Vietnamese Fried Chicken (Part 2)

Part 2.  Vietnamese fried chicken is full of flavor and less fattening than most fried chicken recipes. In my previous posting, I described how to prepare a whole chicken to make two different dishes, focusing on making a soup (Napa Cabbage Soup).  To make this dish, we will use the meatier cuts of the chicken (chicken wing drums, drumsticks, breast cuts, thighs).  If you opt to use pre-cut chicken breast in bone, I recommend splitting the breast in half to a portion equal the size a thigh.  This will help ensure equal cooking time for each piece of chicken.

Tips:  If you don’t like sweet meat dishes, you can skip the sugar and it still is a very nice savory dish.  Oyster sauce adds a nice depth of flavor but if you don’t have it on hand, I would increase the amount of sugar to 3 tbsp.

 

Vietnamese Fried Chicken/ Thịt Ga Chien (Part 2)

(Serves 4)

• Meaty cuts of whole chicken (2 drumstick, 2 breasts (halved), 1-2 thighs, 2 chicken wing drums)
• 2 tbsp of oil
• 3 chopped cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• black pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• ½ - ¾  cup water
• 3 sprigs of chopped green onion

1. Marinade chicken parts with salt and pepper for 10-15 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a large fry pan (~6 quart) on medium high heat.

3. Place chicken pieces into fry pan with plenty of space between each piece.  Fry on medium to medium high heat until golden brown on each side.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

4. Pour off grease, reserving only 2 tbsp of grease in pan.  Reheat pan on medium high heat and add chopped onions. Stir-fry onions until translucent and then add garlic.  Add to onion and garlic mixture, oyster sauce, fish sauce, pepper, and all except 1 tbsp of the chopped green onion. Stir mixture over medium heat until bubbly.

5. Add fried chicken pieces back into the simmering sauce.  Stir fry chicken over medium to low heat for 2-3 minutes.

6. Place chicken on serving platter, top with onion-garlic mixture from pan.  Garnish with remaining chopped green onion. 

   

Vietnamese Fried Chicken, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Napa Cabbage Soup (Part 1)

What I’d like to do in this and the next posting, is to show you how to make a meal using a whole chicken.  A whole chicken is less expensive than pre-cut chicken and also allows you to have both dark and white meat to cater to different taste.  It’s really doesn’t take that much more time to cut up a chicken.   You will use all the parts of the chicken to make the Napa Cabbage Soup (Part 1) and Vietnamese Fried Chicken (Part 2).

This is how I usually start prepping the chicken.  Carve off the chicken wings and sever the drum part off the rest of the wing.  Next, carve off the thigh quarters and separate the drumstick from thigh.  Now that you have carved off the appendages of the chicken, it’s time to remove the bony back part of the chicken.  Take your knife or poultry shears and cut down the length of the back bone of the chicken – about an inch either side of the back bone.  Cut this back bone portion in half.  Next, divide the remaining chicken into two breasts.  I like to cut each breast in half so that it will be about the same size as the thigh, thus, taking the same amount of cooking time.  Divide the chicken into two batches:

For soup:  chicken wing parts (except drum), back bones, one thigh

For main dishes: chicken wing drum, drumstick, breast cuts, thigh

Part 1.  The soup comes together quite quickly with Napa Cabbage.  If  you have seen my tomato and chicken soup or zucchini recipe, you will begin to see the basic elements of Vietnamese soups.  Here, instead of the chicken breast in the other recipe, I’ve used the bony, less meaty parts of the chicken to create the stock for this soup.  Note that the napa cabbage is quite thin and tender and doesn’t require much cooking.  My advice is to make the stock first and about 5 minutes before you are ready to serve the soup, add the sliced chicken and the napa cabbage.

Napa Cabbage Soup (Part 1)

(Serves 4-6)

• 8 cups of water
• Bony parts of chicken (wing parts -except drum, back bones)
• 1 chicken thigh – meat removed from bone and sliced
• 1 whole napa cabbage sliced into 1 inch rings
• 8oz of sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbsp salt
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• black pepper to taste
• 1 sprig of chopped green onion for garnish
• Sprigs of fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)

1. Add salt to water in a medium size pan, bring to boil

2. Place bone into boiling water to make stock.  Once it returns to a rolling boil, reduce heat to medium.

3. Add chopped onion to chicken stock.

4. Add crushed black pepper, fish sauce to stock.

5. Cover and simmer, about 20 minutes or more.  The more time you have, the richer the stock.

6. Remove bones and scum from soup. 

7. Five minutes before serving, add sliced chicken meat, mushrooms and napa cabbage to boiling stock.  Place lid on top of pan and cook for 4-5 minutes over medium high heat, until cabbage wilts.

