169: Vietnamese Grilled Shrimp Salad

My mom gets frustrated when she sees me cooking in the kitchen - flour all over the dinning table, onion skin decorating the floors, every imaginable bowl scattered on the kitchen counters. I am a messy cook, I must admit. Mom, just be glad I haven’t managed to mess up the ceiling…yet.

Messy cooking aside, another thing that frustrates her is that according to her, I don’t cook enough healthy meals. (Ahem.) Looking through my archive, I noticed that I do tend to gravitate towards the sweet stuff and…the burgers. Oops. Sorry, mom! This is my peace offering.

Recipe from Pure Simple Cooking found through Food and Wine’s….

136: Vietnamese Iced Coffee

When France colonized Vietnam they brought with them a variety of products from home, one of which was coffee. (Fun fact of the day: Coffee plantations were eventually established in Vietnam. Today, they are the second biggest importer of coffee, only second to Brazil.). As milk was scarce at that time, they made do with condensed milk and the rest was history. What resulted from this is something much, much creamier than what was the norm. In other words, oh my god, so freaking delicious. 

Normally, I like my coffee to be pipping hot, but on a hot summer day such as today, it’s best to drink it with some ice - or rather, a lot of ice.

Recipe from here. 

126: Pork Meatball Banh Mi

I know. I’ve only recently had banh mi, but I saw these on Bon Appetit’s website and I had to give it a try. Yum, yum, yum.

124: Spicy Lemongrass Beef Banh Mi

I’m on a Vietnamese kick. I blame the pho. Here’s another attempt at a Vietnamese clssic: the banh mi. Cue dramatic music, please.

Similar to the pho, everyone has their own banh mi recipe - pork, chicken, beef eggs - all marinated and cooked in various ways. But despite the differences in fillings, people seem to agree on one golden rule: always use good bread.

I found it hard to choose, but in the end I went with this recipie, but instead of chicken, I used thinly sliced beef. Yummm, lemongrass!

Oop, careful, it can get messy.

122: Pho Bo

It has started to rain here. Summer went away as quickly as it came. With the rain came the cold and there’s nothing more satisfying than the bowl of hot soup during cold weather.

Everyone has their own Pho Bo recipe - some can be delightfully detailed while some cater to those in need of a quick fix. I did this on a Saturday afternoon, so I had plenty of time to make my own broth - highly recommended if you have the time. I’ve tasted my fair share of phos and none of them tasted like Maggi beef cubes. The aromatic spices (cinnamon, star anise, etc) gives it an edge but the fullness of the broth is what gives it the ultimate umph!