hmong

This is a delicious Vietnamese dessert called steamed rice cakes also known as banh bo.  When I was little, my grandma used to make this for me (minus the coconut milk). There is a chinese version to this cake that doesn't use coconut milk. 

Many years ago when I tried to learn how to make this dessert, I failed miserably 13 times.  On my 14th attempt, I finally got the beautiful honeycombs in my steamed rice cake. Oh boy, what a journey that was!  The key to this recipe is PATIENCE!!!! Do not rush anything otherwise, you'll end up with a flat and unflattering cake.  I also found that the secret to nice honeycombs is also in the preparation of the first step. It is critical that you have a good solid container. 

Ingredients

• 1 - 16 oz bag rice flour
• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 package yeast or 2 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1 - 13 oz can coconut milk (the cooking kind is preferred, do not use dessert coconut milk)
• 1 3/4 cup sugar (adjust sugar to your liking)
• 1 cup water
• gallon ice cream bucket or other airtight container

Step 1

1. Add 2 cups warm water, yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar to an ice cream bucket. Mix.
2. Add rice flour and mix.
3. Close lid, set aside for 5 - 10 hours (or overnight).  The batter will rise and fall.  The longer you keep it in the container, the stronger the flavor. 

Step 2

1. In a small pot, add 1 cup water, coconut milk, and the sugar. Heat on medium until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil.
2. Set aside for 10-15 minutes until cool.

Mixing it all together

1. Using a whisk, stir the batter to loosen it from the ice cream bucket.
2. Add the syrup from step 2 to the batter. Mix.  It will become the consistency like milk.
3. Close lid.
4. Set aside for 1 hour.

After 1 hour

1. Open lid and you will see tiny air bubbles form.
2. If you want to make multiple colors, separate the mixture into equal parts. Add food coloring of your choice. Skip this step if you don't want color.
3. Heat a steamer to boiling and place a metal pie pan.  Make sure the metal pie pan is hot before you pour in the mixture.
4. Steam on high for about 15-20 minutes.
5. When the rice cake is done, the top surface should be solid.
6. Remove from steamer and place into a freezer for about 10-15 minutes until cool.
7. Transfer onto plate and cut. Serve

I hope you try this recipe and let me know how it turns out for you!

Variations!

• Steam in tart molds
• Cut up the bottom of soda cans and use as a mold.  It has a unique shape!
• Steam in small round molds or dishes

Sweet pork is a very popular dish at Hmong family gatherings.  This is a popular dish in Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, and the Phillippines.  I will show you how I make my version of sweet pork.  It's very simple and easy! We call this in Hmong nqaj qaab zib or nqaij qab zib. 

I'll be very straight forward and honest, no one was willing to teach me this recipe.  Everytime I asked someone to show me how they made this dish, they would tell me it was very hard and complicated or they would tell me only half of the recipe.  So for many years, I experimented and tried different ways. I felt really bad asking for other people's recipes because some people don't want to give it away.  That's okay, I respect that.  So I went on my own food journey and tried making sweet pork.  I failed miserably many, many times.  The first time I made it, I put too much sugar and it came out like candied bacon. Hahaha!  The second time I  made it, it was way too salty.  The third time I made it, it tasted great but had no caramel color, it looked like boiled pork only.  As the story goes, many pounds of pork belly, sugar, and soy sauce later .... I finally resulted in this recipe which I use whenever I get a sweet pork craving.  Haha, do let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions how you make it. I'm very interested to know how you make your sweet pork recipe!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups pork belly, sliced
• 7 eggs
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 3-5 pieces of star anise
• 1 tbsp garlic, chopped
• 1 thumb ginger, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed tight
• water, lots of it
• 1 tbsp oil
• additional soy sauce for browning eggs
   

1. Marinate the pork belly in soy sauce and oyster sauce. Set aside.
2. Boil the eggs. Then remove the eggshell when done.
3. In a large pot, add oil.  Add the garlic and ginger. Stir until brown.  Add the brown sugar.
4. When the sugar is melted, add the pork belly marinade including juices and all.
5. Stir for a few minutes until the pork gets slightly white.  Then add 4 cups water or more  until the pork is all covered.
6. Cook for 1 hour or more.  For more tender pork, keep adding water and cook 2 hrs or longer.  You can add the star anise at any time.
7. The water will evaporate.  When it reaches the thickness you like, remove from heat and serve.

