Eden Center - The Taste of Vietnam

Caramelized fish at Rice Paper

The Eden Center is known for its Vietnamese restaurants and stores. I recently visited one of the more popular of these establishments, Rice Paper and a family-run restaurant Huong-viet.

Consistent with the Vietnamese food I have experienced up to that point, the food I tried at both these restaurants was flavorful but not too heavy. We tried a few dishes - Autumn rolls with shrimp and crab, garden rolls with shrimp (rolled in rice paper), caramelized fish in clay pot, caramelized shrimp, roasted quail and a pho.

Roasted quail at Huong-Viet

While I preferred the quail at Huong-viet, the caramelized fish was tastier at Rice Paper than the caramelized shrimp at the former restaurant. Overall, the food was perfectly seasoned, perfectly executed, and very reasonably priced. One thing I love about Vietnamese cuisine are the fresh vegetables served on the side. For instance, the quail was served on a bed of green veggies. However, on the flip side, these dishes were not particularly heavy on the protein, which left us wishing for larger portions of meat.

Their menus also included hot pots, a variety of protein-based soups (or pho), and a range of appetizers and salads. These are on my list for our next visit to the Eden Center.

Mutton Curry

By Lubna Usman-Rifat : "A simple, easy to make recipe but special because its my 8-year old son, Kibriya's favorite mutton curry".

Ingredients
1/2 kg goat/mutton
2 large onions
1 inch cinnamon
1 pod cardomom
1 bay leaf
2 cloves
2 red chilies
Salt to taste

For the Marinade 
1 inch cinnamon
1 inch ginger
6 garlic pods
2 cardamom
1 bay leaf
3 red chilies
2 cloves
1 spoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons coriander powder

Step 1: Blend all the ingredients for the marinade and apply on washed meat. Set aside for 4 hours.

Step 2: Take a pressure cooker, put in on flame. Dry roast 1 inch cinnamon, pop open a pod of cardomon, one bay leaf, two cloves, two chopped red chilies for a minute. Keep an eye, dont let it smoke.

Step 3: Add 3 tablespoon oil, and fry finely diced onion until brown for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Step 4: Add the meat and fry for 15-20 minutes until the meat changes color. Add salt.

Step 5: Add water up to the level of meat (maybe an inch higher).

Step 6: Put the lid on and pressure cook (approximately 15 whistles). Add coriander leaves/mint for garnish.