Vietnamese Food

[guppymo]

And here is the recipe for that chicken salad

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

2 red onions

Vietnamese cilantro (rau ram)

1.5 tablespoons dipping fish sauce

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

Bring a pot of water to boil, add the whole chicken and boil for 15 minutes, then turn off the oven, leave the chicken in the pot for another 45 minutes, remove chicken, let cool down, then peel of the meat.

Wash and mince the Vietnamese cilantro (rau ram)

Cut the red onions in halves vertically, then slices

In a mixing bowl add the chicken meat, red onions, Vietnamese cilantro, dipping fish sauce, salt, black pepper.

Stir and toss everything well.

Arrange on a plate and decorate with a som fried shallots and a red chilly pepper garnish

You can eat this chicken salad add is or you can roast some rice cracker with black sesame, then break the cracker into spoon-size pieces to scoop up the salad (fun eh ?)

This is how we eat and play at the same time :roll:

[mizducky]

I'm far from an expert on either Chinese or Vietnamese food, but an additional difference I've noticed is the apparent absense of cornstarch in Vietnamese cuisine. (Or am I totally off-base here?)

[SuzySushi]

What are the French influences on Vietnamese cookery?

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The baguette, and other French breads. A number of "charcuterie style meats, eg: sausages, cooked meats, etc. Of these they make the most fantastic sandwiches.

BTW, Vietnamese coffee is some of the best...anywhere.

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I've also read some good arguments that pho was actually descended from the French pot au feu. Here's one article about it. The writer, Andrea Nguyen, is pretty erudite when it comes to Vietnamese food.

[SuzySushi]

Today for dinner I made "Com Suong Bi Cha" (grilled lemongrass pork on rice with pork rind, and egg & meat cake) served with scallion oil pickled carrot & daikon and dipping fish sauce

For appetizer I made "Ga Xe Phay" (chicken salad with Vietnamese cilantro & red onion)

Sorry, I am still in the process of arranging pictures, and writing instructions, once they are done, I will put the link here. Has anyone had those food before ?

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Oh, yum!!!! Yes, I've eaten the Grilled Pork quite often in Vietnamese restaurants here (and now I know their "secret marinade!!!). My Vietnamese friend taught me to make a different chicken salad, Goi Ga, with shredded cabbage and a sweet-and-sour dressing. Now I'll have to try yours.

[MicBacchus]

These awesome pictures have piqued my interest in learning even more. Can anyone recommend their favorite Vietnamese cookbooks? Thanks.

[touaregsand]

guppymo-

I'm in Los Angeles far from SFG and Orange County or even the SFV where there seem to more Vietnamese restaurants. The closest Vietnamese food near me is a French/Vietnamese place in Silverlake, some sandwich and snack shops in Chinatown, and Koreanized Pho noodle shops in Korea town.

I've been going to this one Vietnamese sandwich shop in Chinatown for about 8 years, about 2 years ago they put up an English languge menu. Up untill till then I thought I had two choices for sandwiches, pork or chicken.

[guppymo]

Today for dinner I made "Com Suong Bi Cha" (grilled lemongrass pork on rice with pork rind, and egg & meat cake) served with scallion oil pickled carrot & daikon and dipping fish sauce

For appetizer I made "Ga Xe Phay" (chicken salad with Vietnamese cilantro & red onion)

Sorry, I am still in the process of arranging pictures, and writing instructions, once they are done, I will put the link here. Has anyone had those food before ?

←

Oh, yum!!!! Yes, I've eaten the Grilled Pork quite often in Vietnamese restaurants here (and now I know their "secret marinade!!!). My Vietnamese friend taught me to make a different chicken salad, Goi Ga, with shredded cabbage and a sweet-and-sour dressing. Now I'll have to try yours.

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Oh yeah, there's chicken/duck salad with shredded cabbage too but my wife does not like eating "raw cabbage" (maybe because she's not from Vietnam - she's halfe Chinese half Japanese), heheh but sometimes I did made one with cabbage and she picked all the meat and left me the cabbage

[guppymo]

guppymo-

I'm in Los Angeles far from SFG and Orange County or even the SFV where there seem to more Vietnamese restaurants. The closest Vietnamese food near me is a French/Vietnamese place in Silverlake, some sandwich and snack shops in Chinatown, and Koreanized Pho noodle shops in Korea town.

