INGREDIENTS:

- 2 lbs boneless beef chuck (any type of stew beef cut is ok), cut into 1.5 inch cube
- 2 stalk lemongrass, but into 2 and bruised the white part,
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon of organic sugar (white should be ok, use about 1 1/2 of tablespoon)
- 1 medium onion, chopped coarsely
- 3 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 4 medium carrots, peeled, cut slanted into 1 inch pieces
- 2-3 star anise
- 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 3 cups of chicken broth (or you can sub with water)
- 1 cup of coconut water (omit if doesn't have any and up the water to 4 cups.  The water should cover the meat in the pot)

(marinating)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce (I use the 3 Crabs brand)
- 2 teaspoons Chinese five spice mix (or 1 heaping tablespoon of the packaged Bo Kho powder)
- 2 teaspoon of paparika
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons full of minced ginger
- 1 1/2 tablespoon of minced shallot
- a dash or two of pepper

(optional)
- Thai basil
- cilantro
- chillies

Mix the marinating mix, 1 1/2 table spoon of fish sauce, 5-spice powder, paparika, ginger, shallot, pepper together, pour over beef cubes and marinate for at least 3 hours, preferably over night.

Over high heat, in a non stick pan or pot, heat 2 tablespoon of oil and sear the beef pieces (in batches) quickly then remove and put into a slow cooker.

Using the same pan or pot, add 1 tablespoon of oil, add the chopped onions, lemon grass, garlic and star anise.  Saute until fragrant then add the tomato sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar.

Pour this mixture over the beef cubes in the slow cooker then add the chicken broth and coconut water.

Let it cook on low for about 5-6 hours (longer is ok, if you plug in before heading out to work).  1-2 hours before serving, add the carrots to the slow cooker.  The beef and the carrot pieces should be tender, they should fall apart when cut in !  Before serving, taste and adjust by adding more fish sauce or sugar (if you like it sweet)

Remove lemongrass and star anise before serving.  You can top the dish with cilantro or basil.  Enjoy with french bread, baguette or over thin rice noodles or even eat with rice !

If you don't have a slow cooker, cook the stew in a pot and let it simmer on low for about 3 hours, or until the beef is tender.  Add the carrot an hour before the beef is done.  You don't want to add the carrot in too early because it will get too soft and mushy.

I like the sauce thin, the way it is, but if you like it to be thick, like stew thick, you can achieve that by adding in a LITTLE mixture of cornstarch or tapioca starch (starch mixed with water).  If you do this, remember to add the mixture in a bit at a time, don't pour all in at once because it might thicken up the sauce way too much and will taste starchy.

There should be no gap between the meat and the wrapper !  Roll and wrap it tight. 
These are made by our girls so they are loose :-)

I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant so right now, cooking isn't something I enjoy very much at the moment :-)  I just want to eat and sleep !  We are planning on a quiet night in on New Year's eve.  We already have the virgin bubbly and dessert for the count down celebration but dinner ?  oh I don't know what to eat for dinner.  All the Christmas meals are still fresh in our head and we long for comfort food.  C suggested I make springrolls because he likes the way I make it.  Springrolls wrapped in crisp lettuce sounds wonderful so I said to him that I'll do the mixing IF he does the rolling and cooking. 

A little over an hour prepping, rolling and cooking, we were rewarded with tasty crunchy spring rolls with tender hot meat filling inside !  oh how I miss eating them.  It was so worth the effort.  Hubby and kids happily gobbled them up !  

Here's the recipe !  It's my own recipe as this is how I remember the taste of springrolls in my childhood years.  I got the base ingredients from my aunt Ninh, who's the best cook in my mom's side of family.  Hubby and the kids likes it and even my picky mom said it's good.  I wanted to write this recipe for my girls as I hope they can make it and pass on to their kids.

Feel free to play with the recipe, experiment with ground chicken or turkey, add in a little shredded jicama or taro.   

As taste are subjective, TASTE TEST the meat before committing to roll all the rolls !  Take a bit of the meat mixture, either microwave or pan fried them, then taste to make sure it's to your liking.  Adjust by adding more fish sauce, salt or sugar.  Good luck :-)

INGREDIENTS: 
*makes about 50 of 4" X 1" rolls

- 2 lbs of lean ground pork
- 1 pounds of tiger prawn, chopped finely into small pieces (little more or less is ok)

- 2 cup of shredded carrots (loosely measured, don't pack it)

- 2 bundles of dry bean thread noodles (also know as angel hair or glass noodles), soak in boiling hot water for 3 min. to soften, makes about 2 cups, use scissor to roughly cut it into short length, about 1 1/2 inch

- 1/2 of a medium white onion, finely chopped

- 1 tablespoon of black pepper

- 3 tablespoon of good fish sauce (Red Boat or 3 Crabs brand)

- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of Lee Kum Kee chicken bouillon powder (if don't have it, add 1/2 tsp of salt)

- 1 1/2 teaspoon of organic cane sugar (white sugar is OK)
- 1 egg
- spring roll pastry wrapper (pack of 50, brand I used is called Spring Home, bought frozen, takes about 2-3 hours to thaw in room temperature)

The ingredients below can be omitted if you don't have them or don't like them !  I think they are for texture more than taste anyways.

- 1 cup of wilted bean sprouts (soak fresh bean sprout in boiling hot water for 5 min. Then pour into a strainer, rinse with cold water to cool then use hands to squeeze all the water out of the bean sprout.  They need to be as dry as possible.)

- 1/3 cup of thinly chopped wood ear mushroom (other names are cloud ear fungus or black fungus)

Cornstarch sealant (glue for the spring rolls)

- 3 tablespoon of lukewarm water
- 1 table spoon of corn starch 

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a bowl, mix well the carrots, angel hair, bean sprouts, and wood ear mushroom together.  Then add in the prawn, pork, pepper, fish sauce, salt and sugar.  Break in an egg to bind the ingredients together.  Mix well with your hands.  I have yet to find a way to do this without using my hands.  Fork and chopsticks just doesn't mix it as good as I like.

