Vietnamese Chicken Bùn

Mmm, that cold rice vermicelli salad, or whatever Anglo-ish name you can come up with. You know what I'm talking about. Aside from phở (especially on those hungover or sick days), one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is bùn (dude, I am not Vietnamese, if you couldn't already tell. Sorry if I mess up on any terms). I usually go for the one with barbecued shrimp and pork, or spring rolls and barbecued pork.

Given the fact that I have a slight fear of grilling (sorry to be a female stereotype), I decided to venture forth by myself with my apartment complex's gas grills and some boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Yay for dark poultry meat! I once succumbed to the notion that white meat was more desirable. But who wants dry-ass meat? Asians know what's up. I feel more at ease cooking chicken than pork. I don't know why...I've made pork dishes several times, but maybe the next meat venture is grilling pork. Anyway, it was a Monday, so I decided to prepare the chicken two ways so I could have a variety of meals for the rest of the week. Way 1 was simply salt and pepper. Way two was a Vietnamese-style marinade. BTW, I wasn't aware of the fact that Andrea Nguyen is a modern-day Vietnamese cooking master. But her name kept popping up during my recipe searches, so kudos to her!

Vietnamese-style Marinade for Chicken

2 to 3 lbs chicken (use whatever kind you like, bone-in or boneless)

1/4 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tsb. fish sauce (aaahhh! The stage crew for a local SF theater group once substituted in fish sauce instead of apple juice for a fake shot an actor was to take on stage. LOL)

1 tsb lime juice (can also use lemon juice or vinegar. I think you can also use more lime juice than fish sauce if you're freaked out by the, um, pugent nature of fish sauce)

2 tsb. canola oil or whatever neutral oil you have on hand

Mix the marinade ingredients together, wash and dry your chicken, then submerge the chicken into the marinade and massage the crap out of it. OK maybe not that much, but you want some good flavor! Let it marinade for 30 minutes to two hours.

Heat your grill to medium and throw the chicken on, turning every five minutes until the juices run clear. Because I was using boneless, skinless chicken thighs, I only needed to turn the chicken once for a total cook time of about 10 minutes. Juicy grill success! Now for the rest...

Vietnamese Chicken Bùn (for one serving)

1 to 2 pieces of Vietnamese grilled chicken, sliced

rice vermicelli

cilantro

mint

Thai basil (for me, this is optional)

shredded or julienned carrots

shredded or julienned cucumbers (seeded if you like)

1 to 2 pieces of soft leaf lettuce, chiffonaded

1/3 to 1/2 cup nước chấm (nuoc cham without the diacriticals...I'm just linking the recipe here because this post is getting long! At the time I didn't have any Thai chilis and used chili-garlic sauce instead, which worked well enough for me. Here's an article comparing that with sambal oelek and Sriracha.)

If you're using dried vermicelli, soak it in hot water for about 10 minutes, then drain. I like to line the bottom of a giant bowl (a mixing bowl, no joke) with the lettuce, then put the noodles on top. I arrange the veggies, herbs and chicken into sections for presentation's sake, then I douse the whole thing with the nuoc cham. Stir it up and eat it up.

Ginger-Mint Vodka Soda

Being a bartender, I guess I should post a booze recipe. Don't worry, I'm not one of those people who considers herself to be a mixologist or any other ridiculous title (an old co-worker said he's a drink monkey, haha). I don't intend to be a career bartender and feel like an ass when friends ask me to bartend at informal events because the drinks — usually just simple two- or three-ingredient cocktails — don't require any special knowledge. I guess some people get nervous about proportions, but they're just to what your preferences are. However, of course I am always happy to bartend for friends. I do enjoy it and like being helpful (well, sometimes, anyway).

That being said, one of my favorite cocktails is the vodka soda — decent vodka, soda water and a squeeze of lime. I love this recipe because it's the basis for so many tasty, refreshing cocktails and doesn't have an excess amount of sugar that will add to your potential hangover the next day. I think a lot of people think you need sweet mixers or a lot of ingredients to make a decent cocktail, but that's not always the case. This is especially true when using a sweet-flavored vodka. Most would think to mix it with lemon-lime soda when all you probably need is the soda water and squeeze of lime (or lemon, or whatever). Maybe a splash of something else, such as cranberry juice or sour mix, depending of the flavor of the vodka. For the recently trendy sweet tea vodka, I just use soda water and maybe a squeeze. If it's a lower-quality one (ahem, Seagram's), then a splash of sour mix, as well. Orange vodka with soda and a splash of OJ is a nice grown-up version of Orangina. So you see, the possibilities are endless.

One more bartender gripe when it comes to cocktails: tonic water is NOT the same as soda water! A surprising number of people think that tonic is soda and therefore, a diet-friendly mixer. SO not the case. Tonic water basically has as much sugar in it as cola does (there are diet versions of tonic water, as well). And the distinctive taste of it is mostly due to quinine. I'm not hating on tonic water. It actually has medicinal qualities to it and glows under black light! I just want to make sure that alcohol imbibers know what they're drinking. So anyway...

I so happened to have a small bottle of PacifiKool's Hawaiian Ginger syrup (aaahhhh, so good!), as well as some fresh herbs from my Vietnamese cooking kick (more in future posts). So I threw together this simple, delicious cocktail. As usual, proportions are up to you!

