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!

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.

Vietnamese sweet soups- for dessert!

Vietnamese sweet soup (chè)

There are many kinds of chè. This one is chè đậu xanh- meaning a mung bean sweet soup. Usually, you can just cook mung beans until very soft, add palm sugar, milk and that's it. Or, you can add other goodies to the sweet soup, like sweet potato, lotus seeds, lychees or logans, seaweed, jackfruit, jujube and using coconut milk instead of milk/cream.

First one on the left is a mung bean sweet soup with purple potato (cubes), pearl barley, and jujube.

This one I made is simply sweet potato, mung bean, jujube, whole pearl barley and soymilk. The best part is the mung bean sweet soup can be eaten warm, chilled, or room temperature.







Black bean sweet soup with jujube and soymilk. I really love to add soymilk to sweet soup to make it creamy, yet still light and healthy. Serve chilled on a hot summer day, it is a perfect and refreshing snack.

Tofu and Penne

Fusion: Fried tofu with penne pasta and Vietnamese herbs.

Okay, so it's not 'fusion'. I ran out of rice noodles, and penne was all I have.

(Too lazy to cut up tofu!) I tore it up after, with the herbs too.

A light lemony-spicy sauce went along with it. Everything tastes better with a little spice.

MMmmm Eggs...

This is not cooking-
But I LOVE a good soft boiled egg and I LOVE having a runny yolk.

Eat it simply with salt and pepper, or enjoy with some wilted spinach.

Sadly, 2 eggs per week is the limit, right? That's the recommended intake?

Sauteed Chicken and Watercress

Sauteed Chicken with Watercress

1. Blanch watercress in boiling water and drain them.

2. Over medium heat in a pan, fry some garlic, shallots, and ginger. Don't let garlic burn!

3. Add chicken pieces (I used chicken thighs). Mix it around a bit. Add seasonings- salt, sugar, pepper, fish sauce or soy sauce, and poultry seasoning if you like. Adjust to taste. Cook until they brown up.

4. Add in watercress and stir to incorporate chicken flavor. Add more fish sauce if needed. Serve with rice.

*Note: I like to blanch the watercress first because it wouldn't get as tough if you're to let it wilt down with the chicken in the pan. Thinly sliced beef with watercress is also good, just be careful to cook the beef quickly and not let it get tough.