My favorite Vietnamese dishes

There are some comfort food that I go to when I feel a bit homesick.  My parents would often fix these dishes 2-3 times a week.  One of my favorites is called Bun Thit Nuong.  My dad's favorite is beef but I think the rest of the family would say pork is their favorite.  You could substitute this pork recipe for either chicken, beef, or shrimp.  My parents would often add cha gio, or Vietnamese egg rolls, which is in another post that you could go to for the recipe within my blog.  Enjoy and take some pictures of your work!!

BUN THIT NUONG

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds pork, sliced
• 1 package rice vermicelli
• 4-6 egg rolls (optional)

Marinade

• 3 tablespoons onions, minced
• 1.5 tablespoons garlic, minced
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• ½ tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Vegetables

• mint or cilantro
• Vietnamese perilla – tiá tô
• cucumbers, sliced

Garnish

• Pickled daikon and carrots
• Scallion in oil 
• crushed peanuts

Dipping Sauce

• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 small garlic clove, finely minced
• 2 chilies peppers, thinly sliced

Bake the pork at 375F for 10-15 minutes


MI QUANG
Mi Quang is a noodle dish that is very popular in Da Nang, where I was born.  The best way to make Mi Quang is to buy the noodle fresh.  Luckily, we have Viet Wah here in the Seattle area where I could get the noodles freshly made the day of.  The noodles you use makes the biggest difference in this dish.  I have made it before with dry packaged noodles that I added tumeric to when I boiled but it did not even compared to fresh noodles.  This noodle dish does not require a lot of broth and for my husband who does not like soup very much, this is one of his favorites also. 
 
Ingredients

• Half a chicken (best chicken is free range chicken but you may use any) 
• 5 cups of chicken broth
• 2 tbspTurmeric and paprika
• 2 oz fish sauce
• 1 oz peanut oil
• Pearl onions (củ nén) or garlic 
• Spices: fish sauce, salt, chicken stock, pepper, sugar, chilli sauce
• lettuce, radish leaves, cilantros
• Toppings: green onion, roasted peanut, grilled rice cracker, lemon, green chilli

Directions:
– Chop chicken into small pieces, marinade with 1tsp of fish sauce, chicken stock, sugar and pepper. Cover and leave in fridge for several hours or overnight.  When ready, smash củ nén and fry until it turns golden. Then add in smashed turmeric and 1tsp fish sauce and mix them for about 1 min.
Add in marinated chicken, mix and leave it for 10 mins. Then add in water to approx. the level of chicken.
Cover the lid, turn to low heat and leave it there for 20 mins.  Add chicken broth and cook until it boils.
Serve up!

BANH XEO (Vietnamese dinner crepes)

My memory of eating banh xeo is this:  It's rainy outside, time to crush up some rice and make some banh xeo.  My aunt will tell you that there is no need to buy the banh xeo mix or rice flour, just put the raw rice in a bowl and add water to cover by 1 inch. Let soak for 3 to 4 hours. Drain rice and transfer to a blender.  There are 3 ways to make this.  If you want to do it from scratch, here is the recipe for the batter:

Ingredients

Crepe batter with regular jasmine rice

• 1 cup raw jasmine or regular long-grain rice
  2 tablespoons firmly packed leftover cooked rice
  1 tablespoon firmly packed ground steamed mung bean*
  3/4 teaspoon salt
  1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  1/4 cup coconut milk, canned or freshly made*
  1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons water
  1 scallion, white and green parts, thinly sliced 
  
  
  Crepe Batter with Rice flour 

• Rice flour -- 1 cup
• Sugar -- 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt -- 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric -- 1/4 teaspoon
• Coconut milk -- 1 cup
• Water -- about 1/2 cup

 Or you could buy the packaged batter mix and follow the instructions on the bag
Filling
3/4 pound ground pork or thinly sliced boneless pork shoulder
1/2 pound shrimp
1 can (15 ounces) whole or broken straw mushroom or cabbage
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup oil

Dipping Sauce
1 1/2 cups Basic Dipping Sauce made with garlic

Vegetable Garnish Plate

2 heads leaf lettuce or Bibb lettuce
1 bunch mint leaves
1 bunch Thai basil

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high flame and add shallots or scallions and garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes without browning. Add the shrimp and sauté for another 3-4 minutes until the shrimp is cooked through. Add the fish sauce and salt to season. Remove shrimp to a bowl and set aside.
2. Wipe out the sauté pan and reheat over medium flame. Add a small amount of oil. Stir the crepe batter well and pour 1/2 cup batter into the saute pan. Swirl the pan to coat the bottom. Lay 3 or 4 of the cooked shrimp over one half of the crepe and then sprinkle a small handful of sprouts over the shrimp. When the the middle of the crepe looks cooked through and the edges of the crepe begin to brown, fold the crepe over to cover the filling and side onto a plate. 
3. Serve with lettuce or wrap up with spring rolls wraps

Best Turkey Recipe Ever!

