Viet World Kitchen

Hmong Cucumber Mint Cooler

If you are keen on Asian produce at the farmers’ markets, you’re likely buying from Hmong farmers.  They are amazing cultivators of the land and have transported their agricultural skills from Southeast Asia to America. In California, our Hmong farmers raise crops inland where it’s super hot and more suitable for Asian crops such as eggplant, long beans, and chiles.

I learn a lot from talking to the Hmong farmers who come to our Saturday morning farmers’ market at Cabrillo College. They are a young couple named Tra Her and Kou Moua who together make KT Farms. Tra is a school teacher who on the weekends works multiple markets with her husband Kou. Other family members show up at the Friday afternoon market in nearby Watsonville.

I’ve been buying from KT Farms since they first came to our market about 6 years ago. I want to support their business and selfishly insure a supply of super fresh Asian produce.

Hmong farmers grow all kinds of Asian vegetables and herbs. You may not know what to do with some of the stuff so ask questions!

Richard Molinar and Michael Yang at the UC Coop Extension office in Fresno put together a nice online guide to Asian vegetables. It’s super helpful to farmers and customers alike.

Last weekend at the market, I spied a big pill-shaped melon (it looked like a gigantic oblong lemon cucumber) that Tra had cut open to show customers. She is a school teacher and knows how important show-and-tell is.

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John Xiong, a Fresno Hmong farmer whom I wrote about for a 2007 Saveur magazine story, once gave me a refreshing drink made from a fruit that he called a cucumber. I’d forgotten what it looked like so I asked Tra if what she had was a Hmong cucumber for making the drink.

High-Tech Vietnamese Coffee

One of the great Vietnamese culinary pleasures is having a cup of inky coffee with condensed milk. Sipping on a cup of the caramely bittersweet coffee, all rich and creamy from the condensed milk, awakens my senses (literally) and reminds me of hot, humid mornings in Saigon when I’ve sat down to a breakfast of coffee and pho noodle soup. (I once met a German man in Vietnam who claimed that caffeine is good for hot climates as your blood vessels constrict and you can tolerate the temps better. Thoughts, anyone?)

At home in the States, I don’t have time to linger and wait for the coffee to drip from the flimsy metal contraption (which seems to fail me 1 out of 3 times). Nor, do I pop into a coffee shop for a Viet fix either. “It’s cheaper and more convenient to drink at home” is my motto. For that reason, over the years, I’ve made Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk in my home kitchen with an electric coffee maker, grinding the beans extra fine to ensure a dark, heady brew. The coffee has always been very good. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was consistently an 8.

For the past couple of months, however, I’ve been able to enjoy a morning cup of Vietnamese coffee that’s more like a perfect 10. How? Using this brilliantly strange coffee maker called the AeroPress and a Capresso burr grinder. Here's the low down:

Fresh Limeade Soda Recipe (Soda Chanh)

This is one of my favorite drinks to order at Vietnamese restaurants. It's refreshingly tangy sweet. Vietnamese people don't often make a simple syrup, but rather pour sugar into the glass and give your a straw and spoon to stir and muddle the lime up in the sugar. It's awkward and I prefer to make up some simple syrup first for a more elegant drink.

For 1 drink:

2 tablespoons Simple Syrup (see below)
1/4 to 1/2 lime
Ice
1 (12-ounce) can or 1 1/2 cups club soda or mineral water

Put the simple syrup in a tall glass and squeeze in the lime juice. Stir to combine well. Drop the lime into the glass.  Add some ice cubes. Top with the soda. Stir and drink. Adjust the sweetness and tartness as you go. Plain and simple.

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Make a simple syrup by combining equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to a jar to completely cool. Store in the refrigerator. Makes about 1  1/4 cups.

You may infuse the simple syrup with lime peel (use a vegetable peeler to remove just the green peel)  or any other citrus zest for a nice effect; shredded ginger is nice too.  To do so, bring the water to a boil, add the infusion ingredient. Turn off the heat and put the lid on. Set aside to steep for 30 minutes. For 1 cup of water, use the peel of 2 limes. Reserve the whole limes for making your soda chanh beverage!

Avocado Shake Recipe (Sinh to Bo)

The first time I saw avocado in a savory dish, I suffered culture shock. In Vietnam, like elsewhere in Southeast Asia, avocados are used for sweets. Most often times, the flesh of this rich berry is  combine with condensed milk, which amplifies the avocado flavor.

Though I grew up eating avocado out of hand with condensed milk spooned into the emptied bowl where the pit once sat, many Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian people, for that matter, make a delightful shake/smoothie with avocado. That's the most common preparation. In Vietnam, and avocado shake is calle d sinh tố bơ (butter fruit shake). Indonesians, who may add coffee or chocolate syrup, know it as es apokat. Filipinos prepare it as well, though they make avocado ice cream too. Avocado shakes are also popular in Brazil.

These shakes are on the menu of many Vietnamese American delis and cafe -- basically wherever you buy bánh mí sandwiches or go for phở noodle soup. They're extremely rich, so I like to divide them up among small glasses and share them. The thickness is practically pudding-like so use a spoon to enjoy it best.