Vietnamese Food

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, that looks absolutuley wonderful.  Are green mangos easy to find?  What kind of lettuce?

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Thank you, Susan. Our Asian market usually has green mangos in stock. We used butterhead lettuce for the salad - Rick Bayless suggested that it matched up well with the cilantro-lime dressing.

[Sentiamo]

Poking my nose in here sans photo's Im afraid but I am a huge fan of Vietnamese food. Summer just passed I nearly lived on just two salads for those months. Thai Prawn salad and Vietnamese Chicken salad. The latter was so simple...just poached chicken with sliced fresh green beans, cress, cilantro, chilli, cucumber, carrot, V'mese mint, and then dressed with the ubiquitous palm sugar, lime, chilli, nam pla mix. Secret is to poach the chicken in a flavourful V'mese broth and cool in liquid.

I devoured sandwiches with cold leftovers and a spread of a good sate sauce. I have the best recipe in the world for that!

[C. sapidus]

Sentiamo: OK, I’m asking three months late, but would you mind sharing the recipe for your “best in the world” sate sauce?

Tonight we made fish with fresh tomato sauce (ca chien sot chuan got), from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. Pan-fried tilapia fillets, topped with a cornstarch-thickened sauce of shallots, garlic, pickled scallions, fish sauce, chicken stock, sugar, and chopped yellow tomatoes, with cilantro and slivered scallions for garnish.

Not bad, but I would not make this again unless I could find excellent tomatoes. I would also punch up the chiles and fish sauce a bit – the sauce was surprisingly tame until I added more fish sauce and some chile-tamarind paste the next morning.

ETA: follow-up.

Edited August 29, 2007 by C. sapidus (log)

[eskay]

Thanks to you I made something like this yesterday--well, sort of. There were no pickled scallions, but the tomatoes came from our garden at least Unfortunately I was halfway through the sauce when the power went out and stayed out for over an hour....ended up cooking the fish in foil on the barbeque and finishing up the sauce on the propane element on the side. Turned out great though

[C. sapidus]

Thanks to you I made something like this yesterday--well, sort of.  There were no pickled scallions, but the tomatoes came from our garden at least   

Can't beat good garden tomatoes! Do try pickled scallions if you can find them - they add a nice tangy crunch. For this morning's breakfast, I had pickled scallions over leftover rice with chile-tamarind paste and fried shallots. Oddly delicious.

Unfortunately I was halfway through the sauce when the power went out and stayed out for over an hour....ended up cooking the fish in foil on the barbeque and finishing up the sauce on the propane element on the side.  Turned out great though 

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Good save! I am so glad that you liked the "recipe".

[Ce'nedra]

Wow all of your cook-ups look delish!

I love Vietnamese cuisine as well (one of my favourites) and I particularly love that I can say I'm eating healthy (most of the time anyway) food that ALSO tastes delicious

Vietnamese cuisine definately has a heavy emphasis on fresh herbs.

Here's my contribution:

I helped my mum (okay I admit she did most of the work) make homemade pho from scratch

I can't say that pho is the healthiest but it does taste yummmmyyyy!

Before adding sauce

After the addition of sauce...mmm...

[LindaK]

After the addition of sauce...mmm...

Beautiful!

Maybe I missed it upthread so feel free to refer to me to an earlier posting, but what does "after...sauce" mean? It can't just be fish sauce, right? The "after" looks so rich compared to the "before." Maybe why good pho is so delicious.

[C. sapidus]

After the addition of sauce...mmm...

Beautiful!

Maybe I missed it upthread so feel free to refer to me to an earlier posting, but what does "after...sauce" mean? It can't just be fish sauce, right? The "after" looks so rich compared to the "before." Maybe why good pho is so delicious.

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Ce’nedra: Beautiful pho, and welcome to eGullet! Let me guess – is the “after sauce” a mix of hoisin and Sriracha?

[Ce'nedra]

Ce’nedra: Beautiful pho, and welcome to eGullet! Let me guess – is the “after sauce” a mix of hoisin and Sriracha?

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Spot on! But with a dashing of sesame oil as well

Oh and thanks for the warm welcome

Beautiful!

Maybe I missed it upthread so feel free to refer to me to an earlier posting, but what does "after...sauce" mean? It can't just be fish sauce, right?  The "after" looks so rich compared to the "before."  Maybe why good pho is so delicious.

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As stated above

Just a squirt here and there of hoisin, Sriracha and sesame oil. I CANNOT have pho without these three lol!

Yum yum in my tum!

And thank you both for such nice compliments

Edited September 20, 2007 by Ce'nedra (log)

[LindaK]

I never would have guessed sesame oil. In pho?? The Sriracha, I thought I was the only one who needed that. Love the stuff.

[Ce'nedra]

LindaK: Yep. Not a whole lot of course. But a dash of sesame oil makes pho really delicious! I always thought it was normal since it has always been a common practice in our family

But maybe that's the Chinese side in me creeping out

[Ce'nedra]

Could I have the recipe to these two please?

ETA: I forgot to post wok-seared shrimp from the other night (also from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen).

