THE STICKY RICE PROJECT VI ETN A M ESE R E C IPE S TORYBOOK
A collection of stories and recipes from the Seattle Vietnamese community.
SPECIAL THANKS This project could not have been possible without the support and resources provided by: Xin Chao Magazine Macalester College Live It Fund
T H E S T I C K Y R I C E P R O J E C T / S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 / S E AT T L E , WA S H I N G T O N
WHAT’S COOKING 02 Project Participants 03 Starting Discourse 04 Bánh Mì Hấp by Tâm Nguyễn 10 The Fruit of my Vietnamese Tree by Katie Nguyễn 11 Giving the Kitchen a Second Chance by Giàu Võ 14 Bánh Xèo by Muồi Nguyễn 20 My Mom by Vy Hồ 21 Red, White, and Yellow by Lena Nguyễn 24 Xôi Lạp Xưởng and Xôi Vò By Yenvy Phạm & Cát Vũ 35 A Recipe for Healing by Trúc Hồ 36 Bún Bò Huế by Anh Lê & Hoa Trần 44 Memories Cooked in Food by Matthew Đỗ 45 Being American by Jessica Giang 46 Cà Phê Sữa Đá
GIÀU VÕ
JESSICA GIANG
KATIE NGUYÊN
20 years old
19 years old
15 years old
LENA NGUYÊN
LINDA PHAM
MATTHEW ĐÔ
17 years old
14 years old
15 years old
TRÚC HÔ
VY HÔ
WILLIAM LÊ
18 years old
21 years old
14 years old
STARTING (DIS)COURSE Plucking crispy mint leaves, crushing peanuts, collecting cans of coconut cream from the pantry, and peeling egg roll wrappers were some of the little ways my mom let me contribute in the kitchen. Despite this, I never acquired the skills to fully prepare any of the dishes that I assisted with. I grew frustrated and eventually it became too daunting to try on my own when I moved 1,600 miles away for college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Every time I returned home to Seattle, Vietnamese accents and vocabulary grew more and more foreign to my ears. It terrified me. Speaking to my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins became intimidating. When I moved out of the dorms, I began cooking for myself more often. That is when I started to call my mom frequently to ask for tips and tricks in the kitchen. I was able to hone my Vietnamese skills and also learn how to cook with my mom, all while I was miles away. These makeshift lessons instilled in me a belief that food has the power to maintain cultural connections and help explore one’s roots. Along with these cooking sessions, I was also able to maintain my connection to the Vietnamese community because my parents kept me close through family gatherings and events. I’ll always remember the food I ate, the people I met, and the stories I heard through these experiences. My community involvement taught me who I am, and I realized that it was my turn to give something back.
I began the Sticky Rice Project, founding it upon my dedication to unify communities, my passion for graphic design, and my hunger for Vietnamesev food. Connecting Vietnamese generations through culinary bonds for the purpose of building understanding–this is the mission of the Sticky Rice Project. Food is always a conversation starter, from the moment the cooking begins to the last bite at the dinner table. Each cooking class and writing workshop was intended to strengthen relationships, whether by conjuring nostalgia about comfort food, painting sceneries of one’s hometown in Việt Nam, or by directly discussing generational roles in the Vietnamese community. Among these pages, I hope you find recipes to add to your to-cook list, learn something from an unfamiliar dish or even something new from a familiar one, or connect with a story from a chef or project participant. There are so many ways to prepare a dish; every family has their own taste preferences. My mom’s side of the family loves creamy texture and rich flavor while my dad’s side enjoys simple preparation and fresh ingredients. Modify these recipes with an extra splash of fish sauce, chili oil, or handful of greens–discover your own flavor palette. Stay hungry, Lilian Vo Project Lead
@ t h e s t i c k y r i c e p roj e c t
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TÂM NGUYÊN
CHEF & OWNER OF TAMARIND TREE AND LONG PROVINCIAL Words By Anthony Trần Life can occasionally take us in a different direction than we expect. For Tâm Nguyễn, his career trajectory took him from serving patients in the medical field to serving customers in a restaurant. Tâm grew up in District 1 in the city of Sài Gòn and, after moving to the United States, attended Evergreen High School in the White Center neighborhood of Seattle before enrolling in a undergraduate pharmacy program at the University of Washington. While doing emergency room outpatient pharmacy work at Valley Medical Center, Tâm aspired to find a Vietnamese restaurant with good service that he and his friends could regularly eat at. This goal, along with his siblings’ desire to expand their own restaurant called Phở Vân, motivated Tâm to become the owner of Tamarind Tree. Situated in Seattle’s International District, Tamarind Tree offers a breadth of Vietnamese cuisine blended with a soothing, modern atmosphere.
Among Tâm’s most memorable foods is bánh mì hấp, a dish which his mother would often take him to eat in the neighborhood of Bùi Viện in Sài Gòn while growing up. The variety of fresh ingredients in bánh mì hấp, along with it being a very filling meal, made a lasting impression such that Tâm was able to construct the dish simply from the memory of his childhood when he cooked it for his best friend’s family one time in high school. Bánh mì hấp now represents sharing, family connections, and health to him. Tâm wishes to share his enjoyment of this favorite dish with others so that they can experience with their loved ones the same thing he did. This is a general guideline of how he feels that youth should preserve their cultural heritage: by learning of the influences that their older generations used to shape their identity which will, in turn, help youth find these same aspects in themselves.
