Tôm Rim Thịt Ba Chỉ - Shrimp with Pork Belly

Difficulty: Medium

This dish is pure gluttony.  Fattiness for the pork belly and the sweetness of gulf shrimp comes together like a well tuned orchestra.  Shrimp can be inexpensive if you buy the farm raised ones from Thailand.  But due to my conscience, I stopped purchasing the Thai shrimp because of workers' rights issues surrounding the shrimp.  I opted to purchase gulf shrimp, which offers a superior taste.  It does cost more but I buy the smaller size shrimps and use more pork belly.

1/2 lb pork belly

1/2 lb medium sized shrimp

1-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 shallots, minced

2 tsp organic sugar

2 tsp fish sauce

Salt

Black pepper

Annato Oil

Boil some water to scold the skin side of the pork belly.  Scrap the skin with the side of you knife.  Slice the pork thinly.

With a pair of kitchen scissors, trim the shrimp by removing the pointy part of the tail.  Cut off the legs.  Cut the back to open it up to take the vein out while keeping the shell on.  Pat dry with some paper towels.

Heat up some oil in a pan.  You want to make sure that the pan is bigger than the stuff you will cook.  A small pan will boil it and the taste would be awful.  Saute the garlic and shallots until it gets a little color.  Add the pork belly.  Fry the pork belly about half way and add the salt and sugar.  Allow for the sugar to caramelize.  When the pork belly is almost done, add the shrimp.  When the shrimp is almost done, add some annato oil and black pepper.

side note:  I like my pork belly cooked until the edges is almost crispy and burnt.  Cooking it that far allows for the sugar to "candy" the pork.  You don't have to allow for it to get that crispy.

Dầu Hạt Điều - Annato Oil

Annato oil is used to color different dishes in Vietnamese cuisine.  It also adds a slightly nutty warm flavor to the dish.

Difficulty: Easy

1 tsp annato seeds
1 tbsp neural oil

Start with a cold pan and add the oil and annato seed.  Heat pan on a medium low heat and occasionally shake the pan.  As the oil heats up, the annato seed will release it's color and flavors.  The more seeds you add, the darker and richer the color is.  About 3-7 minutes (depending on how hot your oil gets) take the pan off the stove and remove the seeds.

You can store the oil in a glass container in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Tương Đậu Phộng - Peanut Sauce

Springrolls with peanut dipping sauce

I am still unsure how peanut sauce is suppose to really taste like.  Every Vietnamese restaurant has a variation on this sauce, but I am almost positive the version that is eaten in Vietnam has liver in it and there is no hoisin.  This is my husband's sauce that he learned from the Thai ladies at the county jail kitchen.  The jail version is a lot sweeter and thinner.

Difficulty: Hooker Easy

2 Tbsp chunky natural peanut butter
5 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp sriracha sauce
1 Tbsp water or milk

Combine all and stir well. Add a little more water if you don't like it thick.

Nước Chấm - The Universal Vietnamese Dipping Sauce.

Nuoc cham with tomatoes

Difficulty: Real Easy

Nuoc cham is a very versatile sauce.  Here I am sharing a robust version of this dipping sauce that I use in a lot of my dishes at home.  You can make the milder version by omitting the garlic and use half or a quarter of the chili.

1 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp of lime juice or vinegar (lime juice is better)
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
4 Tbsp Water

1-2 garlic cloves
1 Thai Chili

Pound the garlic and chili with the sugar in the pedestal and mortar.  If you don't have one, use a mini food chopper or the handle of a hammer wrapped in plastic bag or ziplock bag.  (The sugar helps prevent the peppers from come up and hitting you in the eyes when you are pounding it.) Place the contents into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients.  Stir very well.  Adjust sugar, fish sauce or lime juice to your liking.

This sauce has a ratio of 1-2-2-4 but you can adjust it to how ever you like.  Some people like it sweet, some like it salty, some like it bland.

update 8/16/2013:

I made a 1-2-3 ratio, omitting the lime juice.  It came out very good too.  It went perfect with my banh khot recipe.

