Chi: Welcome to another show of VOV24/7’s Food Delight. I’m Kim Chi, your host. On today’s show, we have our guest, Vietnamese Canadian cook Diep To. And I remind you that Diep To is a world traveler who has been to 40 countries. She is also a guest cook who has passionately promoted Vietnamese cuisine to the world. We’ll talk to her about her cooking passion and recipes.

Diep To has held many cooking classes in Vietnam and other countries, focusing on Vietnamese dishes. Apart from Vietnam’s traditional dishes, Diep also creates her own recipes.

So, Diep, can you share with us any recipe you create by yourself?

Diep To: Another recipe, let’s say, a kind of dessert that I create. I was inspired by the people from Mekong Delta.

Chi: Wow, I’m really impressed with the Mekong Delta’s cuisine. The prosperous land of Mekong Delta brings a lot of fresh ingredients for making many delicious dishes. What recipe do you share with us today?

Diep To: I would make sticky rice banana ginger candy for dessert. I would cook sticky rice with brown sugar, with a lot of ginger, and peanuts, sesame, and banana.

Chi: Rice, banana, ginger, brown sugar are familiar ingredients but I wonder what it is like when all those ingredients are mixed.

Diep To: It turns dark like chocolate but it’s crunchy from the peanuts and it’s soft from sticky rice and it has banana flavor, and spicy taste from fresh ginger.

I melted brown sugar. I have sticky rice already cooked. I add in there. I put the fresh ginger chopped finely, smash banana and I mix vigorously until they’re all well corporated. I put it on a plate full of sesame and then I mix with broken roasted peanuts. I spread it out on a tray or on a plate whatever. I sprinkle sesame on top. After that, you cut it into square pieces. After 2 -3 hours, it’s kind of dry outside but it’s still more intricate inside.

Chi: As far as I know, in the Mekong River Delta, especially in Ben Tre province, coconuts are popular and have been used to create numerous dishes. Do you think of a recipe made from coconuts?

Diep To: Dry coconut candies. You thread the coconut, then you soak it in the white sugar over the night. The next day, you use a thick pot and cook it in the low heat. You stir it again and again until the sugar dries out. It coasts outside the coconut flesh, and then you eat it like candies.

Chi: It seems that it is not very complicated. It is a little bit time-consuming for coconut soaking but doesn’t need many steps to process it.

Diep To: The same techniques you can do for ginger to make ginger candies, which is very popular for Tet, a biggest holiday for Vietnamese. People drink tea and eat coconut candies and ginger candies.

Chi: So, what factors do you take into consideration when creating a new recipe?

Diep To: I think of the yin and the yang in the ingredients you combine in one recipe. So, I learn which ingredients have more yang factors, and which ingredients have more yin factors. For example, sauce is more yang, coconut is more yin. Of course, it takes time to learn about yin and yang and how to find balance between yin and yang in one recipe.

I consider about health. Am I cooking a healthy dish? If I cook this, will I create another dish that balances that. I consider the health factor first, and then the taste.

Chi: Thank you Diep To for being with us today.

This is VOV24/7’s Food Delight, saying good bye to all of you.