Vegetarian Vietnamese Egg Rolls- Cha Gio Chay (Entry #3 to Delicious Vietnam)

My family seems to be eating much better these days! Delicious Vietnam really gets my mind going about what to cook every month. Hubster enjoys seeing everything I'm learning about his culture and the girls get to taste the other "half" of their ethnicity, cooked by their American Mother, and it's just so much FUN!

When we travel to Vietnam we always go to lots of Buddhist Temples. My husband has a cousin who is a monk. When we visit they cook a huge feast of vegetarian food which is just unbelievable to me. It's the best vegetarian food I've ever eaten in my life and I'm a reformed Vegetarian of six years. (Yes, I went back to eating meat.) It is the best vegetarian food to me because I can't even tell there is no meat, and there is no dairy. Which as a reformed, American Vegetarian, I always felt I over ate the dairy portion of a balanced diet.

Each time we have eaten at the temple they have made Vegetarian Egg Rolls. I'm always careful to try and decode the ingredients. Then I always plan to make them when I return home and never do. So this month I decided it was time! I decided to Google: Vegetarian Vietnamese Egg Rolls. I found two recipes:
http://www.phamfatale.com/id_84/title_Mini-Fried-Vegetarian-Eggrolls-Cha-Gio-Chay-in-Vietnamese/

and

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/2008/06/cha-gio-bapram-bap-vietnamese-corn-egg.html

I carefully compared the two and then followed mainly Pham Fatale's recipe. Wondering Chopsticks' recipe had some great information about Buddhist holidays and explanations about the ingredients, but I went mostly with Pham Fatale's Recipe because of the Mung bean, which I remember in the egg rolls I liked so much.

Here is my version of Pham Fatale's recipe:

Yields ~30 rolls

1 pound shred taro root
1 julienned cut, carrot
1 finely diced shallot
1 diced onion
4 cloves of garlic,minced
1 block of firm tofu, steamed and mashed
1/4 steamed mung beans, mashed
2 oz wood ear mushrooms re-hydrated and finely sliced
2 oz glass vermicelli noodles, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
salt and pepper to taste
Rice papers, hydrated in water for wrapping filling

Directions:

Make filling by shredding taro root in food processor. Add all the other prepared vegetables. Season. Take a small amount of the filling and fry in frying pan to taste seasonings and adjust if necessary. Wrap in hydrated rice paper and fry until lightly golden. Eat with nuoc mam sauce, lettuce, sliced cucumber, cilantro, and rice vermicelli as a giant salad.

Next time I will use the regular egg roll wrappers. The rice paper was crispy, but I know that I prefer the real egg roll wrappers. I will also take out the tofu and add all mung beans. The tofu was too mushy for my liking. I also would like to play around with adding cilantro and mushroom powder like the original recipe used. Sadly, these were not anywhere as good as the ones I had at the Temple. But I plan to keep trying on this recipe since I know they can be so good!

And lastly, I'd like to say, "Don't make egg rolls unless you have time to devote to them." They can be very time consuming but are well worth your labors. Happy Eating!

I'd also like to say thanks you to Delicious Vietnam's founders: http://www.anhsfoodblog.com/ and http://ravenouscouple.blogspot.com/. You can also stay tuned and see the other entries to this event, posted after Nov. 14, 2010 hosted by MissAdventureAtHome this month.

Fall Is Here.... How About an Apple Pie Turned Apple Pear?

Fall is my favorite time of year. I hear lots of people exclaim this same comment. I always listen to them and wonder to myself if they really know what a change in season is. Yes, here in Virginia there is a change in season, but it's really nothing like my real home.

As my followers know, I'm originally from Vermont. There the seasons are extreme; each having great beauty! The Spring is probably the hardest season. The ground stays cold for what seems forever and then the ground warms up to make mud season! But adventually, real Spring appears with flowers peaking through the ground with life, greening up. Summer is hot, but everything stays emerald green like the mountains. Winter is just a winter wonderland. It's part of the lifestyle and you can't be in a hurry when there is a light flurry or dusting of snow covering the ground. But Fall, Fall is the sensorial season. You see the colorful leaves, the trees are loaded with pinks, reds, yellow, and orange. The apples are ready for harvest. The tourist buy the maple syrup, apples and apple cider, pumpkins, and whatever Vermont Goods they can find. It's a life of it's own there, and I miss it.

