Viet World Kitchen

Peking Duck Meal at Home -- LA Times Article

 

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Remember my experiments with Sichuan and Peking duck earlier this year? After those initial forays, I wanted to make a whole 3-course Peking duck meal with the Mandarin pancakes, stir-fry and final soup. Editor Russ Parsons of the Los Angeles Times "Food" section let me go at it and the article was published today.

I cooked a lot of ducks to perfect the recipes, and the photos above give you the highlights. The roasted duck. Its crisp flesh in a homemade pancake (it's like a flour tortilla but better), the stir-fry with the roast duck meat, and the final soup made from ducky broth and cabbage.

Don't be daunted. It surprisingly doesn't take much to produce this wonderful Chinese meal in your home kitchen.  My husband and I ate it multiple times during recipe development. We never tired of it and didn't even develop duck tummies. Seriously.

Check out my journey toward Peking duck-dom, recipes, and techniques:

Dine-in Duck  (Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2010)

Start practicing on your family and friends. Let me know your thoughts!

Related Chinese duck recipes:

Chinese Fragrant and Crispy Duck - Version 1 (Xiang Su Quan Ya)
Chinese Fragrant and Very Crispy Duck - Version 2 (Xiang Su Quan Ya)
Homemade Peking Duck

• Step 1: How to blow up a duck
• Step 2: How to scald and give the duck a tan
• Step 3: How to roast the duck

Taiwanese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup Recipe (Niu Rou Mian)

Tomorrow my husband and I will be celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary. (I was a child bride. Ha! -- NOT.) We were discussing what we should do, where we could go out, what we had eaten on past anniversaries. We didn’t make any concrete plans but I started thinking about the meals we shared when we first started dating in 1989. Yes, we’re an old couple.

One of our favorite places was the Mandarin Deli in Chinatown, Los Angeles. It was a hole in the wall that my sisters introduced me to when they were attending USC down the way. I loved the Mandarin Deli’s giant pot stickers that burned my mouth with their hot juices (they’re mentioned in Asian Dumplings).

An order of dumplings was always paired with hot bowls of beef noodle soup (牛肉麵, niu rou mian). Its inky spicy broth, plump wheat noodles, and chunks of red-cooked beef were perfect with the dumplings. It was good in the cooler months as well as the hotter months. I ate it year round.

Since then, I’ve made various versions of the soup from recipes found in Irene Kuo’s classic, The Key to Chinese Cooking, and Fuschia Dunlop’s enlightening work on Sichuan cuisine, Land of Plenty.  I’ve also ordered plenty of beef noodle soup from Taiwanese joints, such as A&J Restaurant, which has outposts in Southern and Northern California.

Overall, I like the Taiwanese version of niu rou mian (literally beef meat noodles) better than other versions of the Chinese soup. The Taiwanese take usually has more complexity in the broth but I didn't know why until this past weekend.

Chicken and Bamboo Shoot Noodle Soup Recipe (Bun Mang Ga)

The other day, I soaked and cooked a bunch of dried bamboo shoot (mang kho) and squirreled them away for Tet so that I could simmer some with pork hocks. But the chilly winter weather got to me today and I defrosted a batch of the prepped bamboo shoots to make bun mang noodle soup, a Vietnamese favorite; bun refers to round rice noodles (think bun rice noodle salad bowls!) and mang refers to bamboo shoot. I looked in my cookbook library and found Vietnamese recipes that paired bamboo shoot with chicken, duck and pork hocks (called bun mang ga, bun mang vit, bun mang gio heo, respectively).  Chicken is the fastest and easiest to make as it is readily available at any supermarket. It’s also less expensive than duck and lighter than pork.

Vietnamese food is often quite simple yet seemingly complex. That's the beauty of this preparation -- just a few average ingredients coming together for spectacular results. People have asked me what makes bun mang taste good. The answer has less to do with the protein than the quality of the bamboo shoot; for tips on buying and preparing this standard Asian ingredient, read “How to Cook Dried Bamboo Shoot.” The dried bamboo shoot lends its golden hue and naturally sweet-savory flavor to the broth for bun mang. Normally, wood ear mushroom is added for contrasting color and crunch but I love to drop in some reconstituted shiitake mushrooms so that the soup is super laden with umami goodness. 

