Passport & Plate - BÁNH BÍ Ð? CHIÊN - FRIED PUMPKIN CAKES
Vietnam | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Ingredients
¼ pumpkin
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
100g flour
2 tablespoon fish sauce
Pork meat, chilli, prawn, vegetables (optional)
How to prepare this recipeMethod
Step 1. Peel the pumpkin and julienne or grate, mix in salt and leave for 15 minutes.
Step 2. Drain the water from the pumpkin and add sugar, flour, and fish sauce and mix well.
Step 3. At this point you can also add optional extras of meat and vegetables (I have added prawn, cabbage, capsicum and chilli)
Step 4. Shallow fry in hot oil and serve with dipping sauce or soy sauce with chilli
The story behind this recipeI worked at Hungry Jacks to self-finance my first adventure alone at the age of seventeen i was to volunteer at an Orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. While in Ho Chi Minh the orphanage I was volunteering at had minimal kitchen utilities, a few pans and very little food. There was one food cart in the neighbourhood and they served plain rice with a “surprise” meat we convinced ourselves was Chicken everyday – but with the varied taste and texture it could have been anything. But I was never afraid to try something new.
The children in the orphanage ate porridge everyday with water, for both breakfast and lunch. The evening meal was rice with vegetables. I stayed in a Hostel where the facilities were minimal, and there was no kitchen.
The Caretaker of the orphanage invited me for dinner with her family one night. She prepared for me a very simple meal and the ingredients that we take for granted and are readily affordable and available to us, here in Australia. But to her family this dish was one of her children’s favourites.
Since returning home I regularly make this simple but tasty dish as it reminds me of the simplicity yet flavours of Vietnam and the experience I had there with those less fortunate.
