Next Month's Dinner & a Movie
It's official: I've decided to prepare a Japanese dinner, paired with the Juzo Itami classic, Tampopo, one of the greatest food movies in the history of film. I've been preparing basic Japanese dishes in my own kitchen on a regular basis for more than 15 years now, so this time I want to try something new...something a little more challenging than California Rolls and Teriyaki Chicken. So, over the next few days, I'll be poking around in my many Japanese cookbooks, and scouring the Internet for some new recipes. I'm even thinking of going 'Pacific Rim' with some contemporary Asian-Fusion flavors. This is gonna be fun!
12:05 AM PDT Permalink |

Deciding on the Cuisine and Culture
After much deliberation, I have definitely decided to go Japanese. After all, it's my very favorite Asian culture and cuisine, and there are dozens of excellent film choices to inspire the event. One factor that swayed my decision is the fact that summer vacation is starting next week, which means that my son Will is going to be with me more frequently, and I'm celebrating a birthday during the month of June. So, I'll be a little preocupied with putting on an end-of-the-year celebration brunch with my son, not to mention a little overnight getaway with my sweetie for my birthday.

With all that in mind, I thought it more practical and prudent to keep the learning curve easy this time. So I'm going to go with a familiar cuisine, paired with one of my many favorite Japanese films. All that being said...I'll return tomorrow with my choice for next month's Dinner & a Movie.
12:17 AM PDT Permalink |

Possibilities...
With the bounty of last month's online shopping trip at AsianFoodGrocer.com, my pantry is full of enough basic ingredients to prepare food from almost any Asian culture. With the exception of an exotic spice or two, probably all I will need are the fresh ingredients. So...eenie, meenie, minee, mo: Pad Thai, Curry, Kung Pao, Pho? Time to dive into the cookbooks!
01:09 AM PDT Permalink |

Looking Ahead Toward Next Month's Dinner & a Movie
I've barely used up the leftovers of my Scent of Green Papaya dinner and my thoughts have already turned toward next month's Dinner & a Movie. And since this weblog project is still in its infancy, the possibilities are positively endless. The choice for the first Dinner & a Movie was such an easy one, since I'd never cooked Vietnamese food, and had never written a review of the Scent of Green Papaya. But now, I'm faced with the task of choosing a new cuisine and a new film for next month.

On the one hand, I'm tempted to go with a familiar favorite like Japan, along with a classic Kurosawa film. On the other hand, I'm equally tempted to go for another totally new experience, like Korean or Thai. Although I've tasted foods from both cultures, I've never attempted to prepare either cuisine in my own kitchen.

Hmmm...such a dilemma. I guess I've got some research and deciding to do, so I'm going to give myself a few days to look over my cookbooks and tune into what my tastebuds and viewing pleasure are craving.
12:07 AM PDT Permalink |

Using Up the Leftover Ingredients
The leftovers of my Scent of Green Papaya dinner were almost as delicious as they were the night before, but I still had lots of fresh ingredients remaining as well. There was mint, there were lots of fresh vegetables and plenty of the garlic-ginger jasmine rice. The Vietnamese dinner leftovers gave me a much welcome respite from cooking the next day, but once they were gone, I was ready for a change of cuisine. So I got back in the kitchen a couple of days later and made up a hearty batch of curry vegetable stew using the leftover carrots, onion, bell peppers, and coconut milk. I also made a variation on the Hanoi Yellow Fish Nuggets, using the remaining orange roughy filets, which I dredged in curry powder instead of plain turmeric. I served the stew and the curried fish nuggets over the remaining jasmine rice with a fantastic (and extremely economical) spicy mango chutney that I found at an online grocer called ishopindian.com. It was absolutely delicious.

While I was in the kitchen, I made up a batch of Arabic fatoosh (sort of like an Arabic salsa fresca) from the leftover mint, cucumbers, onions, and garlic, along with a few diced fresh tomatoes, and fresh parsley from my garden, mixed together and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. After marinating the fatoosh in the fridge for a couple of days, I enjoyed it with chips made from wedges of lightly toasted pita bread. Yum!

