Archive for the ‘: VIETNAMESE’ Category
Cha Lua Soup
Asian soups are very easy to make, and most times, normally no quantities of ingredients is needed and is easily adapted to suit your choice for a soup. I made this on 28 Oct 2017 and I wrote down what I used, so the quantities listed are in fact, a good base to work from. This soup was very much liked by the Thai family as well as myself. This soup is a keeper. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
- 360 grams Vietnamese sausage, cut into ½ inch cubes, (13 oz)
- 12 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled
- 225 grams crab meat, or crab sticks, (8 oz)
- 2 cups sweet corn, fresh cooked, frozen, or canned (drained)
- 5 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts
- fresh cilantro leaves, chopped, for serving, or chopped dill
- raw chicken eggs, for serving, optional
For Thickening, Optional
- 1 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
- In a medium pot, fill about ¾ full with water and add the chicken breasts, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, you are making the broth. Skim any foam from the water as that forms. About 30 minutes for bone in chicken breasts and 15-20 minutes for boneless and skinless. When the chicken is done, remove from the pot, shred or chop, and add back to the pot. Here I am cooking the chicken breast and three small ears of corn, which provided 2 cups when cut off the cobs.
- This is optional but if you want to make a really great broth, add a chopped carrot, an onion cut in half, and a chopped stalk of celery (Trinity), after the chicken is cooked through, let it cool to room temp, then your chicken will be juicier, strain the broth and return it to the pot, discard the vegetables. I made some great broth 3 days ago, had a quart of it I put in the fridge, I added that to the pot you see in the photo after the chicken was cooked.
- While the chicken is cooking, cube the sausage, chop the spring onions and cilantro, and if using crab sticks in place of real crab meat, chop that up as well.
- After the chicken is shredded and added back to the broth, add in the sausage, spring onion, crab meat, corn, and quail eggs. Simmer for 10-15 minutes to heat everything through.
- Ladle into bowls, sprinkle on some cilantro or dill, and optionally, crack in a fresh egg if desired, enjoy.
For Thickening, Optional
- Mix the cornstarch in the cold water, and mix that into the soup to slightly thicken the soup. This is totally optional, and I did not do this step as I was very happy with the consistency of the soup.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Variants: 1. I think spaghetti, just bit, broken into 1-2 inch pieces, added to the soup would be good way to change it up. 2. Use Cha Hue (peppered Vietnamese sausage) in place of Cha Lua.
Cha Lua Kimbap
Kimbap is Korean in origin, think of a California Roll type of sushi and you will get the general idea. No raw fish involved, meats are cooked, vegetables can be pickled, steamed, or raw. Cha Lua Kimbap uses, you guessed it, Vietnamese sausage. These can be rolled in kim (roasted seaweed) or nori sheets. ingredients are approximate until I test this out. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Equipment
- Sushi Mat
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked white rice, short grain, warm
- 300 grams Vietnamese sausage, (11 oz)
- 1-2 cucumbers
- 2-3 eggs
- pickled carrot and radish, Shortcut
- sesame oil
- salt
- 4 sheets kim or nori
Instructions
- For this you will want to get everything ready and set out first. For the rice, you want it to be warm, not hot or cold, this will help in spreading it out better. The pickled carrot and radish are or should be, julienned.
- For the sausage and cucumber, slice those lengthwise into ¼ inch strips or just a bit larger.
- For the eggs, mix together and fry a basic flat omelet, let this cool and cut into strips as well.
- Lay out a piece of kim in front of you on the bamboo mat. Take approximately 1 cup of rice and spread evenly over the bottom ⅔ of the sheet, leaving a ¾ inch border of riceless space. Sparingly brush the rice with sesame oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt on it as well.
- With about an inch of empty rice space at the bottom, place the filling ingredients on top of and next to each other.
- Slowly and gently roll over the bamboo mat end that is closest to you, and keep rolling while pulling back that same bamboo mat edge. Once you've started the roll, the roll shape should be maintained. After fully encircling the kimbap filling, give a couple of extra squeezes with your hands to firm up the roll.
- Now to slice it. Keep a paper towel soaked with some sesame oil nearby to wipe your knife, you will need to wipe it every so often to keep the knife from getting too sticky. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi Cha Lua)
In Vietnamese, banh mi means bread, so the translation would be sausage sandwich. What makes this unique is what is added to the sandwich such as the pickled carrot and radish. I made these on 21 Nov 2017, excellent flavor, I really like the addition of the pickled carrot and radish. Cha Lua is a fully cooked sausage that is refrigerated when you buy them, so they can be eaten as is right from the fridge. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 baguette, or roll or just sandwich bread
- Vietnamese sausage, sliced lengthwise about ¼ inch thick
- cucumber, sliced lengthwise
- pickled carrot and radish, Shortcut
- spring onion, chopped
- fresh coriander leaves, chopped
- mayo
Additional Fillings if Desired
- cheese, sliced
- chilis, sliced lengthwise
- soy sauce
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- I pan fried the sausage, this is optional, in a splash of olive oil and seasoned with lemon pepper.
