Ethnic Food in America's Culinary Landscape

San Francisco-based Vietnamese-American writer Andrew Lam observes cultural trends and socio-political movements. He's an editor with New American Media, the first and largest collaboration of ethnic news organizations in America, and author of Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora, a great collection of intimate, compelling essays on Vietnamese-American identity.

Whenever I read Andrew's work and it includes his insights on food and culture, I'm extra tickled. This month, he's written a piece on the diverse evolution of California cuisine.

When refugees like Andrew and I arrived in the U.S. over 30 years ago, there wasn't a single bottle of fish sauce on mainstream grocery store shelves. Nowadays, it's a regular item, thanks to the popularity of Thai cooking. Yesterday, bottles of nuoc mam were prominently displayed at a seafood market at the Ferry Plaza, the uber-foodie Mecca  in San Francisco. People are loving rice paper for its healthfulness and tastiness. My local butcher shop, a nearly 70-year-old establishment, is lining its seafood case with fresh banana leaves.  Asian markets are stocking tortillas too, so the multi-ethnic trends are multi-directional.

I can go on and on but Andrew sums things up nicely in a recent piece published in the UC Berkeley alumni magazine's food and farming issue, California.  (Yes, the university has such an issue; it is Berkeley!) You may have also seen Andrew's piece on the Nation website and in San Jose Mercury News too. Don't be surprised by his lead. After all, Andrew is Vietnamese!

Comments

[Simon Bao]

Andrea, thanks for Andrew Lam's article.

I don't know how you feel about mixing and stirring up different cuisines, but if you would ever like to try something a unusual, something both different and familiar, consider trying some Pho Couscous. I don't want to call this "fusion" but I'll accept "off-beat."

I imagine that every time you make Pho Bo or Pho Ga, you also put away some containers of broth into the freezer. That broth is the key to a delightful platter of Couscous or other grain such as bulgar pilaf or barley.

Couscous is, after all, just another starch. Cooked in a flavored liquid, with other ingredients added. Vietnamese do that. All one has to do is choose a liquid with Vietnamese flavors, and some familiar added ingredients.

This couscous is not a main dish, it's just a starch for serving on the side. Use either a Viet pho-type broth, a Viet chicken broth, or a vegetarian lemongrass/ginger broth.

* 3-1/4 cups prepared broth
* 3 cups couscous
* 1 cup sliced scallions white and green parts
* peanut oil, about 1 tablespoon
* 2 carrots, peeled and finely shredded
* pinch of fresh ground black pepper
* finely chopped hot peppers, amount and type of pepper according to your taste (optional, but seeded jalapeno is nice)
* 3/4 cup or more fresh chopped herbs (cilantro, mint, Viet basil)
* few splashes of fish sauce for saltiness, if needed
* 3/4 cup freshly roasted, chopped peanuts (plain unsalted is best, dry roasted is 2nd best, salty oily American canned peanuts as a last resort)

Heat the broth till it is steaming, just below the boiling point.

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, mix together the couscous, 1/2 of the scallions, the peanut oil, fish sauce, black pepper, chopped hot peppers (if using). Add the steaming broth and mix well.

Cover the bowl immediately with plastic wrap and let it stand somewhere for 20-25 minutes. The couscous will then be tender, and you should fluff it up with the back of a fork. Check it for flavor, and add more fish sauce (instead of salt) or pepper if you want. Add the grated carrots and 1/2 of the chopped herbs and recover with plastic till ready to serve.

Toast some peanuts on top of the stove or in the oven, chop them coarsely.

Only when you are ready to serve the couscous, add the peanuts, the rest of the chopped herbs, and the rest of the scallions. One can also add some crispy fried shallots just when the dish is ready to be served.

Serve it from a large bowl or platter and let people help themselves. Or if you want to make up plates for people, just spoon a single serving of couscous into a rice bowl, smooth out the top and press down lightly, invert it onto a platter and you'll have a small mound of couscous. Set a piece of grilled meat leaning against it, whatever.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Simon, Thanks for the recipes. Your so Vietnamese with the inventiveness. Love it. Very good instructions too. Ooh, crispy shallots to boot! Excellent twist.

Yes, I normally freeze leftover pho broth and the cooked beef. In fact, I have some in the freezer now and have been thinking of making up a few bowls this weekend. It's good hangover food and I'm having a small dinner party on Saturday so pho would be great on Sunday.

I've often thought that broken rice (com tam) was texturally like Vietnam's version of couscous. I bet you could use your idea here but to cook up a pot of broken rice. Hmm... Couscous is easier for many folks to get.

[Simon Bao]

Andrea, the inspiration for the couscous was to get at a whole-grain side-dish that non-Viet housemates demanded, but that Viet buddies would also be happy to eat. (Usually they want only mashed potatoes, "And make it taste like Boston Market...") Once I did couscous I realized I can do this with a bulgar pilaf as well, or brown rice & wild rice combos.

If I had to name one shortcoming in the typical Vietnamese diet, it would be the absence of any whole grains. Which makes me wince even more, as everybody's mom seems to be diabetic and have high cholestorol. But as long as they're eating at my place, friends will get at least *some* whole grains, and a few will seem vaguely familiar. :-)

[Andrea Nguyen]

Simon, Just last week, I bought some great brown jasmine rice at the Chinese market. It was a new crop and cooked up very well. The Thai grower blended the rice, 80% brown jasmine, 20% red brown rice.

I know what you mean with the lack of whole grains in the diet. Admittedly, my hubby and I found that the brown jasmine wasn't great with Asian food. We had it with a Thai curry I'd made and the brown rice made things really leaden. Suffice it to say, we didn't eat so much rice since we were expending lots of time chewing and got tired. White rice is my preference but every once in a while, I make whole grains. We compensate by eating tons of fresh vegetables, particularly leafy greens, lettuce, and Vietnamese herbs. All those phytochemicals are my insurance against sickness, knock on wood.

My mom, who's in her early 70s, is eating more brown rice these days. Before that, her source for whole grains was from fermenting brown sweet rice into a sweet dessert. It's really good but there's only so much of that one can eat.

Your idea here would work here with quinoa, an ancient grain from South America that's sold at health food markets (check the bulk section for the best prices). It cooks up fast and is like couscous but actually has protein. I've found that if you toast whole grains in a dry skillet over a medium-low flame, that texturally, it's not so gummy when cooked. Seems to work with most whole grains.

In Vietnam, we lacked food. Here, we've fattened up.

[Simon Bao]

Andrea, I do know exactly what you mean and brown rice just can't be substituted for polished white rice - at least, not for my tastes, not in Vietnamese cuisine. The closest I came to success with brown rice was using it for some Com Tam platters made up at home. It wasn't *bad* but it wasn't worth ever repeating. And certainly none of my friends asked me to make it with brown rice again. :-)

That said, they have no problems eating brown rice as a side dish when it's flavorful, and offered as part of what they see as an "American food" dinner. Though they still prefer I serve mashed potatoes that taste just like Boston Market.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Brown rice is no white canvas for food. No sirree. I've been grossed out by the healthful practice of covering it with cheese sauce. Korean people enjoy lots of brown rice with beans. I can see eating a lean macrobiotic plate of brown rice, grilled fish and vegetables. Afterwards, you can smoke a cigarette to balance the yin with the yang, I suppose.

Not exactly Boston Market, which is now firmly ensconced in a chain supermarket, no? I could have sworn I experienced one at an Albertson's a few weeks ago.