Vietnamese Foods!!!!!!!

Food seems to very important for every person in country. Looking at the differences of areas, we can have the variety of foods around the world. There are thousands of ingredients for people to cook various foods. In particular area of Vietnam, they have many ways to cook perhaps for their family or the visitors. For instance, in the North of Vietnam, people often taste more salty and hotter when comparing to the South of Vietnam, people always like to eat the sweet foods.
Generally, Vietnamese eat mainly rice and noodles; moreover, bread is not daily family food. Delicious bowls of noodle soup with vegetables and meat can be purchased everywhere inexpensively for breakfast or even lunch. Each average meal consists of three to five dishes. Tourists can enjoy Vietnamese food everywhere at deluxe restaurants or even at street cafes.

There is proudly range of different foods from up to down in Vietnam. Each location, there is a special food that people can recognize it when they arrive. For example, ‘Pho’ and ‘La Vong Fish-pie’ are famously eaten in the North of Vietnam, while the southern people more likely to eat ‘Nem Chua’.

CHA CA LA VONG (LA VONG FISH-PIE) :

The inventor of this fish-pie came from Doan family on Hang Son Street, Hanoi. In 19th century, Hanoi people normally baked pork, but he baked fish-unstinking fish to make fish-pie. Hanoi people then soon got infatuate it and his eating-house turned prosperous. Henceforth, the name of the street was changed into Cha Ca (fish-pie) from its former name Hang Son (Paint Street) due to success of his eatery.

To Hanoi people, the taste of Cha Ca remains as it was. To have tasty pie, shopkeepers have to select good fish with solid fresh, less bones and good scent. Processed fish is mixed in fish sauce, pepper, galingale, saffron and rice-ferment. Then put on a fire-tongs and grilled right on the eaters' table. Eaters, while eating, have to fan the fire, turn upside down to make both sides baked. Then they put the fish into a bowl of boiling fat and consumed with rice vermicelli, groundnuts, spices, dried rice-cake, sliced onion leaves, some drops of lemon juice and a little coleopteran.

Hanoi people try fish-pie only in Autumn, when the cold wind is blowing outside, spices are in season and a group of friends slowly drink and enjoy the food in a small restaurant on Cha Ca street, what a wonder it's!

BUN BO HUE (HUE BEEF VERMICELLI) :

All over Vietnam, you can find and enjoy beef-vermicelli and it seems tastes from all parts in the country meet and make up special flavor of Hue vermicelli. Hue people enjoy beef-vermicelli in their own way and the food here is a combined art of something fashionable, something very popular. Hue connoisseurs rarely enjoy the food in well-decorated restaurants, and an eating place frequented by tourists is opposite to city post-office on Ly Thuong Kiet Street. Beef-vermicelli is consumed here day and night, the broth-pot is kept boiling but this is not the most visited one because Hue city folks only have beef-vermicelli in the morning and they have their own choice.

Itallian Tiramitsu TIPS!

Tiramisu - literally means "pick me up". how "romantic", a dessert has something to do with picking up chicks/guys. yeah it's from one of the romantic nations Italy.

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert with a specific soft sweet cheese "Mascarpone". it's layered with coffee & alcohol mixture dipped biscuits and mascarpone & cream mixture. it shouldn't be too hard if you have the right tools and a good teacher, which is this blog. Today i'm gonna teach u how to make a gud tiramitsu! Excited already? Aha?

Firstly, all we need is:

Mascarpone Cheese 250g

thickened cream (or double cream)

3 eggs, white and yolk seperated

pure cocoa powder for baking
"drinking cocoa" has sugar and other stuff mixed in it and it normally contains only about 20% cocoa.

lady's finger, which is a biscuit not a body part

this biscuit is used because it's more like a dried sponge cake, and it absorbs the coffee and alcohol well, yet wont be soaking wet or be easily squashed.

And some wine, preferably Marsala. in this one we used Southern Comfort and Dark Rum. Southern Comfort is a sweet liquor and dark rum has a strong flavor. so we mixed those two to enhance the flavor and texture of the final product. some restaurants even use 7 different kinds of alcohol.

