Tag: tuan

Cà tím tàu hủ (Eggplant Tofu)

Thịt ba chỉ (bacon or pork chop) bite size.
Marinate and do a quick stir-fry with some cooking oil – depending on how much fat you already have in the meat.)
I do it straight in my pressure cooker, minced garlic optional.

Add the sliced eggplant (whatever size you like, long or round) and pre deep-fried tofu.
Sprinkle in some salt. Add some turmeric powder.
Add oyster sauce if you like.
Cook it to the tenderness of your choice.
Add as much tía tô as you like, maybe 5 minutes before serving.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiso

Toward the end, taste it, and add more oyster sauce if needed.
I usually add a little shrimp paste (which can make a big difference in the taste.)
Add more turmeric powder if needed.
You would need to make the dish a few times before you know how much of each type of seasoning and herbs to use.
Some people like it with tomato and betel leaves. (And without meat).

I only use about a third of the water, and don’t find the need to blanch the eggplant since the cooker can do the job with less water.

Like so:
https://youtu.be/9ucCLEw_phU

 

Gà hầm sả ớt

My latest venture is a type of small chicken.
It’s small like a cornish hen and it takes a while to cook if using a regular pot.
It’s not all soft like the regular chicken you buy at the supermarket.
It’s firm but tender at the same time.
It’s called stewing chicken or stewing hen.
Thịt nó chắc tương đương gà tre của VN mình á.

http://wholenaturallife.com/how-to-cook-stewing-hens/

All you need is lemon grass and dried chili pepper (the dried chili pepper can be found at the dollar store or 99 cent store).
Smash one or two stalks of lemongrass and throw them into the slow cooker (I use the leaves also).
Add a little salt with some water (however much up to you).
I like to eat the hen with vermicelli so I use more water – just like when I cook “bún thang”.
When the meat is tender to your liking, adjust the seasoning.
I add some chicken powder and fish sauce.

The hen is small; it will fit into the pot and you don’t even need to season it beforehand.
If you like mushrooms, use nấm hương (Shiitake mushroom) or nấm mèo (wood ear mushroom).
Bamboo shoots will do, too.
As do carrots, celery… just try whatever you like.

 

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

INGREDIENTS
All the ingredients are optional. Just use whatever you have on hand.

  • carrot,
  • daikon,
  • white radish,
  • jicama,
  • potato, either deep fry or stir fry it first, as it takes the longest.
  • white or yellow onions or whatever you prefer.
  • cellophane (miến) or vermicelli (bún)Softened and prepared by either let it sit in warm to cool water for however long it takes and/or boiled and rinsed dry.
  • any kind of mushroom (the more the merrier). If you use dried mushroom, you can also soften it by letting it sit in warm water for an hour or more, before slicing them into thin strips.

FRESH INGREDIENTS

  • lettuce,
  • bean sprout,
  • cucumber,
  • fresh basil,
  • mint leaves,
  • cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In the following order, add the sliced onions, carrot, dried-softened mushrooms, daikon, white radish, and everything else. Basically, you start with the tougher ingredients first. Sprinkle in some water when needed so as not to burn the ingredients.Adjust the heat accordingly.
  2. Sprinkle in some salt (with ground white or black pepper optional).
  3. The cellophane can be added in lastly.Mix everything gently but thoroughly and turn off the heat.
  4. That’s it; you’re ready to rock and roll with rice paper and the fresh ingredients.

SAUCES
Your choice of thick sauce or thin sauce.

Thick sauce:
Hoisin sauce, peanut butter, and minced roasted peanut.Add some Sriracha or Chili sauce if you like it hot.

Thin sauce:
1 part light soy sauce, 1 part sugar, 1 part lime or lemon juice (you can substitute with vinegar, just add it gradually to taste), 1 to 2 part water to taste. If you like garlic, use a clove or two or ten, finely sliced. Let the garlic have some time to marinate with the sauce. Sriracha sauce or hot chili sauce, or minced/sliced hot pepper can always be added if you prefer (or you can let the individual add it later.)

You can prepare the sauce between time, after you soften the mushroom, for example.The kicker here is to add some hoisin sauce to taste.It makes the sauce that much richer in after-taste.

If you use the thin sauce, the roasted peanuts can be added when you roll up all the goodies in with the rice paper.

Thịt Bằm

Simmered ground pork.

