Pizzaghetti with Cheese and Sambal Oelek Stuffed Crust (Italian-ish, Junk Food) Pizza with Spaghetti and Meat Sauce ON IT

Today's post is for my mom, so exceptionally this post will be in French and English.

Depuis de nombreuses années, ma mère commande cette pizza spéciale qu'on ne trouve qu'à Longueuil, ville sur la Rive-Sud de Montreal.  Cette pizza nommée "pizzaghetti", contrairement aux autres pizzaghettis, n'est pas simplement une pizza coupée en deux avec du spaghetti au milieu.  Quand vous appelez chez Miss Italia, on s'assure que vous savez que le spaghetti est SUR la pizza, sous le fromage.

La dernière fois que nous avons mangé de la pizzaghetti, ils n'ont pas été très généreux avec le bacon, alors quand j'ai fait ma propre pizzaghetti, je me suis assurée qu'il y en avait assez.  Pour moi, j'ai ajouté une croûte farcie au fromage et au sambal oelek!

Cette recette est pour une pizza de 12pouces/30cm, et c'est assez pour 3 ou 4 personnes, très bourrant avec le spaghetti!  C'est facile, mais il y a plusieurs étapes, alors commençons!

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My mom orders this pizza from my home city of Longueuil, on the south shore of Montreal.  It's called pizzaghetti, but it's not a small pizza cut in two with spaghetti in the middle.  When you call for a pizzaghetti at Miss Italia, they make sure you know that the spaghetti is ON the pizza, under the cheese.

Last time we went to visit my parents in Longueuil and they ordered a pizzaghetti, there was barely any bacon on it!  So when I made my own pizzaghetti, I made sure there was enough bacon!  And just for fun, I added a cheese and sambal oelek stuffed crust!

This recipe will make a 12inches/30cm pizza, enough for 3-4 person, remember there's also spaghetti on the pizza!  It's simple to make pizza from scratch, but there's many steps involved, so let's start!

J'ai pris les quantités pour la pâte d'une recette par SortedFood.com, une bande d'anglais trop drôles.  Par contre, j'ai changé complètement l'ordre des ingrédients car j'utilise toujours la levure de la même façon, je me sens plus sécure!

Pâte à pizza:

-1/2c. à thé de levure

-170mL d'eau chaude, à 100F (l'eau très chaude du robinet fonctionne pour moi)

-300g de farine pour pain de préférence, mais tout-usage fera l'affaire

-1c. à thé de sel

-optionnel : 1c. à thé de poudre d'ail

Dissolvez la levure dans l'eau chaude et réservez.

Dans un bol pour mélanger, avec un fouet, combinez bien la farine, le sel, et la poudre d'ail si utilisée. Peu à peu, incorporez le mélange de levure et d'eau à la farine, en mélangeant avec l'autre main, jusqu'à l'obtention d'une boule (pas belle). Transférez la pâte sur un comptoir légèrement fariné et travaillez-la pendant 2 minutes.  Arrosez la pâte avec la moitié de l'huile, et continuez de travaillez la pâte pendant 2 minutes de plus, jusqu'à ce que l'huile soit bien incorporée.  

Dans le bol à mélanger nettoyé, versez le reste de l'huile, puis roulez la boule de pâte dans l'huile pour qu'elle soit totalement couverte.  Recouvrez le tout avec du film plastique et laissez gonfler dans un endroit chaud pour une heure (j'allume mon four au minimum pendant que je fais la pâte, et quand elle est prête, j'éteinds le four et y met le bol avec ma pâte).

Après une heure, la pâte devrait être deux fois sa taille initiale.  Transférez la pâte sur un comptoir et la pétrir pendant 30 secondes pour enlever le gaz.  Ensuite, vous pouvez utiliser la pâte immédiatement, la mettre au frigo jusqu'au souper, ou la storer au congélateur pour plusieurs mois.

Pour faire la pizza, il faut une plaque de 12pouces (30cm) de diamètre.  Fairiner légèrement la plaque avec de la farine de maïs (polenta, pas fécule de maïs) ou de la farine régulière.  Sur le comptoir, roulez la pâte avec un rouleau à pâte jusqu'à ce que votre cercle de pâte mesure environ 14pouces (15-16pouces si vous faites une croûte farcie) pour qu'il y ait du jeu pour la croûte.  Transférez la pizza sur la plaque.  Si vous faites une croûte farcie, faites un cercle de fromage tout autour (et ajoutez de la sauce chili, du sambal oelek, de la bruschetta si vous voulez) environ où la plaque se termine.  Fromage ou non, repliez la croûte tout autour, utilisez un doigt humide si ça ne colle pas bien.  Voilà!  Optionellement, vous pouvez légèrement mouiller la croûte et la parsemer de sésame, de graines graines de pavot, de ce qui vous plaît!  Les garnitures suivent.

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I took the quantities for the dough from SortedFood.com, but I changed the order you add the ingredients in to fit the way I always use yeast, so I feel safer!  Please visit the SortedFood channel on YouTube, these guys are super funny!

Pizza dough:

-1/2tsp yeast

-170mL warm water (100F), my hot tap water is good...

-300g bread flour preferably, but this time I only had all-purpose and it was good

-1tsp salt

-optional: 1/2tsp garlic powder (took the idea from another Sorted pizza)

-1tbsp olive oil

Mix the water and yeast and set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl and using a whisk, thoroughly mix the flour, salt, and garlic powder if using.  Add a little bit of the yeast water at a time and mix with your other hand until the dough has gathered into a rough ball.  Knead three minutes on a floured surface, then fold in half the olive oil and knead for another 2 minutes.  Shape into a ball, put into the cleaned mixing bowl, add the oil and roll the ball in it until it's all covered in oil (prevents from drying).  Cover everything with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour (I turn on my oven to minimum while I'm making the dough, then turn it off and leave the dough to rest there).

After an hour, it should have doubled in size.  Knead the dough a little to remove the gaz.  You can now use your dough or wrap it and keep it in the fridge until supper time or store it in the freezer.

To make the pizza, you'll need a 12inches (30cm) baking sheet, floured with corn flour (polenta, not cornstarch) or regular wheat flour. Roll out your dough on a floured surface.  You want it to measure about 14inches wide, so it has an extra inch all around for the crust.  If you're doing a stuffed crust, you can even roll it to 15-16inches wide.  Lay the dough on the baking sheet, centered. Fold the dough all around the pizza to make a crust.  If making a stuffed crust, make a ring of cheese around the pizza leaving an inch or so free.  Add some chili or hot sauce or bruschetta if you'd like, then fold the dough around the cheese to make the crust.  You can run you wet fingers on the dough before folding to make it stick better.  To finish the crust, if you desire, you can wet the crust lightly and sprinkle it with sesame or poppy seeds, or any seeds you like.  Toppings follow.

Voici comment je fais une toute petite quantité de sauce à la viande, rapidement, juste assez pour cette pizzaghetti.  Vous serez surpris combien cette sauce simple est délicieuse.  Quand vous n'avez pas 4 heures pour faire une sauce spaghetti, celle-ci est très bien.  Par contre, si vous avez déjà de la sauce à la viande maison au frigo ou au congélateur, n'hésitez pas à utiliser celle-ci!  Je ne conseille pas les sauces en jarres ou en cannes, aucune ne me plaît vraiment...

Spaghetti:

-1/2 ou 1 portion complète de spaghetti pour une personne (sur la photo j'ai utilisé des nouilles aux oeufs car je croyais que j'avais du spaghetti mais finalement non, mais je conseille fortement les spaghetti en boîte pour la texture)

-un bonne poignée de boeuf ou de porc haché

-2 gousses d'ail

-une poignée de basilic frais, haché

-sel et poivre

Pour la sauce, hachez les tomates et l'ail (j'utilise un robot cullinaire pour aller vite).

Faites cuire complètement la viande hachée dans une poêle anti-adhésive.  Ensuite, ajoutez les tomates et l'ail et faites mijoter vigoureusement et mélangez de temps à autre jusqu'à ce qu'il n'y ait plus trop de liquide.  Ajoutez le basilic, et salez et poivrez (ce devrait être légèrement trop salé pour que le goût de la sauce se démarque de tous les autres ingrédients sur la pizza).

Faites cuire le spaghetti, égouttez-le bien et mélangez-le avec la sauce dans un bol.

Étendez le spaghetti sur la pizza en premier, avant les autres garnitures.

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Here's how I prepare a small quantity of meat sauce really fast just for one pizza.  It is really good though, you could use this recipe for a simple quick meal with pastas, when you don't have 4 hours to simmer a proper sauce. If you've got some of your own spaghetti/meat sauce in the fridge or freezer, don't hesitate to use it instead, but I wouldn't recommend jarred or canned meat sauces, I don't like any of them.

Spaghetti:

-1/2 to 1 portion of boxed dried spaghetti or spaghettini (I used egg flat noodles because I thought I had spaghetti but I didn't, but the spaghetti's texture is way better for this pizza)

-1 handful of ground beef or pork

-2 cloves garlic

-a handful of basil leaves, chopped

-salt and pepper

For the sauce, start by chopping the tomatoes and garlic cloves really fine (I used a food processor). Stir-fry the ground meat in a non-stick pan.  Once it's cooked, add the tomatoes and garlic and simmer on high while mixing every once in a while until there's not too much liquid left.  Toss in the basil, then salt and pepper to taste, or a little saltier than to your taste should be perfect.

Cook spaghetti and drain them properly.  Toss them in a bowl with the sauce, then distribute evenly on the pizza dough before your other toppings.

Pour la garniture, la pizzaghetti Miss Italia utilise:

-quelques champignons blancs, tranchés

-du bacon, j'ai utilisé 4 tranches coupées en deux (faites cuire le bacon dans un poêle adhésive deux minutes de chaque côté pour le faire suer un peu, ensuite égouttez-le bien sur du pauper absorbant, de cette façon le bacon sera parfaitement cuit et il n'y aura pas trop d'huile sur le fromage)

-je crois qu'il y a du poivron vert?  je n'aime pas alors j'ai mis des tranches de chili

-beaucoup de mozzarella râpé, et plus encore si vous faites une croûte farcie!

Vous pouvez tout de même garnir votre pizza comme vous voulez.  Souvenez-vous seulement que certains ingrédients, comme le bacon, doivent être précuit ou blanchit, de façon à ce qu'ils cuisent complètement en 10 à 15 minutes au four.

Dispersez vos ingrédients (gardez-en quelques morceaux pour décorer sur le fromage) sur le spaghetti.  Recouvrez de fromage et décorez votre pizza avec ce qu'il reste.  Le bacon doit être placé SUR le fromage pour qu'il grille.

Faites cuire votre pizzaghetti à 400F/200C pendant 12 minutes, et ensuite sous le grill (broil) pour 2-4 minutes, jusqu'à ce que le fromage et le bacon soient jolis et bien grillés. Laissez reposer 5 minutes sur le comptoir, et voilà!

J'espère que Maman et tout le monde aimera!

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The Miss Italia pizzaghetti has:

-a couple white mushrooms, sliced

-bacon, I used 4 slices cut in two (make the bacon sweat just a minute or two on each side in a non-stick pan, then drain on paper towels, this way the bacon will be perfectly cooked and there won't be a lot of oil on top of the cheese)

-I think green bellpeppers, I can't remember, I don't like them so I put green long hot peppers, sliced

-a lot of grated mozzarella, and even more if you make a stuffed crust!

You can still put anything you'd like.  Just remember some ingredients might need to be blanched or precooked like bacon so they cook properly within 15 minutes in the oven.

Just lay your toppings on top of the spaghetti (you can keep some to decorate).  Cover with cheese, then add remaining ingredients.  Bacon should be placed on top so it crisps up.

Put the pizza in the oven at 400F/200C for 12 minutes, then broil for 2-4 minutes (keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn).  Let the cheese set on the counter for 5 minutes, then enjoy!

Kwee Tiauw, and my first Lalapan (Chinese, Indonesian)

Still in my Indonesian phase of course!  I like the book I bought, but I feel like there's not enough hard recipes, and if you know me you know I like to make food, condiments, sauces, broths from scratch.  I like complex recipes that teach you new techniques you ever saw before.  I need challenge.  This Indonesian Cooking book is good to introduce someone to basic, simple and quick Indonesian cooking, but I'll need a better (more expensive) book on the subject and I also should explore the blogs available on (praise them) internets!

I like noodles, and my boyfriend probably likes them even more than me.  This recipe is apparently a Chinese dish (even kept its Chinese name) that's so popular in Indonesia that it became a classic.  It's a really easy dish with simple flavours, but if you add some (a lot for me) sambal oelek on top, the flavours all combine together to create an amazing new taste, so if you like sambal oelek, don't skip it! 

Here's my simplified, slightly adapted version of Kwee Tiauw, from the book Indonesian Cooking by Dina Yuen!

(serves 4-6)

-1lb dried flat wide rice noodles, soaked in warm water for 30-45 minutes, then drained

-2 chicken breasts cut into small bite-size cubes

-13 garlic cloves

-3 shallots

-5tbsp kecap manis or thick sweet soy sauce

-2tbsp soy sauce

-3tbsp oyster sauce

-1/4tsp white pepper

-1/2cup water

-2-4 green onions, cut into 1inch lengths

-1cup bean sprouts or soybean sprouts

-some sambal oelek to serve with

In a big wok or big non-stick pan, add 3tbsp of oil and stir the garlic and shallots for 2-3 minutes.  Add the chicken and stir-fry until mostly cooked.

Add the noodles and toss while trying to avoid breaking the noodles (they'll still break, you can't make a miracle like this one happen).

Add the 2 soy sauces, and the oyster sauce, white pepper and water.  Mix well.  Add the bean sprouts and green onions, toss for a minute and it's ready!

Here is a picture of my first lalapan, plate of vegetables accompanied by a sambal and served with Indonesian food as a side dish.  I used cucumber, tomatoes, and blanched string beans and cabbage. It was good but I wasn't impressed by this peanut sauce sambal recipe from the same book as the noodles. The quantities were wrong, I had to add double the peanuts, and it still tasted more of coconut milk and lemongrass...  I feel like I improvised better peanut sauce without measuring in the past.  So I'll come back to you with other sambals and a better peanut one.  It's still nice to have a plate of fresh veggies to munch on throughout the meal :).

Basics to Ramen, compose your own Ramen! (Japanese) Also Soboro Meat, Teriyaki Sauce and more!

You probably know me for trying other people's recipes, but I can cook too!  It's hard for a white girl from Haitian descendant to cook Vietnamese food the first times without a recipe.  You can't reproduce what you've never eaten.  After one year of eating packaged noodles and cheap restaurant every day in our first common apartment, I knew I had to start cooking more.  We used to live in a tiny studio apartment Downtown, with crackheads in the entrance at all hours of the day/night.  I could mostly only cook easy québécois food and French salads and sandwiches (it was my job at a French Café-Bakery-Chocolatier). So we decided to move in a 3 1/2 cheaper and bigger apartment since it was away from Downtown.  I'm really good at reusing furnitures and making up with what we have, my kitchen is like a giant colourful lab, all equipped for Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai cooking.

So back to the "I'm gonna start cooking" decision.  I'm not sure exactly how it started.  I think I wanted to make onigiri then I started watching Cooking with Dog on YouTube.  After that, I was obsessed that when I have a little spare money, I would buy a Japanese cookbook.  And I did, it was a book from the French-Japanese Laure Kié called "La cuisine japonaise : les bases".  Later on I also bought the other books of that serie, one about noodles and the other about izakaya.  I got Momofuku's book.  I started hanging out at the Korean-Japanese grocery stores and I even found a Japanese (expensive) grocery store where I could find specialized Japanese ingredients and fermentation products (Koji, Nuka bran). I cooked only Japanese and nothing else for about two years!

One of our first dates, my boyfriend brought me to Sumo Ramen, a small really hip Japanese place in Montreal's 4x4 blocks tiny Chinatown.  It was my first time having non-packaged ramen, which should be considered a totally different food.  After cooking Japanese for some time, I remembered this delicious miso-ramen I had and decided to make my own.  Of course, that first ramen I had at Sumo Ramen stayed on my mind, and the garnishes are a reflection of it.  After exploring different recipes and topping, I don't need a recipe anymore.  So here I give you a guide for homemade ramen, with different broths, seasoning, noodles, eggs, garnishes and main toppings (protein) so your can choose and compose your own ramen!

HOW TO COOK A RAMEN:------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's how you assemble a ramen.  I'll give instructions for the preparations of the different elements in details following this.

