Another Vietnamese Soujourn

It's another Vietnamese sojourn today since Mama--that's me, has got a Vietnamese craving.  I do promise however, to travel to some distant, never-before visited land next week.  Maybe I'll play darts with the map we have here, what do you think?:-)

I made Chao Tom which is like a prawn mousse of some kind wrapped around a piece of sugarcane.  This is normally served as an appetizer and eaten by putting it inside a lettuce leaf with some mint, dipped in Nuoc Cham. But we're serving it here as a main course so no lettuce and mint, just some nice, fluffy, white rice. You can follow Ravenous Couple's recipe which was an adaptation of the one found in Rasa Malaysia.  For my interpretation, I added some coriander leaves and chili both for flavor and aesthetic purposes such that the paste was spicier than usual and had flecks of green and red in it.  I then steamed the Chao Tom last night and had them grilled this morning, it was lovely! I also cooked the cream dory ala Ca Kho To (Braised fish in a claypot).  You're supposed to choose a meaty fish for this dish, which the dory isn't.  So I didn't cook it in a clay pot and also not long as I should lest it be reduced to a pile of fishy mush.  I also dredged it a bit in flour and pan-fried it before braising it in the sauce.  My Vietnamese relatives will NOT approve.  :-)

Lunch for today: Chao Tom (Prawn Mousse on Sugar Cane Sticks), Tiny Bottle of Nuoc Cham, Dory ala Ca Kho To (Braised fish--not in a claypot this time), Steamed Rice

Chao Ban!