Once mixed, set up a rolling station !  in a bowl, mix the lukewarm water with the corn starch, this is your sealant for the spring rolls. 

Open the pastry pack, peel out 1 sheet of spring roll pastry and lay flat on plate (the pastry should look like a diamond in front of you).  Take a spoonful of the meat mixing and put it near the mid mark of the pastry, even the meat out to about 2 1/2 in length.  Fold up the bottom the pastry, it should look like a triangle.  Roll it once tightly, don't put too much pressure, just enough to make sure there's no air pocket, then fold in the two sides to close it like an envelop.  Roll it up to where the 2 sides end, you should now be left with a section of pastry, looks like a triangle.  Now dip your finger into the bowl of cornstarch "glue" wipe across the top two section of the triangle (like how you would seal an envelop).  Roll to the end tip and the cornstarch should seal the spring roll.  Repeat with the rest of the meat filling !

In a deep fryer (or a deep pot), fill with enough vegetable oil to fry the spring rolls.  If using pot, fill it with at least 3 inches of oil.  When oil is bubbly hot, with a thong or a pair of wooden chopsticks, slowly lower one spring roll at a time into the oil.  Don't over crowd the pot, the spring rolls won't cook evenly.  Lower the heat to Medium.  Keep turning them over until they turn nicely golden brown.  Usually it takes about 5 - 10 min. depending on the size of your springroll.  

When the spring rolls are done, you can put them on a rack to drain the excess oil or put some paper towel in a deep bowl and stand the spring rolls in there.  Give them a few minutes to cool down and you can cut them up and put over cooked vermicelli noodles, pour some Vietnamese dipping sauce over them and a side of sliced lettuce, cucumber, cilantro and basil.  Another way to eat these are to wrap each roll in a leaf of lettuce and dip in the Vietnamese dipping sauce.  

Recipe for the dipping sauce is here:  http://www.tracycollin.ca/2013/09/how-to-make-vietnamese-nuoc-mam-dipping.html

TIPS:

- to test for when the oil is hot enough to fry, take a wooden spoon or wooden chopstick and stick it into the pot.  If bubbles formed around the stick then it's ready !

- you can freeze the rolled spring rolls for deep frying later on.  Just make sure you freeze them in single layer.  You can stack them in layers if you separate each layer with plastic cling wrap.  If you are using other brand of pastry wrapper, make sure the rolls doesn't touch each other.  This is to ensure the pastry wrap doesn't get stuck to each other and rip when you deep fry them.  When ready for frying, remove spring rolls from freezer and you can deep fry them in their frozen state, no need to thaw.  Add a few min. to cooking time.

- I've also have tried deep fried all the rolls first then freeze them once they cooled down.  The one I want to freeze, I fry them to a light brown, not golden.  Since they are already cooked, you can freeze as it, stacked up, no need for single layer or keeping them separated from each other.  When you want to eat them, reheat at 350 degrees for about 12-15 min and they're good to go !  Depending in toaster/oven brand/model and the quantity of rolls in it, it might take a few min. less or another 5-7 min. to completely heat up the spring rolls.  Please taste test your spring rolls for hotness.  

When the weather turns cold, hot soupy meal is one I long for.  It's been pouring rain here lately and the temperature also dropped a few celsius.  Sick at home with nothing to do but napping and wandering around from front to back of the house, I told my mom I want to make something soupy.  She mentioned some beef stew she had and I thought of chicken ragu !  It's perfect for today.

This dish is quite easy to make, doesn't consume too much time other than prepping really.  Here's the recipe:

Vietnamese Chicken Ragu

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

- 16 chicken drums sticks, cut in half (or if you use breast or thigh meat, about 2.5-3 pounds of meat)

- 4 cups of homemade chicken stock (or 1 carton of organic chicken broth)

- 3 cups of water (my mom suggested 1 cup of coconut water but I don't have any.  The coconut water will tenderize the meat, use it if you have coconut water around)

- 6 medium russet potatoes

- 8-10 baby carrots (the type that comes in a bunch with stems intact) OR 4 medium carrots

- 1 can of Hunts tomato sauce (12oz)

- 2 stalks of lemon grass (use the white part), bruised with the back of your knife

- 5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

- 3 bulbs of scallion, finely chopped

- 1/2 medium white onion, chopped coarsely

- 1 teaspoon of raw cane sugar

- 1 teaspoon of paprika

- 1/2 teaspoon of mandras curry powder (or curry power if you have any)

- 1/2 teaspoon of five spices powder

- 2 teaspoons spoon of sea salt

- a bunch of green onions

- a bunch of cilantro

- fish sauce for marinate and seasoning

- black pepper for marinate and taste

Marinate:

- Clean and cut the drumsticks into 2 pieces

- Put chicken pieces into a pot, put in 2 table spoon of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of pepper (less if you like), minced garlic and scallions, mix well and let sit for 30 min.

* while the chicken is marinating, peel and cut potatoes into big chunk (I cut mine into 8), clean the baby carrot and cut into 2" size pieces.  If using the larger carrot, cut into 1 inch bite size.

Cooking instructions:

- In a hot pan, drizzle some oil and sear the chicken pieces.  Since it's a lot of chicken, I have to divide the chicken into 2 and sear them in 2 batches.  When the chicken is seared, pour in half of the Hunt's tomato sauce and coat the chicken in it.  Do the same with the second batch of chicken.

- Put all the tomato covered chicken pieces into a big pot, pour in the chicken broth, the water, and the lemongrass.

- Bring the pot up the boil and let it simmer on low for 25 min.

- Add in the potatoes and let it cook for 15 min.

- Add in the carrots and white onions and let cook for 10 min.