“The best thing about owning the restaurant is when guests give us compliments of the family recipes and constructive suggestions to improve,” Tâm says. He is also grateful that the community instills enough trust in the restaurant to ensure job security for his crew members and that the restaurant helps him provide a voice for the community.
ABOUT THE CHEF | PAGE 05
BÁNH MÌ HÂP Recipe by Tâm Nguyễn
Bánh mì hấp is a dish consisting of steamed Vietnamese baguettes topped with various types of meat, vegetables such as carrots, lettuce, green onions, and cucumbers, and often served with fish sauce. Bánh mì, or the baguette, was introduced to Vietnamese cuisine as a result of French influence during the early 1900s, and Việt Nam’s version of it is typically airier and fluffier with a thinner crust to accommodate more ingredients inside. It is now a staple food of the working class with many distinct ways to prepare.
BREAD
5-7 French baguettes
PLATE OF GREENS 1 head of lettuce 1 bunch of mint 1-2 cucumbers 1 bunch of cilantro
PICKLED CARROTS 2 carrots Vinegar ¼ cup of salt
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FISH SAUCE 1 peeled lime 2-3 red thai chilis 4 cloves of garlic Sugar Water
FILLING
1 jicama 2-3 lbs. ground beef Crushed roasted peanuts 4-6 green onion stalks
RECIPE | PAGE 07
FILLING
FISH SAUCE
PICKLED CARROTS
Dice jicama in Âź inch cubes.
Grind red chili and garlic in a mortar.
Julienne carrots.
Saute ground beef in a pan coated with light oil.
Slowly add sugar to the mortar and then lime.
Add jicama and cook until translucent.
Combine with water and fish sauce to desired consistency and saltiness.
BREAD
GREEN ONION
Steam bread until soft and moist.
Saute chopped green onion in a generous amount of oil until fragrant.
Top bread with green onion, ground beef mixture, and crushed peanuts.
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Cover carrots with salt to take out the moisture. After at least 30 minutes, cover carrots with vinegar.
HOW TO EAT Grab a piece of lettuce and add your choice of greens and vegetables. Add loaded piece of bread on top of your bed of vegetables. Use your bottom layer of lettuce to wrap it all up and dip in the fish sauce. Enjoy!
RECIPE | PAGE 09
THE FRUIT OF MY VIETNAMESE TREE Words by Katie Nguyễn
Everyday I am reminded that the hands of my parents are the very hands that continue to water and keep the roots of their history alive. Both of them fled Vietnam by boat and spent many years in refugee camps. During this time of escape, they were considerably young yet were already exposed to so many struggles and hardships. Though they left behind all that they had, they kept one thing very close to them, their cultural identity. They later decided to have two little girls who would carry on their stories and tend to the fragile roots of their Vietnamese background.
“I ALMOST LET THE ROOTS OF MY CULTURAL GARDEN ROT AND BE LOST.” My sister and I both grew up in America, unlike my mother and father. Though, despite being born in America, we knew very little English and were raised around Vietnamese traditions. Despite this, there was a point in my life when I almost let the roots of my cultural garden rot and be lost. I remember coming home from school and showing off the new songs that I learned from my friends and the stories that I read. I wanted to fit in, so I would attempt to speak as much English as I could and beg for anything that was popular in school. My parents were proud of how well I was trying in school but there was always a little frown within their smiling faces. When speaking
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to my parents, I would always try to incorporate as many English words as possible into our conversations. Sometimes, I refused to eat a Vietnamese food because my friends might think it was gross. At this point, my parents noticed the lack of nourishment I was giving to my own garden. They were afraid that I was slowly letting go of my roots; slowly forgetting who I was. One time, I remember them telling me, “Katie, do not forget about who you are. Do not forget about where we came from. Do not forget that Vietnamese blood flows in your veins.” I soon realized that I was too caught up in trying to fit into American standards and that I was forgetting some of my Vietnamese fruits. I turned back to my appreciation of the Vietnamese community and traditions that I used to be so involved in when I was younger. I am now back to tending to my flourishing little garden and the growing tree that tells the stories of my parents. Growing up as a Vietnamese American can be difficult in terms of keeping one’s culture and traditions alive. Joining programs such as the Sticky Rice Project, and being more involved with the Vietnamese community has really strengthened my roots and identity. I will continue eating my favorite Vietnamese dishes no matter how “weird” they are. I will continue singing the songs that my grandma sang to me as a child. I will continue speaking the tongue of my parents and ancestors. I will continue growing this tree, for I am a Vietnamese person.
GIVING THE KITCHEN A SECOND CHANCE Words by Giàu Võ
When I was a child, I was never allowed in the kitchen at all, for any reason. I was very short at the time and was always curious about what was going on in the kitchen. But I could only try and peek. However, I still wasn’t able to see how my mom prepared her dishes or cooked her meals. Because of this, I never developed an interest in cooking Vietnamese food because of its complexity. I resorted to relying on easy-to-make foods such as pasta or using premade curry powder. At age 18, I decided to give Vietnamese food another try. I tried to figure out how my parents would make certain food like pho or bun bo hue and tried to taste for the ingredients. Those dishes take hours to make, sometimes a whole day. I didn’t t have the patience or time to invest into 4 hour meal when I could make a 15 minute meal for myself. I gave up then as well. I joined the Sticky Rice Project not knowing what it was really about. When I realized it was a series of cooking classes, I was hesitant because I thought I would embarrass myself in front of my peers and teachers. But that was far from the case. The project team was so friendly, the members were so kind, and the teachers were spectacular with their culinary and teaching skills, going slowly for everyone to keep up.
Through this simple act, I realized how tough and hard it is for Vietnamese moms to prepare a delicious meal for their family. The reason my mom never let me in the kitchen was because she wanted me to spend my time studying. She would rather spend her precious time after a long day at work preparing home cooked meals for me.
“I REALIZED HOW TOUGH AND HARD IT IS FOR VIETNAMESE MOMS TO PREPARE A DELICIOUS MEAL FOR THEIR FAMILY.” I want to thank everyone in the Sticky Rice Project for making this project happen and for putting in your time and effort. I thank you all for allowing me to return to the origin, the culture, and the recipes of Vietnam through food.
The first dish I learned was “bánh mì hấp” which means steamed Vietnamese bread. A few days later, I was shopping at QFC and I saw that all the ingredients in the dish were available. Without hesitation, I grabbed all of them and started prepping and cooking at home. I took an hour. My parents loved it.
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MUÔI NGUYÊN GRANDMA AND MOTHER Words By Anthony Trần They say that our sense of smell and memory go handin-hand, and nothing brings a smile to our face more than the aromas we reminisce about when we hear the phrase “grandma’s cooking.” Born and raised in Cà Mau, Muồi Nguyễn lived in a variety of places in Việt Nam such as Sài Gòn and Huế during her husband’s enlistment in the military until eventually settling on a island called Hòn Sơn. Popular Vietnamese dishes like phở and bún bò Huế were not as common there as in mainland Việt Nam, and the island’s community and tourists thrived on seafood and dishes like bún cá. Muồi enjoyed eating bánh xèo when she was growing up. She learned the process of making the dish from her mother through a desire to pass down that enjoyment to her future generations. She feels that this handing down of recipes through descendants is important when one has their own family because food is an enormous cornerstone of culture.
remember where they come from. Useful skills such as being able to speak Vietnamese and understanding and appreciating Vietnamese cuisine play two important roles. These skills not only prevent younger generations from forgetting their roots when living abroad, but can also help to navigate their homeland when they do eventually return to Việt Nam. What easier way to connect with family and strangers alike than sitting down and sharing a meal together? To this endeavor, she recommends that they should strive to speak Vietnamese in the household and with family. After all, practice makes perfect, and being comfortable and acquainted with one’s native language should always be the first step in interacting with others of one’s culture.
Even though the United States has become a second homeland for many younger generations of Vietnamese people, Muồi Nguyễn believes it is imperative to
ABOUT THE CHEF | PAGE 15
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BÁNH XÈO Recipe by Muồi Nguyễn
Bánh xèo is a fried pancake made using a batter of rice flour, coconut milk, and turmeric, giving it a bright yellow color. Fillings usually contain pork, shrimp, bean sprouts, mung beans, and green onions. It’s served with a heap of vegetables and herbs and dressed with sweetened fish sauce. Bánh xèo gained popularity in Southern Việt Nam, often sold at food carts, as more workers traveled from Central region during the 1980s. The various regions of Việt Nam prepare bánh xèo in their own distinct way. For example, bánh xèo is eaten wrapped in rice paper in the Central. Meanwhile, it is larger and is eaten like a lettuce wrap in the South.
BATTER
1 bag of bánh xèo mix 1 can of coconut cream 3 tbps. of fried banana flour 3-4 green onion stalks 2 eggs 1 tbps. of cooking oil 1 can of hot water (use the coconut cream can)
FILLING
1 lb. of shrimp ½ large onion 1 lb. of pork loin 1 cup of mung bean 3-4 cloves of garlic Sugar and fish sauce to taste Bean sprouts Jicama
FISH SAUCE
½ cup of bottled fish sauce ¾ cup of sugar ½ cup of orange soda 1 lime 4-6 red thai chilis 4-6 cloves of garlic
PICKLED CARROTS & DAIKON 1 cup of carrots 1 cup of daikon 3 cups of vinegar Salt and sugar to taste
RECIPE | PAGE 17
BATTER
FILLING
Mix bánh xèo flour, fried banana flour, and coocnut cream in bowl.
Boil mung beans until cooked and then drain.
Add salt and sugar.
Fry garlic until golden and fragrant.
Fill coconut cream can with hot water and mix into batter until smooth.
Add sliced pork loin.
Add chopped green onions to batter. Mix in cooking oil in the batter so you don’t need to cook with too much oil.
