Red Bean Pot de Creme Recipe

To me, Vietnamese desserts taste delicious. My husband Lulu, however, is not a big fan of either their taste or their aesthetics. Lulu has a serious sweet tooth, so for him, the very subtle use of sugar in Vietnamese desserts is not nearly satisfying enough. I love the flavors though, so I decided to make a French and Asian fusion dessert that would make us both smile.

After much deliberation, I decided to make red bean pots de crème. Red bean, in case you don’t know, is often found in Asian desserts. To incorporate the ingredient, I used the same technique as for making traditional pots de crème, but I also added mashed sweetened red beans. In addition, I substituted coconut milk for regular cow's milk. To make the dessert more attractive, I added a dollop of matcha-flavored whipped cream and garnished with green-colored sugar.

The visual is nice and the flavors and texture are intense and rich. Mission accomplished!

Lentil Pasta Soup Recipe

My father-in-law, like my husband Lulu, is a vegetarian. One of his favorite meals is kali dal. Because of this, we often have leftover cooked black lentils. As usual, we still had some left last night, so I decided that this time it would not go to waste.

Lentils are packed with protein, so today I created a complete meal by adding pastina pasta and a few vegetables. For more contrast in color, you could add some greens such as spinach. I stuck to carrots, celery and leeks. The result is a delicious, spicy lentil pasta soup.

Red Cabbage and Bean Sprout Salad Recipe

I had leftover bean sprouts from a large pot of phở over the weekend, and I decided to make a salad with it. The color of the bean sprouts needed a little oomph, so I added shredded red cabbage. In addition to the red cabbage, I also used diced Fuji apples.

Given the Asian flair of the salad, I made a peanut, lime and condensed milk vinaigrette. This is a very quick and easy first course, which gave me some time to work on a delicious dessert to satisfy my husband's sweet tooth for Valentine’s Day.

Yardlong Beans in Coconut Milk

Yardlong beans are also known as Chinese long beans, long-podded cowpeas, asparagus beans or even snake beans. They are more tender (with a hint of sweetness) than regular green beans and are 4 times longer. 

I've come up with a coconut milk yardlong bean recipe inspired by an Indian bean dish Baji (Lulu's grandmother) taught me, called  gawar ki phalli. Instead of the traditional cluster beans, I cut long beans into small pieces and cooked them in coconut sauce (instead of sesame sauce) until tender. I think the coconut milk makes the dish a lot more decadent. It's become a favorite in my house; the girls especially love this dish.

Tomato Risotto Recipe

This version of tomato risotto has a decidedly Indian sensibility. I flavored the rice with tomato chutney as I recently did with an Indian-inspired asparagus pie. The flavors from the chutney are so bold that no other spices and very little salt are needed. I just added chopped sun-dried tomatoes as garnish.

Making risotto takes a little bit of practice to begin with, but once you've worked on your fundamentals, you can start to use the basic recipe and create dozens of different variations. I've stuffed artichokes with risotto, paired pistachio pesto with celery risotto, stuffed it in zucchini flowers, made a roasted beet and ricotta cheese version, and also a rather unconventional risotto with bamboo; the list of adaptations is truly endless.