- Cooked just to brown them up a bit. These are fully cooked when you buy them.
- I used the shortcut to make the pickled carrot and radish.
- Split the baguette or roll, or just use sandwich bread, spread mayo on both pieces, layer on some Vietnamese sausage, then the cucumber, pickled carrot and radish, coriander leaves, spring onions, top with the other half of the bread, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants: 1. Cook the sliced sausage in soy sauce and black pepper, then add to the roll. 2. Cook the sliced sausage with olive oil and lemon pepper. 3. Use Cha Hue, the peppered version of Cha Lua.
Shortcut: Pickled Carrot and Radish.
Vietnamese Pickled Carrot & Daikon (Đồ Chua)
These are commonly used in banh mi sandwiches, and can be made with any vegetable, and carrot and daikon (white radish) are commonly used. You can use rice vinegar or white vinegar. Rice vinegar is more mild. The carrot and radish is pickled in as little as 30-45 minutes, and stored in the fridge for months. I have added a second method to make these, but takes 1-2 days before they are ready.
Ingredients
First Method
- 1 medium carrot, julienned
- 1 medium white radish, julienned
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼-½ cup rice vinegar, or white vinegar
Second Method
- 1 medium carrot, julienned
- 1 medium white radish, julienned
- 1 empty jar with lid
- 2 tablespoons sea salt
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh peppercorns
Instructions
First Method
- The measurements are just a guideline, if you are cutting up a large carrot and radish, you may need a bit more sugar, salt, and vinegar.
- Spread out the julienned veggys in a small glass baking dish, sprinkle enough sugar for just a light coating, sprinkle a pinch or two of salt over the veggys, and add the rice vinegar to submerge half of the veggys.
- Every 15 minutes stir the veggys around so the vinegar is mixed in well. In 30 to 45 minutes, you can use, store excess in a jar with all the liquid from dish, and top up to cover them with either more rice vinegar or if you used white vinegar, top up with water to dilute the strength. Store unused in the fridge.
Second Method
- Carrot and white radish (Daikon) julienned and ready for pickling.
- Fill the jar about halfway with very hot water and dissolve the salt in the water. Add part of the peppercorns and vinegar to the hot saltwater and stir.
- Add the julienned carrot and radish to the jar, pack in as much as you can. Add more water as needed to fill the jar and completely cover the carrot and radish.
- Let the jar cool down to room temp, put the lid on and refrigerate for 1 to 2 days before use.
Notes
Used in Recipe Listed on this Site:
- Cha Lua Kimbap.
- Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi Cha Lua), made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Nước Chấm (Vietnamese Vegetarian Fish Sauce).
Pan Fried Vietnamese Pork Chops
Sounds really good and is a must try for me! Since there is no real butcher shops where I live, so I will go with some loin cut into thick steaks and try that.
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops, about 1 inch thick
- 4-5 limes, cut in half
- 1 small shallot, finely diced
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, can use any vinegar if you want
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- olive oil, as needed
Instructions
- Whisk together the shallot, fish sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. Using a sturdy fork or a needle tenderizer, poke holes all over in the meat part of the chop and place them in a baking dish in one layer. Pour the marinade over the top of the chops and flip them to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes on the counter top, flipping the chops occasionally OR you can cover and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours for a more marinated chop, again, flipping occasionally.
- Remove the chops from the baking dish and scrape the marinade off the chops and reserve the marinade to make the sauce.
- Heat a large non stick pan to medium heat with a splash of olive oil, once heated, place the chops in (cooking in batches) and fry for 4-5 minutes each side, the juices should run clear to indicate cooked through. Remove from the pan and let rest for 10 minutes to allow the juices to soak back into the chops.
- In a saucepan add the marinade and heat that to a boil, stirring, until it is reduced to ¼ of what you started with, about 5 minutes.
- Serve the chops with the sauce over the top and freshly squeezed lime juice with rice on the side.
Notes
For the pork, all I can price this with for now is pork loin. Pork loin is about 118 Baht/kilo, going with that in order to cut thick steaks from, for 4 servings, this is about 87 cents per serving.