Add shrimp once pork is cooked halfway. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add salt, sugar, and fish sauce to taste.
FISH SAUCE
ASSEMBLY
Hand grind and crush garlic and red chilis with a pestle.
Coat pan lightly with oil.
Combine orange soda, sugar, lime, and fish sauce (add more or less according to your preference).
Pour batter to cover pan.
Top with garlic and red chili to preferred spice level.
Add bean sprouts or jicama to half of the pan. Cover pan with a lid until the batter completely cooks through. Add filling to the side with bean sprouts or jicama. Flip the empty side of the bånh xèo and transfer to a plate. Enjoy! RECIPE | PAGE 19
MY MOM Words by Vy Hồ
My mom is not perfect. It took her two times to pass the driving test and she drives really slowly. She only knows one way to get to work and to the supermarkets. If there is a ramp or a road closure, she will not be able to find an alternate route to her destination even though we have been living in the area for more than nine years. She barely knows how to use her smartphone so GPS or Google Maps is not an option. She will also accidentally put her phone on silent and claim that it is broken. My mom is a grocery “shopaholic”. She will go to three or four supermarkets on her day off and spend around an hour or two in each market just for groceries. She has no clue about current fashion trends or clothing brands, but she can always remember the prices and brands of different items from different supermarkets. Our walk-in pantry is like a mini supermarket with different kinds of flours, sauces, noodles, etc. Our fridge is always full of food. Whenever I go grocery shopping with her, we always end up with enough to feed our family for weeks! “Mẹ mua nhiều đồ ăn quá!” *Mom, you bought so much food! “Thịt này cho ba. Mẹ nấu lẩu nấm cho con. Còn khoai này cho em con. Đâu có nhiều đâu.” *This meat is for dad. I will cook you mushroom hot pot and the sweet potato for your sister. See it’s not that much. This conversation happens everytime I go grocery shopping with my mom. She likes to have all possible ingredients
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ready and at her fingertips, just in case relatives come over without warning or we have a sudden craving.
“MY MOM ALWAYS MAKES SURE THERE IS A HOT, HOME COOKED MEAL WAITING FOR ME.” My mom also does not believe in set meal times. She will wake me up at night or knock on my bathroom door to ask if I want to eat whatever she has just made. She will try to feed me as much as possible, regardless of the time or my hunger. I think she has a constant fear of my sister and I being hungry and going without enough food to eat. You see, cooking is her thing. Despite coming to the United States with no English and the fact that she works ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week, my mom always makes sure there is a hot, home cooked meal waiting for me when I wake up and when I come home after a long day at school. Cooking Vietnamese food is one of the skills she brought with her and she takes great pride in it. She rarely says “I love you” to me, but I can feel her love in each meal that she makes, each ingredient that she carefully chooses, and the smile on her face when she watches me enjoy her food.
RED, WHITE, AND YELLOW Words by Lena Nguyễn
Through boats and internment camps, my dad arrived in the U.S. at the age of fifteen. Like many immigrant teenagers, he faced an identity crisis: assimilating to American society while simultaneously gripping onto his Vietnamese culture. Late night janitorial sessions, cramped apartment rooms, and tongue-twisting English words cycled the next four years of his life. Meanwhile, my mom was stuck in Vietnam in the countryside of Mỹ Tho. Because of the Vietnam War, she shared the heavy burden of motherhood with my grandma. She fanned hot coals to cook porridge, carried her baby sisters through the city, and tended acres of vegetable fields. When she turned nineteen, my grandpa was finally set free from Communist imprisonment and they all moved here. By chance, my quiet mom met my charismatic dad and they merged their stories into their present day lives. “You kids were lucky to have never experienced the hardships we went through,” they reminded me. “But never forget that you are a Vietnamese girl!” I was born in Seattle: 7,051 miles from Vietnam. I grew up with Barney sing-along songs, build-a-bears, and Magic Treehouse books; I sang English hymns on Sundays. My sister and I didn’t have the toughness of country kids, especially towards bugs. “You wouldn’t be chickens if you grew up in Vietnam,” my dad would say, flicking a spider away, making us scream. On the surface, it seemed like I was the typical American kid on the block but, underneath, I lived trying to balance Vietnamese tradition.
Growing up with my grandma, all I ever spoke was Vietnamese. I needed to because I’d get a nice whack from a chopstick if I didn’t. At home, my parents always scolded me for speaking English and sometimes threatened to throw me out of the the house if I didn’t “nghe lời cha mẹ.” But I wasn’t force-fed Vietnamese. I actually loved speaking Vietnamese and it became very handy for secret conversations with my sister and cousins. As I reached my teen years, I understood more of the traditional attitudes that older generations and some modern Vietnamese people have. This deeper understanding cemented my identity. I didn’t have to be born in Vietnam to be Vietnamese; I just needed to continue living and embracing my family’s story. After taking a break from Vietnamese school this year, I felt my roots slowly drifting away. Joining the Sticky Rice Project this summer rekindled my connection to my roots and to my family. Each recipe connected me to my mom’s southern Vietnamese style of cooking, while others with my dad’s northern style. Bringing what I learned home sparked new conversations between my mom and me because she wanted to share her own versions of the recipes. To me, the most important aspect of the project was finding comfort in a community that empathized with me being Vietnamese-American, a community that would always be active and supportive. Now that I have an opening to share my story, I hope to encourage more people to embrace their culture, both in a modern and traditional way.
