All posts filed under: Eat

Phu Quoc’s Grilled Shellfish with Herbs and Crushed Peanuts

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Vietnam is surrounded by seas and filled with rivers bringing with it an abundance of freshwater and saltwater seafood.  Last week, Thai-Anh took you on her weekend in Phu Quoc where seafood is cooked in its most simplistic form to highlight the freshness and taste of the sea. One of the easiest dishes to make that she had while staying in Phu Quoc was grilled clams with herbs.  Like most Vietnamese cuisine, this simple dish has a melodic combination of herbs, crunchiness and of course, chewy clams.  Here is our recreation of this classic and very easy dish from Phu Quoc. Ingredients   Shellfish: 2 pounds  of any type of large shellfish (clams and oysters).  Use the larger variety if you are putting them directly on the grill. Toppings: 1 cup of culantro finely chopped (Culantro has long, serrated leaves and is used often in Caribbean, Mexican and Asian cooking.) 1 cup of cilantro finely chopped 1 cup of Thai basil finely chopped (i.e. Asian basil. It is a variety of sweet basil commonly used …

Vietnamese BBQ: Lemongrass Marinade and the Chicken Skewers

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Every culture has some form of street food.  The United States has hot dogs and pretzels.  Vietnam has a whole culinary dictionary of street delights.  One of the most common snack is meat skewer marinated in fragrant lemongrass and fish sauce grilled over these tiny aluminum boxes filled with flaming coals on a hidden alley somewhere.  These grilled skewers became a staple of Vietnamese restaurants in the US and worldwide.  Every family has a marinade recipe of the same ingredients but in different proportions. This is our family’s recipe that we serve at the restaurants and at home over the years. The trick to this recipe is to marinate the meat overnight.  We tried it with just ½ an hour and it was still delicious.  I highly suggest marinating these overnight and even leaving them in the freezer during the week until you are ready to consume them. We grilled these chicken skewers over a traditional Vietnamese charcoal box, but you can easily do this on any grill or on the stove.  The combination of …

Honeycomb Cake / Bánh Bò Nướng

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One of my favorite childhood treats is this sweet, fragrant and chewy sponge cake called bánh bò nướng.  The cake is made from rice flour, water, sugar, and yeast. It has a honeycomb-like appearance on the inside due to the presence of small air bubbles. This is why it is called a honeycomb cake. Coconut cream is included in the cake batter revealing a slight flavor and aroma of coconut.  It is a very simple recipe but the result lies in the baking technique which we are excited to show you in this post. Ingredients: 14 oz (approximately 1 package) of tapioca starch flour. This equals to 2 cups. 1 can coconut cream – 14 fluid oz 1 stick of unsalted butter and a little extra to coat the pan 2 cups of sugar 2 bags of Alsa baking powder (5 teaspoons of single acting baking powder) 8 eggs 2 bags of vanilla sugar or 2 tablespoons of good vanilla extract 1 tablespoon of pandan flavored paste or syrup (not essence) – preferred brand is …

Canh Chua (Countryside Sweet and Sour Soup)

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In last week’s Eat post, we made ca kho to or catfish braised in a clay pot.  This week we will explore a companion dish called canh chua ca.  This is a wonderful complex, yet simple soup.  Vietnamese soup is a meal in itself and is usually eaten with rice and shared family style.  This soup is traditionally made with the head and tail of a catfish or whatever fish that the family is eating that day.  You can substitute the protein with shrimp, salmon or any other type of fish or seafood that you would like to eat. There are two ingredients (bạc hà and rau om) that may be hard to find if there is not an Asian supermarket nearby or if it’s out of season.  Bạc hà is the porous stem of a type of taro plant’s leaves with a sponge like texture when cooked.  You can usually find it shrink wrapped in a styrofoam tray at your asian supermarket in the summer.  Due to bạc hà’s porous stem, the stem soaks …

Ca Kho To (Fish Braised with Caramel Sauce in a Clay Pot)

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My all time favorite meal in the countryside of Vietnam, especially around the Mekong Delta, is the braised catfish in a sweet, salty and slightly sticky sauce cooked in a clay pot.  Whenever I think of my favorite home cooking in Vietnam, I dream of ca kho to (catfish braised in a clay pot) and canh chua (sweet and sour soup).  They are traditionally paired together as most family would buy one fish for dinner. They would use the filets for the ca kho to and the head and tail parts for the canh chua.  The sweet and sour soup complement the salty and sweet catfish nicely. In this recipe, we will make the traditional ca kho to in a clay pot with cat fish. If you don’t have a claypot, any heavy pot will work fine.  You can also use any fresh water fish instead of catfish and many restaurants also use salmon filet.  If your local grocery store does not have catfish, you can substitute with catfish nuggets.  For me, nothing beats the …

