Bun Thit Nuong - Grilled Pork Neck & Noodle Salad

I think if i went to Vietnam it would be hard to bring me back. The country looks so beautiful, the people are always nice, and the food is one of the most beautiful i've had. And yet, i rarely go to Vietnamese restaurants! In fact, i think i've only been to three or so Vietnamese restaurants in my life. And yet when i cook Vietnamese food, my family obsesses over it.

This dish is very similar to a beef salad i've done in past, with tweaks to the sauce and obviously the meat. I'm definitely in a pork neck craze at the moment; i can't believe i haven't used this cut of meat before! So tender and succulent yet full of pork flavour. It seems to work well for both a quick sear and a long stewing too.

Caramelized Ginger Chicken

It can be so painful navigating a good cookbook when you're allergic to fish. All of my favorite cookbooks, Movida, Momofuku and Red Lantern all have these absolutely delicious seafood dishes, many of which form the centrepieces of the books. Alas i have to flick past those pages to the meat, poultry and vegetarian but i always do feel a little bit cheated.

Thankfully, every dish that i DO cook from these books fills any void i may have felt previously, and i am once content with the food that i CAN eat. This is one of those dishes.

Deliciously sweet, gingery and sticky, i have again molested one of the Red Lantern recipes to suit it to my tastes: namely, cooking down the cooking liquid into a decadently sticky sauce to pour over the chicken at the end. My dad tends to omit the fresh coriander and parsley from the garnishes on my meals, but i feel they are integral to reinvigorating all of the cooked ingredients.

Trung Chien Thit Bam - Pork Omelette with Preserved Radish

The more i delve into the cuisine, the more i love Vietnamese food. I think i've only ever been to a few Vietnamese restaurants in my life, and far to many of those were 'Chinese/Vietnamese' hybrids, or dodgy cafes on Swanston St, Melbourne where the food is as Authentic as your average butter chicken.

From my favorite cookbook-of-the-moment, Secrets Of The Red Lantern, comes this beautiful Vietnamese omelette. I think it's the Cai Po or preserved radish that gives this dish it's special, subtle but delicious flavour. You can buy this ingredient at Asian supermarkets (or sucker your Singaporean friend into buying it for you, thanks Darryl!)

Tom Rim (King Prawns sauteed with tomato, fish sauce and black pepper)

The other main that i decided upon for my little dinner party last night was Tom Rim, a Vietnamese dish that i found in one of my favorite cookbooks, Secrets of the Red Lantern. Tweaked a little to my tastes (though not the spice-fearing tastes of one of my guests, Darryl), these prawns are fresh, lively and have a warming linger of chilli heat.

Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef on Vermicelli Salad

I looooove Vietnamese food! It's such a shame that if you live in a Whitewashed suburb, procuring all of the herbs required for a Vietnamese feast can be a difficult, not to mention expensive, proposition. Thankfully, we have a nice herb garden at my parents house, rife with mint, coriander and my favorite, Vietnamese mint! Vietnamese food is fresh, healthy and light- but once you start on it, you will crave it forever. This is another recipe from the Nguyen family of Red Lantern fame, and once again, it is impeccable. 

Bo Luc Lac (Vietnamese shaking beef)

Every now and again (namely after a work conference laden with rich company-paid meals and constant snacking) one feels like a salad. Alas, in the middle of winter, the green grocers tend to ignore the great herbs that makes a great Thai larb, or even most Vietnamese salad.

That said, on the hunt for a light dinner that wouldn't hurt the waistline, i came across recipes for Vietnamese Bo Luc Lac or shaking beef. Most of the recipes seemed to offer either a dressing or a dipping sauce; for me, i combined the two. Apparently the translated name, shaking beef, refers to the shaking of the wok as you sear all sides of the meat. So don't go expecting any plate theatrics here kiddos.

For a little extra indulgence i went and purchased King Island eye fillets; they were definitely worth it! For meat that is only briefly cooked you really do need to buy a tender cut of meat. These morsels just melted in your mouth as you devoured the plate of them.

