Bánh Phục Linh (Tapioca Cookies)

January and February are neither spring nor winter but their own distinct mix - at least in my part of the world. Certain day, it's icy cold and raw in the morning and all I want to do is to stay cozy inside the house.  After the heavy rain and thunder rolled through the weekend, the sun shines once again and it reminds me of spring awakening.  I took a walk in my yard to be reminded of the wonderful and wild gift of nature like the smell of rain-wet earth and the soothing and mild sweet scent of jasmine that made me forget - at least momentarily - of my chores.

Thinking of Spring makes my heart sing. I hope it roars this season. Here's to your Spring!

Pooh and my shadow

As I mentioned in the previous post, when the Vietnamese new year (Tết) begins, it marks the arrival of spring. It's only nine days left until that day. My girls can't wait to adorn themselves in ao dai (traditional dress), and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving the lucky red envelopes of blessing and fortune.

I've been busy in the kitchen testing and experimenting some of the traditional Tết food. One of them is bánh phục linh (tapioca cookies). My daughters watched me mold the toasted flour, and it magically turned into these little adorable cookies. They were thrilled and thought it's the coolest thing on earth. 

If you grew up in Vietnam, these bánh phục linh will sure bring back childhood memories. These cookies melt in your mouth like no other Vietnamese dessert. They're simple and fragranced by the lightness of pandan and the richness of coconut milk.  

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RECIPE: Bánh Phục Linh 

Made 48-50 cookies

Printable Recipe

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Ingredients

1 bag (15 oz or 425 g) Tapioca Flour 

3/4 cup Coconut Milk 

3/4 cup Sugar

A bunch of frozen or fresh pandan leaves, washed, pat dried, chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 pandan leaves, tied each into a knot
Cookie Mold, use any mold you can find

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Directions

Cooking Coconut Milk

In a pot, cook coconut milk, sugar, salt, and a couple knots of pandan leaves on low heat until the sugar melts, the leaves turn into yellowish color, and the coconut milk becomes condensed.

Remove from heat. Discard the pandan leaves. Let it cool completely.  To make mint color cookies, add 1/8 teaspoon of pandan paste to the coconut mixture.

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Toasting Tapioca Flour

In a large skillet, toast flour and pieces of pandan leaves  on low heat until the leaves are completely dried and crispy. Make sure to stir the flour constantly to avoid it from being burn.

Remove dried leaves and lumps of dried flour from flour using a strainer.

Let it cool completely. 

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Mixing Flour

Gradually add coconut milk to the flour.

Using both of your hands to rub the flour.

Add more of coconut milk and continue to rub it until a smooth flour is achieved. It should be powdery and  moist.

If for some reasons, the flour is still clumpy after rubbing, transfer flour in the colander and scrape it off with a spoon or a spatula to achieve the fine and smooth texture.

Another way to mix the flour is by using the food processor. Be sure there's no meat residue that can contaminate the flour.

Avoid adding too much of coconut milk to the flour at once. In my experience flour tends to clump together when there is a lot of liquid and when wet and dry are combined too quickly.  If the flour happens to be clump together, just add more toasted tapioca flour.  

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Molding Cookies

When flour is smooth, powdery and moist, it's time to mold the cookies. 

Pour flour into the mold. Use your thumb to pack flour down tight.

Use a flat knife to scrape off the excess of flour and also to smooth the surface.

Flip the mold over and tap on the back or the sides of the mold to remove the cookies.

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Presentation

Keep these cookies in an airtight container. Serve your love ones and friends with this delicious treat and a pot of your favorite tea.  I am sure you'll find them - and yourself - coming back for more. 

Enjoy!

Đậu Phộng Da Cá (Crispy Fried Peanuts)

Every year around this time, my house would be filled with quince and soft apricot blossoms and red envelopes dangling from their branches. The aroma of homemade Tết food permeates every corner . My girls adorned in áo dài (Vietnamese traditional dress) through out the week would chase each other around the house occasionally practicing a few broken Vietnamese New Year wishes. Well, the year of the Horse is fast approaching in a few days but there's hardly any signs of Tết to be found around the house - except of my mother-in-law's bánh ú!