It's amazing how the same suite of ingredients can be used to make such dramatically different dishes. It's all in the spice!
12:03 AM PDT Permalink |

The Grocery Bill for My Scent of Green Papaya Dinner (in $U.S.)
The cost of the ingredients for my Scent of Green Papaya Vietnamese dinner are listed below. Keep in mind that the prices are based on buying everything new rather than using things that I already had in my pantry. Of course there were lots of things left over for future meals, so the actual cost of the dinner based on the quantities of the ingredients used to make the dishes will be much lower than the grand total of stocking a pantry from scratch for preparing Vietnamese cuisine.

Specialty Ingredients:`
Nuoc mam (Asian fish sauce) – 3.49
Rice Paper Wrappers – 1.99
Chinese 5-Spice Powder – 1.79
Lemongrass - .99
Cellophane Noodles – 1.69
Jasmine Rice – 1.99
Tumeric - 2.79
Rice Wine Vinegar – 3.49
Sesame Oil – 2.99
Fish Broth – 1.39

Fresh Ingredients:
Papayas (Green & Ripe) –5.98
Limes – 1.00
Ginger Root - .99
Red & Green Bell Peppers – 1.49
Jalapeno Peppers - .29
Lettuce - .99
Bok Choy – 1.99
Baby Greens – 1.02
Cilantro - .49
Mint – 1.25
Scallions - .89
Carrots - .49
Cucumber – 1.79
Onions - .25
Shallot - .49
Garlic - .49
Mushrooms – 2.19
Shrimp - 2.40
Firm White Fish – 4.99
Pork Loin – 2.80

Wines:
Sutter Home 2002 Gewurtztraminer 5.99
Beringer Chenin Blanc 4.00

Basics: (Sugar, Cooking Oil, Eggs, Flour, Soy Sauce) 2.00

Total: $64.33

12:32 AM PDT Permalink |

Scent of Green Papaya Film Review

Loved it! Here's a link to the full review:

Film Review: Scent of Green Papaya.

12:09 AM PDT Permalink |

Scent of Green Papaya Dinner & a Movie Recipes and Photos

Here is a link to the recipes and photos for my Scent of Green Papaya dinner:

Scent of Green Papaya Dinner & a Movie Recipes & Photo Essay.

Bon Appetit!

01:40 AM PDT Permalink |

The Morning After: How Everything Turned Out
When I awoke this morning, the aromas from last night’s dinner still hung in the air…mint and cilantro, ginger and garlic, turmeric and nuoc mam. There were lots of leftovers too…spring rolls, soup, baby greens, cellophane noodles, spring vegetables, papaya relish and sorbet...a little of everything except the grilled pork. And there were plenty of leftover ingredients too, which I will be using to make an Indian fish curry, and a batch of Arabic fatoosh later in the week.

And now for the details of the dinner...

The cold summer rolls were delightful, with all the fresh raw ingredients, especially the mint. And despite my skepticism regarding my first experience cooking with nuoc mam, the nuoc cham dipping sauce was the star of the show. The fried spring rolls were another story however. Although they were quite tasty, they were a little greasy, and didn’t crisp up and brown as I’d hoped. I don’t know if it was because the filling had too much moisture or what. The oil was plenty hot, so I don’t think that was the problem, and since the rice paper wrappers are so delicate, I think that particular filling recipe would have been better suited for wonton skins.

The lemongrass consomme with the seafood dumplings was a nice surprise too. The lemongrass added an intensely redolent flavor element, and although they were labor intensive, the seafood dumplings were not only beautiful, but very tasty too.

