Mie Ongklok Udang and Homemade Asian Egg Noodles (Indonesian, Chinese influence)

Here's a dish I tried for the picture, Mie Ongklok!  When you'll see the picture on the blog where I took the recipe from, you'll understand!  Actually, even my pictures look really good!

So how to describe this dish...  It's most likely Chinese inspired.  Fresh egg noodles and pulled chicken, topped with a glossy translucid gravy (flavoured with the chicken and shrimp heads) full of shrimps and celery, and topped with hard-boiled eggs and green onions.  Up to now it still tastes Chinese.  But then you serve it with Sambal Oelek, Kecap Manis (thick sweet soy sauce) and a lot of limes and it becomes Indonesian tasting!  It was a really interesting dish and it looks really festive to me!  You can find the recipe here:  

http://bonitofood.blogspot.ca/2012/01/ifp-mie-ongklok-udang.html

When I made this dish, I realized the quantities of noodles were wrong, the recipe makes way too much gravy, shrimps and toppings, so I doubled the amount of noodles!  I made my own fresh egg noodles Asian style, the recipe follows!

Here's the recipe for Asian style egg noodles.  I don't remember if I wrote it based on someone else's recipe or I just copied it, and I'm not sure where I took it from (I wrote down only the ingredients in a book long before I even thought of making a blog). If you see the recipe somewhere, send me the link so I can credit the author, even though I might be the author!

(makes 4 portions)

-2cups flour

-1/2cup tapioca starch

-1tsp salt

-1tsp baking soda

-2eggs

-a little water, as needed

Mix the flour and the starch with the salt and baking soda (I like to use a whisk to mix dry ingredients well).  Add the eggs and mix well with a fork, then your hands.  Use a little water if there's not enough liquid to hold the dough together.  Flatten the dough to about maybe 2-3mm thin.  I used a pasta machine to flatten the dough and cut the noodles like at the store, but you can use a rolling pin then fold the dough and flour well with starch each fold so it doesn't stick together, and cut really thin noodles (but that requires patience and skills!).

If you have to much noodles or you want to make them ahead, I think they should keep in the fridge more or less a week.  Mix the noodles with starch so they don't stick together, and cook in plenty of boiling water because the starch tends to thicken the water and if there's not enough water, it gets so thick that the noodles won't cook.  If you use the noodles with broth, gravy or a lot of sauce (like the previous dish), I think it's better to make just enough (no leftovers) because these fresh noodles absorb the liquid overnight and become kinda gross :(.

Good cooking!

Nasi Lemak (Indonesian) Coconut Rice Platter

When I saw this recipe in the book Indonesian Cooking by Dina Yuen, it reminded me of Com Tam Suon Nuong, a Vietnamese platter with broken rice, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, a special meatloaf and a pork chop marinated with lemongrass, which is one of our favorite breakfast/brunch meal on the weekend (I even marinate pork chops and keep them in the freezer).  (You can see my post about it with a link to Helen's recipe here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/04/com-tam-suon-nuong-vietnamese.html) So yeah, this Coconut Rice Platter seems like an Indonesian version of Com Tam Suon Nuong, even though all items except the cucumber are different. The platter comes with a deep-fried dry-rubbed chicken thigh, candied dried anchovies, rice cooked with coconut milk, cucumber, shrimp crackers and sambal oelek.  I only had big dried anchovies to make stock, and even though I sometimes cook Korean-style candied dried anchovies as a side for my boyfriend who loves them, I admit I'm not that big of a fan, so I substituted the anchovies for medium-sized shrimps with the shells on (to make it a little crispy like the anchovies), but I included instructions for anchovies AND shrimps for you to try the ones you prefer.  So here is my simplified version of Nasi Lemak, Coconut Rice Platter, from the book Indonesian Cooking by Dina Yuen.  Since the platter has many different elements, I thought it would be clearer to separate each element into one recipe.  Hope this helps!

(serves 4)

THE COCONUT RICE:

Wash 2cups of white, long-grain rice then cook as usual, but replace 3/4cup of the water by 3/4cup of coconut milk and a pinch or two of salt.

