Pan-Seared Fish Collars-Ức Cá Chiên

"Fish Collar" in English but it is called "Ức Cá" which means"Fish sternum" in Vietnamese.  It is cheap and I start seeing them around grocery stores in town.  If you never cook or eat them, you should try.  It is a  flavorful, rich omega oil, delicious meal.  Use your precaution and only buy fresh fish. 

Cá Chiên/Pan-seared fish is a simple dish and eaten with steamed/boiled veggies, soup and rice in daily meals.  At the table, everyone uses chopsticks to pick a small piece of fish-Do you hear "small" ? Yes, indeed a small piece not like the whole steak or even 1/4 of it.  Then dip it into a soy sauce or fish sauce mixture, put it on the top of rice in a rice bowl which is hold with another hand.  The bowl is raised close to our mouth and  a small portion of rice with that little piece of fish is skillfully transferred  to our mouth by the chopsticks.  Then repeat the same process for steamed/boiled veggie.  Then soup is ladled into the bowl with a little rice near the end of the meal.  "We eat to live" as Vietnamese saying.

Make 4 servings, need 1 or 2 fish collars for one serving depending on theirs sizes
4-8 fish collars about 3 lb, cleaned, drained and no need to scale if fish has soft scales like stealhead, salmon, trout
1 green onion, thinly sliced
4 Tbs vegetable oil
Salt
Steamed/boiled/fresh veggie and cooked rice to serve

Heat 2 Tbs oil in a non-stick large pan over medium high heat.  Sprinkle and rub a little salt over fish collars both sides.  Then add  fish collars to the pan skin side down first. If the fish starts to arc, use a spatula press each piece down a few seconds.  Do not touch or turn  until the fish cooked about 1/4 up from the side and the skin is golden brown and crisp.  Turn over about 5 minutes until golden brown.  if the fish collars are big turn the heat down to medium and cook 2-3 minutes longer.  Add more oil if needed. Break one piece at center to check if it turns opaque color, it is done.  Sprinkle green onion and remove from heat, serve hot or warm.

Dipping  soy sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce
Juice from 1 lime or lemon
Juice from 1/2 orange
1 garlic clove, crushed and finely minced
1-3 tsp sugar
1 small red hot chili, seeded, finely minced

Mix all the ingredients except sugar together, then add sugar 1 tsp at a time to your liking.

Dipping fish sauce, recipe in Vietnamese rice chicken.

Tres Lesches/Three-Milk Cake-Bánh Bông Lan với Ba Loai Sữa kiểu Mễ.

Tres Lesches/Pastel de Tres Lesches/Torta de las Tres Leches is a popular cake in Mexico and Latin America.  It is a sponge cake or butter cake soaked in three kinds of milk:  condense milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk or cream and then frosted with whipped cream or meringue.  There are a lot of recipes for Tres Lesches around with  additional flavors and garnishes as fresh fruit, coconut, nut, chocolate, and various liqueurs.  Different people prefer different styles-soupier or firmer texture.  This recipe is adapted from a Mexican cookbook "México the beautiful cookbook" and "Rose' heavenly cake".  If you have a favorite sponge/butter cake just use it.  In this cake, whole eggs are beat together not separated as in other recipe.

6 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1¾ cups/7 oz  bleached all-purpose flour or 2 cups cake flour, sifted
Butter to grease the pan
One 9x3 in. round pan or springform pan,
2 round cooling wire rack , greased lightly with butter or non-stick spray

Filling
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whole milk, whip cream or heavy cream
2 Tbs to 1/4 cup rump, brandy (optional)

Topping
1½ cups heavy cream
3 Tbs superfine sugar (if not available use regular sugar)


