Lemon Grass Chicken Stir-Fry

This is a common dish for weeknight supper, served with rice and a vegetable side or soup.  For this version, I’ve used boneless chicken breast.  The traditional version would be made with bite-sized portions of chicken with bone – cleaver to whole chicken approach.  If you choose to go with whole chicken with skin on, you may omit the oil and increase the amount of fish sauce by a tablespoon.  Chicken with bone is the best but a little messy and dangerous if you don’t know who to use a cleaver!

Tip:  To save some chopping time, you can put the onion and roughly chopped lemongrass into a food process and give it a few pulses.  Also, I rinse the food- processing bowl with the ½ cup water and then add it to the frying pan.

Lemongrass Chicken (Ga Kho)

(Serves 4)

• 3 stalks lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
• 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 boneless breast of chicken, sliced
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp crushed black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 red chili pepper
• ½ cup water
• 1 sprig green onion, sliced

1.  Pulse lemon grass with a food processor for 1 minute.  Add to the food process the onion and pulse until onion is finely chopped.  Set aside.

2.  Heat oil in a frying pan on medium-high and add sliced chicken breasts.  Season chicken with salt, pepper, sugar and fish sauce.  Stir-fry chicken until no longer pink.

3.  Stir the lemon grass mixture and sliced red chili pepper into the pan.  Continue to stir-fry for another 3-5 minutes to release the lemon grass and onion flavor.

4.  Add water to the pan, cover with lid.  Lower the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.

5.  Serve by garnishing with green onions. 

 

Lemon Grass Chicken Stir-Fry, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Mông Toi (malibar spinach)

As spring arrives, we get to enjoy some favorite vegetables!   Although I’ve already posted the recipe for the soup using malibar spinach or mông toi, I thought it would be good to show you what it looks like before it’s cooked.  Don’t know about most of you, but I usually confuse this with rau đai.  Both canh (soup) mông toi and canh rau đai can be made the same way but definitely very different texture and consistency.  Canh Rau đai has a slimy broth.  Canh mông toi is more akin to spinach in taste although the soup is a little slimy kind of like what you see when cooking okra.  The leaves of mông toi is about twice as thick as spinach and the stems are a bit thicker.

As for rau đai, you’ll have to come back later to see what that looks like…once I see it at the local Asian market.

Below is the link to the recipe for the canh mông toi…

http://simplyvietnamese.wordpress.com/2008/04/

Mong Toi, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Healthy Fried Rice

How do you enjoy fried rice guilt-free?   Use brown rice instead of white rice and add lots of veggies.  Here, I’ve used less meat and added mushrooms.  As always with fried rice, remember to use cold rice.  I usually make extra rice for dinner so there is always left-over rice in the refrigerator for fried rice! 

Tip:  You can skip the chicken and make vegetarian fried-rice.  Feel free to substitute with left-over tofu or  meats such as chicken, turkey, beef or pork.

Healthy Fried Rice

(Serves 4)

• 2 tbsp of oil
• 1 boneless chicken breast or thigh (defatted and diced)
• ¼ cup of chopped onion or shallots
• 1 cup of finely chopped carrots
• 3 cloves of smashed or chopped garlic
• ½ cup sliced mushrooms
• 6 cups of cold, cooked brown rice
• 1 egg  
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas
• 1 sprig chopped green onions (optional)
• crushed black pepper to taste

 

1.  Heat oil in a large 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Stir-fry chicken until cooked and lightly brown.  Add chopped carrots and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.

2.  Add chopped onions/shallots and give it a quick stir until softened.  Next, add chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms.

3.  Cold rice tends to form clumps so use your hands to squeeze the clumps to separate the rice.  Add the cold, cooked rice to the fry pan and frequently turn the rice with a spatula for about 3-5 minutes.

4.  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 quick stir until the egg is scrambled.  Now incorporate the scrambled egg into the rice mixture.

5.  Once the rice seems to have softened and is emitting steam, add oyster sauce, fish sauce.  Stir-fry for about 1-2 minute over medium heat to integrate the seasoning with the fried rice.  Stir in the frozen peas and chopped green onions at the very end.  Add crushed pepper according to taste.

 

Healthy Fried Rice, originally uploaded by simpleviet.

 

Fish in a Clay Pot / Cá Kho

This is a fish dish commonly known as caramelized fish or fish in a clay pot.  In Vietnames, it’s ‘cá kho’.   Just as there is many different ways to fry a fish, there are also many different ways to make ‘cá kho’. Almost any fish can be made this way – my tip is to choose fish that is more on the meaty side (catfish, halibut, salmon).  Since we are striving for simplicity on this blog, we will go the simple route of making ‘cá kho’.  The word ‘kho’ refers to a slow simmering cooking process, so allow at least 1.5 hours. (‘Cá’ means fish.)

Don’t be put off if you don’t have a clay pot.  A clay pot would be nice since you can serve the fish straight from the pot.  However, a large sauté pan with a lid will do just fine.

As with most dishes, ‘cá kho’ is served with a piping hot bowl of rice.  Note that this dish tends to be on the salty side so to be sure to balance it with some vegetables like bok choy.

Fish in a Clay Pot / Cá Kho

(Serves 6)

• ¼ cup sugar
• 6 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 lbs catfish fillets
• 2 tomatoes cut into wedges (optional)
• 3 sprigs of chopped green onion
• crushed black pepper

1.  Mix sugar and 4 tbsp of fish sauce together to make a marinade for the fish. 

2.  Place the fish fillets into a shallow baking dish and coat the fish with the marinade on both sides.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

3.  Place the fillets into a large sauté pan or clay pot (~6 quart) on medium high heat. Top with tomato wedges, 2/3 of the chopped green onions, and generous amount of crushed black pepper.  Drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp of fish sauce over the fish mixture. 

4.  Once the pan comes to a boil, reduce heat to a very slow simmer (~1 hour).  The liquid from the fish and tomatoes should reduce into thick, dark, caramel color sauce. Careful not cook the fish dry or else the bottom of the pan will char.

5.  Garnish with remaining chopped green onions and serve. 

Fish in a Clay Pot / Cá Kho, originally uploaded by simpleviet.