THE CHICKEN:

For 4 chicken thighs, with skin and bones on:

-3/4tsp salt

-1/4tsp turmeric powder

-1/2tsp garlic powder (CAN'T be replaced by fresh garlic)

-1/4tsp ground black pepper

Wash and dry really well with paper towels so the spices adhere well and the oil doesn't splash when deep-frying.  Rub the spices on the chicken pieces, don't forget to rub some under the skin too.  Let marinate while the deep-fryer (or oil in a wok) comes to the right temperate (somewhere between...  320F and 370F if you want to be exact?).  Deep-fry on both sides for about 10 minutes, drain on paper towels.

THE DRIED ANCHOVIES (or shrimps):

-1cup of TINY dried anchovies, or substitute with a cup of raw small/medium shrimps, without the head and deveined but keep the tails and shells on

-1tbsp sweet soy sauce/kecap manis

-1tbsp sambal oelek

In a pan, add a little oil and for a couple minutes only, roast the anchovies until lightly golden, or the shrimps until pink.  Add the sweet soy sauce and sambal oelek and stir for 30 seconds until well mixed and the sauce gets absorbed a little.

THE SHRIMP CRACKERS:

You can use whatever shrimp crackers you want.  In my book, on the picture, it's these colourful ones that are used.  If you're not familiar with this product, it's available at all Asian markets in a box for about a dollar.  You need to deep-fry them at a REALLY high temperature (380-400F).  To know if your oil is ready, throw a translucid tiny cracker in the oil, and in only a couple seconds, it should float and puff up like crazy.  If this doesn't work, wait for your oil to get warmer.  Drain on paper towels.  For this Coconut Rice Platter, right after the chicken is done frying, get the temperature of your oil higher and you can make the crackers really quickly before the chicken cools down.

To assemble, pass a small bowl fast under water and empty it. It prevents the rice from sticking to the bowl (but most of you most likely knew that already!). Fill the bowl with 1/4 of the coconut rice (half a cup), press the rice in the bowl and flip on a plate.  Quickly rinse the bowl and repeat for each plate.  Also place a piece of chicken and a quarter of the anchovies or shrimps nicely on each plate.  Garnish with slices or sticks of cucumber, and serve with sambal oelek and shrimp crackers!

Asem Udang Bakar, Sambar Telur and Lalapan with Sambal Terasi (Indonesian) Tamarind Shrimps, Chilied Eggs and Vegetable Platter with Shrimp Paste and Chillies Dip + How to use semi-dried tamarind!

A big post today, yaaay!  Today, I'll share three recipes from the book Indonesian Cooking by Dina Yuen, and my technique to make tamarind concentrate from semi-dried tamarind (it's MY technique, but if you know the real way to do this, please let me know in the comments or on Facebook!).  In that order, there's Tamarind Shrimps, How to make Tamarind Concentrate, Deep-Fried Eggs in Chilli Sauce and Shrimp Paste and Chilli Sambal.  As usual, I adapted and simplified the recipe for your convenience.  I wrote intros for each recipe under each picture so it's clearer which recipe is which...  Enjoy!

About tamarind...  Well, my boyfriend's mom use to date an Indian guy and she would always have candied tamarind.  My boyfriend hates it.  I tried it and hated it.  We both thought we hated tamarind, but turns out if you use it like lime juice, it works with a lot of dishes, and instead of being citrusy like limes, it lends a really fruity aroma.  Please, love tamarind.  We loved tamarind in Indian dishes, we both LOVED these really simple delicious Indonesian-style shrimps!

(serves 4 as a side with rice and veggies or soup)

Marinate (for 2 hours to overnight) 16 tiger prawns or 32 smaller shrimps like the ones I used, with:

-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

-1/2cup tamarind concentrate (I use semi-dried tamarind instead, instructions follow if you don't know how to)

-3tbsp soy sauce

-1 1/2tbsp sugar

-some melted butter to bake

To bake, you can skewer the shrimps like I did (it's more convenient) or spread them loose on a baking sheet.  Cover the baking tray with aluminum foil to reduce cleaning, with a paintbrush spread some melted butter on the baking tray, then lay the shrimps on it and paint them with butter too.  Broil in the oven or even a toaster-oven for 2-4 minutes on each side, depending on the size of your shrimps.  Voilà!

This is the tamarind I use.  The first time I needed tamarind was to cook Indian food, so I went to this tiny tiny Indian market on Jean-Talon (I call this area on Jean-Talon "Indiatown") and asked for tamarind concentrate like the recipe called for.  The super nice shop owner (the same one that went to buy me spices he didn't have from a nearby shop, if you follow my posts!) had tamarind concentrate, but he said not to buy that, to buy the semi-dried one which apparently tastes much better (but I never bought the ready concentrate so I can't really say). He said to dilute it in water...  So I don't really know how Indian/Asian people use this form of tamarind, but this is the technique I developed which works quite good for me. You need:

-a small bowl

-a small strainer that fits in the bowl

-a small whisk (if you don't have one, feel free to use whatever utensil you have, but it's really easier with a tiny whisk, I bought them at the dollar store 2 for a buck -thanks to my man who told me how to spell utensil in English haha)

-water and semi-dried tamarind

Put some tamarind in the strainer in the bowl, and add some warm water.  Use the whisk to mash and rub against the strainer.  At the end you can straight up whisk roughly in the strainer. Add water if needed, but don't put too much: the tamarind concentrate should have a thick consistency like the picture of the prepared store-bought one.  You can always add more tamarind if it's too liquid!  Discard skins and seeds.

Replace lime juice with tamarind concentrate in recipes, experiment with it.  I didn't know about it a year or two ago, it's really "da shit"!

Last weekend, we invited a couple friends over for our friend Mark's and my birthday.  Everyone brought drinks, snacks, dessert, and I made tasty maki sushi, oyaki (which are delicious and easy, I should post about it soon) and these deep-fried eggs you see on the picture up here.  People loved them, even our difficult friend who said he didn't really like eggs.  This sauce is also really tasty!

(for 4 eggs)

Combine to make the sauce:

-1/8tsp salt

-2tbsp sweet soy sauce/kecap manis

-1tbsp sambal oelek

-4 hard-boiled eggs

-fried shallots for topping, optional (I forgot to put some on the picture, but when I made it for my birthday, I used them and it really adds something!)

Deep-fry the eggs until brown and a little crispy.  Drain on paper towels, then mix with the sauce and slice in two.  I pour the leftover sauce on top, it doesn't look as good as in the book but that sauce is super addictive!

(the book says this recipe makes 1 1/2cup, haha it only makes that super small amount you see in the picture, which is enough because the dip is REALLY spicy and pungent and it doesn't keep well overnight)

Grind together in a food processor or mortar:

-1/2tbsp dried shrimp paste, roasted*

-4 garlic cloves

-1/4tsp salt

-1/2tsp sugar

-8 red bird's eye chillies, without their hats

You can serve this like any sambal, as a condiment, or as a dip for lalapan, plate of raw and blanched veggies.  Really intense crazy Indonesian flavours!

*I'm never sure what kind of shrimp paste, dried shrimp paste, etc, to use when cooking Asian.  I use the shrimp paste in oil that sells in tiny glass jar, enclose the amount needed in a small piece of parchment paper and bake it for 5 minutes at 400F/200C.  Maybe an Indonesian person could tell I'm not using the right shrimp paste, maybe I am using the right one.  It's so pungent, it's always used in really small quantities, so I don't think it makes that much of a difference...

Some kind of Gado-Gado (Indonesian)

The reason I call this salad "Some Kind of Gado-Gado" is that this was the first Gado-Gado I ever cooked or ate, and after I saw this Gado-Gado recipe in Maangchi's Gapshida serie (video here if you're interested: http://youtu.be/_wIVmPSotow) and it's really different.  The sauce is creamier, doesn't have lemongrass, and the vegetables are a WIDE varieties of leafy greens and green vegetables.  What my recipe and Maangchi's friend's recipe have in common: a peanut sauce, blanched vegetables and tofu.  That's about it.  I thought maybe it's a regional thing and Gado-Gado is prepared in different ways in different parts of Indonesia?  I took this recipe from Ginger and Lemongrass by Leemei Tan, whose recipes seem pretty authentic to me. Maybe my Gado-Gado is a totally different salad. Wether this is really a Gado-Gado or not, this is a pretty kickass recipe, and easy. Delicious and light for a warm summer day! With my super simplified version of this recipe, it's super convenient.  Don't be shy, try it!

(serves 4)

Gado-Gado paste, chop everything roughly then grind everything together in a food processor or mortar:

-3 red bird's eye chillies, seeded

-3 garlic cloves

-5 shallots

-3cm peeled ginger

-white part of 1 lemongrass stalk

-1tsp of shrimp paste that you'll fold in a parchment paper piece and bake for 5 minutes at 400F in the oven for better aroma

And then:

-1 recipe Gado-Gado paste

-150g skinned, chopped or crushed, roasted peanuts, then grinded with a mortar or coffee grinder or processor into a fine powder with little bits (this time I only had almonds with skins, which worked fine.  Experiment with different nuts or combinations of nuts!)

-1tbsp lime juice

-250mL water

-2tbsp cane or brown sugar

-100g firm tofu in slices roasted in a pan until golden (you could use tempeh too, I'm not a fan of tofu so I replaced it with shrimps!)

-150g green beans, blanched, rinsed in cold water and strained well

-150g bean sprouts, blanched, rinsed in cold water and strained well

-some cucumber, seeded and sliced in half moons or cut into matchsticks

-1 small carrot cut into tiny matchsticks

-2 hard-boiled eggs cut into slices or quarters

-salt

-shrimp chips (kropek or krupuk if you can get them, if not any shrimp chips will work)

In a non-stick pan, with a little oil, cook the paste on medium-high for 10 minutes until fragrant, mixing every once in a while.  Add the lime juice, water, sugar, salt to taste and peanuts.  Bring to a boil then remove from the stove but keep warm.

Plate the tofu and all the vegetables in an appetizing manner, serve with the sauce separately for presentation.  To eat, mix everything, including the sauce but not the chips, together.  You can also put some salad on the chips to enjoy!

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.

Banh Tom Ho Tay (Vietnamese) Shrimps and Sweet Potatoes Deep-Fried Pancakes

Here's a recipe I really wanted to try, and since we ate lunch late yesterday, I thought just a little something filling would be good!  Even though you might think it looks good on the pictures, if you saw how beautiful the ones from the book I took this recipe from are on their pictures: the white sweet potatoes look supremely white (I didn't want to soak mine because I didn't want water in the oil, but they became brown in a minute, way before I was done...), the cakes are perfectly round, the shrimps stayed in place, perfectly distanced from eachother...  Mine were still delicious, so let's say they look rustic!

I think I know some tricks I'll try for next time.  I'll share them at the end of this post.  The ratio of batter vs. sweet potatoes and shrimps didn't really make sense when looking at the pictures in the book (sometimes you need to copy food you never had before the first time you cook it to get the full experience: the cut of the vegetables, the texture or shape of a batter or a cake) so I took the liberty of changing it.  If you try my recipe, it should look like my pictures, or maybe better if you try my ideas of what I should change next time to make it better.  I'll repost it if next time it's better, but next time might be in a long time because fried foods are delicious and highly upsetting my stomach.  So here's my own version of Banh Tom Ho Tay, inspired by the one in the book Vietnamese Street Food by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl:

(serves 2-4 as a heavy snack or side)

Batter:

-1/2cup all-purpose flour, sifted

-1tbsp rice flour

-1/2tsp baking powder

-1/3tsp turmeric powder

-1/3tsp salt

-a pinch of sugar

-1 egg yolk

-1tsp rice vinegar

12 raw shrimps, without head, legs cut and deveined (but keep the shells on) and cut in two lengthwise, marinated with:

-2tsp fish sauce

-1/4tsp black pepper

-about 150g white-fleshed, purple-skinned sweet potatoes, cut into thin 2" long or shorter matchsticks (setsuma imo, goguma...)

-oil for deep-frying

-pickles as a side (optional)

Make the batter, cover, and let it rest for about 15 minutes.  Prepare and marinate the shrimps for about 15 minutes.  Warm up the oil in a wok or wide, deep pan.

After 15 minutes and when the oil is ready, close to the pan, bring everything you need: the shrimps, the batter with a tablespoon, the sweet potatoes, a metal ladle and a regular metal spoon.

Dip the metal ladle in oil to warm it up and keep some oil in the laddle. Briefly mix the batter and pour 2tbsp of it in the ladle, then tuck in some sweet potatoes, top with 3 shrimp pieces and pour 1tbsp of batter on top to seal the shrimps.  Hold the ladle straight in the oil, moving it a little to allow oil to go under the sides. After 3 minutes, the book says it should float, but believe me, it totally stays stuck to the ladle, so with the metal spoon, carefully unstick the pancake from the ladle and push into the oil, where it should stay until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  Repeat until everything is finished.  

Note: You might have to scrape your ladle at some point because of batter remains, but you do not need to wash it in between, and it you do, properly wipe your ladle with paper towels to minimize the splashes as water enters in contact with the oil...  If you want to have a heart attack, I sprinkled some coarse salt on mine, it was good!  I had French grey sea salt, whooo, everything from France just sounds fancy!

SO FOR NEXT TIME:

-Maybe if I hold the ladle in the oil for a good minute, and make sure the oil is at least at 350F (I was monitoring mine and it was at 340F most of the cooking time, oops), the high temperature will cook the surface of the batter instantly, kind of like the trick to takoyaki (Japanese delicious octopus dumplings junk food, look it up!: http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/takoyaki-recipe/) and the batter will float like the recipe from Vietnamese Street Food says...

-Start preparing a little ahead by soaking the sweet potatoes in water with a little vinegar for maybe 30-60 minutes, then lying them on paper towels and use as many paper towels as necessary to really dry them so the batter sticks to them and the oil doesn't splash like crazy with the scary noises.  That should make the potatoes white, and relieve them of most of their starch, making them crispy!

Good luck, but even my ugly ones still held together and tasted delicious, worth a try!

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!

Hae Kun with Nam Jim Priao Wan (Thai) Shrimp Rolls and Sweet and Sour Sauce

Last week, my boyfriend and I went shopping and I got two cooking books.  The only place I can find a decent amount of Asian cookbooks to choose from is downtown, and I have this habit to go through the books on the metro (Montreal's subway) on my way back home.  So I was doing that with a book that has almost zero pictures, and then, a picture!  It caught my boyfriend's eye and he already knew he wanted me to make it for him!  And to my surprise, even I really enjoyed it.  The recipe doesn't suggest any dip, but on the picture there is one.  I found someone who posted this recipe word for word except that at the end, they added "serve with sweet and sour sauce" (never copy word for word!). I then searched for "thai sweet and sour sauce" on google and found a pretty good one.  So here's Hae Kun from The Complete Asian Cookbook: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, by Charmaine Solomon, simplified and slightly adapted, followed by a link to a delicious sweet and sour sauce!

(serves 4 as a side)

-2 large squares of dried tofu skin, briefly soaked in hot water to rehydrate, then water squeezed out dry

-oil for deep-frying

Mixture:

-250g cleaned, shelled shrimps, chopped into a chunky paste

-1tbsp cornstarch or potato starch

-2tbsp pork fat, finely diced (easy to find, ask any butcher, it's ridiculously cheap)

-1 garlic clove, finely grated

-1tsp ginger, finely grated

-1/2tsp salt

-1/4tsp black pepper

Mix everything for the mixture.  Add the end of a tofu skin, shape half of the mixture into a log, then roll several times until the end of the tofu sheet.  Repeat for the other roll.  Steam the rolls with the seam down for ten minute on medium.  Let cool down a little, then cut diagonally. (I prepared everything ahead and stopped at that step, putting the roll pieces in the fridge.)

Deep-fry the rolls until golden brown, then drain briefly on paper towels and serve with thai style sweet and sour sauce (recipe follows).

For the sweet and sour sauce, I used this recipe and it was crazy awesome delicious!

http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicurrypasterecipes/r/Easy-Sweet-And-Sour-Sauce-Recipe.htm

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!

Lemongrass Chilli Chicken Skewers and A Vietnamese-Style Salad (Vietnamese)

Our friend Shannon that we haven't seen since last year, if not before that, came over with her boyfriend Ben (that we still hadn't met) and we had a good day getting blasted and watching cartoons and music videos!  I really wanted to cook for them, and bold move, I tried new recipes!  I adjusted the Lemongrass Chilli Chicken skewers recipe here based on what I thought of them that night.  I served them with a Vietnamese inspired salad and some spring rolls.  Here are the recipes!

Inspired by the Lemongrass Chilli Chicken (post here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/04/ga-xao-sa-ot-and-goi-du-du-vietnamese.html) I made these Lemongrass Chilli Chicken Skewers!

(makes 10 medium skewers)

-500g chicken breast, sliced thinly across the grain

-3/4tsp sugar

-1 white part lemongrass, finely chopped

-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

-1 long red chilli, finely chopped

-1 1/2tbsp oil

Mix everything together nicely except the chicken, then add the chicken to the marinade and let rest in the fridge a couple hours to overnight.