Sauce Series: Caramel for Braising Food

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One popular way to cook Vietnamese food is to braise meat and fish in a caramel sauce.  You get that sweet, slightly bitter, and salty mixture with the protein of your choice. My all time favorite meal in the countryside of Vietnam, especially around the Mekong Delta, is catfish braised with the caramel sauce in a claypot.  It does take some time to master this caramel sauce but it will last in your fridge for a while. Getting this caramel sauce right takes a few tries.  There is a crucial period when the melted sugar foams and turns into a dark coffee color. The caramelization process stops when water is added.  I had a few incidents where I waited for just a few seconds too long and was left with either burnt caramel or caramel splattering all over the stove.  Be cautious when you are attempting to make this sauce for the first time.  Once you master this sauce, the possibilities are endless. This recipe makes about 8 oz of caramel and has a medium …

Sauce Series: Peanut Dipping Sauce

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For those who have tried the famous summer rolls (rice paper wrapped with boiled shrimp, rice noodles, and herbs), you may have dipped them into a peanut sauce.  Many people assumed that the peanut sauce is just hoisin sauce mixed with peanut butter. That’s the short cut way of making a decent dipping sauce but it really lacks the depth that you would get from a restaurant’s peanut sauce. With Henry (Eat collaborator), we made the home version of the restaurant’s peanut sauce. This does take some time to make but will last in your fridge for 2-3 weeks.  You can use it as a sauce for an easy dinner of spring rolls or toss it with noodles and vegetables for a quick noodle salad bowl.  You can even have a summer rolls party where guests can assemble their own version to their taste. Ingredients: 2 tbs split mung bean (you may need to find this at an Asian grocer) 2 tbs sweet rice (this is glutenous rice and very different from plain jasmine rice) …

Vietnamese Sesame Mochi Dessert in Ginger Syrup (Semi Homemade)

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Some of my favorite childhood afternoon snacks are a bowl of silken tofu custard topped with spoonfuls of ginger syrup or chè trôi nước.  The common denominator was the sweet and slightly spicy ginger syrup.  Unfortunately, it takes some time to make either of those desserts in the traditional way.  My mom came up with a brilliant solution for the semi-homemade snacks, which I will explore today. Chè  is a vietnamese sweet dessert “soup”.  It is generally filled with various ingredients from beans to gelatin in a “soup” form served as an afternoon snack on the streets of Vietnam.  Chè trôi nước is a Vietnamese dessert consisting of balls made from mung bean paste wrapped in a shell made of glutinous rice flour. The balls are served in a thick, sweet clear or brown liquid made of water, sugar, and grated ginger root.  In this post, we will tackle the easy version of chè trôi nước or sesame mochi dessert in a ginger syrup.  We will top this dessert with some coconut cream and toasted …

Traditional Fish Cake and the Burger

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It seems that every culture has a form of fried fish cake. My mom used to make a patty of fish paste and other ingredients while I was growing up. She would then fry it up and served it over vermicelli noodles and fresh herbs. In the Vietnamese culinary tradition, this simple fish cake appears in numerous recipes including bun cha ca (fried fish cake vermicelli soup), summer rolls or sandwiches. I decided to take this fish cake to a whole new level: the American burger. Placing a fried fish patty on a soft brioche bun and a variety of other herbs/condiments will result in a mouth watering treat. Traditional Fish Cake Ingredients: Approximately 1 lb fillet of a firm fish like snapper ½ teaspoon of salt 1 teaspoon of sugar 1 teaspoon of pepper ½ teaspoon of fish sauce 2 teaspoon of cornstarch ½ teaspoon of baking powder garlic 2 stalks of green onions (use only the bottom white portion) Directions: In a food processor, combine all the ingredients and blend until a paste …

Bánh Mì Series: Vietnamese Garlic Mayonnaise

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I spent the early years of my childhood in Vietnam.  One memory that stood out in my mind is going to buy banh mi (the famous Vietnamese take on the sandwich bursting with flavors of the colonial French and the many herbs and vegetables of the Vietnamese countryside).  This sandwich would be smothered in a garlicky mayonnaise, creamy pate, various cold cuts, pickled carrots and radishes and topped with cilantro, soy sauce and hot pepper paste.  Many of the ingredients are not easily available in most US cities but I can replicate that memory with just good homemade mayonnaise and crusty french bread. This recipe makes approximately 1 cup of garlic mayonnaise and can last 2-3 weeks in the fridge.  You will need 3 very fresh egg yolks as this is a “raw” recipe.  In addition, you should have a small food processor.  I have a Proctor and Silex 1 ½ cup food chopper.  Ideally you should have a food chopper/processor with a spout for this recipe. You will see why the spout is important …