Tet...A Weekend of Food

With Tet, or the lunar new year beginning tomorrow, this weekend was a busy food weekend in the Doan household. Every family celebrates differently but for mine, we've eaten the same dishes for as long as I can remember. This year, I was able to spend most of the time in the kitchen learning the recipes to create everything from scratch and authentically. My mom still uses the same recipe she learned from my grandmother who really did not believe in short cuts. Some dishes took hours, but I think the TLC really comes through.

Banana leaf wrapped coconut sweet rice with roast pork, chinese sausage and dried shrimp

 Braised pork and eggs | Duck noodle soup with gingko beans, chinese dates and veggies

Pork pate and Head cheese

I really enjoyed making the pate and head cheese. There are other cold cuts served for Tet, but we decided to make just two of them. I wrote the recipes down so I can reference it again in a year's time and make it myself. It's a lot of work and probably not for the faint of heart since there were pig ears, snouts and skin all all over the kitchen. However, they taste delicious and are 100x better than anything purchased in a store. Eaten with pickled vegetables (also home made), it's one of my favorite dishes. 

With enough food to feed dozens, this new year is off to a good start. The house is cleaned, red envelopes delivered and  citrus fruits all over the house (for good fortune), the Year of the Dragon will hopefully live up to its expectations of vibrancy, excitement and effervescence.