Măng Nhồi Thịt Vịt

Stuffed Bamboo Shoot


2 cooked bamboo shoots
1 cup duck meat, minced
1/4 cup vietnamese coriander leaves, chopped
2 green onion stalks, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
salt, pepper,fish sauce to taste

Boil cooked bamboo shoot and wash throroughly, scoop out the center.

Mix duck meat with Vietnamese coriander leaves, onion, garlic, pepper, fish sauce.

Stuff the mixture into the bamboo shoots. Steam for 20 minutes.

Serve with ginger fish sauce.

Chả Tôm Trộn Sầu Đâu

Sadao and shrimp cake in tamarind sauce

1 pack frozen sadao
1 cup raw shrimp in the shell
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T tamarind paste
2 T sugar
fish sauce and pepper to taste
1 T vegetable oil

Shrimp Cake: Shell and devein the shrimp. Sprinkle some salt over the shrimp and let stand for 15'. Rinse throroughly, drain, and dry with papper towers. Finely chop the shrimp or use food processor to process the shrimp paste. Season with some fish sauce and black pepper.

Pan fry the shrimp cake on each side for 3-4 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a cutting board to cool off and slice.

Sadao: Remove wooden stem, wash and drain.
Add 3 cups of water in a small pan, bring to boil, add sadao and drain quickly. Set aside.

Tamarind Sauce: Put 1/3 cup of water and tamarind paste in a small saucepan, bring to boil. Add 1 T fish sauce, 2 T sugar, garlic and stir until the sugar dissolved.

Pour the sauce over shrimp cake and sadao.

Canh Chua Cá Hồi

Salmon and Pickled Water Lily Stalk Soup


1 lb salmon, cubed
1 can pickled water lily stalks (16 oz)
1 small can pinapple chunks
1/2 cup okra, cut in half
2 roman tomatoes, cut in 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup of rice paddy herb (ngò om), finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T vegetable oil
1 T tamarind soup base
1 red hot chili pepper, thinly sliced
Fish sauce, sugar, salt to taste

Wash and drain the pickled water lily stalks well, cut into 2-inches length crosswise.
Fill about 4-5 cups water in a medium pot. Bring to boil, add salmon and tamarind soup base, bring back to boil. Add water lily stalks, pineapple chunks (with juice), okra, bring back to boil again and cook for a few minutes until okra is about done. Add fish sauce, salt and sugar to taste. Add tomatoes and turn off heat.
In a separate pan, fry garlic in oil until fragant and golden brown. Add the garlic oil into the soup. Sprinle rice paddy herb and hot chili pepper slices on top when served.

Đậu Cô-ve Trứng Cháy

Green Beans Frittata

1 cup green beans, thinly diced
2-3 eggs
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T vegetable oil
fish sauce, sugar, pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium pan until bubbling hot but not smoky, add garlic, stir until fragrant, add green beans and green onion, stir fry for 5 minutes or until nicely cooked (and drained). Add fish sauce and pepper to taste. Sprinkle sugar to the pan and let it melt so it will form a crunchy crust later. Beat eggs evenly in a bowl, pour into the beans and cook on each side until golden brown.

Cá Mặn Chưng Gừng

Steamed Salted Mackerel with Ginger


7 oz salted mackerel
1/2 lb lean pork, minced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 stalks scallion, chopped
1 piece ginger, julienned
fresh ground pepper, fish sauce, sugar to taste

Mix pork, onion, scallion, 1/2 T fish sauce, sugar, pepper well (add some vegetable oil, optional) in a bowl. Place salted mackerel on the pork mixture, top with ginger and some grounded pepper.

If you don't have a steamer pot, use a medium pot with 1-11/2 cup water and place the fish bowl in (make sure the water level is lower than the bowl's rim). The fish should be cooked in 20-25 minutes. I serve this dish with steamed rice and assorted steamed vegetable.

Vietnamese Sausages

Lean Pork Sausage (Giò Lụa)



Cinnamon Pork Sausage (Chả Quế)




Beef and Dill Sausage (Giò Bò)




Pounded sweet rice Pork Sausage (Chả Cốm)




Fried Sausage (Chả Chiên)




Hue Style Sausage (Chả Huế)




Pork Skin Sausage (Giò Bì)




Head Sausage (Giò Thủ)

Măng Chua Xào Thịt Bò

Sour Bamboo Shoot with Skirt Steak



24 oz (drained) sour bamboo shoot (sliced), packed in glass jar
8 oz skirt steak
12 saw tooth herb leaves, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fish sauce
1 T vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Pound the steak with the back of the knife then cut into 2 inches strips. Marinate with salt and pepper.

Boil the sour bamboo shoot and drain well.

