Balut, Khai Luk, Hột Vịt Lộn (Steamed Fertilized Egg)

This item has many name and you can call it whatever you want; most people would probably call it disgusting. However, these eggs are a delicacy to some and an everyday item for others. All I know is that I woke up this morning and had a craving for it. Everyone knows that Sunday is normally my lazy day; where I don't leave my place at all, but in order to satisfy my craving I had to pay a visit to the local Asian market. After searching for a few minutes and not being able to locate these eggs, I reluctantly asked the Asian lady behind the counter. I asked for the duck eggs and she responded by telling me that she had some but they were too far in development and that she didn't want to sell them to me. But, she said she had the chicken eggs available and guaranteed me that they were just as good and if not, even better. Most people would eat these eggs plain. But I love wrap it in various Asian herbs and dip it in jeow som (see previous posting for Laotian Chimichurri).

Ingredients:

Dozen fertilized chicken/duck eggs

2 whole scallions (roughly chopped)

10-12 sprigs cilantro

10-12 sprigs fish mint

Handful sawtooth herb

Handful Vietnamese coriander

Laotian Chimichurri (Jeow Som)

Directions:

Steam the eggs for approximately 12-15 minutes. Crack the egg open on the larger side carefully. You'll want to keep all the juices in the egg so you can slurp it. Trust me, the juice inside is very flavorful. Then, crack open the rest of the egg and discard the hard white part - it has no taste and has a very rubbery consistency. You can eat the yellow (yolk) part and the young chick/duckling at the same time. I like to savor mine and divide the two and eat them one at a time. I like to shred all of the herbs and veggies on top of each portion and drizzle some sauce on top of that.

If your afraid or disgusted by this dish, you shouldn't be. As I stated before, this is a common everyday dish in other cultures plus it tastes good.

Pork Belly Stew (Thom Kem/Thit Kho)

Nothing reminds me more of my mom's cooking than this dish, this is true Southeast Asian comfort food. The pork belly itself pretty much melts in your mouth before you can even swallow it and the egg yolks just asks you to slurp down the the sweet and savory broth. After dieting last weekend by eating nothing but lettuce wraps for 5 days, I surpassed my goal of losing 7 pounds by an extra pound, I felt like I deserved a gift. No one should ever try to figure out how unhealthy this dish is, instead just save it for one special guilty pleasure day like myself, we all deserve one every so often.

Ingredients:

1-1.5 pound pork belly (cut into 2-3 inch pieces)

7 eggs (boiled and peeled)

8 tablespoon fish sauce

4 tablespoon oyster sauce

6 tablespoon sugar

4-6 garlic cloves (minced)

1 large shallot (minced)

3 inch piece galangal root (1/4 slices)

5 whole star anise pods

1 can bamboo shoot (thinly sliced)

6 cups of water

Directions:

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, caramelize the sugar on medium high heat. Then add garlic and shallots until they are candied. Add water and all other ingredients immediately. Cover the pot and continue cooking for 2-3 hours on medium low heat. Serve over Jasmin rice and allow rice to soak the broth a bit and enjoy this sweet and savory dish.

Braised Short Rib Rice Crepes

This dish always reminds me of my Vietnamese step-grandmother. When she used to own a restaurant my brother and I would always get a large plate of banh cuon. Of course she made it with more of the traditional ingredients such as ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, and onions. I would never turn down a plate of this; when made the traditional way. But me being me, I felt like I had to change it up a bit. Instead of ground pork, I used braised short ribs, marinated the same way with fish sauce, salt and pepper. I replaced the wood ear mushrooms with fresh shiitake mushrooms and the onions with shallots. For the crepe, however, I kept it very traditional, rice flour and tapioca starch, cooked on a non-stick pan since I don't have the traditional cloth steamer.

