Dutch “appeltaart” & my sweet memory…

So another freezing cold December is coming to my life! It’s been three winters I’m away from my home. Then I know what exactly means by “snow”. Now I feel snow is beautiful and I’m waiting for it, yet simultaneously feeling a bit insecure when it’s getting colder and colder day by day…

I’m also missing the sunny days when I just came back to Holland after a long vacation in my homeland. It was two months ago when Dang and I went out quite often. On a beautiful Saturday, we stopped by an outdoor coffee shop in town, and I enjoyed the first decent Dutch apple pie in my life:

It’s delicious, of course. More than delicious because of the weather and my partner that day… I felt pleased with such a choice, and couldn’t help myself uploading the photo of the pie on FB right after we got home!

Since then I’ve been thinking about pies and cakes all the time. Sweet things always have their powers on me, but I must refrain myself, since the gestational diabetes is one of my biggest concerns for the time being!

In the ING cooking section on 20/10, the cooking topic for November was sometimes discussed. Some mentioned traditional Dutch cuisine and Margreeth, as a native Dutch hosting the cooking section on that day with Janet, suggested Dutch “appeltaart”. Then a few weeks later, we, ING ladies, gathered at Margreeth’s nice appartment for the second ING cooking of this academic year, and learned how to bake a genuine Dutch “appeltaart”.

Here come some ingredients we need for a Dutch apple tart:

* FOR THE CRUST

175g cold butter, in cube

300g self-raising flour (As far as I know, this type of combined flour can save us time!)

150g sugar

The skin (zest) of a lemon

2 pieces of hard dry bread (rusk)

*FOR THE FILLING

1 kilo apples, peeled and cubed

Lemon juice

50g raisins, soaked in warm water

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon custard powder

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons apricot jam

*HOW TO MAKE THE CRUST:

We mixed the flour with lemon zest, sugar, and butter. We pressed the dough until it was a smooth pastry ball. We put the ball in a bowl, wrap it with foil and let it rest in the fridge. After preparing the filling, we took the dough out of the fridge.

Let’s have a look at the way Janet prepared the crust:

She needed a floured surface.

She cut the dough into two, and started to roll one piece of dough:

Then she skillfully put the flattened dough in the cake tin which had been rubbed with butter:

 

Then she squeezed the rusk on the bottom of the tin:

For the rest piece of dough, she continued rolling it out and cut it into strips to cover the filling:

*HOW TO PREPARE THE FILLING:

We sprinkled the lemon juice over the apples to keep their colour, and mixed them with soaked raisins.

We mixed the cinnamon power and sugar with apples and raisins to have the following filling:

Then Janet put it on the surface of the crust in the tin:

After that, Margreeth mixed the apricot jam with hot water and brushed over the tart:

Finally, Janet covered the filling with the strips of dough:

and put the tin in the oven which had been turned on before hand at 175 Celsius degrees:

After one hour preparing the carrot soup and bread for lunch, we had the final product:

Each of us had a piece of genuine Dutch “appeltaart” which had typical flavours of cinnamon and lemon as Wikipedia mentioned.

Of course, with such amount of sugar and apricot jam put in the tart, it was obviously very sweet. Anyway, I was satisfied with such a sweet taste in such a sunny day as this:

with old and new friends from every corner of the world!

What a sweet memory for me!

Pumpkin soup & Janet’s secret

Lately I have seen quite a few photos of pumpkin soup by some Vietnamese. The soup in those photos looks quite different from the pumpkin soup cooked in Vietnamese kitchen. The Western soup is indeed liquid food, which  is typical of Western cuisine?! I don’t know But you know what, I felt jealous of those who can cook Western soups, since they know those soups’ secret and secrets are always inviting

However, yesterday (Oct. 20), I joined the ING’s cooking group conducted by Janet – ING’s Master Chef , and I happened to know the secret of the pumpkin soup (solely to me ^^). Here come some photos of the procedures to cook pumpkin soup that I learned from Janet:

We need a pumpkin:

Cut the pumpkin in half:

Chop it into small pieces, put them into a roasting tray and sprinkle with oil:

Roast the pumpkin until soft::

We need a soup pot:

(and it reminded me of the pot I saw in Leuven, at Chị Nga’s house!)