I've been going to this one Vietnamese sandwich shop in Chinatown for about 8 years, about 2 years ago they put up an English languge menu. Up untill till then I thought I had two choices for sandwiches, pork or chicken.

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Oh yeah, last year my wife and my parents and I were in downtown LA and we did not see a lot of Vietnamese restaurants there. So we basically ate Korean food most of the time. We visited Korean Town and got some spicy kimchi, some Korean tea-mug, and my parents bought a Korean Drama Series (All-in) DVD for my wife, ouch, that DVD series costed $100

Touregsand have you ventured to Little Saigon in Orange County ?

[touaregsand]

Years and years ago when I was taking courses at UCI (Post-structural theory and criticism, don't ask ) I ventured into Little Saigon. I'm sure it's changed alot since. We'll have to make it a weekend family outing.

Any suggestions? We'll be taking the kids, is there a walking and eating area in Little Saigon? Another obstacle is that we don't eat pork.

P.S. Oh no on the Korean Drama series! Was it dubbed into Vietnamese?

Edited March 6, 2005 by touaregsand (log)

[tanabutler]

These awesome pictures have piqued my interest in learning even more.  Can anyone recommend their favorite Vietnamese cookbooks? Thanks.

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One of the best websites for all things Vietnamese is one that Guppymo linked to: Andrea Q. Nguyen's VietWorldKitchen.com. Andrea, a Santa Cruz resident (and friend of mine) is presently hard at work on her own Vietnamese cookbook, to be published by Ten Speed Press in 2006. (Put it on your list!)

She has a list of Viet cookbooks in English here.

Hope that helps.

[SuzySushi]

These awesome pictures have piqued my interest in learning even more.  Can anyone recommend their favorite Vietnamese cookbooks? Thanks.

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One of the best websites for all things Vietnamese is one that Guppymo linked to: Andrea Q. Nguyen's VietWorldKitchen.com. Andrea, a Santa Cruz resident (and friend of mine) is presently hard at work on her own Vietnamese cookbook, to be published by Ten Speed Press in 2006. (Put it on your list!)

She has a list of Viet cookbooks in English here.

Hope that helps.

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Andrea Nguyen is awesome! I'm salivating for her cookbook!

[guppymo]

Years and years ago when I was taking courses at UCI (Post-structural theory and criticism, don't ask    )  I ventured into Little Saigon. I'm sure it's changed alot since. We'll have to make it a weekend family outing.

Any suggestions? We'll be taking the kids, is there a walking and eating area in Little Saigon? Another obstacle is that we don't eat pork.

P.S. Oh no on the Korean Drama series! Was it dubbed into Vietnamese?

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Oops sorry, I don't know the names of the restaurant there off of my head. But you can try to go to "Asian Garden Mall" (Phuoc Loc Tho), there are many eateries there, in one place.

Don't worry about pork, Vietnamese people eat so many different kind of meat so you can find beef, chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, snail, quail, goose, etc...to pick from.

The Drama series had English subtitle

[guppymo]

This is just a basic sour bamboo soup with beef and shrimp (optional)

[Nathan P.]

Your food continues to look great Guppymo.

I made Cha Gio, the fried vietnamese spring rolls, last night (using the recipe from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet) and had a problem. I had air bubbles popping up on the top side of the roll causing them to float and with the bubble on top they refused to flip over making even cooking difficult. I would be curious to hear thoughts on the cause of this. I am guessing that either they were not rolled tight enough or the wrappers needed to be moister to better seal. I did notice that the wrappers I had in the house were made from wheat and not rice flour (they look just like the regular rice ones) so thay may have been an issue as well.

The end result was good though not up to the better restaurant version I have had. While some of this was due to the above fry problems, I also was not blown away by the filling. Anyone have a better filling recipe?

I used:

.5 lb ground pork

2 oz diced shrimp

2 shallots very fine brunoise

1 shallot fine dice

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup fine dice carrot

1 oz cellophane noodles

2 tbsp fish sauce

pepper

I wonder if the ground pork from my butcher was too lean?

Nathan

[touaregsand]

Chinese and Japanese pantry items, along with a few dishes have become family favorites. I've ventured into Thai and Indian cookery at home as well. Now Vietnamese is on my list. I'm planning on taking my family for a day in Little Saigon within a few weeks with camera in hand of course.

