Pappadeaux menu houston

Nowhere else in Vietnam serves up leftovers like Hue – the country’s ancient capital – where yesterday’s rice is the hottest item on the menu.

In Hue’s city center, where tourists abound, bun bo Hue – a beef and vermicelli soup famous in the ancient capital – may be the most popular dish at local street stalls.

But walk just a few minutes from the city’s famous and attractions and visitors will find themselves immersed in a culinary world centered around a rather peculiar ingredient: leftover rice, known in Vietnamese as com nguoi .

For day laborers, the leftover rice served with bun bo Hue is integral, giving them the extra energy they need to work from dawn till noon.

Arguably, Hue is a city which runs on yesterday’s rice.

An unknown version of bun bo Hue

Hue’s Gia Hoi Islet is a hotbed of bun bo stalls, with the area surrounding Bach Dang, Chi Lang, To Hien Thanh, Nguyen Du, and Chua Ong Streets doubling as the epicenter of the city’s traditional cooking styles.

The close observer will notice that most of the bun bo stalls there have a lunchbox sitting near the service area.

Inside the lunchbox is the stall owner’s leftover rice, an ingredient that many locals agree is necessary in order to enjoy bun bo in true Hue fashion.

Cultural researcher Tran Dinh Son said serving leftover rice with bun bo dates back to the 1950s and 1960s when vendors, after running out of fresh vermicelli, would wander around the city selling their leftover ingredients – chopped pig’s feet, cooked beef, pig blood curd, and meatballs – to those who would have them with leftover rice.

Strange servings

Com va or ‘slurping rice’ is another traditional dish in Hue which has not yet made it on tourists’ radar screen.

This dish consists of large strings of vermicelli, julienned pork ham, banana flowers, herbs, and a spoonful of chicken broth.

Long ago, the people of Hue enjoyed leftover rice in a variety of ways, including by munching on it with shrimp paste and fresh chili, or topping it with fat, shrimp sauce, and hot pepper flakes.

Hue’s famous mam tom chua or sour fermented shrimp paste is made using cooked glutinous rice which adds a sweet taste and thickens the dish.

According to many mam tom chua enthusiasts, the dish must be prepared with leftover rice rather than glutinous rice in order to embody the true Hue spirit.

Worker’s food for royalty

It would not be right to talk about leftover rice without mentioning com hen or baby mussel rice.

Hoang Tung De – a cousin of Vietnam’s last emperor Bao Dai – loved eating at street stalls outside of the citadel despite knowing it might ruin his royal status, according to cultural researcher Son.

When Bao Dai was asked about it, the emperor said he “would like to do the same thing but could not.”

There is no official record of whether com hen was served to royals, yet many former servants said the emperor often asked to have vendors cook the dish at the palace.

Leftover rice accounts for much of the food in com hen so it would have been carried along with the vendors in order to serve the royalty.

Later, when Emperor Bao Dai built his palace in Central Highlands city of Da Lat, to cook his favorite dish of com hen , servants released baby mussel breeds in several springs nearby.

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CHOICE: The menu is rich with dim sum, vegetables, meat and seafood, all of which are steamed. VNS Photo Đỗ Minh

By Đỗ Minh

As a foodaholic, I sometimes panic when I stand on the scales. If I find I’m approaching “overweight” territory, I start to balance my diet and eat healthy food. And steamed food is my top choice.

Steam cooking is one of the healthiest alternatives there is. It actually helps preserve the food’s nutrition, flavour, texture, and colour. Steam uses gentle heat, does not burn or scorch food, and prevents food from drying out.

I have found a restaurant in Hà Nội where the dishes are steamed in a creative way. The elegant and modern space and delicious food all left a good impression.

Located on Giảng Võ Street, Steam Box is a paradise of steamed food, from vegetable, meat, and seafood dishes to dim sum. It’s well worth a try.

Each dish is steamed for a particular period of time. The waiter sets a timer for gourmands to see that the dishes are cooked well.

Different types of food can share an oven without transferring their flavours. So, you can save time by steaming vegetables together with asparagus rolled in beef belly – my favourite option.

