Học Tiếng Việt Ở Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh

9 Sinh Viên, 3 Tuần học tập, 1 Tuần du lịch, Hàng ngày nào cũng đi chơi...










sẽ tiếp tục...

Chè Chuối

Chào các bạn.

Đội “Ngôi sao” bao gồm Phương,Việt, Lộc và Cường. Chúng tôi muốn nấu món Chè Chuối.

From left: Cường, Lộc, Phương và Việt

Team “Ngôi sao” met and embarked on our first task for the day...finding Cô Bích’s house! We bumped into Kiên and he led the way to Cô Bích’s house. Cảm ơn Kiên. We were amazed by the beauty of Elizabeth Heights. Nhà Cô Bích rất đẹp.

Our master chef at work

Our master chef was Phương. She had already practised cooking Chè Chuối three times at home! She truly is a dedicated chef.

Trong đợt nghỉ giữa kỳ, Việt đã đi du lịch ở Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh. Việt had obtained sago, jackfruit chips, potato chips and decorative items for us from there. Việt had also bought red Vietnamese t-shirts which became Team “Ngôi Sao’s” attire.

Lộc and Cường were in charge of decorations. Lộc woke up early in the morning to go to Ấn Độ Nhỏ to search for a banana leaf and Cường went to look for tiny bananas.

While cooking, we had difficulty estimating how sweet the Chè Chuối should be. After pouring in our entire packet of sugar, we thought it was sweet enough maybe even too sweet. But we were wrong…time for Cô Bích’s sweetness test…not sweet enough….add more sugar…Cô Bích’s test again…still not sweet enough…add even more sugar…finally sweet enough.

We now had to wait for 30-45 minutes for the dish to be ready.

Preparing decorations while waiting

Waah..still have to wait some more...

Helping our friend while waiting

Here’s the recipe for the Chè Chuối while we continue waiting:

Ingredients: Serves 6 – 8 persons
30 g (1/4 cup) sesame seeds (toasted)
6 ripe bananas (peeled)
500 ml coconut milk
250 ml water
1 pandan leaf, washed and tied in a knot (optional)
110 g sugar
1/4 tsp salt 3 tbsp tapioca pearls (sago), rinsed in cold water and drained

6 simple steps to making your own Chè Chuối:

1. Heat a frying pan over medium heat.

2. Add sesame seeds and stir constantly 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden.

3. Slice bananas in half lengthways, and then cut the pieces into thirds for a total of 36 pieces.

4. Combine coconut milk, water, sugar, salt and pandan leaf in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves.

5. Add the bananas and tapioca pearls. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 5 to 7 minutes more, or until the tapioca pearls turn translucent.

6. Remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the mixture into individual dessert bowls and sprinkle half teaspoon sesame seeds over top before serving

The final product!!

Bạn có nghĩ là món này nhìn rất hấp dẫn không? Món này nhìn không chỉ hấp dẫn mà còn rất ngon nữa.

Once the Chè Chuối was ready, we decided to give it a taste test. It was absolutely delicious. In fact we loved it so much that we were afraid that it might finish even before the judging by the tutors!

We had a great time preparing and cooking the dish. It was fun cooking in such a beautiful place and with such a cheery atmosphere.

Cảm ơn cô Lệ, cô Quỳnh và cô Bích đã tổ chức một dự án thật vui để chúng em được thưởng thức nhiều đặc sản Việt Nam.

Cảm ơn các bạn vì những món ăn thật ngon do các bạn chế biến.

Dish name: nem cuốn
Introduction from each members:
Xin chào các bạn.
-Tên tiếng Việt của mình là Hồng. Tôi là người Malaysia. Mình thích nấu ăn.
-Tôi tên là Hàng. Tôi là sinh viên nam thứ ba. Tôi thích nấu ăn nhưng tôi ít khi nấu vì tôi không thời gian.
-Tôi tên tiếng Việt là Mạnh, là người Đức. Năm nay mình hai mươi ba tuổi và học toán học ở Singapo. - Tôi tên là Anh. Tôi là người Singapo.
Before starting the hard work...