 A couple of years ago my friend JoLyn and I made an AWESOME turkey. You might have remembered hearing me bragging about it. Dan's grandma Evans and several people asked for the recipe. I thought I would post the recipe and directions for you all just in case you're squandering around for a good recipe and getting nervous about whether or not you'll successfully make a good turkey this year. For this turkey, you will be asking for more WHITE MEAT even though you've never liked the white meat before! It's time to leave your mother's traditional way of cooking a turkey to try this to die for turkey.

THE MOISTEST TURKEY

Ingredients
* 1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.*
* Juice of a lemon
* Salt and pepper
* Olive oil or melted butter
* 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
* Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
* 2 carrots
* Parsley
* Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme

For precise cooking directions, go to:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000037moms_roast_turkey.php

Otherwise here is the shorten version. 7 simple steps:
BRINE the turkey! Or in other words soak it in salt water

1. Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). Use the heart and gizzard for making stock for the stuffing.
2. For flavor, put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of celery.
3. Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey.
4. Add several sprigs of fresh (if possible) thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey.
5. Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings
6. Start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half.
7. Check to see if it's done. The dark meat in the thigh should be about 175°F. The white meat in the breast should be 160°F to 165°F
8. If you want the bird to look a bit more golden, put it on convectional broil for 5 minutes to turn golden.

Check out this AWESOME way to cut a turkey!

Give me your feed backs after you've used this recipe!

My cakes

Rainy day is mom's day

A rainy day gives me an excuse to tell my kids that mommy can't take them outside because it's raining. I have a really hard time keeping my kids inside on a sunny day as they stand by the window and wait until you give in and take them outside. So when it's raining it's my turn to do what I want to do INSIDE. Well usually what I do is bake and crafts. But of course your kids are usually bored inside so you have to include them. So today we made mickey mouse bon bons or cake pops as some people call it and painted these. Looks expensive for a kids' craft? Well, not really...especially if you bottle feed. Keep those formula containers!!! These are now a gift box. A cute one at that!

Chunky Potato Bread

4 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/3 cups of warm water
2/3 cup of sugar
2 medium size baked potatoes (about 2 cups mashed)  You can finely mashed or leave some chunks
2/3 cups of shortening
2 1/2 tsp of salt
2 eggs
4 1/5 to 5 cups of flour


If you have a kitchen aid or bosch, simply dissolve the yeast with warm water and wait for 5 minutes, then it's a matter of combining all ingredients and mix!  Dough will be sticky so let rise in the mixing bowl for 1 hour.  Transfer into floured and greased pans.  Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown  Serve with jam!!  Yum...

Crock pot Pork Roast

2 lbs pork roast meat cut up in big chunks
1/2 cup chicken broth (I just used 1/2 of boiling water and 2 chicken boullions)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp of garlic salt
3 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp of chili powder
Ground Pepper
 1 yellow or sweet onion, sliced

Cook all in a crock pot for 4 hours on High.  Serve with rice or on hamburger buns, or wrap in tortillas!!  Delicious!!

Banana muffins

3-4 ripe bananas
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of crisco
2 eggs
3/4 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 cup of flour

Put sugar, crisco, sugar, and eggs and cream it. Add salt, baking soda, and flour. Add bananas last if you want it to be chunky, otherwise mix all ingredients at once. Put in paper cups in muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls

4 tbsp of yeast
3 cups of warm water
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
4 tsp of salt
6 eggs
9-10 cups of flour

If you have a kitchen aid, dissolve yeast in warm water and add all remaining ingredients except and mix. Let rise and roll out.
If you don't, follow this direction. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add remaining ingredients, except 1/2 of flour to make a soft dough. Add the rest of flour and stir in to make a stickly dough. Let rise until double.
Divide dough and roll out with lots of flour. Roll out white dough in rectangle. Spread with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Let rise again. Bake, frost while warm.
Frosting: powdered sugar, some butter, hot tap water.

French crepes

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Chocolate Chip Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

• 3/4 cup crisco
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup oats
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup raisins                                                               Bake at 350 for 10 minutes