Cha Tom Recipe (Vietnamese Shrimp Cakes)

Chả tôm are lightly seasoned shrimp cakes. No tasteless fillers here; a sprinkling of tapioca starch, coriander, green onions, garlic and kaffir lime are the only ingredients added to supplement the flavor and texture of the shrimp. It is true Vietnamese comfort food.

These shrimp cakes make wonderful appetizers, but can also be served as an entrée. Just pair them with vermicelli (called bún chả tôm) and you'll have yourself a very traditional Vietnamese meal. You could also make mini sandwiches for a change of pace. I served them recently as appetizers for a dinner party with a plum dipping sauce. They will be delicious no matter how you choose to prepare them!

Dried Apricot and Carrot Salad on Betel Leaves

Lulu's aunt, Sara, gave Daddy a betel leaf plant a few months ago. It has grown from a small vine into a prolific producer of fragrant leaves. Daddy loves chewing areca nuts wrapped in a betel leaf. It's very popular in India (paan parag) as well as Vietnam (trầu). In much of Southeast Asia, betel leaves are used to make a salad.

For the shredded carrot salad I made today, I decided to use the fresh betel leaves as a serving dish of sorts. To the shredded carrots, I added diced dried apricots and a fresh, thinly shredded kaffir lime leaf. The combination of the ingredients worked very well together. Betel leaves have a peppery taste and the kaffir lime has a nice citrus-y aroma. In keeping with the Asian theme, I made a peanut and tamarind dressing to brighten up the dish and tie all the flavors together.

Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze Recipe

I have received many requests for the kaffir lime ginger glaze recipe. I keep forgetting to post it.

The story behind this glaze is kind of funny. I had just made a sweet and sour soup and my mother-in-law came into the kitchen to help clean up. She saw the leftover kaffir lime leaves, picked them up and was about to throw them in the trash. Even though we get our kaffir lim leaves from our garden, it felt like a waste. I shrieked and told her, I told her that I was going to use them. She asked me how I planned on using the leaves since we weren't making any more soup. I had to come up with something fast, so I said that I would use them in the glaze for the apricot tarts that were in the oven.

I added a little ginger to the syrup to balance out the citrus-y flavor of the kaffir lime leaves and I incorporated a little cornstarch to the syrup to get a thicker consistency because typically I use fruit jellies as a glaze. It turned out wonderfully.

Blackberry Polenta Tart with a Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze

I was very frustrated yesterday after the memory card of my camera crashed and I wasn't able to show off my beautiful crostata with pecan and blueberry pie filling. All I could rescue was only one photo of the crostata before it went into the oven. So to redeem myself, I'm offering you un cadeau de consolation, a consolation prize with a blackberry polenta tart.

The sweet dough is made with polenta which gives a very crumbly texture. I filled the tart with blackberry preserves, topped them with fresh blackberries and finished them with a kaffir lime ginger glaze. Everything was gone, it was delicious. Mission accomplished!

Apricot Tart with Almond Cream and Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze

I was in the mood to bake today. I thought about making apple tartes amandines but everyone said they were bored with this flavor. So to please the whole house, I paired the almond cream with fresh ripe apricots. In France, you would order "une tarte amandine aux abricots, s'il vous plait!" in a patisserie (bakery). You probably won't learn this phrase in any French for tourists books, but I'm telling you, it's essential for your survival .

For the glaze, I had Laura's apricot pie jelly, a few kaffir lime leaves left that I did not used for my sweet and sour pineapple soup and some fresh ginger. It gave a nice kick to the apricot.

I know what you're going to say about my family. How spoiled are they?