guppymo

The first picture, the picture of "Banh Bot Loc" - I think it's made from tapioca flour and not rice flour. I think that restaurant used too much tapioca flour, and it's a little bit undercooked, because tapioca when cooked will be translucent, you are supposed to be able to see through the outside layer, looking at that plate all we could see is the white tapioca flour. The picture below shows a "banh bot loc" on the right hand side on the plate.

Thai Okra is not as slimy as the regular okra, I think it's more squash-like

I think so too. I like to to cook it with cabbage and slices of carrots.

Now you have given a new ingredient to cook - chayote squash. I love eating chayote squash, but I can't believe I haven't cooked it for a long time. I definitely will cook something with this squash sometime this week. Thanks

Everyone was so close, but not close enough, it's Thai Okra Very good for stir-frying, especially with red chilli powder and red chilly flakes

Anybody wants to take a guess what vegetable was used in this stir-fried dish ? I had one hot bowl of Jasmine rice and worked my way through almost the entire dish for dinner tonight :)

Toliver, That herb is called "rau ram" in Vietnamese. In English it is called "Vietnamese Cilantro" or "Hot mint" Here is a picture of it. I use it all the time

Oh, the place is still being set up. I am not sure if she will have pho there or not, last I heard she was looking for a chef in Vietnam. I will let you know more about this when it's running. In the mean time you can have some "virtual pho" that I made

Spaghetttti - I am glad this my tiny effort has made so many people happy including you. I see that you are in Indonesia, I have a good friend from Indonesia. She recently finished college went back to Indonesia just got married last year in Indonesia. She told me that she's starting a Vietnamese restaurant named "Klay" as a second investment. She love eating Vietnamese food and that girl eats chilli like there's no tomorrow !!! I think her grandmom had a chilli plantation or chilli exporting business. Just a sidetrack.

Hey Touregsand, I have just bought a big jar of kim-chi, I think I have to leave it in the refrigerator for a few weeks to make it "ripe", by then I will make the Kim-chi Chigae. In the mean time I made this bamboo shoot with dried shrimps "stew" last night. Just heat some oil put it a lot of dried shrimp and red chilli powder and sauteed for a few minutes, then add the bamboo shoots, then add some chicken broth, salt, fish sauce and cook it for around 20 minutes In Vietnamese we call this "mang kho"

Phaelon, Well written. I can never write like that. I am sure everyone has his/her favorite food. Even though I cook Vietnamese food at home but once a while I would treat myself to dining out trips to other ethnic restaurants. We have alot of nice Chinese restaurants in Boston and I do have a lot of favorite Chinese dishs (real Chinese food), but believe it or not I love eating the greasy "Pork Egg Foo Young" at some local Chinese fast food establishments. My wife can't understand what with me crazy about that fried egg, bean sprout, pork and fatty gravy. Even the owner was shocked when seeing me ordering that - he asked, "You like this stuff ? Only Americans order it." ha ha :) Anyway, about Trung Nguyen Coffee, yeah I drink it at home. The first time I was introduced to this was back in 1999 when I went back to Vietnam. I bought a whole bunch over, now every Asian markets in Boston carries it. I even saw them in Forth Worth, Houston, Texas; and Orange County, San Francisco, California. Where do you live ? There probably a place that sells this somewhere around your area.

Lemoncoke, Thanks. You can add the meat whichever way your heart desires. The best meat to put is chopped pork ribs and pork shoulder. It's also good without pork but use dry shimps instead.

Oh, the above recipe - you can omit the pork if you want to

Spaghetttti, Very easy. Ingredients: 1/2 lbs. of pork 1 green papaya 12 oz. chicken broth Salt, black pepper, fish sauce (to taste) Vietnamese cilantro (rau ram) Remove papaya's skin, cut open, remove seeds. Cut into 2 inch-long section with 1/4 inch in thickness, wash. Parboil pork for 5 minutes, remove wash with cold water to remove impurities, empty the pot, replace with 32 oz of water. Add chicken broth into water Put pork and papaya and bring to boil, add salt, fish sauce (to taste) Simmer for 20 minutes. Transfer to bowl, before server add some chopped Vietnamese cilantro and a dash of black pepper.