Gently fry chopped onions in a little oil:

Mix together the pumpkin, smoked paprika, hot paprika, water and stock cubes in the pot:

(smoked and hot paprika)

(Janet didn’t use stock cubes, but this instead. I tasted the liquid in this bottle and found it tastier than the cubes.)

If it is the end of the procedures, I think the pumpkin soup might have looked similar to that cooked in the Vietnamese way: the pumpkin pieces staying in the broth and bitten one by one.

Anyway, when I saw Janet holding the mixer like this:

(from Internet)

I realized the secret of such a liquid food: She whizzed to the soup!!!!!!!! And the final smooth product nicely comes:

I really enjoyed the soup which is sweeten by its own pumpkin! Janet also mentioned Kerry’s pumpkin pie she had last year when we were having the soup. She said the pumpkin pie is part of  the Thanksgiving in Canada. My curiosity was triggered again, and I had an intention to surf  Kerry’s food blog for Canadian pumpkin pies! Secrets are waiting for me, and I love such a fact

On the bus home from Janet’s house, I remembered having half of the pumpkin and some pork broth at home. I just bought a food processor last weekend, too. Then I was inspired to “create” the pumpkin soup in my own style for Đăng in some days and think about solid food from pumpkins for “someone -unknown -yet -precious -to- me” in the future:x

My “inspiration” just back :x

These days I ran into quite a few food blogs like Người Hay Ăn‘s, Kerry‘s and food pictures from Quynh Anh (Ams), Thuy Pullen (US), Mua Thang Chin (VN) and Viet Phuong (Delft). They all wake up the appetite that suddenly disappeared when I started to “make friend with someone -unknown -yet -precious -to- me”. I’m gonna have a kind of online date (I borrow this idea from one of my friends!) with that person next week. Seems that I should be myself again before that important day?! Actually, now I’m “myself ” again with a stomach which is to be empty all the times and easily triggered by foods and cuisine

You know, I love enjoying beautiful food photos! Also, I love reading every recipes from friends and giving them a try!

Well, I can’t cook a lot to share with friends, since I’m not that well I used to be, but I wish! Well, I don’t know if I can try all the recipes I got before that unknown -yet -precious -to- me person is by my side. Anyway, I’ll try. At least, to satisfy my stomach :p

@Den Hoorn, ZH

Crêpes and “a reminder”

When writing about banh xeo, I tried to choose the best English word for it among pancakes and crepes. I studied and know that pancakes have many varieties. Crepes are, by nature, thin pancakes – French variety of pancakes. Therefore, I ended up choosing pancakes for banh xeo – Vietnamese traditional pancake. However, I promised myself that I would enjoy genuine French “crêpes” when I was in France.

Đăng and I were in Paris at the very beginning of February (and also the beginning of the Lunar New Year) mainly for his meeting. As a result, we had little time to re-discover Paris, since we had been there before. We spent the last day wandering around Notre Dame Catheral. You know what, I saw “crêpes”, I smelt crepes and I desperately wanted a French crêpe!

I had read about French crepes. It is a French tradition food. The date we travelled to Paris, February 2, is known as “Crepe Day” in France. I missed the event! What a pity! However, enjoying a real French crêpe on the last day is still a happy ending for me! It’s Đăng who understands me most when I look as follows in the photo:

Tâm and a crepe in Paris 2011

It was a sweet crepe filled with sugar. It was delicious. However, now I feel that it seemed I had eaten such a thing somewhere else, not in Paris. I remember a pancake filled with apple and cinnamon by Klass, a Belgian friend of mine – a dessert after the main dish fish noodle soup by “Ngủ Đùn” one or two days before my last exam of the First Semester (MES)- History of education.