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Tonight we made caramelized minced pork (thit heo bam), from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. This was remarkably easy and very popular with the family – a perfect weeknight meal. The only ingredients were ground pork, onion, fish sauce, caramel sauce, sugar, scallions, and oil. The pork was done in the time it took to steam the rice.

The family made lettuce rolls with the pork, rice, and green mango slivers.

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[Ce'nedra]

I have been busy goofing around for quite a while and somehow my passion for cooking was gone during that time, but here I am again

The following noodle soup recipe can be quickly prepared in less than 30 minutes (unlike other Vietnamese noodle soups when hours are required). I learned this from my mom growing up, it's probably a Hue's origin our family root is from Hue

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. beef shank

Lemon grass

Shallot

1 Tomato

Scallion

1 can of chicken broth

Shrimp paste (ruoc)

Fish sauce, black pepper, ground chili.

Vermiceli

Cut beef in slices and marinate with minced shallot and lemongrass, just enough for flavor. Add to the mixture fix sauce, black pepper and ground chili

In a soup pot heat some oil and cook the beef for 2-3 minutes.

Add a can of chicken broth and water, enough for a few dinner bowls.

Wait until boiling and add 1/2 teaspoon of shrimp paste, add slices of one tomato

Reduce heat and cook for 10 more minutes.

Pour soup into a bowl of cooked vermiceli and add chopped scallion and a dash of black pepper.

Bon apetit

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What kind of chicken stock did you use? Was it flavoursome? We make our own chicken stock but the only problem is it's different flavoured from the ones you buy at supermarkets (and the bought ones are stronger in flavour) so I'm not too sure which I should use...also, if I use homemade chicken stock, how much of it should I use?

Thank you! That bowl of noodle soup looks just delicious

[Ce'nedra]

Vietnamese crepes (banh xeo)

We cheated a little because we used the prepared banh xeo flour hehe:

Banh xeo mixture

Some onions

Some crunchy beansprouts

Cooked prawns and pork

Chopped green onions

Thrown into the mix

Cooking the onions, prawns and pork in a little oil

Pan-frying the banh xeo

Starting on another one

Waiting for it to cook a little more...

Doing the flip

This one's done

Ta da! Some more

[jmolinari]

Looks real tasty. Thanks for the pictorial

[hongda]

Did you add anything to make the banh xeo crispy? Mine always comes out soggy. Your's looks so crispy!!!

[C. sapidus]

Could I have the recipe to these two please? 

No problem - I sent you a PM.

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Dang, that's beautiful, and you make it look easy. I NEED to try this.

[Ce'nedra]

Looks real tasty. Thanks for the pictorial

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Np

Did you add anything to make the banh xeo crispy?  Mine always comes out soggy.  Your's looks so crispy!!!

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Thanks for the compliment

Mum suggested using beer in our recipe and we did -worked out perfectly

Dang, that's beautiful, and you make it look easy. I NEED to try this.

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You should! And please do post up on it

[C. sapidus]

Tonight we made shrimp simmered in caramel sauce (tom kho) and fried rice. Simple and good – Gulf shrimp, sliced onion, caramel sauce, fish sauce, black pepper, and scallions. The shrimp had an interesting texture after simmering in the sauce for 15 minutes – chewy, but not particularly tough. I have read that some Thai seafood dishes seek a similar texture.

[Ce'nedra]

Nem nuong

[Ce'nedra]

I didn't make this (obviously) but I was having an immediate craving and had to buy this. For those who don't know, it's Banh Lot.

A really yummy and refreshing dessert drink (ish)

After mixing

[nakji]

My friend let me know he was signing on for another Tet tour this year in Vietnam. It made me so nostalgic -I miss Hanoi, especially on drizzly cold Tokyo days.

I came home and made two of my favourite Hanoi home cooking dishes.

Caramel Pork:

I made this with bullion powder instead of fish sauce, like my Vietnamese friend in Hanoi showed me. She didn't like the taste of fish sauce, and I didn't have any on hand, anyway...

My second favourite dish - tofu and tomato. In Hanoi, I would buy squares of freshly cubed fried tofu from a lady in the market, frying them fresh for everyone in a giant black wok. In Tokyo, I get it in a plastic pack. Not nearly as romantic, but just as convenient. This dish is so simple to make, and so delicious. Just saute ginger, green onion, and some garlic in a neutral oil. Then add fresh or canned tomato and the tofu, and some salt and sugar to taste. Simmer until the tofu expels some oil into the tomatoes, and it becomes more than the sum of its parts.

[C. sapidus]

Nakji: Lovely caramel pork, and that tofu sounds nice.

Tonight we made bo kho. Tender beef chuck in a tomato and onion broth, bubbling with the aromas of lemongrass, ginger, bay leaf, star anise, and five-spice powder. Delicious, even without chiles!

Edited to further expound.

Edited December 2, 2007 by C. sapidus (log)

[Ce'nedra]

The caramel pork looks wonderful! And bo kho looks really tender and dreamy...I sometimes turn it into a noodle soup mmm...love Vietnamese food!

Banh canh -don't you just love the chewiness of the tapioca noodles?!

[Ce'nedra]

I forgot to mention that I prefer banh can to pho because I can actually eat this ALL the time, while pho can get a bit sickening after awhile (maybe it's the fats..).