A Vietnamese Weekend Part 2

The Vietnamese adventure continued on Sunday night. I had wanted to make the Asparagus and Shiitake Mushroom Stir-Fry (Mang Tây Xào Nâm Hu'o'ng) on Saturday, but failed to realize that dried shiitakes need to soak for a long time. I'm glad I waited, the asparagus paired so nicely with a steak. We had our warmest day in what feels like months, yesterday, and marked it by firing up the grill!

I'm very excited I've found another way to get the kids to eat asparagus!

Salt

1 1/2 lbs asparagus, woody ends trimmed and cut on the diagonal into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces

6-8 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted, trimmed, and cut into 1/4 inch thick strips

Flavoring Sauce:

1/2 t. sugar

1 1/2 t. fish sauce

1 generous T. oyster sauce

2 t. canola oil

1 1/2 T. water

1 1/2 T. canola oil

Bring a large saucepan filled with salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus and parboil for about 1 minute, or until just tender but still firm. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside. Have the mushrooms cut and ready to cook.

To make the flavoring sauce, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, oil, and water and stir to disolve the sugar. Set aside.

In a wok or large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the asparagus and mushrooms and stir-fry for about 3 minutes, or until heated through. Raise the heat to medium-high. Give the flavoring sauce a stir to recombine, then add to the pan and stir to distribute evenly. When only a little sauce is visible, after about 1 minute, transfer to a plate and serve.

We ended the weekend with this creamy, delicious Coconut Sorbet (Kem Nu'ó'c Côt Dù'a). Yum! This was a hit with everybody.

Makes about 3 cups, to serve 6

2 1/2 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar

Generous pinch of salt

2 1/2 T. light corn syrup

1/2 t. vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, sugar, salt, and corn syrup and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring or whisking gently, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours to chill well and develop the flavor.

The mixture separates as it sits, so whisk to reblend, and then freeze in an ice cream maker.

I am notorious for not reading carefully through a recipe before I start cooking, so the chilling for 24 hours took me by surprise. We did not chill that long, the flavor was still very good. Next time I will follow the directions and see if there is a difference. It was good to bring the ice cream machine out. The bowl has been at the ready in the freezer for years!

As for my Vietnamese translations of the dishes, they may not be 100% accurate. I did the best I could, but you need special software to type all the correct accents and symbols.

A Vietnamese Weekend Part 1

This beautiful cookbook was a gift from my mother-in-law. I've looked through it many times, but have been slightly intimidated. How silly of me, the recipes are easy and the flavors wonderful.

On Saturday morning, I poured over the recipes and chose five dishes to try. We only ended up having three of them Saturday night. But not to worry, we had the other two Sunday night.

The first course was Egg, Shrimp, and Scallion Pancakes (Trú'ng Chiên Tôm). These were very tasty. We dipped them in soy sauce. The kids loved them!

Next, we enjoyed Salmon with Tomato, Dill, and Garlic Soup (Canh Riêu Cá). My husband and I loved this. My older son seemed to enjoy it, but the little one only took a couple bites.

The last dish of the night was Chicken and Ginger Simmered in Caramel Sauce (Gà Kho Gù'ng). To make this, I first had to make the caramel sauce. This is not a sweet, sticky sauce, it is actually rather savory. The recipe calls for boneless chicken thighs, for some reason Harris Teeter didn't have any. So I used breasts. I'd really like to try it again with the thighs, they are more flavorful.

1 2/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, well trimmed and cut into 1 inch chunks

Chubby 2 inch peice of fresh ginger, peeled, thinly sliced, and smashed with the broad side of a chef's knife.

3 T. caramel sauce

2 T. fish sauce

1/4 t. salt

2 T. water

1 scallion, green part only, chopped

In a small saucepan, combine the chicken, ginger, caramel sauce, fish sauce, salt, and water and stir to distribute everything evenly. Cover and bring to a strong simmer over medium heat. Stir again to break up the chicken pieces and replace the lid. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every now and again so that all the chicken is evenly exposed to the sauce. Fragrant plumes of steam will shoot from under the lid and the contents will boil vigorously. The sauce will increase in volume as the chicken releases it's juices. If the contents threaten to boil over or the lid rattles, lower the heat.

After the 10 minutes, uncover and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce reduces and the color deepens to a rich reddish brown. Remove from heat, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Taste the sauce and adjust the flavor with extra fish sauce, if necessary. Serve over rice and garnish with scallion.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Vietnamese weekend.