The green papaya salad turned out beautifully, but after watching the film, I realized that my papaya was not really ‘green’, but was rather just a little under-ripe. Nevertheless, it was a good flavor to compliment the cellophane noodles and the baby greens. I had originally wanted to use watercress, and still think that would be the best choice, but watercress is hard to come by in Napa this time of year, and what little I was able to find was an odd variety that didn’t look anything like the watercress I know and love, and… it was way overpriced. So I chose baby greens instead, which were an excellent substitute. They provided a lovely balance of sweet and bitter, and one of the leafy varieties in the mix tasted just like rose petals. Finally, the Hanoi yellow fish nuggets turned out perfectly and looked so beautiful as the centerpiece of the salad. All the flavor components came together with the lime-mint-rice vinegar dressing for a light and lovely salad.

The pork loin was another unexpected success. For the marinade, I wrapped it in aluminum foil with some of the nuoc cham and dusted it with a whisper of Chinese five-spice powder. Never having used that particular seasoning before, I didn’t want to be too heavy-handed with it. The little bit that I used turned out to be just the right amount. And after much ado about the clay pot for cooking it, at the last minute, I chickened out and decided to grill it on my little George Foreman electric grill instead. Another wise choice. The outside turned a rich caramelized brown, while the inside was still ever so slightly pink, and the meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender. The only problem: there just wasn’t enough of it. We both could have gone for seconds.

I served the pork loin with jasmine rice seasoned with ginger and garlic, and a fresh papaya-chili-red pepper-mint relish…the perfect compliment for the rich, deep spice of the meat. And for the vegetable side dish, I lightly steamed a medley of baby bok choy, julienne carrots, snow peas and mushrooms, which I then tossed in the wok with a little nuoc mam and sesame oil.

For dessert, I served a light sorbet that I made from papaya-pineapple nectar, lime juice, ginger and mint essence, finished with a little coconut milk. Both flavor and texture were absolutely perfect, and I served it with slices of ripe papaya. It was a wonderful conclusion to one of the best meals I’ve ever prepared.

Tune in tomorrow for recipes...

01:45 AM PDT Permalink |

Dinner & a Movie Day
It’s the big day! The one I chose for cooking a Vietnamese dinner and watching The Scent of Green Papaya. I began preparations at about 4:00 in the afternoon, starting with the easy stuff like setting the table, getting out all my ingredients, making soup stock and marinating the pork. But I waited to begin cooking until Rene arrived at 7:00 with his digital camera, since I wanted him to get some shots of the process.

This being the first ThingsAsian Dinner & a Movie, the timing was a little different from what I’m used to when I cook a regular dinner. Since I wanted photos, I postponed a lot of my prep work, so it was a little longer between courses. I’d estimated three hours from start to finish, but it ended up being more like five. So it was rather late when we finished eating and started the movie.

Nevertheless, dinner was delicious, and the film was absolutely delightful. Afterwards I still had some tidying up to do, but had I washed a few dishes throughout the evening, so the kitchen wasn’t a total disaster. The rest I will leave for tomorrow. It’s late, so I’m going to save the dinner review for tomorrow too.
12:02 AM PDT Permalink |

Preparing the kitchen, assembling cooking utensils, and prepping dishes ahead.
I spent most of the day getting my house ready for an all-day cooking, dining, movie-watching extravaganza. I wanted the kitchen sink and dish rack completely empty and the stove and countertops nice and clean when I begin cooking. I also hope to keep the dishes done on a continual basis throughout the evening tomorrow, so that I don’t have a giant mess to clean up the next day.

