Coconut Pandan Waffles

Difficulty: Easy

Growing up, I never had pandan anything.  I was very unfamiliar with pandan and actually thought it was a vanilla leaf.  I tried pandan waffles for the first time in Houston at the grand opening of Lee's Sandwich on Bellaire.  They pour a thin batter on a waffle iron, which produce this thin crispy waffle.  It's texture was very similar to the waffle cones.

If you have access to fresh pandan, use it instead of the paste that is readily available in stores. Just cut up the leaves, blend with some water, pour through sieve, and filter the juice with a coffee filter.  What's left in the coffee filter is the paste.

I came up with this recipe by using different Belgium waffle recipes that I googled online.  I replaced milk with coconut milk and replaced vanilla with pandan.

For the pandan coconut waffles:
2 egg
1 1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp pandan paste
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp wheat or corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp salt

Beat eggs until fluffy. Add sugar and coconut milk. Combine well. Add the pandan paste. Set aside.
Combine flour, starch, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet in two portions. Mix well each time to make sure that there is no lumps. Add the coconut flakes. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes.

Heat up your waffle iron. Please refer to your individual owners manuals on how to use it.  

Gỏi Cuốn - Spring Rolls

Difficulty: Medium to Hard

Goi means salad mixture and cuon means rolled.  As you can see in the picture, it is a pork and shrimp salad. The great thing about goi cuon is that you build your own.  You can put as much or as little as you like of something. The majority of people who have eaten Vietnamese food have tried goi cuon and know this is a classic dish served in every Vietnamese restaurant in America.  This post will serve as an introduction to people who have never eaten goi cuon before.  The post will also show people how to roll it in a nice and tight fashion. I hope you enjoy.


1/4 lb large size shrimp, peeled, deveined,  cut in half lengthwise
1/4 lb boiled pork or chicken, sliced thinly
1 pkg rice paper
1 head soft large leaf lettuce or iceburg cut into strips
1 cucumber
1 bundle rice sticks / noodles (not banh pho noodles)
Garlic chives, optional
Mint, optional
Perilla, optional

Peanut Sauce


Boil your pork and/or chicken until cooked.  Allow for it to rest before slicing it thinly.  Boil your shrimp before cutting lengthwise, otherwise the shrimp will curl up into a tight wad.

There's usually 2-3 bundles in pkg.

Heat up some water in a kettle. Take a bundle out of package and place it in a large bowl.  Pour boiling water of the noodles and cover your large bowl so the noodles can cook.  After about 10 minutes, check the noodles.  You want the noodles to be soft and not al dente.  Rinse the noodles in cold water and set aside.

Cut cucumber in half lengthwise and slice it to 3-4 inch long strips.

Prepare your lettuce and allow to dry.












Prepare the table with a bowl or large pan of warm water to dip the rice paper in.

Dip the rice paper in water.  You don't want it to be soft and limp.  It will become soft and pliable as you make the roll.

Add noodles first if you are using iceberg (other lettuce would be first)

Add iceburg lettuce (otherwise the noodles would sit in the soft leaf lettuce)

Add cucumber

Add your pork and/or chicken

take the bottom up and fold it up. pull back towards you if needed to keep it tight

add shrimp with the pretty facing the bottom

roll up sides so it is straight

fold the sides towards the center. if you are using the garlic chives, this is the stage you would tuck it in

roll it up

Bánh Cuốn - Rice Sheet Rolls

Bánh cuốn made in Vietnam is made by stretching a piece of cotton fabric over a pot of steaming water and pouring a thin layer of batter over the fabric to produce a thin round sheet of noodle. This dish is very similar to the dim sum dish called rice paste.  My parents use to slave over the stove to make these sheets.  Spread it thin to make these rolls or spread it thick to dry them out in the sun to make rice crackers.   

The steaming process seems very daunting, but worth it if you have the patience to do it old school. When I was in college, a student at Florida State showed me that it can be made in a pan. That was 15 years ago!!! It's easy and doesn't require lots of practice to make it.

Difficulty: Hard (Time Consuming)

Batter:

1 - 16 oz bag rice flour

1.5 cups tapioca starch (which is about 1/2 - 14 oz bag)

1 Tbsp oil

1/8 tsp salt

6 cups warm water

or

2 -12oz  package of prepared banh cuon flour (see picture below for reference)

Filling:

1 lb ground chicken or pork

1 cup wood ear mushroom, re-hydrated in warm water, drained well, chopped finely

1 cup chopped onion

1 tsp fish sauce

Black pepper

Topping:

Fried Shallots

Fried Garlic

Assembly:

Flat plate, tray, or counter-top

Foil, piece larger than your pan cooking surface

Neutral oil or non-stick cooking spray

Sheet of paper towel or a pastry brush 

     

Plating:

Nuoc Cham

Cucumber cut into match sticks

Lettuce

Cha Lua

 

These are the two pre-packaged brands I have tried.  I like the white bag.

