Food that I've never taken the time to write down

I first started cooking food with my mom when I was twelve. She wanted me to help out around the house more since she was about to give birth to my sister. From that time, I have a collection of Vietnamese recipes that I learned to make by taste and feel rather than by recipes written down in a book. When I make these recipes, the ingredients and proportions change depending on my mood and on what's available.

Driving around Belfast today, we encountered a couple of Asian markets and our friend Paul asked me to make him some Vietnamese food. I made Hot and Sour Chicken Soup and Lemon Grass Grilled Pork. We got to talking about recipes and he asked me to send him these and a couple of others. Since I took the time to put them down, I figured I would go ahead and put them on the blog for others to use (Brady, I'm thinking about you in Charlottesville). Alas, no pictures.

Here are the recipes:

Hot and Sour Chicken Soup (though you can use fish or shrimp)

3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 stalks lemon grass, cut into 1-inch pieces and smashed with a knife
1/2 onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 small tomato, cut into quarters
.6 kilo okra, cut into 1-inch pieces and boiled for a few minutes
2 stalks celery (sliced thinly) or taro root
1 red pepper, sliced 1/4-inch pieces
6 cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 lb chicken, cut up into pieces
1 can pineapple chunks, drained of liquid
fish sauce
salt
tamarind paste
chili garlic sauce
brown sugar
2 tbs chopped cilantro

Saute garlic, lemon grass and onions in vegetable oil until fragrant. Add chili garlic sauce (2 tbs). Add chicken and saute for 1 minute. Then add celery and pepper, saute for 1 minute. Add water, bouillon cubes, tamarind paste. Bring the water to a boil. Add the pineapple chunks, 3 tbs fish sauce, 1 1/2 tbs brown sugar, 1 tbs salt. Simmer for 10 minutes, check for flavor and add more fish sauce, salt, tamarind past, chili sauce or sugar as needed. Stir in cilantro just before serving.

Grilled Lemon Grass Pork

500 grams pork tenderloin, sliced thinly
2 stalks lemon grass, sliced thinly
3 tbs fish sauce
1.5 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Mix together all ingredients. Marinate for at least 20 minutes, longer is better. Put the pork on skewers. Grill until done.

Vietnamese dipping sauce (My mom's down and dirty dipping sauce; no frills, no fuss)

Equal portions of (use the same container to measure out each):
fish sauce
sugar
vinegar
water

Mix ingredients together well, make sure that sugar is completely dissolved. For additional kick/flavor, you can add thinly sliced garlic or chopped thai chilis or chili garlic paste.

Chicken and rice soup

1/2 chicken
1/2 cup rice
6 cups water
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbs vegetable oil
5 tbs ginger, chopped
fish sauce
salt
black pepper
cilantro
1 green onion, sliced thin

Bring to boil chicken and water with a pinch of salt. Once starts to boil, turn heat down to simmer for 30 minutes. Saute garlic until golden brown and then add the rice until it's opaque white. Add the rice mixture to the water. Cook chicken and rice together for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take the chicken out and let cool. Cook rice for an additional 45 minutes. Pull the chicken off the bone and throw the bones back into the rice mixture. Shred the chicken into thin pieces. After the 45 minutes, add shredded chicken, ginger and fish sauce to taste. Serve with lots of black pepper, a sprinkling of cilantro and green onion.