In the garden, March 2nd, 2015
The Chesnok garlic are extremely happy and doing quite well. The matte green leaves invoke memories of drawing and coloring plants and leaves with Crayloa Green. It is a color I would later discover to not be representive of real foilage. Real foilage tends to be a brighter and glossy green.
I wonder if the leaf causes the radish to stay under the soil. The next radishes planted will make for a good experiment.
![#gardentotable #dưamón (Vietnamese dried then refrigerator pickled daikon radish) with my aunt's homemade #banhtet (sweet rice roll with mung bean and fatty pork seasoned with salt & Sichuan pepper*; tightly wrapped with banana leaves and boiled.)
*Teochew variation
Banh Tet is 'Cake of the Spring Festival.' It is made and given as gifts in South Vietnam and where this culture resides. [Photo 4: banh Tet dressed with festival paper.]
It is therefore a common food of the #springfestival. [Photo 3: banh Tet before it is crisped up with some oil on a pan.]
While it is often crisped up and consumed, an accompanying pickle can be used to add another element to this simple comfort food. From our garden we used a volunteer daikon radish and a couple of 'Bolero' carrots. I made this from memory of my dad making it. I cut the daikon into steak fries shape and dehydrated them. For the brine my mom advised. It consists of fish sauce, sugar, and water. The concentrates are dependent on taste and the strength and salinity of the fish sauce.
My dad preferred it on the saltier side; whereas traditional Vietnamese flavor profiles prefer salty and sweet.
[Photo 2: All said and done, reusing a food jar is key to maximum wholesomeness 😉😝😅]
Note: There appears to be two variations of dua mon-- traditional Vietnamese and Teochew. By dehydrating instead of sweating (partially removing water,) the daikon is crunchy and elastic; making it a very classic #teochew texture profile.
See more Spring Festival/Chinese Lunar New Year/#Tet posts at: #ned_springfestival](https://scontent-bos5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/427935298_939543330529922_6652804083994273886_n.heic?stp=dst-jpg_tt6&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=vkEDByqoZx0Q7kNvgHmpPVO&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=AQ0O70jJaui1vEB9PUvt3AX&oh=00_AYBk3qRj1cCMa6BqfnEwNod7NHlW62OWfOkbJHhY2vTRcw&oe=675657AE)
. The ghostly photo was create
