Why Vietnamese Girls Don't Get Fat

The pseudo-Vietnamese food found in Hong Kong is, to say the least, pretty dismal, despite the relative proximity of Hong Kong to Vietnam. My theory for this is that the predominantly Cantonese palate of Hong Kong just simply cannot get used to the pungency of the fresh herbs used in Vietnamese cuisine, and the resulting interpretation we get here is well... just sad.

I have loved Vietnamese food since the first time I stepped foot in Hanoi in 2003. Vietnamese cuisine is heavy in its use of fresh herbs to accent dishes, and is refreshing, healthy, low fat and flavoursome. For reasons I put down to sheer ignorance, I have always thought Vietnamese dishes as being too difficult to master. Thankfully, at the Career Discovery course I did at the CIA recently, a number of the dishes we had to prepare were authentially Vietnamese, and this really opened my eyes to the beauty and sheer simplicity of the cuisine.

I tried to recreate 3 dishes 2 Saturdays ago. My recipe adaptations from the CIA versions as follows:

Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodles in Soup)

This turned out superbly, a decent copy of the real thing you get on the streets of Vietnam. The secret is sloooow simmering of the broth to bring out the beefy goodness, as well as constant skimming to avoid clouding the broth with impurities.

For the broth:

Beef bones. Ask the butcher to chop into 2 inch sections
Enough water to cover (I used about 6l of water)

500g beef brisket

4in piece of ginger, peeled, charred

1 large yellow onion, peeled, sliced, charred

Fish sauce, to taste

Sugar, to taste

Salt, to taste

2 whole star anise (10 pods), lightly toasted in a dry pan for 2 min

6 whole cloves, lightly toasted in a dry pan for 2 min

1 stick cinnamon, lightly toasted in a dry pan for 2 min

1 tsp hole peppercorns

Method:
1. Prep the bones. Put the bones in a pot with water to cover, and bring to a rolling boil quickly. Boil for 2 minutes, then discard the water and rinse the bones in cold water. This helps to get rid of excess blood, fat and impurities in the bones. Then cover with cold water again, and bring to a slow simmer. Continue to simmer for 3 hours.

2. After 3 hours, add the onion and ginger to the broth. Plac the star anise, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns in a spice bag and add this to the broth. Continue to simmer for another 2 hours.

3. Marinate the beef brisket in sugar, light soy sauce and fish sauce for a few hours. Sear the outside of the brisket in a hot pan. In the final 2 hours of simmering, add this to the broth. Simmer until the brisket is very tender

4. Season with fish sauce, sugar and salt, to taste

For the noodle assembly:

Vietnamese rice noodles, cooked in boiling salted water (like pasta) until soft

Bean sprouts

Yellow onions, sliced paper thin

Scallions, sliced into thin rings

Sprigs of cilantro
Sprigs of Asian (Thai) basil

Sprigs of mint

Sprigs of Vietnamese mint (rau ram) - optional, I did not use as I could not find it

Saw leaf herb - optional and also cannot be found here

Thai bird chillis, sliced

Lime wedges

Rib eye or other good cut of beef, sliced paper thin, raw

Cooked beef brisket, sliced into 1/2 in slices

Method:

To serve, place the cooked noodles in heated bowls, and add the brisket and slices of beef, then ladle the boiling hot broth into the bowls. The broth should instantly cook the raw beef. Garnish with any amount of vegetables and herbs, and squeeze limes into the broth, to taste.

Prawn Rice Paper Rolls

This is actually very simple to make, as long as you have your mise en place all ready to go, and once you have gotten the knack of "rolling". The trick to not having the rice papers disintegrate on you is not to soak them for too long in the hot water. They should feel just on the brink of being completely soft as you take them out of the water, as they will continue to soften slightly as you assemble the roll. Freshness of each of the ingredients is crucial.

Ingredients:

Fresh prawns, medium, cooked in their shells in salted water, peeled, deveined and cooled.

Round rice papers (I used 6in ones, larger ones can sometimes be found)

Red leaf lettuce, washed, dried and torn into pieces

Bean sprouts, briefly blanched (10-15 sec!)

