Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Chào các cô va các bạn! Chúng em là Hùng, Đại, Kiên, Phượng và Thành. Chúng em were in charge of making chá giò, which is the Vietnamese spring rolls. The experience we had was rất vui và enriching. We had a lot of fun cooking and we managed to get know one another better. Preparations were tough and tedious though.

In this blog post, we will share our cooking experience, and we hope future sinh viên tiếng Việt will enjoy this project also. =)

Tối thứ sáu chúng em đi ntuc ở Ang Mo Kio mua đồ ăn nấu chá giò. Chợ rất đông người. However, that did not deter us vì chúng em rất chăm chỉ. 

In picture: Kiên & Hùng 

  

 



Sau đó chúng em đi nhà Hùng to practice how to nấu chá gìo.

We even spent some time to plan and prepare the decorations and ingredients to get all set for the next day ở nhà thầy Minh.

 
We spent about 5 giờ cooking, từ 7 giờ tối đến 12 giờ đêm. It may be rất mệt nhưng vui. 

In picture: Kiên & Hùng

 

Our samples. Tốt quá, phải không?

Upon arrival, we were initially very excited. However we realized that the house was very packed. Even though it was inconvenient, it was nice to see các ban và các cô there. 

packed nhà!

 

Vì nhà rất đông người, 5 of us had to roll our spring rolls on just one chair in the lift lobby =(.

Ingredient mixed well.

On that day, our thân thiện cô qùynh helped us with some preparation by giving us tips, and helping us put a bit of fish sauce into the spring rolls. This would enhance the taste of the spring roll. 

However, we did not put enough fish sauce as we were afraid it would be too strong. =(

These are our pre-frying products.

Chá giò trông rất tốt, phải không? =p

The frying process was different from what we had practiced as there were many teams frying before that and we had to wait for more than một giờ. 

In picture: Hùng, Phượng & Kiên

 





Sadly, due to the lack of time, we could not shower as much care to the spring rolls as we had desired. 

See how panicked we were!

Thế thì chán quá ! 

Thus, we fried the rolls at an unusual, very hot temperature to speed up the cooking process.

Unfortunately, this had negative ramifications on our final product. Our rolls did not look up to our ideal standard as what we had initially practiced the day before.

 Chán quá..........

 During the tasting process, we received some constructive feedback from Cô Bich on how to improve on it. However, we were quite pleased that we received positive feedback from everyone else, since taste and cooking are very subjective. Nevertheless, we were extremely vui with our spring rolls! 

From left: Đại, Thành, Kiên, Phượng và Hùng

Nevertheless, it was a good experience!

Total time spent: 2 ngày

Total manpower: 5 người

Total price of ingredients: 16 tiền

Immersing in the Vietnamese culture with my friends: Priceless!

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

Vào trước thứ bảy, chúng em nấu đồ ăn Việt ở nhà Thầy Minh cho project lớp tiếng Việt. Our group is supposed to nấu gỏi cuốn. Prior to the actual day of the cooking project, our group was very keen to try out the recipe we have found online. Therefore, we decided to luyện tập ở nhà Huyền vào thứ sáu.

 

Trước dến nhà Huyền, sau giờ học chúng em gặp lúc bốn giờ chiều ở Vivocity để mua ingredients ở chợ.

The ingredients for gỏi cuốn are:

Vietnamese rice paper

Cooked chicken (shredded)

Cooked small shrimp (halved)

Coriander leaves

Butterhead leafy lettuce

Carrot (thin strips)

Cucumber (thin strips)

Bean sprout

Bee hoon

Vietnamese fish sauce (provided by cô Bích ở nhà Thầy Minh)

Sau khi mua ingredients, chúng em đến nhà Huyện ở Chua Chu Kang với nhau. By the time chúng em dến nhà Huyền, it was already rather late. Chúng em bắt đầu nấu ăn lúc bảy giở ruỡi tối. Chúng em took một tiếng to prepare the ingredients. Ly and Tiến bắt đầu to slice the carrots, cucumber, and lettuce. Tuyết and Nguyệt bắt đầu nấu ăn the meat and bee hoon while Huyền shelled the prawns. While Huyền boiled the prawns, bạn ấy was surprised that the prawns started to shrivel. Initially we thought that the prawns might not be fresh. Nhưng ở nhà Thầy Minh, cô Bich nói chúng em shouldn't have shelled the prawns before we cooked it. We also could not find chicken breast meat at the supermarket due to late shopping, hence we ended up using minced chicken meat which cannot give the taste shredded chicken gives. Besides that, not knowing what to do, we soaked the rice paper for too long and we didn’t know how to go about rolling it, the gỏi cuốn ended up to be broken and in weird shapes.