- Add in the paprika, curry powder, five spices, raw sugar, sea salt and 1/2 tablespoon of good fish sauce.

- Bring the pot back to boil for 5 min., taste the broth to see if it's to your liking.  Season more with fish sauce if desired.

- Serve stew in a deep dish or bowl, garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro, and a plate of sliced french bread or baguette for dipping.  My mom likes to eat it over rice !  Bon appetit !

One of my favorite dish to make !  My husband can have this a few times a week.  Even though it's a sour fish soup, you can substitute the fish with prawn and it will work just as well.

There are a few ways to make it, the Southern and Northern style.  I found the Southern style a bit more on the sweet side.  My version is Northern with my own twist :-)  

So here's the recipe:

- 8 cups of chicken broth (home made, can or carton) or water if you don't have it.
- 3-4 fish fillet (any type of fish, you can add a whole fish or use fish head, just be careful of those sharp bones when consume) or you can sub. with 1 1/2 lb of prawns
- 1/2 cup of fresh pineapples, diced, more less to your liking (canned or frozen pineapple is ok too)
- 1 cup of bean sprouts (more less to your liking)
- 3-4 stalks of taro stems, peeled and sliced diagonally

Taro stems - sponge like - peel the outer green skin off with the edge of knife

- 3 med. tomatoes, quartered
- 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 stalk of lemon grass, smashed
- 1 small chunk of rock sugar or 1/2 table spoon of cane sugar
- 1 of 1 inch square of frozen tamarind pulp or 1/2 table spoon of tamarind powder
- fish sauce

*Additional ingredients:  You can add any of the below ingredients to this soup, more less to your liking, adjust soup broth (add more water) if soup is too thick.
- 1/4 cup baby clams
- 1/4 cup baby shrimps
- 1 tofu cut into small chunks

Flavoring herbs (this is what gives canh chua the flavor):

Thinly slice:
- green onions
- ngo om
- ngo gai
- rau ram

Ngo Om - rice paddy herb - lemony citrus sweet cumin flavor

Ngo Gai - long coriander, thorny coriander, saw -leaf herb - taste close to cilantro

Rau Ram - vietnamese coriander, blade like leaves - peppery flavor

IF you can't find any of the above herbs then use green onions (thinly sliced) and dills (chopped).

Cooking Instructions:

- in a pan, add it a bit of oil, add in 1/2 amount of garlic, stir until fragrant
- add in the quartered tomatoes, stir around 2-3 times, until orange liquid is released

- add in the chopped pineapple and stir until soften, put a aside

- in a heavy pot, add a bit of oil, then add the last 1/2 amount garlic and shallot and stir until fragrant
- add in the fish fillets and let it cook for about 3 min.
- pour in the cooked tomatoes and pineapples
- put in the smashed lemon grass stalk
- add in the water or broth

- bring pot to boil then turn stove down to medium, to simmer

- add in any additional ingredients you would like to add

- add in the chunk of rock sugar and tamarind
- add in the bean sprout and taro stem slices last (these cook really fast)

Simmer all for 15-20 minutes, bring back up to boil, season it with fish sauce and you're done !

(I seasoned mine with a table spoon of 3 Crabs brand fish sauce.  Different brand of fish sauce has different sodium content so season sparingly)

Spoon the soup into a big bowl, then add in handfuls of the thinly sliced herbs.  If this is your first time eating this, add in a bit of the herbs at a time as it is very pungent in flavor.  Serve with rice.

I was craving noodles so when I was talking to my mom at lunch, she told me she has Vietnamese fish cake (cha ca Hoang Yen brand) patties, I thought we should have "bun cha ca" (fish cake noodles soup) for dinner  !!!  Easy and light !

I made a chicken broth (from left over 1/2 roasted chicken I had in my fridge) and seared tomatoes (oil, minced scallion, and garlic cooked on high, add tomatoes, and cook until an orange liquid is release, pour into broth and cook for 10 min.).  I noticed we always cook fish with tomatoes.  It might be a northern Vietnamese thing, or just how my mom likes it.  It goes well together in soup.

While the broth is stewing, I cook thick vermicelli (bun giang tay) noodles, let it cool and divide into bowl.  Put the fish cakes into the broth to cook it, when done, take out and sliced.  I pan fried some eggs and thinly sliced them.  Topped the bowl of noodles with the sliced fish cakes, eggs and steamed rau muong (ong choy).  Ladle the rich tomatoes broth over then sprinkle generously with chopped dills and green onions !  I also topped my bowl with some bean sprouts and cilantro.  It was very tasty !  Our kids like it too, without all the greens, as expected !  Took me about 45 min. from kitchen to table (shorter if you have ready-made chicken broth).  

No-fill, plain pandan glutinous rice balls in ginger sauce
(sprinkled with toasted shredded coconut and sesame seeds)

At home sick (congested) and feeling really sick of getting sick so often !  My daughter Bee asked me to make her "white balls that drop in the water".  I knew right away what she meant and welcomed the request.  I forgot about this sweet treat !  What a great way to take in more gingers :)  Why more ginger ?  I don't know when it started, but as I get older I become more nammer than I desired to be :)  When sick with a cold, my mom's nagging voice would play in my brain ! when down with a cold, we should eat only "warm" ingredients, like ginger, sesame leaves (Tia to), onion, scallion, garlic, etc.  It makes a lot of sense to me now.  It seems a lot of what my mom said make a lot of sense nowadays :)

I propped Bee up next to the stove and let her roll the balls while I prepped the ginger sauce.  She only wanted plain ones so it'll be super quick to make. 15 min. later we were both rewarded with chewy glutinous rice balls in honeylicious ginger sauce.

Here's the original recipe.  If you want plain, omit the mung beans, and just mix the flour, rolled into what ever size rice balls you want and drop it in the ginger sauce.  I also tried something new, pandan flavoured rice balls filled with red beans in coconut milk.  In order to taste the food, I steamed my face in hot water for a few second and gained a few seconds of utter bliss !  I can breathe and taste my food.  It was the highlight of today.  I've appreciate this little nose so much !!!

