Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chop on Jasmine Rice

It's been a while...  and long overdue for a new post...  This one is a bit similar to the other pork chop post but with a different cut.  We went to the Meat Hook [my favorite butcher shop] today and picked up some thinly sliced boneless pork chops.  I asked the butcher to cut it 1/4" thin.  She did it with her skillful knife and they were the perfect thickness!  Why do I prefer butcher shop verses the regular grocery store?  The meat is much fresher and you can ask the butcher to cut it the way you want.  I can usually get away with this at the grocery store too, but with much persuasion and sometimes had to deal with the look of death when they didn't want to help you.  The marinade sauce recipe I used below can be use with almost any other kind of meat, not just for pork chop.  I should try it with chicken another day.

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chop with Jasmine Rice

1/4" thin boneless Pork Chop slices [about 3/4 lbs]

Marinade Sauce:  mix well all the ingredients below in a bowl
-1 lemongrass stalk [minced]
-6 garlic cloves [minced]
-2 stems of scallion [sliced]
-2 tbsp maggi soy sauce
-2 tbsp fish sauce
-3 tbsp sugar
-2 tbsp honey
-2 tbsp oil
-1 tsp dark soy sauce

Add the marinade sauce over the pork chops - made sure to cover both sides
Then wrap container with saran wrap and place in refrigerator for 1 hour

Fish Sauce for dipping - follow the Fish Sauce Recipe I posted previously
Fresh vegetables for side: Tomatoes, Cucumber

Sweat 2-3 stems of scallions [thinly sliced] in some oil for topping for 2 minutes
Be sure to stir often and heat at medium to prevent burning the onion

Cooking:
-In a large flat grilled pan, add some oil and place 3-4 pieces of the marinated pork chops [use the thong to take the pork chops out from the marinade sauce, shake excess marinade sauce off prior to put into the pan to prevent the pork from getting soggy from too much sauce]
-Cook each side for 2 minutes each

To Serve:
-Place the sliced tomatoes and cucumber on a plate
-Add Jasmine Rice
-Place Grilled Pork Chops on top of the rice
-Add sautéed scallion on top of the Pork Chops
-Spoon Fish Sauce on top of everything or you can dip

Happy Spring Weather!!  xx~HaonoaH

Fried Wonton

Happy the year of the Snake!!  I wish that everyone will have a healthy, prosperous, successful, and most of all much love that will filled your heart with happiness kind of year.

This recipe is one that my friends have been raving about!  I made it a couple of times and it's super easy and a fun one to bring to a party or to share at home as finger food while watching a game.  I hope everyone will enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1/2 lb ground pork
-1 small carrot [finely chopped -see photo below]
-1/2 small white onion [finely chopped]
-6 garlic cloves [finely chopped]
-1 inch of ginger [finely chopped]
-1 handful of asian chive [finely chopped]
-1 egg
-1 egg white
-2 tbsp oyster sauce
-1 tbsp sugar
-1/2 tsp black ground pepper
-3 package of wonton wrapper of 24 each so total will be 72 yummy little wonton [has to be this one from the japanese grocery store, it's thin and light, i found it at Sunrise Mart in NYC]
-Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce [you can find this at any asian grocery store near the soy sauce section]

[how to finely chop everything - i know it's a bit of work...]

Direction:  Combine meat, carrots, onion, garlic, chive, ginger, 1 egg, oyster sauce, sugar, black pepper together and mix well

[put a small spoon of the mixed meat into the center of the wonton skin, then dap a little egg white at the edges, fold in half to seal]

[use generous amount of peanut oil in a deep pan, wait until the oil is hot then slowly drop the wonton for a couple minutes, then flip if you can. wait until it's golden before taking them out and put on a dry paper towel to dry.  if the oil gets too hot - turn the heat down a little to keep it from getting burnt]

[Fried Wonton with sweet chili sauce dip]

Be happy!! xx~HaonoaH  

Cucumber Kimchi [Oi Sobaegi]

This has to be the easiest and tastiest kimchi recipe that I learned from youtube a while back.  I made this many times in the past and it always turned out nice.  We bought some marinated kalbi meat from a Korean supermarket, so I thought this will be good as a side dish with our meal for tonight.  Asides from eating and cooking, many changes for this new year and it's all for the better.  I can say that I am the happiest and most satisfied with where I am both emotionally and professionally.  I've been blessed with the most love from my family and friends.  Life has been treating me well, I hope that it will continue for many many years to come.  Happy belated New Year to everyone, or maybe I should wait until Chinese New Year to say Happy New Year again.  

