Grilled Coconut Scallion Corn

What's summer without corn?  The smell of grill corn brings back great memories of childhood.  I love the simplicity of corn.  You can add a little variation to change it up.  Here is a Vietnamese favorite.


1 cup coconut milk (not the juice)
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 stalks chopped green onions/ scallion
1/4 tsp salt
8-10 ears of corn

Start your grill.  You want the grill to be about 350*F.

In a small sauce pan, add the coconut milk and sugar.  While waiting for the coconut sauce to come to a simmer, prepare the corn.  You can leave the husk on (easy way to eat) or pull the husk all off. When the sauce starts to bubble, add the salt and stir.  You will be cooking this for about 15-25 minutes, or until the sauce is thick enough to have a nice coating on the back of the spoon.  When you achieve this, take off heat and allow for it to cool for 5 minutes before adding in the chopped green onions.

Place the corn in the grill and grill the outside until you see the kernels appear glossy.  Start shellacking on the coconut sauce, one side at a time, turning that sauce side to the heat to achieve the charring.  Continuously turn the ears and shellacking on the sauce for about 12-15 minutes.

Chả Giò - Vietnamese Style Eggrolls Version 2.0

This version of egg-roll is what everyone is familiar with.  It is a flour based wrapper used to make popiah.  It was readily available in America during the early years and has replaced the rice paper as the wrapper.


Filling:
1 lb ground pork/chicken
4-5 shiitake mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup shredded cabbage
1/3 cup shredded carrots
1 small bundle mung bean thread


1 pkg egg roll/Spring roll wrapper
Oil


Note on the wrapper brands:
The wrapper choice is a personal one.  I recommend the Spring Home brand.  I know many who like Wei-Chuan but it burns too easily for me.  I don't know if it is the filling that contributes to how it cooks, but I have never had any success with Wei-Chuan.



Combine all the ingredients under filling and set aside.  Use about 2 Tbsp of filling.

Below came from my version 1.0 post.  It is a similar concept , but it is shaped like a square.  Just turn it sideways to a diamond/rhombus shape, with a corner pointing at you.

You want to make sure that your oil is hot.  Fry it until is a golden brown color.

Bò Lúc Lắc - Shaken Beef Salad

Bò Lúc Lắc literally translate to shaken beef.  Normally, the beef are cut into cubes pieces so when you cook it, it is still rare/medium rare in the middle.  The method I prefer is to do thin slices so when I marinade it, the flavors will come through.  You don't have to get a expensive cut of beef to make this dish.  I suggest a London broil because usually it a single muscle.  In order to achieve a very thin slice, you need a very sharp knife and the beef to be frozen enough where it is stiff yet pliable.

You can substitute the watercress with a lettuce.

1/2 lb beef, sliced thinly
3-5 cloves garlic, finely minced, divided
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 small or 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup white mushrooms, optional

1 large ripe tomato, vine ripen preferred
1/2 cucumber sliced in rounds or half rounds
1 pkg watercress or head lettuce of your choice (not romaine) or 1 prepackage bag of salad mix


3 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp neutral oil, like canola
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp of sugar
1-2 tsp lime juice


Marinade the thinly sliced beef with oyster sauce and half the minced garlic.  Set aside for about 15 minutes.  Heat up a pan with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Drop in the garlic, onions, and mushroom.  Sautee until the mushroom takes on color.  Add the beef and cook as long enough to your liking.

Prepare the salad and arrange on the plate.  Mix the vinaigrette and drizzle over the salad. Toss the warm beef mixture on top.

Chả Giò - Vietnamese Style Eggrolls Version 1.0

I know many of you are looking at this picture and thinking that I am crazy.  When you ordered your egg rolls at restaurants, it doesn't look like this!  I thought the very same thing 20+ years ago.  My mother told me that the flour sheets that we all are familiar with isn't what is used in Vietnam.  When I asked her why she doesn't make it like how it is made in Vietnam, she told me that the rice paper that is used, at that time, was too salty and the flour sheets are easy to fry and doesn't pose any danger when making them.

When I went away to college, I decided to give the rice paper a try.  My mother's words were right.  It is also difficult to make because the rice paper that is available in America is dry and there is an extra step of wetting them.  When I went to fry them, they bubbled up and will explode hot oil at you.

Now that I am older and more experienced with my techniques, I tried making it again with rice paper.  Now the rice paper that is available now isn't as salty before.  I buy the 16 cm rounds, so that I can wet two at a time, making process faster.  I allow the rolls to dry up a little before I start frying them.  I use a sauce pan to fry them in, instead of a frying pan.  The higher sides blocks a lot of the splattering oil.  I also cook in smaller batches, giving me the chance to control the "bubble" and avoid being hit by hot oil.

The recipe I am sharing here is a drier version of the eggrolls I normally make.  It is usually a hybrid of the Chinese version, mixing cabbage into the filling to lighten it up.  Cabbage has a higher water content and frying with the rice paper equates to a dangerous combination.