INGREDIENTS

Yield 10 large glutinous rice balls or 18-20 small ones

- 1 bag of bot nep glutinous rice flour (400g)

- 2/3 bag of yellow mung beans (use about 250g of the 400g bag)

- 1/4 teaspoon of salt

- one inch of ginger, minced or thinly julienne (use more or less to your liking)
- 1 chunk of rock sugar (2-3 inch)

- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of sugar (for mung beans)
- extra rock sugar or cane sugar for taste

INSTRUCTIOINS

Mung beans filling: 

- Wash the mung beans and put into a pot, cover with 1 1/2 times of water
- Add the 1 tablespoon of cane sugar

- Add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt and bring to boil, cover and turn heat down to medium.  Simmer for 15 min. and turn off the heat.  Leave on stove with pot covered for another 15-20 min.  

- Mung beans are done when they are easily squished

- Remove from pot, let cool and chill in the fridge

*Taste the mung beans paste and see if it's sweet enough.  Adjust to your preferred level of sweetness.  Keep in mind the ginger sauce serve over this is sweet also.

Prep. for the ginger sauce

- Boil about 6 cups of water

- Add the rock sugar and brown sugar.  Simmer until dissolved.  Adjust sweetness with more rock sugar or cane sugar.
- Add in the minced or sliced gingers
- Bring to boil and remove from stove

Making glutinous rice balls:

- Mix flour with 1 2/3 cup of lukewarm water

- Knead the mixture well and leave a side

- Remove the mung beans from the fridge, with a fork or potato masher, crush the beans into powdery mixture

- Divide the mixture into 10, take each portion and formed into a ball, put aside

- Lightly greased hands, take an egg size of the mixed flour, roll into a ball then flatten it big enough to cover the mung bean ball 

- Place a mung bean ball in the middle of flattened flour, fold in from four sides, then rolled in between hands to form into a ball
- Place finished balls on a plate lined with saran wrap (to prevent balls from sticking to plate)

Cooking the rice balls:

- Boil a pot of water, about 8 cups of water
- When it's rolling boil, drop in slowly each of the rice ball, don't crowd the pot
- When rice ball is done it will float to top
- Scoop out the cooked rice balls and put into a plate, space out the balls so it doesn't stick to each other

Serve:
- Place 2 or 3 rice balls into a bowl (if balls are cold, warm up for a few seconds in microwave)
- Pour hot ginger sauce over the rice balls

*** You can also cook the rice balls directly in the ginger sauce pot and avoid boiling another pot of water altogether.  The different between the two ?  If you cook directly in the ginger sauce, the sauce will get a little thick due to the flour from rice balls.  It's personal preference so you decide :)

If you want to make pandan rice balls covered red bean, add the pandan flavoring to the lukewarm water before mixing it with the flour.  Substitute mung beans with red beans (soak red beans over night then cook it or use unsalted canned beans).  And substitute ginger sauce with coconut milk (bring coconut milk to boil and add sugar to your desired sweetness). 

Now that you know how easy this is, try out other fillings, like ground black sesame, or crushed peanuts with coconut and sugar !  Enjoy ! 

If possible, I want to eat noodle soup everyday.  This is the perfect weather for it.  Nothing beats the chilly cold air outside more than a warm bowl of noodle soup to warm us up.  I've been craving bun rieu for weeks now but crab paste stock has been sold out from all the local stores (close to me).  Either everyone is eating bun rieu today OR that the new shipment hasn't arrive on the West Coast yet.  I went to 4 stores in Chinatown and was lucky enough to find one that has it.  I wanted to grab a few, fearing this might be all that's left for a while, but like all asian grocers, it's 'cash only' and I got 5 bucks in my pocket !!!  Grrrr !  but at least I got one.  I am very picky about the crab paste and have tried a few brands.  This PANTAI brand is the best as the flavor is strong and similar to what I remember rock crabs taste like.  If you don't have this brand around, you might need to tweak my recipe a bit to get the desired taste.

My next issue is, I couldn't located rau muong or 'kinh gioi' or banana flower today either :( I don't have time to go to a Viet. supermarket and I want bun rieu for dinner tonight !  Nothing is going to stop me from having my bun rieu.  I'm going to have to substitute the veggies and opt out of the some garnish :(

(Update:  I think there's a global shortage on this crab paste because in 2016, the price for a jar is around $10 and it's so hard to locate it) 

In this recipe, I'll list what I supposed to use and what I supplemented it with !  The main soup stock is what makes this good and I got all the ingredients for it so it'll do for today :)

Talk about stock, first you need pork stock and/or chicken stock (carton or can stock is OK, opt for low sodium ones)

To make the pork stock:

• 3-4 lb of any type of pork or chicken bones or pork ribs, 
• Water
• 1 white onion, halved
• Put bones into a deep pot, fill with water (cover the bones).  Bring to boil and let it boil for 5 min then remove from stove.
• Transfer the pork bones into a colander to cool down.  Rinse bones thoroughly under tap water.  This is to get rid of all the scums and give you clear broth.
• Add the bones back into the pot, add white onion and add about 4 Litres of water (~17 cups).
• Bring to boil then turn heat on low and let it simmer for at least an hour (the longer the better)
• When done, remove all the bones and onions and use the stock as per recipe. 
  