Honestly, I couldn’t fully feel the sweet taste of that genuine French crepe the other day. My very last exam of the very last Semester relating to History of education is still ahead. Probably I should say good-bye to you – who is reading the this line, for a while until I can feel the full taste of  any food again. It’s just a case of…”stomach ache”

stroopwafels & God of the Kitchen

I remember the first day I was at ING, Mrs Mooij introduced stroopwafels to every member. It was also the first time I knew “stroop” (Dutch) means syrup. For “wafels”, it alsways rings a bell with me! I lived in Belgium where waffles can be found any place. I can’t never forget the sweet taste of waffles at the Leuven station or the “complicated” taste of Brussels waffles. I love eating them, but I restrain myself since it is too sweet for me to lose some modest weight! After knowing stroopwafels in Delft, I bought a pack of such sweet things right away to enjoy them! Again, I love eating stroopwafels, but MUST restrain myself…

Mrs Mooij told us that stroofwafels are typical of Holland. Indeed, when I’m around the open market or the center of Delft, I see booths where stroopwafels are sold fresh or put in white-blue porcelain jar (such kind of porcelain is typical of Delft too). I haven’t enjoyed any fresh stroopwafel yet. It looks big and yummy! One day, I enjoy the very first one, I’ll post its photo here for sure! Anyway, I must restrain myself!!!!!!!!!

Last Wednesday (according to the Lunar Calendar, it was the 23rd of December), every Vietnamese family (exept Catholic ones) traditionally has a brief ceremony to see the God of Kitchen off as he has to travel all the way to see the King of the sky and report what have happened in the earth. (I guess each house has its own God of Kitchen, so there will be a lot of Gods of Kitchen in the sky last Wednesday and many stories will be reported! Hopefully, The God of my Kitchen will speak good of my family to the King of the sky ) Next Wednesday, we will have another brief ceremony to welcome the God of the Kitchen and this marks the beginning of Lunar New Year! Hurra……….

I’m in Holland and can’t prepare the God of my Kitchen all typical Vietnamese sweeties for him to travel. I just had some “stroofwafels” – typical of Holland and “banh troi” – typical of Vietnam” for him. I didn’t have incense as required.

(From the Internet)

Here comes what I prepared for the God of my Kitchen

I hope that stroofwafels and “bánh trôi” (also sweet ) can sweeten my memories with my dear kitchen in Den Hoorn!

Weekend “sizzling” in Den Hoorn

Let’s watch the following video clip to see why last weekend got sizzling in Den Hoorn, where I’m living:

Well, a spoon of yellow batter is sizzling in the pan! Xèo…x…e…o!!!!!!!!! A yellow pancake stuffed with pork, mushroom, onions and bean spouts! One of  Vietnamese versions of pancake: BÁNH XÈO, literally translated “sizzling pancake”.

Making “banh xeo” always reminds me of my Mom and Dad. Her “banh xeo” is wonderful! When my Dad can buy a special kind of mushroom in the market, my Mom will prepare “banh xeo” with this special kind of mushroom, which can only be found in the Mekong Delta in rainy months:

(From the Internet) Nấm mối – woodworm mushroom (my translation)

Last weekend, I bought a pack of mushroom, thinking that I would try every mushroom I saw in the supermarket to flavour my own “banh xeo”. However, I know that there will never be a good substitution for my Dad’s woodworm mushroom. It’s typical of Vietnam, Southern Vietnam and my Dad…

While preparing for “banh xeo” abroad, veggies also trigger my memory. I miss the  mustard leaf which wraps a piece of “banh xeo”, some other herbs inside.

(From the Internet) Cải bẹ xanh – mustard leaves

I miss these too:

(From the Internet) Vietnamese basil – Húng quế

(From the Internet) Tía tô

(From the Internet) Diếp cá

I love to have a big bowl of all kinds of veggies to combine with “banh xeo”. And, I adjusted my imaginary veggies bowl to the reality:

Veggies and “nuoc cham” which is made from Phu Quoc fish sauce, lemon juice, water, sugar, minced chili and garlic

BTW, a typical “nuoc cham” with “banh xeo” in Southern Vietnam should have some shredded carrot and white radish:

(From the Internet) Wow… yummy!