1.  Preheat oven to 350°F 20 minutes before baking.  Spread a even thin layer of soft butter on bottom and sides of the pan with a pastry brush or just your fingers.  Pour a little flour in the pan and shake it around the pan until the flour cover all the interior surface.  Turn the pan over and knock out any excess flour.  I hardly use extra layers of parchment paper and have not had any sticking problem thus far.but if you  like to line the pan with parchment paper then do as you wish.
2.  Place eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a medium bowl or saucepan over a saucepan with simmer water.  Whisk constantly until warm to touch and sugar dissolved.  Transfer to a mixing bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attached, beat at high speed for 5 minutes.  The mixture will be pale, thick, light in color and increase the volume to 4 times.
3. Sift 1/2 flour onto the beaten egg. Fold flour into the egg mixture  gently but quickly by a silicon spatula, skimmer, or a whisk balloon.  Repeat with the remaining flour until all flour disappeared.  Pour the batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown, the side comes away from the pan and the cake tester or toothpick inserted int he center come out clean.  Invert the cake to a cooling crack and reinvert it again onto another cooking rack.  Let it cool completely with the top up. Poke the cake with a toothpick or small skewer.
4.  While waiting for the cake cool down, mix condensed milk, evaporated milk,heavy cream well in a 1 quart measure cup or a large bowl.
5.  Put the cake into a rimmed platter or the baking pan (washed and dried) and pour the milk mixture over the cake.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator overnight.
6.  In the mixing bowl, add heavy cream, sugar, vanilla chill in the fridge at least 15 minutes along with the whisk.  Whip with low speed until soft peak form, then increasing speed to medium high until stiff peak form when raising the whisk.  Spread on the top of the cake with a spatula or decorate with star tips.  Chill in the fridge until serve.  As the cake sits, a small amount of milk mixture will ooze around the bottom.

Note:
If making ahead the day before, need to stabilize whipped cream with 1½ tsp gelatin powder as in the Black Forest cake.
Bleached all purpose flour is used here help to make the crumb tender but unbleached all purpose flour still makes a good cake.

Tacos Carne Asada- Bánh Tráng Mễ Cuốn Thịt Bò Nướng.

Make 4 servings, 2-3 tacos for each person
2 lb skirt or flank steak

4 garlic cloves, finely minced or crushed

1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped 

2 limes, juiced about 1/4 cup

1 large Orange juice, juice about 1/2 cup

2 Tbs vinegar

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

16 ( 7 in.) corn or flour tortillas

Use a mortar and a pestle (or a blender/processor) to mash garlic, serrano, garlic, ground black pepper and cilantro into a mass.  Stir in juices and vinegar, then gradually whisk in oil.  Place meat in a large bowl or container. Pour in the marinade over meat, cover at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge.  The meat is not mushy when being marinated overnight.

Grill meat on a grill until meat is done to your liking adjust timing depending on the thickness of the steak from 10-12 minutes. The internal temperature should be at least 145-150°F for medium well.  Let the steak rests for 5 minutes.  Slice diagonally across grain with the knife 45° with the cutting board. 

Warm tortilla on the grill or ungreased pan for a few seconds on each side with a metal tong or chopsticks.  Fill with meat and salsa of your choice. 

Simple Guacamole
2 large ripe avocados
1 large or medium size tomato, seeded and chopped
1 serrano pepper, seeded, minced
1 garlic clove, finely minced or pressed
2 Tbs finely chopped onion or green onion
1 Tbs chopped cilantro ( leaves and tender stems)
2 Tbs fresh lime juice 
1 tsp  salt and extra for taste
Fresh cilantro sprigs for garnish

Cut avocados into halves, remove pits, and scoop out the flesh into a medium bowl.  Mash with a folk coarsely.  Stir in lime juice and mix well with avocado before adding tomato, serrano pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro, salt.  Taste and adjust season with salt.  Spoon into a serving bowl and garnish with cilantro sprigs.  

Serve with chips or tacos immediately or store in an air tight container with a plastic wrap press on the surface in the fridge.  If the top is getting the brown color due to oxidation discard the top and enjoy the rest.

Salsa De Tomate Verde Cocida ( Cooked Tomate Verde/Tomatillo Sauce)

3/4 lb tomatillos, husks removed
1 serrano, jalapeño, or other small hot chile, stemmed
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup packed cilantro (leaves and tender stems)
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt and extra for taste 
1/4 tsp sugar (optional)

In a medium saucepan, cover  serrano pepper, garlic and tomatillos with cold water.  Bring it to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Cover, and let it steeps 30 minutes.  Transfer garlic, pepper, tomatillos to a blender or food processor process until smooth.  Add cilantro, onion and salt, puree briefly.  Taste and adjust seasoning with extra salt, sugar.

Salsa Fresca /Pico de gallo
1 lb firm ripe tomato (about 4 tomatoes), seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 serrano pepper, stemmed, seeded and finely minced
1/4 cup packed cilantro (leaves and tender stems) 
2 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed/crushed
1/4 red onion, coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a non metallic bowl.  Stir well, taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Let's stand at least 15 minutes but it can be made ahead, cover and refrigerator up to 2 days.

Thịt Heo Kho-Stewed Pork in Caramel Sauce

Serve 2 in a multiple course meal

1/2 lb Pork, cut into thin slices, strips or cubes
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 shallot or a small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 Tbs fish sauce
2 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 Tbs of caramel (bitter sauce) or 1 Tbs of white or brown sugar
1 Tbs vegetable oil for searing pork in method 1
1/2 cup water
Serve with cooked rice and other side dish
Method 1
Mix together pork, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, pepper,  ground pepper and caramel sauce. Set aside for at least 15 minutes. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat, and sear the pork. Keep tossing the pork, until no raw look outside, add water and bring it to boil.  Then turn down the heat to medium low, covered and simmer for about 10 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.  Continue simmering until pork is tender.  It is usually faster with thinly slices, and longer for trips or cubes about 20 minutes total. If desired for thicken sauce, cook uncover for further 5- 10 minutes. Serve with cooked rice and steamed veggie of your choice.  Use the sauce to dip veggie and season the rice.
Method 2:  no oil
In a small sauce pan, combine pork, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, caramel, and black pepper.  Stir well  over a medium high heat until the pork lightly shrunk.  Add water, bring to a gently boil. Cover, turn the heat down to medium low and simmer until the pork is tender and dark brown caramel color. Stir occasionally.
Method 3:  no caramel sauce
Heating oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Add garlic and shallot, stir until fragrant.  Have the water ready. Add 1 Tbs sugar, stir until sugar turns golden brown, add water, fish sauce,  pepper.  Then add pork.  Turn down the heat to medium low, cover and gently simmer pork for 15 minutes, taste adjust seasoning if needed.  Continue simmer until pork is tender and can pull apart easy with fork or chopsticks.

Caramel sauce (bitter sauce)
It is very convenient if you like stewed dish with caramel color and smoke flavor.
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Place sugar in a medium saucepan.  Heat it over medium high heat.  Stir continuously, sugar will become clumps first but melt down and turn dark brown color. Have the water ready.  The color will change from clear gold to deep brown as maple syrup.  It starts foaming and smoke starts to rise.  Stand back and cautiously add water-the hot sugar and water might splash out.  It will be bubbling and steaming briefly and some sugar will be seized.  One the sauce settles down, continue cooking and stirring until the sauce is smooth and return to a boil.  Set aside to cool, and transfer to an air tight container.  Store at room temperature to use as needed. The caramel will be thicken when it is cool but it will be good for months.  The darker brown color will make bitter sauce so if you like bitter add water when the sugar has the molasses brown.

Xôi Xoài kiểu Thái-Classic Thai Mango Sticky Rice/Khao Nieo Mamuang

This is a dessert and mango is the star in this dish.  Good sweet Asian mangos /mangoes available at Asian market is important to make the dish shine but ripe, sweet regular mango good too.  Fresh coconut milk made from fresh grated coconut or canned coconut milk/cream can be used.

Make 4 servings
1½ cups white sticky/sweet/glutinous rice, rinsed and soaked in cold or luke warm water
1/2 cup canned coconut milk/cream, stirred well
1/2 cup sugar
4-5 pandan leaves, tied in knot (omit if you can not find it)
1/2 tsp Koscher salt
2-4 ripe, sweet mangos, peeled and cut in thick slices
1 Tbs  split, skinned mung bean, soaked in hot water for 1 hour, drained well
mint for decoration (Optional)
Coconut Sauce
1 cup canned coconut milk, stirred well
4 tsp light brown palm sugar (granulate white sugar can be used)
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp rice flour, corn starch or tapioca

1. Rinse sticky rice lightly and soak in cold water over night or lukewarm water for one hour.  Drain well and  put it into a steamer, cover and steam with gentle, steady boiling water for 30 minutes,stir one or twice until cooked through (rice is tender, soft and no hard cord at center).

