It takes time to prepare the squid, but takes only a few minutes to cook. We like eating squids but only when squids look fresh, I will buy some and they often take me longer time to wash them thoroughly, inside and outside, removing all the membrance and dirties, until the squid’s body is very white and clean. 

Stir-frying is a fast way of cooking squid and you’ll get a flavorful dish. Try this dish with pineapple, green ones preferred, and you will se how pineapples can go well with seafoods and reduce the fishiness smell of them. 

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Hey, this is the first "salsa" I’ve ever made. It is similar to a salad, but this is the one with the actual "salsa" in its name that I made. I didn’t often eat salad with fruits, except for green mango or green papaya which has pure sour taste or plain taste and offers mostly the texture to the salad. This salsa has a distinctive sweet and sour taste of the mango plus its fragrance. 

When I read the recipe in my book and saw the picture, the mango is yellow-orange like this. There is no remark about which kind of mango should be used. So I just used the kind I often buy to make this salsa. 

The first impression of this salsa is its refreshing effect. As the salsa is chilled in the fridge until it is cold enough to serve, at the very first bite, I could feel the heat in my body reduced, especially on these hot days. Both the mango and tomato flesh are still firm yet juicy. Coriander leaves add more flavor to the salsa. 

It is a new and interesting taste to me. It is advised to serve this salsa with tortilla chips. But no way I could buy or make them. So I had the idea of baking some wonton cups, at least I had something crispy to enjoy the salsa too. 

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I used to like and cook curry dishes when I was still in Vietnam. Not until had I come to Singapore when curry food turned out as a nightmare to me. Maybe it’s because the smell is too strong for me and almost all the Indian or Malay food stalls terrify me with the heavy smell of their food. Most of the dishes are either orange or red in color with no trace of green stuffs, which already make my mouth and stomach feel hot. I no longer feel the inviting distinctive flavor of the curry food but only try to get away from those stalls as quick as possible to avoid the strong smells. 

It has been four years I’ve never eaten any curry dishes. Not until I found a recipe of potato curry which guarantees a very mild taste and flavor. When reading the recipe, I felt relieved and got the eagerness back to cook this dish, just because this curry has peas – which are green, and they are good to serve with fresh cilantro. Moreover, plain yogurt is added to this curry, which persuades me to believe that the taste will be mild. 

And so, I cooked this after a very long time I’ve touched any curry dishes. The final result was a really mild curry, which was absolutely what I longed for. 

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I just have two words to describe this salad: simple and refreshing. After a long day, I only expected something simple yet impressive for my dinner, so that I can enjoy the weekend soon.  

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This is a dish of the ordinary working people. Why do I say so while buying clams in Singapore is not that cheap? Originally, in Vietnam we cook another kind of porridge with big mussels, which are very cheap and are easily collected by farmers in the countryside. These mussels can be caught in the swam or pond and they play as one of the main sources of protein for country people.

But I bet that many urban people are crave for this porridge due to its very distinctive and special flavor. I was remembering the old days, in early cold mornings, my mom went to the early morning market and brought home a bowl of mussels porridge for her children. This was my favorite breakfast and I really enjoyed it while trembling in the cold of Hanoi winter. The porridge is also a wonderful supper for many people who go out late at chill night and their stomachs rumble when the attractive smell of the hot porridge from a modest stall somewhere on the street pavements.

Not having that kind of mussel here where I am living, and I happened to come across these fresh clams, I thought of cooking this porridge to caress my homesickness. The taste was different a bit, however, it was still very familiar to the ones my mom cooked at home or the ones she bought from our home market.

Ingedients (serves 2)

- 300-400g fresh clams

- 1/3 cup rice

- 1 tsp fish sauce

- 1/2 tbs vegetable oil

- 1 or 2 shallots, thinly sliced

- salt and ground black pepper, as needed

- Spring onion, chopped

- plentiful of Vietnamese coriander, chopped

Cooking:

- Soak the clams in water for 1 or 2 hours, change the water occasionally so that the clams will dismiss the unrefined things. Brush the shells of the clams thorougly.

- Soad the rice in water for about 1 hour to soften a little, then drain well.

- Put the clams in a large saucepan with water just enough to cover the clams, bring to a boil and cook until all the clams are opened. Drain the clams and keep the boiling water. Set aside. 

- Dismiss the shells, rinse the clams and marinate them with fish sauce and a little bit of pepper.

- Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat, cook the shallots until fragrant. Add the clams, stir quickly until just cooked. Remove the clams from the saucepan and set aside.

- Place the rice into the to saucepan, stir for about 2 minutes then pour in the water that used to boil the clams earlier. Add salt as needed. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low to simmer until the rice are very softened. Check the water regularly. If the water reduces to much then add a little more water so that the porridge will not be too thick.

- When the rice has become very soft, now we have a thin porridge. Add salt to taste. Transfer a portion of the porridge to the bowls, arrange on top of the porridge with clams, spring onion, Vietnamese coriander and sprinkle with pepper. Mix well before enjoying the porridge. 

It tastes best while still hot. You may use mussels instead of clams to make a similar porridge.