Short rib ingredients:

1 pound boneless short ribs
1 garlic clove (finely diced)
1 large shallot (thinly sliced)
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shiitake mushrooms (stems removed, caps thinly sliced)

Directions:

Once again I went with the pressure cooker to save some time. You should too if you have one. Sear the meat on all sides thoroughly, and then add shallots and garlic. Wait for about a minute or two then add the chicken stock and mushrooms. Cook under high pressure for 35-40 minutes. Release the pressure and begin shredding meat with a fork. Strain the mushrooms from the liquid and add the mushrooms to the shredded meat, mix well and set aside.

Rice flour crepe ingredients:

7 ounces (1 1/4 cup) tapioca starch
8 ounces (1 1/2 cup) rice flour
6 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Combine all ingredients well (make sure you mix before pouring onto pan). Now comes the tricky part. I actually failed about 5 times before I got the method and temperature right. If anyone out there the would like to sponsor me with a new non-stick pan, I would be more than grateful. Lightly coat the pan with oil and preheat on medium high heat (about 3 minutes) then add crepe mixture with a ladle and swirl pan around, cover for about 30 seconds and then cook for another 30 seconds. You'll want to flip the crepe on to a lightly oiled plate (good luck with this too, you'll want to flip hard and fast).

Apply a small spoonful of the meat on the crepe and begin folding. Keep on doing this until either the filling or crepe batter is gone. Serve with accompaniments and the same sauce you would use for egg rolls (nuoc mam/jeow som van).

Accompaniments:

Blanched bean sprouts
Cilantro
Scallions
Fried crispy shallots
Pork meatloaf (cha lua/yaw)
Cucumbers

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Fried Tilapia with Asian Herb Papaya Salad

Finally, back from Houston where the dim sum was amazing and the traffic sucks. Earlier today I was craving seafood, particularly Dungeness crab, but apparently they're not in season yet. After pacing back and forth in the seafood section, I opted for a fresh, live tilapia. I think what I was really craving for was the spicy chili and ginger sauce that pairs perfectly with either the crab or the fish. The fresh herb salad was the perfect side dish.

Tilapia ingredients:

1 whole tilapia (scales removed and cleaned)
1 quart canola oil for frying
1/4 cup rice flour (to dust the fish)
Handful of rice patty herb
Handful of thinly sliced lemongrass (on bias)

Directions:

Preheat the oil to 350°. Cut 3 - 4 slits on the fish on both sides. Lightly coat the fish on both sides and gently place in the hot oil. Cook 5-7 minutes on both sides. Let fish rest on paper towels after frying to cool off and the residual oil on drain a bit.

Spicy chili, ginger sauce:

10 Thai chili peppers
3 garlic cloves
5-6 inch piece of garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoon fish sauce
Juice of 2-3 limes

Directions:

In a mortar and pestle combine chili peppers, garlic, ginger and salt. Pound into a paste. Add lime juice and fish sauce.

Finishing up:

Place the fish on a bed of rice patty herb and liberally add sauce on top of fish.

Asian herb salad:

1 cup fresh green papaya (shredded)
2 carrots (thinly sliced or shredded)
6 sprigs fish mint herb
6 sawtooth herb (roughly chopped)
1/4 jicama (julienne cut)
6 sprigs Vietnamese coriander
1 tablespoon crushed peanuts
1/4 nuoc mam (same sauce as the egg roll doing dipping sauce)
1 jalapeno (thinly sliced lengthwise)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine all ingredients except for peanuts and toss well. Let the veggies and herbs soak in the sauce before plating (3-5 minutes). Add peanuts as the finishing touch. You can add more fish sauce or lime juice to the salad if you prefer.

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Cubed steak salad

Day 3 of cleaning out the fridge... I emailed my cousin Ava today to see how she was doing. After a brief exchange in messages she asked for a recipe that involved beef. I asked her if she liked the Vietnamese cubed steak salad or Bo Luc Lac and she answered yes of course. I fell in love with this dish about 10 years ago while dining with friends at Thanh Thanh in Arlington. I never asked for the recipe while I was there so I came up with my own variation of it.