2.  Rinse mung bean several times until the water is clear.  Drained well.  Toast it in pan over medium heat, stir continuously until light golden and crunchy.

3.  Meanwhile, dissolve 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt with 1/2 cup coconut milk and pandan leave in a small saucepan over medium heat.  When it comes to a boil, remove from heat.  Leave the pandan leaves steeps until the sauce cool down.  Use chopsticks, tongs or your fingers to squeeze the coconut sauce out of the pandan leaves and discard the leaves.

4.  Combine sticky rice and coconut sauce in a pan.  Mix them well together.  If you want wet sticky rice like pudding, cover the pan and let the flavor mingles about 15 minutes or until serve.  If you want drier sticky rice, heating the pan over medium heat and stir constantly until coconut sauce just disappeared (be absorbed by the sticky rice) and the sticky rice shiny.  Remove from heat, cover immediately until serve.  The longer you sear the sticky rice will make it drier so adjust the timing careful.

5.  Whisk all the ingredients of coconut sauce together in a small saucepan.  Heat it up over medium heat and whisk constantly until the sauce thicken and comes to a boil.  Remove from heat.

6.  Serve it warm or at room temperature.  Divide the sticky rice into 4 mounds:  one on each individual plate or press it into a bowl or mold which is lined with plastic wrap for easy removing.  Drizzled generously with  coconut sauce and sprinkle with toasted mung bean if use.  Decorate with mint leave.

Pickled Water Spinach/Morning Glory- Rau Muống Ngâm Dấm Đường

1 bunch of Water Spinach/Rau Muống
A few garlic cloves, thinly sliced
A few whole small red Thai chili
A small piece of carot, thinly sliced for decoration (optional)
Ice water for stop cooking
Water, vinegar, sugar, and salt with ratio:  mix 1 cup water,  1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt together and stir well to dissolve sugar and salt.

1.  Separate stems,  leaves and young tips of Rau Muống.  Use the fingers (do not use the fingers'tip because  the sap will stain your nail beds, use glove if available) to remove and discard the tough ends. Save the leaves and young tips for other dish.  Cut the stems into 2 in. lengths.  Wash and drain.

2.  Boiling water in a large pot, blanch the Rau Muống's stems quickly just long enough to wilt and become deep transparent green shade.  Immerse them into ice cold water until cool.  Put them into a clean glass jar with red pepper, garlic, and carrot if use.  Pour enough vinegar solution to cover the veggie.  They are ready to eat at room temperature after 1 days.  If not using right away, store them in the fridge.  The color will change slowly to brownish shade with the time but the pickled Rau Muống still good for a while in the fridge.

3.  It is used as a side dish with boiled, stewed pork, etc.   When serving, lightly squeeze the pickled Rau Muống and put it in a platter.

*Note:  in Vietnam, we boil water first then mix with other ingredients.  Our water here is so clean we can drink from the tap directly so I skip the boiling part and have not problem using fresh tap water.  If you live in areas that have problem with water just use drinking water.  Alum and lime water is used in some old recipes for preserve the crispness of pickled veggie but I do not use them.