INGREDIENTS

  • If possible, ask for some fat in the ground pork; otherwise you can add bacon as an ingredient.  If you want it lean, that’s fine too.
  • Dice some white or yellow onions (to about a quarter of the size of your pinky fingernail.)  Remember the function of onion is to sweeten the dish.The sweetness lingers unlike with sugar; sugar brings the sweetness to the forefront.
  • Marinate the ground pork lightly with salt, pepper, and diced onions.  You’re ready to go right away.
  • If you use bacon, slice it to the size of your thumb nail.
  • Mix a teaspoon of sugar with a teaspoon of soy sauce (for about a quarter pound of ground meat) in a small bowl.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Put a pot on the stove on high heat, toss in the bacon (if you only have lean ground pork). 
  2. Otherwise, use some vegetable or corn oil.  Toss in the marinated ground pork.Brown the meat, stirring it frequently to separately it into small chunks (it’s up to you how small the chunk.)
  3. Turn the heat to medium low and add the sugar/soy sauce mixture, a little at a time.
  4. Start simmering the pot. A total of 15 minutes of cooking is enough if you want a quick meal. You can add water if you want more sauce (and more soy sauce/sugar too, to taste.)
  5. Or you can simmer the pot until the onion disintegrates; it’s totally up to you.
  6. Use it for your salad or eat with cooked rice.The sauce is for the rice.  It goes exceptionally well with fresh cucumber.
  7. You can cook once and live with rice and thịt bằm for a whole week.  Just put the leftover in a plastic container and save it in the refrigerator.  When you’re hungry, just take it out, mix it with cooked rice, put it in the microwave for a minute or so.  Add a little fish sauce and few slices of fresh cucumber.  One of the quickest meal ever, and yet very tasty.
  8. Note: I didn’t add fish sauce while cooking so as to avoid the smell; but if you’re going to finish it all in one serving, add the fish sauce toward the end of simmering.

 

Hủ Tiếu

INGREDIENTS

  • Xuong Ong heo (you can google for images) and/or neck bone and or pork baby back ribs and/or ground pork and/or  pork shoulder or butt.
  • Optional: Dried baby squid, dried shrimp, Daikon, jicama.These four items serve to enhance the sweetness in the broth without using MSG.  Find the smallest size of dried shrimp you can find
  • Optional: Shrimp, pork liver
  • Trimmings: Shallot or green onion
  • Salt, pepper,
  • Sugar
  • fish sauce are optional
  • Been sprout, and basil leaves are also optional.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. As starter, it will probably be easier to go with baby back ribs, ground pork, and fresh shrimp.  The dried shrimp and the daiKon really enhances the flavor of the broth though, so try to have them.  The ground pork goes surprisingly well with the whole thing.
  2. Wash the ribs in warm salted water (do the same if you have bones).
  3. Peel and cut the daikon/jicama into a few pieces each so they can fit into the pot. A daikon or a small jicama is good for at least 4 servings.
  4. Boil water and add the ribs/bones, ground pork, squid, dried shrimp, daikon, jicama.  Season with salt and sugar.
  5. The important thing is to have a clear both so cook without lid and remove the residue from time to time
  6. Let the water come to a boil again so the residue can rise to the top for easy removal.
  7. When most of it it has been removed, start simmering the broth.
  8. Cook for about an hour, clearing the broth every ten minutes or so.
  9. Add the fresh shrimp when you’re ready to eat.
  10. Taste and season with fish sauce and or salt.

Canh chua

Simple beef tomato soup.

INGREDIENTS

  • Beef sirloin or beef round, thinly sliced (the pinkish “thit bo tai” in Pho or used to stir fry with common stir fry dishes like Beef with Broccoli, or beef with Gai Lan, or Bun bo xao, etc.
  • Wash and rinse the beef slices and let them dry.If you don’t like gunks in the soup (if you want a clear broth), boil some water and blanch the beef for one quick minute. Use a strainer to wash and rinse the beef.Marinate the beef slices with salt and/or fish sauce.
  • Tofu (optional), soft or medium.
  • shrimp
  • Tomato, cut into wedges
  • Yellow or white onions.
    • If you like onions, use about half of a small onion, and cut into wedges
    • If you don’t care for onion, just use half of a small onion (for about 2 servings) just to add sweetness to the broth. 
  • Salt to taste.
  • Fish sauce or soy sauce (optional).

INSTRUCTIONS

A. For a light broth.

  1. In a pot, add enough water for two servings at high heat.Throw in the onion half (or wedges) and bring the water to a boil.
  2. Throw in the tomato wedges and let it cooked to the near-firmess that you like.Reduce the heat as necessary. If you prefer a medium soft tomato, cook it at medium  low heat.If you prefer a more tender tomato, cook it at medium heat.
  3. Reduce the heat to low and season the broth to taste with salt. Add some fish sauce or soy sauce if you like.
  4. Bring the heat back to high. Once it boils again, add the beef slices, and quickly cut off the heat. Done.

B. For a hearty broth.

  1. Heat up some cooking oil in a pot.
  2. Throw in the onion wedges  (in this case, smaller wedges, or even chopped onions is better) and shear for about 5 minutes at high heat (reducing the heat if it’s too hot.)
  3. Throw in the tomato wedges and do the same, adding chopped garlic if you like.You lose the firmness, but you gain color and flavor.
  4. Add water and continue with (1) as in the first method.

C. You can combine the two methods (use half of the tomato wedges to shear,  and half later)  to have both a hearty broth and some firm tomato wedges.

D. Another variation is to batter an egg or two, season lightly with salt, and add it to the pot before step 4.

I’ve used this broth (and other variations) with Mi Goi (packaged noodle) by adding stuffs like celery, bean sprout, and various herbs like Beef seasoning, Italian herbs, parsley flakes, beef stew seasoning or Vietnamese “Bo Kho” seasoning/paste, fresh parsley, fresh dills, etc.