In the dish, asparagus pieces are neatly wrapped in thinly sliced beef belly. After being steamed for exactly 3 minutes, the beef becomes so juicy and the asparagus crisp and tender. The green colour is maintained, giving the dish an eye-catching look.

I tried the restaurant’s special sauce, which contains peanut butter, and found that it’s not suitable for the beef. I think it’s not necessary to add more sauce, because the rolls are marinated well before being steamed.

Another recommendation is its tofu dishes. Tofu is a nutritious food that is low in calories and gluten-free. There are numerous famous Vietnamese dishes cooked with tofu. At Steam Box, the chef creatively combines tofu with quail eggs.

EASY ON THE EYE: The creativity on display at the restaurant provided an interesting culinary experience. Photo courtesy of the restaurant

Vietnamese steamed egg and tofu is an appetising soft dish that is suitable for anyone who loves tofu, like me.

The tofu is cut into even chunks. The chef uses a spoon to make a hole in the middle of the chunks and then puts a quail egg inside. The dish is steamed for 5 minutes to make the egg yolk soft-boiled. I love the buttery taste of the egg and the smoothness of the tofu.

Another choice for tofu is a combination with salted-egg shrimp. The savoury from the shrimp together with the soft and smooth tofu can make anyone fall in love with it from the first bite. All of these dishes have a beautiful appearance.

Quail eggs can also be steamed with shiitake mushrooms or oysters. Each brings an interesting experience.

You can discover a wide range of dishes on the menu to steam, such as chicken with mushroom, squid with ginger, clams steamed in a Thai style, and salmon with green pepper.

Between the steaming process, the waiter sometimes reveals the secret beneath the tray — a boiling porridge combining rice, lotus seeds, and mung beans. While you steam the food, all the juice from the ingredients runs down and makes the porridge delicious and nutritious. If you don’t like porridge, you can replace it with noodles.

I love Thai, Japanese, Korean, and Italian cuisine. A meal of steamed food is sometimes like taking a break, when I can enjoy delicious food without having to worry about heartburn or consuming too much oil. VNS

MAINTAINED: The food is steamed on a tray to preserve its nutrition, natural colour, and delicious taste. VNS Photo Đỗ Minh

Hang Nguyen, a Vietnamese student at the University of California, Davis, never leaves her apartment without a pepper spray given by her relatives a couple of weeks ago.

The 29-year-old graduate student also plans to buy a taser to be “more confident when venturing out.

“I cannot be afraid and do nothing to protect myself. There is clearly a threat targeting my community and me, so I must be prepared and be on my guard,” Hang said, adding many of her Vietnamese friends in California were also being vigilant and taking action to protect themselves.

Millions of Vietnamese diaspora have expressed their anger and protested the recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans in the U.S., scapegoating them for the Covid-19 crisis.

People hold placards during a vigil at a makeshift memorial outside the Gold Spa following the deadly shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 21, 2021. Photo by Reuters/Shannon Stapleton.

According to the nonprofit organization Stop AAPI Hate, from March 19, 2020 until the end of the year, it received a total of 3,292 discrimination complaints from all 50 states and Washington, DC. In the first months of 2021, there were at least 503 anti-Asian hate incidents reported.

On March 17, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, a white gunman, was charged with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors. Of these, six were women of Asian descent.

Although the murderer told police that the attack was not racially motivated, investigators said they had not ruled out bias as a motivating factor.

Also on March 17, an 83-year-old Vietnamese man named Ngoc Pham was attacked by an identified man. According to the GoFundMe page set up for Pham, his nose was broken and he had cuts and bruises on his head.

In California’s Orange County, Vivian Le, a Vietnamese-American living in the U.S. for more than 14 years, always takes a pepper spray and taser with her.

“I must protect myself first if I want to protect other people in my community,” Le said, adding many of her Vietnamese friends have bought pepper spray, tasers and even baseball bats.

Some Vietnamese Americans have taken a further step: buying a gun.

“I am old, and these recent attacks on Asians have shaken me, so a shotgun is a must-have item for my defense,” said 51-year-old Hai Pham, a Vietnamese American living in Houston, Texas.

The Forbes magazine last week quoted Jimmy Gong, the owner of Jimmy’s Sport Shop in Mineola, Long Island as saying: “There are more Asians being introduced to firearms. Before, there was never gun culture in the Asian community. But after the pandemic and all the hate crimes, there are more Asians buying guns to defend themselves,” Gong said.

