All posts tagged: featured

Bánh Bột Lọc / Hue’s Tapioca Dumplings

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Bánh bột lọc is a transparent chewy dumpling made from tapioca flour and filled with minced pork and shrimp. The dumplings are then topped with fried shallots and served with sweet chili fish sauce. This is a specialty of Hue, the old imperial city in central Vietnam. My family originated from Hue so I grew up eating a lot of bánh bột lọc. This recipe is relatively easy but forming the dumpling does take some practice. The boiled dumplings are worth the effort, and making the dumplings is a fun activity to do as a group. This recipe is rated medium in difficulty and takes 45 minutes to 1 hour to make. Ingredients 1 lb of pork belly 8 large Tiger shrimp with heads 1 package of banh bot loc mix 1 package of tapioca starch 1 onion diced (enough for 4 tablespoons of diced onion) 1-2 red chili diced thinly 1 cup of chopped scallions Fish sauce Chicken bouillon powder (“CBP”) Salt Sugar Pepper Fried shallots 1 Lime Directions Make the filling: Remove bones and skin from the pork …

Airline Review: Bangkok Airways

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Bangkok Airways is a regional boutique airline that services the local southeast Asian cities. I had a pleasure of taking a flight with Bangkok Airways from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand and the flight was much better than I expected. In this review, I will give you my assessment of my experience flying on this regional airline. ‘ Value: Above Average The price for a one way flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok varies approximately $50 to $100 for a one way ticket depending on the time and date. It is slightly higher than other regional airlines but the service and quality are much better as well. Seat: Average The seat in coach was average in comfort and seat space. I am 5 feet tall and you can see that there was still a decent amount of space left after I sat down. Boarding: Average Boarding was orderly and efficient. This is actually a plus as I’ve been on many regional flights and boarding can vary from chaos to semi-orderly. Food: Above Average I was very …

Sautéed Shiitaki Mushrooms, Beansprouts and Chives

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Dinner at my parent’s house always includes one vegetable dish. This can be as simple as steamed broccoli or sautéed vegetable mix. For this week, we will make a simple dish of sautéed shiitake mushrooms, beansprouts and chives that is served at my family’s dinner. It is an easy and healthy way to add vegetables to your diet. This recipe takes 20 minutes to make and is rated easy. Ingredients 1 bunch of chives 1 lb. of beansprouts 6 dried shiitake mushrooms  or fresh if available 2 tablespoons of minced garlic 1 tablespoon of diced onion 1 teaspoon of minced ginger ¼ teaspoon of sesame oil 4 teaspoons of soy sauce 2 teaspoons of vegetarian soup base Salt Sugar Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) Directions Rehydrate the mushrooms by soaking the dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water for 15 minutes or until they plump up. Cut the mushrooms into small slices. Cut the chives into 2 inch segments.  Dice a few cloves of garlic to get approximately 2 tablespoons of garlic. Heat enough EVOO …

Phở Chay / Vegetarian Phở Noodle Soup

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Everyone loves phở but if you are a vegetarian, you are missing out on a national treasure. Buddhist temples have been making vegetarian phở for a long time. This is a fruit based broth with phở seasoning that has a remarkable resemblance to the beef version. Vegetarian phở is also much quicker and easier to make for those days where standing over a bubbling pot for hours is not on the schedule. Enjoy this healthy and delicious phở anytime of the day. This recipe is rated easy and takes approximately 1.5 hours to make. Ingredients: 1 large carrot 1 daikon 1 asian pear 1 casava 1 bartlett pear (American) 1 fuji apple 1 yellow onion 1 chayote 1 leek Vegetarian soup base (can be found in Asian markets) 1 package of pho dac biet seasoning 1 package of fresh pho noodles (flat vermicelli) / Dry pho noodles if the fresh version is not available 1 tablespoon of rock sugar Soy sauce Sugar Sea Salt Ground pepper Assortment of mock beef and ham or tofu depending …

Meal Kit Company Review: Purple Carrot

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Being professionals in today’s busy world, it is hard to have a home cook meal which includes figuring out what you want to eat and then buying all the ingredients. The current offerings from various companies address this issue by curating recipes and sending all the ingredients in the appropriate portion straight to your home each week. In this series, we tested out a few of the companies to give you our take on each offering. First up is Purple Carrot which is a vegan meal kit company curated by former New York Times columnist and cookbook author Mark Bittman. Company: The Purple Carrot Website: https://thepurplecarrot.com Theme:  Plant based recipes (Vegan) delivered to your home weekly.  From the company’s website: “Our meal kits are delivered right to your door, on the day of your choice.  Our state-of-the-art packaging guarantees freshness and our ingredients are of the highest possible quality, often organic, always non-GMO, and ethically sourced.” Price: This is a weekly subscription for meal kit. You can preview the 3 recipes available for the following week and …

