My husband, Ella and I just got home from the local Asian supermarket and it was a wonderful trip! I just love it there. It reminds me of shopping in Hanoi, only it's much larger here. We found wonderful treats and goodies for our Tet party and lots of the ingredients I needed to make some Tet recipes. The next few posts are going to be the recipes I'm going to try on Sunday. I'll let you know how it all goes :) And I'll post pics of all the goodies we found at the supermarket~who knew that candied water chestnuts were a treat?!? But we got them, so we'll see!

Vietnamese Style Vegetarian Curry Soup
from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 inch piece fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
1 stalk lemon grass, cut into 2 inch pieces
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diagonally sliced
8 mushrooms, sliced
1 pound fried tofu, cut into bite-size pieces
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetarian fish sauce (optional)
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
2 kaffir lime leaves
8 small potatoes, quartered
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

2 cups fresh bean sprouts, for garnish
8 sprigs fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Saute onion and shallots until soft and translucent. Stir in garlic, ginger, lemon grass and curry powder. Cook for about 5 minutes, to release the flavors of the curry. Stir in green pepper, carrots, mushrooms and tofu. Pour in vegetable stock and water. Season with fish sauce and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then stir in potatoes and coconut milk. When soup returns to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 40 to 60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Garnish each bowl with a pile of bean sprouts and cilantro.