Thank you for the inspiration guppymo!

[SuzySushi]

This is just a basic sour bamboo soup with beef and shrimp (optional)

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Oooh, oooh! Recipe, please?

[guppymo]

This is just a basic sour bamboo soup with beef and shrimp (optional)

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Oooh, oooh! Recipe, please?

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Very easy, and quick to do

In a pot put a little oil, heat it up, sauteed some sliced beef shank and red chilli powder (to taste)

After 1 minute put a can of chicken broth in (just the juice, throw the can away)

Add a can of water

Add sour bamboo

Add some salt and fish sauce (to taste)

Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add some shrimp in (optional)

Pour onto bowl and add some black pepper and chopped scallion to garnish.

Done :)

[guppymo]

Your food continues to look great Guppymo. 

I made Cha Gio, the fried vietnamese spring rolls,  last night (using the recipe from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet) and had a problem.  I had air bubbles popping up on the top side of the roll causing them to float and with the bubble on top they refused to flip over making even cooking difficult.  I would be curious to hear thoughts on the cause of this.  I am guessing that either they were not rolled tight enough or the wrappers needed to be moister to better seal.  I did notice that the wrappers I had in the house were made from wheat and not rice flour (they look just like the regular rice ones) so thay may have been an issue as well.

The end result was good though not up to the better restaurant version I have had.  While some of this was due to the above fry problems, I also was not blown away by the filling.  Anyone have a better filling recipe?

I used:

.5 lb ground pork

2 oz diced shrimp

2 shallots very fine brunoise

1 shallot fine dice

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup fine dice carrot

1 oz cellophane noodles

2 tbsp fish sauce

pepper

I wonder if the ground pork from my butcher was too lean?

Nathan

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Nathan,

I use

Shrimp

Ground pork

Crab meat

Taro

Chinese noodle (bean thread)

Woodear mushroom

Onion

Carrot

Garlic

salt, black pepper, sugar

Yello eg rolls wrapper

[Pan]

[...]

After 1 minute put a can of chicken broth in (just the juice, throw the can away)[...]

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You're so funny.

But seriously now, are those sour bamboo shoots sort of pickled in vinegar? I can't remember seeing those but have to look next time I'm in the Thai store on Mosco St. in Manhattan's Chinatown or a big Chinese supermarket that stocks Southeast Asian items.

[guppymo]

Pan, I think you should be able to find that bottle of sour bamboo shoot in New York.

Yeah, I think it's kinda like pickled bamboo, but not reall sour like a pickle :)

[guppymo]

Oh, check out the green papaya soup I had for dinner tonight. I am not sure which I like more - cooking or taking picture (my wife always gets restless waiting to eat dinner while I am clowning around taking pictures of food)

Edited March 9, 2005 by guppymo (log)

[spaghetttti]

Yeah, I agree with Michael, you are very funny! That soup looks splendid! How'd you make it?

[SuzySushi]

Add sour bamboo

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Thanks for the recipe! I don't remember seeing sour bamboo shoots either, but I'll bring the picture around to my Asian markets. I've eaten Pork & Sour Bamboo Soup here (at a Vietnamese/Laotian festival), so someone must sell jars of it.

By the way, have you ever heard of Bamboo Fungus? I had some tonight at a Chinese restaurant -- never saw, heard of, or tasted it before. The texture reminded me of "fish maw," but the dish was totally vegetarian. I'll Google it and ask on the Chinese food board, too.

[guppymo]

Yeah, I agree with Michael, you are very funny!  That soup looks splendid!  How'd you make it?

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Spaghetttti,

Very easy.

Ingredients:

1/2 lbs. of pork

1 green papaya

12 oz. chicken broth

Salt, black pepper, fish sauce (to taste)

Vietnamese cilantro (rau ram)

Remove papaya's skin, cut open, remove seeds.

Cut into 2 inch-long section with 1/4 inch in thickness, wash.

Parboil pork for 5 minutes, remove wash with cold water to remove impurities, empty the pot, replace with 32 oz of water.

Add chicken broth into water

Put pork and papaya and bring to boil, add salt, fish sauce (to taste)

Simmer for 20 minutes.

Transfer to bowl, before server add some chopped Vietnamese cilantro and a dash of black pepper.

[guppymo]

Oh, the above recipe - you can omit the pork if you want to