When I get homesick I always cook. I'll cook something I was either brought up on, or something that I just know my Dad would be making right about this same time. Last weekend this just happened to be an Apple and Pear Pie for me. Dad made this probably last year, but whenever it was, I remember him describing it to me on the phone and how good it sounded to me.

So I Googled the Internet in search of this pie recipe and found this one:

www.goodhousekeeping.com//recipefinder/apple-pear-pie-1696?click=recipe_sr

I used this recipe for both the crust and the filling. However I did not use the ground anise seed. I later thought about cinnamon. After all, I don't think I've ever had an apple pie without cinnamon. But I left this out and sprinkled some cinnamon and sugar on the crust instead. The crust was flaky and easy to work with. The pie was awesome and really hit the spot! I served it with a little vanilla ice cream- warm!

Oh! And I can't forget that youngest said a funny when I went to cut the pie. She looked up at the table with the cooling pie and went running away into the living room saying,"No Mom, No!"

I was like, "Youngest? What's the matter?"

She said, "No Mom! Don't cut the Turtle!!!"

So Oldest looked at the pie and said, "No, that's not a turtle, that's a pie."

So I cut in and murdered the Turtle/Apple-Pear Pie.

Everyone thought it was delicious! You now also know, that the pie had a beautiful, tall, crust like a turtle's shell.

Kyaraben Bento

Recently I've really gotten into International Food. I guess it has been in part to taking part in Delicious Vietnam, created by www.anhsfoodblog.com/and ravenouscouple.blogspot.com/.

Yes, a Bento lunch is Japanese!- not Vietnamese, but in a few minutes of wild surfing last week, I found myself reading about the adorable art of Kyaraben Bento or charater bento lunches made in the shapes of favorite cartoon characters-or anime. There are books out there and supply stores with the cutest stuff on the net.

Last night I was preparing for a weekend (day) of overtime at work. I decided to get lunches prepared for the girls-helping Hubster out. Well I made these little dog face bento lunches. I got out my artistic side and whipped these little lunches out. I also got out of work early by chance to see the girls' delight in eating their special lunches! They ate really well. Nothing was left! And Oldest even told her Grammy about it, yet the conversation was going so fast that I think Grammy might of missed Oldest's description.

I will definitely be trying this again and hope to get some more Bento making supplies A.S.A.P!!!
It was lots of FUN!!!!

Nature 101......Hubster's Treasure

Yesterday the girls and I arrived home from work to find Hubster working on the yard.....getting ready for next year's crop, a green lawn. Yes, he's obsessed about having a beautiful lawn. If the summer hadn't been so hot, it would still be beautiful.

I puttered around, clipping back the hosta and watering some plants when he started calling my name. I knew it must be something by the extreme excitement in his voice! So I hurried out to the front to see what he wanted. It was the largest larva I'd ever seen!

Hubster said, "Here, feed this to the fish, would you?"

So I brought it in and decided I had to at least photograph it before it was tossed to the fish. Man it was gross! You see those brown specs...you know what that is right?!!

I told the girls,"It's Nature 101 girls!"

September’s Children’s Literature Review

September
Author: Chris Van Allsburg

1.)The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris Van Allsburg
2.)Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
3.)Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
4.)The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
5.)Probuditi! by Chris Van Allsburg
6.)The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts by Chris Van Allsburg

Yes, I’m running…..late again. It’s the second week of October and I haven’t posted my review of last month’s children’s literature. This past month we went through our selection rather quickly, so we made a second trip to the library and picked up whatever our hearts desired. I make a point of always letting the girls pick out at least one book they want to read, but usually the other books are the ones we are focusing that month. So the second trip to the library this month, which was pick whatever your heart desires, were mostly Halloween and seasonal books about apple growing and such- basically the girls raided the library’s, ‘Month of October’s Suggested Reading Table’.

As I wrote before, about reading Chris Van Allsburg this month, I was worried these stories might be too advanced. This was true to some degree, but then there were some aspects I was surprised about, for instance: Van Allsburg’s artwork is so fun to look at, even if you aren’t reading the story, it’s just fun to look at the pictures!

Youngest, being youngest, had the most trouble with the month’s selection. But of the books she liked and asked to hear again were: The Garden of Abdul Gasazi and The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts. She also liked Two Bad Ants, but I think this is in part that her sister LOVES this story and has been read it at least twenty times! Youngest has been truly forced to like it. Youngest hates bugs too!