Soak your skewers in cold water for 30 minutes if using a BBQ or grill.  I used a ridged pan so it's not necessary.  Fold the meat back and forth on the skewers, then grill without using any extra oil.

For the salad, I was inspired by a traditional wedding salad on DanangCuisine.com, but I turned out quite different:

-some shrimps, boiled, shelled, cleaned and sliced in half along the "spine"

-some pork belly (I grilled thin slices of pork belly that I marinated using this recipe: http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-43-bun-cha/)

-some veggies, julienned (carrots, cucumber, lettuce, herbs, red cabbage, daikon, lotus...   Anything you have)

-some herbs

-some fried shallots and peanuts to top

Dressing:

-equal amounts of fish sauce, sugar and lime juice

-some chopped garlic and thai red bird's eye chillies, to taste

Mix the dressing until sugar has dissolved.  Mix everything for the salad together.  Toss by hand with some dressing little by little until to your taste.  Plate and top with additional peanuts and fried shallots.

I also made some Vietnamese deep-fried spring rolls that I served with some lettuce leaves, herbs and nuoc-cham, post here:

http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/05/cha-gio-vietnamese-vietnamese-spring.html

Lo Mai Gai (Chinese) Sticky Rice and Chicken Steamed in Lotus Leaves

This rice is so good, it has that dry but slightly oily texture of fried rice, but it's steamed!  It's full of marinated chicken, dried shrimps, mushrooms and sausage...  But it has a lot of step.  When I got this book "Gingembre et Citronnelle" ("Ginger and Lemongrass") by Leemei Tan, that one recipe always called me and I would find myself back at that page.  So when I found these HUGE lotus leaves in Chinatown, I knew I had to give it a try!  I hope I looked cool on the bus and metro with my gigantic leaves!  

So here is "Feuilles de lotus garnies au poulet et riz gluant" with all its steps from the book "Gingembre et Citronnelle" by Leemei Tan, translated and simplified as much as I could.

(for 4 people)

Marinade for 600g deboned chicken legs, skin removed and cubed
-1tbsp sugar

-2tbsp light (coloured) soy sauce

-2tbsp dark soy sauce

-1tbsp oyster sauce

-1tbsp sesame oil

-the juice of 2cm peeled and grated ginger, pulp discarded

-1tbsp Shaoxing wine

-1tsp cornstarch

Rice seasoning:

-1/4tsp sea salt

-1tbsp sugar

-1tbsp light soy sauce

-2tbsp dark soy sauce

-1tbsp oyster sauce

-2tbsp sesame oil

-a pinch of black pepper

-500g jasmine rice, soaked for 30 minutes

-30g dried shrimps, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, drained well

-1tbsp vegetable oil

-120g Chinese sausage or chorizo, cubed

-30g dried mushrooms dried chinese or shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for an hour, water pressed out and chopped roughly

-4 dried lotus leaves

-freshly ground black pepper

Mix everything for the marinade in a bowl, add chicken and let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Mix all ingredients for the rice seasoning in a big bowl and add the drained rice, mix well.

In a steamer, spread some parchment paper and the rice over it.  Drizzle 1tsp water over it and cook 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, add another 1 or 2tsp water over the rice and cook for an extra 15 minutes.  Remove from steamer and let it cool.

Meanwhile heat oil on medium-high in a pan and cook sausage for a minute.  Add shrimps and mushrooms and cook 2 minutes.  Add chicken and cook 5 minutes.  Add 3tsp water and cook another couple minutes until the chicken starts to golden, then remove everything from the pan and reserve.

Boil water in a big pan or wok and dip the lotus leaves until soft.  Cool them under cold water and dry them with paper towels.  Cut off hard pieces then cut each leaf in four.  The author says you can use parchment paper instead of lotus leaves, I say if you can find the leaves it's worth it!  The aroma is awesome!

Pile 2 leaves together, and add about two big tbsp of rice and spread a little.  Top with 3tbsp of meat mixture, spread, and top again with 1tbsp rice.  Fold the leaf to make a closed rectangle and tie with kitchen rope.  

Steam the pouches for 20-25 minutes.  From my experience, the pouches keep good before this step a day or two in the fridge, so you can make more and steam them for a quick lunch or dinner!