Many members of the Vietnamese diaspora have organized rallies and protests.

On March 21, Le and several dozen Vietnamese people in Orange County held a rally in a local park, calling for a stop to violence against Asians.

Le said just owning tasers or pepper spray was not enough. She wanted to raise public awareness of “hatred targeting Asian communities in general and the Vietnamese diaspora in particular.”

Several youth, including white and black people, joined Le’s group during their two-hour rally.

Vietnamese Americans in Orange County protest violence against Asians, California, March 21, 2021. Photo courtesy of Vivian Le.

One of her friends, 57-year-old Trac Truong, auditor at California Tax Department, joined the protest, saying: “I want more people, especially Americans, to stand up and raise their voices to protect Asians in this country.”

Similar protests calling for an end to violence against Asian-Americans were held around the country over the weekend, even as lawmakers pushed for better tracking of hate crimes following the deadly shootings.

Many young Vietnamese-Americans have used social media to call for an end to violence against their communities.

In a 106,000-member Facebook group of Vietnamese in the U.S., many encouraged others to join marches and protests in cities across California, Georgia, New York, and Nevada. Many enquired about protests in other states that they could join and show their opposition.

“We pay our taxes, we are American citizens, and there is no reason for anyone to threaten us and our loved ones, we must speak up,” a Facebooker said.

Several artists have also joined the fight by creating viral pictures and messages on the Internet.

Dennis Dizzy Doan, a San Diego-based tattoo artist and designer, created an artwork of a woman wearing the Vietnamese conical hat and a face mask saying, “Hate is a virus.” Doan’s picture was shared widely shared on the internet and by many protestors last weekend.

This work by Dennis Dizzy Doan has gone viral on the internet. Photo courtesy of Dennis Dizzy Doan.

The pandemic connection

Racism and discrimination have always been a problem in the U.S., but many civil rights advocates have said the rise of violence against Asians and Asian Americans is rooted in their being blamed for the pandemic, which originated in China.

“A lot of Asians in general and Vietnamese in particular have faced discrimination before, but former President Donald Trump ignited the fire of racism and violence,” Truong said.

He said added that America would never be “the land of diversity” if racism and hatred are not eradicated.

Artist Doan agreed, saying: “In a country built by immigrants – we are no different.”

While blaming the Trump administration for remaining silent on violence against the Asian diaspora, Vietnamese-Americans are relieved as President Joe Biden is changing the tone.

In his first prime-time address to the country on March 11, Biden called out “vicious hate crimes” against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic, saying that people had been “attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated” after the virus spread across the Pacific.

“At this very moment, so many of them – our fellow Americans – they’re on the front lines of this pandemic, trying to save lives, and still – still – they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America,” Biden said. “It’s wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop.”

Le plans to organize more protests in her neighborhood in the coming weeks, while Truong, who has lived in the U.S. for around four decades, said he would buy self-defense equipment if the situation does not get better.

He added: “Most importantly, I will keep speaking up and fighting for my communities. This is a human rights problem.”

Hang Nguyen, a Vietnamese student at the University of California, Davis, never leaves her apartment without a pepper spray given by her relatives a couple of weeks ago.

The 29-year-old graduate student also plans to buy a taser to be “more confident when venturing out.”

“I cannot be afraid and do nothing to protect myself. There is clearly a threat targeting my community and me, so I must be prepared and be on my guard,” Hang said, adding many of her Vietnamese friends in California were also being vigilant and taking action to protect themselves.

Millions of Vietnamese have expressed their anger and protested the recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans in the U.S., scapegoating them for the Covid-19 crisis.

People hold placards during a vigil at a makeshift memorial outside the Gold Spa following the deadly shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 21, 2021. Photo by Reuters/Shannon Stapleton.

According to the nonprofit organization Stop AAPI Hate, from March 19, 2020 until the end of the year, it received a total of 3,292 discrimination complaints from all 50 states and Washington, DC. In the first months of 2021, there were at least 503 anti-Asian hate incidents reported.

On March 17, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, a white gunman, was charged with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors. Of these, six were women of Asian descent.

