Hanoi Spring rolls

Ingredients
Marinade

½ cup shallots, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon coconut caramel – substitute molasses if coconut caramel is hard to find*
Fried Spring Rolls: Nem Rán

5 scallions, white and green parts finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped cilantro
¼ cup finely chopped wood ear mushrooms
½ cup finely sliced shiitake mushroom caps
1 carrot, julienned or coarsely grated
1 small kohlrabi bulb, peeled and julienned or coarsely grated
½ lb ground pork
½ pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 handful bean sprouts, torn into pieces
1 bunch vermicelli noodles, soaked in warm water for 5 minutes and drained
2 eggs

1 package small rice paper wrappers
Vegetable oil for frying

* coconut caramel can be found at Asian markets
Dipping Sauce: Nuóc Châm

2 tablespoons fish sauce
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons warm water
½ teaspoon lime zest
¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 small red chilies, thinly sliced into rounds


Preparation
Marinade

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
Fried Spring Rolls: Nem Rán

Cut the vermicelli noodles into 2-inch long pieces with kitchen sheers and place the noodles in a bowl with the remaining spring roll ingredients. Whisk the eggs into the marinade and then pour the marinade over the spring roll filling. Mix the filling together with your hands for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is well blended.

Place a shallow bowl of warm water next to the filling and put a damp kitchen towel in front of you. Dip one rice paper sheet at a time into the warm water, moving it around until it becomes soft – about 30 seconds. Remove the rice paper sheet and place it on the damp towel. Take a small handful – about ¼ cup – of the filling mixture and put it in the middle of the wrapper, about 1/3 from the bottom of the circle. Leave at least an inch on all sides of the filling. First fold the bottom 1/3 of the wrapper up like a sushi roll, tightly covering the filling. Next fold in the sides of the wrapper in, and then tightly roll the spring roll up into a cylinder. Repeat until all filling has been used.

Fill a high-sided pan with 2 inches of vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the spring rolls and fry, turning often, until just beginning to turn golden. Remove the spring rolls and place on a paper towel lined sheet to drain. Bring the oil to the point of almost smoking and fry the spring rolls again, this time until they are deep golden and very crispy on all sides. Drain on fresh paper towels and serve hot.
Dipping Sauce: Nuóc Châm

In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved. Transfer to a serving bowl and let rest at room temperature until serving.


Source: thecitykitchensf.com

Pho Bo (Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup)

Ingredients

6 cups beef broth
1 (1/4-inch thick) slice ginger
2 whole star anise*
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 pound piece boneless beef sirloin, trimmed of any fat
3 ounces dried flat rice noodles*
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce*
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fresh bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
1/8 cup minced scallions
1/4 cup fresh cilantro sprigs, washed and finely chopped
1 small thin fresh red or green Asian chilie, sliced very thin
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
Lime wedges for garnish

Directions

In a 2 quart saucepan bring broth, ginger, star anise, and cinnamon to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

With a very sharp knife cut sirloin across the grain into very thin slices.

In a large bowl soak noodles in hot water to cover 15 minutes, or until softened and pliable.

While noodles are soaking, bring a kettle of salted water to a boil for noodles. Drain noodles in a colander and cook in boiling water, stirring 45 seconds, or until tender. Drain noodles in a colander. Set aside.

Strain broth into saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in fish sauce, salt and pepper. Add sirloin and sprouts and cook 30 to 45 seconds, or until sirloin changes color. Skim any froth from soup.

To serve, divide noodles into 4 bowls. Ladle soup over noodles. Sprinkle scallion greens, cilantro, chilies and basil over soup and serve with lime wedges



Source: foodnetwork.com

Fish pan-fried with turmeric and dill (cha ca Hanoi) recipes

The combination of ingredients — turmeric, dill, shrimp paste and fish sauce — delivers an intriguing muskiness bolstered with chiles, silky noodles and a thicket of other fresh herbs to season the chunks of moist fish


Ingredients

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) ling fillets
8 spring onions (scallions)
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp ground turmeric
2 tsp hot curry powder
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 bunch dill
250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) fish stock
1 lemon
300 g (10½ oz) bean sprouts
125 g (4½ oz) rice vermicelli, cooked

Instructions
Marinating time 1 hour

Cut the ling fillet into 4 cm (1½ in) pieces, place in a bowl and set aside.

