This doesn’t take much time at all and heart healthy. You can use fresh or canned tomatoes. Serve with brown rice and a side of sautéed or steamed spinach and you have a meal.

Salmon with Tomatoes
(Serves 4)

• 4 salmon fillets
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ chopped onion
• 1 Serrano or 2 Thai chili peppers, thinly sliced
• 2-3 tbsp fish sauce
• ½ – ¾ cup of water
• 4 salmon fillets
• 4 roughly chopped plum tomatoes or 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• Crushed black pepper
1. Heat a skillet pan on high heat. Lightly salt the salmon and sear 2 salmon fillets at a time on both sides (do not crowd the pan). Remove set aside the salmon.
2. In the same skillet, sauté the chopped onions until just lightly translucent. Next, add the tomatoes and peppers and sauté until soft. Add to the tomato mixture, fish sauce, and ½ cup water. Bring to a simmering boil and reduce heat to medium. If you would like it more saucy, add the additional ¼ cup of water.
3. Place the fish fillets into the tomato mixture and cover. Simmer on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add cracked black pepper to taste.

“Tet” or Chinese New Year is the only time of the year you will see coconut candy (mut dua) sold at the Asian markets. As kids, we loved this treat. If you head out to your local Asian markets, especially Vietnamese, you will probably find it in the next few weeks. Enjoy!!

 

Napa Cabbage Soup with Salmon, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

Here, instead of the chicken breast in my other cabbage soup recipe, substituted this with two salmon fillets.

Napa Cabbage Soup with Salmon

(Serves 4-6)

• 2 fillets of salmon
• 8 cups of water
• 1 whole napa cabbage sliced into 1 inch rings
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbsp salt
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• black pepper to taste
• 2-3 sprig of dill, roughly chopped

1. To a hot 6 quart stock pot, add the fillets of salmon.  Gently brown on both sides.  Once golden brown on both sides, remove and set aside.
2. To the pot, add the chopped onion and give it a quick stir to soften the onion.  Then add to the onion, water and salt.
3. Once the  stock mixture comes to a gentle boil, reduce to medium heat.  Add the sliced napa cabbage, fish sauce, and black pepper to the stock.
4. Cover and simmer, about 10-15 minutes or more until the napa cabbage has softened a bit.  Break the salmon fillets into bite size pieces and return it to the soup.
5. Few minutes before serving, add to the soup the roughly chopped dill to the broth.

Sweet Sticky Rice with Chinese Sausage, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

This is simple comfort food! You can swap the coconut milk for water if you would like to cut some calories.

Sweet Sticky Rice with Chinese Sausage

Serves 4

• 2 cups of glutinous or rice (soak in warm water for at least 1 hr)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup of lite coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 4-6 links of Chinese sausage (thinly sliced at a diagonal)

Drain the glutinous rice in colander.

In a non-stick pan, add the drained rice, water, coconut milk, salt.  Turn heat to medium high and cover with lid, periodically stir the rice.  Rice is done when rice is sticky and translucent. Remove the rice from the stove.

While the rice is cooking, brown the sliced Chinese sausage in a skillet on medium high heat.

Top the cooked sweet rice with the Chinese sausage and served with soy sauce and/or sriracha if desired.

This can be served at room temperature.

Chinese Brocoli, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

Gai lan (or kai lan) is often referred to as Chinese broccoli.  It doesn’t look anything like the Western version of broccoli although has similar tastes sans the broccoli flower.  Great for a stir-fry dish.  Use gai lan as you would in recipes with bok choy.  You can find gai lan at some local grocery stores now.

This recipe is vegetarian but you can easily add chicken, beef, or pork.  I would stir-fry the meat first and then proceed with the rest of the recipe below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai-lan

Chinese Broccoli (gai lan) with Black Bean Sauce
(Serves 4-6)

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 chopped cloves of garlic
• 1 bunch (~1 pound) of gai lan, roughly chopped
• 8 oz of sliced cremini mushrooms
• 1 tbsp of black bean sauce
• ½ cup chicken broth
• Salt and black pepper to taste

1.  Heat oil in a large 12 inch skillet or larger over medium-high heat.

2.  Add chopped garlic, give it a quick stir.

3.  Add the gai lan and mushrooms.  Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the gai lan cooks down a bit.

4.  Add black bean sauce and chicken broth.  Stir for about 2-3 minute over medium heat, until gai lan turns bright green.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Thai Basil and Garlic Mini Pork Ribs, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

I’ve made this with with mini pork ribs that you can find at large Asian markets.  But, you can make this with country style pork ribs by simply cutting it into bite size chunks.

Thai Basil and Garlic Pork Ribs

(Serves 4-6)

• 1 lbs of mini pork ribs
• 12 cloves of peeled garlic
• 1 cup of Thai basil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• black pepper to taste
• ½ – ¾  cup water

1.      Heat a large sauté pan (~6 quart) that has a lid on medium high heat.  Add pork to hot pan and stir fry until lightly brown.

2.      Reduce to medium heat, stir in peeled garlic and basil (reserve 5-8 basil leaves for the end).  Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.

3.      Reduce to low heat, add the rest of the ingredients.  Cover and simmer over low hear, about 15-20 minutes, until meat is tender.  Just before removing from heat, add remaining Thai Basil leaves for additional fragrance.