Here comes my own “masterpiece”…

Focusing on veggies

 

Focussing on “banh xeo”

Can you guess how come the pancake is yellow? What are small green pieces?

The batter for my “banh xeo”

According to Cambridge Dictionary Online:

batter (n) /ˈbæt.ər / [U] a mixture of flour, eggs and milk, used to make pancakes or to cover food before frying it

In fact, the batter for “banh xeo” consists of rice flour, salt, turmeric power (which makes the batter yellow), coconut milk, egg and chopped spring onion.

As my own style, I prepared meat or seafood before frying “banh xeo”. To fry “banh xeo”, the pan needs greasing. In Vietnam, especially in the countryside, a piece of banana leaf’s bone is used to grease the pan. Obviously, I can’t find such a thing here. However, I learned from Lakshmi the way to “creatively” grease the pan:

Pork + half of an onion + oil => greasing with nice smell of onion!

So, you can see my “banh xeo” is also stuffed with memories ^^ And I can’t help myself showing you another piece of my memory, which was captured  by my man:

It’s me!

My “banh xeo” is not as wonderful as one by my Mom, but I bet she’ll be more than happy to see my “banh xeo” and says “Ngon!” as my man is always …”threatened” to say so: “Ngon” :p  Sizzling….. xeo…. xèo….

Grass jelly, black bean sweet soup and Galia melon

Galia melon & grass jelly

Black bean sweet soup

Mr Boong and sweet soup

“Ngủ Đùn” & Little Hà — grass jelly and black bean sweet soup

Eating together with my Vietnamese  friends used to be part of  my life in Camilo Torres residence. It was great fun and I can never forget jokes, discussions or whatever funny or serious taking place during our get-together…

This is the “conclusion” of a get-together lunch at H2 kitchen on a sunny Saturday. My husband came to visit me as usual. Mr Boong canceled his trip with his other friend due to unexpected circumstances. “Ngủ Đùn” and Little Hà went buy Galia melons and grass jelly to combine with my black bean sweet soup, then we had delicious desserts.

Believe it or not, I’d just tried Galia melion for the very first time when I came to Leuven. At first, I thought it tasted like some melons in Vietnam. Anyway, it turned out to be something different; for me, it’s a kind of melon typical of Europe :p By the way, I just miss some melons in Vietnam since I haven’t eatten them again for nearly 2 years…

From the Internet – a kind of melon insde of which loooks the same as Galia melon, but its flesh is much softer.

From the Internet – water melon which is dirt cheap in Vietnam. I remember eating it all year round

“Ngủ Đùn” and Little Hà bought a lot of Galia melons that day because they were discounted. In fact, their intention was to go buy grass jelly (I call it “sương sáo” and Mr Boong call it “thạch” – you see, we come from two parts of the same country ^^). I just find out that grass jelly is made from a kind of cooling grass. The strained liquid of this grass is mixed with water and tapioca tarch to have a thickened and set mixture.

Before I met Mr Boong, “Ngủ Đùn” and Little Hà, I would cut this type of jelly into small pieces and serve them with water and dissolved sugar (like the way Chi – Đăng’s friend – did when she first introduced the kind of jelly to us. After that, I introduced it to Camilo’s Vietnamese friends, since it’s convenient for us to go to the Asian supermarket  to buy some cans of this kind of cooling jelly). Anyway, when “Ngủ Đùn” and Little Hà saw my black bean sweet soup pot, they suggested buying grass jelly. It’s a nice combination. I think it’s also typical of Hanoi!

In fact, I just intended to prepare black bean sweet soup with coconut milk. I was kind of eager to discover a new way of enjoying black bean sweet soup, which is my favourite sweet soup. When I was still at home, I got to know a street vendor just because I bought her black bean sweet soup nearly every day when I got home from work. She sold all kinds of sweet soup. Most of her customers are workers who work in factories around my house. Therefore, she stayed long at places nearly my house. My Mom also likes her sweet soup, but my twin-sisters don’t. Sometimes, I bought 2 packs and served them eagerly, and I think Đăng can guess my facial expression when I enjoy nice food

Even though my black bean sweet soup is not as good as the one I enjoyed in Vietnam, it still becomes nice when I enjoyed it with friends, chatting, talking and creating memories which can never be created again!

“Banh cuon” – “Rolled cake”?!

My last Tuesday started with a feeling of nervousness, hurry and eagerness.

I had prepared all the ingredients for the special dish on which  Đăng and I had agreed with each other. (He suggested the dish himself!!!)

You know, five special guests from Leuven came to visit us. Chị Nga, anh Việt and two children used to live in Delft for a long time. They had moved to Leuven even before Đăng came to Delft. Then, Đăng used to live in Leuven for one semester as an exchange student and they all got to know each other. Chị Dung is anh Sơn’s wife, who also knows Đăng when he was in Leuven. In theory, chị Dung knows Đăng. What is more, chị Dung and I got the same scholarship – BTC scholarship. We studied the same field: Educational Studies at KU Leuven. Our theses are about the history of education. She graduated long ago while I’m still struggling with my own thesis – “nợ đời” hix… My promoter is also one of chị Dung’s neighbours!!! The earth is small and round!

What a complicated explanation of our relationship to tell you how Đăng and I looked forward to seeing them. Therefore, we planned to prepare the best dish of Đăng-Tâm’s home-restaurant:

“Banh cuon” (bánh cuốn) – made from rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, water, minced pork, chopped onions, chopped dried fungus (after soaking), green onions and seasoning powder. It is served with half-boiled bean sprouts, cilantro, chopped Vietnamese basil (mint),cucumber, lettuce and fried garlic. However, “banh cuon” is not “banh cuon” if there’s no dipping fish sauce (from fish sauce, lemon juice (vinegar), sugar and chopped (minced) chili, tasted both sour and sweet), just like Holland is not Holland without windmills and tulips or Tâm is not Tâm without foods (j/k)

Tapioca (noun)  /ˌtæp.iˈəʊ.kə/ small hard pieces of the dried and crushed root of the cassava plant, usually cooked with milk and sugar to make a sweet food

Actually, I have make this kind of “pancake” several times. I can see my improvement time by time. However, I still felt nervous when preparing such four dishes of “banh cuon”. Lucky me (and my guests ), I was successful.

I learned the technique to make the “pancake” from the following video:

I was real happy when seeing my “banh cuon” disappeared quickly when seven of us were all at the table Anyway, I’m not sure if  the flavour of “banh cuon” suited my guest well…

Whatever, I’m more then happy to welcome my guests with such a dish! Hopefully, they will come back to visit us. (I’ll prepare something different then, for sure ^^)

“Pho” and last Noel…

“Pho” last Noel 2009

By “PHO” I mean “Phở” – Vietnamese beef soup?!

I just came across a piece of writing in Dutch:

Pho, Vietnamese soep

Voor de runderbouillon: 1 kilo rundersoepvlees (inclusief schenkel of mergpijp) 2 uien, stukje verse gember, 1 knoflookteen; 2 steranijs; 1/4 bolletje nootmuskaat, 1 el komijnzaadjes; scheut vissaus en een scheutje plantaardige olie. Voor in de soep: 2 biefstukken; 100-150 g rijstnoedels; 1 struik paksoi; 3 lenteui; 1 rode peper; handje verse koriander; 1 limoen.

Source: http://www.trouw.nl/groen/nieuws/koken/article1846147.ece/Vietnamese_soep__Pho.html

Google Translate translates it into English:

Pho, Vietnamese soup

For the beef broth: 1 kilo of beef soup meat (including shank or marrow) 2 onions, piece of fresh ginger, 1 garlic clove, anise, 2, 1 / 4 scoop of nutmeg (thảo quả?), 1 tbsp cumin seeds (?), dash of fish sauce and a dash of vegetable oil.

