Hmong Cooking From Yia Vang

In Hmong food, we always have our base aromatics: lemongrass, ginger, garlic, Thai chilies, and shallots. Those are the kind of Southeast Asian aromatics that we use, and a lot of Hmong people are farmers and growers—like my parents, who have a little garden where they grow all of this themselves. There’s another aspect of our food that’s very herbaceous. You’ve got your dill, cilantro, green onions, Thai basil, and mint. These are the herbaceous flavors that brighten up the dish. And then I would say that if you come to Mom’s house and she’s making food for you, there’s going to be four elements on that table: largest Hmong community outside of Southeast Asia, other pockets in cities such as California’s Fresno and Sacramento represent a growing cultural in uence.

1. Some kind of rice. Jasmine rice, short grain rice, or some kind of sticky rice—that’s your starch.

2. And then some protein. This can be anything from tofu or mushrooms to beef, chicken, or fish.

3. The next thing is vegetables. It could be a stir-fry or part of a soup—but there must be a vegetable there.

4. And the next thing that’s really big: you have your hot sauce. We’re not talking here about aging and fermenting for 30 days or whatever. It’s literally Thai chili, garlic, fish sauce, salt, and shallots. And you mash it down with a mortar. If you want to make it more herbal you can throw in some cilantro. The hot sauce is like a chimichurri salsa or a salsa verde. Every culture has this. It helps bring the flavors of all the foods together.

Those four elements are your base. That’s your canvas. And then, however you want to paint your picture depends on how you want to do it. And that’s what I love about Hmong food. It’s not about a certain type or kind of food. It’s a philosophy of food. It’s about the understanding that, no matter where we go, no matter where we are, these are the elements that we’ll put together.

“The point of being Hmong is that for thousands and thousands of years, our ancestors had to integrate into different cultures in Southeast Asia, and our food actually represents all these different areas that we’ve been in,” says Vang. “Now that we’ve been here in America for the last nearly 50 years, our food is starting to reflect what’s grown in America. I think that our culture is so young and that it’s still trying to define itself and just find its own identity.”

Vang points out that the ancestors of the Hmong originated in China and have been on the move for centuries. Their diaspora to America is the latest chapter of a history of adaptation and learning to carry their culture into other lands.

AT THE END OF THE DAY, I GET TO BRING WHAT I’M DOING TO MOM AND DAD AND SHOW IT TO THEM. AND AS THAT LITTLE BOY, I JUST GET TO ASK, IS THIS OK? AS LONG AS THEY SAY, ‘YES, THIS IS GREAT, WE’RE WITH YOU AND WE’RE BEHIND YOU,’ I DON’T CARE ABOUT ANY OTHER VOICES.

“While you learn about history, you’re also living at the same time. So, the food we cook isn’t traditional Hmong food. We learn from that tradition, and we expand that tradition,” Vang says. “We keep moving. There’s this whole idea of tradition and authenticity, and we feel like they fight. But they need each other. And if you say ‘traditional Hmong food,’ you’re talking about 25 or 30 years ago, when they didn’t have the ingredients that we’re using today. And then 50 years ago, they were still in the hills and the mountains of Laos.”

Vang is poised to be a leader in what defines Hmong food in America, but he plans not to let the attention and potentially critical spotlight determine how he approaches things. In his heart, he stays close to his parents’ kitchen.

“At the end of the day, I get to bring what I’m doing to Mom and Dad and show it to them,” he says.

YIA VANG HAS PARTICIPATED IN SEVERAL TV SHOWS WITH A VARIETY OF GUESTS INCLUDING (FROM TOP) ON “RELISH” WITH CHEF AMALIA MORENODAMGAARD, “FERAL” WITH A LOCAL SNAKE MASTER, AND ON “IRON CHEF: QUEST FOR AN IRON LEGEND.” OPPOSITE: YIA VANG WITH HIS PARENTS.

“And as that little boy, I just get to ask, is this OK? As long as they say, ‘Yes, this is great, we’re with you and we’re behind you,’ I don’t care about any other voices.”

Vang brings a fun, open, and authentic energy to conversation as well as his multifaceted ventures in the food world. He plans to open his larger eatery Vinai in Minneapolis later in 2023, a date that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In times of turmoil in his industry, Vang focuses on the positive.

“We were out in New York, and I was meeting with a writer from Bon Appetit,” Vang says. “I just said that I feel very blessed. There are some restaurants that didn’t make it out of COVID. We were very blessed to be very small at that time and we were able to maneuver through some of it. And in the last couple years we’ve been able to look at other opportunities and take them to the team and say, ‘Hey, is this something that we wanna roll with?’ We have an incredible team.”

Those opportunities have multiplied. Vang made the prestigious cover of Bon Appetit magazine in 2020. And his ease in front of the camera led to TV appearances in 2022 on Netflix’s “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend,” as well as the “Stoked” Food Network digital series, and a star turn in the Outdoor Channel’s “Feral,” which premiered in November 2022.

In “Feral,” each episode sees Vang hunting and fishing wild species such as hogs and silver carp, learning from local guides about ecosystems and food chains—and eventually cooking and eating a variety of animals never seen on the traditional American dinner table.

“I told a couple of my Hmong friends about it, and they were like, ‘dude, why don’t we get our dads on that show?’ Because that’s what they all did growing up,” Vang says with a laugh.

Vang talks about “Feral” as part of his larger journey of connecting, learning, and bridging different backgrounds. At one point he recalls connecting with a snake catcher hunting Burmese python in the Everglades of southern Florida and realized that both their people talk about coming from hill country despite growing up thousands of miles and halfway around the world from each other.

Lemongrass Ginger Sauce

MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS OR 12 SERVINGS

This oil sauce is a delicious base for cooking fried rice, or any stir-fry dish. You can make it ahead, so it’s great to have on hand for whenever you want to whip up a tasty meal.

3 cups neutral oil (such as vegetable, canola, peanut, or grapeseed)

1 cup chopped lemongrass

½ cup chopped ginger

¼ cup chopped garlic (see Cook’s Note)

1 cup sliced scallions

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1. In a large pan, heat oil on high heat until it’s steaming hot. Add lemongrass, ginger, and garlic and immediately turn heat down to low. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Turn o heat and add scallions, salt, and fish sauce. Use when making fried rice—use about 1 tablespoon to every cup of rice—or when preparing your favorite stir-fry dish. For 1 pound of chicken, you should use about 2 tablespoons in place of oil, or it can be used as a sauce on the side. This sauce will keep in a sealed container or jar in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

Cook’s Note: You’ll need about 10-12 cloves, which is about one bulb of garlic to make ¼ cup chopped.

“That’s the ethos of what we’re trying to do,” Vang says. “My Mom and Dad, their door was always open to whoever wanted to come to the table and eat. And that’s their legacy. The table is open to anybody— come, eat, and be respectful to each other. But come to the table.”

Quinton Skinner is the author of fiction and nonfiction books, as well as work in numerous national publications including Glamour, Experience Life, Huffington Post, Delta Sky, and American Theatre. He was senior editor of Minnesota Monthly and METRO magazine, and is the co-founder of Logosphere Storysmiths.