Cucumber Kimchi

Ingredients:
-6 seedless cucumbers [cut off the ends and slice top down into 4 wedges --- see image below]
-4 stems of scallions [sliced at an angle]
-1/2 bunch chive [cut into sections of 1" each]
-4 garlic cloves [minced]
-1/2 white onion [sliced]
-1/4 cup red chili pepper powder [you can find this at any korean grocery store]
-1/4 cup sugar
-1/4 cup fish sauce

[slicing the cucumbers]

Directions:
1- prepare the cucumber by slicing top down into 4 sections but do not separate at the end, wash and sprinkle some salt onto the cucumber and let it sit while preparing the other ingredients
2- add red chili pepper powder, sugar, fish sauce, scallions, garlic, onion, chive into a big bowl
3- use a spoon to mix all ingredients together
4- rinse the cucumbers to get rid of all the salt
5- stuff the cucumbers with the mixed ingredients
6- store in a mason jar or container [keep refridgerated]

[all ready for stuffing]

[stuff away - use your hands and rub the sauce all over the cucumbers]

[love glass mason jars to store this]

[Cucumber Kimhchi]

It tastes really good right away too, but a day in the fridge so the flavors soaked into the cucumber is better!  I learned the method from Maangchi youtube video.  I made up my own portions.  Here's the video if you are interested.  She's very cute but make easy Korean food.  L.O.V.E ~HaonoaH !!

Maangchi Kimchi Cucumber   

Butternut Squash & Corn Soup

We took a drive upstate to New Paltz, NY over the weekend.  My mission was to see the fall foliage but we didn't drive up far enough.  The leaves have begun to turn a little but not as bright as I wanted them to be here.  To make up for it, we found Wallkill View Farmer's Market!  They have a pumpkin patch and corn maze.  Such a great time to bring your four-legged friend in this case my love Noah - the shiba inu to walk around and enjoy the weather.  We searched for the perfect pumpkin, then i picked up a few things from the market of goodness.  I found this butternut squash and the first thing I want to make is a creamy hot butternut squash soup for dinner.

Butternut Squash & Corn & Sweet Potatoes Soup

Fresh Ingredients from the farm are my favorite things

Butternut Squash - my star ingredient of the night

Ingredients:
1 medium size butternut squash [cut into cubes]
2 corn [remove from the cob]
1 medium white sweet potato [cut into cubes]
1 small red sweet potato [cut into cubes]
1 onion [minced]
5 garlic cloves [sliced]
1 box of natural chicken stock [from the grocery, 32 fl. oz.]
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar [add a bit more if you like it a bit sweet]
4-5 thin slices of butter
1/4 pint heavy cream
2-3 cilantro sprigs

Directions:
1. Add some oil into a deep pot
2. Add onions & garlic to cook until fragranced and started to turn color a little
3. Add butternut squash, sweet potatoes and stir well
4. Add the whole container of chicken broth, salt, & sugar
5. Put the 2 corn with the husks on a flat plate and cover with wet paper towels and put this in the microwave for 4 minutes - remove from microwave and cut the corn from the cob
6. Add corn into the pot [make sure to save a handful to serve later]
7. Cook this for 20 minutes until everything softened
8. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes to cool down
9.  Ladle this into food blender [you can do in batches] -- do not overfill your blender
10. Once everything is blended, add it back to the empty pot
11. Turn heat on low
12. Add butter & heavy cream, mix well
13. Do a last tasting to see if you need to add more salt or sugar
14. Done!

