Vietnamese Dipping Fish Sauce(Nước mắm chấm)

When it comes to make this dipping sauce, I am the worse. No matter how many times I practice, the taste never turns out right, sometimes too sour, other times too salty. Really, it's not easy as it seems to be. Failing making the right sauce will eventually end up with the bad dish. Therefore, I decided to visit my uncle's house for a lesson today. He's an excellent cook;of course,an expert in dipping sauce.Luckily, I brought the measured cups along so both of us can have some fun experiments together( the reason is that my uncle usually makes the sauce by tasting and estimating only). Here are some notes that can be reviewed:

1/ Fish sauce for dipping sauce is normally saltier than the fish sauce for cooking. It can be seen by a darker color with a very high sodium contained ( normally 1490~1560mg) while the cooking sauce has a very light color with lower sodium ( approx 1420mg). Thus, the saltier the sauce is, the more water needed when making dipping sauce.


2/ The balance in the amount of water, fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice in the sauce will create flotation when putting chopped garlics and chilies.


3/ Too much garlic will result in pungent smell

****The dipping sauce recipe my uncle showed me is for serving with the dishes that contain vermicelli,crepe, rice cakes and rolls.The fish sauce we used is the one that contains 1490gm sodium. This sauce tastes good for my standard, anyway, you can adjust the amount to suit your taste.

INGREDIENTS: ( using 1/3 cup measurement)
- 5/3 cup water ( if you refer a lighter taste, go for 4/3 cup water and 1/3 cup fish sauce)
- 2/3 cup fish sauce

- 1/3 cup + 1tsp sugar
- 1/6 cup ( = 1tbsp) lime juice
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp chili sauce

- 1-2 small chilie

PREPARATION:
- In a bowl, mix together water and fish sauce, test the saltiness by tasting.

- Dissolve sugar, then lime juice, test again to see if it satisfies your taste
- Add in pressed garlic,chilies and chili sauce

- Store in an air-tight container
- It can be kept refrigerated for more than one month

Steamed banana cake with coconut milk(Bánh chuối hấp nước cốt dừa)

Adapted from Vietfun forum
INGREDIENTS:
*For steamed banana cake:
- 5 bananas
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- 2tbsp rice flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water (approx.)
- 1tsp salt
- vanilla, yellow food color (optional)

*For coconut milk
- 200ml coconut milk
- 1pinch salt
- 2tbsp tapioca pearls ( boil for 15 minutes, rinse through cold water and drain)
- 1 tsp tapioca flour + 3 tsp water

*Garnish:
- Roasted peanuts and toasted sesame seeds

PREPARATION:
*For the cake:
- Slice the bananas

- Mix together all the dry ingredients
- Add in water+ yellow food color and stir well
- Stir in sliced banana

- Pour the batter in the greased pan around 3-4" thick

-Steam for 45 minutes or until the cake turns clear

- Take out,leave to cool and cut into small cubes


*For the coconut milk:
- In a small sauce pan, boil the coconut milk, gradually pour in tapioca mixture and stir well until the coconut gets thiken, add in tapioca pearls

*Serving:
- Place the banana cubes into dessert dish
- Pour in coconut mixture
- Sprinkle with roasted peanuts and toasted sesame seeds

Pickled Carrots and Daikon( Đồ chua)

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 medium sized daikon
- 4 small sized carrots
- 4-6 cloves of garlic,peeled
- 1-3 chilies
- 2 tsp salt + 2 tsp sugar (for marinate)
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 cup white vinegar

- 3 cup warm water
- 1 tight container/ jar

PREPARATION:
- Julienning/shredding/slicing carrots and daikon

- Or eventually making some cutie little flowers of your choice

- Toss them with 2tsp salt+2tsp sugar and let sit for 1-3 hours
- Dissolve together sugar, vinegar and warm water
- Squeeze the vegetable to get rid of exceed water and put into the container, along with peeled garlic and chilies

- Pour the brine into the jar filled with vegetables. Close the lid.
- Marinate for 2-3 hours or overnight( if need to be served in a hurry)
- Best use after 2 days
- The pickle can be kept refrigerated for at least 1 month.

Rice Flakes Mixed (Cốm dẹp trộn dừa)

INGREDIENTS: (serving 5)
- 1 pack (250gr) rice flakes

- 100gr freshly grated coconut
- 100ml coconut milk
- 70-100gr sugar
- 2 tbsp pandan juice/ 2 drops of pandan extract/ pandan essence

PREPARATION:
- Quickly rinse the rice flakes in cold water and drain for 30 minutes
- In small pot, boil together coconut milk,sugar, and pandan juice

- Transfer the rice flakes to a large flat surface( I used baking tray), gradually add in coconut mixture ( one tablespoon at a time) and stir well using a pair of chopsticks and a spoon.Stop adding the coconut when the flakes taste a little chewy.