Our prawn and minced chicken
BIG NONO!

Với lại chúng em không có fish sauce hay hoisin sauce to dip our gỏi cuốn in so they tasted hơi bland and raw. Sau đó, we started to discuss how to go about decorating our dish. Vì chúng em ít khi nấu ăn ở nhà, we had a very difficult time cutting the carrots into flowers and heart shapes. Cuối cùng, sau khi luyện tập bốn mươi lăm phút, we managed to make some decent-looking decorations! And then, it was finally giờ cơm tối! As you know, we are all amateur cooks, you could imagine how the rolls looked like, couldn't you? =P

Although the end product was not exactly tasty (yes, it was edible), our group had lots of fun, be it from the buying of ingredients, and preparation of the ingredients or even the final sampling of our gỏi cuốn . Chúng em rất mệt nhưng rất vui! We were all ready for hôm sau! =D

Our eager hearts to prepare the gỏi cuốn had but one complaint. The timing to reach Thầy Minh’s house was sớm lắm for some of us who were sống ở the other ‘corner’ of Singapore! Chúng em dến ít mụon. Fortunately, vì the groups before us chưa xong chúng em had to wait a while in the house. Nhưng, có các cô gái trong our group, the norm was to take lots of photos!

 

Finally, it was chúng em turn to bắt đầu nấu ăn! Firstly, chúng em học how to make beautiful decorations out of ingredients such as tomato, chilli, carrot, lime, orange and cucumber from cô Bích to decorate and make our dish look more appetizing and appealing! Vì cô Bích rất sáng tạo và skilled, she is able to turn these plain-looking vegetables into different shapes of flowers and baskets! Nhưng cô Bich insisted that “It’s very easy one, it’s not magic!” 

Sau đó, cô Bich taught chúng em how to make the gỏi cuốn. Chúng em had to soak the rice paper only for a few seconds and place it on a spring roll plate that could only be bought from Việt Nam. Then cô Bich started by placing small amounts of each ingredient chúng em had prepared on the rice paper. Then carefully but firmly, cô Bich wrapped up the spring roll into a nice cylindrical shape.

Then it was our turn to wrap gỏi cuốn. Nhưng, chúng em realised it was not as easy as it looks. Each of us gave it our best in following cô Bích’s instructions nhưng our first few tries ended up with gỏi cuốn that ảe rectangular-shaped, too skinny and too fat!

Look at our first trial! Whose salad roll is the nicest?

(From left: cô Bích, Ly, Huyền, Nguyệt, Tuyết và Tiến)

With much practice and Ly’s hơi tốt ‘rolling’ skills, chúng em finally managed to produce a plate of decent-looking gỏi cuốn! With the decorations that we came up with and those taught by cô Bich, our dish ít nhất trông presentable. Thế thì tốt quá!

This is our end product. Pretty isn’t it?

Our overall cooking experience can be summed up in these few words - blood, sweat and tears. Blood vì Ly accidentally cut herself while carving out a flower from a carrot. Sweat vì nhà Thầy Minh đông người lắm and thus stuffy and warm. Tears vì of the onions that chúng em cut nhưng chưa used.

Prior to making the salad rolls, we were contemplating whether the salad rolls were palatable. After all, the salad rolls which we are supposed to make contained mostly vegetables which some of us không thích. Luckily, it actually tasted hơi tốt đặc biệt với the fish sauce! 

Sadly, vì chúng em had something on after the cooking session and had to go off early, chúng em missed the food-testing and judging part of the session. It's really a pity as we missed out on all the fun!! Tiéc quá! 

Through this project, chúng em got to know one another even better. On top of that, it was an awesome event for us to take time off our busy schedules to immerse ourselves in fun and laughter, at the same time learning more về văn hóa Việt Nam through its traditional đồ ăn.

(Chuanxin- Nguyệt, Xue Qi- Tuyết, Li Su- Ly, Shawn – Tiến, Qiu Xuan- Huyền)

Vietnamese Dessert: Chè Đậu Xanh(Sweet Green Bean Soup)

Chào các cô, chào các bạn,

Nhóm các em có năm người, là Việt, Bắc, Bình, Xuân và Huệ. Chúng ta muốn nấu ăn chè đậu xanh, vì chúng ta thích ăn cửa ngọt. Bây giờ̀ chúng ta chia vật kinh nghiệm các em với các có và các bạn.

Ngày mai, chúng ta đi nhà thầy Minh để nấu ăn!

Thời gian (Time):
Chúng tôi đến nhà thầy Minh lúc tám giờ sáng.

