th anks for info
Do you think tapioca starch is essential? (I have tapioca grains though.)
Other ingredients like cornstarch, rice flour and mushrooms etc, I have them at hand and will like to try it without spending another hour going to buy tapioca flour.
Probably, I’ve seen it in pretty much all the recipes I’ve seen online. Maybe you can make the grains into flour with a food processor/blender/spice grinder?
1 Like
In NJ have to go to Asian or Eastern European butcher to get the belly.
This works very well - I do it all the time for pie thickener.
1 Like
Hey HOs - just a heads up that nominations for next quarter’s cuisine are now open! Head over to the nomination thread and hit me with your suggestions for fall.
Oh no, already time?! We haven’t finished cooking Vietnamese yet… so much fun!
1 Like
I just stumbled unto another site
the author’s grandmother thinks adding potato starch makes it less starchyThe combination of rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch makes for a light and thin crêpe without a trace of glueyness.
For crêpes
2 cups rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
5.5 cups water
I also prefer sweet potato starch in all my cooking replacing that for cornstarch and wheat flour for thickening and frying, making gravies. I hope she means sweet potato starch as that is what we use. There are two types, the finer and the coarser type. They re usually on display side by side. It is the finer version that I use following what my mother used to do.
It does makes fried food crispier and less mess on the oil .
LET ME KNOW IF YU DECIDE TO MAKE IT WITH THIS VERSION AND RESULT.
2 Likes
Ever since I saw your Banh Cuon, I thought I would try and make some
Was in Va today, googled for the best Banh Cuon, which led me to Eden Plaza in Falls Church. Called the manager who agreed I can bring my emotional support dogs there.
This is the write up of that restaurant called Banh Cuon Thang Long at Eden Center.
They may be small and out of site, but their food is anything but small and absolutely out of site. They are one of two at the Eden Center that can claim this as their Pièce de résistance. The #1 special Banh Cuon is a diner favorite, consisting of minced pork filling and another with shrimp. It’s topped with Cha Lua (pork patties), fried shrimp cake, bean sprouts, cilantro and fried onions. Top that off with their fabulous fish sauce, and you have a little plate of heaven. We recommend a cup of their delicious Vietnamese iced coffee with your meal as well.
We arrived early by 11:00AM for breakfast although I already had coffee and yogurt. There were very few people in the restaurant.
Ordered Banh Cuon and something else that looked good ( my sister thought it was fried fish)
Very disappointed. There were several crepes but it they only contained finely diced carrots. fried shrimp cake was not bad , crunchy but nothing special. Cha Lua pork patties did not look tasty at all, so my portion went to the poms who had raw venison for breakfast . They were not impressed either) Aside from those items, there was fresh bean sprouts and slivered zucchini on the side and some cilantro . The fish sauce tasted as though they watered it down.
As for the other dish called broken rice which my sister ordered thinking it was fried fish without reading , I took a look inside the broken rice. There were fresh bean sprouts and a little bit of ground pork. Neither of us even touched that except for a taste of the broken rice. IMG_0401|700x525the crispy rice. I left my sister there to chat on the phone, went with the poms to the grocery next door to buy some grocery.
Returned at Noon time for my sister who was still chatting on the phone. T
1 Like
Thanks for the report. Too bad the bánh cuốn was not up to par. The other dish you ordered (in your picture) is bánh xèo, which is neither fish nor broken rice, but rather a coconut flavored fried crepe usually filled with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts. You can eat it by wrapping pieces of it into some lettuce with some herbs and then dipping it into nuoc cham dipping sauce. I like this dish but haven’t tried making it myself.
I was never too much of a fan of vietnamese cuisine as i like spicy food. I used to make spring rolls ( see my 3/25/17 thread and another one 8/17 which I wrote a blog on but cannot find . I had a party 8/31 and served spring rolls esp since my cuisinart disc had just arrived. I did a detail description of the ingredients used as well as pictures. Wander what happened to it? ) ) with 2 kinds of spring roll covers, one of wheat flour made by Simex and the other one would be the rice paper ( thin ones, with mixture of rice and tapioca as opposed to the pure rice or pure tapioca brand which are too thick or too thin) when my husband was still alive because he has gluten enteropathy. We eat them fresh or pan fried.
