Pork, Peppers, and Vermicelli

Back in business!

Pink Cat's Bakery is open again!  Let's get rolling with some egg-rolling!  These are traditional Vietnamese egg rolls, called chả giò.   To be honest, this is one of the only Vietnamese food that's not good if you make it vegetarian.  Has to be made with PORK and has to be crispy!  Or else, it's not even worth eating.

Here's a secret if you're making them:  Roll these egg rolls ahead and freeze them in a single layer.  After they're hard frozen, you can stack them up and wrap in foil paper.  Then when you're ready to eat, SLOWLY and carefully drop the still frozen egg rolls into hot oil.  Once they float up, and golden brown.  They're ready!

Best part- The egg rolls will stay crispy for a long time if you fry them this way.  Because, who wants to eat a soggy egg roll?

Braised pineapple chicken

How do you select a pineapple? And how do you tell if it's ripe and ready to use? You sniff it! If it has the sweet smell of pineapple, then it's ready to use. When you buy it in the store, it's probably not ready to be eaten, so just store it in a cool and dry place for a few days.

Pineapples are one of those fruits that will continue to ripe after being cut off from the tree. Well, not really. Pineapples don't grow on pineapple trees,, but on short bushes about two feet tall.

If you must... then use canned pineapples. If not, then definitely go the fresh route. It doesn't take much work to slice into one. There are recipes for orange chicken, so there's nothing strange about chicken 'n pineapples together. ^-^

Lunch: Vietnamese Quiche and Buttercup Soup

Vietnamese steamed quiche with minced pork.

I made this to have with a crab and tomato noodle soup. Some people eat it with rice. Vietnamese quiche are not as heavy as American or French, filled with lots of cheese. This one was just mixed with pork, but I can also make it with mushrooms! I used to loooove putting in shrimp paste, which would make the house smell for hours! Not anymore.. ^-^

Buttercup soup with tofu and Vietnamese rice paddy herb.

The herb's flavor is really complex and hard to describe. But it adds a depth to soups, especially Vietnamese spicy and sour fish soup. You can find this herb easily in Vietnamese groceries, and even Chinese supermarkets too. Just remember to use them fresh.

Dinner: Braised Smelt and Stir Fried Gai-lan

Braised smelt in caramel sauce.

This is a savory caramel sauce, not the sweet kind that you usually associate with. The caramel adds a depth of flavor to any Vietnamese braised meat or fish dishes. I don't like smelt, because the fish breaks up too easily during cooking and there's too many tiny bones in it to eat. These were cooked with ginger, garlic, chili and fish sauce too. And you eat these with rice!

Pork and gai-lan stir fried.

Braised Pork, Pork Belly, More Pork, and Eggs

Another go at the braised pork in coconut juice for dinner! Well, it's been a while since I made this again. Partly, because I've been busy and lazy. You have to simmer for a very long time for the flavors to come together, and the meat to be very tender. The pork is braised in coconut juice with spices like star anise, chinese five spice powder, garlic, and ginger. The eggs go in the pot towards the end, and will take on a caramelized color. You eat this with rice and a crisp salad (lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and mints).

Spicy Tomato Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 stalk celery, cut into small pieces
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut into small pieces
• 1 small onion, medium diced
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (14 oz) can low-salt chicken broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can chopped tomatoes
• 3 boned chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
• 1 package (8 oz.) thawed frozen artichoke hearts, quartered if large**
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces**
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• Red chile flakes, to taste
• Crusty bread

Preparations:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook, turning once, until browned, 4 to 5 minutes total. Transfer chicken to a plate.

2. Reduce heat to medium and add in about 2 tsp more of olive oil. Add garlic first, then onion, celery and carrot and stir just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme and simmer, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, about 3 minutes. Add broth and chicken and return to a simmer. Lower heat slightly to maintain simmer, cover, and cook 25 minutes. Turn the chicken over half way and stir the mixture occasionally.

3. Take the chicken out after 25 minutes and let cool a bit. Discard bay leaf. Add in artichokes. Shred or cut the chicken into bite- size pieces. Return the chicken meat to the stew and stir in basil. Bring the stew to a simmer. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes, to taste.

Serve with some crusty hearty bread.

** Optional:
If you don't like artichokes, you can use 1 (15oz) can of organic kidney beans instead. If you don't have basil, substitute with 1/2 a cup of flat-leaf parsley chopped.

Dinner: Chicken and Soup

I was tired (or lazy)! So, a simple dinner it was! What's faster than pan-frying some chicken on the stove? It's fast and easy. No need to wait for the oven to preheat.

