This simple Vietnamese soup is made with amaranth and shrimp and is cooked in a deliciously seasoned soup stock. I love these soups because they’re nice, light and super healthy and so easy to make! Traditionally, these soups often accompany a salty meat dish and a side of rice.

Typically used are pennywort greens but I got these asian amaranth leaves from my local CSA. These leaves are very nutrient-rich and is a good source of carotenoids, proteins, and essential amino acids like methionine and lysine, dietary fiber and minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, copper, phosphorus, zinc, and iron!

Why didn’t I know about this leaf sooner? It’s so delicious and full of all the good stuff! These delicious spinach like leaves are known in asian cultures as the “queen of vegetables” and the “longevity vegetable” and are touted to be anti-cancer greens.

I received this along with a bunch of other asian herbs, vegetables, and greens as part of my CSA share that I posted the other day.

Do you like Chinese style sweet and sour chicken? Well this recipe is sure to please and replaces the chicken with a plant based substitute, golden oyster mushrooms!

These mushrooms are dredged in a flour/egg batter and then deep fried to perfection for that extra crispy crunch. The wet batter creates a nice doughy crust that makes it more fluffy while the chewiness of the oyster mushrooms gives you that mock chicken texture!

Crispy “birds nest” aka Vietnamese crispy noodle with stir fried shrimp and vegetables.

This is a relatively easy dish but it requires a lot of prep work. I like my noodles very crispy and vegetables also has to be firm with a crisp. I DESPISE mushy noodles & veggies, and over cooked shrimp especially in stir fried recipes. So the best way for everything in your mi xao to be nice and crisp is to cook EVERYTHING separately.

Vietnamese fried tofu with scallion oil aka dau ran tam hanh. It’s such a simple dish but it’s so yummy and comforting and it’s a dish that comes together in less than 15 minutes and just a few ingredients.

Vietnamese chili lemongrass sate sauce (tương ớt sa tế in Vietnamese) is that yummy spicy chili oil that you typically see in Vietnamese restaurants. It packs in a little heat and spice and helps add bold flavor from its use of garlic, peppers and fragrant lemongrass.

Growing up, blue crabs were always a treat for us growing up as kids in Kansas so having this as a family now with both parents and my lil sis just brought us all back to our old childhood days… 😍

The first batch (pictured in top right corner) were simple boiled blue crabs served with a lime/salt/black pepper dipping sauce! The sauce is so good and was our favorite dipping sauce as kids since it was a lil sour/citrusy/and salty! Paired with a little black pepper it had just the right amount of spice. The second way was a stir fried crab with a Vietnamese satay sauce (lemongrass, ginger, garlic, shallots) then tossed with fragrant aromatic herbs like cilantro, scallions and red chili.

This cold bean sprout dish is perfect for the summer time!

A simple blanch and quick garlic stir fry makes this dish complete in less than 10 minutes! ❤️

Make classic Vietnamese dish, Tôm Rim. These glossy and fragrant prawns are marinated in traditional Vietnamese flavors then stir fried in a rich and savory caramel sauce. The thick sweet and savory glaze is just finger licking good and the shells are crispy and so flavorful you can eat the shrimps whole with shells on.

To celebrate my parents arrival and AAPI Heritage month, I wanted to make my parents dinner since they always cook for us and it gave me a chance to and talk to them more about our family’s heritage.

I took a twist on a Vietnamese lemon grass & steamed mussel recipe I had and swapped out the chicken broth for a butter wine sauce.

The result? Delicious, the Vietnamese herbs with the cooked down white wine and butter was such an amazing pairing, it was very smooth, familiar, and aromatic (Think Vietnamese purple basil, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, chives, jalepeno, red chili, siracha, cilantro and fish sauce cooked down with steamed and buttered mussels...) 😍.

I’ve been eating and testing a lot of recipes lately so I’m going to adopt Meatless Monday’s to dedicate to vegetarian and/or vegan meals!Are you a team “tonkatsu” or chicken “katsu”? I used to love ordering this at Japanese restaurants all the time but this time I wanted to make something similar but with tofu!