Braised Pork (thịt kho tàu) (as interpreted by a Chinese Cook) (REVISED)

My wife really loves it when her mother cooks thịt kho tàu, a Vietnamese braised pork dish, for her.  It always brings her back to her childhood.  I will likely never be able to replicate her mother's recipe, but this version of the dish gets her thumbs up.

Servings: 5-6

Ingredients:

* 2 lbs pork shoulder (trimmed) cut into 1-1/2 in. cubes
* 1/2 yellow onion cut into large pieces length-wise
* 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
* 5 hard boiled eggs, peeled (one can quail eggs drained)
* 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
* 4 tbsp fish sauce
* 12 oz coconut water
* 1/2 bar Chinese brown sugar (can substitute with 2.5 tbsp granulated sugar)
* Salt and Black pepper to taste
* 1 small Thai chili pepper cut into small rings (optional if you want to spice up the dish)

Step 1 - Blanch the Pork

1. In a large stock pot,  add pork and enough water to fully submerge the pork.
2. Heat pot until water is just boiling.
3. Remove pot from heat.
4. Carefully strain and rinse pork in cold water to remove scum.
5. Rinse pot to remove any remaining scum.

Step 2 - Braise the Pork

1. Add pork, coconut water, fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic, onion, and dark soy sauce to pot (optionally: Thai chili pepper)
2. Add cold water to the pot until pork is just fully submerged.
3. Bring to boil.
4. Cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 1-1/2 hours until pork is fork tender.
5. About 30 minutes before the pork is done, add the hard boiled eggs to the pork and continue cooking.
6. Season with black pepper to taste.

Serve hot over rice.

Banh Chung Chien (Paula Dean Style)

This is really not a recipe, but more of a epiphany. As any good 'ol Vietnamese (or in my case a Chinese whole really appreciates Vietnamese food) knows, banh chung is good, but when you chien it, it gets that much better. Now, if you are able to kick up the chien'ing (Americanized verb tense of a Vietnamese word) process, even better. For this, we can take inspiration from Paula Dean, then queen of adding butter to everything. Using butter to chien the banh chung gives it an additional layer of flavor that

Makes 5 servings (about 4 slices per person)

Ingredients

• 1 5x5 square banh chung (preferably one made by Thi's Ba Noi) sliced into 1/4 in thick slices
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/8 cup cu cai (pickled diakon and carrots) drained
• Sriracha to taste

Directions

1. Using a 12 in skillet, heat butter over medium-high until it stops bubbling
2. Add 4-5 slices to skillet. Cook until golden brown and then turn each slice over and continue cooking until the other side is golden brown.
3. Plate each 3-4 slices topped with the cu cai and Sriracha.

P.S. Thi is going to attempt her own Banh Chung recipe next Tet so stay tune.

Xoi Ga Lap Xuong

We all know Thim 5 is the queen of xoi, and we also know that Anh Hai Mike could whoop this up with his eyes closed..

For those of us who are not Thim 5 or Anh Hai Mike, I've put up this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups Calrose glutinous rice
3 chicken breasts
2 2/3 cups of broth (use the water you've boiled the chicken breasts in)
Green onions
Vegetable oil
Dried onions
3 to 4 Lap Xuong (the fat ones if you're a baller like me)
optional: thick soy sauce


Directions:

1. Soak your rice in water and set aside
2. Boil water with some salt. Add chicken and let it boil for 25 ish minutes until chicken fully cooked. Add a little pepper to the water if you're feeling adventurous.
3. As the chicken is boiling, chop your green onions and put it in a bowl with a little vegetable oil.
4. Chop up your lap xuong (diagonally. just kidding however you want!) and fry those bad boys up until they are goldeny delicious. Set aside.
5. At this point your chicken should be fully boiled. take the breasts out and SAVE THAT WATER. Measure out 2 and 2/3 cups of it.
6. Drain out your rice and put it in a pot with the 2 and 2/3 chicken broth that you have just made. Level out your pot. Bring it to a boil, and once it boils, put your flame on low and put a lid on it. Leave the pot alone for 20 minutes.
7. Shred up your chicken and then dress it up with some pepper, maybe a dash of salt.. and the tiniest bit of thick soy sauce for color and mild flavor.
8. Twiddle your fingers until the xoi is done cooking.
9. Once your xoi is done cooking, spread it out onto a platter of your choice!
10. Evenly distribute your chicken and lap xuong on top of it
11. microwave your bowl of chopped green onions and oil for 30 seconds. Spoon that goodness over the xoi
12. Take your dried onions and top your delicious xoi with it.
13. Take a picture of it and put it on facebook.
14. Brag to all of your friends about your delicious creation!

HOORAY!