Vietnamese Grilled Prawn on Sugarcane

I was terribly shocked to ascertain contemporary sugar cane selling at my native fruit look recently. the primary factor that came to mind after I saw the contemporary sugar cane was creating chạo tôm. Chạo tôm is seasoned prawn paste wrapped around sugar cane stick, then steamed to line it’s form and finished off with grilled or deep fried. The prawn meat is interrupt the sugar cane and wrapped in lettuce with contemporary herbs and dipped with fish sauce. i assumed I might resist chewing on the sugar cane afterwards, however the sweet juice of the sugar cane is tough to resist.

Chạo Tôm – (Vietnamese Prawn on Sugar Cane)
Makes 12

Ingredients
Prawn paste
1kg prawn, peeled and deveined (net 600 grams prawn meat)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoosn ground white pepper
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 egg
1.5 tablespoons cornflour
oil
12 sugar cane skewers (skin removed and quartered into 15 cm lengths)
1 small lettuce (soft leaves)
2 cups Vietnamese herb leaves (mint leaves, perilla leaves)
1 cucumber, sliced in half and cut into wedges
1/2 cup fish sauce dipping sauce

Method
Roughly chopped the prawn meat and put into bowl. Add garlic, salt, sugar, white pepper, fish sauce, egg and cornflour and combine well. Transfer mixture to a food processor and process until smooth. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Prepare a steamer with water ready for steaming. Line the tray with baking paper and oil the baking paper.
Apply oil to one hand, then use the other hand to put 1.5 tablespoons of prawn paste in the palm of your hand, spreading it out to an even layer. Put a sugarcane stick on top and in the centre of the paste leaving the two ends sticking out. Then close your hand to wrap around the stick and continue shaping it by rotating the stick. Set on the prepared steamer tray.

Steam the prawn sticks over boiling water for 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside to cool.
Preheat grill. Brush some oil onto the prawn skewers and chargrill until golden brown.
To serve, remove the prawn meat from the sugar can stick and cut into 4 strips. Wrap each in a small piece of lettuce with herbs and dip in the sauce. The prawn meat can also be wrapped with rice paper with vermicelli noodles and herbs.

This is my contribution to Delicious Vietnam, a monthly blogging event celebrating Vietnamese cuisine created by A Food Lovers Journey and Ravenous Couple.

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Vietnamese Beef Dish

I realize thịt bò lúc lắc to be a fun-sounding dish. Thịt bò suggests that beef meat in Vietnamese, however the remainder of the name of this common Vietnamese beef dish, "lúc lắc", interprets to "shaking" and "moving back and forth".

This dish necessitate terribly tender beef. I selected to use tiny cubes of sirloin beef; you'll additionally use filet mignon. The meat is first immersed in a very traditional Vietnamese marinade, then tossed back and forth in an exceedingly wok. The cooking time is fairly fast, therefore it's excellent when you are looking for a fast and simple dinner menu item.

I served the cubed beef on a bed of lettuce, along side caramelized onions and sliced chile peppers. All you wish to feature may be a bowl of steamed jasmine rice and a mix of lime juice, salt and pepper (the typical dipping sauce that goes with each Vietnamese meal).

Ingredients

Yields: 6 servings

2-½ pounds tri tip sirloin beef (about 1" cubes)
2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste (click on the link for the recipe)
1 tablespoon palm sugar, grated
1 tablespoon lime juice
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1-½ tablespoons oyster sauce
½ teaspoon mushroom seasoning salt (or regular salt)
¼ teaspoon red chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce, for garnish
2 jalapeño peppers, thinly sliced

Preparation

In a bowl, mix the palm sugar, red chili powder, ginger garlic paste, lime juice, baking powder, soy sauce, oyster sauce and one tablespoon oil. Place the meat during a sealable plastic bag. Add the marinade, seal and chill for concerning one hour.

In a wok, heat one tablespoon oil. Add the onions and cook till nicely golden (it could take 5-10 minutes). Once the onions are cooked, add the sliced chile peppers. Toss till they are coated in oil. Drain and reserve the oil and set the caramelized onions and chiles aside.

