Photos by Don Pham of Northwest Vietnamese News, to be published in Vietnamese in the Northwest Vietnamese News February 2nd, 2010.

While the city sleeps, there’s poetry in motion at Rainier and Othello. Gentle kneading, folding, pressing, layers of tradition combined with the dedication to a craft, and the preservation of a Vietnamese New Year’s dish that has lasted for centuries. Nhiem Thi Nguyen wakes up at 4 a.m. everyday for the last 24 years to continue this tradition. Since 1986, Nhiem and her family makes banh chung and banh tet for the Seattle Vietnamese community at Ha Tien Grocery and Deli.

Banh tet and banh chung are made from layers of glutinous sticky rice, mung beans, and fatty pork wrapped in banana leaves or la dong, a leaf found in northern Viet Nam. Van Thien Nguyen stands in a quiet corner of the shop with two wooden molds making 28 banh chung at a time. He cuts banana leaves to the exact measurement of each mold, on top of long strips of banana leaves, he layers rice, then mung beans, seasoned pork, one more layer of mung beans, and a last layer of rice. With each layer, he circles the table and gently packs the layer into place with a long carved wooden stick shaped like a small baker’s paddle. He then wraps the banana leaves and ties it with string, lifting the wooden mold, green square packages appear like perfect New Year presents. He passes off the packages to the banh chung wrapper, who tightly wraps the string. In another corner the banh tet maker layers and wraps the rounds of banh tet ready to be boiled for the next eight to ten hours into perfection.

During the Lunar New Year, the demand for these two dishes increases, in Viet Nam most families make it from scratch. Van says he remembers when he was growing up in northern Viet Nam, his family would start the preparations during June and start raising pigs who would be slaughtered in honor of the New Year celebrations and sharing the meat with neighbors, every family regardless of being rich or poor, would make their own banh chung using the pork as a part of the banh chung stuffing. Banh chung is typically eaten in the northern parts of Viet Nam, and banh tet, its cylinder shaped sister, is eaten in the south.

One version of banh chung and banh tet’s history is mentioned in the Extraordinary Stories of Linh Nam, published in 1695. It is the result of one prince’s quest to become king. Lang Lieu was the 18th and poorest son of King Hung Vuong, to celebrate the victory against the Shang Dynasty, the king offers the throne to the prince who could pay the most sincere devotion to their ancestors during Tet with the most delicious dish presented to the ancestral shrine. Lang Lieu couldn’t afford the rare ingredients his brothers were procuring from the land and the sea, and makes his dish from humble every day ingredients of rice and pork, one in the shape of a square to represent the earth, and one in the shape of a circle to represent the heavens. King Hung Vuong thought they were both delicious and a fine tribute of respect for ancestors.

The tradition continues here in the U.S., families make their banh tet and banh chung offerings to ancestors on their family ancestral shrines, and eats them with pickled shallots and vegetables, in northern Viet Nam it sometimes is eaten with sugar, some prefer to cut small pieces of the dish and deep fry it for a crispy crust and moist savory glutinous center. These dishes are an essential part of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, as Van says he remembers an old saying in Vietnamese recited during the New Year season: Neu cao, phao no, banh chung xanh. Thich mo, dua hanh, cau doi do. Tall healthy bamboo trees, fire crackers bursting, and green banh chung. Bacon, pickled green onions, and two poems written on red paper residing on either sides of our ancestral shrines.

You can purchase both banh tet and banh chung, along with Vietnamese savory and sweet dishes including steamed hum bao, and banh tieu and banh cam at:

Ha Tien Grocery and Deli at Rainier and Othello, 7262 Rainier Ave. S Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 723-8237

Open from 4:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. during the Tet season, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year which falls on February 14th, 2010 this year.

Their regular store hours outside of the New Year season are 4:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Nanny’s Palate: How One Woman Inspired the Menu of Four Cities, and One Seattle Restaurant
Article featured in Nguoi Viet Tay Bac/Northwest Vietnamese News

It all comes back to Nanny. The beginning of Michael Le’s story starts with To Dinh, who came to the family when she was 18 and served them until her death at 75. When Le was born, he was the youngest of seven children, and Dinh retired her role as the family chef to become his full time nanny. Dinh served four generations of the Le family, she is also at the core of Le’s new high end Vietnamese French restaurant, Lakeside Bistro.

“My kids, where I am and where they are all now, it’s all devoted to Nanny,“ says Le. “ I look back and say, this is how Nanny would’ve made it.”

The Le family grew up with seven nannies, and traveled the world with the nannies in tow. The family owned a private school in Ha Noi , Viet Nam, their dad was the principal, later turned politician. Le’s menu at Lakeside Bistro reflects the foods he grew up with, the palate inspired by the family’s travels and cooked by Dinh, melding traditional Vietnamese flavors, French sauces, and inspired plating influenced by Thailand and China.

Set in unincorporated King County by the side of Lake Washington between Renton and Seattle, Le seems to have found one of the few neighborhoods in the area without a Vietnamese restaurant. The location was home to a small coffee shop, Le saw its potential; along with his son Vinh, who is also his operations manager, and close family friend and operations manager Tim Clark, Le built the restaurant from the ground up. An MBA, and a former traveling sales associate, Clark says, “I wouldn’t have done this for anyone else but Michael, because of his talent, charisma, genius, and charm.”