Địa điểm (Location):
Nhà thầy Minh

Nhiệm vụ (Task):
Nấu ăn: Chè đậu xanh (green bean sweet soup):

Danh từ chè đậu xanh (Green bean soup recipe) for 10servings:
500 g Skinned split mung beans, soaked in water for more than 3 hours and drained
500ml Coconut milk
100 g Caster (superfine) sugar
Pinch of salt
Pandan leaves
Soaked sago pearls (optional)
Toasted coconut shavings (optional), to serve

Phương pháp (Method):

1. Put the mung beans and pandan leaves
in a pan and pour in 1 litre of water.

2. Bring the water to the boil, stirring
constantly, then reduce the heat and
simmer until all the water has been absorbed.

3. Press the beans through a sieve
(puree them in a blender for better results).

4. In a heavy pan, heat the coconut milk
with the sugar, stirring until the sugar
has dissolved.

5. Gently stir in the pureed mung beans,
(add salt and soaked sago pearls),
making sure the soup is thoroughly
mixed and heated through.

6. Wait for the chè đậu xanh to cool

and then put it in the fridge to chill.


7. Take it out of the fridge when it is
ready to be served. (Alternatively,
the chè đậu xanh can also be served
warm.)


Our group had arranged to meet at Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange at 7.45am, but everyone was late. In spite of that, we were still the earliest group to reach thầy Minh’s house. We were so early that we even caught a glimpse of their family in pyjamas. We had fun playing with his son before we started with our cooking.

We experience a few drawbacks while of cooking. The first major hiccup was the recipe which we had found on the internet. We were really suspicious when we saw that we were supposed to add 1 litre of coconut milk. We thought it looked very much like some coconut soup recipe instead! We asked cô Quỳnh and cô Bích for advice, and they suggested that we reduce the amount of coconut milk by 3/5. We were too focused on improving our ‘coconut soup’, so much so that we forgot about the sago pearls which we were cooking in another pot. When we finally remembered its existence, the sago pearls had disappeared and in its place, we saw a pot of glue! Oh My God. Just imagine how horrified we were! We decided to just not include the sago pearls in our soup since it was optional. Later, we requested that cô Bích try our soup to see if it tasted alright. We were dealt with yet another blow when she commented that our beans were not entirely cooked and that it was supposed to be really soft and smooth. But it was too late, what is done is done and we had to hand the kitchen over to the other groups that were waiting to use the stove. Although our mung beans were slightly uncooked, our soup still tasted very good.

Since we were one of the first groups to finish cooking, we went down to the poolside with some other groups while waiting for the rest to be done. We spent some time making vietnamese flags out of coloured paper and toothpicks, as part of the decoration and presentation of our chè đậu xanh.

After that, cô Lê introduced to us a Vietnamese game which the Vietnamese play during the new year. We had fun “gambling” (only with sweets of course!) and bonding with our friends as well.

At the end of the eating and tasting session, our pot of chè đậu xanh was empty, thanks to die-hard fans of our soup. Thank you so much for your support, we love you people!!! :D We enjoyed ourselves very much and will try to improve our signature dish!!

Chúng tôi rất thích LAV1201cooking project! :)

Đồ ăn Việt Nam ngon quá! :)

Thế thí tốt quá!

Hẹn gặp các cô và các bạn ở lớp tiếng Việt!

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!

Vietnamese Cold Salad Roll : )

Chào các bạn, 

We are a group of exchange + local sinh viên.  We are ngưới Canada và Singapo.  Tên tiếng Việt là Tâm, Thanh, Liên và Thưy.  We are Ricky, Wen Ting, Queenie and Mavis.  

Hôm thứ bảy, we made our first gỏi cuốn!!

 

Cooking was a first time experience for many of us.  This was quite an interesting experience and the recipe was overall easy to comprehend!

Here are some tips for future students:

- Don't get the wrong basil!!!! (Get the THAI basil...)

- Remember to add herbs to your roll (Cô Bích likes herbs *wink*)

- Don't forget to get the sauce, it taste MUCH BETTER with!

- Try to cook as much as you can at home.  It would be rather crowded ở Thầy Minh's house....

- Bring gloves, wash your hands, ensure a clean cooking environment (if possible).... don't poison others!!!

- Don't forget to decorate your masterpiece.. bring some colorful fruits/plants like chili peppers, flowers, carrots, tomatoes...

Try to stay till the end of the day for Cô Bích's awesome đồ ăn!!! 

Here's the recipe that we used... 

 

Recipe 

Approximate preparation time would be 20-25 phút.

