Bun Cha & New Foods
March 7th, 2024
Bun Cha
Tonight I made a version of Bun Cha, which is a Vietnamese dish comprised of pork patties, vermicelli, fresh herbs and veggies, and a sauce with sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and umami combined.
How the heck do I make this delicious sounding dish, and follow the guidelines of the DASH diet? I sat down with my recipe book and got out my notebook to start writing down the changes I intended to make. This is not my typical style, I usually throw ingredients into a dish freely without actually measuring anything and then spitball writing down what the heck I did later. Tonight was different though, a good friend of ours was coming over for dinner and we wanted to make sure that the meal fit both Grandma’s diet and was utterly delicious for our friend. So out came the notebook that I jot all my recipes in.
Step one: protein choice, we already had pork earlier this week, so we changed it to chicken patties instead. What was next? Ditch the amount of salt the dish called for by using a less salty replacement. I used coconut aminos, instead of the traditional fish sauce the dish is normally made with. Yes, coconut aminos contain sodium, but I used only a teaspoon in the sauce, which was split amongst four people. If I had used fish sauce, the recipe called for four tablespoons, and that would have been a tablespoon per person at 1,413mg of sodium per tablespoon. That amount of sodium would have blown the budget, due to having to limit the daily allowance to 1,500mg for kidney health.
Please understand, we love traditional foods and recipes, but when you can no longer eat certain things adjustments have to be made. I look at these adjustments I made as an homage to the dish, since I didn’t follow the recipe exactly - it was more about capturing the essence of the dish. The final dish still brought all of the flavors that bun cha is about, but on a milder scale. I substituted the Thai chiles for red pepper flakes, as Grandma is not the biggest fan of spicy food. Little does she know, I slightly increase the amount of peppers used each time I cook. Spicy is about acclimation; will you ever not sweat or tear up when eating the world’s hottest pepper? No, but on the lower part of the Scoville scale you can certainly become more accustomed to it having a presence in your diet.
In Asia, it is common to find a balance between elements, especially your basic flavors such as umami, sweet, salty, and sour. This extends to spicy, bitter, savory, etc. Even though there seem to be a lot of dishes from that part of the world that are salty, you can use the basic principle to bring overall flavor to your dish. This is something that has been guiding us in the choices we are making. The next part that we are trying to make sure gets incorporated is fresh whole foods, particularly vegetables and fruits.
In Thailand and Vietnam, you’ll find that despite their differing cultures, one thing they have in common is using fresh ingredients in meals. This also applies to fresh bunches of herbs, sometimes in the form of a basket of herbs placed on the table for use in your food. Ever had Pho? Pho has a delicious tangy broth with protein, rice noodles, and veggies followed by a lovely helping of fragrant herbs, such as basil, cilantro, and mint available to add to the steamy liquid in your bowl. Another very good friend, whose father is from Thailand, introduced me to this dish about five years ago. I grew up in one of Michigan’s many rural areas and trying this delightful dish was an experience I won’t forget. My friend had more exposure to other dishes such as Pho due to her parents. I’ll never forget the first time I had Thai food with her and her family. It was at the rehearsal dinner for her, and her soon to be husband, and we ate at a little place called Taste of Thai.
Circling back to the bun cha, I piled on the fresh vegetables and herbs, which helped to provide variety, in both texture and flavor, to the dish. The herbs sat on top releasing their aromatics as we ate. The trick to this dish is less dried items, because over time they lose the oils that make them deliciously pungent. It is good to remember this if you also have had to cut down on salt in your life; you’ll need to use more of the dried herbs than you normally would have before.
Keep in mind that without salt, sugar and fat to enhance the flavor of your dish, it’s best to use fresh herbs, but in a pinch dried herbs will do the trick, you just need to add a little extra than normal.
New Foods
I love trying new foods, this however is not true of everyone, for some people trying new foods is not an enjoyable experience at all. For someone, such as Grandma, this is not one of her favorite things to do. It’s something she considers to be an adventurous trait that some of us out there in the world possess, and of which she has no interest. However, with a little bit of trust and some good food experiences eating new meals can be easier than it usually would. Creating a meal that doesn’t make picky eaters anxious, but at the same time allows them to try something new is fairly tricky.
In the past, I have used a couple of different tactics when cooking for my little brother that makes this experience a bit easier. First, unless they directly ask you what is in the food they are about to eat, it is not necessary to list off any of the ingredients. Second, when someone has a preconceived idea regarding ingredients or spices, unless asked, let that person try it first without the bias of knowing something they normally don’t like is in the dish. Third, don’t hover, give the meal a chance to win them over, you might be surprised. Even if they don’t like it that’s okay, not everything is going to be a winner. There are things that my brother just won’t eat, Zucchini for instance, if it is in something, he just picks them out and eats the rest of the meal. Does he like lemon, no, but everyone has preferences and sometimes good food can win someone over. Don’t sweat it, if it doesn’t win them over, you’ll make a hundred other dishes that they’ll love.
With Grandma, she does not like spicy food, so to avoid a pre-judgement of the meal, I don’t mention things like “this has cayenne in it”, instead I let her eat it without a judgement based on one ingredient. The mind is a powerful thing and if you are anticipating something spicy that is all you will focus on. Things like cayenne or red pepper flakes in a dish are something that I personally add in conservative quantities when cooking for her. The dish isn’t so “hot” or “spicy” that it is inedible, it has some warmth and flavor when these ingredients are used. I love spicy foods, but I do consider the other person’s palate when it comes to taste. What has made this harder is the knowledge that something has been subtracted from your diet specifically her diet, and she’s still adjusting to the new norm.
Is it challenging to try to compensate for a flavor in a dish when you are combating dietary restrictions for health needs and the fact that the person eating has lost a lot of their sense of taste? This simple answer is, yes. Without being able to use a lot of salt or sugar, it is helpful to have as many spices at your disposable to flavor a dish. Having fresh herbs and grinding your own spices can help because the flavor has a lot more punch to it. There isn’t anything that you, as a cook, can do about the lack of being able to taste as well as before, but what you can try to do is pay attention to how you plate the meal. If it looks delicious, then you are more likely to be pleased while consuming it. I use loads of colorful ingredients and work with different visual aspects, such as texture or garnishments to enhance the presentation. As you get older, it is harder to find flavor, food doesn’t seem to taste the same way anymore and as my aunt says, older folks only seem to want sweet and salty foods. Unfortunately, these are two of the very things we are having to moderate on this diet.
Changing someone’s diet, even your own, is going to be difficult and there are going to be bad days. Don’t let the pitfalls or obstacles stop you from trying new things, these bumps in the road are simply unavoidable, because sometimes it’s the bumps in the road that turn into the most satisfying culinary gems.
~Ginny
