All posts tagged: vietnamese

Gỏi đu đủ / Green Papaya Salad

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Gỏi đu đủ is one of my favorite salads in the Vietnamese cuisine.  It is a very simple and refreshing dish to make, especially in the summer.  The traditional gỏi đu đủ is made with green papaya and beef jerky.  Vietnamese beef jerky is different from American beef jerky in that the jerky is spicier, sweeter and chewier.  I have tried this recipe with American beef jerky that I get from Costco and it still tastes great.  If you do not like beef jerky, feel free to top it with your choice of protein.  This salad is typically made as an alcohol accompaniment for late night drinking in Vietnam. Try this recipe for a quick week night dinner or for your next BBQ. Ingredients 1 green papaya (about 2 cups of shredded green papaya) 1 small carrot (about ¼ cup of shredded carrots) Approximately 1/2 cup of Vietnamese basil (Rau Thom Que) or Thai basil Beef jerky (enough for at least 1/2 cup or as much as you prefer) ½ of a yellow onion Sriracha Roasted peanuts for …

Bánh patê sô (Vietnamese Meat Pastry)

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Another snack I really enjoyed as a child was bánh patê sô.  Bánh patê sô is a Vietnamese savory puff pastry that is likely derived from the French colonization.  Many of the Vietnamese cuisines have flavors and techniques from the French culinary tradition.  How else would we have the ubiquitous bánh mì which is our version of a baguette sandwich?  This pastry is made with traditional puff pastry or pâte feuilletée and filled with ground pork, bean thread noodles and mushrooms.  The beauty of this pastry is that you can fill it with whatever you fancy.  For this version, we allowed for the ground pork to shine in its simplicity.  As summer is in full swing, this is a perfect treat to take with you on a picnic or a roadtrip. This recipe makes about 9 pastry squares. Ingredients 1 package of puff pastry 1 lb of ground pork (*Optional: add 2 pieces of chicken liver grounded to mix with the pork.  This is the traditional way of making the meat mixture hence the name patê …

Mì Quảng / Quảng Nam Style Noodles for the summer

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Vietnam is famous for its noodles soups: pho, bun and many others.  When it is hot, it is hard to work up an appetite to eat a steaming bowl of noodle soup.  Lucky for us, Vietnam also has “dry” noodle dishes which are basically noodles topped with fresh vegetables and various protein and covered in a broth to wet the noodles. One of this dishes is called  Mì Quảng noodles. It is very popular in central Vietnamese cities like Da Nang.  I spent a few years living with my grandmother in Da Nang. My extended family still resides in the city.  This is my mother’s recipe for quick and easy Mì Quảng. It is an easy dish to prepare for the summer. This recipe serves 4 people and is rated medium in difficulty.  This recipe takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes depending on how fast you prepare the ingredients. Ingredients: 2 lb of pork belly 1.5 lb of shrimp with head 1 bunch of scallions 1 red romaine lettuce 1-2 cup of Mint 1-2 cup …

Bò Né (Vietnamese Steak and Eggs Breakfast)

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Every culture has its own spin on steak and eggs.   I remember running off to school with some pocket money for breakfast which would include banh mi, steamed sticky rice, soy milk and many other wonderful dishes.  Bò né is one of my favorite breakfast dishes. Who can resist a skillet of marinated beef flank with butter and sunny side up eggs served with a crusty french baguette? Bò né  literally translates into dodge beef.  I think this has to do with having to “dodge” the splatter of oil on a hot skillet when you add beef to it.  The trick to tasty bò né is to marinate the beef the night before.  This is ideal for Sunday brunch. Ingredients: 1 lb of flank steak 1 teaspoon of fish sauce 1-2 stalks of scallions diced Onion garlic butter 4 eggs (2 per person) ½ teaspoon of sesame oil 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce 1 teaspoon of sugar 1 teaspoon of pepper a pinch of 5 spice seasoning   Directions   Marinate: Trim fat off of …

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 …