Basic Pie Crust (for 4, 9 inch pies):
-550g all purpose flour
-350g butter
-1 ½ tsp salt
-2 tbs sugar
-150g ice water (approximate)

**Mix together salt, sugar, and flour. Cut butter into flour and add water a tablespoon at a time until moist and crumbly. Divide into 4 portions, roll and line pie pans.

Filling:
Apple and Pear Pie (for 2, 9 inch pies)

-250g sugar (approximate, depending on sweetness of fruits)
-500g: Barlet Pears
-500g: mixture of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Jonagold apples
-4 tbs flour
-2 tbs ground cinnamon

**Peal, seed and slice fruit into thin pieces. Mix everything together and fill pies. Bake at 450’F for 15 mins, reduce heat to 350’F and bake for another 40 mins or until juices from the center of the pie bubbles.
***Note: If making apple pies, use 1kg apples. If making pear pies use 1kg pears and omit cinnamon.

Pumpkin Pie: (for 2, 9 inch pies)

-800g pumpkin puree (from 800g pumpkin, steamed and mashed)
-350g sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tbs ginger juice
-1 tbs ground cinnamon
-1 tsp each: ground cloves, nutmeg
-4 eggs
-500g evaporated milk
-2 tsp vanilla

*Mix everything together and ladle into crusts. Bake at 400’F for 15 mins, reduce temperature to 350’F and bake for another 35 mins or until set. Decorate cooled pies with fresh whipped cream.

Located in an alley, about a block away from Chùa Việt Nam (a Vietnamese Buddhist temple I volunteer at) is Northwest Tofu. This is where the temple goes for its weekly tofu needs, reason not being because they’re close, but because the tofu here is the best in the market. Many different brands of tofu are sold in Seattle markets, and a handful (about 10) of those brands are made in Seattle. Needless to say, if you’re in Seattle getting your hands on a piece of tofu is easy as pie. But what makes Northwest Tofu’s tofu better than the rest? It’s their taste, texture and quality. Their taste is unbeatable; rich and creamy. The texture is smooth and silky. Quality wise, the tofu is made daily, always fresh and warm if you buy them at the factory.

Armed with a camera, notepad and a pen I decided to spend my Friday morning on a short field trip at the tofu factory. The people there are extremely nice and were more than happy gave me a tour. Their family run operation uses an average of 300lbs of soy beans a day. Most of their costumers are restaurants but their products are only sold fresh at the factory and at 3 grocery stores in Seattle. They produce all types of tofu and also offer soy milk, yu chao kway, sesame pancakes, onion pancakes, and rice milk.

Making of tofu is hard work! I requires time, and lots of manpower…..yeah and soybeans too.

The process begins; Soybeans are soaked overnight:

The beans are then grounded up and the “milk” is extracted:

The milk is then coagulated in large wooden barrows, once the mixture sets, it is stirred to break up and separate the curds and whey:

Meanwhile, the wooden moulds are prepared by lining them with cheesecloth:

The mixture is now then poured into the moulds:

The moulds are capped before being pressed (to remove excess water) and you are rewarded with tofu!

Soybean pulp at the end of the day is then sold to farms which trun it into animal feed:

I mentioned they also make yu chao kway right? Here’s some fresh out of the fryer:

Warm thank you to Northwest Tofu for opening your doors and giving me such a wonderful and detailed tour. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Dough:
-100g dried mung beans (peeled and split)
-300g taro
-100g shortening
-125g wheat starch
-80g boiling water
-1 shy tsp baking ammonia

*Rinse and soak mung beans in water for a few hours to “rehydrate”. Peel taro and chop taro. Steam taro and mung beans until tender mash into a smooth paste. Stir boiling water into wheat starch, and let rest until cool enough to handle. Finally, knead everything together to create a smooth dough.

Filling:
-1 Chinese sausage
-1/4 cups each: shrimp, ground pork, bamboo shoots, cha siu (Chinese bbq pork)
-3-4 shitake mushrooms
-1/3 tsp 5 spice powder
-1/2 tsp ground pepper
-1/2 sesame oil
-dash of soy sauce
-pinch of salt

*Soak mushrooms in warm water until tender. Chop mushrooms, shrimp, bamboo shoots, sausage, cha siu into small pieces. Stir fry all the ingredients for about 5 mins over high heat.

Wrapping and Frying:
Divide dough into 20 pieces. Wrap a tsp of filling in a portion of dough. Repeat same process for the rest of the dough and filling. Deep fry the puffs in oil temp. of 200’C or 390’F. Remove when golden and puffy. Serve hot.

Note:
The most important factor when making these puff is the oil temp. in which you fry the puffs. If the temp. is too low the puffs will “dissolve” in the oil.

Ingredients:
-8 large ripe bananas
-2 tbs all purpose flour
-1 ½ loafs old bread (preferably wheat)
-4 tbs rum
-2 eggs
-1 ¼ cups sugar
-2 cups milk
-2 cups coconut milk
-4 tbs melted butter
-1 tbs vanilla
-1/4 cup raisins (optional)
-1/4 cup walnuts (optional)
-1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

*Slice bananas and mix with flour, 2 tbs rum, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tbs butter, raisins, nuts and cinnamon. Beat eggs with the remaining cup of sugar, add coconut milk, milk, vanilla, remaining butter, and rum. Slice bread into ½ inch thick slices. Grease an 8 inch cake ban pan. Quickly dip the bread slices in egg mixture and lay the slices into the bottom of pan to create the first “layer”. Add half of the bananas to a second layer, followed by another layer of bread, before finally topping it off with a layer of bananas. Bake at 350’F until golden, about 45 mins.