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FILTER YOUR COFFEE, NOT YOUR WORDS.
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THERESA CÁT VU & YENVY PHAM ?
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CHEF & OWNERS OF PHO BĂC Words By Anthony Trần Like mother, like daughter.
Children are often compared to the people that raised them and, in Yenvy Phạm’s case, her mother has influenced her to the point that Yenvy admits, “I am her.” Yenvy and her family are the owners of Phở Bắc on Jackson Street in Seattle’s International District. There are also two other locations in Downtown and the Rainier Valley. Growing up in the restaurant, Yenvy acquired much of her business sense and personality quirks from her mother, Theresa Cát Vũ. Cát first cooked phở when she immigrated to the United States and later opened the restaurant when she was 29. Yenvy describes her mother as someone who sees every challenge as doable and finds her success through trial and error, observation, and adaptation. These traits inform Yenvy’s belief that Vietnamese people are savvy -- natural entrepreneurs with an underlying spirit of optimism. Yenvy has a fondness for xôi because it reminds her of excitement and adventure, but also a longing for home. It was a staple food that her mother would often cook for family trips. She appreciates that food is a universal language that everyone can easily relate and connect to - in contrast to things like cultural values. This bridge helps create common ground between generations in a community and allows people to connect to one another, to understand each other, and to foster inclusivity. Like Cát, who is now retired and volunteers as head of the Vietnamese church, Yenvy’s role in the Vietnamese
community has expanded beyond serving food. Yenvy is the Creative Director of Friends of Little Saigon (FLS), a non-profit group focused on the empowerment and collaboration of the Vietnamese-American community. This year, FLS is holding Bánh Mì Fest, a celebration of Vietnamese food, culture, and entertainment where many vendors will showcase their creativity through their distinct renditions of bánh mì. Not everyone who has the skillset to create things or follow passions have the resources to do so. Thus, Yenvy assists in translating these aspirations into tangible results through networking and sparking ideas. Speaking up for these individuals is a small step toward a larger goal: generating discussion and transparency within the Little Saigon community to construct a platform to be heard. Yenvy believes it is difficult to cultivate change, but altering how the community engages with one another and tempering egos is valuable in furthering compassion. To promote positive results, she follows her mother Cát’s advice: “Chuyện nhỏ, bỏ qua đi.” She strives to stay happy when things don’t go her way and to look forward by putting the bad things behind her. “We have to make being Vietnamese cool,” Yenvy exclaimed when asked about the most essential ways for younger generations to maintain their heritage. She wants to see the younger generation get involved in the folklore of Việt Nam and its history, specifically being interested and intrigued in retelling these stories to others in the future.
ABOUT THE CHEF | PAGE 25
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XÔI LAP XUONG Recipe by Yenvy Phạm & Cát Vũ
Xôi lạp xưởng is a savory sticky rice dish that can be served as a full entrée given its heartiness and complex flavor profile. But like all sticky rice dishes, it can easily be packed to go. Xôi lạp xưởng is seasoned with soy sauce and is commonly topped with shredded pork, dried shrimp, boiled eggs, fried onions, peanuts, and green onions. Talk about a party for your taste buds!
RICE
3 cups of gạo nếp (sweet rice )
TOPPINGS
1 package of Chinese sausage 2 lbs. of shrimp (fresh or dried) (26/30 size black tiger prawns) Deep fried shallots 2 green onion stalks THE STICKY RICE PROJECT
SEASONINGS
2 tsp. of garlic powder ½ tsp. of sugar for every tsp. of soy sauce Pepper to taste
RECIPE | PAGE 27
RICE
TOPPINGS
Soak 3 heaping cups of sweet rice for 25 mins then drain.
Slice chinese sausage and rough chop prawns.
Transfer to rice cooking pot and add 1¼ tsp. of sugar.
Add oil to fry pan and garlic powder on medium/low heat until fragrant. About 1 minute.
Add water until ¼ inch above rice.
Add meats.
Cook rice.
Add seasoning mixture as needed. Add pepper to taste. Place chopped onions and ½ cup of fried onions in a bowl covered in oil. Microwave for 1 min. Arrange in plate and top with deep-fried shallots and green onion mixture.
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W E A R E XÔI CONNECTED.
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XÔI VÒ
Recipe by Yenvy Phạm & Cát Vũ Xôi vò is a variant of sticky rice, made with mung bean. ‘Vò’ means to squeeze or knead, a step required in making - and eating - this dish. Xôi vò differs from other sticky rice dishes in its texture - it is less sticky and more crumbly. This crumbly texture comes from the mixing of ground mung bean with the rice. Southern Việt Nam cuisine typically tops off xôi vò with a coconut milk cream.
