Eight Treasure Congee

Did you know that congee can be made with other grains, other than rice?  Like millet, barley, and sorghum.  These types of congee are common in the north of China.  Here, I've made an 'eight treasure congee.'  The eight treasure really just means 8 ingredients that you will put in the congee (excluding water), and those are any 8 ingredients that you have on hand.  

For my eight treasure congee, I put in red kidney beans, glutinous rice, raw peanuts, lotus seeds, barley, red jujubes, dried logans, and grated ginger.  This is a sweet congee instead of a savory one, so I seasoned it with rock sugar (or jaggery).  I guess that'll make this a Nine Treasure Congee and not eight?  I can't count!  This is sort of like a mixed up Vietnamese sweet dessert soup. :)

Lunch: Spicy rice, sauteed spinach, and soupy soup

Spicy basmati-saffron rice and sauteed spinach with tofu curds.

Kabocha soup with soft tofu.

If I am to choose between a kobocha squash or a butternut squash, I'd definitely go for the former. The texture and the taste is far better than a butternut in my opinion. It is sweeter and has a 'toothy' bite to it, like a drunken noodle would have more of a 'toothy' bite than a pad thai noodle.

You can cook a kobocha squash into a savory soup, or make into a sweet dessert like Asians do. Leaving the skin on is also better, because it has lots of nutritional content. If you make a savory soup out of it, then make sure to watch it when you're cooking it. It tends to fall apart and dissolve into the broth if you cook it too long, to death.

When shopping for one, be sure to look for one that is small or medium size, but dense and heavy in feel. The ones that feel light doesn't really have a good smooth sweet taste to it, maybe because it hasn't ripen fully.

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.

Dried Bamboo Shoots Soup

You can actually eat this with either noodles or rice. I prefer noodles. Good with egg noodles, big flat noodles, or thin rice noodles. There are few ingredients in this soup, only dried bamboo shoots, soft tofu, and scallions.

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.

Pork and Collard Greens Soup

A pretty hearty dish for the cold season.

What's in it: pork (with bone is more flavorful), carrots, collard greens, cauliflower, and a few left over green beans.

For non-vegetarian soups, I always poach or boil the meat to cook them first, to get a broth. If you don't want the meats to get tough, simply remove them and then add back at the end. Sometimes I will saute them in oil and garlic before adding water to make the soup broth.

In my opinion, I prefer not to cook the collard greens to mush. I've found that the stalk part of the collard greens are tougher, so you should cook those ahead for a few minutes before adding the leaves.

Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Bisque

With French influence, Vietnamese people also have bisques.

This is a vegetarian version I made with sweet potato, butternut squash (although kabocha squash is better), long beans, tofu, batata, carrots, (raw) peanuts, and peas.

For flavoring, I used curry powder, milk (because bisque needs to be creamy), ginger, and kaffir lime leaves.

I think cooking raw peanuts with pumpkin soups are very good. It is the special local way of cooking these kinds of soups from where I live in Vietnam. I remember, I was really suprise when my uncle said he'd never heard of cooking peanuts with pumpkins. I thought it was a common thing to do.

Anyway, with the peanuts, you have to roughly ground it up in a mortar and pestle or a machine. This infuses the peanut flavor into the soup more, as opposed to leaving them whole. I had the bisque with some seeded bread and a sourdough toast, but a french baguette would be just as good!

p.s. Cooking this bisque with cream, creamed corn, and or coconut milk would definitely be extra delicious... But I'm making it the healthy way!

Quail Egg Noodle Soup

There wasn't anything much going on this weekend, except some noodle soup for me. Ah! I forgot about the hot sauce until halfway chowing down.

I made this soup with a vegetable broth consisting of carrots, chayote, charred onions+ginger, and mushrooms. Other ingredients along with the vermecilli were quail eggs (which I love!) fried tofu, vegetarian ham, bean curd, and enoki mushrooms.

I'd actually love some snow mushrooms in this soup too, and maybe make an omlette to put in the noodle. I was lazy and hungry. :(

Vegetarian Tamarind Soup

Canh Chua Chay- literally meaning "sour vegetarian soup."

