Single Woman Picks A Date Based On Their Vietnamese Cooking • Plate To Date

She chose a man to date based ONLY on his best Vietnamese dish. But "is he even Vietnamese??"

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#platetodate

[pokedlow]

“We cooked the dishes, but she’s cooking you “ I felt that

[vinh-khoile]

Hey everyone, Vinh-Khoi here (Contestant #2). Just wanted to provide some more context with regards to the actual dish since I put a lot of thought into it.

1) Ram bắp is a dish that originated from my hometown Quảng Ngãi and is eaten as a savory dish or a light snack. It's a dish that's not sold in America and even Vietnamese people outside of my hometown don't know this dish, so don't judge Yen too harshly for being caught off-guard lol.  I wanted to make a vegan variant of this dish and wanted to go for something that was light and refreshing.
2) The star ingredient of this dish is the corn (bắp) filling. I used American sweet corn (bắp Mỹ) because of its natural sweetness (no extra sugar is needed). Actually thought about using blue corn for a twist but decided against it for this version. 
3) Along with corn, the filling consists of shallots, chives, salt, and pepper. I used bigger shallots for the crunch factor (but also I didn't have access to the small shallots from Lý Sơn). I used freshly grounded Himalayan salt and pepper to give the corn a more natural and pronounced flavor profile. People can add ground pork as well; I don't like adding meat in my filling and as said above, I was making a vegan variant. I also don't like bột nêm in mine.
4) You can mash the ingredients to make a smoother blend for the filling, but I like the uneveness of the flavor profile and textures of the corn kernels and diced shallots.
5) People usually roll the filling using the special rice paper (bánh tráng) from Quảng Ngãi that you can roll without having to dip in water. I obviously don't have access to this rice paper in America and I really don't like frying with the dry ones, so went with the wheat ones.
6) I made my rolls flat and short as opposed to long and thin, which is more typical, due to limitations of the wheat papers I had. Also I like my rolls small (to be eaten in two bites), so didn't oversize my rolls.
7) I fried using extra virgin olive oil as I thought it would impart more depth of flavor to the rolls without feeling so heavy. These rolls are generally fried at medium heat until brown.
8) You cannot eat ram bắp without a plate of fresh vegetables. I had butter lettuce, cilantro, mint, and cucumber as my vegetables of choice. I wanted to add diếp cá as well but I couldn't find it in the store.
9) We do use nước chấm made from fish sauce to dip our spring rolls, and Quảng Ngãi people like ours extra salty and spicy. However, I was making a vegan variant and wanted a dipping sauce that was equally salty and spicy but didn't contain any added sugar as that would take away from the sweetness of the corn. So I used extra salty soy sauce, Thai chilies, and a squeeze of lime juice for brightness. I also added fermented bean curd (chao) as I thought it would give more body and fragrance to the sauce while aiding in digestion.
10) This was a very fun video to shoot and everyone got along very well on set haha.

[jenniferm]

She wants traditional cuisine that's not mainstream but when a guy gives her just that (literally a dish from his home town) he can't possibly be Vietnamese as 'we' don't put corn in 'our' egg rolls. Well he did so I'm pretty sure that you do.

[raisaraha]

The know-it-all attitude just threw me off. “He’s not Vietnamese” “Why is there corn” “doesn’t taste Vietnamese” honestly she could’ve phrased her words better. Admitting that you don’t know something just seem hard? M

[FiRefLy]

When she said you don’t put corn in egg rolls… my girl.. you have not been through the whole country have you 😩

[cr]

I really wanted her to choose Vinh-Khoi😭😭💔 he’s so sweet & seems like a genuine dude who stays true to himself

[trianenopenottrian]

I just don't like when people think their region speaks for the entire country. Let alone don't be rude. I know they think it's being sassy but it's rude.

[ngocminhtran]

I'm a legit Vietnamese for 21 years and the ram bắp (the one she called egg roll) is a dish that I have never heard about. It's a real local dish and I think there is nothing wrong with Yen when she could not recognize it, and tbh 'ram bắp' looks like a combination of Taiwan egg rolls and 'chả giò' to me so lol just chill. Furthermore, the first guy's dish, 'bánh khọt', also come from a province in Vietnam (Huế) but it is a little bit well-knowned than 'bánh khọt' because Huế used to be Vietnamese capital. Vietnamese food is so diverse even local people cannot know it all (fun fact: we have over 100 types of noodles, and not everyone know that).

[paris]

"You don't look like a straight A student"
Man this girl be roasting 💀💀

[asianboiz]

In my opinion, Vinh-Khoi dish looks more Vietnamese than Terry and Johnny dishes. Because from what I can see, Vinh-Khoi just wanted to re-create the dish from his hometown, while the other two was being a little creative with their cooking. Not that is bad though.

Oh and similar to Vinh-Khoi dish, unless you already know, the bánh khọt (Terry dish) is mostly eaten in the South. While in Nha Trang city (Central) where I am from, we eat bánh căn. The dish is similar to bánh khọt, but the main difference is that the Southern version is fried on a shaped cooking pan, while our is grilled in a mini clay pot, which is grilled on a clay grill. And from the North, at least within the proximity of Ha Noi or in a small town of Thai Nguyen where my mother side of the family are from, they don’t have a version of this mini like pancakes.

[yellofury]

When I met my wife my family owned a sushi bar. She said some ppl marry for money I married for my husband and his family’s cooking.

[maycisne]

She's a food blogger so probably knows a little more about Vietnamese food than this shows since this is a short video. But, really, the sneering of the eggroll from Central Vietnam, the rejection of soy sauce as a dipping sauce cause it wasn't Vietnamese enough, and selecting banh mi as your ultimate Vietnamese dish.... just absolutely tasteless.

[lufrall]

She too confident in her own knowledge.

[Emilyrose]

Cant really get mad at her for not knowing about the egg roll dish. My family is from central Vietnam and literally none of them has ever heard of corn in egg rolls when asked. Of course she’s not gonna know every local dish in Vietnam that would be unreasonable

[riversduggan]

I wish they showed a bit more of them talking afterwards

[Angie-bhgv]

I feel so bad for Vinh-Khôi because Johnny and Terry are making fun and not really talking to him

[DungForever]

This is the first time I seen so many of my own people on a mainstream YouTube channel and I'm full of pride 🥰🥰🥰

[ministigace]

It seems like she's trying a bit too hard to be Vietnamese. They should have made bún đậu mắm tôm instead, that would have been the real wildcard:)))

[MrHabs]

Dude who cooked authentic Vietnamese spring rolls and she chooses the Bahn Mi which wasn't even a things until after the late 1970's after French occupation. She certainly knows a lot about "authentic" Vietnamese cooking.

[brokentempest]

It's so weird for me seeing all the mainland Viet people in here not knowing Ram Bắp in Quang Ngai. While a lot of people from Quang Ngai that i know are very knowledgeable about others local cuisine.