banh canh noodle

This was actually an experimental dish, but it turned out pretty good. Traditionally, this dish is made with pig feet. Another version calls for crab but we used what was in our fridge/freezer.

• water (6 cups)
  
• chicken broth (3 cans)
• pork
• shrimp
• fishcake
• shrimp balls (or any other kind)
• banh canh (about 4 bags for this much soup)
  
• tomatoes (3)
• shallots (about 6 or 7)
  
• chicken bouillon powder
  
• vegetable oil
• pepper
  
• soy sauce
• starch
• tamarind powder
• fish sauce or salt (optional)
• green onions/mint to garnish

First, bring up to a boil 6 cups of water and 3 cans of chicken stock. While it's working up to a boil, you can prep your other ingredients.


Here's some of the items that will be used


cut the tomatoes into wedges and shallots into pieces


The amount of pork used is really up to you. Marinade the pork with a drizzle of oil, 1 tsp of chicken bouillon powder, a tbsp of soy sauce, a few dashes of pepper and a tbsp of starch.


also peel and de-vein your shrimp (we used about 10-12 head on shrimps) Cut into pieces.


In a separate pan, stir your shallots in a tbsp of oil for about a minute


Then add in your tomatoes


By this time, your broth should be about boiling. Add the shallots and tomatoes into the soup. Give the shrimp a quick stir and add that to the soup as well.


After the boiling resumes, you can directly add the pork in


While you wait to bring the soup back to a boil, you can give your shrimp balls a quick rinse and slice your fish cake.


At this time, you can fish out the tomato skin. Also, scoop out the foam that's floating atop.


Add the fish cake and shrimp ball. At the time, you should also add the tamarind powder. start with about 1 tbsp and adjust accordingly. If the broth is still a little bland, you can add either salt or fish sauce. If you prefer it a little more sour, add more of the tamarind. The soup is basically done at the point.

If you are serving to a group (this recipe probably makes for 10+ servings), then you can directly add the noodles to the pot and leave it to boil until the noodles are at the consistency you prefer.


However, if you want to just make one serving at the time, then in a separate pot, heat up the soup and noddles together.


Garnish with green onions and mint (optional) I love mine with hot sauce

Baked Salmon Head

This dish is simple to make and is perfect paired with a bowl of rice, or as an appetizer with some beer. The same technique can be used for almost any other fish.

• 1 salmon head, halved
• olive oil/any cooking oil
  
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• chicken bouillon powder
• margarine/butter (optional)
• lemon

Head to your local grocer and pick up a fresh salmon head. Notice the nice colors, the eyes are not foggy and make sure it does not stink! Give it a nice rinse.
Set your oven to 350 degrees (we actually use a toaster oven, a little more energy efficient and perfectly sized for 1 pc of salmon head)


Pat it dry with paper towels


Line baking tray with foil and brush a light layer of oil so the fish doesn't stick.


Place the fish skin side down


Rub on the spices. The order shouldn't matter, but we first sprinkled on a layer of pepper. Then we rubbed in the chicken bouillon powder followed by salt. Finally, a generous sprinkle of garlic powder. Usually, at this point, my mom would drizzle some oil on top, but my dad wondered how it would taste baked with butter, so we decided to give it a try.


Pop it in the oven, 350 degrees for 35-40 mins


and voila! I suggest you serve with with some lemon wedges on the side. yummy!

p.s. We didn't really notice a change in taste/texture using butter instead of oil.

The Basic: Rice

Now I can't cook rice in a pot on the stove but give me a rice cooker and we're all good.


First, give the rice a rinse. Cover rice with water, use your hand & swish around a few times. Drain and repeat. Don't be tempted to over-rinse. I know I'm guilty of playing with rice.



If you have a rice cooker, it's super easy. All you do is fill up water corresponding to the # of cups of rice you're cooking. Here you see that we're cooking 3 cups of rice, so the water fills up to 3.


Finally, plug in the rice cooker and make sure the "rice cooking" light is on. Once it's done, it'll jump to "keep warm" and your rice is ready to be served.

The Beginning

My mom's a great home cook. She specializes in Chinese food with a Vietnamese influence. Self taught, she's able to recreate almost any delicious meal such as turning

this

to this


It's time that I start learning... and in the process, why not record it? My mission is to take pictures and caption step by step how to make these delicious dishes. Wish me luck!