Weekend Kat Blogging: Kat’s First Flower

These photographs were taken in the last week of March, when we had a week of beautiful sunny days and warm temperatures. The daffodils and hyacinths were blooming, the grass was greening and the trees were bursting forth with tiny new leaves.
A few days later, we had nearly two solid weeks of rain, freezing […]

Stir Fry Technique III: Ten Steps to Better Tofu From a Wok

Following my post Stir Fry Technique: Ten Steps to Better Wok Cookery, I wrote a post specifically dealing with chicken, Stir Fry Technique II: Ten Steps to Better Chicken From a Wok. When I wrote that post, there were many requests for a similar post about tofu, so finally, after much trial and error, testing […]

Stir Frying Tofu Part I: Choose Your Tofu Wisely

Finally, I am getting around to writing about how to successfully stir fry tofu. But before I launch into my Ten Steps to Better Tofu from a Wok post, let’s talk more generally about our main ingredient.
High in protein and low in fat, tofu is an ancient vegetarian food product made from ground up soybeans […]

Cooking the Soul Food of Vietnam: Kho

From what I have read and heard from Vietnamese friends, kho dishes are -the- comfort foods of their cuisine. This fairly broad category of dishes consist of braises, either long or short-simmered, which are primarily seasoned with nouc mau and fish sauce. These two sauces combine and cook down into a thick, gooey dark russet-brown […]

What To Do With Nuoc Mau: Stir-Fried Chicken with Lemongrass and Chilies

Now that I have about a cup or so of dark bittersweet delishousness in my fridge, I have to cook with it. While kuo dishes–braised dishes with gooey reddish brown salty-sweet sauce are one of the main uses of nuoc mau in the Vietnamese kitchen, the first recipe I tried was a stir-fry. Like I […]