Bun Bo Hue, Sour Soup, and Durian Cake

A few weekends ago, Aunt IS invited us over to her house for lunch. She had made a large pot of bun bo hue and wanted to see how we liked it. Richard and I didn’t go for lunch, but rather, we went in the afternoon.

After we greeted everyone, I noticed that there were two sheets of pound-like cakes cooling on the table. Aunt L brought some durian custard, which she had mashed and put in a bag. Grandpa complained that there wasn’t enough durian in some past versions, where the durian was “watered down” by coconut milk. You’d rarely find cakes made with pure durian like this.


Even though it wasn't finished yet, the cake looked more appetizing once Aunt L began to spread the durian around. It looked less like a pile of... yeah...


The second layer of cake was pressed onto the durian custard.






Whipped cream was then used to top the durian cake.

Richard and I then had a bowl of bun bo hue. Slurping down the contents was so enjoyable! As we were eating our bun bo hue, Richard said that it felt like we were eating at a street stand in Asia somewhere with Anthony Bourdain. We were both sweating before we were even done eating half of our bowls. It was a combination of the spice blend and the heat. It was a good sweat. I'm struggling to not drool over my laptop as I write this.

Dinner prep began after we finished eating. On the menu, a Cambodian sour soup with fish (known as somlaw maju in Cambodian and canh chua ca in Vietnamese), chicken and pork bulgogi, salt and pepper shrimp, and stir-fried Chinese water spinach with preserved soybeans.




I don't know how to spell it. I've seen it also spelled as samlor machu, samlar machu, and somlah machou. In any case, the soup consisted of skate wings, pork broth, tomato, Chinese water spinach, and tamarind powder. The soup was garnished with fried garlic chips, fried garlic oil, green onions, and thin ribbons of thai basil. The bowl of soup above didn't have the fried garlic chips or oil.




Uncle L fired up the BBQ in the backyard and grilled the two kinds briefly marinated bulgogi. Two platefuls of shrimps, lightly dusted with cornstarch and salt, were deep fried outside on the BBQ element too. The deep fried shrimps were served with a side of salt and pepper.

Both the beef and chicken bulgogi needed a lot more time in the marinade. I wish there was leftover bulgogi sauce to pour over the meat, or at least dip it in, but Aunt IS used up everything in the marinade. *Sad face*




Finally, the Chinese water spinach was stir-fried with minced garlic, preserved soy beans, and some oyster sauce. It was meant to be on the bland side to balance out all the dishes. (I loooove the preserved soy beans in congee and in homemade wonton soup! Ah... how nostalgic...)


Along with a seemingly bottomless teapot of jasmine tea, we ended dinner with durian cake and che dau. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that Mom brought over the batch she had made the previous evening.

Mid-Autumn Festival 2012

We'll be celebrating the mid-autumn festival (aka moon festival) with family this weekend. The holiday is called Chuseok in Korean, Tet in Vietnamese, and Tsukimi in Japanese. It's also known as the moon festival or Chinese Thanksgiving. It's a holiday where families gather, pray to our ancestors, as well as offer them food. And just like the North American Thanksgiving holiday, we too, load the dinner table with delicious food coma-inducing foods.


See what I mean? Let's take a closer look at some of the dishes, shall we?

Homemade Che Dau

Mom made a Vietnamese sticky rice pudding with black-eyed beans aka che dau the other day.

She boiled one cup of sticky rice, sugar, black-eyed beans (rinsed from two cans), and water together. After the pot came to a boil, the heat was turned down to a gentle simmer. Mom was very happy with how it turned out. The pudding was crystal clear for once. It’s usually murky when she makes it, but my aunt (who is Vietnamese) told her the secret solution to the problem.

“You could sell this batch!” Mom proudly gloated from the kitchen. It’s quite rare when she’s actually excited about something, so I knew it must be good.

Apparently they call this dessert che dau in Cambodia too. The only difference is that the Cambodians mix the salted coconut milk in with the pudding; whereas, the Vietnamese serve the coconut milk on the side. Since Mom wanted to show off the clear pudding, she warmed up some coconut milk and seasoned it with a bit of salt in a separate pot.

To serve, you scoop out some of the sticky rice pudding and then drizzle a bit of coconut milk. It's all self-serve in our house (unless you're the guest, of course). We ate the thick pudding while it was still warm. Mmm…!

Italian-Inspired Meatballs and Pasta

The basil in our garden began to wilt in the wet weather. Instead of letting them go to waste, I made some Italian-inspired meatballs with them. Using the same concept as when I first created the Vietnamese-inspired meatballs (aka nem nuong), I just used Italian flavours and packed them into the meatballs.

Ground pork, basil, Italian breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, sugar, and black pepper were all I used. The meatballs were briefly browned in a pan and then transferred to a pot. The pan was deglazed with some broth and then added to the pot, where tomatoes, garlic, and onions were simmering.

We cooked the rotini, combined the tomato sauce with the cooked pasta and browned meatballs in a casserole dish. Before the pasta was baked for twenty minutes, I sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs on top of the pasta.

Tada!

I wished I made more meatballs. They were moist, tender, and the seasoning was spot on. We didn’t have any leftovers that night.