Remember, you can always adjust the taste by adding water, increasing or decreasing the amount of sugar or soy sauce!

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Please leave me a comment if you try it or have any questions!

Hi everyone! I am extremely excited to announce my latest iOS application release called "Hmong Phrases."  This is a very simple application to teach non-Hmong speakers how to say simple conversational phrases in Hmong. You can click a button and play the sound.  Then you can practice how to say it.  The next time you meet a Hmong person, you can surprise and amaze them with the new language skills you just learned! 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hmongphrases/id479437001?mt=8

History
I decided to make this application because I wanted to teach my Hmong language to other non-native Hmong speakers.  There's been so many times I have had friends ask me, "How do you say that in Hmong?"  and I would translate.  So I got this idea to make a very basic and simple to use conversation starter.  I thought it would be helpful to those who want to learn Hmong but didn't know where to start.  Apple makes a very nice iOS platform for developers to get as creative as they want.  Being that there was no app like this in the App Store, I decided to develop and make my mark.  I wanted to connect people to people.  And this is what my app's purpose is.

The real passion behind his project is one that I made for my own personal goals.  I can proudly say that I have achieved something I believed in.  It may not be big, grand, or spectacular, but I made a mark. It doesn't matter if I am the first, the last, the best or the worst.  What matters is the love and passion that went into spending many hours of my evenings and weekends on a project that I believed in.  I had my sister, Song Vang, help me with the UI designs and my dad helped me translate the phrases.  I put the project and the Objective-C code together.  To me, this is a memorable project because I got to build it with my family.  Even thought they lived 400 miles away from me, I always felt they were close by because we got to collaborate and work together in spirit.  Without their help, I couldn't have done this alone.  Thank you sis, thank you dad!

My dad is the reason why I love technology so much.  Even when we were very young, my dad's love for electronics and computers influenced me as a young girl and even now as a grown woman. You would not think that a young Hmong man from Laos would come to the US, who not even knowing the english language, would fall in love with computers and technology. Well, that was my dad. Long before the internet ever existed, my dad was always a futuristic thinker. He knew something I didn't.  He knew that people needed each other and they will go to any lengths to find one another.  This is true.  No matter how you slice and dice it, we know this is truth.

Being Hmong, means being part of a family.  Our culture and traditions have always included the presence of others.  The way that we have evolved over the past few centuries is amazing and it is also such a very sad story that I will tell another day.  I just wanted to share who I am with you.

Who would have thought that a little hmong girl from Iowa would grow up and learn to love computers, programming, technology, mobile phones, and have so much fun making Hmong food tutorials on Youtube? Hahaha.... I am having a good time and will keep on rocking it!

Kind regards,
Annie
 

Hmong eggrolls are fun to eat any time of year!  Here is a very basic recipe.  Experiment with other ingredients and add whatever you like to suit your taste!

• 1 lb or 2 lb ground meat of your choice (pork, chicken, turkey, beef)
• 2 cup shredded cabbage
• 2 cup shredded carrots
• 2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 package rice vermicelli cellophane noodles
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk for sealing the wrapper
• 50 sheets eggroll skins
   

1. Add hot water to rice vermicelli cellophane noodles and let soak 5-10 minutes until soft.  Then take scissors and cut up the noodles.
2. Mix meat, cabbage, carrots, onion, oyster sauce, salt, noodles, eggs until well combined.
3. Peel the eggroll skins.
4. Place eggroll skin on a flat surface. Add the eggroll mixture and roll up. Seal the ends with egg yolk.
5. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Eat with some sweet chili eggroll sauce!

How I make khaub poob recipe, the hmong way.  Name variations are: kao poon, kapoon, kao pun, kao pong, etc ...

