w176450158Secrets of the Red Lantern (subtitled Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart) is much more than a collection of authentic recipes from successful Vietnamese restaurant Red Lantern, located in Sydney – Click here for more information. This book is the honest, difficult story of the Nguyen family as told by daughter Pauline. It documents their escape from Vietnam and eventual resettlement in Australia. At the heart of this story is a love of food – it helped to placate homesickness, became central to their early success in Australia, and was sometimes the only language the family could use to communicate with each other. Apart from the story, the book also contains a collection of some of the best Vietnamese recipes that we have come across at Wickedfood cooking school, supported by some superb food photography. It is a book that we will certainly be referring to when we draw up recipes for future Vietnamese cooking classes.

For other articles on South East Asia see:

A Taste of Thailand

Floating markets in Bangkok

Must try Singapore dishes

The ABCs of Singapore food

Singapore hawker food centres

Vietnamese cuisine

 

Great Asian recipes – Click here:

Chicken feet

Biryani

Kaeng kari kai – yellow curried chicken

Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce

Phat Thai

Tom yum kung

Green pawpaw salad

Fish head curry

Warm squid salad in a pineapple

Spiced pork spare ribs

Deep-fried silken tofu

Thai beef salad

3 Cup Chicken

Cooking schools in South East Asia

Thai House cooking school • Bangkok • Thailand

Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School• Thailand

Red Bridge Cooking School• Hoi An • Vietnam

Books reviewed by Wickedfood on Asian food:

Secrets of the Red Lantern

Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories

A Passion for Thai Cooking

Balance & Harmony, Asian Food

 

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking School in Johannesburg runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.