  (*If there's meat on the bones you can remove and add it to your bowl of soup if you like.  If using ribs, you can use leave it as is)

BUN RIEU CUA recipe (serves 6)

INGREDIENTS:

- 16 cups of pork stock or chicken stock (carton or can is ok)
- 8-9 tomatoes, cut into 4
- 1.5 lb lean ground pork
- 2 + 5 heaping tablespoon of crab paste (total 7 table spoons) in soy bean oil (discard the oil on top as it makes the soup too oily). I ONLY use the Pantai brand, it's the best one I've tried.  You can add less or more to your liking.  If you try other brands, you will need to experience with it to find the right flavor and texture you like.
- 4 eggs
- 1 pack of tofu puff (optional)
- 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 2 tablespoon of finely minced shallot (white onion is ok)
- 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste (the purple color kind, very pungent so use sparingly :) while you need only a little of this, this ingredient I feel is a MUST HAVE as it add that shrimpy taste to the broth.
- fish sauce for taste (Viet Huong 3 Crabs or Red Boat brand are best, I can't stress it enough)
- 1 table spoon of Knorr chicken powder (it's like chicken broth powder, this is not bouillon, don't use chicken bouillon, that's totally different.  If you don't have this then just omit)
- a table spoon of cane sugar or organic sugar
- 2 loosely measured teaspoons of tamarind powder
- ground pepper
- 2-3 packs of vermicelli, you can use these or the thick vermicelli

* IF you are not a fan of ground pork, try ground turkey !  We use ground turkey all the time.  Sometime I add Vietnamese ham (cha lua) as topping to this noodle soup.

Rau muong (ong choy), yu choi (ONLY if you can't find ong choy and need to have some greens) , kinh gioi and banana flower blossoms

GARNISH:

- 3 stalks of green onions
- a handful of cilantro
- rau muong (ong choy in Chinese) or water spinach (you can substitute with spinach and if desperate like me, ong choy works too)
- thinly sliced banana flower blossoms
- vietnamese herb 'kinh gioi'
- fresh chillies


COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

- In a deep pot, bring the pork stock (or chicken stock) to a boil

- While waiting for that to boil, in a large bowl, combine into a paste:  ground pork, 2 table spoons of crab paste, 1 egg (beaten), shallot, about 1 table spoon of fish sauce, couple dash of pepper.

- When the stock boils, using a spoon, scoop the meat mixture and drop into the boiling stock.

- When finished with the meat, in another pot, put in the vermicelli, cover it with water and bring to boil.  Test for doneness by breaking a string of vermicelli.  If it breaks easy, it's done.  Remove from stove, pour into colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Leave aside.

- Mix well together the other 4-5 table spoons of crab paste with the remaining 3 eggs in a bowl.  Turn down the broth pot so it's simmering, not boiling.  Slowly pour the crab paste into the pot.  The paste will forms into fluffy orange clumps (supposed to resemble crab roe) and will float to the top as it cook.  Don't mix or break a part the crab paste clumps and don't stir the pot. 

- In a pan, put in a bit of oil, add the garlic and stir until fragrant, then add the tomatoes.  Cooks for about 4-5 min.  Transfer the tomatoes into the stock pot.  Gently stir because you don't want to break up the crab paste.

- Cut tofu puff into 2 and add to the pot

- Add in the shrimp paste

- Add the cane or organic sugar

- Add tamarind powder

- Add in the chicken powder

- Season the stock with fish sauce (I used about 3 tablespoons in mine)

Thinly sliced ong choy, lots of work but add a nice crunch

SERVING:

- Put noodles into a bowl
- Scoop up the meat, tofu and tomatoes and divide into each bowl
- Put a couple stalks of boiled yu choy or ong choy (if using) into each bowl
- Ladle in soup stock (noodles should submerge in the soup)
- Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions and cilantro
- Put a small dish of fish sauce with sliced red chili out on table for those who wants more sodium :)
- Put the banana flower blossoms and kinh gioi on a plate so guest to add to their bowl

In the summer, when I get hold of a fresh bunch of rau muong, ong choy, I would thinly slice it down length wise and each thin strip would curl up like ribbons.  We would pile these raw ong choy strips in our bowl.  They add a nice crunch to this soup.  If you don't like them raw, you can dip in the broth pot for a few seconds to cook them.

Since I can't find any ong choy this time, I used yu choy and wilted them in boiling water first before I add it to my bowl of noodles.  I don't think they taste very good raw !  You can use spinach too.  Spinach would have been a better substitution but I got none !


Enjoy !



I heart mango !  From crunchy green sour mango to jelly-like sweet golden mango, I eat them all !!! Yum !  When my friend Nancy had me over at her place, few summers ago, I was curious about the sour mango salad she made.  I never had Vietnamese sour mango salad before that day and I am so glad she made it.  It was very tasty and quickly became my favorite salad.  

I enjoy it so much I decided to steal her recipe and alter it because I want to keep it simple.  I like cooking but my style is fast and furious :)  I want to get in and out of the kitchen in as little amount of time as possible.  So my preference for this salad is simple, green Mexican mangos, prawns, rau ram (Vietnamese coriander (?)) and Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc mam toi).  There's no rare sour mango imported directly from the country side of Vietnam or difficult prepping techniques !  Oh and very little chili !  Wahhhat ?  I know, I'm a weakling.  I am the odd nammer that can't handle the heat :)

Here a super easy and tasty recipe that serves great as a side dish for 4-6 people.  It's great pairing with grilled meat or spring rolls.

Ingredients:

- 2 medium mangos (Mexico, firm/hard, look for green skin or green with tint of red)

- 1 bunch of rau ram or Thai basil

Dressing:

If you know how to make Vietnamese dipping sauce (recipe here if you don't) then use that sauce instead of the dressing, but if you in a rush like me:) the dressing below works just as well  :)

- 1 green lime (to yield about 1 1/2 table spoon of lime juice)

- 1 heaping table spoon of good fish sauce (what's good fish sauce ?  The one that's more than $5 a bottle :)  I use the 3 crabs , 5 crabs, and Red Boat brand.)