Although the murderer told police that the attack was not racially motivated, investigators said they had not ruled out bias as a motivating factor.

Also on March 17, an 83-year-old Vietnamese man named Ngoc Pham was attacked by an identified man. According to the GoFundMe page set up for Pham, his nose was broken and he had cuts and bruises on his head.

In California’s Orange County, Vivian Le, a Vietnamese-American living in the U.S. for more than 14 years, always takes a pepper spray and taser with her.

“I must protect myself first if I want to protect other people in my community,” Le said, adding many of her Vietnamese friends have bought pepper spray, tasers and even baseball bats.

Some Vietnamese Americans have taken a further step: buying a gun.

“I am old, and these recent attacks on Asians have shaken me, so a shotgun is a must-have item for my defense,” said 51-year-old Hai Pham, a Vietnamese American living in Houston, Texas.

The Forbes magazine last week quoted Jimmy Gong, the owner of Jimmy’s Sport Shop in Mineola, Long Island as saying: “There are more Asians being introduced to firearms. Before, there was never gun culture in the Asian community. But after the pandemic and all the hate crimes, there are more Asians buying guns to defend themselves,” Gong said.

Many members of the Vietnamese diaspora have organized rallies and protests.

On March 21, Le and several dozen Vietnamese people in Orange County held a rally in a local park, calling for a stop to violence against Asians.

Le said just owning tasers or pepper spray was not enough. She wanted to raise public awareness of “hatred targeting Asian communities in general and the Vietnamese diaspora in particular.”

Several youth, including white and black people, joined Le’s group during their two-hour rally.

Vietnamese Americans in Orange County protest violence against Asians, California, March 21, 2021. Photo courtesy of Vivian Le.

One of her friends, 57-year-old Trac Truong, auditor at California Tax Department, joined the protest, saying: “I want more people, especially Americans, to stand up and raise their voices to protect Asians in this country.”

Similar protests calling for an end to violence against Asian-Americans were held around the country over the weekend, even as lawmakers pushed for better tracking of hate crimes following the deadly shootings.

Many young Vietnamese-Americans have used the social media to call for an end to violence against their communities.

In a 106,000-member Facebook group of Vietnamese in the U.S., many encouraged others to join marches and protests in cities across California, Georgia, New York, and Nevada. Many enquired about protests in other states that they could join and show their opposition.

“We pay our taxes, we are American citizens, and there is no reason for anyone to threaten us and our loved ones, we must speak up,” a Facebooker said.

Several artists have also joined the fight by creating pictures and messages on the internet that have gone viral.

Dennis Dizzy Doan, a San Diego-based tattoo artist and designer, created an artwork of a woman wearing the Vietnamese conical hat and a face mask saying, “Hate is a virus.” Doan’s picture was shared widely shared on the internet and by many protestors last weekend.

This work by Dennis Dizzy Doan has gone viral on the internet. Photo courtesy of Dennis Dizzy Doan.

The pandemic connection

Racism and discrimination have always been a problem in the U.S., but many civil rights advocates have said the rise of violence against Asians and Asian Americans is rooted in their being blamed for the pandemic, which originated in China.

“A lot of Asians in general and Vietnamese in particular have faced discrimination before, but former President Donald Trump ignited the fire of racism and violence,” Truong said.

He said added that America would never be “the land of diversity” if racism and hatred are not eradicated.

Artist Doan agreed, saying: “In a country built by immigrants – we are no different.”

While blaming the Trump administration for remaining silent on violence against the Asian diaspora, Vietnamese-Americans are relieved that President Joe Biden is changing the tone.

In his first prime-time address to the country on March 11, Biden called out “vicious hate crimes” against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic, saying that people had been “attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated” after the virus spread across the Pacific.

“At this very moment, so many of them – our fellow Americans – they’re on the frontlines of this pandemic, trying to save lives, and still – still – they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America,” Biden said. “It’s wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop.”

Le plans to organize more protests in her neighborhood in the coming weeks, while Truong, who has lived in the U.S. for around four decades, said he would buy self-defense equipment if the situation does not get better.

He added: “Most importantly, I will keep speaking up and fighting for my communities. This is a human rights problem.”