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Saturday, January 25, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
A natural, moderate sweetness
A natural, moderate sweetness
A little stall in a Ho Chi Minh City market serves Cambodian desserts using palm sugar – and it makes a difference that people like.
A thap cam (mixed) bowl at a Cambodian dessert stall in Ho Chi Minh City includes pumpkin custard, tamarind seeds, toddy palm seeds, and yellow cakes made from rice flour and egg yolk / PHOTOS: GIANG VU
Cambodian desserts were brought into Vietnam around 1970 by Vietnamese who lived and worked in the neighboring country, it is said.
It might take some effort to check the veracity of this statement, but there is no denying that their moderate sweetness, owing to the use of palm sugar, has made them desserts of choice for many Ho Chi Minh City residents.
To taste the real difference made by the use of palm sugar rather than the refined white sugar usually used to make most desserts or sweet dishes in HCMC, check out Huynh Thi Huoi’s stall in District 10’s Le Hong Phong Market.
It is perhaps one of the city’s oldest and most famous sellers of Cambodian desserts.
Of all dishes on the menu, the most exotic is bi chung (steamed pumpkin), a kind of pumpkin custard.
Huoi, who inherited the stall from her mother, said that to make the custard, she chooses small and smooth pumpkins, scoops out their flesh and replaces it with a mixture of milk powder, condensed milk, coconut milk, and egg yolk. Then, the whole pumpkin is steamed until it becomes soft.
You can eat the custard layer by layer or both the skin and the “flesh” at the same time.
Bi chung is available as a stand-alone dish, or a part of a mixed order with other dishes on the menu like thot not (toddy palm seeds), hat me (tamarind seeds), and yellow cakes made from rice flour and egg yolk. It is served with ice and coconut milk.
For the che hat me (che is Vietnamese collective term for any sweet beverage, dessert soup or pudding), Huoi roasts tamarind seeds, dries them and soaks them before removing their covers. After the processing, the seeds are soft and chewy.
Che hat me is also served with ice and coconut milk.
CHÈ CÔ HUÔI
Le Hong Phong Market (in the Alley No. 374 on Le Hong Phong Street, Ward 1, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City)
Open hours: 2 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Prices: che thap cam, or mixed dish (VND20,000/bowl), che hat me and xoi xiem (VND10,000/bowl or dish), bi chung and che thot not (VND15,000/bowl)
An ideal simple and light dish is che thot not in which chewy transparent toddy palm seeds are eaten with sugar water, or coconut milk, and ice.
Huoi said all ingredients to make the original dishes are imported from Cambodia every week.
Besides the exotic dishes, the stall also sells desserts that look familiar to their Vietnamese cousins but are still different, like chuoi nuong (grilled banana) eaten with coconut milk. In the Vietnamese dish, the bananas are wrapped in glutinous rice before being grilled.
Another dish worth trying is xoi xiem, in which sticky rice is topped with egg custard, durian flesh and coconut milk.
It is said that xoi xiem was introduced by a Vietnamese-Thai national in Chau Doc, the capital town of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.
Unlike the variety sold at Huoi’s stall, elsewhere in Vietnam, the dish is served with coconut milk and a sauce made with eggs, palm sugar, coconut milk, some durian flesh, and tapioca starch.
~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~
A little stall in a Ho Chi Minh City market serves Cambodian desserts using palm sugar – and it makes a difference that people like.
A thap cam (mixed) bowl at a Cambodian dessert stall in Ho Chi Minh City includes pumpkin custard, tamarind seeds, toddy palm seeds, and yellow cakes made from rice flour and egg yolk / PHOTOS: GIANG VU
Cambodian desserts were brought into Vietnam around 1970 by Vietnamese who lived and worked in the neighboring country, it is said.
It might take some effort to check the veracity of this statement, but there is no denying that their moderate sweetness, owing to the use of palm sugar, has made them desserts of choice for many Ho Chi Minh City residents.
To taste the real difference made by the use of palm sugar rather than the refined white sugar usually used to make most desserts or sweet dishes in HCMC, check out Huynh Thi Huoi’s stall in District 10’s Le Hong Phong Market.
It is perhaps one of the city’s oldest and most famous sellers of Cambodian desserts.
Of all dishes on the menu, the most exotic is bi chung (steamed pumpkin), a kind of pumpkin custard.
Huoi, who inherited the stall from her mother, said that to make the custard, she chooses small and smooth pumpkins, scoops out their flesh and replaces it with a mixture of milk powder, condensed milk, coconut milk, and egg yolk. Then, the whole pumpkin is steamed until it becomes soft.
You can eat the custard layer by layer or both the skin and the “flesh” at the same time.
