Why Vietnamese Food?

1.  One of the healthiest cuisines in the world!

CNN listed Vietnamese Cuisine at #3 on the 10 healthiest ethnic cuisines in the world. Our cooking techniques use water or broth instead of oils. It relies less on frying and more on herbs, which makes it lower in calories. Traditional Vietnamese food follows scientific factors for disease prevention and treatment.

2.  Freshness

Vietnamese cuisine makes extensive use of fresh herbs, spices and aromatics and values the freshness of the ingredients the most.

3.  Balance of flavors

Vietnamese cooking masters the five basic taste sensations — salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami— that give the food depth and intrigue. Every dish brings a harmony of flavors to your palate.

4.  Mostly gluten-free and non-dairy

Most of Vietnamese cakes and desserts are made from rice flour, tapioca starch and glutinous /sticky rice flour which are completely gluten-free. We use mostly coconut milk for desserts and sauces; hence most dishes are dairy-free (except for sweetened condensed milk). So it’s a great choice for those of you who are on a gluten-free and dairy-free diet.

Why Helen’s Recipes?

1.  Authentic

I was born, grew up and lived in Vietnam till 19. My taste bud has been built on authentic Vietnamese food. So no matter where I cook a Vietnamese dish, the first aim is to make it taste like the food sold or made in Vietnam.

2.  Easy-to-find ingredients

I have cooked all recipes presented in this cookbook when I lived in Germany. So you can trust that ingredients are easy to find — even in the Western world. The cookbook is written in Germany and printed in the USA. (Unless you order on Amazon Europe, then it is printed in EU)

3.  Easy-to-follow and foolproof

My top 1 priority when presenting any recipe is that it is easy-to-follow and foolproof. My recipes are tested by thousands of viewers of Helen’s Recipes Channel on Youtube. You can see testers’ food photos here (update daily). You can also contribute your food photo to testers’ portfolio by uploading it on Instagram with #HelenRecipes. [instagram]

What’s inside?

•  62 most popular Vietnamese dishes hand-picked by myself

•  step-by-step instruction with photo demo for every step

•  easy access to video demos with QR code and short link for every recipe

•  exact ingredients and measurements in both US and Metric system

•  indication of the dish’s origin

•  useful tips to enhance your chance of success

•  many dishes from central Vietnam that you won’t find in other Vietnamese cookbooks