The other night I had a monster craving for some of my mom’s good ol’ chè bắp. Of all of the sticky rice and coconut milk desserts in the Vietnamese dessert repertoire, I think this corn rendition has to be my favorite. You can serve it cold, but nothing beats having a nice warm bowl of this sweet and satisfying dessert on a cool night. It requires a few relatively exotic ingredients, but they all keep very well so you can stock up for the rainy day when you just might crave a bowl of chè.
Che Bap – Vietnamese Sweet Corn Dessert
March 23, 2012
Dessert Noms che bap, coconut milk, dessert, recipe, sticky rice, sweet corn, vietnamese 8 Comments
Happy Lunar New Year from Nom Nom Cat!
January 23, 2012
Uncategorized chinese new year, family, holidays, lunar new year, tet, vietnamese, vietnamese traditions 1 Comment
Chúc mừng năm mới, everyone! We’re taking a quick break from our One Week, Three Cities series to wish you all a very happy Lunar New Year. It’s the year of the dragon (my zodiac year!) and we are looking forward to a fantastic 2012! Lunar New Year is also known as Chinese New Year, which is a bit of a misnomer since many Asian cultures celebrate this time of year with their own festivals, traditions, and customs. This past weekend, we visited my parents for an early celebration of Tết, the Vietnamese word for Lunar New Year.
Steamed Fish with Scallion-Ginger-Soy Sauce
December 16, 2011
Main Noms chinese, family, fish, recipe, scallions, soy sauce, vietnamese 2 Comments
My dad is a master at sampling dishes at restaurants, deciding he could do it himself, and going home to replicate (and most times, improving on) said dishes. I’d like to think that I got that culinary gene from him, but in the meantime, at least I get to benefit from the magician finally revealing his secret (recipe, that is!).
Steamed fish fillets, swimming in a ginger-soy sauce and topped with bright julienned scallions, is a prime example of a simple yet intricately flavored dish found on the menus of many Chinese restaurants. There’s just nothing quite like spooning the sweet and salty sauce over a bowl of white rice and flaking apart the tender fish with my chopsticks to make me feel right at home.
NomCat tip for the ingredients:
The Fish: Costco. My parents love to keep it easy, and once they introduced the frozen, individually vacuum-sealed tilapia loins from Costco to us, we never looked back. It’s easy to pull as many (or as few) fillets as you need, thaw them in the sink, and have dinner on the table in 15 minutes, which works perfectly for us coming home from a long day at work. They are packaged by weight, so one $14 bag will have about 10-12 fillets.
From frozen fillet to this in just 15 minutes:
Maggi(cal) Seasoning Sauce!
December 5, 2011
Stuff to Make Noms condiment, french, maggi, seasoning sauce, vietnamese 5 Comments
After hearing some feedback on our previous posts, I realized I have taken for granted having grown up in the very large Vietnamese enclave in Garden Grove and Westminster of Orange County, so I thought I’d write a short post with some info and fun facts about the magical (maggi-cal!) Maggi Seasoning Sauce as a follow-up to our previous post regarding com do.
Read more about Maggi – what it is, where to find it, and how to use it!
Com Do – Vietnamese Tomato Red Rice
December 2, 2011
Side Noms com do, com do ca chua, french, maggi, recipe, rice, side dish, vietnamese, vietnamese red rice, vietnamese tomato rice 6 Comments
One of our favorite sides in French-Vietnamese cuisine is com do — a beautifully bright red stir-fried tomato rice often served with rotisserie or roasted meats. It’s quick and easy to make, and it’s a great way to use up leftover white rice!
NomCat tip for the ingredients:
1) The Rice: You definitely need the long grain Vietnamese jasmine rice to get the proper texture. The Japanese botan rice (and its equivalents) will be too sticky and sweet. Whichever rice you would use to make fried rice will be perfect. Either cook it in a rice cooker with a bit less water than you would normally use, or use leftover rice from a day or two before so that it will be dry enough to not clump when sitrfrying.
2) The Seasoning: Maggi is maggi-cal! It’s darker in color than soy sauce and has a deeper flavor than just plain saltiness. It’s a critical flavoring agent for making and eating com do. You should be able to find it in any Asian grocery store and even in the “Asian” goods section of chain grocery stores as well. If given the option, spring for the higher priced (and higher quality) variety imported from Germany. It’s worth the extra few dollars.
For additional info, hop over to our follow-up post!
We mentioned com do in our post about herb roasted rack of lamb.