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package rice vermicelli

8 ounces of cooked, peeled shrimpt, cut in half lengthwise

8 rice wrappers (6.5 inch diameter)

1 carrot

1 cup of shredded lettuce

1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

It is highly recommended that you prepare more of the ingredients, just in case!

Directions

1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil.  Remove from the heat and place rice vermicelli in the boiling water.  Remove from the heat and let it soak for 3 to 5 phút until soft.  Drain and then rinse with cold water.

2. Fill a large bowl with hot water.  Dip one rice wrapper in the hot water for around a second to soften.  Lay wrapper flat, and place desired amounts of noodles, shrimp, carrot, lettuce and basil in the center.  Roll the edges of the wrapper slightly inward.  Beginning at the bottom edge of wrapper, tightly wrap the ingredients.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.

3. In a small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce with water until desired consistency has been attained.  Heat the mixture for a few seconds in the microwave if possible.

4. Your food is now ready to be served!!!

Chúc may mắn và vui chơi!!

Chúng ta mê nấu ăn! <3 <3 <3

Việt 1 - Semester 1 - AY 2009/2010

Highlights of semester 1 - a time to remember :)

http://www.slide.com/r/GF-Kxw4Y1D9W60upzrb_zPnSKoFHh9t_?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Thư gửi từ Singapo

Chào Trang,




Dạo này bạn thế nào? Nghe nói bạn có một bạn trai rồi! Thế hả? Sau này bạn giới thiệu bạn trai của bạn với mình nhé! Hay là bạn có thể dẫn anh ấy đến Singapo cùng bạn! Mình rất vui khi nghe bạn định du lịch ở đây vì chúng ta có thể đi chơi với nhau! Ở đay mình ít khi đi chơi vì có nhiều bài tập, không có thời gian. Khi bạn đến Singapo, mình sẽ dẫn bạn đi tham quạn, đi ăn nhiều món lắm!



Singapo có rất nhiều điểm du lịch: phố Orchard, bảo tàng, Sentosa, Night Safari, Jurong Birdpark, nhưng mình chưa bao giờ đi thăm những chỗ đó cả. Bạn đã nói bạn quan tâm đến văn hóa và lịch sử Singapo, thế thì mình nghĩ bạn sẽ thích đến Bảo tàng Hua Song. Ở bảo tàng đó, bạn có thể học về văn hóa, lịch sử của người Trung Quốc ở Singapo. Chỗ đó cũng có một công viên rất đẹp. Bạn có thể đi bộ, chụp ảnh ở đó. Đến bảo tàng đó miễn phí, bạn chỉ phải trả tiền cho phương tiện đến đó thôi. Bạn có thể đến bảo tàng Hua Song bằng xe taxi hay xe buýt. Sau khi đi thăm bảo tàng bạn cũng có thể đi thăm Đại học Quốc gia Singapo vì bảo tàng rất gần Đại học Quốc gia Singapo! Mình sẽ cho bạn xem ký túc xá sinh viên của mình và giới thiệu bạn bè của mình với bạn!



Nếu bạn muốn đi mua sắm thì bạn có thể đến phố Orchard hay phố Bugis. Hàng hóa ở Orchard đắt hơn nhưng đẹp hơn. Hay là chúng ta đi Orchard để chụp ảnh với hàng hóa còn đi Bugis để mua sắm? Mình nói đùa thôi!



Nếu bạn muốn biết về các điểm du lịch ở Singapo, bạn có thể lên mạng Internet để đọc về các điểm du lịch đó.



Singapo cũng có rất nhiều món ăn ngon. Nếu bạn muốn ăn đặc sản Singapo, mình đề nghị bạn đến Geylang. Ở đó bạn có thể ăn Char siew bao, xiaolong bao, har kow, roti prata, siew mai và bak kut the, món nào cũng ngon! Mình thích nhất là Xiao long bao ở tiệm Wan Bou Sek. Đồ ăn ở đó đắt hơn nhưng ngon lắm! Nhưng bạn phải đi sớm vì có nhiều người ăn ở đó hàng ngày. Nếu bạn đi trễ thì sẽ không có chỗ ngồi. Trước đây mình hay đi tiệm ăn đó nhưng hiện nay mình ít khi đi. Bây giờ mình thèm Xiao long bao lắm!



Khách du lịch thường tham quan Singapo một tuần. Mình nghĩ bạn cũng có thể làm như vậy. Tùy bạn à. Mình rất vui vì sẽ gặp bạn! Khi nào chúng ta lại gặp nhau?



Hai Bee



(Đây là bài viết của một sinh viên Việt 1, năm học 2008/2009)