The Simple Steam and Boiled Vietnamese Dishes

Last week was a “fried week” for me. I was fried because of lots of assignments and tests during the end of summer semester, I ate lots of fried foods like deep fried chicken wings, French fries, onion rings, pizza and other unhealthy foods. I got sick of it after last week. So in this blog, I will be talking about steamed and boiled foods and some special Vietnamese dishes and the ingredients within the dishes.

1.       “Exotic” vegetables taste with steamed dim sims

Sometime when you get sick of meat, you can change the taste with this steamed dim sim with vegetables. I normally eat this with hot sauce. It could be an open appetizers or healthy snacks.

The ingredients you need to make this are:

-          Dim sims wrap ( you can buy it in a Chinese supermarket)

-          1 small carrot

-          1 “tofu ky” (you can also buy in Chinese supermartket)

-          ¼ small taro root

-          A little corn

-          1 egg

-          Salt, onione, cornstarch or tapioca starch

-          Soy sauce, red vinegar, chili soysauce and sugar
 

2.       Sweet and sour steamed tofu with shrimp and ground pork

This dish has a sweet taste from the shrimp, and meat as well as mushroom, the steamed tofu is mixed with a sweet and sour sauce that make the dish very “tempting”

Ingredients:

-          1 small box of tofu

-          200gr shrimp

-          200gr ground pork or ground chicken

-          100 gram mushroom

-          1 egg

-          2 table spoons of tapioca starch

-          Salt, pepper, sugar, seasame oil, oyster sauce, sweet and sour chili sauce, seasoning seeds, dried onion and green onion.

             

3.       Steamed Tilapia fish with ginger

The sweet fresh fish taste with soy sauce and ginger together create a fabulous dish. I love this dish because it’s not heavy and has the pure taste. It is really good to have it with rice.

The ingredients needs are:

-          A small Tilapia fish (700gr)

-          Green onion, ginger, salt, sugar, onion, and a little cooking oil

-          Soy sauce, water, dark soya sauce, hoisin sauce, and pepper

If you are getting sick of meat and fried foods, try something new in the kitchen. :P

Let me know how it tastes  by commenting on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/VietnameseFoodForHealthyDiet

Or tweet me

https://twitter.com/ngalinh69

I hope you enjoy it!

Why is it a good choice for people who have special needs, especially for gluten-free people?

Gluten-free is a big issue for people who can’t eat” wheat related products”. Due to this habit, rice will be a smart choice instead of wheat for those people. As a fact, that Vietnam is the second largest rice exporting country in the world. Therefore, they have lots of different kind of rice dishes to be considered to eat. Some of  the best rice dishes that Vietnam has are:

 Chicken rice in Hội An

This kind of rice is very famous in Hoi An where is one of best tourism attractive place in Vietnam. Everyone comes to this city will be invited to eat this dish without doubt.

Baby clam rice in Huế

Baby clam rice is a special dish from Hue. It is made of crunchy cold rice, baby clams, fried pork fat, banana flower, fermented shrimp sauce, sliced star fruit and various spices.  This food tastes sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter and spicy at once. The mixed of hot baby clam and the cold rice blending together is weird but they are going together perfectly.

Tấm/Broken rice – Ho Chi Minh City

Broken rice is the most famous and traditional food in the south. We could have this dish anytime during the day. Moreover, it is served from street food shop to a luxury restaurant. The dish is made of  broken rice, grilled pork, pork skin, egg and fish sauce.

“Cháy”/burned rice – Ninh Binh

This rice has to make with steel pots. We must be carefully choosing the rice to make. When we got all the ingredients, we need to burn the rice to nice yellow colour.  Finally, we need to leave it under the sun until the rice is dried for 2 to 3 days.

After drying, it is broken into round shape slices which then are soaked into hot cooking oil pan until turning golden. The golden burned rice slices are served with a special soup of pig’s heart and kidney.

I hope that this post is helpful for people who need gluten-free dishes!!!

Images link:

http://www.vietnamonline.com/best-of-vietnam/10-best-and-uniquely-vietnam-rice-dishes.html

Vegetarian Dish - Goi Chay

Goi Chay (Vietnamese Vegetarian Salad)

       This dish is called “Goi Chay” ,which is very famous in Vietnam,  we could actually find some similar dishes in Vietnamese restaurant which are made of different ingredients with the same cooking method.

