Vietnamese Food

[guppymo]

Bisou,

I already posted a picture of Thai Okra. You might want to find it in an Asian market.

[battlepanda]

First of all, thank you to Guppymo for this thread. Drop dead gorgeous pictures. I'm fainting with hunger just looking at them!

Phaelon, there is a seller on eBay called "Blue Cloud Imports" that carries beans from vietnam, green as well as roasted. I found that they had the characteristic deep nuttiness that I am looking for in a vietnamese bean. This is now what my boyfriend and I drink most days. He loves it while I find it a little over roasted. Once we finish this batch I intend to buy some green beans and try my hand at roasting it myself in my hot air popcorn maker.

[LindaK]

A question about the dried shrimp paste you call for in some of your soup recipes.  I saw many shrimp pastes at the Super 88 (local market) but most were already mixed with oil or other ingredients.  The only one I could find without was from Thailand.  Will that work?

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The shrimp paste that I used is store in a glass jar, around 8 oz and with the brand Lee Kum Kee, it has purle color. I have run out of it if not I could have taken a picture of this jar for you. Maybe later in the weekend when I get another one.

What are you trying to make with the shrimp paste ?

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I wanted to try some of your soup recipes, some of which have some shrimp paste in the broth. I'll have to keep looking for the brand you describe, the one I found is a dark brick red color.

I had some delicious lemongrass chicken for lunch yesterday in Chinatown. Do you have any recipes for that?

thanks for the video clip of your new years eve party, it looks like fun. and the table full of food looks fabulous!

[Chufi]

Chufi,

Coconut juice is the clear juice from the husk of the coconut. You can find it's easily at any Asian market.

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So, here's what I bought at my Asian market:

It was in a fridge with other softdrinks. The owner said it could not be used for cooking, that it was just for drinking. I told him that someone from Vietnam gave me the recipe and that it could be used for cooking so he gave in So I hope this was the right stuff! It says "with pulp", and there are little pieces of coconut jelly floating in it. I strained them out before using the juice.

My Bo Kho looked exactly like yours and was delicious. It did turn out rather sweet, maybe this was because of the juice. I hope you don't mind but I added a bit of chili at the end to balance the sweetness..

Also the finished dish did not taste of coconut at all.. what is, exactly, the purpose of the coconut juice?

The aroma of anise, 5 spice powder and lemongrass was quite magical. Thanks for a lovely and unusual recipe.

[Pan]

My guess is that it was sweet because sugar was added to the coconut water. Is that true? Coconut water for drinking often has sugar added, unless you buy it fresh from the coconut itself.

Edited March 28, 2005 by Pan (log)

[guppymo]

My guess is that it was sweet because sugar was added to the coconut water. Is that true? Coconut water for drinking often has sugar added, unless you buy it fresh from the coconut itself.

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I guess that coconut juice can had a lot of sugar "built-in" to it. Maybe next time you can try getting frozen coconut juice or fresh coconut juice from a coconut ?

The coconot flavor should not show through in this recipe, it is supposed to work "in the background" to blend all the tastes together.

Yeah, you can adjust the ingredients to make it work to your tastem, like adding chilli, adding salt, adding water, or ducing them, up to you. As long as you use lemongrass, star anise, and five spice powder in the recipe, those are the main players, the rest are supporting players :)

Thanks for sharing

[guppymo]

A question about the dried shrimp paste you call for in some of your soup recipes.  I saw many shrimp pastes at the Super 88 (local market) but most were already mixed with oil or other ingredients.  The only one I could find without was from Thailand.  Will that work?

←

The shrimp paste that I used is store in a glass jar, around 8 oz and with the brand Lee Kum Kee, it has purle color. I have run out of it if not I could have taken a picture of this jar for you. Maybe later in the weekend when I get another one.

What are you trying to make with the shrimp paste ?

←

I wanted to try some of your soup recipes, some of which have some shrimp paste in the broth. I'll have to keep looking for the brand you describe, the one I found is a dark brick red color.

I had some delicious lemongrass chicken for lunch yesterday in Chinatown. Do you have any recipes for that?

thanks for the video clip of your new years eve party, it looks like fun. and the table full of food looks fabulous!

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Linda, here is a bottole of the shrimp paste/sauce I got from the internet

The lemongrass chicken you had in Chinatown, which style or how it was cooked ?

[LindaK]

The lemongrass chicken I had was a whole bone-in chicken breast that had been marinated and probably baked (not sure) and served--sliced--over a bed of rice noodles with vegetables and herbs, sprinkled with ground peanuts. delicious.

thank you for the picture of the shrimp paste, I'll look for it.

[baophac]

my mom adds 7up to coconut juice from the frozen pouch version.

it worked for us

[touaregsand]

I went to Chinatown the other day for my Vietnamese sandwich fix. I got a steamed bun for my mom. It was the biggest steamed bun I've ever seen in my life. We could recognize the vietnamese charcuterie, 1/4" slice of harboiled egg, but there was this mousselike portion to the filling. It tasted of sweet onions and maybe soy sauce, but other than that we could not figure out what it was. My best guess is that it's seasoned sweet rice flour.

Help! What is it?

