Preparing good meal for your guests
This afternoon, an Australian family came over to dine with us. Ms. E. – the lover of my friend (Vietnamese) – lives in Melbourne – where the Vietnamese community is very big, so she also knows quite a lot of Vietnamese food.
The menu I treated her family was simple:
. Simmered shrimps with pork
. Stir-fried buffalo with Aganonerion leaves (lá giang)
. Sour soup with strabismus fish and starfruit
. Fried tofu
. Stir-fried chive flowers with garlic
. Steamed okra with soya cheese dipping sauce (đậu bắp chấm chao)
Serve with rice
One dish was missing in the photo because he took the photo while I was still standing in the kitchen, not finished my cooking yet ^ _ ^
I will share with you my experience when making a guest menu like this. Firstly, you should ensure that the menu has meat – fish – seafood – vegetables, because each person’s preferences are different, so I pay attention to choose the dish so that everyone can eat it. Usually, I cook 4 main dishes and serve 2 more side dishes to make the dinning table diversified. 4 main dishes include 1 braised dish, 1 fried dish, 1 stir-fried dish, and 1 soup. 2 side dishes can be boiled, stir-fried, or mixed. Secondly, the dishes should have a balance between light – salty – sweet – sour tastes, helping people to change the taste constantly and not get sick, because on the Vietnamese table, the dishes are displayed at the same time, and people will eat all the dishes alternately. For the spiciness, I would like to ask in advance if anyone cannot eat spicy food and accordingly add a little pepper and chili depending on each dish. Thirdly, the color of the dishes should be diverse but harmonious so that when presented on the dining table, the dishes look delicious.
I often choose to buy seasonal fruits for dessert because I am living in a paradise of fresh fruits, so I can freely introduce my guests this is mangosteen, longan, rambutan, jackfruit, and mango and so on. If that day I am hard-working enough to cook a sweet soup (chè) as a dessert, I would deduct a side dish from the menu above.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a message. When I have a chance to cook for my guests again, I will show you some more good dishes. Hope you and your family have delicious meals together! ?
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Reference links:
. Stir-fried buffalo with Aganonerion leaves (lá giang)
. Sour soup with strabismus fish and starfruit:
