Thit Kho Vietnamese Caramelized Braised Pork Belly and Eggs

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork belly (or use skin on pork thigh--won't be nearly as soft as pork belly of course. Cut ~2-3 inch pieces.)
juice from 2 young coconut (yields ~4 cups)
4 tbs of fish sauce
fresh cracked pepper
2-3 garlic cloves, gently crushed or thinly sliced
1-2 shallots, thinly sliced
4 whole hard boiled eggs peeled (or more if you like--boil ahead of time)

directions:

We like a very clear sauce so we par boil the pork in some boiling water for about 3-4 min to get rid of the gunk. Dump out the water and rinse the gunk off the pork and the pot. Return to pot and add the coconut juice.

Add the eggs, fish sauce, shallots, and garlic. The liquid should be generous enough to cover both the pork and eggs to caramelize evenly, if not, add a bit more water or additional coconut water if you still have some left. Turn to medium high heat and bring to rolling simmer and cover lid, reducing heat to low. Braise for at least 1 hr--we go to 2.5 hrs even. The natural sugars of the coconut juice and fish sauce will caramelize the pork and eggs. Taste sauce and adjust with additional fish sauce or sugar to taste. Add plenty of fresh cracked pepper just before serving with fresh steaming hot rice and a side of veggies.

Cooks notes: If no young coconut water is available, used canned coconut water. For more complex sauce, try adding 5 spice, star anise, fennel, coriander seeds, or cinnamon in a stainless steel tea strainer. Also, you can cook mustard greens in the sauce as it braises for a great veggie side.

Banh It Ram

Dough

• 16 oz bag of glutinous rice powder (bot nep)
• 1 2/3 cups water
• 1 ts salt

Fillings

• 1/2 lb small to medium shrimp, cleaned, deshelled and deviened cut into small 1/4-1/2 inch pieces (save about 3-4 tbs for garnishing on top of the dumpling)
• 1/4 lb pork belly cut into small 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces (you can substitute leaner cuts if you like)
• 2 ts fish sauce
• 2 ts sugar
• 2 ts pepper
• 1 ts dark soy sauce
• 1/2 cup split mung beans, soaked in water for at least 4 hrs or best overnight
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• cooking oil
• fried shallots
• nuoc mam cham and pickled carrots and daikon

Marinate the shrimp with 1 ts fish sauce, sugar, pepper and set aside for about 20 mins. Marinate the pork with 1 ts fish sauce, sugar, pepper, and dark soy sauce also for about the same time. In a large pan at medium high heat, saute the pork belly first. No oil is needed here as there’s plenty of fat in the belly. When it’s about 1/2 way done, add shrimp but not the garnishing shrimp. Saute until both are done and set aside. Then toss in reminder of the 3-4 tbs of shrimp and saute until done. When cool, mince in a mortar and pestle or finely mince with knife and set aside.

Make the scallion oil by heating a few tbs cooking oil such as olive oil and adding the scallions just to wilt and set aside.

You can either steam or boil the mung beans. We prefer steaming it since we don’t like to stand in front of a pot and stirring (use only enough water just to cover the beans). Steam mung beans until you can easily smash the grain with your fingers. The longer you soak in water, the quicker it will steam–if overnight about 15 minutes. When done, transfer to bowl or mortar and smash into a paste with rubber spatula.

Now in mixing bowl, incorporate the mung bean paste, shrimp and pork together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow to cool and form small balls, about quarter size and set aside. This can all be done a day in advance.

In separate mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour with salt and mix. Work it into a pliable play dough like texture. Be patient–it’ll come together. The dough is too wet when it’s soft and sticky–you can add a bit more flour or let it air dry for about 10 minutes. It’s easier to work with a slightly dryer dough. When working with the dough, if it starts to break from being too dry, just add a bit more water.

Pinch off dough and roll into small golf ball size and flatten into a round disk. Add the ball of filling in the center and fold over the edges and roll gently, sealing it. Use some all purpose flour on your hands if you find it too sticky. You can keep a small bowl of water on hand and using your wet fingers seal off any cracks. For photos of this process, see the che xoi nuocrecipe. Keep the formed dumplings on a clean dry surface such as a cookie tray or cutting board and don’t let them touch.

Make sure you save enough dough to make the rice cakes the dumpling sits on. Again, no need to roll it into a string like we did–a thin 1/4 inch or so round cake will do. Make a gentle indentation and wet the center of the cake and gently push down to seal.

In a large pot, being careful not to overcrowd, boil dumpling until they rise–remove from water and allow each to drain dry–a large tray covered with plastic wrap would work, but don’t let them touch as it’s very sticky.

Make sure the dumplings are completely dry before frying. In a large saute pan heat up on medium high only enough oil so that it just covers the top of the rice cake. Fry until golden brown and remove and drain on paper towels. Plate and top with minced shrimp and scallion oil and serve with nuoc mam cham and pickled carrots and daikon.

Xoi Bap

• 1.5 cup glutinous rice (soaked in water overnight and drained)
• 1 32 oz can of white hominy, drained
• 1/2 cup split and deshelled mung beans (soaked in water overnight and drained)
• 1/2 ts salt
• fried shallots
• sugar
• Steamer or Sticky Rice Bamboo steamer
• muslin fabric or cheesecloth

If you have two steamer trays, you can steam both the rice and mung beans at once. If not, do each separately.