Before

After

Stirring in the butter and heavy cream

To serve:  Ladle a soup into a pretty bowl, sprinkle a little of the saved corn & cilantro on top, add black pepper

[butternut squash corn soup]

I will leave you with this magnificent view of greens.  I know that we are all deprived of field of greens living in the city and when you get to see green again, you just want to soak it all in!  I snatched a nice photograph and hope you all will enjoy!  xx~HaonoaH

Happy Autumn 2012

Green Chicken Curry

Obsessed with curry?  Here's a quick and easy way to get your quick curry fix.  I've discovered these cans of curry paste at my favorite Thai Restaurant in Chelsea Market.  I used to work in the meatpacking district, and Chelsea Market was the place to go for lunch because it got many different food stop for whatever mood you might be in for the day.  The best part is sometimes they have sample sales!  I digress...  Lunch and shopping one stop shop, what more could you have asked for?  Back to curry...  Chelsea Thai is the restaurant's name and I always get this one dish, it's on the special with spicy fried ground beef & basil over rice with a fried egg on top.  You can see the chef cooking through the plexi-window so you could learn a little trick here and there.  This place is mostly a take out joint but it has some limited self-serve seating that you can sit to have a quick bite.  While you wait for your ticket to be called, you can browse all the Thai cooking ingredients that they have on display for you to purchase, if you are interested.  I am always curious when it comes to food, I picked up everything to take a look and ran across these little cans of MAESRI curry paste.  They come in Red, Yellow, Green, Panang, Karee Curry Flavor.  I picked up three!  And here's my take on a quick curry of your choice meal.

Green Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
For chicken marinade
-1.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs [sliced]
-3 garlic cloves [minced]
-1 tsp sugar
-1tsp fish sauce
-1/4 tsp pepper
-1/4 tsp salt

For Curry Cooking
-1.5 inch of ginger [julienne]
-3 carrots [cut into 1/2 inch cubes]
-1 can of 14 fl. oz. coconut milk
-1 can of Maesri Green Coconut Paste
-1 cup of coconut water or chicken broth
-2 tbsp fish sauce
-2 tbsp sugar
-handful of dry chili pepper
-1 onion [cut into wedges]
-3 garlic cloves [sliced] 

closed-up of the green curry paste can

Marinade the meat for 15 minutes using all the marinade ingredients above

Directions:
1. Add some vegetable oil into a pot with high heat
2. Add sliced garlic and ginger in and stir until fragranced and a little golden
3. Add in the marinaded chicken, toss chicken until you don't see anymore pink
4. Add the whole can of coconut milk
5. Add coconut water or chicken stock
6. Cook until boiled
7. Add dry chili peppers
8. Add the whole can of green coconut curry paste [you can substitute this with paste flavor of your choice]
9. Mix well and turn the heat down to simmer for 20-25 minutes
10. Add carrots last and cook for another 5 minutes [you can add more vegetables like cauliflower, and sliced zucchini here, but if you do - cauliflower and zucchini cook much faster than the carrots so you just add them the order of how fast they will cook]
11. Add in sliced onion
12 Turn off the heat and serve!

step 7 & 8

step 9 & 10

Green Chicken Curry served with Jasmine Rice - you can have fresh basil leaves to add on top and squeeze a little lime for a sour kick

The dry chili peppers made this extra spicy which I love.  I never thought that I could make curry until now.  Yes... I used the curry paste and this is not a making curry from scratch recipe but it tasted amazing and with everything that's provided to you now in the grocery store nowadays --- why go through the process of making it hard on yourself?  I go for easy and quick meal any day!  Don't forget to enjoy the fall foliage before they hit the ground and old man winter gets here...  see you soon.  xx~HaonoaH

Vietnamese Sweet Mung Bean Dessert with Coconut Milk [Chè Táo Xọn]

I am craving sweet lately... which is very unusual.  It must have been the cool weather creeping in making me want to curl up in a cozy blanket on the couch watching bad TV and eating something warm and sweet.  I checked my pantry and found this bag of peeled mung bean and a can of coconut milk.  That was all I needed for this dessert I had in mind.  I have never tried to make it so this is the first...  I googled the method on how people make it and i'm going to give it a try.

Sweet Mung Bean Dessert

Ingredients:
1 cup peeled mung beans
6 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup tapioca starch flour
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Coconut Milk Topping
1 can of 14 fl. oz. coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

   

Soak Mung Bean in water for 1 hour, then rinse

Directions:
1. Add 5 cup of water in a pot and cook until boil
2. Add sugar (you can add more or less depending on how sweet you want0
3. Add soaked mung bean and cook for 5-8 min
4. In a small bowl, mix 1 cup of water with 1/4 cup of the tapioca starch flour
5. Add the tapioca flour mix water into the pot and stir gently
6. You'll see that the consistency will become thicker
7. Turn heat to low, add vanilla extract, and stir gently for a couple more minutes
8. You are done, set this aside

Directions:
Coconut Milk Topping
1. Add 1 can of coconut milk in a small pot with low heat
2. Add 1/4 cup sugar
3. Add vanilla extract
4. Same process mix 1 tbsp of tapioca starch flour with a little of water to dissolve, then add to the pot
5. Stir until everything mix well

To Serve:
Scoop some mung bean into a small bowl, then spoon a little bit of coconut milk on top.  

