PUMPKIN AND PURPLE POTATO SWEET GRUEL( Chè bí đỏ và khoai lang tím)

 Summer with its terrible heat is coming, the pumpkin and purple potato sweet gruel is a good choice to febrifuge your family.

Ingredients:

• 100g pumpkin
• 1 purple sweet potato
• 1/2 bow of oats
• 1/2 bow of sticky rice 
• 1 ginger

Instructions:

1. Peel the pumpkin, steam and pound it. Peel the purple sweet potato, cut into small cubes. Mash the oats with water, then after a while get rid of the water.
   
   
2. Put the purple potato into a small cooker with water and boil. When it boils, turn down the fire and cook for another 20 minutes before taking them apart from the fire.
   
   
3. Mix the pumpkin, oats and sticky rice well.
   
   
4. Make the mixture into small balls.
   
   
5. Put the balls into boiling water, until they float, take out and put in a cool boil water. When finished, put the purple potato in and cook with ginger, sugar with a suitable amount, mix in order for the sugar to melt. Then you can enjoy, ladle and put gruel into a bow along with balls.
   
   
   ** Tips: Purple tomato must be cooked apart from the pumpkin so that it can maintain its original color. Ginger can help make your gruel more tasty.
   

   PREP 15mins

   COOK 40mins

   YIELD 2-4 servings

   Lành Phạm,

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REMEMBER TO TRY THUONG TU PANCAKE IN HUE

Banh khoai (Pancake) is a popular dish in Hue. It’s easy to find a pancake store in Hue but Thuong Tu pancake is the most delicious and authentic one with more than 40 years old.

Thuong Tu gate is an ancient name, which is located at Southeast of Hue ex-capital. On Dinh Tien Hoang street leading to Thuong Tu gate, there are a pancake store of a very special family: everybody are dumb and deaf but they make very good pancakes.

Thuong Tu pancake is made specially

The owner is Madam Ho Thi Tra-90 years old, has 7 good children but all dumb and deaf, communicating by body language only. However, with the good special pancake dish, her family made a very famous brand name of Thuong Tu pancake. The original store is at Lac Thien pancake, at 6 Dinh Tien Hoang, the others next to it are her children’s.

The pancake’s stuff includes shrimp, pork paste, egg, pork belly

There are many places selling pancake: Dong Ba, Kim Long, Gia Hoi, Vi Da…, yet, Thuong Tu pancake is more well-known due to their cake’s flour mixture and the sauce made from 10 spices: soybean sauce, peanut, sesame, liver, pork, shrimp paste…

Because of good dough, Thuong Tu pancake has perfect brittleness. The stuff has shrimp, pork paste, egg, pork belly is very easy to replicate, but mixing the dough to have crunchy, flavor, sticky pancake is just at Thuong Tu pancake.

Thuong Tu pancake has perfect brittleness

The sauce to eat with pancake is similar, so enough with the sweetness goodness that nobody can replicate. The word is that even Madam Tra’s children might not be able to do it without learning carefully from her.

This is not only Hue people’s favorite place, but Thuong Tu pancake is also a popular place with foreign tourists. It appeared in Viet Nam reality show of Luke Nguyen.

If there is any chance to come to Hue, pancake is a dish that you cannot miss besides baby mussels rice, beef noodle soup, rice flour cake, etc…

*Taro**

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MIXED STEWED BAMBOO SHOOTS

Ingredients:

-      300g bamboo shoots

-      100g peas

-      1 carrot

-      50g shiitake

-      2 fried tofu, cut smaller into cubes shape

-      1 small spoon of procession chopped pickle

-      2 spoon of soy sauce

-      1 spoon of vegetarian oyster sauce

This is one of the most popular vegetarian food in Vietnam. With unique combination, it offers you tasty and nutrious food.

Instructions:

1.      Chop small the shoots, boil about 10 minutes. Roughly boil the peas. Cut the carrot bite size or make flower shape up to your references. Macerate and then wash the shiitake.

2.      Put the cooker with 2 spoon of oil in it, then fry the pickle. Put all ingredients but peas in and fry roughly. Pour some water with the amount enough to cover the things insight in. Add seasonings in, recap, turn down the fire, then put peas, oyster sauce and soy sauce in. Wait another 5 minutes then you can lay it in a dish to enjoy with rice.