8. Garnish soup with chopped green onions and/or cilantro.

9. Ladle soup over a bowl of warm jasmine rice. 

    

Napa Cabbage Soup, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Tofu with Tomatoes

This is a simple and tasty vegetarian recipe that dishes up in 30 minutes or less.  You won’t miss the meat because of the tofu.  For those who think they do not like tofu or have had bad experience with tofu, this dish will more than likely change your perception about tofu.  Bland, mushy white stuff this is not.  My favorite way to eat tofu is to have it fried, brown and crispy.

The tofu can be cut up in various ways.  Thick strips of tofu as outlined in the recipe will give more texture to the tofu when it’s fried. 

If you happen to have oyster sauce in your refrigerator, then by all means use it in this dish.  The oyster sauce will give an additional depth of flavor to the dish.  However, it will still be quite tasty if you skip the oyster sauce.

Tofu with Tomatoes

(Serves 4)

• 1.5 lbs tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 package of extra firm tofu (14 oz)
• ¼ cup oil
• 2 chopped cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Remove tofu from package and pat dry.   Place tofu on cutting board with the longest side facing towards you and cut 6 even vertical slices still keeping it as a tofu block, turn the knife horizontally and cut 4 horizontal slices into the tofu block.  Now you should have about ½ in strips of tofu.  Blot the tofu strips dry with paper or dish towels – this limits some of the grease splatter.

2. Heat oil in large frying pan on medium high heat. 

3. Place the tofu strips, long side down into the oil and fry until golden brown on all sides.  Be sure to space out the tofu in the pan, or else they will stick together.   Place the fried tofu on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

4. Pour off the remaining oil except for 2 tbsp of oil to sauté the chopped onions.  Stir in chopped garlic when the onion is translucent.

5. Add chopped tomatoes to pan, sprinkle salt over tomatoes.  Stir fry for 7-10 minutes, until mixture becomes a thick sauce with chunks of tomatoes.  Add fish sauce, sugar and black pepper at the last few minutes (oyster sauce is optional).

6. Stir in the fried tofu and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes to incorporate the tofu with the tomato sauce.

7. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

 

Tofu with Tomatoes, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Vietnamese Spinach Soup (Canh Mong Toi)

A northern Vietnamese dish that we grew up with is Canh Mong Toi /Malabar Spinach soup.   Canh Mong Toi is a very simple, home style soup.  This is a great light and healthy soup to accompany a meal.  Make sure you have plenty of white rice available.

Traditionally, this soup is made with dried shrimp but also great with fresh shrimp.  Mong Toi is in the spinach family and can only be found at an Asian market.  Regular spinach can be substituted.  This dish is very quick to prepare so make sure the rice is in the rice cooker before you start!

Malabar Spinach Soup (Canh Mong Toi)

Serves 4-6

• 8 cups of water
• 2/3 cup of dried shrimp
• 1 bunch of washed and cut Mong Toi  (or spinach)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ½  tbsp shrimp paste
• crushed black pepper to taste

1.      Soak dried shrimp in 1 cup of warm water bath for 20-30 minutes.  Drain shrimp and save the liquid.  Place shrimp into a food processor, pulse grind until the shrimp is broken up into small pieces.

2.      In a medium size pan, add 7 cups of liquid and the remaining liquid used to soak the shrimp.  Bring to a boil.

3.      Add chopped onion and salt to stock.

4.      Add cut Mong Toi to stock and bring to boil over medium high heat.

5.      Quickly stir the soup and add the shrimp paste.  Bring soup to boil for 1-2 minutes, when the Mong Toi is wilted.