Ginger Mint Vodka Soda

1.25 ounces of decent vodka (I'm a fan of 42 Below, but at the grocery store nearest to me, Ketel One on sale will do)

1.25 ounces of PacifiKool's Hawaiian Ginger syrup

mint leaves (perhaps a palmful)

lime wedge

soda water

ice

Ideally, you should muddle the mint, but I have neither a muddler nor the patience for that right now. So I just crushed and rolled the leaves around in my hands. I'm sure I lost some of the essence to my palms, but it was fine for my personal cocktail at home.

Put everything together in a glass, stir and sip (or chug) away at any time of day. You can leave out the vodka if you're not that hardcore(!).

Coconut Chocolate Pudding

I first dabbled in vegetarianism while living in London and I still miss the vegetarian food products available there. I can get Heinz beans here if I look hard enough, but things like Tofu Rosso are beyond my reach. What I miss most though is Provamel Soya Pudding. I think it's better than dairy-based pudding. I've tried Zen Soy's chocolate pudding, but it was too sweet (twice the sugar as Provamel's). I ended up chucking the whole pack.

Last November I visited my friend Emma in England. Emma is vegan and it was getting pretty cold then, so I thought it would be perfect to try the Coconut Hot Chocolate recipe from Melissa Clark. It was really rich and tasty. Emma’s Nan (who worries quite seriously about running out of chocolate) raved about it for days ("Ooooh, that's nice.").

So missing the pudding and having enjoyed the richness coconut milk adds to chocolate desserts, I decided to look for a coconut chocolate pudding recipe. I liked the version I found on vanilla & lace best.

*Arrowroot is an ingredients you can't find in a regular grocery store. Trader Joe's doesn't have it either, but most health food store should carry it. Also, make sure not to add too much arrowroot or else it'll become unpleasantly gelatinous.

Coconut Chocolate Pudding

from vanilla & lace

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk (lite is fine), divided
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, sifted (cornstarch can be used, however arrowroot is best)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 3.5-ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or 3.5 ounces chocolate chips
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, maple syrup, and the salt (just) to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a separate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot powder, and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.

When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the arrowroot slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Transfer to a bowl and place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. When you chill it longer, it takes on a truffle-like texture. Yum!

Pasta with Onion and Bacon

i run basically because i love to eat pasta. a simple al dente pasta with a whisper-light red sauce and a few fresh but succulent ingredients is my idea of heaven. i recently had a wonderful version at the new pizza place in sf zero zero: Bucatini, Mendocino Uni Butter, Garlic Chives, Roasted Garlic and Breadcrumbs. my mouth is watering just at the thought!

i found this recipe from mi amore marco bittman, who's writing for runners world now. i used pancetta cubes from TJs, but it seemed like it needed a stronger meat presence, so i'd recommend bacon or real thick pancetta cubes. i also used TJ's garlic and chive linguine.

first crisp up the pork.


then sautee the onions in the leftover oil until they brown.


smash up some plum tomatoes and cook em with the onions until it becomes a sauce. toss it with the pasta, top with the crunchy pork, fresh parsley, and parmesan.

three delicious ingredients - just like us!

Tofu Poke

All right, here is the tofu poke recipe to which I was referring in the Tofu Salad with Miso Dressing post. I know you soy lovers were just soaking your beans in water for this.

Mini lesson: Poke (POH-kay) is a Hawaiian term roughly meaning "to slice" or "to cut." Don't use this as a reference for any papers, but you get the gist. There are so many types of poke found in supermarkets, fish markets and restaurants (hell, even in a fine wine and liquor store) in Hawai‘i (side note: sorry if the Hawaiian diacritical marks make me look like a haole douchebag who's trying too hard. I write for a publication where it's mandatory to use them, so I just got used to putting those suckers in). Other cultures have similar dishes, like the Chamorro (Guamanian, etc.) kelaguen or South American ceviche. The normal poke is made from raw ‘ahi, which is SO ADDICTING, by the way. You can also find it with different proteins and sauces, such as kimchi tako (octopus) poke, mussel poke, wasabi poke, spicy ‘ahi poke or ... drum roll, please ... tofu poke.

I like this dish because it's affordable, easy to make, relatively low in fat, high in protein and just frickin' tasty. I originally looked to this recipe, but I've made this enough times with some modifications and have found a recipe to my liking. Bring this as a püpü/side to the next barbecue or potluck you attend, or have it with hot rice and your favorite greens for an awesome entree. Like a lot of the other dishes I've posted, ingredient proportions are up to your taste preferences. Dilute the soy sauce if you're worried about sodium content, add more chili flakes if you like spicy, etc.

Tofu Poke Recipe

1 12-ounce block of firm tofu, sliced into bite-sized cubes (first drain the water from the container, wrap the whole block in paper towels and put a weight on it for up to 20 minutes to get some excess moisture out of there, then slice away. Otherwise, your cubes will break apart way too easily and your sauce will get too diluted.)

1/4 cup thinly sliced onion (preferably sweet Maui onion, but yellow or red onion will do)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon Hawaiian sea salt

1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

1/2 cup sliced green onions (once again, f*ckyeahgreenonions!)

1/2 cup re-hydrated wakame (dried seaweed, the kind usually found in miso soup)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Gently toss everything together, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Sometimes I like to make this a day ahead to really let the flavors meld together and soak into the tofu. This may sound like a strange and unsavory dish upon first introduction, but it always gets great reactions. Eat this, tofu haters! And lovers!