What I did was simply de-boning chicken thighs (yay! dark meat) in the morning, then marinated them with spices. With what ever style you like- just don't make it bland. For me, this usually means Chinese 5-spice powder, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, pepper, minced garlic, ginger and onion, and some curry powder blend I've got in my house. That's it! Prepare it in the morning before work, and you can cook quickly in the evening. (*You do need to plan ahead.*)

As a veggie option, I made cannellini beans with green veggies, any kind that you have on hand (kale, swiss chard, Chinese broccoli, etc.). Tonight's lucky green was... collards! Then throw in some other veggies that you like, to have a variety in the soup. I don't like eating plain old collards and beans. Season it up, spice it up!

And of course, enjoy everything with brown rice.

Dinner: Roasted Ribs and Sauteed Veggies

Green beans and sugar snap peas sauteed with garlic and some chicken.
Ginger + Five-Spice Ribs Roast, and spicy hoisin sauce glaze.

Also along with these is a mixed salad of cucumber, lettuce, and tomatoes. (Hehe.. No, I did not eat this dinner. Maybe the tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce sandwich.)

Roast Chicken

For some reason, I like to roast chicken in pieces, rather than keeping it whole. I guess it's easier for me to handle, in turning, glazing, and crispening it up. You gotta chop it up in pieces anyway, right? My family never does the fancy carving thing at the table. Just pile it on a plate, and every one can eat without wait of carving.

I think this one came out much better than last time I did it. Ooh! I used a hoisin sauce glaze. Mmm Chinese BBQ sauce. The marinate was basically juiced ginger, garlic, pepper, fish sauce, dark soy sauce (for some color), sugar, 5 spice powder and sesame oil. It's best to marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge.

Covering the chicken with a piece of aluminum foil ("tenting" it) during the roasting also traps in the steam, to cook it more quickly and not to let the meat dry out. When it's done cooking, just remove the foil and spoon out all the juices from the chicken. Turn on the broiler, and the skin will crispen up with the glaze. Watch out, don't burn it!

Chicken Wings!

Have some!

O nom nom nom! ^-^

(Oven) BBQ Pork Ribs

Marinated Hana-Style ^-^

- With soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, garlic, and shallots. Marinate for about 1-2 hrs.

- Put in oven at 350F, for around 1 hr, and it'll fall off the bone.

- Turn on the broiler at the end and the meat will get a nice caramelized color.


- Don't forget the hot sauce!

MMmm... Hehe

Pork Noodle Soups!

To get a good broth for a noodle soup, simmer pork with roasted ginger, star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, and and smashed garlic.

If you use the bones part, then the broth will be more flavorful. I used rib bones, but you can use beef bones- for beef noodle soups.


It is tedious, but to get a clear soup, you should skim all the visible foams and fats on top, or else the broth will be cloudy. I think cooking this is similar to making a consommé, where the resulting broth is clear, and has an amber color (for beef or veal consommé). The slow simmering makes the meat tender and just falls off the bone.

Ladle the broth and meats over your choice of noodles, and add the toppings you want- scallions, Sriracha, chilies, bean sprouts, basils, chilies...

Braised Pork Shank + Pork Belly in Coconut Juice and Eggs

This is one of the classic dish of Vietnam. It is called Thịt Heo Kho Tàu. Because the shank is a tough cut of meat, it was braised for a while and this will bring all the flavor together. This is also a dish you'd serve during the Vietnamese New Year.

Pork was marinated with five spice powder, garlic, salt+sugar, pepper, dark soy sauce and fish sauce. After marinating, it was cooked in half coconut juice and half water, with a tiny bit of star anise. And of course you gotta throw in some chilies too! When reheating again the next day, it is still as good, if not better from the extra marination. It is a very hearty dish.

Cook the meats slowly until almost tender and add in boiled eggs. The sauce will flavor the eggs too, and give it a nice caramel color.

Remember to spoon some of that sauce over your bowl of rice, and enjoy! Eat with refreshing slices of cucumbers, mints, lettuce too.

This is a high in cholesterol dish from the pork fat, but screw it. This is not something you'd have every day. Or you can do what I did when I was younger, just eat the meat part and leave the fat for someone else. ^-^ The sauce is good enough!

I don't eat meat...

... but I can make roast chicken!

This was one of the dishes I made for Vietnamese New Year '08. Seems like a long time now.

If you're wondering, it did taste good! (Or my whole family was either nice to me, or very very hungry and ate it all up.)