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• Vietnamese Dumplings

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Mung bean or shrimp-filled? My answer to that is yes. When I went home a few weeks ago, my dad’s top spread (which included the previously mentioned cucumber salad) presented us with a bed of soft and white pillows. Food pillows. Filled with delicious foodstuffs. Not cotton or feathers.

When I saw the small crescent shaped balls of glutinous goodness, childhood memories of stuffing my face with these doughy delights clouded my mind. They are made with rice flour dough, shaped into little circles by hand. The stuffing is cooked separately and usually allowed to cool a little before handling. These particular dumplings were filled with a shrimp and pork mixture and a vegetarian-friendly mung bean filling. The shrimp mixture is more savory while the mung bean has a hint of sweetness to it. An accompanying dipping sauce is usually served called nuoc mam or nouc cham, which is composed of fish sauce, chilies, and sugar to balance out the saltiness from the fish sauce.

The good thing about having two kinds of dumplings that day is that there were more dumplings for me to consume. The bad thing was that there were more dumplings for me to consume. They may be small and cute, but they’re dangerous when eaten in copious amounts. Dangerous because eating too many will result in wanting to eat more later on because you have become addicted. You have been warned.