Shrimp Fried Rice, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

Remember the trick to making fried rice is to use COLD rice.  I usually use leftover rice or cook the rice the day before I plan to make fried rice.  If you want fried rice but don’t have any left over rice, you can spread the warmed/cooked rice onto a baking sheet, let it cool for 10-15 minutes before sticking in the freezer for an hour or so to.  Cold rice tends to form clumps so use your hands to squeeze the clumps to separate the rice before adding to the pan.

Fried rice is a great way to make use of extras or left over ingredients.  You can follow the basic recipe to make plain fried rice by not adding veggies, meat, or shrimp.

Tip: If you don’t like the carrots or peas, you can substitute instead other veggies like red or yellow peppers.  Be careful not to over stir-fry the rice – more than 10-15 minutes you will have dried out fried rice.

Vietnamese Shrimp Fried Rice

(Serves 4)

• 4 tbsp of oil
• 1 lb of peeled shrimp
• ¼ cup of chopped onion or shallots
• 3 cloves of smashed or chopped garlic
• ½ cup of finely chopped carrots
• 6 cups of cold, cooked rice
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• ½ tsp white pepper
• 1 cup of frozen peas

1.  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the peeled shrimp and stir-fry until half-cooked.  Remove the shrimp and set aside.

2.  Add remaining oil to the skillet bring to a sizzle.  Add chopped onions/shallots to the skillet and give it a quick stir until softened.  Next, add chopped garlic and chopped carrots.

3. To the stir-fried carrots, add the cold, cooked rice to the fry pan and frequently turn the rice with a spatula for about 3-5 minutes.

4.  Add to the fried rice the half-cooked shrimp and turn the rice mixture regularly over the next 2-3 minutes.

5.  Create a hole in the middle of the pan by pushing the rice mixture to the sides of the pan.  Crack and egg in the hole and with the spatula give it a few stir until the egg is scrambled.  Now incorporate the scrambled egg into the rice mixture.

6.  Once the rice seems to have softened and is emitting steam, add oyster sauce, fish sauce, crushed black pepper and frozen green peas.  Stir-fry for about 1-2 minute over medium heat to thoroughly mix the fried rice.

 

Kale Stir-fry, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

This is a minimalist vegetarian side dish.

Kale Stir-Fry
(Serves 4)

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 chopped cloves garlic
• 2 bunches of kale, rough cut
• 1 tbsp of oyster sauce

1.  Heat oil in a large 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat

2.  Add chopped garlic, give it a quick stir

3.  Add chopped kale and stir-fry for 2 minutes

4.  Add oyster sauce and stir for about 1 minute over medium heat, until Kale turns bright green and still slightly firm.

Sticky Sweet Rice, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

If you frequent Asian markets, you may have seen packages of sweet, sticky rice in orange or green colors.  Growing up, mom used to make the green sticky rice so I’m partial to those! Most recipes will call for a bamboo steamer or rice cooker (not common in most kitchens) and soaking the glutinous/sweet rice for 4 hrs or more.  The longer you are able to soak the rice; the shorter the cooking time.

In the spirit of simplicity, I’ve soaked the rice for an hour and made it on the stove top with a non-stick pan.  Also, this is a lite version of sticky rice but you can opt to use full fat coconut milk and increase the sugar to 6 tbsp for a sweeter version.

Some prefer to eat this as a breakfast treat but I like it as a snack.  The cooked sticky rice can be stored at room temperature for a day and reheated in the microwave when desired.

Sweet Sticky Rice (Xoi Dua)

• 2 cups of glutinous or rice (soak in warm water for at least 1 hr)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup of lite coconut milk
• 3 drops of green food coloring
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 4 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened shredded or shavings of coconut (optional)

1. Drain the glutinous rice in colander.
2.  Place drained rice to mixing bowl and add salt, sugar, and food coloring. Mix well until all the grains have an even color.
3. Add water, coconut milk and rice mixture to a non-stick pan with a lid.  Turn heat to medium high and keep lid on, periodically stir the rice.  Rice is done when rice is sticky and translucent green.
4. Remove the rice from the stove and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in shredded coconut if desired.  Serve at room temperature.

This is one of the easiest fish dish with amazingly flavors – and healthy!  Traditionally this is made with whole striped sea bass but any type of flaky, white fish will work.

You will need a steamer or a very large skillet with a lid or a bamboo steamer.  By steaming the fish, it will naturally create a broth so make sure you use a sunken plate/dish.  When serving, I suggest drizzling some of the broth over the fish and the rice.

Tip:  Black bean paste is rather salty so use sparingly.

Steamed Fish with Black Bean and Ginger

(Serves 4)

• 2 sprigs of green onion
• 1-2 inch piece of ginger
• 1 lb fish filets (striped sea bass)
• 4 tbsp Chinese black bean paste

1.  Prepare the onion and ginger.  Chop the white part of green onion and set aside for fish marinade.  Slice the green part of green onion at a diagonal for garnish.  Peel ginger and slice ginger into thin rounds.  Stack 3-4 rounds and julienne the ginger into slivers.

2.  On a large plate, sparingly smear with your hand each side of the fish with the black bean paste and then sprinkle on the green onion and ginger.  Cover and let sit for 30 minutes in the refrigerator to marinade.

3. Place fish onto an oven-safe plate and steam fish in a bamboo steamer or a very large skillet with a lid.  Fill the bottom of the steamer/skillet with 2 cups of water and cover.  Steam over high heat for 10 minutes or so depending on the thickness of the fish fillets.

4.  Garnish with chopped green onions and serve immediately with steaming white rice.