(serves 2)

-4 cups of broth

-ginger and/or garlic

-veggies (I usually use carrot strips, shredded cabbage and bean sprouts)

-shoyu or usu-Kuchi shoyu or soy sauce

-mirin

-toasted sesame oil

-optional: miso, if you're making miso-ramen

-2 portions of noodles

-protein topping(see later)

-garnishes (see garnishes later)

-2 eggs (precision later in this article)

Boil the noodles until cooked, then rinse under cold water.

In a non-stick high pan, wok or big pot, add a little oil on medium high.  Cook your ginger and/or garlic a minute, then add your veggies. Cook and toss until wilted.  Add the broth and bring to a boil.  Season (to your taste or the quantities are there later in the seasonings section) with soy sauce and mirin.  Reduce the heat to low and dissolve the miso through a small strainer if using.  Then just remove from the stove and add sesame oil, mix.

To assemble, put the noodles at the bottom of two big soup bowls.  Add the soup, top with your protein, garnishes and egg.

THE BROTH:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ramen restaurants have that reputation of putting a lot of love and time and passion into their ramen broth.  The best ramen broth I tried was David Chang's in his Momofuku book.  The problem with that broth is that you HAVE to make a lot, otherwise it's not worth it.  Also, it's really expensive since on top of the usual veggies, kombu seaweed and dried mushrooms, he uses a ton of pork bones, and bacon, AND A WHOLE CHICKEN.  It's starting to be expensive...  When I think ramen, I think of a cheap filling meal.  Also it's summer so we're not gonna eat soup everyday, and we're just two so I like to make small amounts of broth.  You have three options now: bones (pork bones being the most authentic traditional one), or I guess you could use dashi, or if you have unseasoned broth in your fridge or freezer, it would probably work.  So you can make your own broth, but if you don't know how, here's how I do my broths.

PORK BROTH:

-Pork bones

-a piece of kombu seaweed

-a couple dried shiitake mushrooms

-vegetables for flavour, I suggest using some of these commonly used in Japanese cooking ingredients: leek, green onions, onions, carrots, ginger (if the broth isn't for ramen, I'd add lemongrass)

-plenty of water

In a big pot, cover the bones with water, bring to a vigorous boil, then drain and rinse the bones well.  This reduces the amount of scum to skim afterwards a lot, plus if your bones were frozen, no problem!

Put the washed bones back into the cleaned pot and cover with water, maybe an inch or two over the bones.  Bring to a boil, then remove from the stove, add the kombu and dried mushrooms and let it steep for 30 minutes.  Remove only the kombu and bring the broth back to a boil, then reduce heat and let is simmer from 2-6 hours, the more the better.  The 45 last minutes, add all your veggies.  Strain and discard everything, then strain again through a fine mesh strainer for a perfect broth!

DASHI:

Dashi is a really quick broth/condiment that is in almost every Japanese food.  Using it for ramen would make it really unauthentic, but still lend a Japanese taste. The soup would also be lighter.  But it is perfect for vegetarians and this is home style ramen so who cares?  Experiment!

-4 cups water

-a piece of kombu

-one handful of katsuobushi (if you eat fish, they're flakes of whole dried smoke fermented bonito fish) AND/OR a couple dried shiitake if you're vegetarian

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot.  Cover and let steep at room temperature for a minimum of 2 hours to maybe 6 hours.

Put the pot on the stove and warm up slowly.  Before it boils, remove from the stove and strain through a fine mesh strainer.  Discard everything. The before boiling temperature is perfect for the kombu and katsuobushi to release their flavour, and the broth should stay clear too if you don't boil it!

ANY BROTH:

Any broth, like leftover pork or chicken broth, preferably unseasoned so we can season it with Japanese ingredients for that Japanese taste, but you can also experiement!

THE BROTH'S SEASONINGS:---------------------------------------------------------------------

For two people, I use 4 cups of broth.  Here is how I season it!  Each ingredient has its best moment to be added, so please follow the "how to cook a ramen" section at the beginning of this post!

-1tbsp mirin

-1tbsp miso

-1/2tbsp soy sauce

-a splash of sesame oil or to taste

This will make a slightly misoed soup.  If you add more miso, you'll probably need less or none of the soy sauce.  Adjust to taste.  Mirin is a little sweet, miso and shoyu are salty.  Sesame oil is nutty.  Your best friend is your tastebuds!

NOODLES:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ramen are generally served with fresh ramen noodles (find them at the Asian market) or sometimes udon.  I also tried homemade pasta (my post on homemade pasta/egg noodles here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/04/homemade-egg-noodlespastas-basics.html), thin dried Chinese egg noodles, Korean udon and black rice noodle.  It might not be a traditional ramen but please make this your own and try different noodles!

GARNISHES:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inspired by Sumo Ramen, here are the garnishes I can't skip on my ramen!  They're all replaceable or optional.

-sesame seeds

-fresh or canned corn kernels

-nori seaweed, a piece or in thin strips

-enoki mushrooms, sometimes I put shimeji too

-sliced green onions

-an egg, precisions following

You could also use any kind of blanched greens, I've seen that before.  If you're doing a modern-experiemental dish, throw some eggplants (gross!) or something, the ramen is your canvas!

THE EGG:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The egg is a REALLY important element of the ramen.  The usual is a hard-boiled egg cut into 2.  You could also top the ramen with a sunny side-up fried egg, why not?  You could use a poached egg (I'm not really good at making them), or like me, an Onsen Tamago or hot spring slow poached egg.  I tried so many different instructions for Onsen Tamago and even though on the pictures and in the videos it works, it never worked for me, until I found David Chang's tips and I make the perfect Onsen Tamago every time! You can also top asparagus and donburi with these eggs.  They're like a poached egg, with the yolk all runny.  

Onsen Tamago:

-as many eggs as you want.  They'll keep in their shell in the fridge for a day of two.

-a big pot

-little sauce plates, one for each egg to rest on, they must not touch the bottom of the pot

-a thermometer

In the big pot while carefully monitoring the temperate, bring plenty of water to 140F.  Drop the sauce plates at the bottom and with tongs place an egg on each plate.  Put a timer for 40 minutes and check on your thermometer often to make sure the temperature stays as close to 140F the whole cooking time.  After 40 minutes, transfer the eggs to a bowl of water and ice or under running cold water.  Keep in the fridge.  When ready to use, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for one minute, then crack open on top of your ramen or other dish.

DIFFERENT MAIN TOPPINGS:---------------------------------------------------------------------

You can use anything you want, here are some of my favorite!:

-Kanikuni (fake crab sticks) pulled appart

-Slices of Chinese BBQ pork

-gyoza or dumplings

-shrimps

-a teriyaki chicken leg, sliced in a couple pieces.  (Teriyaki marinade: 2/3cup mirin, 1/3cup shoyu, 2tbsp saké, 2tbsp sugar, some ginger juice, without the pulp)

For volcano ramen like on the picture under, I used this recipe from JustBento/Just hungry for Soboro meat and modified it to make spicy meat, it tastes soooo Japanese! Even though exceptionally I'm almost copying her recipe here, please go see the recipe on her website for a bunch of suggestions on how to use Soboro meat, here: http://justbento.com/handbook/johbisai/basic-meat-soboro

Volcano meat:

-1lb ground beef

-1 to 2tbsp sesame oil

-2 stalks finely chopped green onions

-1 chopped garlic clove

-2tbsp chopped ginger

-2tbsp sugar

-2tbsp saké

-3tbsp oyster sauce

-1tbsp soy sauce

-3tbsp gochujang (korean fermented chili paste)

To a pan, add sesame oil and stir-fry all the veggies until softened.  Add the meat until well cooked.

Add the sugar until melted.

Add saké and stir for a minute to evaporate.

Add everything else and let it cook until most of the sauce is absorbed, mixing frequently.

CONCLUSION:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Home style ramen can be made any way.  If you read all this article, I hope your learnt something and might try it someday.  Please send me images if you do, either here on the blog or on my Facebook page, Sunny García.  Have fun!

My Quang Tom Thit and Homemade Ho Fun Noodles (Vietnamese, Thai) Mi Quang Noodles with Pork and Shrimps and homemade Steamed Rice Noodles

When I saw the picture for this recipe, I was attracted by the two different types of noodles, and the beautiful shrimps.  On top of that, when reading the recipe, I noticed the broth that's like a tomato pork broth.  While eating it, it really reminded me of the taste of a good spaghetti sauce with pork, like my Aunt's husband made for us, several summers ago.  This dish is amazing, you definitely need to try it.

So as usual, I took this from the best source of Vietnamese cooking videos, DanangCuisine.com / Helen's recipe on YouTube.  Unfortunately, she doesn't mention the fact that there's two types of noodles in the dish anywhere...  But I wanted to reproduce it like the picture because it seemed so good, so following, you'll find my recipe for homemade Ho Fun noodles.  If you decide to use both noodles like I did, cook half the amount of noodles that Helen suggests and replace the other half by two recipes of my Ho Fun noodles!  Here's the Mi Quang recipe!:

http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-24-cach-nau-mi-quang-ga-chicken-mi-quang/

Making the noodles is really easy and not that long, if unlike me, you got 2 flat trays.  On top of that, the noodles are already cooked, so think of the time you'll save when it's time to cook your pad sew or whatever, you won't have to use a burner-space and have to boil these noodles last minute, then drain them, rinse them, cool them. They require ZERO kneading, the quantities, unlike with wheat noodles, don't need to be adjusted.  Also everything is better fresher and homemade!  I wrote down the recipe here for convenience, but  I totally started with this recipe (then developed my own way) from this cooking channel on YouTube, the video will help you with the visual, watch it!:

http://youtu.be/qPeNRcmbPoI

(serves 2 - I used it for 4 bowls of Mi Quang since it has 2 different types of noodles)

-1/2cup tapioca starch

-1cup rice flour

-1 1/2cup of water

*See?  So easy to remember!

Start boiling water in a steamer.  In a bowl, mix the rice flour and tapioca starch with a whisk.  With that same whisk, add a little water at a time and incorporate well, then add more water until it's finished.  It helps getting rid of pockets of flour and starch so your batter will be smooth.

Now you'll need to prepare this:

-keep your whisk and a ladle by your batter bowl

-1 or 2 trays is better, they have to have a bottom that's totally flat, so your noodles are flat and even, also they can be square or round but they need to fit in the steamer

-some oil in a tiny bowl and a brush

-1-2 paper towel sheets

-a butter knife 

-a flat plate or cutting board to pile your noodles, lightly greased with oil

Start by brushing your first (or only) tray with oil and remove the excess by rubbing with paper towel.  This is really important, don't skip it!  Add a little batter.  Depending on your trays' surface, it might be different.  You'll need to adjust it the first couple noodles, but you'll figure it out fast.  You just want a thin layer to cover your tray completely, but you don't need that much batter: when you put the tray on the steamer, jiggle it a little and as the batter cook, it will stick (after 2-3 seconds) and just make sure the bottom of the tray is covered with batter before you put the lid on your steamer.  My stove is uneven so I put a butter knife under one side of the noodle tray to even it a little better.  You'll figure it out.

After a minute or two, when there's no more bright uncooked white spots on the sheet, it's ready!  If your noodle sheet is cracked, check on the next one earlier, it happens only when you overcook it I think.  Remove the tray from the steamer (and put your second one if you have it), brush the surface of the noodle with oil then run the butter knife around the edge.  You don't need to go all around, just make enough space for your fingers to fit on top of the tray, under the noodle sheet.  I use both hand.  Then, with confidence but delicately, pull the noodle slowly towards you and nicely place on the oiled plate. Repeat until the batter is done, whisking the batter each time before pouring some on your tray since the starch tends to settle at the bottom.

Cut your noodles to the wideness you like and separate them or use the whole sheets to make fresh rolls (I'll add a link here to a recipe I'll post later).  If using the same day, keep them covered in cling film in a fresh corner of the kitchen.  You can keep them in the fridge for a couple day, but only if you didn't cook them in a dish yet, or you're gonna microwave the leftover.  By that I mean that if you make cold rolls filled with raw veggies, herbs and lettuce, that you can't really microwave the day after, they'll become stale after being in the fridge.  Also, if using the noodles after a day or more, I would recommend keeping them on the plate with cling film in the fridge as they are, and cut them before cooking.

I think my tray was, maybe, 6".  I made this recipe twice and it made 7 sheets each time.  The first time I made them, I ruined a noodle sheet, and the other ones weren't perfect, had cracks.  But the second time, I felt like I already mastered this recipe and I knew it by heart. All sheets looked perfect.  

That might seem like a lot, but I really wanted to include all my observations, so your first time is perfect!  In reality it's the simplest kind of noodles to make, way easier than pasta (my recipe here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.com/2014/04/homemade-egg-noodlespastas-basics.html) or udon noodles, almost foolproof. And if you start your steamer first thing, it's really fast too.  Enjoy cooking! 

 (I act like somebody will actually read and try this.  I guess that's what blogging is...  That'd be cool if someone did try it though!)

I made Mi Quang lunches with leftovers!  Just plate everything but the broth the same way as in a bowl, and put the pork sauce in another container.  You can get out the noodles an hour before your lunch break so they are less cold, and microwave the sauce when ready to eat, pour it over the noodles and enjoy!  Don't microwave the noodles because of the fresh greens at the bottom.

Bo Cuon Nem (Vietnamese) Beef Rice Noodle Sheets Rolls

When I learned how to make steamed rice noodle sheets, I had to make this recipe I was keeping for the day I'd find the sheets at the grocery store, which never happened.  But no problem now, it's most likely even better with homemade noodles! You can find a (REALLY) detailed recipe for the noodle sheets with instructions on another post I wrote, here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/05/my-quang-tom-thit-and-homemade-ho-fun.html.  The best part: you only need rice flour, tapioca starch and water!  And it's fun and pretty fast, and the noodles don't require to be boiled afterwards! For the rolls I was inspired by a recipe I found in Vietnamese Street Food by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, but I changed enough about it to say it's my own I think.  Hope you'll give it a try, a nice, easy, cold dish for this horribly hot summer (add incredibly humid if you're in Montreal, and its North and South shores like us).

(serves 3 - on the picture, I used this recipe for 2 and it was a little too much, and the rolls don't keep good in the fridge at all)

-200g pretty without fat piece of beef, thinly sliced into strips

-2 garlic cloves

-1 recipe rice noodle sheets (http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/05/my-quang-tom-thit-and-homemade-ho-fun.html) or 6 store-bought rice noodle sheets

-lettuce ripped in large pieces

-herbs (the recipe suggests mint and cilantro, I used perilla, basil, mint and parsley, I don't know if the classic Bo Cuon Nem always have mint and cilantro only...)

-1 carrot cut into thin juliennes

-1 cucumber without seeds, cut into thin, long matchsticks

-fried shallots

-Optional: I added some chopped thai red bird's eye chillies for topping

-nuoc-cham (I use Helen's recipe here: http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-2-vietnamese-dipping-sauce-cach-pha-nuoc-cham/)

Marinate the beef with garlic for 15 minutes to hours. Cook the beef in a pan, and get all your ingredients ready!

The book says to lay down each ingredients one by one on the rice sheets.  For better presentation and convenience, I suggest tossing together all your ingredients in a bowl!  Then lay about a 6th of the mix at the base of a rice noodle sheet, roll tightly, then cut in the center into two shorter rolls.  Finish your ingredients, pile the half rolls on plates, top with shallots and chillies if using, and dip in nuoc-cham!

Optionally, I would try marinating it with other Vietnamese ingredients, maybe fish sauce, pepper, honey, oyster sauce... But would it still be called Bo Cuon Nem? I'm not a big fan of non-marinated, non-saucy meat, but just garlic makes this recipe simple and fast, and good for steak-loving readers!

Bun Vit Xao Mang and Nuoc Mam Gung (Vietnamese) Duck and Bamboo Soup and Ginger Dipping Sauce

I decided to start choosing meals for the whole week and do groceries according to the menus because we're a little broke lately.  It also helps not wasting any vegetables or meats your forget at the back of the freezer.  Anyway, one of my menu was a duck and bamboo soup.  As my boyfriend and I were searching for dried bamboo at the Asian market (ran by Vietnamese people), a man placing products offered to help us.  He asked me what I was gonna do with the bamboo, I told him a soup.  He spotted the duck in our cart and he knew instantly which soup I was gonna cook!  He said "But how do you know about this soup!?" And I told him I've been cooking Vietnamese for 2-3 months now.  He was so really proud!  Yaaayyy!  He brought me in another row and suggested I bought vacuum-sealed fresh bamboo in brine, that my soup would be much better.  When we left, my boyfriend told me he thinks that man was the owner!  I should get an easy, steady job there maybe, with air conditioning for the summer...

