Our Crazy Vietnamese Holiday Menu

Everyone is doing a 2009 year in review and looking back, all I have to say is, "What a year it has been." I hope that you've all enjoyed the holiday season. Mine was restful and I'm happy to report that all the family events went smoothly. No one misbehaved.  What do Vietnamese people eat at Christmas time? Well, that all depends as Vietnamese people celebrate the holidays in many ways. It's often multicultural, reflecting the unique cultural amalgam that is at the core of Vietnamese culture. There are traditional foods for Lunar New Year (Tet Nguyen Dan), but for Christmas it's all mixed up. For example, my family is Catholic and we celebrate on December 24 according to the French/European tradition of reveillon. This year, we had an unusual mixture of Eastern and Western fare at my parents' home on Christmas Eve. 

In advance of the dinner celebration, my mom and dad ask via email, "What do you want to eat?" and the rest of us make our requests. This year, two of my sisters came with their kids. My nieces and nephews submitted a crazy-quilt of favorites. Cynthia surprisingly wanted a humble sticky rice dish from northern Vietnam. Her brother Michael wanted wontons in broth.  I threw some homemade dim sum classics, taro puffs and char siu bao, for good Asian dumpling measure. My mom used the dinner as an excuse to make her favorite, southern Vietnamese banh xeo sizzling rice crepes, which she turns out in industrial quantities. She also scored on a holiday ham deal at the local supermarkets and baked two of them -- 20 pounds of ham. My nieces, Paulina and Nikita, baked fancy cookies from a Nick Malgieri cookbook. 

Here's the menu, which may seem Frankenstein-like, but it worked:

Taro Puffs (banh khoai mon)
Baked Char Siu Bao
Wontons in Broth
Sticky Rice with Hominy and Fried Shallots (xoi bap)
Sizzling Rice Crepes (banh xeo)
Honey Ham with Red Wine and Orange Rind
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Braised Mushrooms Stuffed with Pork with Oyster Sauce
Fresh Jackfruit
Fancy Cookies by Paulina and Nikita
Sweet Tofu Custard (che dau hu)

We drank prosecco, dry white port,  and red wine. There was some kind of non-alcoholic sparkler for my mom and the kids who opted out of wine.  My sisters let their kids have wine, if they wanted. I was delighted to know that they had a headstart program for their kids to drink responsibly. My dad got me going around six years old.

We used to have traditional holiday dinners with roast goose, duck, stuffing and Christmas yule log cake (buche de Noel). But over the years, we've strayed away from those typical menus. Christmas has become more of a holiday to have a family reunion, and the food we savor comfort and cheer us. The meal was the gift that we all shared.

What did you eat and drink?

P.S. These photos are courtesy of my dad and sister, Yenchi. Thanks!

Comments

[Whitney Bouck]

Sounds pretty awesome, Andrea! We usually have a Norwegian menu, but this year with some more traditional non-Norwegian fare. Our menu consisted of an afternoon smorgasbord of Norwegian cheeses, flat bread and herring. Dinner started with lutefisk (seriously, if you don't know what it is, Google it....we each eat one bit out of respect for tradition). The main part of dinner was a marinated roast loin of beef, potato gratin with horseradish, cucumber salad with fresh dill, peas with onion and pancetta, and of course Norwegian lefse. Dessert was a selection of Norwegian cookies made by me and my mother. It was delicious, especially paired with some lovely wines from California and France.

[ravenouscouple]

what a great looking family and eclectic menu! Ours were prime rib roast, lobster with ginger sauce, banh it tran, banh beo, garlic mashed potatoes, corn, but the star of the night was be thui, freshly flown in from Houston at Tan Binh be thui. We had heard that they actually had a farm and is USDA approved :)

[Stephan Kieu]

What a fun menu! I wish you all another great year.

[Liz]

While we are not Vietnamese, Vietnamese food is one of our favorites, especially summer rolls. For our Christmas dinner, we made summer rolls, lemon grss beef kabobs wrapped in leaves (we used collard greens) and green papaya salad. I learned the recipes in a cooking class. We eat "non-traditional" meals on Christmas because it is just our nuclear family. We have the extended family on New Year's day, so we cook more "traditional" fare - this year, roast pork.