Banh Hoi with Grilled Beef Recipe (Banh Hoi Thit Bo Nuong)

Delicate in flavor with a slight tang, banh hoi rice noodles are a special event Vietnamese food that’s often enjoyed at parties and celebrations. They’re instantly recognizable as the white noodles are shaped like rectangular mats of thick white cheesecloth. They're very thin, finer than Italian angel hair pasta. It’s best to purchase banh hoi (pronounced “baan hoy”) fresh from a Vietnamese market or Chinese barbecue shop in a Vietnamese community where they’re typically sold on Styrofoam trays and wrapped in plastic wrap. For a general low-down , take a read of Vietnamese Noodles 101: Banh Hoi Fine Rice Noodles.

Banh hoi are not eaten on their own, but rather as an accompaniment to rich, flavorful morsels, such as slices of this easy-to-prepare grilled beef. Vietnamese people love to bundle up food in lettuce and fresh herbs, which is exactly how this dish is enjoyed. Just grab a piece of lettuce, layer in some herbs, a piece of banh hoi rice noodle and slice of beef. Dip your creation in some nuoc cham dipping sauce and enjoy the intermingling of flavors and texture. It’s a lovely one-dish meal for summer’s grilling season!

Vietnamese-Korean Connection: Grilled Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps

 

Last Sunday, I went on a Korean market tour with 3 gal pals – Hyunjoo Albrecht, Linda Lim, and Karen Shinto. You may know Karen, the food stylist who tried to stab me with chopsticks on my Asian Dumpling cookbook photo shoot. Hyunjoo is a Korean food expert and Linda is a lifestyle marketing expert and avid cook and eater.

Korean food is a mystery to me as I’m a little rusty with my Hangul (!!) and most Korean ingredients are labeled in their language full of neat circles and straight lines. There are only a handful of Korean ingredients involved in the cuisines of the Land of the Morning Calm. For example, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and chiles are the dominant seasonings. Gojuchang is a fermented chile paste that has an addictively smoky, earthy flavor that I’ve enjoyed on numerous occasions in bibimbap rice preparations. However, whenever I’ve gone to a Korean market and had to face with a wall of Korean chile paste tubs, I can’t figure out which to select and blindly choose the highest priced gojuchang. Don’t get me started on cryptic vegetable labeling such as “Korean radish” and “edible leaves.” I’m a mess in a Korean produce section and the banchan side dishes section of a Korean market.

Bún Rice Noodle Salad Bowls - A great way to use leftovers

Many people assume that I'm a purist about food and I am, only to the extent that the basic foundation of a dish are present in a dish. Take bún salad bowls, a ubiquitous item on Vietnamese restaurant menus. A meal in a bowl, the south Vietnamese favorite noodle bowl is a terrific way to eat healthfully and creatively.

Summer is grilling time, and the other day with lots of herbs growing in the yard, my husband suggested we make bun for lunch. Without time to marinate and grill pork, fish, etc., I looked to the fridge and found leftover grilled lamb and pork patties, summer squash, pan-roasted potatoes. Not bad, so I went about making the framework for the rice noodle bowl.

First, I made the dressing. It's nothing but the basic Vietnamese nuoc cham dipping sauce made of lime, sugar, fish sauce, water, and chiles. For punch, I used garlic too.

Hainan Chicken and Rice Recipe (Com Ga Hai Nam)

Since we've been talking about what is authenticity in Asian food and mixing things up, it got me thinking about a great dish -- Hainan chicken and rice. The one dish wonder comes from the island of Hainan off the coast of China. Called Hai Nam in Vietnamese, the surrounding waters of the oil-rich island has been the subject of maritime dispute was disputed territory between China and Vietnam for years ago and Vietnam skill keeps its eyes on foreign oil contracts related to the territory.