6.      Ladle soup over a bowl of warm jasmine rice. 

 

Vietnamese Spinach Soup (Canh Mong Toi), originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio)

My favorite dish has to be Vietnamese egg rolls.  It’s one of the first dishes I learned to cook and enjoyed doing because I new the reward I would reap at the end! From start to finish, it’s about a two hour endeavor but well worth the time and effort.  It takes even less time if you enlist the help of your friends and family.  No one actually minds because they want the egg rolls to be done ASAP.  (Of course, those involved in the cooking process have the right to taste test.)  Another time saver is to buy pre-cut cole slaw package instead of shredding cabbage and carrots.

In our family, there can never be too many egg rolls.  We always make a huge batch and it magically disappears.  In the rare event that there are left overs, you can place it in a zip-lock baggie lined with paper towels and refrigerate.  Just plop them in the oven on 350˚ for 7-10 minutes and they are nice and crispy again.

Vietnamese egg rolls are traditionally made with rice paper giving the egg rolls a nice crispy exterior.  They can also be made with phyllo egg roll wrappers found in the frozen section of the Asian market.  You can make do with Chinese egg roll wrappers and the egg rolls will have a thicker skin and not as light as the other wrappers.

What ingredients go into an egg roll?  It varies widely depending on your taste and what is in your cupboard or available at the grocery store.  You can make it with just meat or vegetables.  I like the combination of meat, seafood and vegetables.   The recipe below is made with my favorite ingredients.  Pork is probably the most common ingredient to any egg rolls but for the health conscious, other meats can be substituted.  Below is a list of substitutable ingredients – you can choose one or a combination of ingredients:

Ground meat:  pork, turkey, chicken

Seafood: shrimp, lump crab meat

Vegetables: shredded cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, shredded jicama

How to enjoy Vietnamese egg rolls?  Of course, simply devouring the egg rolls without anything else.  The sweet fish sauce makes a nice dipping sauce for the egg rolls.  Often egg rolls are served at restaurants with the lettuce wrap fixings – I’ve included this option below.  If you want to make egg rolls more of a meal, you can cut the egg rolls into bite size and serve with rice noodles.  The rice noodles (thin, round variety – Bun) are cooked and cooled to room temperature.   In individual serving bowls, top rice noodles with shredded lettuce, julienned cucumber, sprigs of cilantro and plenty of bite size egg rolls.  Final touch to the cold egg roll noodle bowl is to dress it with the sweet fish sauce.

My recipe below will make between 40-50 eggrolls.  The amount will be dependent on how generous the fillings are for each of the eggrolls.  As long as you are taking the time to make egg rolls, I think you should have plenty for left overs!  It may sound like a lot but it should easily serve a crowd.  You can half the recipe if you plan to only serve this as an appetizer for 4-6 people.

Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio)

Serves 10-15

Egg Rolls:

• 1 lb ground meat - pork
• ½ pound peeled shrimp
• 1 cup of lump crab meat
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 carrot, peeled and shredded
• ¼ cabbage, shredded
• 1 medium size jicama shredded
• 2 ounce dried vermicelli noodles
• 1 ounce dried black fungus/cloud ear mushrooms
• 2-3 large eggs
• Ground black pepper
• 2-3 tbsp of fish sauce (depending on taste)
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
• Egg roll wrappers – 12 oz package (30-50 sheets)
• Frying oil – vegetable, corn, canola, peanut

Sweet Fish Sauce:

• 2 small garlic cloves
• 1 fresh Thai Chili (or ¼ tsp of hot chili peppers flakes)
• ¼ cup fish sauce
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice with pulp
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2-4 tbsp shredded carrots for garnish

Lettuce wrap fixings (optional):

• 1 washed head of lettuce (crisphead, butterhead or red leaf)
• 1 cucumber julienned
• 1 bunch of cilantro

1.  Soak vermicelli noodles and mushrooms in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes.

2.  In a food processor pulse grind shrimp, crab meat, garlic until roughly chopped.  Add to mixture, drained vermicelli noodles and mushrooms, pulse grind briefly until all ingredients are integrated.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, transfer ingredients from food processor and combine with ground meat, shredded vegetables.  Add black pepper, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and 2 eggs.  Use hands to mix ingredients together.  If the mixture seems dry, add the other egg.

4.  Wrapping the egg rolls with rice paper.  Fill a shallow dish with 1 inch of warm water.  Quickly dip rice paper in the water bath, making sure all parts of the paper is wet.  Place wet rice paper on a clean dish towel/plate and let it soften.  Once it is soft and pliable, peel it off the towel and place on to a plate.  Lay 1 ½ tbsp of filling on the lower edge of the rice paper, near you, leaving 1 inch edge.  Begin to fold egg roll like an envelop:  first, fold over the lower 1 inch edge over the filing, then the left edge, then the right edge.  Now roll the roll up to the top edge.   Place the wrapped egg roll on a platter and keep on rolling!