Add 1/2 oil into a medium pan with 2/3 garlic. Fry until fragrant, add steak and cook for 2-3 minutes (until slightly brown). Remove, set aside.
Add some more oil in and 1/3 garlic, stir fry until fragrant. Add bamboo shoot and stir fry for 3 minutes, add steak, fish sauce, and saw-tooth herbs. Turn off heat, ground some fresh pepper on top. Serve hot with steamed rice and garlic fish sauce.

Bún Thang

Rice Vermicelli Soup with Assorted Toppings

2 lbs chicken bones
1 chicken half-breast
1 duck leg portion with thigh attaching
3 dried baby squids
2 eggs
2 salted eggs, hard boiled
4 ounces Vietnamese lean pork sausage (giò lụa), julienned
1/2 lb head-on shrimp
1 cup Vietnamese corriander leaves, thinly sliced
1 cup Vietnamese pickled daikon (dưa món, củ cải dầm)
few drops of belostomatid essence (dầu cà cuống)
10 oz fine rice vermicelli
2.5 quarts cold water
1/2 T vegetable oil
3 T fish sauce
salt,sugar, pepper to taste

Beat together the eggs, 1/4 t fish sauce, 1 T water, pepper to taste in a bowl. Add oil into a non-stick omelet pan over medium high heat until hot. Pour in half of the egg mixture and tilt the pan to spread evenly over the bottom. Cook until the egg set, about 30 seconds, turn and cook on the other side for another 15 seconds. Remove the egg pancake to a cutting board and repeat with the remaining egg mixture. Allow to cool and cut into thin strips.

Shell and devein the shrimps but leave the butter (viscera). Pan fry over medium heat with some salt and pepper until cooked, about 3 minutes. Pound the cooked shrimp until flossed. Pan dry a little more over low heat, the shrimp floss will be nice and fluff.

Put chicken bones + dried baby squids+ duck + chicken breast into a large pot, cover with water, bring to a boil over high heat, skim off foam. Lower the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken breast. Set aside. Simmer for 5 more minutes, remove the duck meat. Set aside. Continue to simmer the broth for another hour. Discard the bones and squids, strain broth if you wish, add salt, sugar and fish sauce to taste.

Shred the chicken breast by hand.
Slice the duck meat into thin strips.
Cut hard boiled salted eggs into 1/2-inch slices crosswise.

Put rice vermicelli in boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and let it sit for 2 more minutes. Rinse over water.

Place noodle in a bowl, top with lean pork sausage, egg strip, chicken, duck, shrimp and salted egg. Sprinkle some Vietnamese coriander leaves on top. Ladle the hot broth over, drop some belostomatid essence, ground some black pepper. Serve with some daikon radish pickle on the side.

Su Hào Muối Ghém

Kohlrabi in Garlic Fish Sauce


2 medium young kohlrabi, julianned
2 red halapeno pepper, julianned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 T fish sauce
1 t brown sugar

Put kohrabi, halapeno pepper, garlic, fish sauce, sugar in a medium bowl, mix well. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Thịt Kho Tàu

Braised Pork in Coconut Juice


2 lb pork shank (fresh ham)
3 cups young coconut juice (or 2 cans coco soda)
1 cup water
3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
1/2 cup fish sauce

Place pork and garlic in a pot and cover with coconut juice and water, bring to boil over high heat, skim off scum. Reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 hrs until fork tender. Add fish sauce and simmer for 15'.

Bóng

Assorted Vegetable Soup with Pork Rind


2 carrots, sliced
1 chayote, cubed
1/2 head cauliflower, cubed
1 cup snow peas, trimmed ends
12 small shiitake mushrooms, soaked and stemmed
1/2 lb pork paste
1/2 oz pork rind
6 cups home made chicken stock
10 sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
ginger and cooking wine
fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste

Soak pork rind in warm water+ white wine + ginger until soft, wash thoroughly, cut into 1/2-inch squares.

Squeeze off any excessive water and stuff the mushroom with pork paste. Cover and microwave for 1 minute.

Bring chicken stock to boil, add pork rinds and stuffed mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes.

Add vegetables and cook for few more minutes, add fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cilantro and fresh grounded pepper when served.

Cơm Tám Giò Chả

Pork Sausages and Rice







1/2 lb store bought (or home made)lean pork sausage
1/2 lb store bought (or home made) cinnamon pork sausage
2 cups long-grained rice
21/4 cups boiling water
premium grade fish sauce, fresh ground pepper

Wash rice in water 3-4 times until the water runs clear then put in the electric rice cooker, add the amount of water indicated and follow instruction. If using a pot to cook rice, use about 21/4 cups boiling water. Reduce heat when the water almost gone and let it steam for 10 more minutes.

Cut pork sausages into small pieces and serve with rice and pepper fish sauce.