I feel lazy, mostly from having to fend off a bout of upper respiratory infection and hosting my sister's recent visit. The guilt, however, of not preparing anything for Tết is killing me inside. I needed to muster up some motivation so I can make something for Tết for my family to enjoy.  More importantly, I wanted my girls to carry this joyful Vietnamese tradition in their hearts forever. 

My first inclination was to make Bánh Phục Linh (Pandan with Coconut Milk Tapioca Cookies).  So I  collected all the ingredients, but when I reached into my tool box, I realized I don't have the cookie mold. I was so disappointed, but fortunately my sister's mother-in-law who was visiting us from Texas came to the rescue with a different idea:  Đậu Phộng Da Cá.  According to my husband's loose interpretation,  Đậu Phộng Da Cá means Fish Skin Peanuts aptly named for the texture of the outer coating. I hope he didn't make it up as he knows how gullible I am (I'm sure y'all will keep him honest).

We made a batch together and it was a hit.  The combination of peanuts soaked in salt and sugar then coated with layers of flour to create that perfect crunch makes it irresistible I think.

Today after my little sous chef got home from kindergarten, we made a couple more batches of Đậu Phộng Da Cá so that I can perfect a recipe to post just in time for Vietnamese new year and Super Bowl XLVIII. As I was frying the peanuts, my sous chef kept coming to the peanut tray and grabbing handfuls of them.  I had to tell her to save her tummy for dinner, but she replied in Vietnamese, "Đậu Ngon!" meaning "delicious peanuts" as she scuttled away. My older daughter tasted it and said, " It's not good mommy . . . it's great!" See what I have to put up with?!

Below is the simple recipe for this delicious treat.  Add cayenne the same time with sugar and salt to spice it up or toss in some garlic powder if you so incline. I suppose cinnamon flavor would be wonderful too!

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RECIPE: Đậu Phộng Da Cá

Printable Recipe

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Ingredients

2 bags Redskin Peanut, 12 oz each bag

1 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Sugar

Self Rising All Purpose Flour

Frying Oil

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Directions

Preparing Peanut

Separate the half peanuts and the skin flakes from the whole peanuts. Only use whole peanuts.

Wash peanuts gently by dipping a strainer bowl of peanuts into another bowl of water so that the red skin will not separate from the peanuts.

Drain it well. It's okay if the peanuts are moist but not too wet. Excessive water can lead to clumping when flour is added. Transfer peanuts into a bowl. 

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Mixing Peanuts with Sugar and Salt

Add sugar and salt into the peanut bowl. Mix gently. Let it sit for at least an hour until sugar and salt melt and absorb into the peanuts.

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Mixing Peanuts Mixture with Flour

Sprinkle a few tablespoons of self rising flour into the peanut bowl and gently mix it with a spatula. I used a flour sifter instead. 

Continue sprinkling flour into the peanut bowl until peanuts are coated evenly with a thick white layer of flour. 

Transfer peanuts into a straining bowl and shake off the extra flour.

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Frying Peanuts

Bring a frying pan with cooking oil and a couple of smash garlic to a medium heat until fragrant. Discard garlic. Adjust the heat to medium-low. 

Carefully add 1 cup or 1 rice bowl of peanuts at a time into the oil pan using a strainer spoon/ladle to dip the peanuts into the oil. Stir the peanuts often to prevent clumping and allow for even browning. Fry for about 4 minutes until the peanuts turn golden.

Remove peanuts from the oil with a strainer spoon/ladle.

Spread them on a paper towel tray to drain off the oil.  Continue working on the next batch until done. 

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Presentation

Serve your guests these delicious peanuts while sipping hot tea on New Year's days. I'm sure it's great with a cold bottle of your favorite beer as well. What can be better than watching the Super Bowl and munching on these delicious, crispy - and might I say addicting - treat?!

