Made in Vietnam – Tracey Lister & Andreas Pohl
January 16, 2018 by Jenny
This week I am going to bring you several promotions on books that take you around the world with delicious bites in follow up to my Globetrotting through your cookbook library.
First up, we have Made in Vietnam: Homestyle Recipes from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl (a reissue of their 2014 title Real Vietnamese Cooking). This vibrant book shares recipes based on memorable meals eaten at street food stalls, family gatherings and countryside eateries. Three main culinary regions of the country are covered: the heart food of the north, dishes from the centre (in the tradition of the cuisine of the imperial city Hue), and the sweeter, spicier food of the tropical south.
Tracey Lister is an Australian chef who runs the Hanoi Cooking Centre and her husband, Andreas Pohl, is a writer, researcher and educator with a keen interest in Vietnam’s culture and social history. A decade ago Tracey set up KOTO, a grassroots social enterprise training street kids in cooking and serving. The couple have written two other cookbooks Vietnamese Street Food and KOTO: A Culinary Journey through Vietnam, both of which I just tracked down and had to order.
In Made in Vietnam the couple deliver an approachable, yet interesting, collection of recipes that includes staple Vietnamese dishes, such as Beef noodle soup (pho bo) and Banh-mi (I love Banh-mi) but also lesser-known recipes, such as Banana flower salad and Boiled jackfruit seeds. In addition to the recipes, we are offered different aspects of the country’s food history and its various culinary influences, including those absorbed from French and Chinese cuisines.
I just returned from the market with ingredients to make the Cabbage and chicken with Vietnamese mint this week. The Chicken sesame and jicama salad and Choko and barbecue pork salad are also on my must make list along with many others including this spectacular dish we are sharing with our members today. I love the fresh and light feel of some of the dishes making them perfect for quick weeknight meals.
The content in Made in Vietnam is appealing both to a novice cook, and one that is more experienced, making the book feel right at home on any cookbook lover’s shelf. Special thanks to Hardie Grant for sharing the showstopper recipe for Fried snapper in rice paper and for providing three copies of this beautiful book in our contest open to members in the US.
Fried snapper with rice
paper
Cá chiên bánh tráng
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This dish is a fun and easy way to serve spring rolls: have your guests roll their own at the table. It fits in well with the communal spirit in Vietnam, where it is often prepared when entertaining guests at home. This recipe also works well with barbecued snapper.
- 2 green bananas
- 1 carambola (star fruit), sliced lengthways into 5 mm (1/4 inch) strips
- 1 pineapple, not too ripe, peeled and cut into 5 cm (2 inch) batons
- 50 g (1 3/4 oz / 1/3 cup) roasted unsalted peanuts
- 1 x 600-700 g (1 lb 5 oz-1 lb 9 oz) snapper, gutted
- rice flour, for dusting
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
- TO SERVE
- 1 handful coriander (cilantro)
- 1 handful dill
- 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) dried rice vermicelli
- 18 rice paper sheets, about 18 cm (7 inches) in size
- Classic dipping sauce (recipe below), to serve
Serves 6
Using a sharp knife, peel the outer layer of skin from each banana, leaving on a thin layer of the skin for texture. Cut the banana into thin strips and arrange on a platter with the carambola, pineapple and peanuts.
Rinse the fish in a bowl filled with salted water. Check for and remove any scales. Using kitchen scissors, cut off the fins and trim the tail. Dry the fish thoroughly with paper towel.
For the fish to cook evenly, make three cuts, about 1 cm (1/2 inch) deep, on each side. Dust the fish in the rice flour and shake off any excess flour.
Heat about 13 cm (5 inches) of oil in a wok or saucepan. To test the oil, place the tip of a wooden chopstick into the oil – when bubbles slowly rise to the surface, the oil is hot enough to use. Carefully slide the fish in and fry for 8-10 minutes, until the flesh is cooked through and the skin is golden and crisp. Remove and drain well on paper towel. Place the fish on a platter and top with the coriander and dill.
Meanwhile, soak the vermicelli in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Gently stir to separate the noodles, then drain and refresh under cold water. Use kitchen scissors to cut the vermicelli into easy-to-manage lengths.
Soften the rice paper sheets by dipping them one at a time into warm water for 1 second. Do not soak the sheets as they will become too soft and tear when rolled. Place on a flat surface, wait for 20 seconds, then soak up any excess water with a clean cloth.
Invite your guests to take a sheet of the rice paper and top with the fish, noodles, herbs, fruit and peanuts, before rolling up into a spring roll and enjoying with the dipping sauce.
Classic dipping sauce
N c châm truyên thông
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- 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) lime juice
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 110 g (4 oz / 1/2 cup) sugar
- 60 ml (2 fl oz / 1/4 cup) fish sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 long red chilli, finely chopped
Serves 6
Combine the lime juice, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Stir in the fish sauce, garlic and chilli and divide among six dipping bowls.
Recipe excerpted with permission from Made in Vietnam by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, published by Hardie Grant Books August 2017, RRP $29.99.
The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US, UK and Australia. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on February 19th, 2018.
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