Hue Shrimp Patty (Cha Tom Hue)

Posted by Quyen | Labels:

Cha Tom Hue is a popular dish from the central region of Hue, the imperial capital.  it's a popular versatile item that can be used in different recipes. It can be used as a garnish, served as a main dish or acts as the main ingredient. The ingredients for this Cha Tom is real simple: shrimp, ground pork, pork fat, salt, sugar, ground pepper, baking powder, and whole garlic which infuses lots of favors.  The pork fat adds richness to the shrimp paste without adding moisture to the mixture. During the cooking process, the minced pork fat melts and creates moisture.    

 Yesterday, I threw a baby shower party for a friend.  As always, I like to make a new dish for my family and friends to enjoy.  Cha Tom Hue was an instant pleaser.  The guests made their own dinner rolls sandwich by stuffing a couple slices of Cha Tom,  add a slice of cucumber, sprigs of cilantro and voila a a mini sandwhich is born.   This dish went out so fast!  Cha Tom Hue can be enjoyed  as appetizer  It also goes very well with Bun Bo Hue (Hue Spicy Beef Noodle Soup).

RECIPE: Cha Tom Hue

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Vietnamese Quang Noodle (Mi Quang)

Posted by Quyen | Labels: ,

I grew up in Pleiku, Vietnam where I was fortunate enough to  experience wonderful food from many regions in Vietnam.  Being the youngest of six children, I was usually spoiled by my generous, loving and the most caring eldest sister who would always buy food for me everytime she came home from the market.   One of my fondest memories was getting a piggy-back ride from my sister whenever she would stroll around town.  Pleiku is a small city.  We can practically walk or ride a bike to anywhere.  There were some great eating places that you can only find in corridors and alleys, so the best way to get there was by walking.


  The Quang noodle house was one of those places.  In Vietnam, it's common to see people live and operate business in their homes.  This Quang noodle place is a small house.  We would sit down on cheap plastic small stools with a small plastic table just like the table set that the kids here in the US play with.   The beautiful wide yellow tumeric noodles, covered with vibrant orange shell-on shrimps, fatty thin slices of pork belly, big chunks of spared ribs, fried fish paste, sesame rice crackers, roasted peanuts, fresh herbs, shredded banana blossom  makes this bowl of noodle so appetizing. 

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Chicken Pot Pie Ricipes

Posted by Quyen | Labels:


During last Christmas, I had an opportunity to make treats for my husband's coworkers.  Since I had lots of puff pastries in the fridge, I decided to make Chicken Pot Pies.  After googling for the best Chicken Pot Pie recipe, Ina Garten's five stars rating with over 400 user's reviews recipe was the overwhelming favorite.  I was eager to try her Chicken Pot Pie recipe and the result was quite tasty.

My husband's coworkers enjoyed them tremendously. One of them even wrote a note saying that it's the best chicken pot pie she's ever had. Today, while I was looking through my food pictures, the Chicken Pot Pies I made still looked so good (thanks to Ina Garten's recipe). So I thought I would share this with my blog readers.   Below is Ina Garten's best Chicken Pot Pie recipe.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

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