5.  Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium high heat.   Tess the oil by dipping the tip of a wooden spoon or wooden chop stick – if it bubbles around the tip then the oil is ready.  Place egg roll one at a time into hot oil, with the seam down (this will keep it from unraveling) and then quickly turn the egg roll to ensure the skin crisp up and does not stick to other egg rolls in the pan. Adjust heat so that the oil is bubbling gently and not too vigorously around the egg rolls.   Each egg roll will take about 5 minutes to cook – golden brown spots and skin is super crispy.   Shake the egg roll over the pan to help remove the excess oil.  Place egg roll on layers of paper towels to drain. 

 6.  Next, make the sweet fish sauce for dipping.  Either finely chop garlic and pepper OR use a mortar and pestle to smash garlic and hot pepper.  If you are using pepper flakes, no need to smash.  Place the chopped or smashed garlic and pepper into a small bowl then add the rest of the ingredients for the dressing.  Stir well until sugar dissolves.  If the sauce is not quite sweet enough add a bit more sugar.  If the sauce is too sweet and not tangy enough for your taste, add some more lime juice to cut the sugar.

7.  Prepare the lettuce wrap fixings.  Gently unwrap and separate the lettuce, one leaf at a time and arrange leaves on serving platter.  On another small plate, arrange the julienned cucumber and the cilantro.

8.  Serve egg rolls with the dipping sauce and the lettuce wrap fixings.  How to eat - use lettuce as a wrap and place the egg roll in the middle with the cucumber, coriander, roll the lettuce up (like a burrito).  Dip into sauce and enjoy.

    

Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio), originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Sweet Corn Pudding (Chè Bắp)

Desserts are usually not plentiful on a Vietnamese menu.  However, you will more than likely find something called ‘Chè’. Chè can be served warm, at room temperature, cold or over ice.  In our family, Mom usually makes a huge batch so that we can have some fresh from the kitchen with plenty of individual servings in the refrigerator for us to snack over the next few days.

Probably the closest description for Chè is pudding since it often is a thick texture but there are some that are more watery.  There are many types of Chè and the best places to try are at Vietnamese markets, bakery, coffee/tea shops, and then there are just Chè shops (mostly in Southern California). Chè can be made with various combinations of rice, fruits, vegetables, and legumes: banana, coconut, corn, dates, jackfruit, lotus seeds, lychees, plantain, red bean, rice, seaweed, tapioca, taro root, white bean.  Coconut milk and tapioca pearls are usually major ingredients and gives the creamy texture to Chè.  Some Chè can be topped with sesame seeds or peanuts.

To introduce you to Chè, I’ve chosen a very simple recipe, Chè Bắp (Sweet Corn Pudding).  If you have every made the savory creamed corn dish, you will be familiar with how to remove the corn from the cob.  Remember to immediately ladle the Chè into the serving dishes once you take it off the heat.  When the Chè cools, it thickens like pudding and becomes lumpy looking if portioned into serving dishes.

Sweet Corn Pudding/(Chè Bắp)

Serves 6

Chè:

• 4 ears fresh corn (yields 3 cups of corn)
• 6 cups of water
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 4 tbsp corn starch

Coconut Sauce:

• 4 oz Coconut Milk (1/2 can)
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

1.                  Cut the bottom of the corn cob.  Stand the corn cob on the cut end. Using a sharp knife, shave the corn off the cob with long smooth downward strokes until you reach the core , rotate the cob as you go.  Save the shaven cobs.

2.                  In a boiling pot of water on medium heat, placed the shaven corn cobs into the pot.  Bring to boil and simmer over medium high heat for 30 minutes to create a corn stock.

3.                   Remove corn cobs from the pot.   Stir in the corn kernels and sugar to the corn stock and bring to a boil.

4.                  Thicken the corn starch with a few tablespoons of cold water.  Stir cornstarch mixture into the simmering corn and bring to a boil to thicken.  Remove from heat and immediately ladle corn pudding/ Chè into individual serving dishes.

