All posts tagged: dinner at home

Vietnamese Crab & Lobster Noodle Soup in Tomato Broth (Bun Rieu Tom Cua)

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If you’ve ever been to a Vietnamese restaurant, you know we love our soups. The most popular Vietnamese noodle soup is, of course, pho. While pho is a national dish, its cousins such as Bun Bo Hue, Hu Tieu, or Bun Rieu deserve just as much attention. I grew up in Vinh Long, Vietnam. For a while, I lived with my grandmother on the country side of Vietnam. My parents and sisters had moved to the city. Because they made this decision in the middle of the year, I had to stay behind with my grandmother to finish the rest of the school semester. I think I was about 9 or 10 years old. Every weekend, I would take the ferry-boat to the city to visit my family, then take the ferry back to my grandma again. My youngest uncle, Cau Ut, was also finishing his high school years and living with my grandma. My grandmother owned a lot of land, which she used partially as rice paddy field. My uncle used to catch a lot …

Paella

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The first time I had paella was when David and I toured Spain for our honeymoon. As a true fan of all things rice related, I instantly fell in love with this Spaniard signature dish. There seem to be countless variations of paella. A layer of rice is cooked in saffrons threads, tomatoes, and stock. Then, you decorate your paella with endless options of protein and vegatables. This is what I love most about paella. It is a blank canvas that wakes your culinary creativity. While many paella recipes call for yellow food coloring instead of the authentic saffron threads, I highly recommend using saffron. You can usually find this at the spice section of your local market. It is a bit on the expensive side, but every thread goes a long way. Saffrons are tiny little stems hand picked from a type of flower called crotus. It gives a distinct sweet, floral essense to your dish. David and I created the recipe below using what we have in our fridge and pantry. Try it and …