Bi chung is available as a stand-alone dish, or a part of a mixed order with other dishes on the menu like thot not (toddy palm seeds), hat me (tamarind seeds), and yellow cakes made from rice flour and egg yolk. It is served with ice and coconut milk.
For the che hat me (che is Vietnamese collective term for any sweet beverage, dessert soup or pudding), Huoi roasts tamarind seeds, dries them and soaks them before removing their covers. After the processing, the seeds are soft and chewy.
Che hat me is also served with ice and coconut milk.
CHÈ CÔ HUÔI
Le Hong Phong Market (in the Alley No. 374 on Le Hong Phong Street, Ward 1, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City)
Open hours: 2 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Prices: che thap cam, or mixed dish (VND20,000/bowl), che hat me and xoi xiem (VND10,000/bowl or dish), bi chung and che thot not (VND15,000/bowl)
An ideal simple and light dish is che thot not in which chewy transparent toddy palm seeds are eaten with sugar water, or coconut milk, and ice.
Huoi said all ingredients to make the original dishes are imported from Cambodia every week.
Besides the exotic dishes, the stall also sells desserts that look familiar to their Vietnamese cousins but are still different, like chuoi nuong (grilled banana) eaten with coconut milk. In the Vietnamese dish, the bananas are wrapped in glutinous rice before being grilled.
Another dish worth trying is xoi xiem, in which sticky rice is topped with egg custard, durian flesh and coconut milk.
It is said that xoi xiem was introduced by a Vietnamese-Thai national in Chau Doc, the capital town of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.
Unlike the variety sold at Huoi’s stall, elsewhere in Vietnam, the dish is served with coconut milk and a sauce made with eggs, palm sugar, coconut milk, some durian flesh, and tapioca starch.
~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Hue Festival prepares new treats to welcome 200,000 tourists
Hue Festival prepares new treats to welcome 200,000 tourists
An Imperial Night show, held inside the Imperial Place at Hue Festival 2012
The biennial Hue Festival will return to the central province of Thua Thien–Hue with new attractions this coming April.
According to a press briefing last week in the province’s former royal capital of Hue, the 8th international festival, themed Cultural Heritage in Integration and Development, will take place from April 12-20, 2014.
Accordingly, the event will feature 37 local and international art troupes from 29 countries. A night street market will be held outside the imperial palace, a six-country cuisine festival will feature dishes from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and China, and calligraphy and painting exhibitions will be held inside and outside the palace.
The event will also feature a kite flying competition, street art performances, a festival for needy children and a tourism fair.
Other highlights of the event will include an international dance festival, ao dai shows, a traditional Imperial Night featuring royal ceremonies, and the famous circus play Lang toi (My village), which has been performed abroad, including 300 performances in European countries.
Besides An Dinh Palace and other structures inside the royal palace, several indoor and outdoor stages throughout the province will be used to feature the artistic activities. Performances will also take place at local schools, factories, and hospitals.
In addition, ministers of Arts and Culture from 10 ASEAN countries and China, South Korea, and Japan will attend a six-day conference due to begin on April 16, aiming to strengthen cultural cooperation among participating countries.
The Hue Festival 2014 is expected to receive more than 200,000 visitors, half of them are expected to be from abroad.
~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~
An Imperial Night show, held inside the Imperial Place at Hue Festival 2012
The biennial Hue Festival will return to the central province of Thua Thien–Hue with new attractions this coming April.
According to a press briefing last week in the province’s former royal capital of Hue, the 8th international festival, themed Cultural Heritage in Integration and Development, will take place from April 12-20, 2014.
Accordingly, the event will feature 37 local and international art troupes from 29 countries. A night street market will be held outside the imperial palace, a six-country cuisine festival will feature dishes from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and China, and calligraphy and painting exhibitions will be held inside and outside the palace.
The event will also feature a kite flying competition, street art performances, a festival for needy children and a tourism fair.
Other highlights of the event will include an international dance festival, ao dai shows, a traditional Imperial Night featuring royal ceremonies, and the famous circus play Lang toi (My village), which has been performed abroad, including 300 performances in European countries.
Besides An Dinh Palace and other structures inside the royal palace, several indoor and outdoor stages throughout the province will be used to feature the artistic activities. Performances will also take place at local schools, factories, and hospitals.
In addition, ministers of Arts and Culture from 10 ASEAN countries and China, South Korea, and Japan will attend a six-day conference due to begin on April 16, aiming to strengthen cultural cooperation among participating countries.
The Hue Festival 2014 is expected to receive more than 200,000 visitors, half of them are expected to be from abroad.
~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~
Saturday, December 21, 2013
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