Ingredients:

• 12 cups cold water
• 1 whole chicken
• 2 cup bamboo shoots
• 1 red bell pepper, skin off and chopped
• 1/2 cup garlic
• 1/2 cup Red curry paste
• 1/2 cup Namya curry paste
• 1 or 2 cans coconut milk
• 2 cabbage leaves (optional)
• Rice noodles
• 2 tsp salt

Garnishes:

• shredded cabbage
• fish sauce
• shredded banana leaf
• green onion
• cilantro
• basil .. whatever you like
   

Making Hmong jello is very easy.  It is great for all occasions.  All you need are a few ingredients! Let's get started.

• 1 cup of Knox Unflavored Gelatine (if you can find the 16 oz can it will save you lots of $$)
• 1 can of coconut milk (13 oz can)
• 5 cups of hot water
• 1 and 1/2 cup of sugar
• add small amount of salt (optional)
• add drops of smell flavoring (cov tsw tsw qaab rau nabvam) OPTIONAL
   

1. Add sugar to a large bowl.
2. Measure out 5 cups of boiling water to a big bowl. (becareful cos it's hot!)
3. Then add the water to dissolve the sugar.
4. Add coconut milk and stir.
5. Lastly, add the Knox unflavored gelatine. 
6. Divide the mixture into three equal parts. 
7. Add food coloring as you wish. 
8. In a large pan, pour one color mixture and place in the refrigerator until firm (usually 15 minutes, depends on the temperature of your fridge). 
9. When the layer is firm, add another layer.
10. Once it's all solid, cut it up into smaller pieces!

Where to find the large can of unflavored gelatin?
I bought a 16 oz can of Knox Unflavored gelatin at a large American grocery supermarket. Here in Madison, WI I bought it at Woodman's.  If you cannot find the 16 oz can, you can buy the individual unflavored gelatin packages at any supermarket.  It is cheaper to get the 16 oz can if you plan to make a lot of jello! You can make a few batches with the 16 oz can!

Where to find the powder food coloring like the one in the video?
I bought the Swad food coloring at my local asian grocery store.  If you cannot find powder food coloring, you can use liquid food coloring too.  Powder form just makes the colors brighter but any coloring would work. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  Try it with different colors and see how it turns out!  Please subscribe to my youtube channel for more updates and new videos!

This is a video I recorded using my iPhone 4S.  We went to a family gathering (spirit calling ceremony) for some relatives and my hubby was tasked to make some beef larb.  I decided to make a video of this because some people may be interested in learning about how Hmong make their larb.  My hubby is the one in the orange shirt in the video :-)  This dish shown here can feed up to 100 people.  Hmong family gatherings are usually very large and there is always a ton of food and goodies!

Hope you enjoy the video. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or comment on Youtube.  Please subscribe to our youtube channel!

youtube.com/hmongfood

This is a delicious, warm sweet bread that is great with coffee or tea.  I learned how to make this bread from my sister in law Ntxawm Cheng.  Thank you Ntxawm Cheng!!!! It's a simple process.  She taught me how to make a huge batch.  But this version below is one that I slightly modified to make half the batch (about 30 loaves depending on how big you make them). 

I don't know what the real name of this bread is.  But it kind of tastes like the bread that I ate once in California, so I'm just nicknaming this that bread!

Hmong Long Cheng sweet bread

Ingredients:

• 1/2 can evaporated milk
• 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
• 5 eggs
• 1 lb sugar (this is about 25% of a 4lb sugar bag)
• 5 packages of vanilla sugar
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 and 1/2 can water (use the coconut milk can)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 5 packages instant yeast
• 5 lb bread flour (save at least 2 cups for dusting)
   
• 1 large rectangle aluminum pan
• 2 large aluminum baking sheets
• parchment paper
   

1. In a really large aluminum pan, mix evaporated skim milk, condensed milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, coconut milk, water, baking powder, and yeast.  You'll get a slushy consistency.  I used my hands to do the mixing but if you want, you can use a whisk.  By using my hands, I'm able to feel if the sugar has been dissolved.
    
2. Add the bread flour to the mixture and continue mixing until incorporated.  The mixture will resemble a really thick pancake batter and will be very sticky.
    