Oh, check out the green papaya soup I had for dinner tonight. I am not sure which I like more - cooking or taking picture (my wife always gets restless waiting to eat dinner while I am clowning around taking pictures of food)

Pan, I think you should be able to find that bottle of sour bamboo shoot in New York. Yeah, I think it's kinda like pickled bamboo, but not reall sour like a pickle :)

Nathan, I use Shrimp Ground pork Crab meat Taro Chinese noodle (bean thread) Woodear mushroom Onion Carrot Garlic salt, black pepper, sugar Yello eg rolls wrapper

Oooh, oooh! Recipe, please? ← Very easy, and quick to do In a pot put a little oil, heat it up, sauteed some sliced beef shank and red chilli powder (to taste) After 1 minute put a can of chicken broth in (just the juice, throw the can away) Add a can of water Add sour bamboo Add some salt and fish sauce (to taste) Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add some shrimp in (optional) Pour onto bowl and add some black pepper and chopped scallion to garnish. Done :)

This is just a basic sour bamboo soup with beef and shrimp (optional)

Oops sorry, I don't know the names of the restaurant there off of my head. But you can try to go to "Asian Garden Mall" (Phuoc Loc Tho), there are many eateries there, in one place. Don't worry about pork, Vietnamese people eat so many different kind of meat so you can find beef, chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, snail, quail, goose, etc...to pick from. The Drama series had English subtitle

Oh yeah, last year my wife and my parents and I were in downtown LA and we did not see a lot of Vietnamese restaurants there. So we basically ate Korean food most of the time. We visited Korean Town and got some spicy kimchi, some Korean tea-mug, and my parents bought a Korean Drama Series (All-in) DVD for my wife, ouch, that DVD series costed $100 Touregsand have you ventured to Little Saigon in Orange County ?

Oh, yum!!!! Yes, I've eaten the Grilled Pork quite often in Vietnamese restaurants here (and now I know their "secret marinade!!!). My Vietnamese friend taught me to make a different chicken salad, Goi Ga, with shredded cabbage and a sweet-and-sour dressing. Now I'll have to try yours. ← Oh yeah, there's chicken/duck salad with shredded cabbage too but my wife does not like eating "raw cabbage" (maybe because she's not from Vietnam - she's halfe Chinese half Japanese), heheh but sometimes I did made one with cabbage and she picked all the meat and left me the cabbage

And here is the recipe for that chicken salad Ingredients: 1 whole chicken 2 red onions Vietnamese cilantro (rau ram) 1.5 tablespoons dipping fish sauce 2 teaspoons black pepper 2 teaspoons salt Bring a pot of water to boil, add the whole chicken and boil for 15 minutes, then turn off the oven, leave the chicken in the pot for another 45 minutes, remove chicken, let cool down, then peel of the meat. Wash and mince the Vietnamese cilantro (rau ram) Cut the red onions in halves vertically, then slices In a mixing bowl add the chicken meat, red onions, Vietnamese cilantro, dipping fish sauce, salt, black pepper. Stir and toss everything well. Arrange on a plate and decorate with a som fried shallots and a red chilly pepper garnish You can eat this chicken salad add is or you can roast some rice cracker with black sesame, then break the cracker into spoon-size pieces to scoop up the salad (fun eh ?) This is how we eat and play at the same time :roll:

Touregsand, thanks thanks. By the way where do you live ? Here is how I fixed the Grille lemongrass pork chop over rice Ingredients: 2 Tbsp. Minced lemongrass 2 Tbsp. White sesame seeds, lightly toasted, coarsely ground ½ tsp. Vietnamese shrimp sauce (or 1 tablespoon oyster sauce) Fish sauce 1 Tbsp. Caramel sauce 1 ½ tsp. Shallots, minced 2 ea. Garlic clove, minced 1 ea. Vegetable oil 2 Tbsp. 4 pork chops Combine the lemongrass, sesame seeds, shrimp sauce, fish sauce, caramel sauce, shallots, garlic and oil in a bowl and stir well to blend. Add the pork and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Grill the next day. Assembling: Rice - around 1.5 bowls on a large plate 1 teaspoon of scallion oil 1 slice of egg pie Some pickled daikon and carrots Some Bi 1 large green lettuce leaf and a few slice of tomatoes (shredded cucumber optional) Put the pork chop over rice Pour a couple tablespoons of nuoc cham Bon appetit

Today for dinner I made "Com Suong Bi Cha" (grilled lemongrass pork on rice with pork rind, and egg & meat cake) served with scallion oil pickled carrot & daikon and dipping fish sauce For appetizer I made "Ga Xe Phay" (chicken salad with Vietnamese cilantro & red onion) This is the spread for dinner on my stove-top (ready for "assembly" process). Sorry, I am still in the process of arranging pictures, and writing instructions, once they are done, I will put the link here. Has anyone had those food before ?