Carrots, julienned

Mint

Asian basil

Cilantro

Mung bean or thin rice vemicelli noodles, cooked (optional, I did not use)

Vietnamese dipping sauce (recipe to follow)

Method:

1. Toss lettuce with carrots and noodles (if using) with some of the dipping sauce, just enough to coat.
2. Set up the rolling station. Fill a roasting tray with hot water. If necesary, keep boiling water on hand to add to the bowl if the temperature drops too low. Use a wooden chopping board as the rolling surface (wood absorbs excess water), or place cheesecloth over the rolling surface.

3. Work with one rice paper at a time. Dip one edge in hot water and turn to wet completely, about 10 secs. Lay the sheet on the rolling surface and stretch to remove any wrinkles. Line the bottom third of the sheet with the lettuce mixture, bean sprounts, 1 sprig of mint, 1 sprig of cilantro, 1 basil leaf, half a prawn. Make sure ingredients are evenly distributed from one end to another, leaving a little buffer at each end.

4. Using your index and third fingers to press down on the ingredients, use your thumbs to flick the bottom end over the ingredients. Still holding down on the ingredients, use your fourth finger to fold the sides in, then use the thumb, index and third fingers to roll. Make sure the roll is tight. (It takes practice! Thanks to my Hokkien family, I credit my rolling skills to a lifetime of pohpiah rolling.). Finish making all the other rolls in the same way.

5. Serve rolls with the remainder of the dipping sauce.

For the Vietnamese Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves, sliced

4 red Thai brid chillis, chopped, seeds removed

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup hot water

2 Tbs fresh lime juice

1/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Place garlic and chillis in a mortar. Pound into a paste with a pestle.

2. Combine the garlic mixture with the rest of the ingredientsin a small bowl. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

3. Ladle into serving bowls

Ga Nuong Xa (Lemon Grass Barbequed Chicken)

All over Indochina, you will see street hawkers roasting these incredibly flavoursome and tasty birds over open charcoal fires. My recipe is a decent home version. I accidentally left it for too long on the skin side, and the wings came out charred, which marred the look of the bird. However the taste was not impacted, and in fact the charring added to the smokiness I wanted to achieve!

Ingredients:

Chicken, 1-1.5kg, butterflied

Lemongrass, white part only, 4 tbs, minced

Shallots, minced, 2 tbs

Garlic, minced, 2 tbs
Soy sauce, 2 tbs

Sugar, 2 tbs

Fish sauce, 2 tbs

Dried chilli flakes, 1 tbs, or to taste

Salt, 1 tsp

Cilantro, chopped, 2 tbs

Canola oil, 4 tbs

Cilantro soy dipping sauce, 1 cup

Method:

1. Set aside half the lemongrass. Combine remaining lemongrass, shallots, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, fish sauce, chilli flakes and salt in a large bowl. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Leave to marinate for at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight. Bring the chicken to room temperature before cooking.

2. Combine the remaining lemongrass with the oil and season with salt and pepper.

3. Gril the chicken, preferably over a charcoal grill. I have a gas grill, so I used the charcoal in foil method as per "Home Smoked Goodness". Periodically turn and baste the chicken with the oil until done.

4. Let rest for 10 min before serving with the cilantro soy sauce.

For the Cilantro Soy Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:

Garlic clove, 1, sliced

Thai bird chillis, 4 (or to taste)

Fresh ginger, 1in piece, peeled and sliced

Fresh cilantro, 2 tbs, finely chopped

Soy sauce, 1/4 cup

Fresh lime juice with pulp, 2 tbs

Water, 2 tbs

Sugar, 2 tbs

Method:

1. Pound the garlic, chillis and ginger in a mortar with a pestle, until it becomes a paste.

2.Mix well with the rest of the ingredients until sugar is dissolved.

3. Serve in ramkins.

Hostess with the Mostest

To me, nothing screams "hostess with the mostest" more than fresh home-baked goodies on stand-by to go with the cup of coffee or tea for the unexpected guest who pops by. I'm not normally a huge fan of biscotti, but I did have some particularly delicious chocolate-dipped ones at the De Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park just last week, so I was inspired to create my own at home.

