Beef and Vegetable Soup
3 T-bones (from the steaks)
and a few cubed beefsteak
(this is what I have in the fridge, you can use beef stew meat instead)
2 small carrot, cubed
1 small daikon, cubed
2 red potatoes, cubed
1 spring onion, chopped
Water Mimosa and Taro Corm Soup
4-5 taro corms (small), peeled
2 cups water mimosa, cut into 3-inches length
4-5 shirmps, shelled, deveined and minced
Water mimosa: remove the white foam and root around the stem, cut into 3-inches length and wash thoroughly.
Put taro corms in a pot, cover with water, bring to boil and cook taro corm until soft. Add shrimp, bring back to boil, skim off foam, add water mimosa. Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Serve hot with rice.
Catfish with Vegetables Sour Soup
Live Catfish (2 lbs): They will clean and slice your fish at Asian market. Use head, tail piece and 1 slice from the belly. The rest save up for "clay pot" dish.
1 medium taro stem, sliced
1/2 cup pineapple (fresh or canned, sliced or cubed)
1/2-1 tomato
1 cup beansprount
6 small okras
Tamarind powder
1 T chopped rice paddy herb
1/2 T crisp-fried garlic oil
Put fish head and cover with few cups water. Bring to boil over medium high heat, add fish tail and slice in to cook for 5-7 minutes, remove fish. Add pineapple and tamarind powder in, season with sugar, fish sauce or some salt. Add okra to cook for 2 minutes, then add taro stem, tomato and beansprout. Top with 1/2 T crisp-fry garlic oil and rice paddy herb, few slices of hot chilli if you wish. Serve hot with rice.
Gobo Soup with Pork Hock
2 slices pork hock
5 small shiitake mushrooms
1 gobo root (burdock root)
1 carrot
1 small piece daikon (1/2 size of carrot)
1 scallion, 3 sprigs cilantro
Clean pork hock and put in a small pot cover with water, bring to a boil over medium hight heat, skim off all foams. Lower heat to cook until fork tender (about 35-40 minutes).
Soak shiitake mushrooms in warm water for 1-2 hrs, wash and remove stem.
Scrape the thin brown skin of the gobo root with the back of your knife, cut into 1-inch length. You can scrub some lemon on it after scraping to make the gobo whiter. I prefer the brownish color so I just leave it like that.
Add mushrooms and gobo in the soup to cook for 10-15 minutes.
Peel and slice carrot and daikon. Put into the pot to cook for 10 more minutes.
Season with sea salt.
Top with some shredded scallion and cilantro, sprinkle some fresh ground pepper.
Tofu and Chive Soup with Shrimp
1/2 block soft tofu, cut into bite cubes
1 cup chive, cut into 2-inches length
5-6 shrimps, shelled, deveined and minced
fish sauce, salt, sugar and pepper
Bring some water to boil over medium high heat, add minced shrimp (break into small pieces), bring back to boil, skim off foam. Add tofu, bring back to boil. Add chive and season with fish sauce, a pinch of sugar, salt and fresh ground pepper.
Water Spinach and Clam Soup
1/2 bunch water spinach
10 live manila clams
fish sauce and pepper to taste
Use hand to twist water spinach into 3-inches length (my mom said this will make spinach more tender than cut them with a knife), discard bad leaves and hard end part of the stem. Wash them throroughly.
Put water into a sauce pan, add clams and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Skim off foam. When the clams are cooked (all opened up), remove them. Add water spinach in and bring back to boil. It won't take long to cook this, when the spinach is tender, season the soup with some fish sauce and fresh ground pepper. Add clams back in then serve.
Pineapple Shrimp Soup
1/2 fresh pineapple, sliced
12-15 small shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T rice paddy herb, chopped
1/2 T crisp-fried garlic oil
Fish sauce, sugar, oil, fresh red hot chilli
Heat some oil and stir-fry garlic until fragrant, add pineapple in and stir-fry, add fish sauce and sugar to season. Add shrimps and stir-fry to partially cooked. Add water and bring to boil. Season the soup with more fish sauce and sugar if needed. Add crisp-fried garlic oil. Top with rice paddy herb and fresh hot chilli.
Vegetable Consomme
Few cups of stock from boiling vegetables
1 ripe tomato
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped or julienned
Blanch tomato in boiling stock, peel skin, put back in to cook until nicely soft. Smash tomato in hot broth to serve with garlic and green onion added.
Tomato and Bamboo Shoot Soup
1 tomato, cut into 8
1 small bamboo shoot, cut into 12
5 shrimps, shelled, deveined
2 green onion, cut into 2-inches length
1 clove garlic, minced
Stri-fry tomato with garlic then add bamboo shoot in to cook for few minutes, season with fish sauce and pepper. Add water, bring to boil, add shrimp. Season with sugar fish sauce to taste. Add green onion and serve.
Stuffed Hairy Gourd Soup
1/2 small hairy gourd
8 shrimps, shelled, deveined, minced
2 sprigs cilantro, 1 green onion
Salt and pepper
Season minced shrimp with salt and pepper.
Peel and cut gourd into 6 rings, scoop out the seeds from the rings, stuff with shrimp paste.
