'Vietnamese food' archive

Vietnamese beef stew

I must warn you that this is a deconstructed recipe. I did find a recipe for beef stew in one of the three Vietnamese cookbooks that I have but I felt that the list of spices was kind of “blonde.” It happens when you have Westerners cooking their version of Asian dishes and they are not that familiar with indigenous spices. So, what I did was to add more spices according to how my taste buds interpreted the ingredients in Pho Hoa’s beef stew. It’s a pretty simple recipe, really, and it’s the combination of spices that can be quite intimidating rather than the cooking procedure itself. But if can get over the prejudice against the pungent spices, the cooked dish is just wonderful.

(Vietnamese style) Honey ginger chicken

Over two years ago, when I first cooked a chicken dish seasoned with a combination of honey, lemon and ginger, I thought I created something original. In fact, I found it amusing that it was inspired by Halls candy — you know, the honey lemon flavored ones?

Little did I know that honey-ginger dishes are common in Vietnam. There is honey ginger chicken, honey-ginger prawns and honey-ginger pork…

Lemongrass tamarind chicken

It is curious how one finds the basic sweet and sour dish in the cuisine of every Southeast Asian country. We have our escabeche; the Thai have their Pad Preow Wan Kai (they even have a name for their sweet and sour sauce — Nam Jim Priao Wan); the Malaysians have a cooking style known as Masak Branda/Belanda which, according to Bee of Rasa Malaysia, applies to eggs as well as fish; and there’s this Vietnamese sweet and sour chicken dish with lemongrass and tamarind.

Beef, ginger and pineapple stew

This is the day when I vow never to pay attention when I see the “Buy 1, Take 1″ signs all over Shopwise. Not that the cooked dish turned out badly. On the contrary, what a salvage operation it was. The problem was the beef. The meat must have come from a hundred-year-old cow. I’ve been buying meat for over two decades and I didn’t notice? The beef was pre-sliced nicely across the grain and packed in styrofoam trays. You can’t see the grain anymore when the meat has been cut that way. Sneaky way to get rid of inferior meat, eh?

Vietnamese spring rolls

We never go to a Vietnamese restaurant without ordering spring rolls. Between Pho Hoa and Pho Bac, I prefer the latter’s spring rolls. Apart from that though, my vote goes to Pho Hoa all the way. It’s always been my dream to make Vietnamese spring rolls at home but it wasn’t easy getting hold of rice spring roll wrappers. Quite recently, they started making an appearance in bigger supermarkets. I suppose that signals how popular Vietnamese cooking has become in the Philippines.

Cabbage rolls soup

There are two cabbage rolls recipes in the archive. One has chicken filling, served with white sauce and topped with grated cheese. The other is the more traditional version, stuffed with ground pork and simmered in tomato sauce. Little did I know that stuffed cabbage, or cabbage rolls, are served as a soup in Vietnam.

Lasang Pinoy 24: Coconut custard

My most memorable leche flan experience was at a fiesta. The custard was made with duck eggs and coconut milk, according to the father of my husband’s officemate. It was something I always dreamed of doing at home but the few times that we were able to buy fresh duck eggs, my coconut leche flan did not turn out too well. I probably wouldn’t have made the attempt again anytime soon had not Kai e-mailed me about Lasang Pinoy 24: Loco over coco.

Vietnamese chicken satay with nuoc cham

Chicken satay without peanuts. I couldn’t believe it myself having associated satay with peanut butter. But this recipe from Vietnamese Cooking Made Easy (recipes by Nongkran Daks, Alexandra Greeley and Wendy Hutton; published by Periplus) is peanut-free. It is light and succulent, delicate with just the right hints of complementing flavors. Served with nuoc cham, the Vietnamese sweet and sour dipping sauce, it satisfies the craving for barbecue without the grease and the fat.

About Pinoy Cook

• About the author
• Cooking philosophy
• Food photography
• Where I cook
• Where I used to cook
• The noche buena section
• Product review policy
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Recipe archive
• Published articles
• Food from all over
• E-mail the author

House On A Hill

Fish & seafood

• Fish fillets in white wine and cream-and-cheese sauce
• Bangus (milkfish) fritters, v. 2
• Braised tilapia
• Pritong tilapia (fried St. Peter’s fish) and cheese-topped chili-cauliflower bake
• Fish fillets with pepper and thyme
• Fish fillet with corn sauce
• Crouching tiger, hidden salmon
• Clams spaghetti with white wine
• Oven-steamed whole fish
• Sardines frittata in tortilla

Healthy veggies

• Fish fillet and vegetables in sour cream
• Mashed potatoes and kalabasa (squash)
• Vegetable and Apple Salad
• Salmon salad with mango-lemon dressing
• Broccoli and potatoes frittata
• 10-minute stir fried chicken, quail eggs and vegetables
• Fish fillets and togue (mung bean sprouts) stir fry
• Baked pompano and red cabbage
• Mackerel frittata
• Baked stuffed potatoes