‘Your own Viet-Cajun party’: Thi Le’s spicy seafood boil-up recipe

Use any combination of seafood, says the Vietnamese Australian chef who owns Melbourne’s Anchovy, Ca Com and Jeow. When cooked, tip the lot on to a table and dig inGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailMum has told me a few iterations of how she ended up in Australia: one was because my biological father had been sent to Australia rather than the US after leaving the refugee camp; another because she heard Australia was a much nicer place. Either way, while my cousins made it to the US to meet up with the other relatives, Mum found her way into Australia.This dish takes inspiration from my cousins in the US. It’s the ultimate viet kieu (which translates to “overseas Vietnamese”) story – migrants and naturalised Vietnamese forced to find a living in a new area, then adapting a local dish by amping it up with Vietnamese condiments: lemongrass, orange wedges, spring onion oil, ginger, butter, muối tiêu chanh (salt, pepper and citrus). The practice of boil-ups is hardly foreign to generations of Vietnamese regardless of location – fresh seafood hauled on to land, boiled, seasoned and enjoyed with lots of beer and a healthy dose of shit-talking.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...