Friday, March 19, 2010

Vietnamese Dessert: chè chuối

Xin chào các cô và các bạn.

Chúng em là Khuê, Thơ, Lý và Nam. Tên tiếng Anh là SinHui, Sylvia, YiShiuan va CaiJie. Thứ bảy trước chúng em nấu chè chuối ở nhà của Thầy Minh cho các cô và các bạn. Chúng em mệt nhưng rất vui.

It may seem pretty easy trying to get a recipe for the chè chuối, with a few clicks and we can find one via the net, however, as informed by Cô Bích, some chefs might have altered some of the information so that the taste will not turn out as well what theirs.

Doubtful of our impromptu cooking and the dubious recipe, we decided to try out a recipe that we have found online. However, as expected from first-timers, our soup turned out pretty watery and tasteless. This was because we have reduced the amount of sugar added on our own accord as "1/2 cup sugar" sounded too sweet to our ears. We decided to try a second time, after confirming that the values specified were true by comparing one recipe with another.



The following are the steps we took to cook our delicious soup:

8 sweet bananas, peeled and soaked in room temperature water
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sago pearls
1 quart water
1 quart coconut milk
2-1/2 tablespoons coconut cream
4 pandan leaves, knotted
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup tapioca cubes
Sesame seeds
Crushed roasted peanuts

Preparation:
1 Soak the tapioca cubes in room temperature water for about an hour, and then drain it. Bring the water to a boil. Add the tapioca cubes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 20 minutes until the tapioca cubes are transparent. Stir frequently to prevent the pieces from sticking to the bottom. Drain the cooked tapioca cubes. Set aside.

2 Caramelize the sugar and when it becomes slightly golden, add water and bring to a boil until all the caramel sugar is dissolved. Add the coconut milk and sago pearls. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Add the pandan leaves, coconut cream and salt. Mix well, then add the bananas. Cook for about 5-6 minutes. Add the sago pearls and tapioca cubes and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Gently stir. Be very careful not to break the bananas. Cover the pot. Let the dessert sit for about 20-30 minutes. Remove and discard the pandan leaves.

3 Pour into the serving bowls. Sprinkle some sesmae seeds and crushed roasted peanuts. Serve hot or at room temperature.

If you think those are too much words to read, check out our video! All the steps are included in the video!


Remarks:
1 The purpose of caramelizing the sugar is to add a tinch of colour to the soup, i.e the soup became brown colour after this step. Cô Bích has confirmed that both caramelizing or not will result in the same taste.

2 The chef of this recipe has further advice us to use AROY-D brand coconut milk. So if you can get hold of this brand of coconut milk and coconut cream, it might be even better!

3 Please prepare slightly more ingredients than needed! This will save you all the trouble just in case you spill some coconut milk and had to go to the supermarket to get more amidst the cooking.

When we smelt the fragrance of the coconut milk, we knew our second try was going to be successful! The tapioca cubes and bananas were soft and chewy, and who doesn't like sago pearls in their desserts? We brought our creation to Thầy Minh's house and cooked it for the rest of our classmates. Other than the fact that the bananas we bought were not fragrant enough (the bananas were not ripe enough), the soup was really tasty!



For the decorations, we made small little Vietnam flags and complemented them with orchids to signify cross culture mix. Also, we used different colours of serving bowl, spoon, etc. so as to make our product look colourful and hopefully appetising!

The project was really fun! It was both a platform for those with good culinary skills to showcase their forte and also a great opportunity for some others to uncover their hidden talents. For the four of us, we were novices at cooking and this was a fabulous chance to show our motherly/fatherly sides to each other. Actions that sound so easy like cutting the tapioca, etc. took us great pains as the tapioca was really hard and doesn't lay flat on the cutting board! Following the instructions were the easier part! Thank goodness we did not need to concote a totally new recipe!

Our hard work in the kitchen paid of when we tasted our soup as well as the other food our classmates have prepared! All the food were really tasty so much so that we could almost taste the hard work, effort and dedication that our friends have put in!

We truly enjoyed playing the Vietnam games that the teachers have introduced us! Many thanks to Cô Lê, Cô Quỳnh, Cô Bích and Thầy Minh who instantly became our friends, helping us out in the kitchen and everywhere else whenever they are needed!

Chúc các cô và các bạn luôn vui vẻ!

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