Our Golden Recipe : Main Ingredients:

Bean sprouts

Lettuce

Chicken strip

Prawn
Mint

Rice paper

Thin bee hon

Dipping Sauce:
Water
ChiliFish sauceGarlic Lemon juice
Vinegar
Decorations: Fried egg
ChiliBroccoli Carrot

Procedure:
1)All chicken, prawns and bee hon were precooked and cold to room temperature.
2)All veggies and herbs are cleaned, dried, and set out before we started.
3)Dip a sheet of rice paper wrapper into water very quickly, no longer than a second or two (or they will get too soggy) and lay flat on a work surface.
4)On one edge, lay a small handful of bee hon, a few strips of chicken, some shrimp, some herb and mint leaves, a lettuce leaf, and bean sprouts, all to taste but don't overstuff.
5)Carefully start to roll up and tuck in the sides, then continue to roll up-but not too tightly or the spring roll will split.

Preparing the herbs

Preparing the dipping sauce and main ingredients

Wrapping the spring roll

Decoration

As this is the first time we all cooked this Vietnamese dishes, we were quite nervous the night before .We divided the preparation works among us ,some picked the bean sprouts ,some fried eggs, some cooked noodles and some prepared the decorative vegetables. The works seemed to be simple yet each of us took around two hours in trying out each individual’s part.

On the competition day, we gathered at nhà cô Bích to wrap the spring rolls and prepared the dipping sauce. The most difficult part was getting the right proportion of sugar and fish sauce in preparing the dipping sauce which we took around 45 minutes to get a nod from cô Bích’s to our perfect dipping sauce.The next challenging task is rolling the spring roll .Sometimes if we put in too much ingredients then the spring roll will have holes.

The end….
We were very satisfied with our final product. This was indeed a piece of art. We were able to complete the cooking within such a short time although most of us seldom cook. All of us agreed that the teachers liked our spring rolls very much especially the sauce. All of us also agreed that cooperation and independence are need for team work. We were glad that this module provides us a chance to learn how to prepare a Vietnamese traditional cuisine. As learning a language also includes learning its culture, country and people, this is a precious opportunity for foreign students like us to learn more about Vietnam.

Final Product

Members with the final product

Chè đậu xanh

Xin chào các thầy cô và các bạn!

Sáng nay, four little chef wannabe headed down to the famous Vietnam restaurant @ nhà cô Bích to learn the ropes of preparing Vietnam culinary! We were among the first team to reach nhà cô Bích. Filled with energy, excitement and a bit of nervousness, the four chefs let their power combine and start preparing their carefully prepared dish for the day Chè đậu xanh (Green Bean Soup). Recalling the steps from our cooking rehearsal just yesterday at Xindee’s kitchen in PGP, we started nấu ăn!

Nguyen lieu – Serves 8

Sago (50g)

Peeled and spitted green beans (200g)

Coconut milk (200ml)

15 tablespoon white coarse sugar

2 packet vanilla sugar

1 tablespoon fine salt

Phrase 1 – Preparing the Sago

We boiled the sago for around 10mins and then switched off the fire and cover the pot, letting the residue heat in the pot cook the sago throughoutly. The sago were ready when all the beads turned transparent. Here is Tâm rinsing off the excess starch.

Phrase 2 – Preparing the Green Beans

---

We placed 200g of greenbean into a pot, added water and brought the green beans to a boil to soften it up. After the green beans were soften up, the next step was to blend the green bean into a smooth paste. Those who just walked into the kitchen asked us "Is this durian paste?", some even asked us, "Is this mashed potato?" O.O Hahaha! We transfered the paste back to the pot to continue to cook it and here we have Jerlyn, constantly stiring to make sure that the paste do not get burnt. Chăm chỉ quá! We then slowly added a packet of coconut milk (200ml) to the paste, 15 tablespoon of coarse sugar, two packets of vanilla sugar and one tablespoon of salt.