Filling:
1/2 lb ground pork/chicken
4-5 shiitake mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
1 carrot, chopped finely
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

16 cm rounds of rice paper
Oil

Combine all the ingredients under filling and set aside.

For beginners, you need to do one rice paper at a time.  Don't wet it like how you see people do it online or on tv by letting it sit in the water until it is limp.  Just dip the rice paper into the water and wet the sheet completely and put it on your flat surface immediately.  Take 1-2 tsp of the filling and add it to lower center portion of your paper.  The paper should have soften enough to work with. Fold up the bottom portion, making sure that the filling is tucked in tightly.  Fold the two sides in.  Roll up to close.  I made a diagram and I hope it is helpful.  It's like rolling a burrito.

When you are frying, add one at a time and turn it continuously in the oil.  Doing this will allow the eggroll to develop a "skin"  of bubbles.  When you see the skin of bubbles, add the next roll and do the same thing.  Repeat this process.  Don't overcrowd the pot or you will have one big eggroll.  You will fry them until it has a gold brown color.  

I love serving this with some pickled daikon and carrots with some soft leaf lettuce and Vietnamese dipping sauce.

Thuy's Wanton Soup - Sup Hoanh Thanh

Filling:
1/2 lb ground pork/chicken
2 stalks chopped green onion
2 Tbsp dried chopped onion (or 1 small onion diced and sauteed until translucent)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp sugar

Soup:
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp kosher salt, optional
2 tsp fish sauce
3 cups roughly chopped bok choy
1-2 drops of sesame seed oil

wonton wrappers
chopped green onions and cilantro


Mix all the filling ingredients and place 1/2 to 1 tsp of filling per wrapper.  Seal edges with water and set aside.

In a soup pot, sautee the garlic until fragrant and add the broth.  Throw in the wonton and bok choy.  Cook until bok choy is wilted.  Add in the remaining ingredients for the soup.  Taste and adjust to your taste.  Add the cilantro and green onions at the end.

Bánh Khọt - Bite Size Savory Pancakes

Difficulty: Medium (Time Consuming)

Normally, when I go visit my mom, there is never anything to eat!  On my last trip to to see her, she actually showed me how to make banh khot.  I didn't like her version because she loves to alter recipes to make it more healthy (bland and tasteless.)  In the recipe below, I added glutinious rice to give the cake an extra texture.  After reading a million recipes in Vietnamese (who uses the metric system) I came up with 6 Tbsp because it was 1/5 of a standard 1 lb bag of rice flour.

Batter:
1 lb rice flour (454 gr)
6 Tbsp glutinous rice flour (90 gr)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 can 13.5 oz coconut milk (400 ml)
2 stalks green onions, chopped
1.75 cups water (414 ml)

Topping:
35 shrimp, peeled, de-veined
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sugar
Black pepper
2 ounces pork belly, minced
Fish sauce

Nuoc Cham


Add the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, turmuric, coconut milk together in a large container or bowl.  Mix well and add the water.  Stir the batter to combine and allow for the batter to rest.  Add the chopped onions when you are about to start cooking.

Heat up a pan and add the minced pork belly and garlic.  Sprinkle on the sugar to help caramelized the pork belly.  Stir until almost cooked and add the shrimp.  Add the black pepper and a small splash of fish sauce. Cook until the shrimp is on the verge of turning pink and take off heat.

Heat up your aebelskiver pan on a medium-low heat.  Grease up each cup with a little oil.  Fill each cup about 1/3 way and turn the pan so the batter will coat the sides.  Drop the pork belly and shrimp in, and cover the pan.  It only take a minute or so to cook, depending on how hot your pan gets.  Poke the middle with a wooden skewer or toothpick to check for doneness.

Serve with lettuce, perilla leaves, cucumber round slices, lemon basil, and mint leaves.

Just added the filling

Krab Rangoon

Difficulty: Medium (wrapping)

1lb krab, imitation crab, preferably not made with pollock fish

1-8oz package cream cheese

2 Tbsp shallots, minced

1 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp dried minced onion, optional

1 package dumpling skins, round Hong Kong style preferred (picture below of the brand I use)

Mince the krab into small pieces.  Add all the remaining ingredients except the wrappers together and combine well.  You can put the mixture in the microwave for a minute to soften the cream cheese to aid you in combining it.

For the wrappers/skins, you can use the round or the squares.  I prefer the round because they don't end up with burnt edges as often.  Place skin on a flat surface and add a little filling.  I use a little less than 1/2 tsp.  You want them to be fat but no so fat that they don't close.  Wet half of the edge and and fold the other end to close it and make a half moon shape.  If you are lazy, you can stop at this stage.  But if you fold it like a tortellini, it makes a scoop for your dipping sauce.  Take the two pointy edges and bend it back so they can meet.  Wet one point and lay the other point on top and press it together.

In a saucepan, heat up so oil on medium-high heat.  You want to make sure that it is hot before putting it in.  It will cook very quickly.  You are looking to cook the wrapper and heat up the filling.  It takes about 1-1.5 minutes to cook both sides.

For the sauce, you can use duck sauce or the springroll sauce.

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

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.