Monday 27 February 2012

Vegetarian recipes


In some historical records Saigon is described as ”a place where unlikely assortment of people meet”:  “la noi gap go cua dan tu chieng”, how true it is for me. the last six months living in Saigon, by chance I ran into so many peoples whom I had not seen or heard of for a very long time.
One of these coincidences was the vegetarian lunch booking by a VIP, according to my trainees.
The VIP turned out to be the daughter of the Ex President of South Vietnam in the 1960s. whom I met in Sydney when they officially visited Australia. As  a Colombo Plan Student I was invited to the reception at the Governor General’s House,
And here we are 50 years later I made lunch for the daughter.

We made lotus seed stuffed tofu with spicy sauce , braised daikon & shiitake mushroom with soy sauce and coconut juice and pumpkin soup with peanuts. She complimented : “I had never eaten such beautiful vegetarian food “ And she took away what were left.

RECIPES:
Lotus seed stuffed tofu with spicy sauce.
Preparation time:  45minutes
Cooking time:            20minutes
Make: 4 large filled pockets

Ingredientss:
600g            Regular soft tofu, divided into 4 portions. Drain on kitchen paper and weighted with a flat plate. Fry. Sli 1 side make into empty pocket. Reserve the soft tofu.
100g            Dried lotus seeds, washed, and soaked in warm water. Boiled, and mashed.
100g            dried split mung bean, washed, soaked and steame & mashed
6            dried shiitake mushrooms,, washed, soaked in hot water until soft. Squeeze dry. Diced finely
2            dry black fungus ears, washed, soaked, drained, finely diced.
2            leeks, use the white part only, washed, finely diced use for both filling and sauce
50g            dried mung bean vermicelli, soaked in warm water until soft, finely chopped.
2tbspns,        finely chopped coriander 
2tspns            salt
1tspns            freshly ground white pepper.
Sauce
50ml               olive oil
3tbspns           leek (from above)
1                     red hot chili
1tbspn             tomato paste
2                     large ripe tomatoes,  skinned and diced
1tspn               sugar
1tspn               salt
500ml             vegetable stock, or water
1tbspn             shisho (perilla) leaves roughly chopped.
Method:
In a large bowl, mix evenly the soft tofu , mashed lotus seeds, steamed mung bean, diced mushroom black fungus and coeiander and leek. Season with salt and pepper  for the filling.
Fill each fried tofu pocket with the filling, and arrange the pocket, slit side up side by side in a pot..
To make the sauce heat oil in a frying pan, fry some leek until soft, add tomato paste, minced chili, stir to make a rich red colour, then add diced fresh tomato, season with sugar and salt, cook slowly until tomato is soft , add stock or water, bring to boiling briefly, then pour the sauce over the stuff tofu pocket, The sauce should generously cover the tofu.. Cook the tofu in sauce on low heat for 10-15 minutes., most of the sauce will be absorbed by the tofu.
To serve, slice each tofu pocket into 4 sliced served with shredded perilla.

Lotus stuffed tofu pocket


Braised Shiitake mushroom and Daikon wheels.
Ingredients
12                    large dried Japanese style shiitake mushrooms, washed soaked until soft, discard hard stem, squeeze dry.
1                      medium daikon, peeled, cut into even wheel (2cm thick) , bevel  all the cut edges, boiled in salt water until translucent., refreshed in cold water.
                     piece of peeled ginger cut into thin slices
1tbspn               raw sugar
50ml                Japanese soy sauce
1 can               coconut juice
Coriander stalks for plating
Method           
Arrange daikon and mushroom in a pot, Add Mixture of coconut juice, sugar
and soy sauce.
 Bring to boiling then simmer gently and slowly until sauce thicken.
The daikon wheels should be intact and translucent in rich amber colour and the mushroom  tender.


  


Braised Daikon and shiitake

Pumpkin Soup with peanut and coconut milk
Ingredient
600g         pumpkin, seeded, skinned, cut into thin slices
50ml         olive oil
4               garlic cloves, squashed
2litres        vegetable stock
2tspns       salt
2tspns       sugar
100g         raw peanut, skinned, soaked and boiled till tender.
100ml       coconut milk
1tbspns    chopped coriander and green shallot
Method.
Heat oil, fry garlic  add pumpkin, salt and sugar, stir fry until soft.
Blend boiled peanut and coconut milk.
Add to pumpkin.
Adjust seasoning.
Gently simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander and green shallot

Pumpkin soup with peanut & coconut milk






Vegetarian lunch guests



Next post: Some restaurant experiences in BVietnam






3 comments:

  1. Kính gửi: Chị Liên Yeomans President
    Tôi là Bác sỹ Huỳnh Tình. Xin lỗi chị nhé, cho T. được hỏi (nếu không phải xin chị bỏ qua).
    Vào cơn bão số 5 năm 1993, đoàn cua rơ xuyên Việt của chị đia qua địa phận thôn Cổ Mã, xã Vạn Thọ, huyện Vạn Ninh, tỉnh Khánh Hòa (VIệt Nam), Đoàn xe bị mắc cơn bão số 5.
    Chị cùng đoàn xe (xe của đoàn nghệ thuật Bông Sen) đã nghỉ lại tại Trạm Y tế
    xã Vạn Thọ.
    Sau đó chị cùng với bạn bè ( chị papa..gì đó) có liên lạc với chúng tôi và tặng cho T. 1 món quà: để mua 1 chiếc xe gắn máy..
    T. hết sức cảm động, và xin chân thành cám ơn chị cùng bạn bè đồng nghiệp.
    Hiện tại, T. không còn công tác tại Trạm Y tế xã Vạn Thọ nữa, T. đã vào huyện Vạn Ninh công tác tại Phòng Y tế, rồi Trung tâm Dân số-KHHGĐ huyện Vạn Ninh.( cách xã Vạn Thọ 18 Km về phía Bắc)
    Nếu đúng chị là Liên Yeomans President vào ngày đó, tôi xin chào chị, kính chúc chị, gia quyến, bạn bè, đồng nghiệp sức khỏe tốt & hạnh phúc.
    Nếu không phải như vậy, thì cho T xin lỗi.
    BS Huỳnh Tình- Giám đốc Trung tâm Dân số-KHHGĐ huyện Vạn Ninh, tỉnh Khánh Hòa-Việt Nam.
    Tel: 0905474428. Email: bstinh2009@gmail.com
    Xin trân trọng kính chào chị./.

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    Replies
    1. K/g BS Huynh Tinh
      Truoc het to thanh thuc xin loi vi da khong con chu y deu den cai blog, vi vay su tra loi cham tre nay.
      Vang toi la Lien Yeomans va da gap BS 1993/94 toi va Barbara da di xe dap tu HCM city den Hanoi de quyen tien cho Vien Huyet Hoc BV Bach Mai Hanoi. Sau do toi ban ron lam nha hang, toi bo viec o truong Dai Hoc Queensland va mo nha hang Green Papaya o Brisbane, toi nho
      co lien lac voi Bs sau do ve van de tri lieu y hoc...va giup co so phuong tien van chuyen. sau khi toi ve huu, toi co ve VN rat nhieu lan de giup co Tim o Nha May Man va cong tac voi Koto va mot vai co quan tu thien phan lon do nguoi ngoai quoc thanh lap.o HCM City va Hanoi.
      Toi moi ve tu Hanoi. Lau roi toi chua co dip tro lai mien Trung/Nam, lan sau neu co dip toi se ghe tham anh.
      Thanh thuc cam on va rat mung kiem duoc thu anh o trong "Junk Mail"
      Xin chao
      Lien

      Delete