For the soup: 2 steaks; 100-150 g rice noodles, bok choy 1 shrub, 3 spring onions, 1 red pepper, handful of fresh cilantro, 1 lime.

It was a day of  December, 2009, when Delft was sure white and we went to C1000 Buitenhof and bought a pack of beef bone. The whole story went on with some herbs Đăng had bought at Oriental Xotus Supermarket: Vietnamese basil and saw-leaf herb (Honestly, I don’t know how to call this type of herb in English!), a piece of beef fillet, dried rice noddle, roasted ginger, roasted onion, star anise, cinnamon, lemons, chilli and some seasoning powder. Đăng and I came up with bowls of Saigon-style “PHO”

Photo by D.M.Đ

I did emphasize “Saigon-style PHO” since I just happened to know “Hanoi-style PHO”, which I’ll write about later when I lived in Leuven with some Hanoi friends.

Those are the very first photos of PHO made by me. I remember eating the first bowl of PHO at Van Hasseltlaan which was cooked by chị Thảo – anh Diệu. It was also the very first time I got to know chị Thảo – anh Diệu and Thảo & Tuấn. It was nearly 3 months before those photos were taken by Đăng… Until then had I made PHO for so many times that I hardly remembered! Before I was in Europe, I couldn’t imagine I was able to cook PHO. It was a real milestone of  such an amateur cook as me – who started from nothing. I just cook with my passion and..my hunger My passion is inspired by the love and care I would like to spread to anyone who can eat my food, especially my dear husband!

Last Noel, he gave me a gift: a bear-like cap and I cooked “PHO” for him. I still remember it was not as delicious as I expected even though it looked…gorgeous, and I often fail when it comes to the most important moment… However, he caught me when I fell. My PHO is always finished and my PHO improves every time I cook it…

After all, the very first Noel of Đăng and I was simple. He kept my head warm and I kept his stomach full…

On the second Noel, he kept my mind occupied with some books and I kept his stomach full. Still simple but I love it!

Just wishing that he’ll give me a baby to keep me…”full” next Noel

 

X’mas, mint and water @ ING

This is a photo of mint I just found from the Internet.

A year ago when I lived in Leuven, I bought the very first bunch of mint there, thinking that it could replace (Vietnamese) basil…

basil noun

/ˈbæz.əl//ˈbeɪ.zəl/ n [U]

a herb with a sweet smell which is used to add flavour in cooking

Another photo from the Internet – a bunch of Vietnamese basil

Back to MINT:

mint noun ( PLANT )

/mɪnt/ n

[U] a herb whose leaves have a strong fresh smell and taste and are used for giving flavour to food

Honestly, I didn’t know its name until one day, Rudy – a friend of my husband’s -  together with some other friends had “PHỞ” at our studio in Van Hasselaan and called its exact name (instead of “herb” that I had called it before!)

Last Tuesday, Dang and I joined a X’mas party organised by ING – International Neighbourhood Group, a group mostly for TU Delft international members’ relatives. [My husband is a PhD candiate at TU Delft and I just became a member of ING last November.]

There were about forty people coming to the party. I remember seeing lots of Asians there. We had carrot soup, fish platters with salad, cheese platters and dessert. However, I was impressed by a pot with water and mint. I’m sorry that I don’t have its special photo. Anyway, I hope a photo of the whole party table can help:

In the photo, you can see three pots!

At first, I thought it was a kind of  decoration for the table like a flower arrangement that’s often seen when I was in Vietnam. To me, it looks fresh and impressive. I told Kathorine – an ING coordinator my thought. Surprisingly, she told me that the water is…drinkable, and mint was added to just to favour the water and make it fresher! Oh… She poured water to her glass and enjoyed it, to my surprise!

There are some other foods for the party:

Cheese – Fish – Salad and Soup

Taken by Patty (ING): Children and desserts…

They are all delicious. Honestly. However, water and mint made a very good impression on me…

Simple and fresh. Isn’t it creative?