 I hope this will warm your heart!  Autumn is finally here...  It's one of my favorite season!  The cool brisk air and the leaves turning it's color.  I cannot wait to take a trip upstate to check out the foliage.  Hope everyone is happy.  xx~HaonoaH

Vietnamese Crab & Tomatoes Noodle Soup [Bún Riêu]

If I have to pick what's my favorite thing to eat everyday, I would say any type of noodle soup.  I am addicted to any kind of Asian Noodle soup.  My craving the other day was Bún Riêu.  It's one of my favorite Vietnamese Noodle soup.  I got this recipe from my friend Thuy, we've been great friends all the way back to Vietnam.  We grew up together in the same neighborhood of Phu Nhuan and I remember having sleep-overs at her house often.  We hang out all day, then sleep together on the floor under the mosquito tent.  Great memories...  We are still very close and would do anything for each other.  She taught me how to make this amazing soup that I thought I could never dare to try to make, but it was easier than I could ever imagine!

Bún Riêu

Ingredients:
For soup-
1 lb of pork spareribs (cut in 2" chunks)
10 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
6 Tbsp fish sauce
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp Fine Shrimp Paste
1 Tbsp dry shrimp
2 cans Roland white crab meat (drain and discard all water from the can)
1 Shrimp Paste in soybean oil jar
1 Crab Paste in soybean oil jar
6 eggs
1 package puffy tofu (sliced)
6-8 tomatoes (cut into 6 wedges per tomato)

To serve-
1 package of rice vermicelli noodle [boiled for 10min]

1 bunch scallion
1 bunch cilantro
2 large onion
[finely chop the scallion and cilantro, onions cut in half then slice to get thinly half rings, then mix all three together in a bowl to put aside until preparing to serve time]

1 bunch of mint
1 bunch of thai basil
1/2 lb bean sprout
2-3 thai chili peppers
[wash all vegetables and slice chili peppers into small slices]
1 package of pork roll [aslo known as Chả Lụa Huế] - you can find these at Vietnamese grocery stores
1-2 limes

dry shrimp - to sweeten the soup

Fresh Tomatoes and Puffy Tofu (square puffy tofu is best to use but this is the only thing I can find at a Japanese grocery store)

Cooking Direction:
1. Cook the spareribs in some water until boil, then discard all water and rinse well
2. Add clean spareribs, water, chicken stock in a large pot
3. Bring this to a boil, then simmer to cook for 2 hours
4. Add fish sauce, sugar, salt, fine shrimp paste, dry shrimp (taste the soup at this time and adjust per your liking)
5. In a large bowl, combine the 2 jars of shrimp & crab paste in soybean oil, crab meat, 6 eggs
6. Stir this lightly with a spoon until the consistency looks like image on the right above
7. Bring soup back to a boil
8. Use a ladle to scoop in the pasty mix slowly, they will sink to the bottom, don't stir, give it a minute or two, they will rise to the top
9. Add tomatoes, try to find or poke a hole into the crab meat that's now floating on the top of the soup, try not to break it because you want the chunk to stay together
10. Add puffy tofu
11- Turn the heat down to simmer

All ready!!!

To serve: Add boiled noodles into a bowl with some bean sprout and the trio vegetables mix

Ladle in some soup, pork ribs, crab paste lump, tomatoes, tofu, add sliced pork roll, veggies & hot sauce on top

Squeeze in a little lime, and add in mint & basil leaves to eat!

This is so delicious and flavorful!  For the adventurous soul, you can add a little more of the purple looking fine shrimp paste to get the true authentic taste of this soup.  Be careful though because that stuff is strong and could be smelly to some if you are not use to the taste.  Hope all are having a wonderful end of summer last minute beach time before Fall gets here.  My favorite season is right around the corner already...  xx~HaonoaH