Steamed Sticky Rice with Magenta Leaves-Xôi Lá Cẩm

     Xôi and Cơm Nếp are both cooked sticky/glutinous rice but with different methods.  When sticky rice is soaked and steamed, it is called "Xôi".  When it is covered with water and cooked like rice, it is called "Cơm Nếp".
    It can be a savory or sweet dish and a simple meal by itself, which is usually eaten at breakfast.  However, it is a popular dish in important Vietnamese celebrations.  It can be sold or served wrapped in banana leaves or a paper-thin, spongy cake (Bánh Phồng). It can also be served in a platter or on an individual plate.  Sometimes it is stuffed inside a deep-fried, brown round cake (Bánh Tiêu nhồi/nhân xôi).  Do not be surprise if you see them molded in different shapes or sizes either.  
    It is named depending on its components: flavor, color, etc.  For example, when sticky rice is steamed with split and skinned mung bean, it is called  Xôi  Đậu Xanh  or  Xôi Đậu Xanh Chà or Cà vỏ (Chà/Cà is the verb to describe the process of removing the green skin of mung bean).  When the split, skinned mung bean is steamed or cooked first and then mashed before adding it to the sticky rice, it is called Xôi Vò.
   Xôi Cẩm gets the purple color from Lá Cẩm ̣(Magenta leaves, Peristrophe roxburghiana) which is used as a natural food color in other desserts.

Make 3-4  breakfast servings:

• 300 g sticky (glutinous)  rice about 1½ cups, soak in Lá Cẩm's extract liquid over night
• A handful lá cẩm 
• 1/4  cup canned coconut milk, stir well
• 1/4  cup sugar
• 1/2  tsp salt

Coconut topping

• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/16 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp rice flour, corn starch, tapioca

Mung bean paste

• 1/4 cup split, skinned mung bean, soak in plenty cold water at the same time soaking sticky rice
• 1/16 tsp salt

Other toppings:

Shredded coconut, crushed peanut, toasted crushed sesame seeds, deep fried shallot green onion oil

1.  Wash and rinse magenta leaves or plant (leaves with stems).  Coarsely chop them and put into a small pot and cover with 1½ cups water.  Bring it to a boil, turn the heat down to medium low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let it steep for 1/2 hour.  Drain the purple water into a bowl.  Return the leaves back to the pot and add 1/2 cup water.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer in the same manner as the first time.

2.  Rinse sticky rice with cold water one time, drain.  Put it in a bowl and cover with the first extracted purple liquid and add the second if needed.  We need about 1¼ to 1½ cup extract liquid - just enough to cover  the rice.  Soak it at least 6 hours or overnight at room temperature.  Sticky rice will expand a little bit the first few hours, check to make sure rice is immersed in purple water.

3.  The next day, drain the sticky rice well, no rinse. The sticky rice is purple now.  Put it in a steamer's basket, make a few small wells to help hot steam circulate. Cover it, and steam on gentle, steady boiling water for 10 minutes.  In a separate container, mix the 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp. salt together, stir well. Add half of the mixture to the sticky rice in the steamer. Afterwards, cover and steam again for 10 minutes.

4. Add in the remaining coconut milk mixture and toss well. Cover and steam for 10 more minutes. (Total steaming time is 30 minutes.)  Check to see if the rice is cooked through:  chew a few grains or squeeze them between your fingers.  It is cooked through if it is soft and tender without a hard core.  If it isn't, cover the sticky rice and continue steaming ̀for 5-10 more minutes and recheck again.  Fluff it with a folk or chopsticks one last time and remove from boiling water.  Cover tight if it's not going to be served right away because it will dry easily if exposed to air.

5. Meanwhile, whisk all the ingredients of the coconut topping in a small sauce pan until very smooth.  Cook it over medium high heat until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil.

̉6.  Soak mung bean in  1/4 cup water over night or for at least 6 hours. Drain and rinse well.  Put the mung bean in a small sauce pan and cover with 1/4 cup water, just enough to slightly cover all of the bean.  Bring it to a boil without cover and keep an eye on it to prevent the water from boiling over.  When it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium low, cover and simmer  for 15 minutes.  Stir 1 or 2 times.  When the bean is soft and tender without a hard core at the center, remove from heat and use a spoon mash them finely.  Cover at room temperature until use.

5.  Serve the dish lightly warm or at room temperature.  Mound of the sticky rice on a plate, spoon 1/4 mung bean paste over the rice, then add 1/4 coconut topping.  Then add other toppings of your choice:  cooked mung bean, shredded coconut, crushed peanut or sesame seeds, deep fried shallot, or green onion oil.