The youngest senior vice president in Seafirst Bank history, Le also has a corporate background. “I look at life like the James Bond’s movie, You Only Live Twice,” says Le. “One for your dream, and one for your passion. My dream was to have a career, be successful in the banking world, and to establish my own family. My passion is people and food.” He says he uses his leadership, financial and organizational skill of managing 3,000 employees from his corporate days to manage the efficiency and finances of his restaurant.

Le and his family immigrated to New York City in 1972, the family then moved to California, and Le came up to Washington State to go to school. He opened his first Vietnamese French restaurant in 1993 in Chicago, after visiting the city on vacation. Le opened restaurants in New York, Key West, and in his return to Washington State, opened the Pho Hoa location in Redmond, “I’m the man who introduced pho to Microsoft.” says Le, “They would line up for my soup.”

“They called him Souper Man!” says Clark, grinning.

Le’s mom and son, who were both present at the time of the interview, says their favorite dish he cooks for the family are his soups, especially his pho. “As a little kid, when I was sick, he would make me chicken pho,” says Vinh. “His bouillabaisse [canh chua cu lao] is good too.”

Both bouillabaisse and pho are on the menu at Lakeside bistro, alongside with Nanny’s prawns, labeled as Wok-Seared Roasted Chili Jumbo Prawns with Bacon Crumble, or Tom Ram Vinh Ha Long in Vietnamese. It is an ode to his former Nanny, and Le’s favorite dish as a child. A gently seared composition of tender prawns, crispy Vietnamese bacon, it shares space with items like papaya salad with roasted BBQ duck, and a beautifully plated and deliciously revised version of Banh Chuoi Nuong, a dessert called The Famous Crispy Banana Caramel Cheesecake Xangos.

With Marilyn Monroe paintings on the walls, white table cloths, sparkling wine glasses and fanned cloth napkins, Le has found his niche in the restaurant world. His goal is to open more locations, including one on the Eastside. “I want our customers to leave experiencing fine dining,” he said. “With authentic Vietnamese flavors and fine European decors.”

You can visit Lakeside Bistro Online: www.lakesidebistroseattle.com

Nanny’s Prawns Recipe
1 Serving
½ lb of jumbo prawns, 6-8 prawns
1 oz of bacon, thick cut, diced into one inch strips, the size of two matchsticks
1 teaspoon of sugar
3 teaspoons of sesame oil
3 teaspoons of heavy cream
1 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes
One dash of seasoning salt
One sprinkle of Italian seasoning
One sprinkle of garlic spread
Half a teaspoon of oyster sauce
Two drops of lime juice
Optional: Add snow peas, green onions or bell peppers for taste
1. Heat medium pan until hot, add the sesame oil
2. Reduce the bacon in the pan
3. Add the cream, allow cream to reduce and thicken
4. Add prawns, cook until golden brown
5. Add all seasoning, the salt, sugar, Italian seasoning, hot pepper flakes, garlic spread, and oyster sauce
6. Add optional vegetables, and serve.

Ravenous Couple Hong and Kim dish up delicious recipes, photos, and stories of Vietnamese food. The dishes are what you hope to aspire to as a home cook and makes the many steps of Vietnamese cooking doable and approachable to new chefs. Enjoy!

Photos from Ravenous Couple.

Food of the People’s vision is to bring food back to our communities. Our purpose is to build a keepsake of where our food memories come from: the taste, smell, and texture of the cuisines of our parents, grandparents and ancestors. We want to veer culinary trends toward an increased focus on ethnic foods, and family recipes. This is for and dedicated to refugees, immigrants, slaves, travelers, adventurers, ‘foodies’, purists, and community leaders. We hope to pull our diaspora together through a collective culinary memory. Regardless of how far we’ve traveled from our countries and homes, what is it about these dishes that reminds and connects us to the common thread of community, family, and history?

The above photo features an auntie and niece team in a market by Hoan Kiem Lake in Ha Noi, Vietnam. The niece comes home every summer and helps her auntie make egg rolls to sell in the market in sweltering 100 degree heat and Vietnam quality humidity.  Food brings together generations, families, and communities. Our quest is to preserve culinary heritage, respect the traditions that have been given to us, honor those who preserve these memories and to past it on to the next generation.

If you would like to submit a recipe, please email: foodofthepeople@gmail.com

Trisha Barua is a compassionate community leader, and a dedicated foodie. She is applying to grad school this fall for studies to do pursue her passion, studying ethnic food in the context of multiculturalism in America.

She is also part of Yoni Ki Baat, translated as “Talk of the Vagina”, a play inspired by Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues. This transformative play encourages South Asian women to speak out against the violence and stigma associated with their bodies. Yoni Ki Baat was originated by South Asian Sisters, a collective of progressive South Asian women. Performers of Yoni Ki Baat either write their own scripts or perform ones that have been submitted from our local community.

She is also in the current class of the Asian Pacific Islander Community Leadership Foundation’s (ACLF) Community Leadership Program. These are a few of her many credentials and examples of why we couldn’t think of a better inaugural first blog entry. Thank you Trisha, for serving our community and for sharing your love of food with us.