STICKY RICE
3 cups of gạo nếp (sweet rice ) 2 cups of peeled and split mung beans 1 tsp. of salt Oil Tapioca starch
CHÈ HOA CAU
½ tsp. salt Water 12 tbsp. of sugar Vanilla extract 9 cups of Tapioca starch
COCONUT CREAM 1 can of coconut milk ¼ cup of water ¼ tsp. of salt 1 tbsp. of tapioca starch 1 tbsp. of sugar
RECIPE | PAGE 31
SOAK
MIX
Soak mung beans and rice separately overnight or for 8-10 hours.
Mix in mung beans with rice and place back onto steamer (If steamer has big holes, cover the steamer with parchment paper).
Take soaked mung beans and rice and drain. Place mung beans in strainer to dry then steam until soft (15-20 mins). Mix salt, rice and add 2 tbsp. of oil.
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Steam together until rice is cooked, about 45 mins. A good way of checking is by taking a spoon full of the rice and squeezing it. If it sticks, it is done.
TAPIOCA
COCONUT MILK
Take steamed mung beans (1½ cups of steamed mung bean dry in strainer).
Heat 1 can of coconut milk on medium heat.
Boil 3 cups of water and ½ cup sugar. Adjust sweetness to taste if necessary. Add 1 tbsp. of tapioca starch to sugar water mixture until thick then whisk rapidly. Add tapioca starch by the tbsp if needed to thicken. Add mung beans and gently stir.
Add 1 tbsp. of sugar and ¼ tsp of salt. Bring to broil. Add 1 tbsp. of tapioca starch to ¼ cup of water and whisk until smooth. Add starch mixgture to boiling coconut milk and whisk until a full bodied consistency. Add more tapioca mixture if needed. This can be added to the chè hoa cau and xôi vò. Enjoy! RECIPE | PAGE 33
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A RECIPE FOR HEALING Words by Trúc Hồ
Living in as an immigrant, a person of color, an Asian, there are limits to how much of yourself you can show to the world. This is not something that America taught me, but it was the first thing that I learned.
themselves, it is elders teaching youth how to keep their shared culture alive in a society that constantly tells me that I don’t belong. Through their recipes, they taught me how to make a home.
I spent a large chunk of my childhood struggling with assimilation to whiteness. I did not have an understanding of systemic racism or colorism or white supremacy. As an awkward ten year old, I was often confronted with snarky comments and microaggression. Despite not understanding why I faced racism at school, I did understand that assimilation is how I could survive a room of kids asking why my name sounded like “truck” and whether my sister’s name was “car”.
Here’s the recipe for being a proud Vietnamese:
In response to this, I started to pretend to forget my rice and thịt kho as much as I could until my mom started to ask questions. I would then leave the lunch in my backpack and just starve. Every time I was asked, I pretended that I hated Vietnamese food. My heart couldn’t feel any pride for a culture that made strangers furrow their brows at me. Rejecting my culture was something that my ten year old did for survival, though I couldn’t grapple with this at the time. And it worked. A little. That is until it hit that by assimilating, I wasn’t surviving, but was internalizing pain. That is why I think the creation of the Sticky Rice Project and the act of participating in the project is an act of power.
1. Don’t refer to bánh xèo as a Vietnamese crepe. You are allowed to see your culture through a non-Western lens. 2. Learn to love the act of relearning the names of dishes names that your teenage self refused to, until the words coil easily around your tongue. Vietnamese requires constant engagement in order to fully understand, and that’s why it is a beautiful language. 3. Certain dishes have history and pain. Bánh mì hấp requires baguettes, which means that it is bound to French colonialism. Learn to find strength in this history and the way that your country persevered through years of cultural violence and yet still retained its identity. 4. You can use fresh shrimp for xôi even if the traditional recipe calls for dried shrimp. Take comfort in the fact that even if you don’t feel entirely Vietnamese, your roots are in Vietnam.
Being taught how to cook by the older generation is not only elders teaching the youth how to sustain
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THE STICKY RICE PROJECT
HOA TRÂN & ANH LÊ BEST FRIENDS OF 20 YEARS Words By Anthony Trần
Friendships don’t always survive the test of time, but Hoa Trần and Anh Lê have withstood that challenge for 20 years. The two were born in Sài Gòn but did not meet each other until after both had immigrated to the United States. Since arriving, both of them have taken similar approaches to remembering and preserving their Vietnamese heritage: cooking. Moving across the globe can be difficult to say the least, especially with how expensive overseas phone calls to family and friends can be - this was before Facebook and Skype became common. Whenever Hoa and Anh feel a wave of nostalgia for home, they go to the store and purchase Vietnamese ingredients to cook the dishes they crave. Anh, in particular, used to travel 60 miles from Olympia to Seattle to purchase nước mắm (fish sauce) and gạo (rice) due to the abundance of Vietnamese and Asian food stores in Seattle. When Hoa and Anh were younger, they learned each of their mom’s bún bò Huế recipe because they found the taste of home incomparable to any other recipe. Anh originally cooked bún bò based on the palate of Northern Việt Nam but later altered her recipe to be similar to Hoa’s because her children enjoyed it more.