Phrase 3 - Finishing our creation

We found our soup too pastry and dry and went to ask cô Bích for her view. She advised us to add more water immediately. Here we have Xindee adding more water to our soup. Cố lên! Here we also have Kiên trying the taste of the paste to see if it is alright. Finally we transfered the soup into small young coconuts which we have chopped earlier. After filling up ten coconuts, we placed it in the fridge to chill it for a nice cool taste. And tada we have our final creation, decked out with little Vietnamese flags and flowers. Doesn't it look delicious? Rât Ngon :D




It was really fun preparing the dish. We were like excited little rats(*opps I mean chefs) scrambling around in the kitchen. There were also many hiccups along the way, our soup got too pastry and also cô Bích found our soup not sweet enough and thus we have to constantly add more and more sugar. We were quite satisfied with our final creation taking into account this is our first time and would like to extend our thanks to the following people for their generous help!

Chả giò chiên

Chào các cô, thầy mình và các bạn,Do you still remember the deliciously sinful fried Vietnamese spring rolls (Chả giò chiên) we have prepared for you? We hope you have enjoyed the food.

our final product

Chúng tôi là Thu, Tuấn,Đào và Nga.Vào thứ bay, chúng tôi nấu chả giò ở nhà cô Bích.

(from L to R: Nga, Tuấn,Đào và Thu)

Let’s start by telling you how we prepared for this cooking assignment, but please don’t be shocked by the process. The following is NOT SUITABLE FOR FAINT-HEARTED.

Prior to Saturday, we actually meet up twice as a group to try preparing the fried Vietnamese spring rolls. The first attempt was supervised by a Vietnamese friend, and she gave us pointers on how to prepare the spring rolls and the dipping sauce (nước chấm). It was a very tiring process, especially when making the dipping sauce as it requires a lot of estimation to get the correct taste. We either add too much lime or too much fish sauce, and the end products would give anybody tasting it kidney failure. I think it was on our fifth attempt before we got the green light from our Vietnamese friend.

cooking under tight supervision from our Vietnamese friend

our maiden attempt

In our second attempt, we became more familiar with the taste and the amount of ingredients to add. We modified the recipe by adding in more eggs and prawns to beef up the taste of the spring roll. On our second try, our product finally bore some slight resemblance to a spring roll!! Luckily, it turned out to be better and we didn’t POISON our friends! They all commented that it was nice (although we’re not too sure if what they said were true)!

On the BIG day, we came with bags and bags of grocery, but guess what?? WE WERE LOST! However, our most ‘đẹp trai’ Tuấn called Cô Bích and FINALLY found the condo with much effort.

This is the recipe of our day:

Chả giò chiên:
Vermicelli (miến)
Carrot (củ cà rốt)
Cucumber (cây dưa chuột)
Egg (trứng)
Prawn (tôm panđan)
Black fungus
Minced meat (thịt lợn thái nhỏ)
Bean sprouts (giá (đậu tương)
Vietnamese rice paper (Bánh tráng)

Nước chấm:
Fish sauce (nước xốt cá)
Green lemon (cá bơn lemon)
Chilli (ớt khô)
Water (nước)
Sugar (đường kính)
Garlic (finely chopped) [cây tỏi (băm vằm)]

Cooking Instructions:

1. Soak the dried vermicelli and black fungus in separate bowls of hot water. Let it stand until soft before draining the vermicelli after ten minutes.

2. Shred the carrot, black fungus and the rice vermicelli and bean sprouts to 1 inch length long

our "handsome" cutting the carrot

3. Devein the prawns and mince it.

4. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and crack some egg in. Mix well with fish sauce and pepper.

5. After mixing, wet the rice paper until it is soft. Take approximately 1 finger’s length of the mixture and put onto the rice paper.