- 2 table spoon of organic sugar (1 1/2 white sugar)

* OPTIONAL ADD ONS *

- 1/2 red bell pepper

- 1/2 orange bell pepper (or any color of pepper)

- prawns (boil, remove shells, slice in half length wise)

- lean pork (boil, thinly sliced into strips)

- thinly sliced cucumber (seeds removed)

- baby tomatoes (cut in half)

- chopped chilies if you like it spicy

Instructions:

> Peel the mangos, slice into 1/5 of an inch thin slices, stack the slices and cut into thin strips

> Put mango strips and other add ons that you like into a deep bowl

> Tear rau ram and/or basil leaves into small pieces (or roughly chopped them) and add to the mix (more or less to your liking)

> Mix lime juice, fish sauce and sugar (and chilies if using)

> Pour dressing into salad mix and toss around to evenly mix the ingredients

> Let them soak in the dressing for about 20 min. before serving !

*** NOTE *** This dish is very forgiving because the flavour of the mango overcomes all others :) so you don't have to measure the dressing to a T !  Depending on the sweetness or sourness of the mango, you can adjust the sugar, lime and fish sauce to your liking.  

Enjoy !

  



This salad is just with mango, a bit of minced chili, and rau ram (vietnamese corriander, only avail. at vietnamese supermarket and sometime T&T) in vietnamese fish dipping sauce

We eat a lot of poultry around here.  Fish and prawns are the other usual suspects.  One way I like my chicken is Ga Luoc (literal translation is boiled chicken).  We boil free range chicken and make a dipping sauce for it to eat with rice.  It's very tasty (to me anyways :-)  The kids like them plain and can eat quite a bit.  We eat this dish at least once a week.

How to make Ga Luoc ?  it's pretty easy

- 1 free range chicken (about 3 lbs)
- 1 big enough pot to cover the chicken with about 2 inches of clearance from the top rim
- water (fill up to about 1/2 pot)

> Clean and wash chicken.
> Boil water
> Put chicken into the boiling water, make sure it's fully submerged (add more water if need be)
> Wait until the water boil again (bubbling on top) then turn off the stove
> Leave pot on stove, close lid tight and let stand for about 30 min (10 min. per lb)

* My mom taught me to put in a bit of tumeric powder into the water when it boil, before putting the chicken in.  The color from the tumeric gave the chicken skin a soft golden yellow tint (the way how my mom remembers chicken looks like back in Vietnam).  I have gotten use to my mom's chicken so we eat them yellow too :)  I heard tumeric is good for you so all is good ! 

Remove chicken from pot and submerge into a bowl of cold water.  Let chicken cool then chop to bite size pieces (or debone it and cut the meat into bite size pieces)

Ginger and kaffir lime leaves dipping sauce:

- 4 tbsp fish sauce (the 3 Crabs brand kind :-)
- 1 1/2 inch of ginger (thinly sliced, or sliced and chopped to tiny pieces)
- 5-6 lime leaves (thinly sliced)
- black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  You can divide up the sauce into smaller bowl after so each person has their own dipping bowl.  Then each person can add more fish sauce, chili, ginger, etc. as they like.

If you have time, use the water you cooked the chicken in (chicken broth ?) and use it to cook rice !  It'll make the rice quite tasty !  Yum !

We usually make a squash or veggies soup with the chicken broth (season with fish sauce, of course) and make a sauteed green veggies dish and that's dinner for us.  This is quite easy to make and not greasy/fatty !  We remove most of the skin when eat (I only eat the thin one, it's so good).

Ca

prawns cooked with fish sauce and cane sugar

This one is my husband's favorite dish.  I make it every so often at home and for our group of friends when we get together for "Com Gia Dinh" (loosely translated as "family dinner").  Each of us would bring our favorite dish to the host's house and dine together.  Less work for the host and comfortable for those with kids (we're the only one with 2 so it's best for us).

Without further adieu, here is how to make Vietnamese tom kho:

- 1 pound of fresh/thawed prawns (If use black tiger prawns, remove the shell as it's too rough to chew.  If use white prawns, you can choose to leave the shell on or remove it) 

- 1 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce

- 1 tablespoon of sugar (I use organic cane sugar as I like the light and smooth taste)

- 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

- 1/4 of yellow or white onion, diced (about 2-3 tablespoon) > I like to add some purple shallot !

- 4 tablespoon of water

- black pepper to taste

OPTIONAL - chilli (sliced or minced)
Garnish:  sliced green onions

Instructions:

- In a pan, heat up some vegetable oil, then add the garlic and onion. 

- Sauteed until fragrant, then add the prawn and cook until pink.

- Add the water, fish sauce and the sugar (add chilli if you like)

- Lower the heat to med/low and let it simmer for 7-10 min, stir every so often and let the water reduce (I like it dry so I add in less water and cook until liquid all evaporated)

- Stir the prawn around until golden then sprinkle with a few dashes of black pepper.

Add more fish sauce or sugar as per your liking.

This is awesome with  rice.  At our house, we make eat mixed-rice.  We use half white rice, half brown rice and 1/2 to 1 cup of quinoa.  It has a nice nutty rich taste.  It goes quite well with the salty peppery prawns.  Now you just need a veggies dish to eat this with.  Enjoy !

 

Depending on the type of prawn you used, you will get different result.  This one is with butterflied prawns.

 

This one is made with white prawn.  Because the shell is softer than black-tiger prawn, I like to leave the shell on.

 



God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble  Psalm 46:1



brown rice & quinoa chicken congee

When the cold weather comes knocking,  we most always have some kind of broth based food for breakfast or lunch.  One popular breakfast (or late night snack) item we enjoy often is Cha'o or rice porridge or congee.  It can be made plain with just rice and water and topped with anything you like ! Or you can add to the water, chicken or pork or prawn or clam or beef or with root vegetables like carrots, radish and baby potatoes.  The variation is endless.

There are also many ways to make congee !  Here is my easy, quick method and the slow version !