This is the ingredients list:

2 cups strong black coffee
1/2 cup marsala
3 eggs, separated
1/3 cup caster sugar
250g mascarpone
300ml thickened cream, lightly whipped
1 large packet of sponge fingers (savoiardi)
cocoa, for dusting

• Method:
  

Pour coffee and marsala into a shallow dish. Set aside.

Beat egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl with electric beaters until pale and thick. Add the mascarpone and whipped cream, mixing gently until just combined.

Beat eggwhites in a medium bowl with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold eggwhites into the mascarpone mixture.

Dip enough biscuits into the coffee mixture to cover the base of a 19cm square ceramic dish. Cover the biscuits with one-third of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat layers 2 times, ending with the cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Dust generously with cocoa and serve.

beat the egg white with electric mixer on high until it's firm and stiff.

beat the thickened cream as well until it's fluffy

mix the cream, egg white and mascarpone cheese together until they're smooth and well combined. don't beat with the mixer, this is to keep the cheese as smooth as possible.

coffee and alcohol mixture, we used dark rum and southern comfort.

first layering of fingers, and then cream mixture.

second layer on top of the first

dusting on top

Done!

Look at me here i'm tips.

1. To dip the lady's finers into the coffe, you can't soak it totally or the whole thing will be too wet, like soaking wet. but if you don't dip it enough it'll be too dry. approximately push one biscuit into the mixture so that the liquid's covering the biscuit, for 2 seconds. when you take it out, it should NOT look dripping or too wet, but it should be easily noticeably heavier, just, like it's been soaked in liquid.

2. Try to layer them evenly, thickness of cream should be more or less thickness of biscuits. also be aware if you want to push the biscuits on the top layer down, don't push too hard, or the cream between the biscuits will be pushed out on the sides and the whole thing won't be as creamy. just try not to push them if you don't need to.

3. Don't add gelatin.

ARE U READY FOR MAKING THE BEST DESERT IN THE WORLD?

Rice noodle and some tips for making it better!!!

Rice noodle is known well in Asia with many different kind. One of the best is Pho of Vietnamese. So before we can make those delicious food, what do we need to do to make a good rice noodle first?
Here are some advise for rice noodle lovers that trying to make noodle themselves in the kitchen and have a bad memory.
First, use simmering water that thrown in the dry noodles, then turned the heat up to a boil. The time to cook depends on the rice noodles. If the noodles are thin (like tiny rice stick), just soak in very hot water for less than 5 minutes, but do not actually cook over the heat. If the noodles are wide or thick, use the simmering water, put the dry noodles in the pot, and then cook on high for 8-10 minutes. Test a noodle (by eating it), then remove from heat and drain. If you are worried about noodles sticking, stir in a tablespoon of peanut oil.
After that you can cook your noodle into may different kind of food you love. The picutre above is the result sample you can get. Hope this will be helpful. Enjoy the food everyone.

One popular kind of noodle - Dry noodle

One famous kind of noodle around the world is dry noodle. they are well known anywhere around the world, not only in Asia. One good example in Australia is Mi-goreng, a popular Indonesian dry instant noodle that every family in Australia love to eat.

Here are some experiment we have for making mi goreng at home.

Most people like to under cook their Indo noodle. I was sceptically when we read the recommended three minute cooking time but the noodles looked worryingly soft and overcooked by the 2:00 minute mark, but I were surprised by what we found when I finished the noodles out once the timer hit 3:00. The noodles retained its “spring” and was still perfect.

In terms of flavor, the Indo noodle was the clear winner in our taste test. It has everything you want in a bowl of dry nee, some heat, a hint of sweetness from the dark soy sauce, and fragrance from the onion oil.

Macaroons

Have u ever try Macaroons? Whenever I think of French delicacies, macaroons always come to mind. Macaroons are small biscuit sized cakes, with a crisp outer and a smooth middle. These small, round cakes, crisp on the outside, smooth and soft in the middle, are the most famous creation of Ladurée. Macaroons are usually coloured to reflect its flavour and the worlds finest macaroons can be found at Ladurée in Paris.



