Put the white heads of the spring onions (reserving the stalks) and garlic in a mortar and pound to a paste. Add the turmeric, curry powder, yoghurt, fish sauce, sugar, 2 tbsp of the oil and a third of the dill, roughly chopped. Add to the fish and mix well.

Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Thinly slice 4 of the green spring onion stalks.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the remaining oil, then fry the fish fillets on one side for 30 seconds.

Turn the fillets over, add the fish stock and simmer for 3–5 minutes, until the fish is cooked through. Remove the fish and squeeze over the juice from the lemon.

Mix the bean sprouts, sliced spring onion, remaining dill and vermicelli together.

Place into bowls and spoon over the fish fillets and sauce.


* Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Source: sbs.com.au

A Basic Introduction to Vietnamese Food

Vietnam, a small country in South East Asia, shaped like an elongated S, the skinny country is about the size of Italy, with China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the South China Sea to the east.

The food of the north is heavily influenced by China with its stir-fries and noodle-based soups. As you move south, there's more flavor-blending with nearby Thailand and Cambodia. The tropical climate down south also sustains more rice paddies, coconut groves, jackfruit trees, and herb gardens. The food in southern Vietnam is typically sweeter: sweeter broths for Pho, more palm sugar used in savory dishes, and those popular taffy-like coconut candies made with coconut cream

1. French influence



Most obvious might be the banh mi, where the foundation is a crusty French baguette and the insides are often slathered with meat paste, aka pâté. But the Vietnamese have taken this sandwich and made it entirely their own with grilled pork fillings, fish patties, sardines, cilantro, chili-spiked pickled carrots and daikon.

2. HERBS AND AROMATICS



Vietnamese food makes extensive use of fresh herbs, spices, and aromatics. Sometimes they go into a steamy pot of pho, sometimes wrapped up with spring rolls, sometimes enclosed with a banh xeo pancake

Here's a quick primer:
Cilantro: In salads, soups, spring rolls, and beyond. Widely used as the finishing touch garnish. Depending on your genetics, might taste soapy.
Mint: Several varieties grow in Vietnam. Some are fuzzy, some taste lemony, some spearminty, others are spicy...
Fish Mint or Fish Leaf: Ever tried fish mint? Wow, it's really fishy. Appropriately named, this leafy herb has an awfully pungent smell and taste. You'll think you wrapped actual fish into your spring roll, but really it's just this sneaky leaf.
Basil: More popular in Thailand but still makes an appearance in pho and on herb plates.
Lime Leaf: Bright green and shiny. Somewhat bitter oils.
Lemongrass: Tastes and smells, not surprisingly, like lemon. Used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Green Onions and Scallions
Garlic Chives: Flat leaves with a delicate onion and garlic flavor.
Perilla Leaf: Green on top, purplish on the underside with a complex flavor that combines licorice, mint, and lemon all in one leaf.
Dill: Hardly associated with Southeast Asian cuisine but used in a famous Vietnamese fish dish called Cha Ca, where it's treated more like a veggie than an herb.
Turmeric: Sometimes called poor man's saffron, it adds a vivid goldenness to fried foods and some peppery flavor.
Ginger and Galangal: Both knobby rhizomes, both pervasive in Vietnamese cooking.
Saigon Cinnamon: There are different species of cinnamon in the world, and this one is indigenous to Vietnam. Woody, earthy flavor and aroma. Important in pho.
Tamarind Pulp: Maybe this doesn't belong on this list, but it needed to go somewhere. The sweet-sour pulp is used in noodle soups and curries.
3. FRUIT: AS VEGETABLES AND DESSERT

Unripe fruits are considered more like vegetables. Crispity and crunchy, a green papaya and mango or banana flower becomes the base for salads instead of leafy greens. The unripe fruit-meat is usually a bit sour, pairing nicely with fish sauce, chili, garlic, dried shrimp, and finely chopped peanuts.
Ripe fruit, on the other hand, is sweet and wondrous. Instead of cakes or cookies for dessert, usually a meal ends with a hot teapot and big platter of indigenous tropical fruits. Slices of banana, mango, pineapple, watermelon (the redder the insides, the more good luck awarded to you!), dragonfruit, papaya, rambutans, and lychees.

Sources: seriouseat.com