Empty the batter ingredients into a large bowl and stir well.  Set aside for about an hour for batter to "bloom" before using it.

Make the filling by heating up a pan with some cooking oil.  Add chopped onions and sauteed for a couple of minutes.  Add your ground protein and brown it.  Make sure that you break up the meat well so there aren't any large chunks.  Right before finishing, add the remaining filling ingredients.  Combine well.  Set aside to cool.

Heat a 8-10 inch non-stick frying pan on low-medium heat.  Use a paper towel or brush to coat the pan with oil. Stir the batter well, then ladle the batter into the pan.  Swirl the pan so that the batter covers the bottom of the pan.  Place a lid over the pan for 1 or 3 minutes.   You are looking for smooth sheet.  It is has bubbles in it, it means the heat is too high.  Bubbles isn't a bad thing.  It eats just as good.

Flip the rice sheet onto a greased aluminum foil lined plate, tray or counter-top.  Spoon the filling mixture in the middle of the sheet.  Fold the sides towards the center. The bottom and top towards the center.  Place the bánh cuốn, seam side down, on a plate and top it with some fried shallots and/or fried garlic.

Photo courtesy of Hieng Kayla Kim

Penne with Sausage

Pictured here with portobello mushroom and light sauce

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

After having my first child, food changed for me.  One of the first things that changed for me was spaghetti.  I didn't enjoy eating spaghetti any longer and give up on it but it is one of my husband's favorite cheap and fast go to meals.  After adding more organic foods to the family's meals, my husband re-approached the red sauce because I was buying organic canned tomatoes to make bun rieu/crab or shrimp dumpling noodle soup.

After trying this recipe, you will never need to give Ragu and Prego your money again.  It is simple, flavorful, and it is delicious.  I have tried this recipe with conventional canned tomatoes and it isn't as good.  Spend the extra dollar on the organic because it is worth it.

Red sauce:
1- 28 oz can organic whole peeled tomatoes
8 leaves sweet basil, chopped or chiffonade
2 cloves crushed and minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced

Sausage:
1/2 lb ground pork, turkey, or chicken
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/3 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp thyme
or
3 sweet Italian sausage without the casing

1/2 box penne

Prepping the sausage:
Start by making the seasoning for the sausage.  Add the dry ingredients together and blend it well.  Add the ground meat and mix it well.  Make sure that the spices is evenly distributed throughout the meat.  Set aside and allow the mixture to set for at least 1 hour.

Prepping the canned tomatoes:
Pour the contents of the canned tomato in a large bowl.  With very clean and dry hands, crush the tomatoes with your hands. You don't want large chunks.  Aim at tearing each whole tomato into 4-6 pieces.

Prepare the pasta based on the package instruction.  Do not rinse the pasta after you finish.

Heat up some oil in a large stock pot, enough to cover the bottom of the pot.  Make sure that your sausage is near by. Cook the garlic and diced onions until the onions are soft.  Add the sausage.  Use a spoon to break up the sausage into small pieces.  Pour the tomato sauce in and lower the heat.  Allow for the sauce to simmer for about 5-7 minutes.  Finish the sauce off with the sweet basil.  Add the pasta to the sauce and combine it.  Add cheese if you desire.

Cánh Gà Chiên Xì Dầu/Nước Tương - Cambodian Chicken

Difficulty: Medium

I was introduced to cánh gà chiên xì dầu in college by my roommates. We called it Cambodian chicken because the girl that introduced it to us was Khmer Krom.  Cánh gà chiên nước tương is another name for the dish.  Xì dầu is Cantonese and nước tương is Vietnamese for soy sauce. Who knew I spoke some Cantonese.

I am going to share the version I learned in college.  But I will also share the link for the recipe from a true Khmer Krom.

10 whole wings
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sambal oelek
Oil

Cut wings at the joint.  Wash and drain well.  In a large saucepan, heat up some oil and fry the wing portions. It should take about 12 minutes for it to be cook through, about 15 minutes to be crispy.  When done, place the wings on some paper towels to remove any excess oil.

Mix the soy sauce, sugar, and sambal oelek.  Toss the wings in the sauce.  Allow for the wings to sit in the sauce for about 5 minutes before serving.