Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors

Nguyen (The Pho Cookbook; Into the Vietnamese Kitchen) has written another excellent cookbook about Vietnamese cuisine. From her vast knowledge and easy-to-understand instructions, readers will get a fantastic education into preparing and delivering delicious food. To start, the author lists the essential ingredients needed to prepare each dish, along with tips on where to find them. Suggestions on menu planning encourage readers to be creative. Chapters are broken down by meals, proteins, starches, and vegetables, ending with a section on desserts and coffee. The first chapter is extremely useful in its offering of several sauces essential to Vietnamese dishes, such as Caramel sauce and Nuoc Cham. Recipes such as banh mi, smoked turkey pho, chicken, lemongrass, sweet potato curry, and shaking beef will also interest home cooks. In many of the recipes, Nguyen gives notes on substitutions to make them vegetarian friendly. Beautiful photographs are a bonus.