Remove the meat from the refrigerator to bring it back to area temperature. Divide the meat into 2-3 batches. within the same wok, add alittle additional oil if necessary (I didn't). Add the primary batch of meat; do not over-crowd the wok. Toss the cubes of beef by moving the pan during a vertical circular motion (the wok ought to be lifted at an occasional angle to facilitate the movement) and cook on all sides for concerning 3-4 minutes (or half dozen minutes if you wish it well done), betting on how pink you wish the within of the meat, till nicely browned. it is vital that you simply don't pierce the meat thus it stays moist and tender; no utensil necessary. Season with mushroom seasoning salt and black pepper.

Wipe the within of the wok with a paper towel. Add additional oil, repeat with the opposite batches till all the meat is cooked.

Transfer the caramelized onions to an oversized platter. cowl with shredded lettuce. prime with bò lúc lắc. Let the meat sit for a minimum of five minutes before eating.

You could conjointly add salad xoăn, that is Vietnamese lettuce, steamed jasmine rice and serve a dipping bowl packed with lime juice, black pepper and salt.

Bon appétit!

Tips

Another alternative to soy sauce is to use Maggi seasoning sauce. You can buy it in Vietnamese bakeries in San Jose.
Mushroom seasoning salt brings a very distinct, earthy flavor to the broth. You can find it at gourmet specialty stores or in most Korean stores. I buy mine at Marina Foods -10122 Bandley Drive -Cupertino, CA 95014.
I recommend that you don't marinate the beef for too long. The soy sauce might brown the meat and the final product won't get this characteristic pinkish color at the center.

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Vietnamese Brown Rice Pho Noodle Soup

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Basic Pho Cooking Secrets and Techniques

It's so hard to get the flavor of pho broth just right. You're best off leaving it up the professional cooks at pho noodle shops. Don't even try. It takes so long to make the broth, anyway.  It's more convenient to go out. I don't have the time. Ha! You're teaching non-Vietnamese people to make their own pho? That should be interesting...

Cooking is a skill and craft that just takes practice to master. I've never been one to be discouraged from tinkering in the kitchen. At the end of the day, it's just food. If you mess up, you can still eat whatever you made. It's not likely to harm you.

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Beef Pho Noodle Soup Recipe

Who doesn't love noodles soup? In the Vietnamese repertoire, beef pho noodle soup is a classic. In fact, it's practically the national dish of Vietnam. Below is my family's recipe for the quintessential Vietnamese food -- pho noodle soup. You may have had bowls of pho in Vietnamese noodle shops, in Vietnam and abroad. but have you made some yourself? Before  leaping into this beef pho noodle soup recipe, check out Pho Secrets and Techniques post for a primer on bones, charring the onion, saving some fat, etc. Also, read about the history and evolution of pho in Vietnam and America. Making pho noodle soup takes time but most of it is passive cooking. And remember, you can freeze pho broth for future bowls of steamy hot pho noodle soup!

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Chicken Pho Noodle Soup Recipe

My friend Simon says that there's a lot of confusing and misleading online chatter about chicken phở these days. If you've had the original beef phở then you're bound to want to explore the chicken version, which is slightly lighter in flavor, but delicious still.

Making noodle soup is an art form that take a bit of time, but most of the time is passive cooking. I encourage you to try making your own bowl so that you may savor and appreciate a well-crafted bowl. At Simon's urging, I'm  sharing this chicken phở  recipe from my cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, 2006). Try it out and contribute comments so that we can build a nice body of content on this wonderful Vietnamese chicken noodle soup!

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Banh Pho Flat Rice Noodles

For decades I thought that the flat rice noodles that went into pho noodle soup and stir-fries were only available in dried form. That’s how we bought them in the United States. About 15 years ago, those “banh pho” rice noodles (named such in Vietnamese because they go into pho noodle soup) started being sold fresh in Cryovac packages at Asian markets. My mom still bought the dried kind. Then one day, I asked her about fresh versus dried banh pho rice noodles and she responded, “They were always fresh in Vietnam. We had no dried banh pho when we lived there.”

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Vietnamese noodle soup (Phở)

Phở (Vietnamese pronunciation: [fə̃ː]  ( listen), ; often written pho in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States where it is typically pronounced /ˈfʌ/^[1]) is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef (pho bo) or chicken (pho ga).^[2] The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, and peppers that are added to the soup by the consumer.

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