Mứt Dừa (Candied Coconut Ribbons)

RECIPE: Mứt Dừa 

1. Lấy toàn thể 12 tháng trong năm đem rửa sạch mùi cay đắng, ghen tị, thù oán…rồi để cho ráo nước

2. Tuần tự cắt mỗi tháng ra 28, 30, hay 31 phần.

3. Trộn đều với : – Một chút tin yêu – Một chút kiên nhẫn – Một chút can đảm – Một chút cố gắng – Một chút hy vọng – Một chút trung thành

4. Ướp thêm gia vị: lạc quan, tự tin và hài hước

5. Rồi đem ngâm một lát trong dung dịch “Những điều tâm niệm của mình”.

6. Vớt ra, xây nhỏ, đổ tất cả vào “Nồi yêu thương” và nấu với lửa “Vui mừng”.

7. Đem ra ăn với “Nụ cười” trong chén “Bao dung”.

Oops...sorry! that wasn't the Mứt Dừa recipe but it's sure is a wonderful recipe isn't it? There is a few more recipes that I wanted to make for the Year of the Dragon but time is running out. Looks like Mứt Dừa will be the last post until next year. 

Mứt Dừa wasn't on my Tet list until I saw coconuts at Bel Air. The other day, while we were at an Asian market, my younger daughter saw Mứt Dừa and wanted me to buy it for her. It seemed like all the Mứt are made in Vietnam. I hesitated to buy it as I've heard horrible stories about what goes in them. I promised that I will make Mứt Dừa for her instead.  Today, my girls and I had so much fun prepping for Mứt Dừa. They were fascinated with the whole process of extracting the pulp from the coconut. First, the juice had to be drained by poking the eyes on the coconut. Next the shell was cracked and the coconut meat was pried from the shell. They had a blast being silly by wearing those shells on the heads.

We made four different colors using the beet extract for pink, turmeric powder for yellow, pandan extract for green and the coconut in its natural form for white. My favorite are the beautiful green and white coconut ribbons. The yellow coconut is just a little too yellow and pink is not as saturated as I had hoped. But my girls couldn't stop munching on these nutty, buttery, rich coconut ribbons coated with sugar. 

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RECIPE: Mứt Dừa 

Printable recipe

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Ingredients

2 coconuts

2 cups sugar

1 bag vanilla sugar

1 tablespoon salt, for soaking the coconut ribbons

1 teaspoon beet juice, for red color, optional

(click here for natural beet coloring recipe)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, for yellow color, optional

1/3 teaspoon pandan extract, for green color, optional 

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Preparing Coconut

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Using an oyster knife or a screw driver pierce holes in 2 of the three eyes and pour out the juice. 

You can use the coconut juice to make Thịt Trứng Kho Tàu or just drink it if it's sweet. Use a meat tenderizer or a hammer to crack the coconut open. 

Put the coconut on baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. The heat will loosen the meat from the shell. 

Remove coconut from oven. Holding it with a dish towel, use a small knife or an oyster knife to pry out the meat. Try to keep the pieces as large as possible.

Using a vegetable peeler, shave off the brown skin from the white coconut meat. Rinse the meat to remove any excess bits of brown skin. use a slicer or a sharp knife, slice or cut the meat into thin ribbons of at least 2 inches long. Keep coconut ribbons in salt and water bowl. 

Rinse and drain coconut ribbons and set aside.

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Mixing Coconut Ribbons

In a large bowl, combine coconut ribbons and the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Let it sit until sugar dissolved. If you want to make coconut ribbons in 4 different colors, divide the mixed coconut in a four separate bowls and mix the colors to your liking.

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Simmering Coconut Ribbons

In a large pan, add ribbons and bring heat to high. When the sugar starts bubbling, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Make sure to stir constantly to expose the ribbons evenly to the syrup. They will gradually become silvery and soften.

The ribbons will soon turn white, become dry looking and stiffen. Keep stirring. The sugar will first cling to the ribbons and then flake off in white, sandy bits. When the ribbons are covered by a dry, sandy sugar film, they are done.

Remove from the stove and let the coconut ribbons cool completely. Transfer them to an airtight container and discard the powdery sugar.

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Presentation

Enjoy candied coconut ribbons with a cup of hot tea!