Sunday, February 27, 2011

Vietnamese Spring Rolls - Gỏi Cuốn

Chào các cô! Chào các bạn!

Chúng em là tiếng Việt một sinh viên. 
Nhóm của chúng em có năm người:Bích-Cúc, Bích-Liên, Bích-Diễm, Bich-Ha và Roy.
Vào tháng hai hôm mười chín  /  vào thứ bảy tuần trường, chúng em ₫i Thầy Minh nhà. Thầy Minh sống ở Bukit Panjang Mayspring. Chúng em mua ingredients vào thứ sáu tuần trường:
  

•    Rice vermicelli (bún)
•    Vietnamese rice paper (bánh tráng) - Provided by Cô Bích.
•    Lettuce, cucumber and carrot (all thinly sliced in strips)
•    Mint leaves
•    Thai basil leaves
•    Bean sprouts
•    Chinese chives
•    Pork belly (in strips)
•    Tiger shrimps (cooked with shells on, then peeled and sliced into halves)

•    Fish sauce (nước mắm) - Provided by Cô Bích.

We prepared the ingredients at home:

1. Wash all the vegetables.
2. Soak lettuce and bean sprouts in water.
3. Boil the rice vermicelli until its cooked and springy.
4. Steam the tiger shrimps for approximately 5 minutes, peel off the shells. Slice it into halves.

5. Slice the cucumbers.
6. Boil the pork belly until its cooked. (Careful that the pork belly will shrink by a lot!)
7. Use the water for boiling pork belly to boil the bean sprouts so that they will be smooth in texture.

*Do not do anything to the carrot. Carrot is used for decoration.

Co Bich
dạy chúng em how to wrap gỏi cuốn:

1. Dip the rice paper into a plate of water for a very short while.
2. Place the wet rice paper on a round plate provided by Cô Bích.
3. Place the lettuce, rice vermicelli, cucumbers and pork belly onto the wet rice paper. Then place the prawns in another part of the wet rice paper. Be sure to let the orange side of the prawn face down.
4. Wrap the sides of the rice paper first, then roll it. Make sure the gỏi cuốn is wrapped tightly so that it is easier to eat.
5. TADA! You're done!



Co Bich cũng
dạy chúng em how to make decorations using tomatoes, chilli, cucumber và  carrot. They trông rất xinh xắn.
We wanted to have a thematic decoration but had difficulty in doing so. So we decided to carve out baskets using tomatoes, boats using cucumbers to create the beautiful nature of Vietnamese culture.




Personal reflection:

Bích-Cúc

It was a very enriching experience indeed! I've never seen or eaten vietnamese food before, so I was quite worried for this project initially. However, my worry faded away with the fun and joy while learning with my team! My team tried making the spring roll before the actual day to have a hands-on experience. The spring rolls didn't turn out well but I enjoyed the company. On the actual day, Bích-Liên and I did the wrapping of gỏi cuốn while the rest of the team did the decorations. During the judging, I noted the points Cô Bích said about the ingredients and learn about the food culture of vietnamese. Em là vui!!!!

Bích-Liên
The cooking project was a very interesting and good experience for myself. Through the preparation for the vietnamese dish, i had a deeper understanding of the traditional and cultural practices of the vietnamese. It also developed my interest in the vietnamese culture. Although we encountered some difficulties in the preparation of the dish, i enjoyed myself thoroughly in this cooking project, from the preparation of the ingredients, to the actual cooking and wrapping of the
gỏi cuốn
and finally to the decoration of the dish.


Bích Diễm
I have always loved Vietnamese food ever since I went to Việt Nam. This cooking project was a good opportunity for me to learn more about the different types of food that Vietnamese people eat and also to learn how to prepare Vietnamese food. 
I got to know the other Việt sinh viên and most importantly I had fun that day! I enjoyed the Viêt desserts the most!


Bich-Ha 

Although I have never experienced Vietnamese culture or food before (except for the rare Vietnamese spring roll from the food courts in Singapore), I truly enjoyed the time spent together at Thay-Minh's house. It was an eye-opener rolling the rolls for the first time and learning the fruit decorations from Co-Bich! It was nice seeing the close causal friendships that were forged from this module in action, especially that of Viet-hai/ba/thu. And of course, the banana sago dessert was a highlight too!

US! (:

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