Chickens are precious in Asian kitchens so take a whole one, poaching and eating it is saved for special occasions like Tet in Vietnam. For that reason, a dish like Hainan chicken and rice is a grand thing indeed. It's a resourceful dish because practically all the parts of the bird are used!

First the chicken is gently poached and then the cooking broth is cooked down a bit and used to cook the rice, which is fried in a little chicken fat. The chicken is cooled to room temp and cut up to be served with the flavorful rice.  A dipping sauce flavored with the broth and sometimes gilded with chicken fat accompanies the chicken. The leftover broth is served as soup on the side.

In Vietnam, we typically poach chicken and serve it under a layer of super finely shredded tender lime leaves. The sauce is salt, pepper, lime juice and fresh chile. Hainan chicken and rice is just a few steps further beyond that. I ate many versions on my recent trip to Asia and the best rendition was in Singapore. After returning home, I replicated it, but added my own Viet touch, a bit of nuoc mam in the broth.

Typically, there's a fresh ginger dipping sauce. In Singapura, they serve a sweetened soy sauce and a super duper spicy chile sauce. I've offered all three below for you to choose. You can make these sauces 1 or 2 days in advance to cut down on the work. In developing this recipe, Singapore food expert Christopher Tan's book Shiok!  was quite helpful.

Find a good chicken for this dish. I used a Buff Orpinton raised by Deep Roots Ranch in Watsonville, and the fat that I got was oh so yellow and flavorful. It's lean bird, what you'd say is chewy in Vietnamese terms. Chinese markets have terrific whole chickens, with the head and feet attached. Or just go to your grocer and find the best your pocketbook can afford.

And, that shocking in ice business after poaching? It firms up the skin and puts a great layer of gelatin underneath. The process is a little secret among master chicken poachers. Enjoy.

Hainan Chicken and Rice
Com Ga Hai Nam

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course

For the chicken:
1 whole high quality chicken (about 31/2 pounds)
5 quarter-sized slices ginger, peeled or unpeeled, crushed with the broad side of a cleaver or chef's knife
1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon fish sauce

For the rice:
2 cups raw long-grain rice, such as Thai jasmine
4 tablespoons chicken fat (take from poaching liquid) or peanut oil
1-1/2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
4 fresh or thawed pandan leaves, tied together in one loose knot (optional)
Salt, to taste

Sauce option 1: Ginger sauce
2-inch chubby section ginger (about 2 ounces), peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sauce option 2: Singapore chili sauce
2 or 3 large red chiles, such as Fresno, cayenne, or long chile, coarsely chopped
2 or 3 hot Thai chiles, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon hot chicken poaching broth

Sauce option 3: Sweet Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon light (regular) soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 -1/2 teaspoons unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Asian chili sauce, such as Sriracha

Sauce option 4: Salt, Pepper, Lime Dipping Sauce (an easy no-brainer)

Garnishes
1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
1 tomato, thinly sliced or cut into wedges
4 or 5 sprigs cilantro, coarsely chopped

1. Rinse and pat the chicken dry with paper towel. Cut off the head, neck, wing tips and feet - extraneous parts that are on your chicken. Use a heavy cleaver to cut the neck and wings into halves or thirds. Aim to cut through the bone. Set aside.

2. Select a pot that the chicken snugly fits into with about an inch clearance between the top of breast and the edge of the pot. Fill it halfway with water and add the extraneous parts that you just cut up, along with the ginger, onion, and salt. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat and add the chicken.

When the pot returns to a boil, lower the heat to gently simmer. Bubbles should softly dance at the surface. Basing your cooking time on the chicken's original weight, poach for 10 minutes per pound (a 31/2-pound fryer takes 35 minutes). Use tongs to rotate the chicken halfway through to ensure even cooking.