3. In an oven, heat to 170 degrees.  If you have a warm feature in your oven, keep it at 170 degrees.  Cover the aluminum pan with foil and let the dough rise in the oven for about 1 hour.
    
4. The dough will double its original size.  Remove from oven and place the pan on a solid surface.
    
5. Dust your hands in flour and take a baseball size piece of dough.  Roll it into a hot dog bun shape and place onto the parchment paper 1 inch apart.  You can also roll it into a circle if you wish. Try different shapes!
    
6. You can use two baking sheets to cut the cooking time in half.  Just remember, the bottom one will cook faster so you will have to keep an eye on it.
    
7. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the bottom turns slightly brown.  The top may not be brown, but as it cools it gets brown. Remove and cool on a rack.

Variations:

• Add some pandan custard to the inside when you are rolling the dough into pieces.
• You can also try taro, vanilla custard, nutella, etc ... be creative!
• You can also try to slice the top to make cool shapes like X's or other. Get creative!

Tips:

• Personally, I like my buns soft so I try not to let the bottom part brown too much.  Once you take it out of the oven, it still continues to cook a little.  You will notice that the top will start to brown more even after it's out of the oven.
   
• If you want to freeze the buns for later use, don't cook them all the way brown.  Use a tong to lift up the bottom to see how solid the bun is.  If it's flimsy, it's not cooked.  If it's firm but not brown, remove from oven. Let it cool first before putting into a bag or freezer.  If it's hot and you freeze it in a bag, condensation will build up and you will have a slimy bun hehe.

Good luck!  Please leave me a comment if you have any questions.  I'll be back to post more step by step pictures.  A lot of people have been asking me for this recipe so I am posting it here for you to try! I love to share, so sharing it is!

Here's a video if you want to see me in action!

I hired my niece Ashley to help be my model for the day. Afterwards, I treated her out to eat sushi and bento at Takumi in Madison, WI.  We took these photos at the UW Arboretum on a semi-cloudy June day around 6 p.m. in the evening.  This was taken with a Nikkor 50mm AF-S  f/1.4G lens.

This soup is great to eat on cold winter days or just days when you are feeling under the weather.  It can be enjoyed with various condiments such as fried garlic, chili paste, cilantro, green onion, fish sauce, etc ... Today, I will show how to make a simple rice noodle soup with chicken.

Serves 4 servings

Stock Ingredients:

• 1 cup chicken pieces (you can use whatever pieces you want)
• 5 cups water (you can add more later if you want it less thick)
• 1 stalk lemongrass (chopped into 3 pieces) - optional
• 3 chopped green onion for garnish - optional
• 1/2 tsp salt
   

Noodle Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1 cup hot boiling water
• tapioca flour for dusting (keeping it from sticking)

   

Making the stock:

1. Boil the chicken, salt, & lemonstalk in the water.
2. Scoop out any foam that may be floating in the water.
3. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. Cooking time will depend on how big you chopped up your chicken pieces.
4. Take the chicken pieces out and shred them with a fork until you get small pieces.  Set the chicken aside in a bowl.

Making the noodles:

1. Boil water in a pot.
2. Mix the 1 cup rice flour (red one) and the 1 cup glutinous rice flour (green one) in a large bowl.
3. Add 1 cup boiling hot water slowly into the mixture and mix it together until incorporated. You will have to use your hands to knead the dough.  If it is too dry, add 1 tsp water.  If it gets too sticky, add a few tsp of tapioca starch (blue one).
4. On a large surface, lightly flour with tapioca starch.
5. With a rolling pin, flatten out the dough.  Add tapioca starch so it doesn't get too sticky.
6. Cut the noodle into long strings.

Putting it all together:

1. Carefully place the noodles into the stock and boil for 5 minutes.
2. Then add back the chicken pieces.  Add more water if it gets too thick. Be careful not to stir the noodles too much or else they will break.
3. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Then it's ready to serve!
4. Add any condiments of your choice!

Modifications to this recipe - time saver!

• If you have a KitchenAid mixer or similar, mix the flours and water with the dough mixer.
• If you have a KitchenAid noodle cutter, use the fetticine blade to cut the dough into strips.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.  Feel free to leave me any comments.