Tag Archives: vietnamese

Nem Nuong (Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers)

Posted in Food, Recipes, Vietnamese by

This is my cheat version of Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers. I had this at a Vietnamese friend’s house; loved it so much and asked her how she made them. Turns out she also made it using the cheat version with a pre-mixed seasoning plus additional ingredients to make it more Vietnamese. Oddly enough, the pre-mixed seasoning is a Filipino seasoning for tocino. This is very easy to make once you get the hang of binding the meat onto the skewer. I would grab a 1.5 inch ball of meat then bind it onto the skewer using just my thumb, index and middle fingers. I found that using the whole hand to press the meat against the skewers does not really work well and the meat has to stick to the skewer as close as possible; otherwise it would fall off before you even cook it.

Ingredients

1 kilo ground pork
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 packet tocino seasoning mix (available from Asian grocery stores)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
oil for frying
20-30 bamboo skewers

Method

1. Soak the bamboo skewers in a bowl filled with tap water until ready to be used.

2. In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, garlic, peppercorns, seasoning mix, sugar and salt using your hands. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.

3. Bind the meat onto the bamboo skewers. Shape the meat into a 1.5-2 inch ball. Insert the bamboo skewer into the middle of the meat ball. Then gradually shape the ball into a long oval while pressing the meat onto the skewer until it feels firmly attached to the skewer. The meat should not be hanging/falling off when you lift it or move it onto a plate. Repeat until all the meat has been used up.

4. Grill the pork skewers on a BBQ grill (if you have one) or, alternatively, a large non-stick pan. Heat oil in the pan. Cook the meat until well done while frequently turning the skewers to prevent it from burning and over-caramelising.

5. Serve hot and enjoy.

About these ads

Recipe: Vietnamese pork spring rolls

Posted in Recipes, Vietnamese by

From my kitchen: Vietnamese pork spring rolls

Inspired by the spring rolls I’ve had in Phong Vinh and Viet Hoa, These are actually quite tasty even without the dipping sauce that it usually comes with. I was just going to use hoisin sauce for dipping but even that was not needed.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo minced pork

1 teaspoon mixed spice powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 carrot, chopped finely

1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped

bean sprouts

spring roll wrappers

oil for deep frying

Method

1. In a bowl, mix together the pork, mixed spice powder, salt and pepper. Then cook the pork mixture in skillet until well done. Break up the pork into small pieces while cooking. Set aside to cool.

2. Heat oil for deep frying while you prepare the spring rolls.

3. Once cooled, place spoonfuls of the cooked pork mixture onto the spring roll wrapper. Place about 3-4 pieces of bean sprouts on top of the pork. Fold the edges of the wrapper and roll the wrapper. Brush the last edge of the wrapper with water to seal it. The spring roll should be quite stuffed with filling.

4. Fry the spring rolls until golden brown.

5. Serve hot (with your choice of dipping sauce if you like) and enjoy.

 

 

Recipe: Thit Kho Tau (Vietnamese Pork Stew)

Posted in Recipes, Vietnamese by

From my kitchen: Thit Kho Tau

I was watching Food Safari a few days ago and it came to the Vietnamese cuisine episode. I was very inspired to cook some pho but that was too tasking so I’ve decided to make this Vietnamese pork stew instead. It says that this dish is traditionally eaten during New Year. I inadvertently added an extra ingredient – lemongrass – because I wasn’t paying close attention to the TV but it turned out well. Sweet and fragrant flavours.

Ingredients

pork belly, cut into small pieces

1/2 onion, cut into small pieces

3 cloves garlic

1 stalk lemongrass, white part cut into small pieces

1 stalk spring onion, cut into small pieces

4 tablespoons fish sauce

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

3 tablespoons palm sugar

2 pieces star anise

black pepper

oil

1/2 onion, diced

juice of 1 young coconut

water

8 pieces hardboiled eggs

Method

1. Put the onion, garlic, lemongrass and spring onion into a food processor or blender and blend until almost paste-like.

2. In a bowl, marinate the pork belly with the lemongrass mixture made in Step 1. Then add in fish sauce, light and dark soy sauce and palm sugar, star anise. Marinate meat for at least 3 hours or overnight.