[guppymo]

A question about the dried shrimp paste you call for in some of your soup recipes.  I saw many shrimp pastes at the Super 88 (local market) but most were already mixed with oil or other ingredients.  The only one I could find without was from Thailand.  Will that work?

←

The shrimp paste that I used is store in a glass jar, around 8 oz and with the brand Lee Kum Kee, it has purle color. I have run out of it if not I could have taken a picture of this jar for you. Maybe later in the weekend when I get another one.

What are you trying to make with the shrimp paste ?

←

I wanted to try some of your soup recipes, some of which have some shrimp paste in the broth. I'll have to keep looking for the brand you describe, the one I found is a dark brick red color.

I had some delicious lemongrass chicken for lunch yesterday in Chinatown. Do you have any recipes for that?

thanks for the video clip of your new years eve party, it looks like fun. and the table full of food looks fabulous!

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Linda,

Which restaurant you had the lemongrass chicken at ? I think the best restaurant for Vietnamese lemongrass chicken in Chinatown is at Dong Khanh. I usually ordered the grilled lemongrass chicken leg with rice over there. But I think this is the recipe for the one you had. If you tell me the name of the restaurant I probably would go there and try it and tell you how they probably made it

[guppymo]

I went to Chinatown the other day for my Vietnamese sandwich fix. I got a steamed bun for my mom. It was the biggest steamed bun I've ever seen in my life. We could recognize the vietnamese charcuterie, 1/4" slice of harboiled egg, but there was this mousselike portion to the filling. It tasted of sweet onions and maybe soy sauce, but other than that we could not figure out what it was. My best guess is that it's seasoned sweet rice flour.

Help! What is it?

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Touregsand,

Most likely the filling for "Banh Bao" is a mixture of the following ingredients:

Ground pork

Jicamai

Dried woodear mushroom

Shallot, garlic

Slices of Chinese sausage

Everything is minced and marinaded with salt, pepper, fish sauce.

[guppymo]

This is shrimp and calamari salad (Goi Tom Muc)

[guppymo]

Okie, this is not a Vietnamese dish but it's one of my favorite Chinese/Singapore/Malaysian dish - Hainanese Chicken on Rice

I followed the recipe here, not bad for the first time :)

[guppymo]

I will try to cook the Korean Tofu Chigage that Touregsand taught me before, probably tomorrow, I think the Kimchi is "ripe" enough in my fridge.

[touaregsand]

I will try to cook the Korean Tofu Chigage that Touregsand taught me before, probably tomorrow, I think the Kimchi is "ripe" enough in my fridge.

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If you were close enough to me geographically I would just make it for you and your wife!

It's a simple recipe, "prepare to taste." Enjoy!

[Pan]

Okie, this is not a Vietnamese dish but it's one of my favorite Chinese/Singapore/Malaysian dish - Hainanese Chicken on Rice

[...]

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That looks beautiful! I think it's hard to say that dish is specific to any one place, and I note that you didn't. If it's originally from Hainan and now is wildly popular in Malaysia and Singapore, why can't Vietnam (part of which is close to Hainan, in any case) also enjoy it?

[guppymo]

There's a street called Hai Ba Trung in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City that has a lot of restaurants that sell this chicken rice. We do enjoy it.

[Steamboatlover]

Has anyone ever made an asian steamboat otherwise called a Mongolian Hot Pot. All the food is sliced finely and placed on a platter along with lots of green asian vegtables. There are heaps of different foods that you can use. A hot stock is prepared at the table using a pot over a gas burner or a steamboat itself that requires hot coals. A cosy winter dish. The guests cook for themselves. I always get heaps of raves and the best part is that you can have it all ready prepared in the fridge and be sitting down with a glass of wine when the guests arrive.

[guppymo]

Has anyone ever made an asian steamboat otherwise called a Mongolian Hot Pot.  All the food is sliced finely and placed on a platter along with lots of green asian vegtables.  There are heaps of different foods that you can use.  A hot stock is prepared at the table using a pot over a gas burner or a steamboat itself that requires hot coals.  A cosy winter dish.  The guests cook for themselves.  I always get heaps of raves and the best part is that you can have it all ready prepared in the fridge and be sitting down with a glass of wine when the guests arrive.

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I had this last december

[Dejah]

Has anyone ever made an asian steamboat otherwise called a Mongolian Hot Pot.  All the food is sliced finely and placed on a platter along with lots of green asian vegtables.  There are heaps of different foods that you can use.  A hot stock is prepared at the table using a pot over a gas burner or a steamboat itself that requires hot coals.  A cosy winter dish.  The guests cook for themselves.  I always get heaps of raves and the best part is that you can have it all ready prepared in the fridge and be sitting down with a glass of wine when the guests arrive.

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This is quite popular for Chinese New Year...and some of us indulge more often.

My Chinese students get together often on weekends for "hot pot". One of our supermarkets started carrying specially sliced and packaged meats for this. It is more expensive than preparing it yourself, but these kids have no real skills in the kitchen, so they need to have someone slice it for them. They just know how to dunk and eat.

[mrbigjas]

I had this last december

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is that watercress?

[guppymo]

Yup

[guppymo]

Some beef and Chinese celery

[guppymo]

This is summer roll (different from the fresh spring roll with meat and shrimp). These were made by a friend a while ago