Canh chua (sour soup) is a very common dish in Vietnam. It can be made with a different kinds of fish (i.e. salmon, catfish) or shrimps. The sourness of the broth comes from flavoring it with tamarind, which go very well with seafood.

This soup typically consists of a medley of vegetables. They're tomatoes, pineapples, water spinach, okra, bean sprouts, broccoli, and bạc hà (or alocasia odora/giant upright elephant ear). I also like to add tofu and plantains, just because I like it.

This is one of my favorite soups to eat, whether on a hot or a cold day. Sipping a hot bowl of soup warms you up, yet the zesty tangy tamarind broth cools you down. Sadly, I didn't have any on hand, but adding herbs (long coriander and thai basil) and chilies to this kind of soup definitely make it better. It'll be a hot, sour, and spicy soup!

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...

Seaweed Soups

There are many health benefits to seaweed soup. It is very popular among East Asians, especially for pregnant women and students. Dried seaweeds contain Magnesium, Vitamin 1 and Iron which are essential for preventing diabetes and heart attacks. They also have Riboflavin and Niacin which promote fast tissue repair.

Seaweed is also an excellent blood cleanser and is believed to support optimal brain function, which would help students with important exams. It is also amazingly effective at stimulating healthy milk production in nursing moms.

(Above) Seaweed soup with pork (ribs) and bean thread noodles. The meats were cooked until very tender and almost falling off the bone.


(Left) Vegetarian seaweed soup with other veggies and bean curd sticks and bean thread noodles. Sipping soups always make me feel warm and content.

I think I've developed the habit of throwing in broccoli anywhere and everywhere I can. Just weird, but I like it. Adding in bits of ginger to the soup made it extra tasty and warm.

Oyster Mushroom Soup

With chives, tofu, carrots, and fresh bean sprouts added in.

This soup makes a really good broth for vegetarian pho.

Bitter Melon with Dried Shrimp Soup

Dried shrimps are basically shrimps that have been sun dried and shrunk down to a tiny size.

They are used extensively in East and South East Asia for flavoring soups, braised dishes, and making sauces (i.e. Cantonese XO sauces.)

In Vietnamese, these dried shrimps are called tôm khô. When cooked, these shrimps would give off a sweet flavor, which would balance the out the flavor of the bitter melon. Enjoy with rice.

Let's have Veggie Soup!

Some veggies! Some veggies, some random random veggies!

Carrots! --In the pot!

Broccoli! --In the pot!

Yellow squash! --In da pot!

Chives! --Join in too!

Tofu! --Heck, why not?!

Saturday Morning Noodles

What to eat on a Saturday morning??

Today, it is noodles!

When I was younger, my mum would make noodles for me on the weekends. Every kind of noodle she made is so good and I have very fond memories of them. Now that I am grown up, and she getting older, I am making it for her.

It would be easier to make some eggs for me and some stir fries for her. But, it is just so much more comforting to sip some good broth and eat some noodles. It didn't took me any longer to cook this that it would be for me to make the other dishes for me and her.

What I have on hand is whole wheat angel hair, and that's what I went with. Although you can certainly pair it with any rice, egg, or pasta noodles. Yes, I did stick a bunch of watercress on the side there. Makes the noodles better with its spiciness, and you got some greens too!

Finish it off with some whole peppercorns or Sriracha, and a drizzle of sesame oil, then dig in! (^_^*)

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squash soup with broccoli and cauliflower. MMmmm Healthy and good!
















Or... Lentils + butternut squash + potatoes + tofu soup

I do like lentils (red) with butternut squash. Nutty..!

A Bowl o' Bamboo Shoot Noodle

The presentation doesn't look good, but it's definitely GOOD!

This is a very labor intensive kind of noodle soup to make. The bamboo shoots need to be boiled several times, and changing the water in between.

With a little bit of fried garlic, a little bit of fried ginger, the zesty taste of a squeezed lime and tasty wholesome broth together, plus fresh scallions, herbs and hot sauce make this a very excellent vegetarian noodle dish!

With soft tofus hiding among large al-dente strands of noodles, and tender, perfectly cooked bamboo shoots, this is the bowl to dig in. And when you're done, you can't helped it, but have to go back for more.