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.

Cháo Gà Và Gỏi Gà - Rice Porridge with Chicken Slaw

Difficulty: Medium

Rice porridge is usually the first meal that parents introduce to infants as their first solids.  It is a rice dish boiled in large amounts of water to produce a soft silky texture.   Rice porridge is universal in all East and Southern Asian countries.  Brown Asians call this dish congee or a variation on the word.  Yellow Asians call this dish jook or a variation of it.  It is feed to young and old, sick or healthy.  Some people would reminisce about the comfort it brings.

This recipe makes use to the water that is left over when boiling a chicken to make the porridge.  Vietnamese people love to mix texture when eating, so the crunchiness of the cabbage and carrots is a wonderful contrast to the soft silkiness of the porridge.

1 whole chicken
1 cup of rice
1/4 cup of Vietnamese coriander
1/2 organic onion
1 bag of Cole slaw or you can shred cabbage and carrots by hand
Salt
Ginger powder
Chicken bouillon cubes or powder
1 stem of chopped green onion/scallion
1/4 cup of cilantro

Nuoc Cham


Clean and pat whole chicken.  If your chicken comes with gizzards, you can used them if you like.  Split the chicken in half, down the breast  and flip chicken over.  I like to discard the backbone because I think it makes the broth cloudy, but you can use it if you like.  Add the chicken into your stockpot and fill up the pot to the chicken is submerged.  Boil on a low heat, making sure that it doesn't come to a rolling boil to keep the broth clear.  Occasionally skim to remove any impurities and scum that floats to the top.

Once the chicken is done, remove the bird and set aside to cool.  Skim any impurities and scum from the broth and add the rice.  Cook the rice at low to medium heat.  Stir occasionally to make sure that rice doesn't stick to the bottom.  When you see that the porridge is thicken and the rice has bloomed, you would seasoned it to your taste.  Start off with the chicken bouillon.  I like to use just enough to get a nice aroma of chicken.  Then add the ginger powder.  (If you don't have access to ginger powder, you can always add a piece of ginger about an inch long into the water when boiling your chicken.  Make sure to cut the ginger into small enough pieces to get the essence of the ginger out but not too small that you can't scoop out the pieces before adding the rice.) Then add salt to your taste.

In a large bowl, add your Cole Slaw, Vietnamese coriander leaves, thinly sliced onion, and cilantro.  Mixed together.  I like to have large chunks of chicken add to my slaw, but you can have it on the side.

When you are ready to eat, garnish the porridge with some chopped green onions and dress it with the nuoc cham (recipe below).