Bring a steamer to boil. Place muslin fabric over the steamer tray and add the glutinous rice and hominy. Season with salt and mix well. Steam until rice is soft, clear, and sticky but not too mushy, about 15 minutes or so. Remove and place in serving bowl. Hominy is precooked and ready to eat out of the can, so the purpose of cooking it with the rice is for it to be incorporate it into the sticky rice. If you add the hominy after the rice is fully cooked, it doesn’t stick to the rice as well.

Now steam the mung beans in a similar manner until you can easily crush a grain of mung bean with your fingers, about 15 minutes. Remove and add to small bowl and lightly crush and fluff with a spoon. Place this on top of the rice and hominy mixture. Generously sprinkle fried shallots and sugar on top and enjoy. You can also use the sesame, peanut, sugar and salt mixture as well.

Bánh Bột Lọc – Clear Shrimp and Pork Dumplings

Translucent, almost gelatinous cakes of sticky tapioca flour filled with sauteed whole shrimps and sliced fatty pork. Topped with scallions and crispy rendered pork fat and served with fish sauce.

For filling

• 1/2 pound shrimp
• 10 large shrimps (with heads)
• 1/2 pound pork belly or pork back
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon nouc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Pepper

For dough

• 30 ounces tapioca starch
• Boiling water

For topping

• 1/8 pound pork fat
• 2 scallion stalks
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Make filling

Cut pork into small pieces that contain meat, fat, and skin. Set aside.

Remove the small and large shrimp’s tails, legs and veins, but leave their peels intact. The shrimp’s peel adds to the dish’s flavor and texture. For the larger shrimps, do not remove their heads. The shrimp heads contribute to the filling’s intense orangey color.

Sauté the pork in a medium saucepan on medium-high heat until just cooked. Add the shrimp (large and small) to the pork along with vegetable oil, fish sauce, salt, and sugar. Cook until all liquid has been absorbed. Lastly, add a generous amount of pepper to the filling.

Make dough

Place the tapioca starch into a large mixing bowl. Add enough boiling water to the starch to form malleable dough. Start with half a cup of water and gradually add in a little more until dough is formed. Knead the dough for approximately five minutes or until the water and starch is combined. The dough should be smooth and pliable.

Assembling and cooking Banh Bot Loc

Using a small portion of the dough, form a flat circle that is approximately 3″ in diameter and 1/8″ thick. Place one shrimp and one piece of pork in the center of the dough and fold in half. For the larger shrimps, cut into smaller pieces. Repeat with the remainder of the filling and dough.

Cook the banh bot loc in boiling water for 5-8 minutes or until translucent. Once the banh bot loc has been removed from the boiling water, place them immediately in a cold water bath for 3 minutes and then drain. Repeat until all banh bot loc has been cooked.

Make topping

Saute pork fat on high heat. After 15 minutes, crispy pork fat will form within the liquid fat. Drain the liquid fat leaving only the crispy pork fat. Set aside. Chop scallions into thin slices and sauté in vegetable oil. Add in crispy pork fat and combine. Spread the onion, oil, and crispy pork fat mixture atop thebanh bot loc and serve immediately with fish sauce.

Bánh Ít Trần (Mung Bean stuffed Dumpling)

Filling
* 3 tbsp oil
* 1 small onion
* 200 g pork
* 200g shrimp
* 1-½ tsp salt
* 1 tsp pepper
* ½ lb. mung beans, cooked and mashed

Sauté onion in oil until softened.
Add pork and shrimp, with salt and pepper.
Cook until the shrimp and pork are cooked through.
Meanwhile, cook the mung beans, drain and mash.
Mix the shrimp and pork with the mung bean mixture.
Roll about 2 tbsp of the mixture into balls.

Cubed pork and chopped shrimp.

Mung bean mashed.

Rolled into balls.

For the Shell - Makes 8

* 1-⅛ cup sticky rice flour

* ½ cup hot water

Mix the flour with hot water (boil and let it cool down).

Roll a ball about the same size as the filling.

Flatten the dough with your fingers into a disc.

Cover the filling with the dough by closing it around the ball of mung bean.

Place onto 3"x3" squares of parchment paper.

Steam at low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve with nước chấm (in Vietnam, they also added some dry shrimps).

Sweet Rice Flour.

Dough made into a disc.

Placing the ball of mung bean onto the disc of dough.

Close the dough and cover the ball.

Bánh ít trần ready to be steamed.

For the purple yam dough

* ½ of the dough above

* 1 cup purple yam

* ½ cup sticky rice flour

Make half of the recipe of the dough above and set aside.

Microwave purple yam for a minute.

Mix with flour.

Mix this new purple mixture with the regular dough mixture.

Roll and cover the filling as above.

Cook and serve with nước chấm.

Tada!

Package of frozen purple yam.

Close-up of the bánh ít trần.

Flan

Do you like my mom's efforts at being artsy?