Turns out the duck soup recipe calls for both dried and brined bamboo (I overlooked the brined one). I only used the fresh brined one, but I included the instructions if you want to use only the dried one, or both.  So here is my simplified version of Duck and Bamboo Soup from the book Vietnamese Street Food by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl!

(serves 6)

Broth:

-2 chicken carcasses

-1 duck

-4cm piece of ginger, roughly sliced

-6 green onions

-2 white parts of lemongrass, bruised

-1tsp salt

-1tsp sugar

Seasoning

-1 1/2tbsp fish sauce

-3cm ginger, thinly julienned

Toppings:

-6 portions (600g) rice vermicelli

-120g vacuum-sealed bamboo, drained, boiled for 15 minutes, then rinsed in cold water, dried and thinly sliced

-(optional) 60g dried bamboo, soaked overnight then boiled for an hour, then refreshed and drained, cut into 1 1/2" pieces

-some basil

-some mint

-4 green onions, thinly sliced

-fried shallots

-Nuoc Mam Gung (ginger dipping sauce), recipe follows

In a large pot, add the chicken bones and duck and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, skim the scums, then add the other ingredients on the broth list and lower the heat.  Simmer for an hour, removing the fat and scums regularly.  After an hour, remove the duck, let it cool before cutting with a cleaver or simply deboning it like I did, and let the broth simmer an extra hour.

Prepare all your toppings, the ginger dipping sauce, and cook the rice vermicelli.  After a total of two hours, strain the broth, discard everything.  Put back on the stove in a clean pot, add the seasonings and bring to a boil.  

To assemble the dish, place a portion of noodles at the bottom of each bowls (it makes enough for 6, but you can also just keep the extra broth in the fridge or freezer for later and adjust the toppings amount, it's just me and my boyfriend here so that's what I did, made lunches, kept extra broth for sides of soup during the week), top with the duck, bamboo, herbs, and finish with green onions, shallots and a spoon of dipping sauce.  Bring the dipping sauce at the table for your guests to adjust to their taste.

GINGER DIPPING SAUCE:

-120mL fish sauce

-1tsp sugar

-2cm ginger, peeled and cut into tiny, tiny thin strips

-3 garlic cloves, chopped

-1 long red chilli, finely chopped

Mix the fish sauce and sugar until well combined, then stir in everything else.  You can use any leftovers on rice, or as an alternative to the classic nuoc-cham...

Bun Thang, AKA Combo Soup (Vietnamese)

This combo soup's picture reminded me of ramen (like Japanese big ramen bowls) with its different toppings.  Also, my boyfriend is picky with his vegetables and this version doesn't have much, which I knew would please His Carnivorousness!  I really enjoyed this soup, the broth was like the one of a GOOD wonton soup at the take-out, subtil but refined!  I even used leftover broth and boiled some gyoza in it with julienned veggies (gyoza are the Japanese dumplings, I always make a lot and have them in the freezer!). The day I was gonna make this soup, I checked Helen's Recipes' channel on YouTube and this soup was her new video recipe!  Her version is different though, but you can still watch it and encourage her, she's so skilled and cute!  Here's the link!  

http://youtu.be/jSG_Fn7Lz1M

Helen says that this soup is made after festivities, when there's a lot of leftovers of different meats.  I don't care that it's spring, I still wanted a good, gigantic soup.  Here's my really simplified, slightly modified recipe for Combo Soup, taken from the book Vietnamese Street Food (as usual lately!) by the lovely couple of Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl!

(serves 2-3)

Broth:

-3 shallots, chargrilled on all sides for a total of about 5 minutes, then black spots washed away

-1.5kg pork bones

-1/2tsp salt

-about 3tbsp dried shrimps

-1tsp sugar

-1/2tbsp fish sauce

-1 small chicken breast, with bones if you can

Toppings:

-2 eggs, whisked and cooked into thin omelets, then piled up and thinly sliced the way you like (I like to roll the omelets before slicing, it makes cute spirals)

-2-3 portions of rice vermicelli, cooked

-3-4 cooked shrimps per bowl

-100-150g Cha Lua (Vietnamese ham made with pork and shrimp paste) or ham, thinly julienned*

-2 sliced spring onions

-cilantro or parsley

-fried shallots

-1 lime, cut into wedges

*I used regular ham because I was craving it, sliced it thinly, pan fried it then piled the slices and thinly julienned them.  Cooked ham tastes salty, like bacon or bologna!  Don't worry, it doesn't really affect the saltiness of the overall soup.  Let's start!

Put the pork bones in a pot, cover with water, then bring to a boil, strain the bones and rinse them good.  Put back into the cleaned pot, cover with water again, add the salt and bring to a boil again.  Lower the heat to simmer, and add the shallots, dried shrimps, sugar and fish sauce, simmer for 2 hours.  Throughout the simmering, remove scums and fat often.

After 2 hours, add the chicken breast and continue simmering for 20 minutes.  Fish out the breast, let it cool then slice it thinly.  Strain the broth, put in a clean pot and bring to a boil.

To assemble, start with a portion of rice vermicelli at the bottom of each bowl, then place the shrimps, Cha Lua or ham and chicken.  Top with the herbs, green onions and shallots. Serve with lime wedges on the side!

Lemongrass Beef Plate with Rice Papers (Vietnamese)

I love plates that are full of different items.  I also love lettuce wraps and rice sheet wraps!  This bowl has lemongrass beef, rice vermicelli, herbs, pickles, cucumbers, fried dried tofu, nuts...  Everything you need for a perfect spring roll.  The beef recipe I took from this book.  It was meant to be served in a baguette, but I like my bowl better!  For the ingredients for the bowl, feel free to compose with what you like and have at home... But I wouldn't skip the herbs!

