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Recipes sprinkled into fascinating story of boat people

By Kim Davaz

“Secrets of the Red Lantern” isn’t a warm memoir of a happy kitchen. Instead, it has hardship (Nguyen family members were among the first boat people to leave Vietnam after the Americans left), embarrassment (think of being a child and daily having to transport a goat leg in a rattletrap grocery cart) and a father with impossible standards.

After leaving Vietnam in a handmade boat and going through two refugee camps, the family emigrated to Australia. Eventually more of the extended family came to Australia, often living with the Nguyens until they, too, became self-supporting.

Life in the Nguyen family was impossibly difficult, but the food couldn’t have been better. Even in the depths of sorrow and hardship, every meal was of the best quality and flavor possible. (Four-course packed school lunches drew taunts from classmates, which Pauline Nguyen and her brother endured knowing their classmates had no idea what they were missing.)

In spite of a childhood that was terrifying, painful and horrific, Nguyen never sounds sorry for herself. This is her family’s life and that’s how it was. You make the best of it and move on.

The Nguyens started many businesses: a driving school, a video store, a natural fruit ice cream shop and finally a restaurant and then another.

Despite the hardship, her parents knew life was so much better than they would have had in Vietnam.

When Nguyen can stand the strain of life with her father no longer, she runs away from home, working and continuing her education.

After years of estrangement from her parents, Nguyen gradually moves back into their lives. Her parents open a new restaurant that has only five dishes, but they are the ones her father considers his best.

Nguyen and her brothers go back to work in the family business, but her brother Luke dreams of opening his own restaurant.

The red lantern doesn’t enter the book until near the end when Nguyen, Luke and her partner Mark Jensen open a Vietnamese restaurant after intense training with her parents and Sifu, a master chef.

“Secrets of the Red Lantern” is a story of trial and reconciliation (especially after the birth of Nguyen and Jensen’s daughter), of family and work, of dedication and perseverance, punctuated with recipes. This beautiful book, clothbound with no dust jacket, is illustrated with photographs of finished dishes, the family’s restaurants and of the family.

A glossary at the end of the book has a list of substitutions, but many of the more exotic ingredients should be available in an Asian grocery store or at a farmers’ market. A list of sources includes Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany.

Avocado ice cream is a gorgeous pale jade color. If you stop thinking about guacamole and think of avocado as a fruit, this dessert will seem less odd.

Avocado Ice Cream

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1 1/2 very ripe avocados
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar

Put the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Meanwhile, remove the flesh from the avocados and blend it in a food processor with the lemon juice, condensed milk and salt. As soon as the cream comes to a boil, blend it into the avocado in the food processor.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until light and fluffy, then pour the avocado mixture over the yolks while continually whisking.

Pour the mixture back into a clean saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and place over ice to cool.

Put the mixture in an ice-cream machine and churn until frozen or place in the freezer and whisk it every half-hour until frozen. It will take 4 or 5 hours to freeze.

Makes 3 cups.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.

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