Ssamjang Dipping Paste - 쌈장

This is my adaptation of Maangchi's ssamjang paste.  This dipping goes well with all the Korean grilling specials.  According to Maangchi, it can replace the ranch dressing on a veggie platter.  Experiment to your heart's desire.

Difficulty: Hooker Easy

1 tsp chili paste
2 Tbsp soy bean paste
2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 stalk green onion, green parts only chopped

Mix all the ingredients together.  Allow for it to sit for about 10 minutes before using.

Bún Riêu - Crab Dumpling Noodle Soup

Bun rieu with an organic tomato soup base

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

There is many different ways to make bun rieu.  There is a shrimp, crab, and snail version.  In Vietnam, the crab version is made from pulverizing little mud crabs and extracting their essence with a sieve and incorporating the meat into the dumpling.  Unfortunately there is no rice paddies here, so this is a more budget friendly version that my 3 year old enjoys eating.


3 to 3.5 qts water
14 oz can minced crab or prawns in spices
1 large egg
1 lb ground pork or chicken
28 oz can organic whole peeled tomato
   or 12oz can dice tomato and 4-6 fresh tomatoes
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 pkg tofu
1 tsp salt
Ground black pepper
1 pkg rice noodles
Chopped green onions
Chopped cilantro
Onions, thinly sliced
Annato oil
1 medium shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
Canned or fresh crab meat, as much or as little as you like or chopped shrimp

Optional:
Split water spinach or thinly shredded cabbage
mint
perilla
lime

Heat up the water in a large stock pot while you are working on the other ingredients.

Drain the tofu package and wrap it with some paper towels and weight it down with a plate or small pan to remove any excess water.

Take out a pan and heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Sautee the garlic and shallots and add the can of tomatoes.  If you are using the whole tomatoes, makes sure you crush each tomato with your hand and squeeze out any juice into the pan.  Add the can of minced prawns or crab.  Sautee to enhance the flavors.  Add the contents of the pan into the stockpot.  Wipe down the pan to prepare it to fry the tofu.

Cut the tofu to small blocks or cubes.  I normally cut it to get 32 pieces.  Heat up some oil.  Blot the tofu again to make sure it is dry when you add it to the oil.  Fry each side to get a golden brown color.  Add each finish piece straight into the broth.

Here I use a small sauce pan with enough oil to at least come half way or more of the object I am trying to fry.

In a large bowl, mix the ground meat, crab/shrimp with the salt, black pepper, and egg.  Combine well.  With a teaspoon, scoop teaspoon size ground meat mixture into the broth.

Allow for the broth to cook for about 15 minutes so that the contents can meld together.  Add 1 tsp of annato oil if needed. Add the fish sauce and taste it.  Adjust with more fish sauce if you need.

Serve with a handful of rice noodles in the bowl.  Ladle the hot broth over the noodles.  Make sure that you get some of the dumplings, tofu, and tomatoes.  Topped the bowl with some chopped green onions and cilantro plus any optional herbs.

Prawn

Crab

Rice noodles

Organic tofu

Gà Rô-ti - Roasted Chicken or Braised Chicken

Difficulty: Hooker Easy

There is three ways to make ga roti.  The ones who can afford an oven in Vietnam, make a roasted version.  You can grill it over charcoal. My preferred method is the braised version.  It offers a sauce and the chicken can be very tender if you braise it at a low enough heat for a longer period of time. This is an adaption of my mother in-law's version.

For the braised version of this recipe, leg quarters is the preferred cut of chicken to use. The dark meat offers the fattiness that lends to a tastier dish.  I personally don't like drumsticks, so I use thighs.

8 thighs

6-8 cloves garlic, minced finely

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

Ground black pepper, preferably freshly ground for sweetness

Sugar

Water

First you want to prepare the chicken.  Start by trimming off any excess skin on the thighs and bits of visible fat.  You can go skinless also.  Marinade the chicken with the garlic, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.  Allow for marinade for about 2 hours or more.

Heat up a deep pan or wok with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle in about 1 Tbsp or enough to have a thin layer of sugar covering the bottom of the pan and allow for it to develop color.  You want the sugar to be almost black but not burnt.  You want a very rich dark color.  Add the chicken and turn the chicken so that the caramel coats the chicken.  Brown it on both sides.  Add 1-2 tsp of water and cover the pan.  Simmer the chicken for about 5-7 minutes on each side.  Add the freshly ground black pepper and fish sauce.