- Add in grated coconut and mix well

Home-made Soymilk(Sữa đậu nành)

INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups soy beans

- 4 cups water
- pandan leaves (optional)
-sugar
- cheesecloth

PREPARATION:
- Soak soy beans in water for several hours or overnight

- Blend soy beans and water in the blender until smooth
- Drain and squeeze the soy beans through the cheese cloth

- Boil the soy milk with pandan leaves over medium heat, add in sugar to taste.
- Serve warm or cold with ice

Crab soup with rice vermicelli(Bún riêu cua)

Cách nấu nước dùng và đồ ăn đi kèm thì giống với cách làm bún riêu tôm. Nhưng mà thay vì dùng riêu tôm thì ở đây mình dùng riêu cua.Ở bên này thì ko có cua đồng nên mua gạch cua và thịt cua đóng hộp(tuy là ăn không ngon bằng nhưng mà có đỡ hơn không)

RIÊU CUA:
- 1 hay 2 hộp gạch cua

- 1 hộp thịt cua (nhớ chắt hết nước,lấy nước đó cho vào nước dùng)

Mở hộp ra thì thế này


CÁCH LÀM:
- Thịt cua trộn đều với gạch cua( 2 thứ này đã mặn sẵn rồi nên cũng không cần nêm nếm gì cả),nước sôi thì cho từ từ vào đến khi nổi lên giống gạch tôm
- Nấu nước dùng này thì không cần cho hạt điều màu vì căn bản trong gạch mua đã có màu rất đậm.

-Video tham khảo cách làm bún riêu cua đồng truyền thống

Black Gluten Sticky Rice(Xôi nếp than)

INGREDIENTS: (Serving 3)
- 200gr black gluten sticky rice

- 3tbsp coconut milk ( optional)
- 50gr shredded coconut
- 50gr mung bean
- 2 tbsp roasted and crushed sesame seed
- Extra sugar

PREPARATION:
- Soak mung bean in water for 30', steam and mash well
- Soak rice in enough water to cover for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight), then drain.
- Place rice in a rice steamer over boiling water and cook for 40 minutes or until tender, then mix with 3tbsp coconut milk

-Fluff rice before serving
-Garnish with a layer of mashed mung bean, then coconut, sesame, sprinkle sugar over the top.
- Serve as breakfast/appetizer.

Southern " Ba Ba" Sweet Soup (Chè bà ba)

INGREDIENTS: (serving 10)
- 200gr mung bean
- 1can (400ml) coconut milk
- Palm sugar

- 300gr fresh cassava
- 300gr honey sweet potato
- 3 dried wood ear fungus(stock photo)

- 50gr tapioca pearl
- Vanilla or pandan essence (optional)

PREPARATION:
- The process of preparing cassava, sweet potato and tapioca pearl is similar to the plantains in coconut milk recipe
- Soak wood ear fungus in hot water for 1 hour or until soften, rinse well in water and thinly slice
- Soak the mung bean in water for half an hour
- There are two ways you can cook the mung bean:
1/ _Steam them mung bean until tender (approx 15minutes)
_In a large stainless steel pot, cook together the mung bean and water( the water level is 1" higher than the mung bean) in high heat for 10minutes or until the mung bean is mash-able. I prefer this way because the mung bean will never stick to the bottom of the pot.

2/ Cook the mung bean and the water for 40' in medium/low heat. try to stir the mung bean frequently to prevent stickiness.
- Pour in the coconut milk and 4 pieces of palm sugar and cook in low heat until all the sugar dissolve
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and shimmer for 10-15 mins.
- Serve hot.

Langues de chat( Cat's tongues cookies)

INGREDIENTS:
- 200gr egg whites at room temperature

- 250gr sugar
- 180gr butter
- 260gr all purpose flour

PREPARATION:
- Preheat the oven to 375F/200C
- In a mixing bowl, gently whisk together the egg whites and sugar.The reason I mention that the egg whites should be at room temperature because it will dissolve sugar easily.
- Microwave butter for 10-15 second or until soften( not melting), mix into egg white mixture.
- Gradually mix in flour,the batter should be thick and smooth( if it's not, add in more flour)

- spoon half the batter into a large pastry bag or cookie press fitted with a small round tip ( 0.7cm diameter)
- Squeeze to a 3-4cm/1" length

- Bake for approx 15 minutes or until golden.
- Just found out a useful video

Mango Souffle

INGREDIENTS:
- 2 medium sized mangoes
- 2 tbsp custard powder

- 50gr sugar ( adjust the amount depending on the sweetness of mango)
- 325gr half and half ( or heavy cream/regular milk/evaporated milk)
- 4 tsp gelatine
- 2 egg whites

PREPARATION:
- Mango Puree:
+ Peel the mango, cut into small cubes, put into blender with 3tbps water and blend well
+ Strain for a smoother texture

- In a small sauce pan, heat together 2tbsp custard powder + 1tbsp sugar + 2tbps half and half, stir well until dissolve.

- then pour in the rest of half and half and let simmer for 2 minutes.

- Leave to cool, then pour into mango puree and mix well
- Heat up 4tsp gelatine + 2tbsp water ,mix into the mango mixture

- Whisk eggwhites in a bowl until soft peak forms. Add remaining sugar, beating until thick and glossy. Fold into custard mixture

- Spoon mixture into soufflé dishes( or whatever bowl you have). Cover with cling wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.

- Serve with fruit topping or with yogurt as desired

-Preparing mango video