Vietnam/China

It was only after I made this meal that I realized it was not originally a Vietnamese meal but Chinese-- nor is it a meal. It's a dessert, which explains a lot.

Black Sesame Coconut Soup

250 g black sesame seeds
300 g chinese rock sugar (brown sugar to substitute)
1 c water
200 g peanuts
400 mL coconut milk

Dissolve the sugar in 1 c water and bring it to a boil. Add ground sesame seeds and peanuts (best to use a food processor or spice grinder) and reduce heat. Stir the mixture thoroughly, it will be very thick. Add one can of coconut milk and stir, then heat for 3-4 minutes over medium heat. Do not boil!

I was ravenous when I made this and was pretty upset by how sugary it was. I guess I totally missed the part where I added equal parts sugar and water! Yikes. If you want a little bit of savory in your soup, add a large pinch of salt. I actually like this soup much better once it's cold.

I think this week I'm going to do Vietnam over again. I still have some fish in the freezer from this summer, so I'm going to use 2 Vietnamese recipes.

Last week was my first day back in the classroom and this week I'm beginning at my second campus (and next week, the third). My schedule will be pretty hectic, but I'm going to stick with my round-the-world experience.