Tonight, I also prepared a couple of things ahead. I made a sweet and sour dipping sauce called nuoc cham. I made a papaya sorbet flavored with with pineapple, mint, ginger, lime and coconut milk. I also took all my frozen ingredients out of the freezer and stored them in the fridge to thaw overnight. But since so much of the dinner relies on the freshest ingredients, most of it will have to wait until tomorrow. I’ve devoted the whole day to cooking, so there’s plenty of time for marinating the pork and preparing the filling for the spring rolls.
12:02 AM PDT Permalink |

Shopping for fresh ingredients
I’m getting so excited about my Scent of Green Papaya dinner that I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to go shopping for my fresh ingredients. So I went today instead. Besides, I wanted to have all my ingredients available so that I could take a photograph of everything before I opened the packages and started chopping things up. I also wanted to prepare a few things ahead of time tomorrow, things like broths and marinades, and most importantly, my papaya-ginger-mint sorbet, so that it has plenty of time to freeze. When you add sugar to a liquid mixture, it takes a little longer than plain water to reach a semi-solid state in the freezer.

Yesterday, I made a call to Vallergas, a local grocery store that has the most extensive produce department, to inquire whether they carry lemongrass, as that is the ingredient that I anticipated being the hardest one to find. Fortunately, they keep it in stock all the time, and so that’s where I chose to shop for all my other fresh ingredients as well.

The produce department at Vallergas was fabulous as always, abundant and dazzling with vibrant color. The red and green bell peppers caught my eye from the front door, the mint and cilantro were both popping fresh, and the lemongrass had just been delivered this morning. I was definitely in the right place…except for the papayas. Although luscious and lovely, alas they were all far too ripe for my purposes. So, after I bought all my other fruits and vegetables, I headed for my favorite Mexican market, where I was told I might find the elusive green papaya. However, the ones they had in stock were unripe, but they were enormous and looked nothing like any papaya I’d ever seen, so I was hesitant to buy one there. The third stop at my neighborhood grocer proved the charm, as they had both ripe and green papayas in stock, and at the best price in town too. So after shopping at three different stores, I had finally gathered all the pieces of the puzzle.

When I got home, I unpacked all my groceries and set up a still life with all the fresh, canned and packaged ingredients that I’ve been assembling over the past couple of weeks. But when I got out my digital camera to photograph them, I discovered that the batteries were kaput, and my teenaged son Will had absconded with all my extra rechargeables for his gameboy and walkman. Fortunately for me, at that very moment, René, my sweetheart showed up unexpectedly, and just happened to have his digital camera with him. He took a fantastic photo of all my goodies and also agreed to arrive early on the day of our dinner to take more photos of the preparation and cooking process. What a guy!
12:02 AM PDT Permalink |

Shopping for Dishes and Cookware
Today I went shopping in Napa for a clay pot to cook my pork loin, and maybe some other assorted serving dishes. I tried at Napa’s one kitchen shop, but the only clay cookware they carry are European rather than Asian, and really quite large, so I didn’t buy anything there. But since I often find good buys on unusual dishes and kitchenware at our local thrift shops, I decided to give them a try. I couldn’t believe my luck. The very first place I looked had one perfect little clay pot, Asian style, never used. I didn’t find any attractive serving dishes, but I already have plenty of those. So I’m officially declaring my kitchen equipped to prepare and serve a Vietnamese dinner.
02:22 AM PDT Permalink |

The Photo Essay
Throughout the course of the evening, I’ll also be taking photos while preparing the ingredients, setting the table, cooking the meal and enjoying it during the movie. But I may need to put my dinner guest to work taking pictures during those times when I need both hands for cooking. Afterward, I’ll be creating a photo essay of my Scent of Green Papaya dinner and uploading it to ThingsAsian, with a link to it from my weblog. I’ll also be writing a film review, and a list of all the recipes I used to create the meal.
12:17 AM PDT Permalink |

What to Wear
I love Asian ethnic garments and would love to dress for my Vietnamese dinner in a traditional ao dai, but I don’t own one. I may be able to find one at a little ethnic clothing store in downtown Napa called Inti. But if they don’t have anything like that, I have lots of colorful sarongs and comfortable halter tops to go with, which would probably be much more practical and comfortable for working in the kitchen. And since I will be preparing and serving several courses, I won’t have time to change between cooking and sitting down to eat. Looks like I’ll definitely be needing an apron.
02:09 AM PDT Permalink |