RECIPE TIPS

Author Cameron Stauch says all of the ingredients for recipes in “Vegetarian Viêt Nam” can be found locally, starting with the B & T Food Centre and New City Supermarket, both on King Street East in Kitchener. However, the availability of certain Vietnamese herbs, different sizes or brands of rice paper or noodles, and different types of sauces or condiments (such as fermented soy sauce or Thai chillies) may depend on client demand, he says. If you can’t find the specified Vietnamese herbs, “go for a combination of cilantro, mint and Italian basil (which has a bit of anise flavour). I’d prefer you to add them rather than omit herbs altogether. They are important for the layering of flavours.” Stauch says he tried to present recipes as he experienced them, but he also tried to suggest alternatives. Finally, to anyone turned off by food adjectives such as “fermented,” Stauch suggests remembering it as just another way of saying pickled. “It’s vocabulary — sauerkraut is fermented.”