From expereince we can tell you three things about the Ladurée macaroons…
-There are more flavours and colours that you can possibly imagine
-You will not find another macaroon that compares to that of a Ladurée macaroon
-You WILL resenble a macaroon after repeat visits to the cafe
There’s a huge range of flavours, the only thing that will limit you is your imagination, so embrace your inner Marie Antoinette (a la Sophia Coppola’s film) and have macaroons as your desert or even as your bomboniere! Ladurée is one of my favourite Parisian tea-rooms. Ladurée’s macaroons are what makes them so very famous: crisp discs of ground almonds with a soft middle, sandwiched together with flavoured cream. The macaroons are served festooned with raspberries, pistachio cream and other good things if you have some in the tea-rooms. These macaroons are flavoured delicately with the highest quality ingredients.There’s a basic range which is available all year round, and some seasonal flavours.



They got really nice gift box in Laduree too!!!
U can also try it in Australia, they have the famous Pâtissier names Andrian Zumbo, it's a little bit expensive desert but really Yummy ♥ ♥ ♥

Vietnamese spring rolls

These spring rolls, served with dipping sauce are a favourite at our house. While they are a little tedious to make, the recipe makes about 20, so they can be frozen and then just thawed the next time. Cook time is approximate, it will depend on how many you make, and whether you need to do them in batches.
1. Combine all ingredients except wraps and oil in a bowl.
2. On a damp tea towel, place a wrap, and fill with a couple of tablespoons of the pork mixture in a sausage like shape at one end of the wrap.
3. Fold sides in, then begin rolling spring roll at the mixture side.
4. Seal roll by moistening edge with water.
5. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
6. Fry rolls, turning frequently until cooked through and golden, about 5-7 minutes.
7. Drain on paper towels, and serve with Spring Roll Sauce (Nuoc Mam).
8. Keep warm in heated oven.
9. Note: The spring rolls may be made ahead, and frozen, and then fried when thawed.
10. Spring rolls may be kept in fridge until ready to fry too, up to a day or two in advance.
11. Ground chicken may be substituted for the pork, and chopped shrimp may also be added for a special flavour combination.

Pancakes on the rock!

One of my favorited restaurant in Sydney for pancakes, pizzas, salads, crepes and ribs is Pancakes on the rocks! This is the best and famous pancake in Australia. It's also quite a popular restaurant destination, so be prepared to fight for your table - unless you want to make a reservation. They open everyday but seems isn't enough, it's always full at lunch and dinner. Lots of tourist come there and want to try it before they leave.

Pancakes on the Rocks at Darling Harbour is a family restaurant that offers a wide selection of dishes to excite your taste buds. Whether it be one of our legendary pancakes, such as the Devil's Delight or the Strawberry Patch, one of my savoury crepes, or a serve of our mouth-watering BBQ Pork Ribs, they have something for every taste.


This historical establishment is decorated quite flamboyantly, with large open spaces on two levels, cushy red booths, comfortable wooden chairs and a colourful cartoonish painting of Ned Kelly splashed across one wall. More than just a pancake house, at Pancakes on the Rocks you can stay for the whole day, starting with a big breakfast of buttermilk pancakes, crispy fried bacon and eggs with grilled banana and pineapple on the side, enjoy a gourmet pizza or savoury crepes for lunch and then move on to ribs, steak or flathead fillets fresh from the grill and little pancake for dinner. The specialised kids menu offers much more than chicken nuggets and chips with very cute decoration. Pancake on the rocks has very rich and diversity menu include drinks, main, breakfast and kids menu so the customers can satisfy what they want. There's even a range of merchandise up for the bag of pancake flours, grabs, including caps, t-shirts and gift vouchers. Considering pancakes are their speciality, kids are a common fixture in the restaurant, most often accompanied by the rest of the family.

Also with locations at The Rocks, Northmead, Darling Harbour and Campbelltown, North Strathfield Pancakes on the Rocks is easy to find and looking forward for u to come and try.