Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pandan Swiss roll with mango & cream (Bánh bông lan lá dứa cuộn nhân xoài)

  • radishseed on September 25, 2021

    There is an error in the ingredients: 110 grams of sugar is closer to 1/2 c. sugar, not 1 c. as the recipe says. I went with the smaller amount, 110 g, on the assumption that was the original amount and the cup measurement is a conversion error. Baked in a larger sheet pan to make 12 mini rolls (350 F, about 20 min), coated rolls in white chocolate / coconut oil glaze and topped with dehydrated mango and pistachios. They were quite sweet, and unfortunately the mango seemed to get overwhelmed by the other flavors.

• Savoy cabbage, roasted cauliflower & cashew chilli noodles (Mì xào chay)

  • meggan on January 14, 2022

    A good easy recipe for two winter vegetables that we always seem to have on hand. cauliflower and cabbage. I would reduce the fish sauce slightly (maybe 1/2 a TBS) next time as it is tiny bit too fishy.

• Tofu pillows, tomatoes & broccoli in fish sauce (Tàu hủ xào bông cải cà chua)

  • Foodycat on September 28, 2021

    As per the previous note - this was fine. I think in the context of a meal with several different dishes it would have been different but as the only dish with rice it was just a bit meh. The texture of the tofu was lovely, although mine stuck a bit so I didn't get the perfect golden pieces, and with a bit of sriracha and a slosh of soy sauce it was a very good dinner.

  • Lepa on June 23, 2021

    This was fine, but not as good as I was hoping. The adults added some sriracha and that made it a bit more exciting. This was a really quick and easy dinner in the wok.

• Soy aubergines & Thai basil (Cà tím xào nước tương)

  • Foodycat on July 26, 2021

    Absolutely gorgeous. I was sceptical about the added fiddle of steaming the aubergines first but it's absolutely worth it - really succulent, silky aubergine with incredible flavour. I wasn't sure what was meant by chilli sauce and chilli oil, so I used sriracha and a bit of laoganma chilli crisp.

• Hot & fiery greens with anchovies (Cải xào ớt cá cơm)

  • Foodycat on June 07, 2021

    This is going to be a very regular side dish. I'm sceptical about the claim that the white wine will flame in the hot pan though - you can't usually flambe with wine and even though my pan was pretty hot and the wine evaporated almost immediately it was nowhere near flaming.

• Ginger chicken (Gà kho gừng)

  • Foodycat on June 07, 2021

    I really appreciate that this recipe gives the weight of the ginger. It calls for brown sugar but I am not sure how you see colour changes as brown sugar caramelises so I used caster sugar and probably didn't take it far enough. Delicious flavour!

• Sizzling crêpes with prawns (Bánh xèo tôm)

  • Snopes on February 18, 2022

    We missed the note saying that you have to use non-glutinous rice flour. Our fault, but it produced a soupy disaster. I do think the warning against using glutinous rice flour should be more prominent.

• Sea bass in tomato, celery & dill broth (Canh chua lá thì là)

  • Nancarrow on March 02, 2023

    Poorly written recipe which doesn't give a lot of faith that the book has been properly proofread. Celery in the title of the recipe but is not mentioned in the ingredients or the method. No indication of when to add the dill or spring onion either.

  • stepharama1 on July 07, 2022

    We absolutely adored this! It had such an intriguing flavor. It was plenty flavorful even though I used a cod fillet rather than a whole fish. The recipe was a little frustrating because it didn't specify the size of the vegetables to use. For example, it called for a stalk of celery with no indication of size. I used 3 skinny shortish celery stalks and upsized the rest of the vegetables and was thrilled with the result. The recipe specifies that this may be turned into two separate dishes at the table by separating out some of the fish. We just ate it all together in a bowl with a bit of the dipping sauce and loved it since I didn't feel like dirtying more dishes.

• Baked ginger & lemon chicken (Gà nướng)

  • etcjm on May 16, 2022

    So easy and so tasty. Great as leftovers (bit spicier). Will definitely be cooked again. Recipe doesn't tell you to add the lemon - so don't forget!

• Stir-fried beef & asparagus with flat rice noodles (Phở xào thịt bò măng tây)

  • etcjm on January 18, 2022

    My gauge of whether the written recipe was enough for two was way off on this one. 160g noodles - the pack is 200g - they all went in. I like steak, opted to buy a thick cut rump instead - 450g not 200g (oops) Chucked in a few mushrooms as well. This all equals plenty of lovely leftovers. Yes the recipe is right, and it is very nice indeed. I'll use pak choy with the asparagus next time and use two nests of noodles with extra beansprouts. Really good first recipe out of this book.

• Fried noodles & greens (Mì chay xào rau)

  • etcjm on May 16, 2022

    Made with wide rice noodles instead to make it GF. Used Pak Choy and bean sprouts. Perfectly OK, but needs the condiments - nuts, chilli oil etc. I didn't bother so it was just OK really.

• Chayotes & garlic (Củ su xào tỏi)

  • Amcbreen on August 05, 2021

    This was a very interesting dish. It is the first time I have cooked with Chayote. I used a mandolin to slice the chayote and think they could have been slightly thicker slices. They really don't have much flavor so they took on the flavor of the sauce. I felt like with each bite, I was hoping for some flavor from the chayote to compliment the sauce. The recipe was spot on, but think I would try this with a different starch.

• Fresh salad rolls (Gỏi cuốn)

  • Amcbreen on August 05, 2021

    These were absolutely delicious. I omitted the pork belly as I did not have any on hand but will be trying these again to attempt the Recipe as Uyen intended. The sauce was perfect compliment :)

• Orange & lime baked cheesecake (Bánh phô mai cam chanh)

  • Amcbreen on August 05, 2021

    This was a lovely and light dessert. The texture reminded me of an American pound cake more so than a cheesecake. It would be nice with a light orange glaze next time.

• Kavey Eats

  One of the strengths of Vietnamese is that, whilst Uyen’s recipes are firmly based on Vietnamese flavours, cooking techniques and ways of eating, they are also written with UK cooks in mind...

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