Bánh Flan - makes 5

Making the caramel

* 8 tsp sugar
* 2 tsp water

Place water and sugar in a little pot.
Bring water to a boil and let it bubble for 5 minutes, while swirling the whole pot – do not insert any utensil into the caramel or the sugar will crystallize.
Turn the heat down to Medium for another 2-3 minutes until you obtain a golden brown colour – the darker the colour, the more bitter it will be.

Add another ½ tbsp of water. (Sugar can also be added if there is insufficient caramel.)

Pour caramel in a ramekin (my mom even used coffee cups).

Initial water and sugar mixture.

Caramel is starting to colour.

This is a bit too dark and will be a bit bitter.

Pour into containers that will hold the flan.

This is a nice colour for the caramel.

For the custard

* 2 egg yolks
* 1 egg
* 1-⅞ cup (about 470 mL, or a bit less than 2 cups) milk
* 2 tbsp sugar
* ½ tsp vanilla extract, or lime zest instead

Mix milk with sugar.
Heat up milk until it is warm - not too hot or the eggs will curdle when you add them.

Beat the eggs yolks and egg together, and add to the warm milk.
You can add any flavouring you want to the mixture, vanilla or lime zest.

Pour the mixture through a strainer into individual containers on top of the caramel.

Meanwhile, set up a bain marie (My mom uses a deep pan with a lid and with about an inch of water) and turn on the heat.

Place the containers in the bain marie (the water should be barely simmering). Putthe lid on but do not completely cover to allow some air out (my mom puts a chopstick in between the pot and the lid).

The heat should be set at Low. Cooking slowly at a low temperature ensures a smooth consistency.
Cook for 30 minutes or until it is no longer jiggly. (You could also bake this but the top will not be as smooth.)

Cool down.

Run a knife around the edge to loosen and flip the custard onto a plate.

Or you can eat it in the container.

Tada!

Pouring the eggs into the milk mixture.

Pouring the mixture through a strainer.

Bánh tráng trộn

Nguyên liệu:

• 1 bịch bánh tráng tôm (100g)
• 1 trái xoài xanh
• 10 trái trứng cút luộc
• 50g khô bò
• 50g tôm khô
• 2 trái quất (tắc)
• 1 thìa súp tương ớt
• 1 thìa súp nước tương
• 1 thìa cà phê hạt nêm
• 2 thìa cà phê đường
• 1 thìa cà phê tỏi băm
• 1 thìa súp dầu ăn
• Đậu phộng, hành phi, rau răm

Cách làm:

1. Trộn đều hỗn hợp nước tương, hạt nêm, đường, quất để cho tan hẳn.
2. Tôm khô ngâm nở mềm, vớt ra để ráo.
3. Bắc chảo phi thơm tỏi rồi cho tôm vào đảo qua cho săn lại.
4. Xoài gọt vỏ, băm sợi nhuyễn. Trứng cút lột vỏ, xắt khoanh. Bánh tráng cắt miếng hình chữ nhật vừa ăn. Cho tất cả xoài, trứng cút, khô bò và tôm khô trộn đều.
5. Rưới nước trộn lên, trộn lại lần nữa cho thấm. Cho rau răm vào.
6. Cho ra đĩa, rắc đậu phộng và hành phi lên trên.

Mẹo nhỏ:
Món bánh tráng này trộn đến đâu dùng đến đấy, nếu không bánh tráng thấm nước trộn sẽ bị ỉu mất ngon. Tôm khô nếu chỉ ngâm nở thì không thơm và không ngon bằng ngâm xong xào lại cho săn và ngọt. Xoài xanh mua loại xoài già, nhiều bột và có vị chua chua ngọt ngọt là ngon nhất.

Cách 2

Món này dùng ngay, co vị chua thanh nhẹ, làm món ăn chơi rất ngon.

Nguyên liệu:
- 100gr bánh tráng mỏng, loại mềm và nhỏ.
- 2 thìa cà phê muối tôm.
- 1 thìa cà phê satế.
- 1 thìa súp hành phi.
- 2 quả quất (tắc).
- Rau răm.
- 50gr khô bò.

Thực hiện:
- Cắt bánh tráng thành sợi nhỏ.
- Rửa sạch rau răm, thái nhuyễn.
- Quất vắt lấy nước cốt.
- Khô bò tước sợi vừa ăn.
- Cho bánh tráng thái sợi, muối tôm, satế, nước cốt quất, khô bò vào 1 chiếc thố lớn, dùng đũa trộn thật đều.
- Cuối cùng cho rau răm, hành phi vào, trộn đều lần nữa.

Mabo Tofu

• 1 pound soft tofu, drained and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil
• 6 ounces ground pork
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced, thick green parts discarded
• 2 1/2 tablespoons chili bean paste
• 1 tablespoon fermented black beans
• 2 teaspoons Sichuan pepper, ground
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 tablespoon scallions, sliced

PROCEDURES

1. 1

   Pour the oil into a large work set over high heat. Dump in the pork, and stir-fry until the meat is no longer pink. Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic and leeks. Cook until they are fragrant and the less are soft. Add the chili bean paste, black beans, and Sichuan pepper. Stir well, and cook for 1 minute.