Nguyen in the Kitchen

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Recipe Index 2

Breakfast Recipes View All

  • Vegan Chocolate Crepes

  • Sweet Potato Toast

  • Cloud Eggs

Dessert Recipes

Vegetarian Recipes View All

  • Buddha’s Hand Kohakutou

  • Fall Carrot Soufflé

  • Asian Pear Baumkuchen

About Me

About Me

Howdy! My name is Carol, and my creative outlet is cooking. When I'm in a kitchen, the combination of creating, problem-solving, science, art, and food is thrilling. I don't like to label what I am, what I do, or what I eat, and instead lean towards what feels right. #LiveLove #SpreadLove

Latest Posts

Buddha’s Hand Kohakutou

December 2, 2020

Fall Carrot Soufflé

December 1, 2020

Asian Pear Baumkuchen

November 20, 2020

Follow @ the_carolnguyen

Ultimate cracker base for all your "shark coochie" Ultimate cracker base for all your "shark coochie" creations. Post Thanksgiving has been filled with projects, so I haven't had the time to develop new recipes. However, I did do a quick demonstration for a virtual holiday celebration of gourmet crackers - perfect for your next charcuterie board. Once you make these, prepare to be inspired to make them again and again since it is so versatile; everything in your pantry will become a future flavor for the next batch. Flours can be subbed (shown are AP flour, whole wheat flour, and masa harina), flavors are interchangeable (shown are sesame and pepper, nutritional yeast with cayenne, and herbs de Provence), and no special equipment is needed. I'm regularly asked to make videos of recipes, but I am VERY awkward on camera. Swipe right for proof 🙈. #veganrecipes #plantbased #crackers #charcuterie
Chocolate pecan cookie bars with mango pâte de fr Chocolate pecan cookie bars with mango pâte de fruit. Yesterday was #nationalCookieDay , but I could not decide on what to make. However, throughout the day, I had been snacking on a jar of Texas pecans from a bushel that my loving mom had personally gathered, washed, roasted, shelled, and packaged in a reused Vlasic pickles jar. She had also prepped a container of cut mango as a car snack for my drive back to Dallas. I fully admit that I am one spoiled daughter. So, this cookie is inspired by her. The ripe mango was cooked down with sugar and pectin to create a fresh fruit jelly, which was used to attach pecan halves to a chocolate cookie base, made shiny with a brush of margarine. #veganrecipes #vegancookies #plantbased #mango #cookiebars #pecans #chocolate
Fall carrot soufflé. My sweetheart is an amazing Fall carrot soufflé. My sweetheart is an amazing photographer, and recently took a trip to the east coast to chase and capture fall. One of the photos inspired me, and I sought to recreate the vibe using carrots! Since there are no green carrots to be found, asparagus was used for that color. The base is a carrot soufflé, stiffened with #JustEgg and crushed saltine crackers and flavored with nutritional yeast. #veganrecipes #plantbased #rainbowcarrots #carrotsouffle #rootvegetables #carrots #eattherainbow #fallcolors #eatjust
Asian pear baumkuchen. It felt sacrilegious to coo Asian pear baumkuchen. It felt sacrilegious to cook Asian pear. Growing up, it was a revered fruit that we gifted or were gifted during lunar new year, and enjoyed raw (after mom peeled, cored, and delicately arranged it on a plate). But my friend @vu_approved challenged me, so BOOM! Inspired by my sweetheart's preference for all things nature and natural wood, I prepared a base of vegan baumkuchen (it took 3 tries to successfully make this using Just Egg), a German style of spit cake that resembles the cross section of a tree trunk. My home kitchen is not equipt to cook with a spit over an open flame, so thin layers were cooked separately, then wrapped around a rolling pin. Asian pear was prepped 2 ways: cooked into chunky jam for the filling, and dehydrated (following the instructions of @homechefseattle ) and dusted with matcha to form a delicate pear blossom. This dish was time consuming, but delicious. Many thanks to my sweetheart for some of the behind the scenes shots, and to Vu for choosing the star ingredient. Happy Friday! #veganrecipes #plantbased #baumkuchen #asianpear #vegandesserts #spitcake #justegg @eatjust
Acorn cookies. Inspired by the many acorns current Acorn cookies. Inspired by the many acorns currently falling around Loki and l during our daily walks, this treat combines 2 cookies - an acorn shortbread cookie for the nut, and pecan sandies for the cupules (caps). Everything was baked separately, then sandwiched together using dark chocolate. Acorn starch is commonly used in the Korean dish, dotori muk (acorn jelly), and it gives these cookies a beautiful beige color as well as nutty and earthy flavor. #veganrecipes #vegancookies #plantbased #acorns #acorncookies #fallcookies #acornrecipes #pecans #pecansandies