T     This dish is very easy and fast to make, and even better as leftovers. This dish usually takes about only 20-25 minutes to prepare and then it is ready to eat. This food is much healthier because it is not cooked with oil or cheese or even too much salt. Therefore, it will reduce the rate of causing some diseases: such as: heart attack, cancer or any diseases that related with our traditional cooking method.  When you are eating it, it is actually giving you a fresh or nature taste of vegetables. It is also good for people who are on diet because it does not provide too much calories. You can eat Goi Chay anytime during the day when u feel hungry, even before you are going to bed because it is not a heavy kind of food which gives you a hard time to sleep.

       This is the ingredients for the dish (for 6 people)

       1 pound extra firm tofu
Vegetable oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 serrano or Thai bird pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1 head green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
Large handful of herbs (basil, mint, rau răm if available), coarsely chopped or torn
Rice noodles (optional)
1/2 cup peanuts, crushed

Images link

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-goi-chay-67437

      

If you come to any Vietnamese restaurant, maybe you could order this dish. Let me know how do you like it!!! <3 

Good Vietnamese restaurants in downtown Toronto

Hi guys,

So I was discussing with my friends in class about Vietnamese foods, I found that lots of them have never tried any of Vietnamese dishes before. They also don’t know where to find good Vietnamese restaurant, so I thought it’s a good idea to post a blog with list of good restaurants I know in downtown Toronto. I will also be posting the list of good dishes in those restaurants.

I used to live and work at downtown Toronto for a while. I have tried lots of restaurants but I only like some of them

Pho Hung

Address: 350 Spadina Ave Toronto, ON M5T 2G4

Phone number: 416 593 4274

Image link https://plus.google.com/118407498756892968259/photos?hl=en

This restaurant is known for its Pho Bo Dac Biet – Special Beef rice noodles. The price is reasonable so if you are a student who looks for a quick meal, you could come and order foods here. I tried other dishes but it wasn’t that good so I’m only recommending the Pho Bo Dac Biet. 

Pho Linh

Address: 1156 College St Toronto, ON M6H 1B5

Phone number: 416 516 3891

Image link https://plus.google.com/114705700842904950789/photos/photo/5855734693369442034?hl=en

This restaurant is known for its Bun Bo Hue – Hue Spicy Beef noodles. However, they only do this special dish on Friday – Sunday. On weekdays, you could try “Banh Cuon” – Vietnamese rolled cake. This is a really tasty cake that even I normally don’t eat a lot, I still can finish an extra-large order. I just love it. (talking about this make me want foods now =.=!!)

 Kimbo bo 7 mon

Address: 358 Bathurst St Toronto, ON M5T 2S7

Phone number: 416 603 7817

Image link http://www.phenu.com/KimBoRestaurant

This is where you find delicious 7 different beef dishes. The combo for two is around $25 and you get so much good foods. It's yummy!!!! 

Banh My Boy

Address: 392 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2A9

Phone Number: 416 363 0588

If you are looking for a sandwich, this is where you find the best sandwich ever. I fell in love with the 5 spices pork sandwich there. Sometime, I went downtown just for this sandwich.  It’s so much healthier and tastier than Subway or Mr Sub.

Kensington Natural Bakery

Address: 460 Bloor Street W, Toronto, ON M5S 1X8

Phone Number: 416 534 1294

Image Link: http://www.kensingtonnaturalbakery.ca/

Great place with great products! I’m sick of Wonder bread. I come here for healthy organic bread. This place offers special products for special needs. They have gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, sugar free, organic breads, cookies, cakes, coco balls and so many other things. If you are vegetarian, or need gluten-free products, you would definitely list this as your number one shop. I know that they sell products to Big Carrot, but why should you pay more if you could get it much cheaper in Kensington Natural Bakery.

That's pretty much all the restaurant I know and would recommend. So if you make a trip to downtown Toronto, you could visit and try out some of these restaurant. Let me know how you feel about the foods there!! 

I hope you guys enjoy it!! :) Please like my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/VietnameseFoodForHealthyDiet