Put the stuffed rings into a small sauce pan, cover enough water, bring to boil over medium high heat. Clean foam that rises. Reduce heat and let it cook until the gourd is soft and translucent. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped green onion and garnish with some cilantro, serve.
Chicken soup with mushroom and vegetables
1.5 lbs chicken neck bone
1 medium yellow onion
1-2 carrot, cut or slice as desired.
1 small chayote, cut same as carrot
6 small shitake mushrooms, soaked and cut in half.
1 small snow fungus, soaked and trim off yellow end, break into small florettes.
5 sprigs cilantro
Fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste
In a small soup pot, cover chicken bones and onion with water, bring to a boil over medium high heat. Clean out any foam that rises. Lower heat and let it simmer for 1-1.5 hrs.
Soak both shitake mushroom and Snow fungus for 1 hr in warm water. Wash and cut as directed.
Remove bones and onion, strain broth. Put back to medium heat.
Add carrot, snow fungus and shitake mushroom in to cook for 4-5 minutes. Add chayote and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Season with fish sauce, sea salt and pepper. Garnish with cilantro when served.
Chayote Carrot Soup
1/2 chayote, cut into pieces
1/2 medium carrot, cut into pieces
3 shrimp, shelled and deveined, cut into pieces
1.5 cups water
1 green onion, chopped
3 sprigs cilantro, chopped
Fish sauce, black ground pepper
Bring water to a boil over medium high heat, add carrot, bring back to boil, add shrimp, chayote and cook for a few minutes. Add fish sauce and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with green onion and cilantro.
Chayote Soup
1 Chayote, peeled and julienned
4 raw shrimp, shelled and deveined, diced
1 green onion, chopped
4 sprigs cilantro, chopped
1.5 cups water
Fish sauce, ground pepper
Put water in a small sauce pan, bring to boil, add shrimps, skim off foam that rises. Add chayote, bring back to boil. Add fish sauce and fresh ground pepper to taste. Add green onion and cilantro then serve.
Eggplant and Pork rib Soup
1/2 lb pork rib, cut into bite-size pieces
2 medium eggplants, cut into finger-sized pieces (1/2"x 2")
16 pieces fried tofu (1/2 block firm tofu)
1/2 cup of perilla, chopped
fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste
In a medium pot, add 6 cup water, pork rib and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
Skim off foam. Simmer for 30'.
Add fried tofu in, bring back to boil, continue to skim any foam that rises to the top. Add eggplant and cook for 5 more minutes. Add fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Top with perilla leaves and serve.
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.
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.
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.
Fish Ball and Tomato Soup
1/2 lb fish paste
1 cup dill, cut into 2-inches length
2 tomatoes
1 shallot, minced
2 stalks green onion
2 T vegetable oil
4 cups water
fish sauce, salt, sugar, pepper to taste
Season fish paste with salt, pepper, sugar, fish sauce and crushed green onion heads. Mix well until the mixture is smooth. Pluck a small piece of the paste and form the mixtures into balls or any shape, smooth with oil.
Fry the fish balls until golden brown.
Add 1 T vegetable oil in a medium pot, heat oil until bubbling hot over medium high flame. Add shallot and stir fry until fragrant. Add tomatoes, continue stir frying until nice and soft. Fill with water and bring to boil. Add fried fish balls and cook for 5 minutes, skim off any foam. Add fish sauce, salt, sugar and pepper to taste. Add dill and green onion (optional) then served.
Pork Hock and Dried Bamboo Shoot Stew
1 lb pork hock (or trotter)
4 ounces dried bamboo shoot
10 Wood Ear Mushrooms
1 T crisp-fried shallot
5 stalks green onion
1 can chicken broth (10-12 ounces)
fish sauce, salt, pepper to taste
Clean and cut pork hocks into bite pieces.
Soak dried bamboo shoot overnight in warm water, remove wooden ends and cut into 3-inches length.
Boil the bamboo shoot in water for 3-4 times (change new water each time). Leave bamboo shoot in water until put in the stew.
Quarter the green onion's white heads and thinly slice the green.
Add pork hocks and water in a medium pot and bring to boil. Drain and wash the hocks one more time. Put the hocks back in the pot, cover with water and simmer for an hour. Add chicken broth, cooked bamboo shoot and simmer until they're all nice and soft. Add salt, fish sauce, pepper to taste. Add mushroom, crisp-fried shallot and turn heat to medium for 3 more minutes. Top with green onion when served.
Mustard green with fish ball soup
1 lb mustard green
1/2 lb seasoned fish paste
1 small piece ginger, julianed
1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced
fish sauce and pepper to taste
4-5 cups water
Season fish paste with salt, pepper, sugar, fish sauce and crushed green onion head. Mix well until the mixture is smooth.
Wash and slice mustard green in 1/2-1 inch length crosswise.
Add water in a medium pot and bring to boil under medium high heat. Spoon seasoned fish paste into boiling water, skim off foam. When all fish balls are floated, add mustard green in, cook for 3-5 minutes (until boiling). Season with fish sause and pepper. Add ginger and green onion.