**PREP: 15 mins

**COOK: 20 mins
**YEILD: 2-3 servings
**Skill level: Intermediate

Lành Phạm,

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TRỨNG HẤP TÔM (Steamed egg with shrimp)

Egg and shrimp are both healthy food, let’s do the tasty dish for your kids in this warming season!
Ingredients:
Original recipe makes 1 serving
- 4 big shrimps
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon corn starch
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 egg
- Scallion

PREP 20mins

COOK 20mins

READY 40mins

Directions:
- Remove the shrimp’s skin, clean up and drain. Season shrimps with ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon corn starch, ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, leave it in 20mins
- Beat the egg, add 150ml water and ¼ ¼ teaspoon salt. Mix well.
- Strain the egg mixture through a fine mesh sieve and skim off the bubbles on the surface. Then, wrap with plastic paper.
- Boil 2 cups of water, put the bowl of egg into the boiling water pot and steam in 10mins.
- Unwrap the plastic, lightly put the shrimps on top. Wrap again and steam in 10 more minutes with high heat. Remove from heat, sprinkle with chopped scallion and serve hot.
- You should eat this dish when it’s still hot, because egg and shrimp will be stinky when cooling down.


*Taro**

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COCONUT MOUSE- SPECIAL DISHES OF BEN TRE

Pay a visit to Ben Tre to enjoy wonderful coconut mouse food
 Ben Tre is famous for its coconut products; the reputation is all over the world. However, you guys may not have heard about the coconut mouse dishes here, it seems strange, right? We are going to give you some suggestions for these special dishes. Come and have a taste, you cannot forget to give a compliment.

Coconut mouse looks like a vole, but its teeth are much sharper. It gets food from the coconut, all of the nutrients. Therefore, it tastes good and delicious.

1.      Coconut mouse baked by steam rice

   Coconut mouse is processed many ways: grilled, baked, or curried… according to most of the gourmet, the most wonderful dish is coconut mouse baked by steam rice. At the time rice is cooked, the mouse is also cooked and starts to give an irresistible aroma. The meat is white and has a special flavor. Mangle the mouse and blend with laksa leaves, some black pepper, salt with chili and lemon, even much more delicious than chicken. That’s a wonderful thing to have a taste of this food.

2.      Deep fried coconut mouse

    No gourmet in Ben Tre does not know about this greasy food. In Ben Tre, especially at the end ò the year, there are a lot of coconut mice. Because they take a lot of coconut for eating, the mouse itself contains a lot of nutrients. The first reason people kill the mice are to prevent them from devastating the crops. Gradually, they realize that this is a good source of succulent food. The process to get this food is quite simple: Firstly, wash the mice carefully to give out its smell. Then, marinate the with some chili, garlic, five spice powder, fish sauce, sugar, Monosodium Glutamate in 15 minutes. Next, fry them on a pan, after a while, pour the coconut water in, turn down the fire, and turn over some times until they get brown yellow.

3.      Grilled coconut mouse

 Marinate the mouse meat with finely chopped chili, onions, garlic, citronella; Monosodium Glutamate, salt, black pepper, sugar and five spice powders in some hours to have permeable mouse meat. Then bask them in the sun shine before you grill. It’s better to use coal fire, the meat can be put on a furnace bar or tongs. Until the meat is dried, its color turn brown yellow, you can enjoy. Use with chili fish sauce, pepper salt or soy, the same of appetite. The residents here like to enjoy this dish with coconut flavor rice or sticky rice, that’s wonderful.

4.      Stewed coconut mouse

Besides, another succulent food from coconut mouse is stewed coconut mouse. After frying the marinated meat mouse, stew with some coconut milk so that the sweetness is even. When the water is penetrated into the meat, pour another amount of coconut milk, repeat this 2 to 3 times before you turn off the fire. Then sprinkle some roasted peanuts. Enjoy with salads, herbs, pepper lemon salt. Do not hesitate to visit Ben Tre to have a taste of these wonderful foods.
Susan, 

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