KennethT

Vietnamese chicken stew with fresh peppercorns

I don't understand - passion fruit are a lot of work? Cut in half and inhale! I love a really ripe and well grown passion fruit. I'll eat them 5 at a time (if I am in a place I can afford them!)

A friend of mine just got back from Thailand and brought me some fresh peppercorns..... So of course, pad cha grouper

If you want to grow a lot of sprouts, the way to do it is using a capillary mat, which fits in a standard plug tray. I've even seen people use plastic windowscreen material over a perforated flat - the roots grow through the screen and the flat into the water in teh tray below. Tons of videos on youtube

@liuzhousorry for the delay - I took these photos a while ago but forgot to post them!

It's a good thing that you weren't a fan of Wile E Coyote - those Acme products never work as well as they say they do in the catalog...

Joining in the taco Tuesday.... Foot burning red chili chicken tacos.

That's how I used to open a mangosteen until I was stopped in Singapore by a guy whose family had a mangosteen farm in Malaysia. He preferred the upside-down-squeeze method as there is no chance that the knife cuts too deep and bleeds some of the tannic rind into the fruit segments. After doing it both ways (and a few times having said knife cut too deeply) I tend to agree with him.

I second @SusieQ - sorry to hear you're back there. Hopefully this won't be for a long duration.

Singapore Bak Kut Teh

I wouldn't be surprised. The ingredient list for most large fast food chains looks more like a chemistry set than anything else. Probably labeled "modified food starch" which encompasses a TON of products.

Yeah, the food on that trip was amazing. We don't usually repeat trips to places, but if we were, Saigon would be high on the list, just for the food. If you can get it, use Thai basil rather than green onion or a mix of the two?

@OkanagancookBanh cuon is a Hanoi specialty, but is popular around Vietnam. We had it in a place that only made it in Saigon - it was so good we went twice! It's typically filled with a mixture of pork and mushrooms, and then topped with a shower of bean sprouts that were steamed so not completely raw mixed with herbs and tons of fried shallots. The sauce is sweetened fish sauce, with a dish of chilli on the side.

Actually ate out at a restaurant today (outside since it's 76 degrees in NOVEMBER!!!). A local Himalayan place Stir fried noodles with shrimp Chicken curry with paratha and rice

Old Lai Huat style sambal grouper

How long does the blood stay liquid? I was to understand that the blood coagulates quite quickly and that it has to be ridiculously fresh in order to still be liquid.

I've never made them, but have eaten them in several places in Saigon, as well as several places in Hue (where they are smaller and called banh xoai, and are even crispier). In all of these places, the "kitchen" is right out front so it's easy to watch the action. A lot of oil and high heat were standard in every place.

What type of curry is this? Can you give details?

Based on what I've seen in Vietnam, longer at lower temp is not the answer. The answer is a LOT of oil and a really high temp. I think I have a photo of them cooking them - I'll try to find them - big big flames...

I made a water ganache a long time ago and really liked it. I don't remember exactly how I did it. In your instructions, when do you add the liquid?

Thanks - but that opens a whole load of questions! Do you need to remove the scales as you would for fish scales? What is the texture of snake skin like? Is it more gamy than the meat itself?

@Anna N This is on the nose...

In the third photo, what is the striped spiral thing? Is that part of the snake or something else?

Indonesian penicillin.... Just for fun

Sichuan style twice cooked mahi mahi. With a piece of kuih for dessert