Thanks for your taking time out to explain to me about banh Cuo.
My sister should not have ordered the second dish without checking as we did not touch it except for a small bite of the rice when it arrived. I did not even attempt to bring it home. The waitress told us it is broken rice.
I was at the Asian store yesterday, bought some more ingredients and will make some spring rolls ( hopefully soon) and if I do, I will try and see if the banh cuon wrapper will work using my spring roll ingredients as I no longer use rice paper. My son sometimes prefer to just bake the spring rolls in the countertop convection oven until they are crunch as he is more of paleo style.
Let me know if adding sweet potato starch to your wrapper works better or not .
Thanks again
1 Like
Finally, life slowed down a bit, and I have more time.
Made the NYT Braised Pork Ribs Recipe by Tanis sometime last week.
Shallots and lemongrass chopped(I used dried, didn’t have fresh ones), soy sauce, fish sauce, Chile paste, sugar, five spice powder, grated garlic, grated ginger, mix everything. Marinate the ribs with the marinade for some hours or 1 night. Heat oven to 230ºC / 450ºF, add 2 cup of water, cook for 30 minutes with foil covering the pot or pan. Lower the heat to 180ºC/350ºF and cook for 1 hour more. Remover cover and cook for another 15 minutes to brown the ribs. Pour the sauce to a pan and reduce. Garnish the dish with scallions, cilantro and mint springs. Tender and yummy.
The next day, I made Bun Chà Hanoi, first I cooked the meatball - Thịt Heo Viên Kho (recipe here). For the Bun Chà, I added the leftover braise pork. Very fulfilling meal.
5 Likes
How can we left out nem chua? The amazing fermented pork: spicy, sour, savoury and sweet. The texture is interesting with the pig skin, minced meat, crunchy garlic and chili. I am not sure if one can make it at home easily.
Bought in an Asian store in Paris.
3 Likes
have never seen it where I shop
Interesting
Actually, it is commonly made at home. Most people use a prepared spice packet since it already contains the sodium nitrite required for curing. In the U.S. , people wary of food safety often make it using beef instead of pork and even making a copy cat version out of ham is also popular. I think the hardest part is wrapping the little bundles, especially if you are going to use banana leaves. A google search will yield lots of recipes.
Thanks for bringing up nem chua. It is indeed delicious.
1 Like
Yep.
Stir fry chicken with the black fungus (Gà xào nấm mèo) tonight.
Soak the fungus until soft, slice them thinly. Slice the chicken. Marinate the chicken with nuoc mam for at least 30 minutes. Heat up the pan with neutral oil , cook chicken in high heat for 3 minutes, add slice onion, fungus, chicken juice and cook 30 minutes. Check the seasoning: salt, pepper and nuoc mam. Garnish with coriander. Personal touch: I add some fermented Kampot black pepper.
Pea sprouts with garlic and nuoc mam
Like the chicken dish a lot, the kampot pepper added another dimension to the dish. I saw the online photos of the same dish has a golden brown sauce, I wonder if it was the reduced chicken juice (that I omitted).
2 Likes
Thai red chicken curry with eggplant and fresh herbs from garden including sport peppers, purple and green basil, and fresh lemongrass.
1 Like
Bought last week, Giò Chàng Công from the Asian store.
Made some banh mi with it. The real French baguette was not quite right, the industrial bread here would be closer to the crispy Vietnamese version, with thin crust and a more neutral taste since the taste of ham wasn’t very strong. A lot of mint and coriander with fresh onion, tomatoes, lettuce and Maggi sauce! (I remembered them using that with the sandwich).
3 Likes
Some more meal this week, the last ones since the Vietnamese quarter ended already.
Bass cooked with lemongrass - similar to Cá ướp sả ớt, I didn’t fry the fish.
Seasoning includes, thinly sliced lemongrass, sliced red chillies, fish sauce, sugar, sliced shallots, garlic, chives and oil
Stir-fry beef with lemongrass - Bò xào xả
Pot braised fresh Shiitake
It has been fun these few months, thank you everybody!
4 Likes