If you noticed, I use fish sauce in most of my recipes.  I never use to like it before but since I started cooking more often, I develop a taste for it.  It some how rounded out the flavor.  It's not fishy like the name or smell.  It has a nice deep salty taste.  I use only 2 types:   Red Boat & Viet Huong 3 Crab brand.  Red Boat has a rich flavor and twice the price of Viet Huong.  Hence I use Red Boat only for raw dipping and Viet Huong for cooking.

Easy Quick Congee (yield about 4-6 rice bowl)

Cooking time: about 35 min.

Ingredients :
- 4 cups of low sodium organic chicken stock (no chicken stock? just use all water then :-)
- 1 chicken breast or 2 boneless thighs, cut into strips
- 3 cups of water
- 2 cups of cooked rice (or 1/2 cup of washed uncooked rice < this will take a bit longer to cook that's all.  Add another 15 - 20 min. to simmering time)
- 5 slices of ginger (sliced into thin strips) more or less or if you don't like to eat ginger but want the flavor, then smashed a chunk of ginger, size of knuckle, then remove when done.  You can add more or less ginger depend on liking
- ABOUT 2/3 tablespoon of good fish sauce OR 1 teaspoon of sea salt (there's salt in the stock already (depending on the brand, sodium % in chicken stock vary), so go easy on this OR wait til it's done and add fish sauce or salt as needed)

Garnish (optional):
- chopped green onions and cilantro
- fried scallion
- thinly sliced ginger

Put broth, water, rice and meat into a pot.  Bring to broil, and let broil uncovered at med-high for about 10 min.  Then bring down to med-low (on the lower side) to simmer for about 25 min (with lid half covered).  Stir every 7-8 min. so rice doesn't stick to bottom.  As different type of rice soak up more or less water, so if your congee looks too thick, add another cup of water to it.  If too thin, then cook longer.

Turn off stove, close lid and let stand for about 10 min.  Congee should have the consistency like oatmeal porridge. 

Scoop congee into a large bowl or divide into small single serving bowl and sprinkle with green onions and cilantro.

Add salt and pepper as needed.


Chicken Meat Substitution:
- instead of chicken, you can add any type of meat you like:  turkey, pork, beef, fish, etc.  Sliced or minced.  You can also use fish balls or shrimp balls (whole, halve, or coarsely chopped) !  they're quite good too !


IF you made plain congee, just rice and water, here are some topping suggestions you can add to eat with the plain congee:

- grocery store rotisserie chicken - shredded
- bbq pork, chicken, or duck
- cooked eggs
- pork floss
- Vietnamese ham
- salted radish
- pan roasted peanuts
- fried chinese donuts


COOKING TIPS & SUGGESTIONS:

- If congee is too thick to your liking, thin it out by adding more broth or water.  If add more water, don't forget to season it again with fish sauce or salt.

- If you had one of those store bought roasted chicken for dinner, use the left over and the carcass to make a broth and use the broth to make congee.  You can also just cook the left over with rice and water to make congee just remember to remove all bones from the congee before consuming.

- Left over turkey from the holiday makes awesome congee !!!

- Don't be afraid to experiment with it !  Try using turkey leg, or pork side ribs instead of the chicken thighs.  Ground turkey, chicken, or pork is good too.  Precook the ground meat with a little oil and scallion.  Break them a part to small pieces then add them to the water and rice to cook.


HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES:

- use 2/3 rice and 1/3 quinoa
- use brown rice instead of white rice (brown rice takes a bit longer to cook)
- add in finely chopped carrots, baby potatoes and/or green peas
- use vegetable stock instead of meat stock

Slow Cook Congee (yield about 6 big bowl or 10-12 rice bowl)

Cooking time:  1 hour and 15 min.

Ingredients:
- 6 chicken thighs back attached, bone in, washed, skin removed, excess fat trimmed
- 11 cups of water
- 1 cup of uncooked rice, washed
- 10 slices of ginger (sliced thinly) more or less, depend on liking
- 2 tablespoons of good fish sauce or 3 teaspoon of sea salt (more or less)

Garnish (optional):
- chopped green onions and cilantro
- sautéed scallion
- thinly sliced ginger

Put chicken and water into a deep pot.  Bring to boil, skim off foam on top.  Let broil at med-high for 5 min then bring down to medium low and let cook for 30 min.  Remove chicken from broth and put aside to cool.

Add the washed rice to the broth, bring it up to boil then let it simmer on low for about 50 min.  Stir every 7-8 min. so the rice doesn't stick to bottom of pot.

Turn stove off then leave pot on stove.

Separate the chicken meat from bone.  Shred the meat into small pieces.  You can choose now to either leave them out to garnish on top of the congee or put them back into the pot.

Stir congee around then scoop into bowl.  If you left the shredded chicken out as topping, you can add them on top of the congee now.  Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro.  Add salt and pepper as needed.

Check out  Cooking Tips & Suggestions and Healthy Alternatives in the above section for other variations !

This is one of Bee's and my fav. dish (and now hubby).  Just a right amount of sweet and savory !  It can be eaten as is, as appie, or as a meal with vermicelli and lettuce with Vietnamese dipping sauce or with rice !  In the summer, what I usually do is form the meat mixture into 1 1/2 inch meat balls, and then skew them into bamboo skewers and grill on the bbq !  they're always a hit and disappeared very fast !

If you make them into meat patties, it's less time consuming and they freeze very well too.  I usually make a big batch of them, cook until it's just done, let them cool , put in freezer zip lock bag and throw in the freezer.  To reheat, put the frozen patties, single layer, in the oven (350 C) for about 15 min to heat them through.

This is a recipe given to me by my mother in law, who got it from her sister in law.  In a way it's a family recipe !  and it's shared here with permission :-)   Enjoy !

Vietnamese Nem Nuong (grilled pork patties)
(there's no exact translation for it :-(

Yield:  4 large patties (when sliced, serve 6-8 as a meal with noodles, lettuce) or 16-20 large meatballs or ~45 small meatballs (1.5").