Ingredients:

1 pound beef (I used sirloin tips here, but you can use almost anything especially tenderloins, try to stay away from the less tender cuts) cut in 1-1 1/2 inch cubes
4 tablespoon oyster sauce
4 tablespoon hoison sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
2 tablespoon canola oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except oil in a bowl and mix well. In a hot wok or pan, heat oil on high heat. Once oil has a slight sheen add sauce from bowl and stir well (be very careful combining anything with hot oil will cause it to fly everywhere). After the sauce is heated up (about 20-30 seconds) add beef and stir constantly until sauce thickens and forms a glaze on the beef (about 4-5 minutes). Serve this directly over a bed of lettuce, pickled onions, and tomatoes (I didn't have any tomatoes in the fridge so I substituted with green apples).

Bed ingredients:

5-6 romaine lettuce leaves (roughly chopped)
1/2 yellow or white onion (thinly sliced and pickled)
1 large tomato or 1/2 green apple thinly sliced
- Pickling ingredients:
     21 tablespoon water
     7 tablespoon white vinegar (3 to 1 parts water to vinegar)
     2 tablespoon sugar
     1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
     (Let this sit for at least an hour.)

It's also good to have a dipping sauce for the meat just in case you like it extra tart.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 juice of lime

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in small sauce bowl and mix well.

Recap:

You will want to assemble the bed first and keep it in the refrigerator. This will keep the lettuce fresh and crisp. After the meat has been sauted you'll want to top off the bed of salad immediately. If there is extra sauce left in the pan don't net afraid to top off the salad with it as well.

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Nem Nuong

I actually made this dish the other day and decided to finally post it. My Vietnamese friends would probably disagree with some of the ingredients or even the techniques that I used to make this. My mom would probably disagree with me too, but I'm stubborn and I like to do things my way. I never knew how much I enjoyed this dish until I wasn't living at home anymore. I used to always request my mom to make it whenever I came back in town and it hit the spot every time. As my culinary knowledge grew I decided to try to make the homemade classics myself and this was one of the first ones I tried to recreate. I remember asking my mom for the recipe to her sauce but every time I asked she would just tell me to observe and by the time she was halfway done it was too late for me to even comprehend what she was doing. So this sauce I have listed below is my interpretation of the Nem Nuong dipping sauce.


Nem Nuong:

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground pork
6 cloves garlic (minced)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 table spoon hoison sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together well, do not over work the meat.
Create balls approximately 1 to 1 1/2 inch diameter.
Place meatballs onto cooking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Cook meatballs in oven for 12-15 minutes or until meatballs turn dark brown.

Wrapping ingredients:

Romain lettuce
Rice paper
Vermicelli noodles
Green apples
Cilantro
Scallions
Plantains
Cherry tomatoes
Various mints and herbs will also work

Dipping sauce:

3 teaspoons chili oil
3 large garlic cloves
1 medium shallot
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 hoison sauce
1/4 cup light soy sauce
3 tablespoons tamarind paste (reconstituted)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup boiled sticky rice (1/8 cup actual grains)

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Vietnamese French Cake

Everyone that knows me knows I hate baking any type of pastries. But I was craving this cake we usually get at the Vietnamese bakery so I decided to give it a shot last night. This was my result, my decorating skills could definitely use some work and I should've used real vanilla beans as I can still taste the alcohol from the vanilla extract that I used.

I didn't have my own recipe for the actual cake itself, but I do have one for the whipped cream icing. So the credit goes to: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2008/12/homemade-sponge-cake.html

Sponge Cake

Makes 1 cake

Start by preparing the pan. Use a 4-cup pan, like a high-sided (with a 2" wall) 8-inch round or square, or an 11" x 17" sponge sheet. To prepare the pan, smear a bit of softened butter to lightly coat the bottom and side. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Smear the parchment paper with a bit more butter. Add ¼ to ½ cup all-purpose flour (depending on the size of the pan) and shake and turn the pan around to coat it. Standing over the sink, invert and tap the pan to remove excess flour. Set aside.

Now put a rack in the lower third position and preheat to 350F. Then, have your mixer (or whisk) and rubber spatula handy. Finally, gather the ingredients and organize yourself so you can move swiftly and smoothly through the process.