3. In a medium sized saucepan, heat oil and sautee the onions until brown. Then add in the pork together with the marinade. Brown the meat then add in the coconut juice and about 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and lower to medium heat. Skim the fat while it’s boiling. Let the pork simmer for about 1 hour.

4. Add in the hardboiled eggs and simmer for another hour. If the stew is looking a bit dry, add in another cup of water.

5. Serve with steamed rice and enjoy.

Phong Vinh @ Northbridge

Posted in Perth, Vietnamese by

I came to “Phong Vinh” for lunch one day en route to the post office in Northbridge. I used to frequently dine in “Viet Hoa”, the Vietnamese restaurant next door, but after they have decided not to put anymore coriander in their soup I was on the hunt again for a good Vietnamese restaurant. I love pho. I love soup. I love bean sprouts too. So, mathematically speaking, I love Vietnamese noodle soup. I heard and read great reviews about this food court seating styled restaurant and it seems to be always full every time I walk past it.

The waitress served me tea in a thermos, yes a thermos, not a teapot, as soon as I sat down. They have over 100 menu items including spring rolls, rice dishes, dry noodles, soup noodles, beverages. It took a while for me to decide what to eat since everything looked so delicious. Finally I went for the “chicken beef soup”. I asked the waitress if this had noodles and she said it’s “chicken hofan in beef soup”. Ah well, should have written that in the menu.

I was playing with my Iphone when the steaming hot bowl of noodle soup came. The waitress spilled some of the soup and splashed some onto my arm while transferring the bowl to my table. She apologised and quickly went to get a cloth to wipe her mess. The bowl was literally a bowlful of soup (which was why it spilled) and I already knew then and there that I would not be able to finish the whole bowl unless I wanted to fall asleep at work. As with any other Vietnames restaurant, my noodle soup came with a side of bean sprouts and mint, and also a side of chilli and lemon wedge. Yum yum yum. The soup was very tasty and it had coriander in it. If there’s anything wrong with it it would be that it’s a little too oily. The lady said it came with hofan noodles. I was disappointed with this but due to my own fault really. I was really after the pho noodles, rice noodles not hofan noodles. The hofan was too soft for me. Somewhere close to being mushy in fact. I asked the waitress beforehand if I could change my order when I saw a yummier looking item in the menu that had rice noodles in it but she said the cook/chef had already started making my hofan soup. So no worries I told her. It was my mistake. And the best thing about my noodle soup was the chicken. It was very very tasty and tender. I was thinking of bland sliced chicken breast when I ordered this but they surprised me with uber tasty chicken chunks. Needless to say I was very very full.

Phong Vinh: chicken in beef soup

Then a few weeks later  I came here again with Auntie C, Uncle J and my little cousin. We had springs rolls to start with – a pork one and a vegetarian one. Both were very tasty and crunchy. They serve it as soon as they come out of the fryer so watch your tongue.

Phong Vinh: spring rolls

This time I made sure I ordered the correct type of noodles. I had the Phong Vinh special noodle soup which was divine. Rice noodle in soup loaded with toppings, seafood and meat.

Phong Vinh: special noodle soup

As we always have someone order a braised duck noodle soup in Viet Hoa, we also had Phong Vinh’s braised duck noodle soup to see how it compares. Both were similar in taste and the difference really just came down to the soup. Phong Vinh’s is not as salty as Viet Hoa’s.

Phong Vinh: braised duck noodle soup

Uncle J had the chicken noodle soup, dry style (which basically means that the soup is served on the side). This is utterly similar to the chicken beef soup that I had during my first encounter with Phong Vinh except that the chicken here was fried and served on the side as a cutlet piece. He said the dish was just lovely.

Phong Vinh: chicken noodle soup dry style

Last but not least, my little cousin had the stir fry beef with fried rice. This is definitely not the best dish they are serving. The sauce on the beef tasted like something out of the packet and the fried rice was bland. If you are looking for a dish like this I’d suggest heading to a Chinese restaurant instead.

Phong Vinh: beef stir fry with fried rice

 

My rating: 7/10
Phong Vinh on Urbanspoon