Shiba dango filled with peanuts and sesame. My swe Shiba dango filled with peanuts and sesame. My sweetheart is a proud parent of shibas (@shibarutx !) , and saw this dish posted by @sanaaaaaaaaat . They were so cute, that when asked to attempt it, I immediately agreed! I chose a recipe that incorporates silken tofu, because the end result is softer and chewier. Our main addition was a sweet and salty sesame peanut filling (muoi me dau phong), so we opted against placing the dangos on skewers to prevent the nuts from falling out. The black dough was achieved by adding activated charcoal, and the cheeks were dyed using fresh beetroot juice. We even made a mini Loki dango with the leftover dough (more eerie than cute, but hey we tried 😅). It was fun to form the different faces, and to watch it all come together once the mitarashi sauce was poured on top! #veganrecipes #vegansnacks #plantbased #dango #mitarashidango #japanesedumplings #stuffeddango #shibas #shibainus
Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 4 of 4 - Kohakut Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 4 of 4 - Kohakutou candy. I began this recipe first, and it took the longest to complete - 5 days to be exact. This Japanese agar candy is super fun: soft and gummy on the inside while crispy crunchy on the outside, similar to my sister's favorite movie theater snack, Assorted Fruit Sours. After creating the base agar jelly, the grated fruit was folded in and set into a firm disc before punching out circles and cutting long rods. The fruit pulp compromised the clean edges I was hoping to achieve, but after 5 days of watching the exterior crystallize, I loved the organic feel as the candy shrank and grew in different places. Everything was given a small Midas touch of edible gold to make it extra special. #veganrecipes #vegancandy #plantbased #buddhashand #citron #asianfruit #kohakutou
Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 3 of 4 - Marmala Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 3 of 4 - Marmalade. The anatomy of this fruit is practically 100% citrus rind which means it is full of pectin. This makes it perfect for a marmalade - no additional gelling agent needed! Since there is no pulp or juice to aide with tartness and flavor, I added 1 sliced up meyer lemon (pulp, pith, and skin included) along with 1 thinly sliced clementine peel for color. The pectin power was so strong, I ended up adding a bit more water at the end to create a looser spread. I served this on toast with homemade cashew cream. #veganrecipes #buddhashand #citron #asianfruit #marmalade #toastandjam #cashewcream
Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 2 of 4 - Sugar c Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 2 of 4 - Sugar cubes. Since the fruit is so floral, I knew I wanted to enjoy it in tea. However, I was concerned about losing the lovely fragrance during the drying process. One of the ways I like to extend the life of vanilla pods is to put them in sugar to make vanilla sugar, so I used this same process to conserve some grated Buddha's hand. I added in a bit of golden brown sugar for warmth and sparkle along with a spoon of lemon juice to create the consistency of wet sand. This mixture was then packed down into a small triangle cookie cutter and punched out to dry as individual sugar pyramids. #veganrecipes #buddhashand #citron #asianfruit #sugarcubes #tealover
Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 1 of 4 - Carpac Buddha's hand fruit exploration - 1 of 4 - Carpaccio. I picked up one these wickedly cool phalange fruits this past weekend and have spent the past 3 days dissecting and studying ways to work with it. Most recipes recommend candying the flesh, but I wanted to see how else to push its potential. This fruit is incredibly fragrant, like a mixture of lemons and jasmine flowers. It is 100% rind, like that of a lemon, but firmer, crunchy, and not bitter. To begin I kept it simple, super thin slices the OG Asian way, topped with salt, chile, and lime zest to enhance sweetness and juiciness. #vegansnacks #plantbased #buddhashand #citron #asianfruit #fruitcarpaccio #saltyourfruit
It's not the 4th of July, but a pie felt right. Vo It's not the 4th of July, but a pie felt right. Vote today. Not for the past, not out of fear, but vote for today. Vote for the people you feel care about you and your beliefs. Vote because it is a privilege and honor to be able to voice your opinion and play a part in choosing your local, state, and national representatives. Vote because today is Election Day, and this particular election only happens every 4 years. Vote because there is still time, polls don't close until 7pm. #vote
Pumpkin tikka masala bread balloon. I didn't plan Pumpkin tikka masala bread balloon. I didn't plan to make anything today, but woke up inspired by the beautiful jack-o-lanterns everyone was sharing. It was also cold and perfect weather for soul-warming tikka masala. Pizza balloons are a novel idea that were popularized in recent years, so I revised it - 2 whole wheat pizza dough discs sandwich the fully cooked veggies and sauce, and a straw used to inflate the whole mass before baking. After the bread shell is baked firm, I was able to carve out a simple face. I quite enjoyed the fragrant steam that escaped from the vents, and the ability to tear bread from the outsides and dunk into the vibrant sauce. Happy Halloween! #veganrecipes #plantbased #pizzaballoon #tikkamasala #breadballoon #pumpkin #halloweenrecipes #masalaballoon
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