Viet World Kitchen

Viet Scrambled Eggs with Fish Sauce Recipe

It was not so much nostalgia as a yearning for something deliciously Vietnamese that led me to whip up these scrambled eggs today. My mom taught me how to make scrambled eggs – after she let me prepare rice for the family. We’d have the eggs for lunch with bread. At the time, I didn’t realize how genius it was.

There were just a handful of ingredients involved: shallot or yellow onion, tomato, eggs, fish sauce, and black pepper. If things got fancy, green onion was added for color. Making the Viet scrambled eggs got me thinking about the brilliance of simple cooking.

Spicy Basil Chicken and Tofu Recipe

The Hmong farmers have returned to our weekly farmer’s market with a wealth of Asian produce. Last Saturday, they had gorgeous Thai basil and I swooped down upon a couple of bunches. Basil discolors quickly, its shelf life under refrigeration is just a few days. I wasn’t about to let it go to waste and thought of Thai chicken and basil, a simple stir-fry.

The thing is, I didn’t want to make the dish with all chicken so I worked in some tofu. I substituted 10 ounces (300 grams) of extra-firm tofu for 8 ounces (240 grams) of the chicken in the original recipe, which called for a pound. That’s one of several strategy for using tofu for low-meat dishes.

The keys to this dish include (1) washing and drying the basil leaves (keep them whole) and (2) seasoning and panfrying the tofu.

To seal in the moisture in the chicken, I lightly coat it with cornstarch and soy sauce; it’s typically added to the wok as is, only to be embellished by flavors during the cooking process. Dark soy sauce adds color but the black soy sauce is semi sweet. With so little used, I suppose you could use kecap manis, if you want. 

 You can make this dish with mint or Italian basil but for the real deal, Thai basil’s warm spice note is magnificent. If flowers are present on the sprigs, use them!

Cornmeal Crusted Pork Chops Recipe: Fast Flavor in a Thin Cut

I go grocery shopping practically every day. It’s part of my routine and my work. While it’s a luxury to buy and cook fresh ingredients daily, it can sometimes be a chore that I have to surmount.

Yesterday was a case in point. I’d been working on a seafood recipe for days and had to go back to the supermarket yet again for more fish. We’d eaten enough of the seafood recipe trials to be seafood-ed out so I couldn’t put my husband through it again. I had to go two more rounds with my seafood recipe last night but I wanted to dine on something else.

What could be a quick and satisfying solution? Pork. Not a roast but a pork chop, thinly sliced to the thickness of my pinkie finger. I love that cut of pork chop because you get lots of porky flavor and can cook it relatively quickly without drying. And the seasonings shine because there’s more to go around in every bite. And did I mention how much I love to gnaw on the bones too? They’re just the right manageable size.

Hot and Sour Napa Cabbage Pickle

Do you ever make something with the best intention and then shove it to the back of the fridge only to forget about it? That’s what happened to me and a jar of Chinese hot and sour napa cabbage. I’d made it around Chinese New Year and at the last minute, decided to not serve it because it didn’t go with the Vietnamese pickles that I’d prepared.  I put it away, only to rediscover it months later this afternoon. It tasted fine and I ended up snacking on about a quarter of the jar before dinner. It’s suppose to be a palate arouser.

This is an unusual pickle for a couple of reasons. It’s tangy and spicy from the seasonings and the cabbage is salted and squeezed to eliminate excess moisture. Those are pretty standard approaches but there’s a stir-frying process involved which adds a touch of oil. The result is fatty tasting and luscious.

We don’t tend to think of pickles as being rich but the Chinese figured out a way to imbue that quality into humble napa cabbage. I was totally impressed after I initially made the pickled cabbage, but even more so months later when I found in the back of the fridge. Despite the chiles and ginger, this is no kimchi as there’s no fermentation. Just a friendly pickle.

Spring Asparagus and Shrimp Stir-Fry

Many people assume that Vietnamese food is highly influenced by French traditions. While that is true to a certain extent, the Chinese also influenced Viet foodways big time. Vietnam was a colony of China for nearly 1,000 years! Plus, there are legions of Vietnamese-Chinese people who’ve helped to shape Vietnamese food for generations. (Interactions via trade routes and with Vietnam’s neighbors factor into the mix too.)

My friends, Sophie and Eric Banh (below), the brother-and-sister team behind Monsoon and Ba Bar restaurants in Seattle could be the poster children for how Vietnamese food has blended with Chinese traditions. The Banhs grew up in Cho Lon in Saigon and speak Vietnamese and Chinese (as well as English!). They immigrated to Canada and found their way to relatively warmer climes in Washington State. Their flagship restaurants, Monsoon Capitol Hill and Monsoon East, help to define modern Vietnamese food in the Pacific Northwest.