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi is about a little boy taking care of a naughty dog that runs away. The dog is probably the reason this story captured Youngest’s attention. But Allsburg puts a little twist in the last page that makes the story really fun for everyone and asking: do you believe? I'm sure both of the girls didn’t really understand this last part, but it still was enjoyable for them.

The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts was good for both girls. They know their alphabet and enjoyed this book’s pictures and statements under each letter. In college I had read this story while taking a Children’s Illustration course and found this book strange. I remember thinking that Allsburg had just gotten a little fame under his belt and probably decided to try and write something for a younger audience. Reading this years later, I know this isn’t true, but that it has adult humor- or more advanced humor, probably just for those adults that might get bored with children’s books (I really don’t think this is possible if you research good book though!) and for the children that are very advanced.

Two Bad Ants always reminds me of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, a 1989 comedy film. This is probably just because it’s in the ant’s perspective. But this book gives children a chance to think about what it must be like to be an ant, and then a little humor when the ants are ‘Bad’ and stay behind in their euphoria of a sugar pot. I guess an endless supply of sugar is something most children can relate to, like James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

Probuditi!- This one surprised me! Oldest really understood that the little sister had played a big trick on her older brother and his friend. I don’t think she understood getting hypnotized, but she did understand that the little sister had tricked them and eaten his ice cream. I liked this story because it really brought back that feeling of being a kid again and the troubles you might get into with your siblings and parents. The illustrations are really beautiful and not the normal lithography technique most of his illustrations are done in.

Jumanji also surprised me in the fact that both girls hated it. They were too young to follow it. The idea of a board game coming to life, they just couldn’t get the concept I think. But again, the pictures are beautiful if you just want to look at jungle animal. Personally, I’m surprised that of all of Chris VanAllsburg’s books, that this is the one they made into a movie. It must have been the adventure part they thought would make a good movie.

We did not read The Polar Express. The library didn’t even have a copy! But I know that when we visit G&B at Christmas, I have a copy there, and we will read it them! Which will be the perfect time.

This month-October will be Dr. Seuss!!! This will not be hard at all, the girls love his books already. It will be hard for me though, his books are on average, VERY LONG!!! And then I’ll be rhyming all day long at work.


Take care,

Julia

Delicious Vietnam #6, Hubster's Che with Tapioca, Corn, and Lotus Seeds

Che is the Vietnamese equivalent of pudding in the western world with a terrific twist on it! Instead of western flavors like creamy, sweet chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, and raspberry to name a few, Vietnamese Che is a combination of ingredients such as: coconut milk, beans (all sorts), banana, corn, seaweed, lotus seeds, and basil seeds.

For those of you who are reading this and have not been exposed to such combinations, please don't be afraid or turned off. Che is pure genius! Each bit gives variety, a mixture of textures, and those ingredients I just named above, well, except for a little fat in the coconut milk and the sugar, there are no preservatives! It's usually eaten as a little snack. Hubster tells me of his childhood when he would have some extra money and splurge on his way home from school for some. He also made a point on one of our trips to Vietnam for us to spend an afternoon at the Ben Thanh Market, sampling every type of Che we could! (I'd recommend this to anyone visiting Ho Chi Minh City.)

So here I share Hubster's recipe for the Che I first learned to make. (Not that it is at all difficult!)
For me it also brings back memories of when Hubster and I were first getting to really know each other. We had driven to Maine together for a vacation with my family. Hubster brought all the ingredients we might not have in a small Downeast Maine town; large tapioca, and dried lotus seeds. He showed me how to make it one afternoon and served it for dessert that evening.

Hubster's Tapioca, Corn, and Lotus Seed Che

2 cups dried lotus seeds
1 cups large tapioca or a combination of zigzag tapioca and pearls
4 cans creamed corn
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup chopped, salted peanuts
1 can coconut milk

Preparation: Soak the tapioca 2 hours before cooking. Soak 2 cups lotus seeds overnight.

Directions: Bring the creamy corn to a boil with sugar. Add lotus seeds and tapioca.
Cook and stir for 30-45 minutes over medium heat.
In a different pot, bring coconut milk to a boil.
Chop salted peanuts.

Serve: Place the corn mixture in a serving dish. Spoon 3-4 teaspoons of coconut
milk on top. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Serve chilled or warm.




I hope everyone enjoys this sweeter side of Vietnamese Cooking. This will be my second entry to Delicious Vietnam #6. Congratulations to the host, Javaholic this month! Please take some time to enjoy and become inspired by the other entries.