Roast Pork Banh Hoi

Today i went on a trip to the Vietnamese culinary delight that is Victoria St, Richmond. Getting there at 10:00am it was already packed with shoppers of all races and sizes, delving into the fresh, varied produce, unusual packed goods and bargains to be had. There were a few things on my to-buy list including Vietnamese coffee, ingredients for 3 color drink, good fish sauce, and pork belly. But the raison d'etre of the journey was one thing and one thing only: banh hoi.

Luke Nguyen's Lemongrass Chilli Chicken - Ga Xao Xa Ot

Luke Nguyen seems to be a bit of a cultural sensation in Australia at the moment. On the back of a SBS television series and co-authoring the cookbook Secrets of the Red Lantern, Luke has also recently appeared twice on the Master Chef series.

I'd always been interested in his recipes when flicking through the beautiful Red Lantern cookbook but it wasn't until he made a chilli crab variant on Master Chef that i started actively hunting down his recipes. Luckily many can be found on the SBS website for his televsion show Luke Nguyen's Vietnam.

This is probably one of the simpler dishes that i have seen from Luke's repertoire to date. Juicy bites of chicken saturated in the pungeant aromas and balanced tastes of fish sauce, sugar, lemon grass, chilli and garlic. Rather than adding chicken stock to make the sauce, Luke used young coconut juice which keeps the dish tasting quite clean: unfortunately i had to use the canned variety of coconut juice.

Please note that i have not stayed completely faithful to the original recipe. 

Pho Bo

Okay i have a confession... before making this dish i had not actually ever eaten Pho before. It's pretty rare that i go to a Vietnamese restaurant. So i have no idea whether i actually made a decent pho or not. However, what i CAN say is that i understand why everyone loves this dish. The rich broth of spices and beef, the tender shavings of beef, the zing of the lemon, the burst of the handfuls of fresh herbs. It is quintessentially... Vietnamese. Makes me want to go there so badly! The one bad thing about pho is the work that goes into the stock. It seems like this should be a fast and easy meal, however if you don't have the broth on hand it's loooooong.

Ingredients

The Broth (makes 2 litres or 4 serves)

• 500gm chicken bones or wings
• 1kg soup bones
• 500gm osso bucco or beef brisket (basically a cheap beef)
• 6 star anise
• 2 cassia sticks
• 5 chinese cardammon
• 1 large onion, in thick slices
• 3 inches of ginger, in coins
  
• 12 cups of water
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
  

The Rest (per serve)

• 85gm good steak (tender but lean)
• 1/2 cup coriander, including chopped stalks (thats where the flavour is)
  
• 1/2 cup thai basil, torn
  
• 1 long chilli, sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
• A handful of bean sprouts
  
• 60gm pho rice noodles

To garnish

• Lemon wedges
• Nuoc Nam fish sauce

Method

The Broth

Somehow or another char both the onion and the ginger until they look burnt. IF you have a grill or burner, easy! If like me, you don't, just fry with no oil. Set aside.

Place all of the broth meats in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil. Discard this first run of water.

Add the ginger, onions and spices, and the 3 litres of water. Bring to the boil then reduce to a low simmer.

Cook for as long as you have (2 hours minumum; the longer the better), skimming the surface muck off occasionally, and reducing it to 2L.

Strain the stock and refridgerate.

When ready to use, remove the stock from the fridge and skim off the layer of fat that will have settled on top.

The Rest

Slice the beef as thinly as possible. Easiest way is to freeze the beef first, then this will be easy. Set aside.

Cook the rice noodles as per instructions and run through cold water to stop them cooking. Set aside.

Bring the required broth to a boil (approx 1.5 - 2 cups per person) and leave boiling heavily.

Place the noodles and coriander into the serving bowls, and lay the beef slices on top.

Ladel over the boiling soup; this will cook the beef.

Add the chilli, basil and spring onions.

Serve with lemon and nuoc nam so that people can adjust the soup to their own tastes.

Enjoy!