6. Wrap the ingredients. (You should be able to get something like that. If a bunch of guys like can do it, so can you!)

before being sent to the frying wok

7. Heat the oil until it is hot before deep frying the spring roll.

our vietnamese friend who taught us the recipe

8. Once the spring roll starts to turn golden brown, take it out and drain away the oil

9. Make the dip by mixing sugar (1 tbs), fish sauce (1 part), green lemon (1 part), water (4.5 parts), chopped garlic (2 cloves) and chilli (2).

our final final products! hope you like it :)

Although the recipe looks simple to follow, trust us it is not easy.
Cô Quỳnh was our SAVIOUR for the day! She demonstrated to us how to go about wrapping the spring rolls. With our previous practices, our spring rolls turned out to be roughly of equal length. As the wrapping was rather tough, we were the last group who finished and worse of all we had to fight for cooking space to fry our spring rolls. So to all future Vietnamese 1 students cooking the fried Vietnamese spring roll, come extra early!!!

Through this cooking session, not only did we know more about the Vietnamese culture, we also got to better know the other students learning Vietnamese. We feel that cooking the
spring rolls is like learning Vietnamese. Although it’s a lot of blood sweat and tears, overall, the entire process is highly enjoyable. I feel that this cooking project enabled the students learning Vietnamese to know each other better and forge stronger friendships, especially with the handsome foreign exchange students (aka Benjamin and Mathias)

Cám ơn các cô và các bạn rất nhiều!

Miss Hot-Lips Gỏi Gà!

Before the actual day, we spent thứ năm purchasing ingredients for our gỏi gà. This food project was indeed a great challenge for the 4 of us as we không nấu ở nhà. So a try-out session was necessary to prevent us from making a terrible mess on the day itself. Being inexperienced, we took a while to locate and buy our basic ingredients. But we managed and after making our purchases, we finally made our way to ký túc xá Ridge View Residence (where Pei Kun stays) to make our gỏi gà! The condition of the kitchen freaked us out a little but fortunately, it was still bearable and we were able to go on with our “testing session”. Haha. (Pei Kun: Xin lỗi các bạn!) And so we started off our little cooking adventure and followed our recipe as closely as we possibly could. However, we soon met our first speed-bump – the salad dressing! We had no idea on how to marinate the gà, so after much deliberation, we decided to improvise by using the sauces and ingredients that had distinctive tastes. We hoped that these would bring out a “lively” taste and awaken taste buds. And that was what we did! The fish sauce, chili and lime were eventually used in making the dressing to marinate gà. However, due to time limitation, the gà was only marinated for 5 minutes before going down into the hot frying pan. To our surprise, the gà taste turned out well! We invited bạn của Pei Kun who is a Vietnamese to try out the salad we prepared and she said it tasted okay, acceptable and most importantly edible, just that it was not salty enough. We then realized that Vietnamese like strongly flavoured food while Singaporeans like their food a little more plain. Nevertheless, we felt satisfied with our first attempt. We even found the salad rather delicious! But, that could have been due to our hunger as it was nearly 10 and we had yet to eat dinner. Haha. After our successful attempt, we felt excited and confident, and were looking forward to thứ bảy.

On thứ bảy, we gathered at 930a.m. at the Orchard MRT station with our full gear on that was our ingredients and utensils. And off we were to Cô Bích house! However, we were soon met by our second speed-bump – confusing directions to Co Bich’s house! As you have probably guessed, we got lost halfway after missing a turn. But after giving a call to our helpline- Cô Bích’s number- we finally found our way there. Upon reaching, we got our things ready as soon as we could and got started not long after. Thanh was in charge of frying gà, and with Miss Bibi’s help, the gà was cooked successfully.

The preparation process was rather fast since we had tried it out hôm kia. The decoration, on the other hand, was rather tedious as we tried to incorporate everything that we had left into the “not-so-big” bowl: cherry tomatoes, purple lettuce, Japanese cucumber, onions, eggs, chili, orchids and shallots. During the process, our dear Cindy accidentally “shredded” her finger along with the carrots. Chàn quá! Càc bạn ơi phải chú ý while handling the knive và shredder! And after a while, we finally came up with our end product: Miss Hot-Lips Gỏi Gà! The lips were actually added in by Cô Bich. Cô Bich rất sáng tạo!

