This Week’s Film: The Quiet American
Cuisine: Vietnamese
This week’s recipe is excerpted from Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam by Kim Fay. In her essay The Secret World of Ragu, Kim describes her first taste of the dish:
“I thought about the surrounding farms, the wonderfully short distance these vegetables had to travel to reach my bowl, ‘They’re definitely fresh. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to tell the difference, but I can.’ I took another bite. The broth was lustrous, a satiny consommé rather than a thick gravy. ‘Mine’s so buttery,’ I said.”
She goes on to say, “A few days later, cooking with the head chef of the Dalat Palace, we would learn that the irresistible flavor was a combination of fish sauce and tomatoes, the former used sparingly, the latter completely reduced so not a trace of their flesh remained.”
Contrary to my usual habit of improvising and reinterpreting recipes to formulate my own, I have followed Kim’s recipe to the letter (well almost, as I couldn’t find taro root, so I omitted it). I’m pleased to say that my rendition of Chef Huong’s Dalat Ragu turned out exactly as Kim described, and I served it with a crusty French baguette, just as she recommended. Hoàn toàn ngon! Absolutely delicious!
Here is a link to the Recipe and Photo on ThingsAsian.
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