Ingredients:

- 3lb of lean pork loin or shoulder or ground pork 

- 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder (I use 1 pack of Alsa baking powder brand)

- 4 tablespoons of sugar

- 2 tablespoons of honey (I usually add 1/2 spoon more of honey for added sweetness)

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 3 tablespoons of good fish sauce (I use the Viet Huong 3 crab brand)

- 3 teaspoons of black pepper (you can add more or less as per liking)

- 6-9 cloves of garlic, finely minced



Vietnamese honey garlic pork patties !  Fresh off the grill !  I looove the end pieces :-)



INSTRUCTIONS:

- In a food processor, put all ingredients in EXCEPT garlic.  Grind everything together until well mixed.   Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

*** YOU CAN ALSO USE STORE BOUGHT GROUND PORK.  In a mixing bowl or pot, add all the dry/liquid ingredients (EXCEPT garlic) and whisk into a paste, then add the ground pork.  Put on a pair of food gloves and mix the meat well.  Cover & leave in the fridge for at least an hour.  

- Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a small dish.

- Preheat oven to 350 C degree.  (If you have an airfryer, this meat is very good cooked in there, and of course, is excellent grilled on the BBQ)

- Take the meat mixture out of the fridge, then add in the minced garlic (don't mix the garlic in before because it will tint the meat a grey green color ! mix garlic in just right before baking).  When well mixed, leave aside.

- Take some olive oil from the dish and rub between your fingers, all over your hand.  This is to prevent the meat from sticking to your hands.  You can now either take the meat mixtures and form into meat balls OR make big patties out of them.  When forming the meat, make sure to add a little pressure so the meat will pack tight.  If you pack it loosely the patties/balls will have lots of empty pocket and won't be dense.

- If making patties, don't make it more than 1" thick.

- Grease a baking pan or lined the oven rack with tin foil, put the meat balls or patties on it.  Leave about 1 inches of space between each.

- Bake in the oven for 30-35 min.  Flip the balls or patties over to the other side after 15-17 min. in the oven so that it's golden all over !  You can grill them on the bbq too !

Serve with Vietnamese dripping sauce with a side of vermicelli, rice or in a wrap with green veggies (lettuce, cucumbers, cilantro, mint, basil, and/or any other Vietnamese herbs that you like).

Note:  For a healthier alternative, as we don't eat a lot of red meat, I have made this with ground turkey and it turned out pretty tasty !  I also tried half chicken half pork and it turned out just as well ! 

If you attempted this, please let me know how it turned out for you.  I know some time different brands produced different results.  Love to hear your feedback !

With the cold weather moving in, all I want is hot noodle soup for dinner.  Here's a recipe for an easy tasty dinner.  It needs only few ingredients and if you're Vietnamese, you probably have all of these ingredients in your pantry already !  Simple quick dinner for the win :-)

I just started to write recipe so please ask if something is unclear.  Everything is estimated (to closest unit of measurement).  If there's an "about" word before the ingredient, try a little bit first then add some more in after.  I cook mostly by eyeing and tasting :-/

 

What you will need for 4 servings:

- 10 cups water
- 1 whole chicken (I prefer free range) OR 4 large chicken legs (about 3 pounds)
- 2 cans of whole bamboo shoots or a pack of fresh one if avail. (I prefer Aroy-D brand)
- about 3 tablespoons of good fish sauce (Viet Huong 3 Crabs brand is the best kind)
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- a small 1" chuck of rock sugar or less than a teaspoon of sugar
- about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder (optional, for coloring only)
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1/2 white onion, quartered
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- 1 bunch of green onions
- handful of cilantro

Rice noodles:

2 pack of round rice noodles cook as instructed on package.  Usually, I cook them in 8 cups of cold water.  Bring to boil and let boil for about 7-10 minutes.  Turn off heat, close lid for 5 min.  Test for doneness by pinching a noodle, if break apart it's done).  Drained in colander.

Instructions:

- Clean the chicken and set aside
- In a large pot, put in 10 cups of cold filtered water
- Put the chicken in the cold water and turn the stove on high, to boil it
- Once bubbling, put in the turmeric powder, this will make the chicken and broth yellow (for look only, opt out if you don't have turmeric around)
- Let the chicken boil in the water for about 20 min, then turn down heat to medium/low, close the lid (for at least 15 min.)

 

- While the chicken is cooking, wash the green onions and cilantro.  Thinly sliced the green onions and roughly chopped up the cilantro. 
- Take the bamboo shoots out of cans, washed in cold water, and thinly sliced it length wise (long)

- Remove the chicken from the pot, the water from the chicken should run clear.  Set aside to cool.

 

- Skim the top of the broth (I usually run the broth through a mesh layered with a paper towel, the fat gets trapped in the fiber and this usually remove most of the fat from the broth)
- Quartered the white onions and put it in the pot
- Put in the sliced bamboo shoots
- Put the in the fish sauce, salt and rock sugar. Taste the broth, and if needed, add more fish sauce to your liking.  Remember, once you pour the soup over the noodles, the broth will be diluted a bit.)

- Remove the meat from the chicken (if using whole chicken, leave the wings and thighs) and put the bones back into the pot (to sweeten the broth).  Simmer on medium for at least 20 min.

- You can either hand shred the chicken meat or slice them (I shred them because it's easy !!! one less cutting board and knife to wash :)

When ready to eat, REMOVE the bones and onions from the stock, ADD the sautéed shallot to broth and bring the broth to boil.

Serving:

- Put noodles into a bowl, put the chicken meat on top, scoop in the broth and bamboo shoots.  The noodles should submerge in the broth.  Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro.  Top with a dash of pepper and Sriracha hot chilli sauce or slices of chili.

* If I have guests over, I usually put a small dish of fish sauce with a few slices of chilli on the table for those who wants a saltier broth.