Both of them feel that the true value in cuisine lies in cooking at home. Cooking food at home gives you optimal freshness and cleanliness, and gives you control over the ingredients so that you can ensure that harmful or unhealthy ones are disregarded and that the taste is customized to your liking. The social benefits compared to cost are also to note: Anh would rather cook a big pot of bún bò Huế and invite family and friends over than pay a similar price for three bowls at a restaurant. Hoa and Anh were surprised at the turnout for the Sticky Rice Project cooking classes. They exclaimed that this was the first time they saw a younger generation so involved and willing to learn to be in touch with their cultural cuisine. Teaching through food also extends to the holidays as the two believe that a crucial part of understanding the culture is to celebrate Tết and, of course, the foods associated with it. Food is how the two stayed connected to each other and the Vietnamese community and they are glad that this common glue persists among the newer generations as well.
ABOUT THE CHEF | PAGE 37
BÚN BÒ HUÊ Recipe by Anh Lê & Hoa Trần
Bún bò Huế is a spicy noodle soup, named after the city of Huế, the former capital of Việt Nam. It is a pork and beef based soup combined with lemongrass, creating a dish that is simultaneously sour, sweet, salty, and spicy. The mixture of flavors represents the history of other dishes that originated from Huế because it reflects the taste of the royal family, who lived in Huế. Beef briskets, sliced onions, green onions, red cabbage, and coagulated pork blood are popular toppings, along with a healthy serving of vegetables and herbs.
BROTH
12 qt. of water 7 oz. of shrimp paste 3 lbs. of oxtail 5 lbs. of pork shank 4-5 lbs. of beef shank 2 bunches of fresh lemongrass ½ cup of fish sauce 4 tbsp. of salt 4 tbsp. of sugar
CHILI OIL
3 cups of oil 3 tbsp. of dry ground chili Paprika Gia vị bún bò Huế (special mixed chili for bún bò Huế ) THE STICKY RICE PROJECT
HERBS & VEGGIES Mint Green onion Bean sprouts White onion Culantro
NOODLES
1 package of XL rice noodles
RECIPE | PAGE 39
THE STICKY RICE PROJECT
BROTH
Boil 10 qts. of water to a medium simmer. Smash and tie 2 bunches of fresh lemongrass. Wrap pork and beef tightly with saran wrap then tie with cooking string. Add one bunch of lemongrass, pork, beef, and oxtail to hot water. Boil 2 qts. of water and mix with 7 oz. of shrimp paste. Turn off heat once shrimp paste is dissolved. After 1.5 hours, take out pork from the big pot and add drained shrimp broth.
CHILI OIL
In a bowl, pour in 3 cups of cooking oil and add 3 tbps. of dry chili ground mix. In a separate bowl, mix paprika and gia vị bún bò Huế. Drain the oil and pour in paprika mix.
NOODLES
Boil the XL rice noodles. After the noodles have boiled, remove from heat and rinse to get rid of the starch. Repeat this process to fully cook the noodles.
After another 30 minutes, take out beef. Add 1 bunch of lemongrass and ½ cup of chili oil.
RECIPE | PAGE 41
MEMORIES COOKED IN FOOD Words by Matthew Đỗ
Growing up, I was surrounded by Vietnamese culture in a way that not many other kids are fortunate enough to have experienced. Some of my earliest memories were of the smells of my grandma’s cooking and the sounds of cartoons in the house. Every year, my family would go to the Tet in Seattle festival and enjoy the many traditions that I think every Vietnamese family should be able to share together. Through the Sticky Rice Project and the cooking lessons that we took part in, I was able to relive some of those moments that I had growing up.
“EACH WORKSHOP THAT I ATTENDED HELPED TO REMIND ME OF THE ROOTS OF MY CULTURE PLANTED IN FOOD” When I was a kid, my parents often dropped me off at my grandma’s house so that she could babysit me while my parents worked. I remember watching Clifford the Big Red Dog and lying around on the old, musty, brown, carpeted floor at my grandma’s house while she skinned vegetables or prepared ingredients like green onions for that evening’s phở.
THE STICKY RICE PROJECT
At Tet in Seattle, my favorite part is wandering around, exploring the many booths and attractions showcasing Vietnamese culture for all to see. It really is an amazing sight seeing so many people, both Vietnamese and nonVietnamese alike, gathering to celebrate a Vietnamese holiday. Everyone is able to connect and relate to having some sort of Vietnamese influence in their lives. The memory of eating around a table with family and friends popped into my mind when I caught the scent of bún bò Huế and tasted the savory noodles during one of the cooking classes. Each workshop that I attended helped to remind me of the roots of my culture planted in food. Seeing the process of Vietnamese food being created was a wonderful learning experience that reminded me of why I love being Vietnamese. During the xôi workshop, I focused on the sound of the lạp xưởng (Chinese sausage) sizzling in the frying pan and the scent of steaming soybeans. I recognized those sounds and smells and immediately remembered seeing bags of each ingredient around my own house or stacked in the fridge. Participating in the Sticky Rice Project made me grateful for my Vietnamese culture and reminded me to cherish it in order to pass these traditions on to future generations.
