Mì Quảng

Yellow Noodle

1.5 lbs pork bones
2/3 lb pork belly, sliced
12 head-on shrimps (size 36-40), remove shell but save the butter.
1/3 lb small shrimp (shell on)
1 can crushed pineapple
1 T red oil (or red hot chili oil)
8 shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 T crisp-fried shallot
2 T roasted peanut
1 toasted sesame rice cracker
2 green onion, cut into 2-inches length.
4 green onion, chopped
5 sprigs cilantro, chopped
Vegetable oil, fish sauce, salt, pepper, rock sugar
Vegetable for noodle
1 pack of medium or large rice stick
1 t tumaric powder


The broth: Wash and put pork bones into a soup pot, cover with 2-3 quarts water, add 4 shallots and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Skim off foam, add 1 t sea salt, 1 small piece rock sugar. Lower heat and let it simmer for 2-3 hrs. Remove bones and shallot, add 1/2 T crisp-fried shallot and green onion (2-inches cut) in.
The sauce: (picture) Put 1 T oil in a small pot over medium high heat, add 4 minced shallot and 2 minced garlic in and stir-fry until fragrant. Add pork belly in, stir -fry until cooked. Add both shrimps in with its butter, stir-fry until it turns color. Add crushed pineapple in with its juice, season with salt, pepper. Add red oil and ladle broth over to cover the mixture. Season with fish sauce and 1 small piece of rock sugar.
The yellow noodle:
When cook the noodle add in 1 t tumaric powder and 1 T oil. Rinse and season with some sea salt and sugar.


To Serve:
Put some vegetable in the bottom, cover with yellow noodle, pour sauce on top, add some broth just enough to dress the noodle and vegetable because this is not a soup. Top some roasted peanut and sesame rice cracker, sprinkle some green onion and cilantro. Options: fresh queeze lime juice, sliced garlic (raw) and hot chili.

Khoai Mì Cuốn

Cassava Roll

2 cups cooked mashed cassava
2 T scallion oil
8 red lettuce leaves
1/3 cup mint or basil
1 green apple (optional), cut into match-stick strips
12 rice papers (6 inches)
salt, sugar

How to boil cassava: Make a vertical slit on cassava tuber's skin, deep enough to see to white meat. Soak in water for 1 hour. Peel off the skin with your hands or with a knife. It should come off easily. Change water and soak for another hour.
Boil cassava in lots of water for 20-30 minutes, until soft. Discard water and remove inner core, don't use this water because cassava contains the potentially toxic compounds, cyanogenic glucosides which can cause acute cyanide poisoning. Mash cassava with a wooden spoon.
Mashed Cassava with scallion oil: Season scallion oil with some salt and sugar, add to mashed cassava and mix well.
Make a roll: Roll cassava mixture with lettuce, mint or basil, and green apple strips. Dip with sweet and sour fish sauce.

Cháo Trứng Bắc Thảo

Pork and Century Egg Congee


2 cups of cooked rice
6 cups water
2-3 century eggs
1 piece (4 oz) of pork loin
1 piece (2 oz) of pork belly
3 scallions
4 sprigs cilantro
1 piece (1-inch) ginger
fish sauce, salt, fresh ground pepper

I love to make this congee for breakfast from left over rice so I can clean up the rice pot. I sometimes just put cooked rice, chopped century eggs, ground pork, ginger and water into a slow cooker before going to bed and have breakfast ready when I wake up.

Put cooked rice and water into a medium pot over medium high heat, add meat and bring to a boil, lower heat and stir the congee frequently. When the meats are cooked, remove and cut into strips. Season with fish sauce and pepper. Let the congee simmer until the rice broken and the congee is thicken. Some like it thinner ans some like it thicker, adjust by adding water and continue to heat. Season with some sea salt.
Peel and cut the egg lengthwise into 6-8 pieces, add into the congee with pork strips and stir gently. Or you can place egg and pork strip in the bottom of the bowl and pour hot congee over when served.
Top with green onion, cilantro, ginger and pepper.

Mì Xào Giòn

Combination Crispy Noodle

1 bag fresh chow mein
oil to fry
12 shrimps, shelled and deveined
4 small cuttlefish (3-inches height)
1/2 lb pork loin, scliced
2 medium tomatoes, slice lengthwise 1/2 inch thick.
1/2 yellow onion, slice lengthwise 1/2 inch thick.
1/2 small cauliflower, cut into florettes
2 cups chinese flowering cabbage, cut into 3-inches length.
1 cup chinese celery, cut into 3-inches length.
1 can unpeeled straw mushrooms, cut in half.
1 can chicken broth
1 T oyster sauce
1/2 T corn starch, mix with some water
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
Vegetable oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar

Step 1: Stir-fry each separately with oil, minced garlic and shallot, salt (or soyce sauce) and pepper. Set them aside.
- pork, shrimp, cuttlefish
- cauliflower, straw mushroom, chinese flowering cabbage
Step 2: Heat enough oil in a sauce pan to deep-fry noodle. When the oil is bubbling hot, add noodle in to deep fry until golden crisp. Transfer to plates.
Step 3: When about ready to serve, Heat a wok or pan over medium high heat, add some oil, minced garlic and shallot, yellow onion and stir-fry until fragrant. Add tomatoes, stir, add chinese celery, stir. Season some salt and pepper. Add everything in, pour in chicken broth and bring to boil. Add oyster sauce. Thicken the sauce with corn starch mix, use a spoon to add corn starch mix until the soup thicken enough. Season with soy sauce and sugar. Pour over the crispy noodle then serve.

Chè Chuối Chưng

Banana Coconut Stew

6 ripe dwarf bananas, 3-4 inches length
1/2-1/3 cup boiled cassava, cubed
1 T tapioca strips
1/2-1/3 T tapioca pearl (small)
1/2 can coconut
sugar, salt
1 T crushed toasted peanut and sesame

Soak peeled banana in water and some salt for 10 minutes. Drain and put in a sauce pan, add 2-3 T sugar and a pinch of sea salt in. Marinate for 15-20 minutes. Cover with water and bring to boil over medium high heat. Lower heat, add tapioca strips in, simmer for 5 minutes, add tapioca pearls in. Continue to simmer until all the tapioca turns translucent and the banana tender soft. Add coconut cream in, add sugar to taste. Top with crushed toasted peanut and sesame.

Dwarf Banana

Bánh Tằm Bì

Silk Worm Noodle


2 cups cooked large noodle (or pancit luglug)
1/2 cup porkskin mixture
1 cup lettuce
1 T mint, basil leaves
2 T steamed bean sprout
1 T cucumber, cut into thin strips
1/2 T shredded carrot
1/3 T scallion oil
1/4 T crushed roasted peanut

Arrange cooked noodle topped with scallion oil and crused peanut and all the ingredients in a plate. Mix noodle, porkskin mixture and vegetables and serve with coconut sauce and sweet and sour fish sauce. You can use a separate bowl to mix small portion at a time.



Coconut Sauce
Thicken coconut cream with some cornstartch over medium heat, add some chopped onion and season with a pinch of salt and sugar.

Cơm Âm Phủ

Mixed Rice

4 servings

Steamed Rice
4 cup of Jasmine rice
1/2 cup of sweet (sticky) rice
Mix them together, wash, put in rice cooker and cover with same amount of water as you cook the Jasmine rice alone. The sweet rice will help the steamed rice stay moist. This will make more than 4 servings but I prefer to have extra in case someone wants more.

Egg
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
Make thin omelets and cut into strips

Pork Belly
1/3 lb of pork belly
1 can coconut juice
salt
Cook pork belly in coconut juice, add a little salt for 30 minutes or until cooked. test with your fork to see if the skin is soft enough.
Cut into match-stick strips

Grilled Lemongrass Pork
1 lb pork shoulder
1 clove garlic, minced
2 shallot, minced
1 T minced lemon grass
1 T honey
fish sauce, oil, salt and pepper
Slice pork and marinate with garlic, shallot, lemon grass, honey, some oil, fish sauce, salt and pepper for 2 hours or overnight.
Skew or just lay in baking sheet and grill.
Cut into strips

Lean Pork Sausage
Lean Pork Sausage or Hue Style Sausage can be bought at Vietnamese market or Sandwich store.
Cut into strips

Sweet and Sour Cucumber
2 cucumber
2 T Vietnamese coriander leaves, chopped
salt, sugar, lime juice
Cut cucumber in half and thinly slice them. You can leave skin on or off, I left some skin on to have the deep green color. Sprinkle salt on top and squeeze off cucumber juice. Wash off salt. Season with sea salt, sugar and lime juice. Top with Vietnamese coriander leaves when served.

Dried Shrimp Floss
4-6 head-on shrimps
vegetable oil, salt and pepper to taste
Peel shrimp, remove head but save the orange butter.
Put shrimp and its butter into a small non-stick sauce pan or you can add some oil in. Pan dry over medium low heat until the shrimp turns color (cooked) and dry off with its butter (about 3 minutes). Turn off heat and pound the cooked shrimp until flossed. Pan dry a little more over low heat, the shrimp floss will be nice and fluff.

Mold steamed rice and top with shrimp floss. Arrange the rest as seen in picture.
Serve with sweet and sour fish sauce.

Note: The pink strips you see in the picture are from "nem balls" (grilled pork sausage) I bought in the store to sub for the grilled pork loin that I didn't make enough. They weren't that good so don't bother.