5.                   In a small sauce pan, add coconut milk and simmer over low heat.  Add to coconut milk the vanilla extract and bring to a low boil.  Remove from heat.  Drizzle 2-3 tbsp of coconut milk over each corn pudding dish.

6.                   Serve warm, room temperature or chilled (2 hours in refrigerator).  Can be refrigerated 2-3 days. 

Sweet Corn Pudding (Chè Bắp), originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Hu Tieu - Clear Glass Noodle Soup

The more well-known Vietnamese rice noodle soup is Pho. Hu Tieu is also a rice noodle soup but made with pork and seafood stock.  The rice noodle is more transparent (clear glass) and has a slightly sticky  texture than Pho noodles.  Usually on the package, it will say rice noodle and ‘Hu Tieu’ directly underneath.

If you are needing to boil pork tenderloin or similar cuts of meat for salads, the stock from this would be a good base for this soup.  For this dish, I actually am using the stock from the Kohlrabi Salad posting for part of the liquid.

You can purchase pre-made fried garlic from an Asian market and save some time.

Seafood Rice Noodle Soup (Hu Tieu)

(Serves 4-6)

Stock:

• 5 quartz of water
• 3 lb of pork ribs
• ¼ lb dried shrimp, pre-soaked in water
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 lb daikon (or turnip) quartered
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp of black peppercorn or cracked pepper

Fried garlic:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 8 sliced garlic cloves

Noodle:

• 1 package (1 lb) of rice noodles (Hu Tieu)
• ½ pound of pork tenderloin
• 12 medium shrimps
• 1 sprig of chopped green onion for garnish
• Sliced onion for garnish
• ½ cup fried garlic for garnish
• ¼ lb bean sprouts
• 1 lime, quartered

1.      To make stock, bring water to a boil and add pork, pre-soaked dried shrimp, chopped vegetables, fish sauce and black pepper.  Simmer over medium heat for about 2-3 hours, routinely skimming the foam and any fat off the top.  Strain the stock.

2.       While the stock is simmering, prepare the fried garlic.  Heat olive oil in small fry pan over medium heat, add sliced garlic and fry until golden brown.  Drain the garlic over papertowels.

2.     To the strained stock, add ½ pound of pork tenderloin and bring to gentle boil.  Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes.  During the last 3-5 minutes, toss in the unpeeled shrimp.   Remove both pork and shrimp and let cool on a platter before slicing and peeling.

3.      In a separate pot, bring water to boil.  Add rice noodles and cook until firm, al dente.  Pour noodles into a strainer and gently toss with chopsticks to loosen the noodles.  Divide noodles into 4-6 serving bowls.

4.      Top each bowl of noodles with slices of pork and shrimp.

5.      Laddle broth over the bowl of noodles.

6.       Garnish with sliced onion, chopped green onion, fried garlic.

6.       Serve with bean sprouts and lime. 

Hu Tieu - Clear Glass Noodle Soup, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Kohlrabi Goi

Goi is a Vietnamese salad. Typically, Goi is a light, crispy, and healthy salad. Goi is made with raw vegetables dressed in a sweet fish sauce and can be mixed with seafood or meat.  This can be enjoyed as an appetizer or as one of the main dishes.

In this recipe, I’ve used kohlrabi as the vegetable but you can substitute cabbage or turnip.  Kohrabi can be found in the organic section of the grocery store.  It has similar taste and texture to the broccoli stem.  Remember to peel the kohlrabi well to eliminate the fibrous skin.

Tip: In a boiling salted pot of water, cook ¼ pound of pork tenderloin (unsliced) for about 15-20 minutes, until done.  At the last 3-5 minutes, toss in the unpeeled shrimp.  Let both pork and shrimp cool on a platter before slicing and peeling.

Kohlrabi Salad/Goi

Serves 4-6

Salad:

• 1 ½ pounds fresh kohlrabi (usually 3 to a bunch)
• 10-12 boiled and peeled shrimps
• ¼ pound of sliced cooked pork tenderloin
• 1 tbsp salt
• mint leaves for garnish

Dressing:

• 2 small clove of garlic
• 1 fresh Thai chili (or ¼ tsp of hot chili peppers flakes)
• ¼ cup fish sauce
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice with pulp
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2-4 tbsp shredded carrots for garnish

1.      Peel kohlrabi and slice thinly with a mandoline or a potato peeler, toss with salt and let sit for 30minutes to 1 hour to draw out the moisture.  Squeeze kohlrabi dry and place into a large bowl.

