipes like Butternut Squash soup that my Vietnamese mother makes (before I bought this book, I thought she invented it) but no restaurant would serve. I recommend it to all of the young Vietnamese people who never learned to cook and also to anyone who's looking flavorful cooking that isn't scary.

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty but not essential, May 11, 2000

By	Jadepearl "geezer geek" (Wandering, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vietnamese Cookbook (Capital Lifestyles) (Hardcover)

Similiar to the Pleriplus book, _The Food of Vietnam_ this book has very nice photography and simple recipes. It is also pretty small at only 119 pages including index. This book also shares some of Pleriplus' flaws:

1) Not much background information; 2) Assumption that you know to cut for tenderness or prepare more difficult things like cleaning shrimp or squid; 3) Does not expand the knowledge base of cooking technique or theory for its user; 4) Recipes are modified greatly;

The recipes are modified for faster time preparation. Which is very advantageous for the beginner but a purist will definitely NOT be happy with the recipes e.g., pho ba broth being made with 30 minutes of simmering or the lack of caramel use in recipes. The intent of the book is for speed which it admirably provides.

Since Vietnamese cuisine is adventursome in its approach there is room on the shelf for another book that makes free with the recipes.

The better book to buy is Corinne Trang's _Authentic Vietnamese Cooking_ whose recipes are sound and provides more interesting reading in general. If you are a history/culture junkie then Lonely Planet's World Food Guide to Vietnam is surprisingly good with a few recipes thrown in.

Overall, a pretty book that provides speed but not much substance for the hardcore. It is, however, a nice beginner's book.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Follow, Very Delicious Recipes, Beautiful Pictures, February 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Vietnamese Cookbook (Capital Lifestyles) (Hardcover)

We own several asian/vietnamese cookbooks, but this cook book is the best we've seen. The recipes are easy to follow, quick and taste as good as recipes from our most favorite vietnamese restaurant. The recipes are also easy to follow. My husband who is a novice, has cooked three dishes from the book with great success. Also the photographer is a National Geographic Photographer who has included some wonderful pictures.