[Jai]

Great looking family, Andrea. Glad you had a nice Christmas! We're also Catholic and the festivities are on Christmas Eve. If everyone is able to get home for Christmas, there are 35-40 people at my sisters home. That's just brothers, sisters, spouses, nieces and nephews. Hey, I'm Italian! Because of numbers, the dinner is buffet style with pasta and seafood taking center stage. Plenty of great cookies and pastry for dessert. I agree, letting the kids have a little wine on special occasions gives them an appreciation and respect for drinking responsibly. It's always a blast to watch the young ones open there gifts. All in all, it's about family!!!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Whitney -- what an amazing spread your family had! I've heard of lutefisk but have never tasted it. That's terrific that Norwegian traditions endure, albeit slightly tweaked.

Ravenous Couple -- Your Viet-American menu is terrifically multi-culty. And the rare roasted veal (be thui) from Houston. How good was it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Liz -- How wonderful that your family has adopted a few Vietnamese dishes. I love it!

Jai -- Your sister is brave. Bravissima. I'd be in a panic with 40 people at my house. But it sounds like your family has the Italian buffet approach down to an art. How fun.

Yep, at the end of the day it's about the kids. And we've all got a bit of the 'child' in each of us, no matter how old we are!

[von]

Our family's feast was quite frankenstein-ish too. We had baked ham, turkey, imperial rolls, summer rolls, banh mi, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, a Greek salad, and my niece made your coconut cake recipe for dessert. My brother in-law who is quite the hunter brought venison jerky made using 5 spice (ngu vi huong).

BTW, I recently purchased your dumplings cookbook and am trying to get the courage to try a 'bao' recipe. I've made the red bean paste using the recipe in your book and it tastes delish...now I just need to get over my fear and make the dough to go w/ the paste! Happy new year to you. Your family look so sweet!

[Jay E Silverman]

What a Lovely family you have.Thanks so much for sharing so much over the past year. May you and your lovely family have the best in the upcomming new year , so from our family , my wife and I , our six children and thier spouses and our 16 grand children we wish you the best for a Happy and Healthy , prosperous and exciting, New Year , this and every New Year. Jay and the gang

[Chef Jay]

Your Menu was making my mouth water , We had a trawditional menu of ham and the works , however for our celebration of Tet we will be leaving tradition way behind .

[Andrea Nguyen]

Von -- Go for the bao! You won't regret it. Don't worry about the pleating, etc. Get the darn bun closed.

Jay Silverman -- Thank you so much for the kind words and good wishes. I greatly appreciate them and send them right back to you and your family!

Chef Jay -- We'll do this again at Tet so watch out! Be prepared to report in on what you prepare and eat.

[Crazy Cake Lady]

Haha, our Christmas menu is pretty random and depends on who volunteers to cook. This year, we had hot pot but it could have easily have been steamed crab :)

[Christine@ Fresh Local and Best]

Everyone looks so incredibly happy! What a beautiful family photo! We had the traditional ham and turkey will tons of cheesy and buttery side dishes.

Wishes for happiness and blessings in the coming year.

[Jackie at PhamFatale.com]

Superb menu. I haven't banh khoai mon in a long time, your post inspires me to make some soon. I also just checked out your Yule Log cake (we made one too this year) and I love your mushroom-shaped meringues. Chúc Mừng Năm Mới and warmest wishes to you and your family for the New Year :)

[Beaulotus]

It looked like a great family gathering! I wouldn't mind having the Banh Xeo and Char Siu Pau :-)

We celebrated Christmas in France with my husband's family. It was Smoked Salmon with Dom Perignon Champagne to start, followed by Foie Gras on toasts served with a Quarts de Chaume (sweet white wine).

Then we had a cold Seafood platter of raw oysters, cooked Crab, lobster, scampi, gambas, tiny grey shrimps...with a home-made shallot-red wine vinegar dip, garlic mayonnaise etc. And a dry white Burgundy wine to go with the meal.

Then we had Gongonzola with a red Barolo wine, followed by 2 different Christmas logs and more champagne. We ate too much.

[ravenouscouple]

fyi, just posted our review of the be thui from Houston :)

http://ravenouscouple.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-thui-recipe-vietnamese-roast-veal.html

[Bathroom Shower Stall]

You look like a very happy family. If I ate like you do Im sure id be as happy.