So here's the simplified recipe for Lemongrass Beef Skewers from the book Vietnamese Street Food by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, followed by my own tips to make the perfect bowl!

(makes 10 mini skewers - serves 2-3)

Marinade for 300g nice lean beef, thinly sliced:

-2 shallots, chopped

-3 garlic cloves, chopped

-3 white parts of lemongrass, chopped

-1 long red chilli, seeded and chopped

-1tbsp roasted sesame seeds

-2tsp fish sauce

Grind together, in a mortar and pestle or in a food processor, the shallots, garlic, lemongrass and chilli.  When I use a mortar I always chop everything as small as I can to save time and energy.  When the mixture resembles some kind of rough paste, add slightly grounded sesame or grind in the mortar.  Add fish sauce, mix, and thoroughly massage the beef slices.  Let marinate for an hour to overnight in the fridge.

If using a grill, soak 10 short skewers in cold water for about 30 minutes.  When using a pan, you can skip this step.  Fold the beef slices repeatedly on the sticks to make 10 mini skewers, just enough each for one fresh spring roll.  Grill!

To serve, for EACH plate, I put enough ingredients for 5 rolls (5 lettuce pieces, 10 cucumbers...).  I ate only 3 rolls and kept two for lunch, it's a little big!:

-5 beef skewers

-some Dua Gop carrots and daikon pickles (recipe here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/05/banh-mi-with-pork-patties-and-dua-gop.html)

-5 pieces of lettuce

-1 portion rice vermicelli (I had fresh ones!)

-10 half slices of cucumber

-plenty of fresh herbs (just pruned my plants!)

-some chopped almonds or peanuts 

-pieces of dried tofu sheets (cut, deep-fry at at least 350F and drain on paper towels)

-nuoc cham for dipping (I use Helen's recipe, here: http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-2-vietnamese-dipping-sauce-cach-pha-nuoc-cham/)

Dip a rice sheet in warm water briefly, lay down on a flat plate, put a little of everything and a skewer (without the skewer haha) and roll tightly.  Dip in nuoc-cham, it's sooo good!

Phat Wun Sen (Thai)

I bought two books at the end of last week.  One of them is part of an Asian food encyclopedia, and even though it doesn't have much pictures, it includes authentic recipes from Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma.  I've been watching videos of Thai cooking, so even though I was searching for Vietnamese cooking books, that book seemed like a good compromise.  So here's my first attempt at Thai food, peppery rice vermicelli called Phat Wun Sen from The Complete Asian Cookbook: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, by Charmaine Solomon, simplified:

(serves 4-6)

-250g rice vermicelli, soaked in boiling water until soft, 5-8 minutes

-10 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes) or 12 white mushrooms, or any shrooms you like... thinly sliced

-3 garlic cloves, chopped

-2 thai chillies, deseeded and chopped

-185g pork fillet, thinly sliced

-250g cleaned and peeled shrimps, cut into 3 or 4 each

-2 white part leeks, thinly sliced

-1 can of bamboo shoots matchsticks

-2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks

Seasoning:

-2tbsp fish sauce

-1tbsp white vinegar

-1tsp salt

-2tsp sugar

-1/2tsp black pepper

Topping:

-fresh chopped cilantro (or flat parsley if you don't like cilantro like me)

-fried shallots

Heat 2tbsp oil in a wok over medium.  Fry the garlic and chillies a minute or two, then push to the side and add the pork.  Stir-fry the pork until it's no more pink, then add the shrimps, leeks, bamboo and carrots and stif-fry for 3 minutes or until mostly cooked.

Mix the seasonings together, add to the wok and stir-fry a minute for the juices to soak in, then add vermicelli and toss until warm and well combined.  Plate and top with herbs and shallots!

Spicy Chicken and Noodles Soup (Korean)

The weather was getting warm in Montreal, then spring arrived with its cold rain and worms (I fear worms).  Yesterday was cold so we opted for a hot and spicy soup.  This one by Aeri Lee, my boyfriend and I really like!  I think yesterday was the third time that I made it. What I like about this soup is that I can make it with whatever vegetables are in the fridge, so it's always kind of different.  The broth is really easy to make.  Yesterday was the first time I made this soup with a chicken BREAST (as suggested in the recipe) and even though it made a leaner soup, I suggest using whole legs (with bones and skin), about 2-3, for a richer, deeper broth and fatter meat. I also cook the noodles to my taste, cool and drain them, then put them at the bottom of the bowl, which is easier to serve that if you were to put the noodles directly in the soup (don't worry the hot soup with warm them up).  I like to replace some of the gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) and chilli oil with fresh green chilli peppers that I add at the end with the green onions, which add a delicious taste and aroma. Except these points, I mostly follow the recipe, which lends a spicy, chickeny noodle soup!  Here's the recipe at Aeriskitchen.com:

http://aeriskitchen.com/2010/06/spicy-chicken-noodle-soup/

Under is a picture of last time I made this soup.  Here's a list of veggies Aeri doesn't use in her recipe that I've enjoyed and suggest for this soup:

-sweet potatoes (Japanese purple ones or orange yams)

-potatoes

-kabocha (Japanese pumpkin)

-yu choi (add the stems with the other veggies, the leaf sections at the end with the green onions)

-leeks (replace some or all onions)

-enoki or shimeji mushrooms (because they're long and all the other veggies are julienned, but regular mushrooms would still taste good)

-edible chrysanthemum leaves (put leaf sections in the soup closer to the end)

...

Any combination will be good!