However, Miss Hot-Lips Gỏi Gà waited quite a while for the other groups to get ready and after some time, her companion, the tub of salad that was used to feed các cô, got a little soggy. Oh no!
(Tips for future gỏi gà groups: Try not to toss in the sauce until everyone is ready. We’d advise you to set aside some veggy and toss it in when your turn is coming, so that your gỏi gà will not be soggy.) Though slighty soggy, our gỏi gà was still safe for comsumption!

The verdict from our teachers: Tasty sauce! The salad was not sliced to coleslaw-size which was probably why our teachers thought they were pretty difficult pick and chew on.
We, on the other hand, liked it BIG and crunchy!

Here came the eating time! Yeah! Chúng em rất đoi từ sang đến trưa. We had a wonderful time cooking and tasting all kinds of Vietnamese food. Thức ăn việt ngon quá! Cám ơn các cô và các bạn rất nhiều! Một ngày chúng ta đi nhà của cô Bich nấu ăn lần nữa nhé!

(look at the wide array of food!)

All in all we found the project to be both culturally engaging and personally satisfying. Culturally, we got to taste and make traditional Vietnamese dishes which to our delight (and to our surprise!), were found to be delicious by our peers and teachers. Besides that, we redeemed ourselves! Being girls who seldom cooked, we proved to ourselves that we have the prowess of chefs in the making, producing good, edible, tasty chicken salad!

(the group members: Cindy, Hai Bee, Pei Kun and Rachel)

3 ngu đầu bếp nấu ăn ở nhà cô Bích

Chào các cô, chào thầy và chào các bạn.

Chúng tôi là Thành, Sen và Lý. Vào thứ bảy từ mười giờ đến hai giờ chiều, chúng tôi nấu chả giò ở nhà cô Bích.




Một ngày trước…………..
Chúng tôi đi Tiong Bahru NTUC mua ingredients. After purchasing the ingredients, we went to Lý’s house to wash and steam the prawns.


Ingredients:

chả giò
Rice paper, Egg, Crab meat, Minced pork, Prawn (deshelled), Beansprouts, Black mushroom, Earwood, Dry vermicelli, Carrot (shredded), Cucumber (shredded), Onions (finely chopped), Pepper, Cooking oil

nước chấm:
Lemon juice, Onions (finely chopped), Garlic(finely chopped), Sugar, Fish sauce, Water,Chillies (sliced)

Cooking procedures:

Chả giò
Peel and finely chop the onions and garlics
Shred the crab meat, cucumber and carrots
Deshell the cooked prawns and cut them into small pieces
Soak the vermicelli, earwood, and black mushroom in hot water for 20 minutes, cut them and squeeze out all the water
Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add pepper (picture as shown below)
Dip the rice paper in a bowl of water and place it on a plate
Place three spoonful of ingredients in the middle of the paper and rolled tightly
Fill the wok with cooking oil and fry the spring roll until it turns golden brown
Place the springroll on tissue roll to remove excess oil before serving

Nước chấm
Squeeze the lemon
Finely chop the onions, garlics and chillies and add into the freshly squeezed lemon juice
Add fish sauce, sugar and water accordingly into the mixture and adjust to the right taste

Garnishing:
Cut the cherry tomatoes into half
Alternate the halved cherry tomato and chilli around the plate
Place the hibiscus flowers at the centre of the plate


This was the end product of our fried spring rolls. Doesn't it look super delicious? However cooking this dish was quite a challenging task because we were only given one hour to finish everything. With our team spirit, everything went fast until the 1st spring roll was throw into the sizzling hot fying pan! The spring roll EXPLODED and oil splashed everywhere. Then we realised our wrapping was too lose and we had to re-wrap every single spring roll. As for the dipping sauce, we mixed according to our own local taste. In the end it turned out to be more like Thai sweet chili sauce than Vietnamese sauce. When các cô took a bite of it, immediately they turned into red fire blowing dragon because it was too spicy. But 3 of us like the sauce a lot. One thing to be happy after a long hard work was, our dish was the first to finish after 1 minute. Obviously preparing 22 spring rolls were not enough and poor us, 3 of us only share 1 spring roll. Chán quá.