For egg yolk batter base:

3 large egg yolks, placed in a metal bowls, about 3-quart capacity
½ cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For egg whites:

3 large egg whites, place in a metal bowl, 2-3-quart capacity
Pinch of salt, non-iodized table salt, preferred
Scant ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

For finishing the batter:

1/3 cup plus ¼ cup cake flour (such as Swans Down brand) scooped and leveled into a sifter set over a piece of parchment or plate (measure 1/3 cup then measure 1/4 cup for 7/12 cup total!)
3 tablespoons tepid melted, unsalted butter (keep cooled butter on stove to avoid solidification)

1. Start beating the egg yolks in the bowl. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar by the tablespoon to incorporate well. (Do this too fast and the batter will be grainy with sugar.) Continue beating for several minutes, until the mixture is thick, pale yellow, and when you pause and lift the whisk (or beaters), the batter drips down and forms a ribbon that slowly dissolves on the surface. Now, beat in the vanilla. Set aside.
2. Wash and dry the whisk (or beaters) well.
3. Start beating the egg whites. When they are foamy throughout, sprinkle in the salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating until soft peaks form (when the whisk (or beaters) is lifted out of the egg whites, a soft, slightly bent over peak of egg white forms in the bowl). As you beat, the whites will have gone from clear to light grey to solid white. Instead of sliding from the walls of the bowl, they will stick to the bowl.

After soft peaks form, sprinkle in the 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating for a couple more minutes to generate stiff egg whites (the peak stands straight when the whisk is lifted from the bowl). The whites will have a sheen.

4. Immediately take a large rubber spatula and plop a ¼ of the egg whites into the egg yolk base. Stir gently to lighten the base. Then plop 1/3 of the remaining whites onto the base. Sift ¼ of the flour on top. Delicately and quickly use the spatula to fold the ingredients together, until they are nearly all incorporated. (To fold, plunge the spatula sideways - like a knife - into the center of the batter, touching bottom. Rapidly bring the spatula to the wall of the bowl and rotate it to scoop up and fold the batter over the whites and flour. Do this several times.)
Repeat with another 1/3 of the remaining whites and 1/3 of the remaining flour. Fold again until almost blended.

Fold in ½ of the remaining whites, ½ of the remaining flour. Fold again until almost blended. Fold in the remaining whites and remaining flour. Fold again until nearly blended. At that point, pour in the melted butter in a circle. Quickly fold it into the batter (do not over blend or the batter will deflate). The finished batter will be pale yellow, very thick, and light feeling.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. It should fill to about ¼ inch of the rim. Scoop out extra batter to avoid overflow during baking.

6. Use the spatula to spread the batter out evenly in the pan. Tilt the pan in all direction to slightly push the batter toward the rim. This prevents a domed-center during baking.

7. Gently slide the cake into the oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The cake will rise slowly and then brown. The cake is done when its puff sinks slightly and the sides show a faint line of shrinkage from the edges of the pan.

8. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes. (It will deflate and pull away from the pan walls.) Run a knife all around the edge, between the cake and the pan. Invert the cake onto your hand (or back on the rack), give the cake bottom a tap, and then remove the cake pan. Peel off the parchment paper and discard. Invert the cake, top side up, onto the rack. Allow to cool completely (about 1 hour) before eating, filling, or icing.

Whipped Cream Icing

Ingredients:

1 pint heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectionist sugar
1 pint fresh strawberries (sliced)
1/2 pint fresh blueberries
1/4 cup roasted almonds (chopped, I used the food processor)

Directions:

Begin whipping cream with a whisk until cream starts to thicken, slowly add sugar until you get very stiff peaks with the cream. With a spatula begin frosting middle of the cake (oh by the way, I cut my cake in half to make 2 layers) and add strawberries. Add the other layer of the cake and slightly push down until cake is level. Frost the cake from the top down and finish off with strawberries, blueberries and almonds. You can choose other fruits such as kiwi, raspberries, etc. as well, it just so happened that the fruits I used were the freshest ones at the market.

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