Vietnamese Caramel Flan

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One of my favorite dessert growing up is my mother’s flan. My mother’s version is creamy and fluffy. Her trick is to steam the flan instead of the traditional baking method. This method only takes 15 minutes to cook and the flan comes out perfect every time. This is an easy and elegant dessert for anytime of the day. Impress your guests at the next dinner party with this make ahead dessert. This dessert is rated easy and takes 30 minutes to prepare and another hour to chill in the fridge before serving. This recipe makes approximately 5 servings. Ingredients 6 large eggs 2 cups of whole milk 1 lime 18 tablespoons of sugar (8 for the batter and 10 for the caramel) 5 oven proof baking cups Steamer that fits 5 baking cups Directions Make the egg batter: Crack 6 eggs into a mixing bowl. Using a whisk, slowly stir to break up the eggs. Don’t beat it hard and fast as it will add air bubbles to the batter. This changes the batter …

Best of Target: Nate Berkus Affordable Office Decor

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We spend so much of our lives at the office so why not infuse it with some glamour and personality. Lucky for us, there is a way to jazz up the workplace with affordable finds from Target. Target came out with the spring collection from Nate Berkus and we want it all. These are our picks for the best items to revitalize your work space today.             You can find these items at Target online store. For related posts, visit our DESIGN page. Author: Chau Hoang

Bánh Mì Series: Pickled Daikon and Carrots

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When you think of Vietnamese sandwiches or banh mi, you can always see the colorful pickled daikon and carrots on top of these sandwiches. The pickles give a nice hint of tartness and a crunch in contrast to the fattiness of the various meats in the banh mi. There are two versions of the pickled daikon and carrots: one as a side dish and one for the sandwich. The sandwich version is a bit saltier than the side dish version in order to stand up to the various cold cuts. Learn how to make this easy accompaniment to jazz up your sandwich today. This recipe is rated easy and takes 15 minutes to prepare. The pickling process takes at least 24 hours. Ingredients 1 large Daikon radish 2 large carrots ½ cup of distilled white vinegar 4 tablespoons of salt 1 cup of sugar 3 cups of water 1 large air tight container Directions Peel the carrots and daikon radish. Using a grater, shred them into thin long strips. Season the vegetables with 2 tablespoons …

Hotel Review: Pilgrimage Village Resort (Hue, Vietnam)

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Hue is Vietnam’s most historically significant city located in the central region of the country. Between 1802 and 1945, Hue was the imperial city under the Nguyen dynasty. The city is well known for historical sites such as the imperial city, the royal tombs and numerous temples. The city is still very rural compared to HCMC, Hanoi and nearby DaNang as most of the city was heavily damaged during the Vietnam War. The government continues to make progress to restore the city to its former glory but the process is slow.  Hue does not have world class accommodations that have been springing up all over the major tourist cities in Vietnam.  However, there is one resort in Hue that is worth checking out. Pilgrimage Village is an oasis on the outskirt of city center that provides a retreat from a hot and humid day of sightseeing. It is one of the few high end hotel catering to luxury jet setters. La Vie Partagee has stayed at this resort over the past few years and we …

Bánh Mì Series: Meatballs / Xíu Mại

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I am excited to introduce a new recipe series to our readers: Banh Mi or Vietnamese Sandwhiches. My co-author, Hung Nguyen, has been making Vietnamese sandwiches in Texas at his family owned bakery for years. In this new series, we will reinterpret the bakery’s recipes for our readers. The first recipe will be for a banh mi xíu mại or meatball sandwich. The juicy meatballs paired with a crunchy baguette is a mashup of flavors and texture. This recipe is very easy and I hope you enjoy eating it as much as we do. This recipe is rated easy and takes approximately 30 minutes to prepare. Ingredients: 1 lb. of ground pork or your choice of ground meat 1 yellow onion 10 cloves of garlic 1 tablespoon corn starch ⅓ cup of coconut soda 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth ¼ teaspoon of baking powder ½ cup of ketchup 3 tablespoons of unsalted softened butter Olive oil Sugar Ground black pepper Sea salt Directions: In a food processor, mince 6 cloves of garlic. Add 1 …