BEING AMERICAN Words by Jessica Giang
Vietnamese was my first language and English my second but you wouldn’t believe it if you hear me now with my fluent English and broken Vietnamese. I’m ashamed of how inept I’ve become with my first language. I grew up in a predominantly white city with a very small Vietnamese community. I went to a school where there were only 2 Vietnamese students in my grade. My only interaction with the Vietnamese community were weekly church meetings that my parents forced me to attend. But even that disappeared as I grew older and convinced my parents I was too busy for Vietnamese youth group. As much as my parents insisted that I was Vietnamese, I wanted to be American. I immersed myself in American culture and shunned my Vietnamese roots. I refused to watch Vietnamese shows or listen to Vietnamese songs on Paris By Night. When I was sick I refused traditional Vietnamese medicine and wanted Western medicine. I stopped speaking Vietnamese and was indifferent at the fact that my fluency in my first language was fading. I was becoming more and more American and I was proud to be able to blend in with the rest of my white friends. This all changed when I went to the small town of Bảo Lọc in Vietnam after graduating from high school. I went by myself and stayed with my extended family for a month. I was nervous because I’d be staying with people I barely knew in a country very different from the one I grew up in. I ended up loving everything. All the food was fresh and delicious and the motorbike rides were unforgettable. It was there, surrounded by Vietnamese culture, that I learned to appreciate my roots. From then on, I made an effort to regain my culture: I attended Vietnamese Student Association meetings, tried my best to only converse in Vietnamese with my parents,
listened to Vietnamese music, watched Vietnamese movies and, this summer, I participated in the Sticky Rice Project. My first cooking class was bánh mì hấp, something I didn’t even know existed until that day. Anh Tam taught us his special recipe while sprinkling in stories of his personal background. He taught me not only how to make a great Vietnamese dish but also about the Vietnamese community in Seattle. I learned about the problems facing Little Saigon and the injustices our people were facing. My next class taught me how to make bún bò Huế and also the value of community. Our teachers were a duo of best friends who’ve known each other for decades. Their passion for cooking was only exceeded by their hospitality. They welcomed us into their home with open arms and served us drinks and snacks throughout the entire class. The class was filled with jokes and laughter and, in the overcrowded kitchen, I felt a bond with everyone around me as we worked towards making the best bún bò Huế. We laughed at each other’s mistakes but also cheered when they did something right. Even though I barely knew these people, it felt like an actual community with our shared Vietnamese culture tying us together. All my roommates know about my participation in the Sticky Rice Project because I never fail to talk about it after I come home from a class. My parents also know and I promised to cook them bún bò Huế when I visit. I know they’re looking forward to it. I’m excited to show them what I learned and how I’ve started embracing my Vietnamese heritage. I learned that being Vietnamese doesn’t make me any less American. I don’t need to hide who I am to be accepted and I’m proud to be a Vietnamese-American.
PAGE 45
STEP ONE
STEP FOUR
STEP TWO
STEP FIVE
STEP THREE
STEP SIX
Pour condensed milk into cup to your liking.
Fill the filter with 2-3 spoons of coffee grind.
Pour enough water to dampen the grinds.
Screw the filter tightly on and fill with hot water.
Remove filter when dripping stops. Mix all together.
Fill with ice and mix up and down to create bubbles. Enjoy!
THE STICKY RICE PROJECT
CÀ PHÊ SUA ĐÁ ?
Cà phê sữa đá is Vietnamese iced coffee and consists of drip coffee, condensed milk, and ice. Coffee was introduced to Việt Nam by France in the 19th century. Today, Việt Nam is a leading exporter and one of the biggest consumer. The Café du Monde Chicory blend is the most popular blend for making cà phê sữa đá. The addition of condensed milk gives Vietnamese coffee a unique, creamy texture allowing it to be enjoyed at any time of day.
RECIPE | PAGE 47
STICKY (RICE PROJECT) STAFF
JORDAN ĐOÀN
SANDRA LÊ
ANDREA BUENBRAZO
ANTHONY TRÂN
VIVIAN VÕ
Writer
Designer
Photographer
Writer
Photographer
Photographer
Designer
DOMONIQUE MEAKS
JENJI ZEDLAV
JHOMARIE SADANG
NATE CHANG
Videographer
Videographer
Photographer
NOT PICTURED
Designer Photographer
?
?
JONATHAN P.
? JENNIFER VUONG
LILIAN VÕ
CHRISTY PHAM
JESS BOYD
BAO NGUYÊN
Photographer
Designer/Illustrator
Project Lead
Xin Chao
Xin Chao
Xin Chao
Photographer
Designer
Editor
Editor
Lead Editor
PAGE 49
The Sticky Rice Project aims to bridge generational gaps in the Seattle Vietnamese community through food. The project’s name, an integral part of Vietnamese cuisine, reflects the goals of “sticking” the community together. In a series of cooking classes and writing workshops, younger and older generations share stories over Vietnamese cuisine. This book includes not only the recipes from the cooking classes but also the rich culture behind the recipes, stories from chefs, and reflections from the youth.