I've been making my wife traditional Vietnamese dinners and here are some photos (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JohnWH
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JohnWH
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I type with a bloated belly full of broth.
'Twas the wife's birthday, and she asked for soup.
What looks like a simple meal was anything but. My first attempt turned out thankfully satisfactory, given the high stakes of the evening to impress. A little wine on the side to smooth over any potential disappointment was a needed foresight.
Phở Gà - Phở is a popular noodle soup dish found at any Vietnamese restaurant 'round town over here. Some places do better than others. Quality and flavor of the broth is key. Normally it is a beef soup (thin sliced brisket or flank steak), but common alternatives include shrimps, beef meatballs, fishballs, or in tonight's version chicken. In making the broth from scratch, this was a half day ordeal. Parboiled chicken legs, roasted and toasted spices (coriander seeds, cinnamon, star anise) in a cheesecloth bag, onion, ginger, simmered for hours. Shredded off the chicken meat after removing and discarding the skin, the bones returned to the soup for a final simmer. Strained of solids, the broth remaining is fairly clear-ish in color and fragrantly inviting. Rice noodles are added with the meats, with various herbs leaves, onions, blanched bean sprouts, limes on the side for personal preference. Spicy chili sauce and sweet hoisin sauce on side for personal taste.
'Twas the wife's birthday, and she asked for soup.
What looks like a simple meal was anything but. My first attempt turned out thankfully satisfactory, given the high stakes of the evening to impress. A little wine on the side to smooth over any potential disappointment was a needed foresight.
Phở Gà - Phở is a popular noodle soup dish found at any Vietnamese restaurant 'round town over here. Some places do better than others. Quality and flavor of the broth is key. Normally it is a beef soup (thin sliced brisket or flank steak), but common alternatives include shrimps, beef meatballs, fishballs, or in tonight's version chicken. In making the broth from scratch, this was a half day ordeal. Parboiled chicken legs, roasted and toasted spices (coriander seeds, cinnamon, star anise) in a cheesecloth bag, onion, ginger, simmered for hours. Shredded off the chicken meat after removing and discarding the skin, the bones returned to the soup for a final simmer. Strained of solids, the broth remaining is fairly clear-ish in color and fragrantly inviting. Rice noodles are added with the meats, with various herbs leaves, onions, blanched bean sprouts, limes on the side for personal preference. Spicy chili sauce and sweet hoisin sauce on side for personal taste.
JohnWH
Well-Known Member
Chúc mừng năm mới!
Happy (Lunar) New Year! Also called Tết Nguyên Đán.
New Year happened midweek, so our usual family party wasn't done here until last night Saturday. We did up Viet flavored chicken legs, pork chops, and a store bought sausage called lạp xưởng which I think is actually Cantonese but popular nevertheless. It featured in the fried rice, as well as plain on its own. Various pickled veggies, greens, white rice available, a cold shrimp salad, fruits, and Western air fryer snacks. Everyone left happy. Kids get money in their envelopes.
Happy (Lunar) New Year! Also called Tết Nguyên Đán.
New Year happened midweek, so our usual family party wasn't done here until last night Saturday. We did up Viet flavored chicken legs, pork chops, and a store bought sausage called lạp xưởng which I think is actually Cantonese but popular nevertheless. It featured in the fried rice, as well as plain on its own. Various pickled veggies, greens, white rice available, a cold shrimp salad, fruits, and Western air fryer snacks. Everyone left happy. Kids get money in their envelopes.
JohnWH
Well-Known Member
Cold, stormy, windy weekend over here.
Cà Ri Gà- a creamy coconut chicken curry, featuring a lemongrass fried Tofu. Seems the Indian palate and spices spread through trade routes all through Southeast Asia. Served with various side bites included raw onions, steamed okra with chili flakes; pickled sweet cabbage; pickled carrot and daikon; our zesty papaya fruit salad with shrimp; coriander leaves, green onions, red chilis, fried shallots...
Cà Ri Gà- a creamy coconut chicken curry, featuring a lemongrass fried Tofu. Seems the Indian palate and spices spread through trade routes all through Southeast Asia. Served with various side bites included raw onions, steamed okra with chili flakes; pickled sweet cabbage; pickled carrot and daikon; our zesty papaya fruit salad with shrimp; coriander leaves, green onions, red chilis, fried shallots...
JohnWH
Well-Known Member
Seems it's been a couple of months.
I'll do posts to separate.
A couple of weeks ago we ended up with a quite firm and unripe mango, which disappointed us because we were in the mood for soft and sweet eat right away.
I've enjoyed pickling recently, so found how to make Xoai chua ngot--pickled unripe mango.
She mentioned as a kid they commonly had (I paraphrase her) "some sort of seasoning... [not helpful for me]" and to "try to look it up and make it for me." So, it turns out to be a chili salt made from a lot of salt, some sugar, and crushing the tiny red chilis into a pulp together. It's called Muối Ớt
I'll do posts to separate.
A couple of weeks ago we ended up with a quite firm and unripe mango, which disappointed us because we were in the mood for soft and sweet eat right away.
I've enjoyed pickling recently, so found how to make Xoai chua ngot--pickled unripe mango.
She mentioned as a kid they commonly had (I paraphrase her) "some sort of seasoning... [not helpful for me]" and to "try to look it up and make it for me." So, it turns out to be a chili salt made from a lot of salt, some sugar, and crushing the tiny red chilis into a pulp together. It's called Muối Ớt
JohnWH
Well-Known Member
So spent most of the afternoon and evening going full blast. Here's the sample plate.
Cà tím xào -- braised eggplant. Big buggers thickly sliced, lightly grilled with garlic, then braised with various other ingredients.
Gỏi tai heo -- sliced pig ear. This was a long adventure of blanching whole pig ears, rinsing, cooling, then taking a knife to scrape and clean the crud off... then using tweezers to pull out any remaining hairs. Then boiling them with ginger and onion. Then cooling again. Then slicing. Then tossing with sesame oil, some pepper, and chopped cilantro. I think I featured pig ear before somewhere in an above post; this one was made from scratch and tried my hand at a version that's aromatic rather than spicy. I saw various other recipes, including adding other stuff for preference like other leaves or vegetables.
Cà tím xào -- braised eggplant. Big buggers thickly sliced, lightly grilled with garlic, then braised with various other ingredients.
Gỏi tai heo -- sliced pig ear. This was a long adventure of blanching whole pig ears, rinsing, cooling, then taking a knife to scrape and clean the crud off... then using tweezers to pull out any remaining hairs. Then boiling them with ginger and onion. Then cooling again. Then slicing. Then tossing with sesame oil, some pepper, and chopped cilantro. I think I featured pig ear before somewhere in an above post; this one was made from scratch and tried my hand at a version that's aromatic rather than spicy. I saw various other recipes, including adding other stuff for preference like other leaves or vegetables.