If like a more tender chicken, braise for about 30-40 minutes on low with the lid on.

Phở Gà - Chicken Pho

Light and healthy. It makes a great hangover cure.

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Pho ga is a less popular version of the pho that everyone loves.  It is simple, mild, and delicate.  I think the dish is ugly because there is no way to make chicken pretty for this dish.  What it lacks in outward appearance, it makes up in flavor.  For pho ga, I find that a free range chicken (gà đi bộ) or a chicken feed a vegetarian diet offers the best flavor.  Like in most Asian cooking, you want to aim for a clear broth. You will achieve this by washing the chicken thoroughly, a slow boil, and removing any impurities that comes up when cooking.

Broth:

1 whole chicken

2 chicken leg quarters

2 inch knob ginger or 1/2 tsp ginger powder

1 large onion, peeled and halved

2 whole star anise

1 bunch of cilantro stems or 1 tbsp coriander seeds

1-2 cubes of chicken bouillon, optional, Maggi brand

1 tbsp size yellow sugar

1 stick Saigon cinnamon

2 tbsp fish sauce

3-4.5 qts Water

Bowls:
1 pkg pho noodles

1/2 onion (red or yellow) sliced thinly

Chopped green onions/scallion, green parts only is preferred but you can use the whole stem

Chopped cilantro leaves, or the whole stem if you want more of a cilantro kick

Lime wedges

Mung bean sprouts, optional

Thai bird peppers

Culantro leaves

Fried garlic and shallots

Lemon basil (aka Thai basil)

Split the chicken into 11 pieces (2 drums, 2 thighs, 2 wings, halving the 2 breast, and backbone).  Wash the individual pieces well, concentrating on the backbone more since this piece is where a lot of the scum will come from.  Do the same to the leg quarters.  You can split the drum and thighs more to expose more of the bone to get more of the chicken flavor.  Add to a 6-qt stockpot or larger and use enough water to cover the chicken.  Bring water to a boil, but don't allow for the water to come to a rolling boil.  If that happens, it will incorporate the "scum" into the broth and cloudy up the broth.   Peel and skewer the onion with toothpicks (to prevent it from falling apart in the broth) and add to the pot.Split the chicken into 11 pieces (2 drums, 2 thighs, 2 wings, halving the 2 breast, and backbone).  Wash the individual pieces well, concentrating on the backbone more since this piece is where a lot of the scum will come from.  Do the same to the leg quarters.  You can split the drum and thighs more to expose more of the bone to get more of the chicken flavor.  Add to a 6-qt stockpot or larger and use enough water to cover the chicken.  Bring water to a boil, but don't allow for the water to come to a rolling boil.  If that happens, it will incorporate the "scum" into the broth and cloudy up the broth.   Peel and skewer the onion with toothpicks (to prevent it from falling apart in the broth) and add to the pot.Dry toast the star anise, Saigon cinnamon, and coriander seeds. Wrap in a cheese cloth or add to a large tea infuser.  Smash the ginger or slice it to get a large surface area.  Tie up the cilantro stems. Add to pot.  Skim any "scum" that surfaces. Allow for the broth to simmer for about 1.5 hrs on low heat offers the best flavor but 45 minutes to 1 hr on medium heat will produce a nice broth.Always remove the chicken about 40-45 minutes and set aside to cool before shredding.  You can remove the tea ball or sachet at this point if you like.  Add the remaining ingredients.  The bouillon cubes can be used if there isn't enough "chicken-ness" to your broth.  (Happens more when you use a conventional chicken.) Adjust the level of saltiness with fish sauce or kosher salt.Shred the chicken by hand to give texture and contrast to your bite.  I like to mix the dark and white meat together, but some people only enjoy the white meat, so you can separate them.  Arrange each bowl with a handful of pho noodles, thinly sliced onions, chicken, sprouts, and green onions.  Ladle the hot broth over it to soften them.  Add the herbs and lime at the end.  You can dress your pho with hoisin and sriracha if you like.