Banh Khot/Vietnamese Mini Savory Pancakes

I am so sorry for not updating my blog for over 2 weeks. I have been very busy and also having some problem with my car too. It was stolen from my driveway and it totally stresses me out. Thank God the police found it and it was in pretty good shape. Now I have to deal with the insurance, the DMV and whole loads of paperwork to be done before I can drive the car again. Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with all the details.

Now let’s talk about Banh Khot. Banh Khot is a mini sized rice cake that is fried and served with fresh lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce. I’ve eaten Banh Khot from a Vietnamese restaurant in PA and really like it. What I love about this snack is the crispy texture on the outside and soft and tender in the middle. To eat it you take a piece of the banh khot, place it in a bed of lettuce and herbs, a bit of the pickle carrot, wrapped it up and eat it. It is crispy, sour, sweet, salty and spicy at the same time. Really satisfying!!

I bought a Banh Khot/Ebelskiver pan from Amazon last year so I thought I try to make this at home. It turns out pretty well but not as crispy as the restaurant ones. I think it’s because I used too little oil to the pan when I was frying it. The last batch I added a bit more oil to it and it did turn out crispy. The Asian supermarket does sell the ready mix banh khot flour and you can use that. Since I am too lazy to drive out to buy it, I just goggle for the recipe. As for the dipping sauce I added some carrot to the dipping sauce as this way I don’t have to pickle the carrot separately. I serve mine with only lettuce since I don’t have any fresh herbs in my fridge but you can have it with any type of lettuce and fresh herbs.

Sweet Potato and Taro Fritters/Banh Tom

I love these shrimp cakes. Banh Tom is a popular dish in Vietnam. It is made of thick cut sweet potato and shrimp, coated with light batter and deep-fried until golden brown. It is often served as an appetizer and commonly eaten wrapped with lettuce, pickle, herbs and dipped into nuoc mam sauce. It is very similar to our cucur udang except it has sweet potatoes in it. Since I have a small piece of taro in my fridge, I added it to the batter beside a few extra ingredients. The sweet potato is usually cut thick but I julienne it for faster cooking. The lettuce and vegetable pickle compliment so well with the crispy fritters, while the nouc mam sauce ties all the flavors together.

Vietnamese Shaking Beef/Bo Luc Lac

My friend Janice and I went to Philly for our Asian groceries shopping a couple of weeks ago and after that we went for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Since I’ve never been there I let her do the ordering. She ordered a few dishes and one of them was Bo Luc Lac. Bo Luc Lac literally translated is ‘Shaking Beef’ The luc Lac refers to how you have to shake back and forth the skillet or wok to sear the cubes of beef.

I love this beef salad so much that I have to re-creates it at home. After a little research online I came up with this. I used my leftover tenderloin from the freezer for this but you can use other cuts of meat of your choice as long as they are good for quick stir-fry. This dish is normally served on a bed of watercress salad and since I am too lazy to drive out to get it I just served them with lettuce and tomatoes. Both of us enjoyed this dish very much. The beef is so tender, succulent and flavorful... it packs such a punch of flavor. The next time I cook this again I will try it out with other cuts of meat and see the difference in taste.

Vietnamese Caramelized Chicken Wings

I still have plenty of chicken wings left in my freezer. Weather is too hot to grill them outside so I just cooked these wings on the stove. These wings are tender and succulent and it is great to serve it with rice and some pickle vegetables.

Ingredients:

12 chicken wings – clean and cut
4 kaffir lime leaves
3 stalks lemongrass – finely chopped
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 shallots – sliced thinly
3 bird eyes chilies – finely sliced

Grilled Chicken Banh Mi with Pickled Vegetables

The first time I encounter with this popular Vietnamese Sandwich was in California. We were at Westminster and we had our lunch at the famous Lee Sandwich place and I was hooked. I love the taste of the fresh grilled meat, the sweet, sour, crunchy pickle vegetables, sandwich between the light and crispy baguette. Here is my homemade version on the famous sandwich.

Ingredients:

2 pieces chicken breast - skin and fat removes

Marinate:

2 cloves garlic - chopped
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
Black pepper

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork

I rarely cook with pork as Carlos is not a fan of it but I will cook them occasionally if I get a chance to buy the pork from Chinatown. In Vietnam they will normally use fatty pork or pork ribs for this dish but I just used the lean pork I have in my freezer. This dish has a lovely sweet and savory taste that is highly addictive. You can use chicken meat for this dish too.

Ingredients :

1 pound of pork – cut into thin strip
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
2 green chilies – slice thinly
2 tbsp sugar (more if you like it sweeter)
2 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)
2 tsps ground black pepper

1. Marinate the pork with fish sauce and black pepper and set it aside for an hour.
2. Heat up about 2-3 tbsp of oil in a pan on medium high and add in the sugar. Stir from time to time and make sure the sugar does not burn. When the sugar starts to turns into a darker brown color, remove the pan from heat and add in the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a few second.
3. Place the pan back on heat and add in the slices pork. Let the pork cook for about 1 minute and turn them around to cook the other side. The meat will have a dark golden color from the caramel.
4. The meat will discharge some juice and create a sauce with the caramel. Once that stage is reached, cover the pan and let the pork/sauce mixture simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. If the sauce dry up too fast, add about 1/4 cup of water to it and continue to simmer until the sauce thicken and the pork should dry up and caramelized. If that's not the case, increase the heat until the sauce dry up.
6. Check seasoning and add in green chilies. Serve with warm rice.

Note : You can use less oil if you are using fatty pork.

Shrimp Paste on Lemongrass Skewers

This is a famous appetizer known as Choa Tom in Vietnam. Shrimp is minced into a smooth paste and coated around a sugarcane but since I can't find fresh sugarcane here I just used Lemongrass. It is better to simply grill it and eat it by itself, straight from the hot grill and enjoying every single bite of it. It will be great dish for a barbecue spread.

Ingredients :

1 pound of fresh shrimp - peeled and deveined
2 stalk of spring onions - finely chopped
a small bunch of cilantro - finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
1 small red chilli - finely chopped
1 egg
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
8 pieces of lemongrass
1) Put shrimp in a food processor and pulse into a smooth paste. Remove into a mixing bowl.
2) Add in all the rest of the ingredients except the lemongrass and mix well. Set aside in the fridge for an hour.
3) Divide the paste into 8 equal portions and wet your hand with some water. Take a piece of lemongrass in your hand and mould a portion of the paste around the top part of the lemongrass. Press gently until the edges are sealed.
4) Place the skewer on an oiled tray, while you finish making the rest of the skewers.
5) Grill the skewers over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, turning them frequently until they are nicely browned all over. Serve immediately while its still hot.

Note: Make sure you wet your hand with some water before you mould the paste if not it will stick all over your hand. Alternatively you can cook the skewers under a broiler. You can replace the lemongrass with sugarcane for this dish.