Near the end of the cooking time, get a large bowl of ice water ready and set it near the stove. Use tongs to remove the chicken from the pot and plunge it in the ice water. Turn the chicken to expose it to the cold water. Drain and place the chicken on a plate. Let it cool completely before slicing. Leave it at room temperature if serving soon, or cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring it to room temperature before cutting.

3. Meanwhile, add the fish sauce to the broth. Boil the broth until it has reduced by one-third, or until its flavor has concentrated enough for your taste. Turn off the heat and, skim the fat - reserving it for cooking the rice. Strain the broth into another pan. Discard the solids. Cover and set aside while the chicken cools.

4. For the rice, rinse the rice and let it drain for 10 minutes in a mesh strainer positioned over a bowl. Meanwhile, bring the stock to a near simmer in a small saucepan, and then cover to keep it hot.

5. In a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan, heat 4 tablespoons of chicken fat over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and shallot and cook, stirring constantly, until no longer raw smelling, 1 to 2 minutes. Firmly shake the strainer of rice to expel any hidden water, and then add the rice to the pot. Stir constantly with a large spoon until the grains are opaque white and feel light, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat slightly, measure out 2 1/2 cups of hot broth and add the broth and expect dramatic boiling. Immediately give the pot a big stir, reduce the heat to medium to simmer, add the pandan leaves, then let the rice simmer vigorous.

Cook the rice for a few minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times, until most of the water has been absorbed and the surface looks glossy and thick; small craters/holes may form too. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes to firm up and finish cooking. Uncover, fluff with chopsticks or a fork, and then cover. Wait 5 minutes before serving. The rice will stay warm for 30 minutes.

6. Make one, two or all of the sauces and set at the table:

For the ginger sauce, put the ginger, oil, salt, and 1 tablespoon of hot chicken poaching broth (take it from the pot) into a small electric mini chopper and process to a fine texture. Taste and add up to 2 more tablespoons of poaching broth. Transfer to a dipping sauce dish.

For the Singapore chili sauce, put all of the ingredients, the large red chiles, Thai chiles, garlic
Ginger, sugar, salt, lime juice and 1 tablespoon hot chicken poaching broth into a small electric mini chopper and process to a semi-coarse sauce. Transfer to a dipping sauce dish.

For the sweet soy sauce, combine the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and chili sauce in a dipping sauce container, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

7. To serve, use a sharp knife to detach each wing at the shoulder joint. Separate the two wing sections and use a meat-chopping cleaver to chop them into smaller pieces. (Or, keep them whole.) Arrange them on one large serving plate or two small ones. Remove the breasts and leg and thigh quarters. Cut the meat off the bone and slice it into bite-size pieces. Add them to the serving plate(s) in a nice arrangement, skin side up for a beautiful presentation. (Guests may remove the skin while eating.) Finish by scattering cilantro on top.

Bring the broth to a near boil and taste, adding extra salt if necessary. Strain the broth into a large soup bowl and sprinkle with black pepper. Serve immediately with the chicken, rice, cucumber and tomato slices, and dipping sauces.

You may have guests eat the broth out of a rice bowl and the rice and chicken from a plate, using fork and spoon as primary utensils.

Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh Noodle Soup) Recipe

This is a recipe that's been long over due. Ever since my book came out a year ago, I've been remiss that I couldn't fit in a recipe for the southern Vietnamese favorite, hu tieu Nam Vang noodle soup. It's a Cambodian-Chinese concoction that the Vietnamese 'borrowed' and then made their own. Nam Vang is the Viet word for Phnom Penh, and the southern part of Vietnam has deep Khmer roots. When you're in Saigon or elsewhere in the Mekong Delta region, there's bound to be hu tieu noodle soup.