Reference:
ninhthuan from www.datviet.com

Almond Sponge Cake:
-8 eggs + 2 egg whites (taken from buttercream)
-200g cake flour
-80g sliced almonds
-250g sugar
-80g melted butter

*Beat whites with sugar until stiff. Wisk together egg yolks, butter, and half of the flour. Add half of the egg yolk mixture to egg whites and sift in half of the remaining flour fold until combined. Add in the remaining egg yolk and sift in the remaining flour, fold together adding almond as you fold. Pour batter into 2 jelly roll pans and bake at 500’F until golden (about 10 mins).

Coffee Buttercream:
-150g sugar
-300g butter
-100g water
-2 eggs + 2 egg yolks (use whites to make cake)
-1 1/5 tbs instant coffee

*Boil sugar with water until syrup reaches the soft ball stage. Mean while beat eggs, and add syrup in while beating. Beat until cool and add butter. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Chocolate and Rum Ganache:
-250g dark chocolate
-150g cream
-1 tbs rum

*Melt together in a double broiler.

Assembling the Cake:
Cool cake completely and cut each in half (to end up with 4 pieces). “Sandwich” butter cream between cake layers. Finally, glaze cake with ganache. Decorate cake with left over butter cream.

Ingredients for the broth (approximate):
-2lb beef bones
-1 large onion
-1 piece of ginger about thumb size
-2 star anise
-3 cloves
-1 stick of cinnamon about 3 inches long
-1 cardamom
-2lbs beef brisket (optional)
-salt, rock sugar

**Boil bones and beef brisket for about five mins and wash before using it to make broth (this is the most important part of making pho!). Put bones and beef brisket in a large pot and add enough water to cover, boil to make broth along with anise, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom. Roast onion and ginger and add to broth. Add salt and sugar to taste. If you’re using beef brisket then remove the meat when tender (test by stabbing it with a chop stick, if the chop stick goes trough then it’s good to go).

Meat Choices:
There are many type of meats to decide on that goes into you pho.
-Gầu or nạm or chín = beef brisket, boil it in broth until tender, remove cool, and slice and add to noodles
-taí = steak, slice thinly, added to the noodles raw right before pouring on the hot broth; which will then “cook” the steak
-gân = beef tendons, also boiled in broth until tender, sliced, and added to noodles
-Lá Sách = beef tripe, boiled speretly, sliced and added to noodles
-Bò Viên = beef meat balls (buy them premade)

For the noodles:
-bánh phở (pho noodles)
-1 onion
-1 bunch green onions and cilantro
-black peper

Serve With:
-Bean sprouts
-basil (lá quế), saw tooth herb (ngò gai)
-jalapeno pepers, thinly sliced
-lime wedges
-fish sauce, hoisin sauce, pepper sauce

To "Make" the Pho:
Boil noodles, rinse, drain and add to bowl, add meats (you choice), and ladle on the how broth. Sprinkle some chopped green onions, cilantro, sliced onion, and ground black pepper. Serve with bean sprouts, basil, saw tooth herb, jalapeno slices, lime juice, etc...

Ingredients:
-1 lb dried pasta
-3/4 cups olives sliced
-1/2 cup feta cheese
-1 medium onion
-2 cups cherry tomatoes
-some basil
-1/3 cup red wine vinegar
-1/2 cup sugar
-3 tbs butter
-1 ½ tsp salt or to taste
-1/2 cup pickled artichoke hearts

*Cook pasta and cool. Chop: tomatoes >> in half, basil >> finely, onions >> small slices (about 1 inch), artichoke hearts >> into small pieces if not already. Melt butter in a pan and all onions, salt and sugar stir fry for about 5 mins. then add in vinegar, cook over medium heat until onion is transparent but still “has bite” (not too soft). Turn off heat and add tomatoes, stir well. Finally mix everything together and serve cold.

Water Dough:
-250g all purpose flour
-80g water
-80g oil
-1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
-1 tsp salt

*Kneed everything together, rest 1/2 hour and divide into 10 portions.

Oil Dough:
-100g all purpose flour
-40-50g oil

*Slowly add oil into flour to make a dough. Divide into 10 portions.

Filling:
-1/2 lb char siu
-1/2 lb minced pork
-1/2 onion
-3 shitake mushrooms
-1 large carrot
-1 chinese sausage
-1/2 tsp: sesame oil, 5 spice powder, oyster sauce, ground pepper
-2 pinches of salt

*Chop char siu, carrots, onion and sausage. Soak mushrooms until warm water for about 1/2 hour or until soft, slice into thin strips. Mix everything together and divide into 10 portions.

What to Do:
Take a portions of the water dough and use it to wrap the oil dough. Roll dough flat and fold into thirds (like folding a letter). Repeat this process a few more times before using the dough to wrap a portion of the filling. Continue with the same process for the remaining dough and filling. Brush wraped paus with eggwash and bake at 350'F until golden, about 20 mins.