2.      Add to the bowl of sliced kohlrabi, the sliced pork and peeled shrimp.

3.     Next, make the dressing.  Either finely chop garlic and pepper OR use a mortar and pestle to smash both the garlic and pepper.  If you are using pepper flakes, no need to smash.  Place the chopped or smashed garlic and pepper into a small bowl then add the rest of the ingredients for the dressing.  Stir well until sugar dissolves.  If the sauce is not quite sweet enough add a bit more sugar.  If the sauce is too sweet and not tangy enough for your taste, add some more lime juice to cut the sugar.

4.      Toss the salad with half of the dressing and let it marinade for an hour or more.   When ready to serve, garnish with mint leaves.  This salad can be made a day ahead.

5.      Serve the other half of the dressing along side the salad to allow people to use it as a dipping sauce or to dress the salad further.

Kohlrabi Goi, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Chicken and Rice Porridge

For those chilly days or when you are under the weather, Vietnamese rice porridge is the comfort food of choice.   There are many different versions of rice porridge – with beef, chicken or plain.  Chicken porridge is my choice to nurse a cold or the flu.

You can make rice porridge with a whole chicken.  However, going with my simplicity theme, I’ve chosen to use cuts of chicken to speed up the cooking time.  You can easily double this recipe if you choose to make it with a whole chicken to serve a crowd.  I prefer to shred the chicken by hand rather than slicing since it allows you to pick out the fat.  The starch from the rice will naturally thicken the stock – amazes me how little rice is needed.  Some porridge recipes call for fish sauce, but not this one.  Mom says that adding fish sauce while cooking makes the porridge have a ‘sour’ taste.  So, we prefer to stick with salt.  You can always add a few drops of fish sauce to the porridge at the table.  Lastly, if the porridge to too thick, dilute it with some water or chicken stock.

Chicken and Rice Porridge (Chao Ga)

Serves 4-6

• 10 cups of water
• 2 chicken thigh quarters, skin removed
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 cup of uncooked white rice (jasmine or long grain)
• black pepper to taste
• 1 sprig of chopped green onion for garnish
• Sliced onion for garnish

1.      Add salt to water in a large stock pan, bring to boil

2.      Add chicken quarters and chopped onion to boiling water to make chicken stock.  Cook on medium/medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until chicken is cooked.

3.     Debone chicken quarter and shred chicken.  Replace chicken bone and ½ of the shredded chicken back to the stock and bring to boil.

4.      Add uncooked rice to stock, stirring regularly over low simmering heat for 45 minutes. 

5.      Porridge is finished once it has reached a thick, creamy white consistency and not watery.  Remove chicken bones from porridge before serving.

6.      Laddle into serving bowl and garnish with the reserved shredded chicken, chopped green onion and sliced onion.  Add crushed black pepper to taste.

Chicken and Rice Porridge, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

Zuchini Soup

This is one of those quick soups for a busy night.   The inspiration for this soup comes from the Vietnamese winter melon soup (canh bi dao).  The winter melon looks like  a very large, light green and thick skinned squash with a soft white center.  It is found in most Asian markets.

I’ve used zucchini instead and find that it is quite similar in taste – and a lot easier to find at your local grocery store.  Typically, the winter melon soup is made with pork or dried shrimp.   I’ve chosen to use pork in this recipe, either pork butt or boneless or country style pork ribs.

Zucchini Soup

(Serves 6)

• 6 cups of water
• 1 lb of sliced pork
• 2 lbs of zucchini, sliced into 1/3 inch thick rings
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbsp salt
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• black pepper to taste
• 1 sprig of chopped green onion for garnish

1.      Add salt to water in a medium size pan, bring to boil

2.     Place sliced pork, chopped onions into boiling water, heat over medium heat for 10 minutes

3.     Once pork stock comes to a boil, skim off the top

4.      Add to pork stock, sliced zucchini, fish sauce and black pepper

5.      Gently stir the soup and bring to boil

6.       Soup is done when zucchini is slightly translucent in the center

7.      Garnish soup with chopped green onions.  

Zuchini soup, originally uploaded by simpleviet.