Compared to pho from the North, or bun bo Hue from the central region, hu tieu can be downright confusing because there are many versions of it. At its core, hu tieu (pronounced "hoo tee-u") signals a Chinese-Southeast Asian style noodle soup made with a pork bone broth and no fish sauce. But that's where simplicity ends. The noodles in a bowl of hu tieu can be chewy clear tapioca noodles, opaque white rice noodles like you'd use for pho noodle soup, or thin Chinese egg noodles (mi). The toppings cover a wide territory, and may include boneless pork, pork ribs, pork offal, shrimp, squid, wonton dumplings, fried garlic, fried shallot, and/or scallion. As usual, you pick and choose whatever you want. Hu tieu is the extreme have-it-your-way Vietnamese food experience. I've seen a 'dry' version too but have never tried it.

Given all the variations, locking down a classic approach to hu tieu is difficult. There isn't one prevailing concept. Yep, Vietnamese cooking can be downright confusing. In fact, check this extensive Noodlepie blog posting on hu tieu noodle soup. If you read Vietnamese, peruse this hu tieu My Tho page on the Thanh Nien website. Note that they call out three versions of hu tieu -- hu tieu Nam Vang, hu tieu Tau (Chinese hu tieu) and hu tieu My Tho (from My Tho, the capital of Tien Giang province in the Mekong Delta that's famous for their rendition).

For me, the definitive bowl of hu tieu noodle soup is hu tieu Nam Vang. The Phnom Penh version that I was introduced to as a kid by our family friend Uncle Su, a wonderful Chinese-Vietnamese cook, has a deep, umami-filled broth made of pork bones, dried squid and dried shrimp. There's a touch of golden rock sugar to give it sweetness and to round out the flavors. The toppings are similarly a surf-and-turf combination of cooked pork, sliced pork liver, poached shrimp, sautéed ground pork, fried garlic and caramelized shallot. But wait, there's more! The essential garnishes are important here. Delectable hu tieu needs lots of pungent Chinese celery and Chinese chives (flat chives that have a slight garlicky bite); lettuce is also a common garnish but not my favorite for this noodle soup because there's enough to distract already and it doesn't add much.

However, I'm a freak for the Chinese celery (can Tau), which pops its intense raw flavor in the soup. (Chinese celery looks like gigantic Italian parsley but tastes like strong celery.) When it's not readily available or not looking good at the Asian market, I substitute leafy celery tops, which is much stronger tasting than the fat ribs below. Most grocery stores have already trimmed that 'unwanted' portion of the celery plant, so hunt down a nice deep green bunch of celery at the farmers' market. Celery tops can be tough so you may have to halve them lengthwise. In the bowl above, I used celery tops.

I also love using the chewy tapioca noodles for hu tieu. They're fat, chewy, and fun to slurp on. To find them, you'll have to head to a Vietnamese grocery store and look for packages of "Hu Tieu Dai" (chewy hu tieu noodles); despite what the label says, there's no rice in the noodles, but rather tapioca. These noodles are not commonly stocked at Chinese markets. On the other hand, a medium-width flat rice noodle that's like a fettucine or what you'd use for pad Thai works just fine.

There are many steps here so take your time and know that one batch feeds many people. If you're hoarding it all to yourself, you can dole the bowls out over the course of 4 or 5 days. Just refrigerate the broth and toppings. Of course, you may also freeze the broth and meat toppings too.

For the squid and shrimp, head to a Chinese or Vietnamese market and check the refrigerated section for the dried shrimp. Dried squid, sold whole in plastic packages, is often near the dried mushroom, snacks, or dried shrimp.

Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang
Phnom Penh Noodle Soup with Pork, Shrimp, Garlic and Shallot

Makes 8 bowls

Broth:
6 pounds pork bones (neck, spine, or leg), in 2-inch pieces
5 quarts water
3 medium dried squid (2 ounces total), quickly rinsed
1/3 cup dried shrimp
1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1-inch chunk golden rock sugar (about 1 ounce)
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/4 pounds pork loin, skin-on leg, or boneless shoulder, 2 by 4-inch pieces

