Cải Thảo Nhồi Đậu

Tofu and Chicken rolls


1 block firm tofu
8 oz chicken meat, julienned
1 Napa cabbage
1 bunch spinach, cooked
1 cup chicken broth
fish sauce, salt, pepper to taste

In a mixing bowl, combine tofu, chicken, 1 T fish sauce, salt, sugar, pepper. Mix until the tofu mixture is smooth. Set aside.

Wash cabbage throroughly and drop the cabbage leaves in a medium pot of boiling salted water and cook for 1 minute. Remove the leaves.

Fill each leaf with 1 T of filling mixture by the stem end. Flatten the mixture with the back of the spoon, add 2-3 cooked spinach leaves on. Add more mixture if needed. Roll up the leaf to hold the filling.

Add chicken broth into a medium pot, add the rolls in, leap side down. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Serve with rice and fish sauce or serve alone as an appetizer.

Tàu Hũ Ki Ram Mè

Sesame Bean Curd Sticks


5 oz dry bean curd sticks
1 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T caramel sauce
1 small piece fresh ginger, minced
2 T vegetable oil
soy sauce, salt, brown sugar, pepper to taste

Soak dry bean curd in warm water for 30 minutes, drain well.
Heat oil in a medium pan over high heat, add ginger and stir fry until translucent and fragrant. Add bean curd sticks, stir-fry. Add caramel sauce, stir evenly. Continue to cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add soy sauce, salt, brown sugar, and pepper to taste. Add toasted sesame seeds when served.

Toasted Semsame Seeds:
Place sesame seeds in a skillet over medium low heat and stir constantly until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Cool.

Caramel Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce or soy sauce
Cook the sugar in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, swirling constantly, until brown and slighly smoked. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in fish sauce (soy sauce)into the caramel. Be careful for its splattering. Return to heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Cool this sauce throroughly before using. If using hot over cold food the sugar will harden instantly.

Nấm Thả

Stuffed Mushroom Soup

25 small shiitake mushrooms
1 lb pork paste (giò sống)
4 cups chicken broth
1 T chopped cilantro
fish sauce, pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in warm water for 1 hr, wash throroughly and squeeze off all excessive water, remove stems.

Stuff the mushrooms with pork paste, smooth with water.

Bring chicken broth to boil, add stuffed mushroom, reduce heat and cook until they are floated. Skim off foam. Add fish sauce and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro, serve hot.

Bò Lá Lốt

Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaves


1/2 lb rump steak, chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, minced
1 pack wild betel leaves (20 leaves)
1 T vegetable oil
salt, pepper, sugar to taste

In a bowl, mix together steak, lemongrass, garlic, onion, 1/2 T oil, salt, pepper, sugar. Leave to marinade for 2 hours.
Wash wild betel leaves thoroughly.
Place a leaf on a board, upside down, put 1 teaspoon filling on about 1/3 of the way up. Fold the sides and roll the leaf. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling.
Brush some oil over. Grill on each side from 2-3 minutes.
Serve with pounded roasted peanut and anchovy and pineapple dipping sauce.

Anchovy and Pineapple sauce:
1 small can crushed pineapple
3 T anchovy sauce (mắm nêm)
2 T fish sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chile pepper, minced
2 T sugar
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 T rice vinegar
1 stalk lemon grass, thinly sliced

Strain anchovy sauce, pressing the solids to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids.
Stir in pinapple, anchovy sauce, fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar, garlic, chile pepper. Stir to blend. Add lemon grass when served.

Gỏi Trái Thơm

Pineapple Salad

1 cup pineapple chunks, fresh or canned
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
4 oz raw shrimp in shell
4 oz pork shoulder
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T fish sauce
1 T sugar
1/4 cup Vietnamese coriander leaves, shredded
1/2 T crisp fried shallot
1/2 T pounded roasted peanuts

Nem Nướng

Grilled pork balls

1 lb fresh ham
3 oz pork fat
2 T roasted rice powder
2 shallots, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 T rice wine
fish sauce, pepper, sugar, oil
food color
scallion oil
pounded roasted peanut
Peanut sauce

Bánh Canh Cua

Dungeness Crab Noodle Soup

2 dungeness crabs
8 pork hock slices
4 packages of frozen tapioca strips
2 T hot chili oil
3 quarts homemade chicken stock
Green onion, cilantro : chopped
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
vegetable oil
fish sauce, salt, pepper to taste

Boil 1 up of water in a large soup pot, drop live crabs in, cover and let stand for 1 minute. Drain and refresh the crabs in cold water.
Detach the shell from the body, scoop out the butter into a bowl. Remove and discard the apron and gills. Quarter the crabs: Lay the crab on a cutting board and place heavy cleaver, blage edge down, across center of the crab body. Firmly strike the top of the cleaver to split the crab in half. Cut each half crosswise into 2 pieces, leave claw and legs attached to body (or you can detach claws and legs or anyway you want). Crack the claws and legs with the flat side of a heave cleaver.

Heat oil in a soup pot over high heat, add onion and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the crabs and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add fish sauce, pepper to taste. Pour in chicken broth, bring to boil, skim off foam. Add salt, fish sauce to taste.

In a small pan, heat 1 T oil over high heat, add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add crab's butter, hot chili oil in. Cook for 3 minutes and transfer to the soup pot.

Cook the ham hocks in a seperate pot until fork penetrate easily. Remove and transfer to the crab soup.

Add tapioca strips in before serve. Sprinkle with green onion and cilantro.