I did not manage to chocolate dip these ones, but they are nutty and fulfilling nonetheless, and extremely easy to make. This recipe comes from a very old cookbook, Beautiful Baking by Carole Clements.

Italian Almond Biscotti (makes 48)
200g whole unblanched almonds
215g plain flour
100g sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon saffron powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1 egg white, lightly beaten, for glazing


- Preheat a 190 deg c oven. Grease and flour 2 baking sheets

- Spread the almonds in a baking tray and bake until lightly browned, around 10 mins. When cool, grind about a quarter of the almonds until pulverised. Coarsely chop the remaining almonds into 2 or 3 pieces each.

- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, saffron, baking soda and ground almonds into a bowl and mix to blend. Make a well in the centre add the eggs. Stir to form a rough dough. Add the chopped almonds and blend well.

- Divide the dough into 4 parts and shape into logs about 2.5cm in diameter. Place on one of the baking sheets, brush with the egg white, and bake for 20mins. Remove from the oven.

- With a very sharp knife, cut each log at an angle making 1cm thick slices. Return the slices on the sheets to a 140 deg c oven and bake for 25 mins more. Transfer to a rack and cool.

Recipes

This is intended for the team members of "Team Amateur". For easy sharing, I've decided put the recipes of the extras I prepared on this blog. All measurements are not precise because I normally just taste and adjust as I go along.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

The chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken stock
Scallions (to taste)
Garlic (to taste)
Ginger (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Chickens
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Scallions
Cilantro

I start with a chicken stock (or water and chicken backs). Flavour stock with scallions, garlic, ginger and salt to taste. Cook chickens in stock. Most Chinese cooks prepare the chicken such that there is sometimes still a touch (just a touch) of pink at the bone of the thigh - this prevents the breast of the chicken from being too stringy and dry. The proper technique is to take the chickens out when done and immediately dunk them in a salted ice bath just long enough to stop the cooking process. Then take them out and rub sesame oil over the skin. This prevents discolouration and drying out. Do not butcher until ready to serve. (Obviously I didn't quite follow the proper technique...). 15 min before serving, cut into pieces and dress in sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions and cilantro.

The rice
The ingredients:
Garlic, half a large bulb
Ginger, about the same quantity as garlic
Long grain rice, pref Jasmine, about 4 cups
Rendered chicken fat (enough to coat rice, say half cup)
Chicken stock, about 6 cups or so
Pandan leaf. 2 (optional, but adds lots of flavour)
Salt (to taste)

When cleaning the chickens, I would cut out and reserve any excess fat I can find (lots near the neck, around the skin of the neck, and near the butt). Render this fat in a dry pan without excessive browning. Remove chicken skin remnants. Puree the garlic and ginger together, then fry this garlic and ginger in the fat until aromatic, but not coloured. Pour dry uncooked rice into the fat and fry until some of the grains turn opaque - this shows the fat is being absorbed. There should be just enough fat to coat every grain evenly. Pour rice mixture into pot or rice cooker, add stock, salt, and pandan leaf, anf cook until done.

The chilli sauce (or relish)
(Will - if you bottle some variation of this, you have to send me one.)
Ingredients:
Red mild chillis or red bell peppers, 1 part
Garlic, 1 part
Ginger, 1 part
Thai bird or habernaro chillis, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
Fish sauce, to taste
Sugar, to taste
Kaffir lime leaf, 2, rib removed (optional)

Blitz everything in a blender until smooth. It is meant to be a dip but I think it's probably fine to leave some of the red pepper pieces chunky if preferred.


Sweet and Sour Sauce
(This is for Lisa.)

Ingredients:
Ketchup
Zhejiang vinegar (or white rice vinegar is fine)
Sugar
Chilli puree or Tabasco sauce
Pomagranate molasses (optional)
Soy sauce
Cornstarch mixture

Mix all of the above except cornstarch solution to taste (Sorry it's so imprecise). I would use a vegetable base of garlic, onions, bell peppers, chillis and some acidic fruit (like pineapple or strawberries) for the sweet-sour, and thicken with the cornstarch mixture The main protein is usually deep-fried in a light batter or dry cornflour coating before being mixed with the sauce, but grilled items work as well for a low fat version.