Bowls:
¾ to 1 pound pork liver
1/3 cup Crispy Caramelized Shallot (reserve the cooking oil for cooking the garlic)
Canola or other neutral oil
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
½ pound ground pork, roughly chopped to loosen
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus extra for garnish
Cooked pork from the broth simmering
1 ½ to 2 pounds dried tapioca stick noodles or dried fettucine-size flat rice noodles (bánh pho), cooked in boiling water until al dente (5 to 7 minutes for the tapioca; 3 to 4 minutes for the rice noodles), drained, and flushed with cold water (keep tapioca stick noodles in a bowl of water to prevent sticking)
16 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

Garnishes:
½ small bunch Chinese chives, cut into 1 ½-inch-long pieces (1 cup total)
1 small bunch Chinese celery, trimmed and cut into 1 ½-inch-long pieces (2 cups total)
2 cups bean sprouts (about 1/3 pound), picked over, washed, and drained well
2 or 3 hot Thai or serrano chiles, thinly sliced
2 or 3 limes, cut into wedges

Make the broth
1. In a stockpot (about 12-quart capacity) over high heat, bring the bones and water to a boil. Use a large spoon or ladle to skim any scum that rises to the top. Add the remaining ingredients. Once the broth returns to a boil, lower the heat to simmer for 1 hour.

At this point, the boneless pork meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. Press it and it should feel like the flesh at the base of your thumb. When it's cooked to your liking, use tongs to transfer it to a bowl of cold water. Let the meat soak for 10 minutes to prevent it from drying up and turning dark. Drain the meat and let it cool before refrigerating. Throughout this time, the broth should have continued to simmer. In total, the broth should simmer for 2 hours before it's done.

2. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer (or a coarse mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth) positioned over a large saucepan.

3. Use a ladle to skim as much fat from the top of the broth as you like. (Cool it and then refrigerate overnight to make this task easier; reheat before continuing.) Taste and adjust the flavor with additional salt and rock sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (Dilute with water if you've gone too far.) There should be about 4 quarts.

Prepare the toppings
4. While the broth simmers, poach the liver. Fill a saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the liver and lower the heat to gently simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the liver feels firm, like the flesh at the base of your thumb. Remove from the water and put in a bowl of water for 10 minutes to prevent it from drying up and turning dark. Drain the liver and store with the cooked beef.

5. Prepare the Crispy Caramelized Shallots if you haven't already, reserving the cooking oil in the skillet. Add extra oil so that there's about 3 tablespoons total. Heat over medium-low heat and add the garlic. Gently sauté, stirring frequently, until golden. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the garlic to a ramekin or small bowl. Set aside to cool.

6. There should be a good 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet. If not, add a little extra. Heat over medium heat and add the pork, salt and pepper, stirring to break the pork up into small pieces. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. Transfer to a ramekin or small bowl. Set aside to cool. All of these toppings may be prepared in advance and refrigerated. Return to room temperature before assembling the bowls.

Assemble the bowls
7. Cut the pork and liver into thin slices, about 1/16 thick. For the best results, make sure they are cold. Have ready the shallot, garlic, ground pork, noodles, and shrimp for assembling the bowls. Arrange the garnishes on a plate or put them in small dishes and put on the table.

8. To ensure good timing, bring the broth to a simmer over medium heat while you are assembling the bowls. Add the shrimp and poach them for about 2 minutes, or until they have curled and turned orange. Remove from the broth and set aside.

9. At the same time, fill a large pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. For each bowl, place a portion of the noodles on a vertical-handle strainer (or mesh sieve) and dunk the noodles in the boiling water. As soon as they have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10 to 20 seconds), pull the strainer from the water, letting the water drain back into the pot. Empty the noodles into a bowl.

10. Top each bowl with sliced pork, liver and 2 shrimp. In the center add some cooked ground pork, fried garlic, and crispy caramelized shallot. Finish with a sprinkling of black pepper.

11. Raise the heat and bring the broth to a rolling boil. Do a final tasting and make any last-minute flavor adjustments. Ladle about 2 cups broth into each bowl, distributing the hot liquid evenly to warm all the ingredients. Serve immediately with the garnishes.