A Vietnamese Moment

So this is not exactly a recipe but a food-centric post. I recently spent a week in Oahu for my honeymoon and loved it. I wanted to remember where we went and what we ate so I decided to create this post.  We stayed at the Hilton Waikiki Beach which was super convenient and a 5 min walk to the beach. We parked across the street at the Waikiki Banyan Center with in/out privileges for only $80 (so much better than hotel valet parking). This hotel was super central, we were able to walk to almost everything in Waikiki and very convenient! We upgraded to the ocean view and it was totally worth it! It was a nice (enough), standard Hilton. It wasn’t anything special but gave us everything we need in terms of beach towels, yoga mats, free bottled water and sodas, water refill station, and 24/7 restaurant.  Overall it was a great trip - we wanted more time there! Husband was very cranky though so only really enjoyed the second half of the trip but I was still very happy.  Day 1: 

- cooking spray - 1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour - 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder - 3/4 teaspoons baking powder - 3/4 teaspoons fine salt - 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar - 3/4 cup canola oil - 2 large eggs - 1 ounce bottle red food coloring - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract - 1 cup buttermilk - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 1. Mix together dry ingredients: 2. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. 

My husband LOVES this soup. It's a very simple, minimalistic soup that can be made for a lazy indoor day! There aren't a ton of ingredients but it did take me a solid 2 hours to do! Ingredients - 2 yellow onions (charboiled) - 1 generous large knob of ginger (charboiled) - 1 whole chicken (about 5-6 lbs) - rock sugar - fish sauce - salt - chicken bouillon Noodles - Cellophane or glass noodles (cook according to instructions): can also use bean thread noodle, mung bean noodle ---- place noodles in hot water and let sit for 10-15 minutes, or until perfect texture 1. Charboil the ginger and onions. Shave the charboil parts off ginger and smash the ginger. Wash the charboil parts off the onion. *note: mom says I used too much onion and ginger - oops. I would probably just stick to 2 onions in the future, and probably just 1/2 or even 1/3 of that ginger. 2. Add ginger, onions, and chicken to large pot. Add water until chicken is submerged. Add 1 tablespoon of

Add chicken to pot of water. Medium-high heat until boil. Turn heat to low, then cover. About 30-40 mins. Poke chopstick through chicken to test doneness. Can check with meat thermometer if desired - temp 165

This sauce is great for dipping boiled chicken. I found this recipe off VickyPham's website and tried it. The measurements are SPOT on delicious. The lime and chili I did to taste - used about 1/2 the lime. Vietnamese Ginger Fish Sauce Makes 1 cup INGREDIENTS 1/4 cup fish sauce 1/3 cup granulated white sugar 2-inch piece fresh ginger (peel and thinly slice against the grain) 5 garlic cloves (peel) Juice of half a large lemon/lime 1-2 red chili peppers (slice thin; remove seeds to reduce heat if needed) INSTRUCTIONS In a medium bowl, mix together fish sauce and sugar until completely dissolved. Pound ginger and garlic cloves with a mortar and pestle until completely pulverized. Alternatively, run both through a garlic press or smash with the back of a large knife. Add smashed ginger and garlic to the fish sauce/sugar mixture. Add lime juice and chili peppers. Stir to combine.

My Indian roommate taught me this simple, homestyle egg curry. It doesn't require a ton of ingredients and pairs well with naan or paratha. Ingredients - 2 yellow onions (diced) - 2-3 diced tomatos  - hard boiled eggs (about 6)  - frozen peas - 1-2 dried chilies  - salt and pepper  - tumeric - sugar  - ginger, shredded  - 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced  Hardboil eggs 1. Add eggs to pot and bring to boil 2. Let sit for 10-15 minutes (about 13 minutes is good) 3. Remove eggs and place in ice bath. Peel eggs.  1. In a small pot, add cooking oil on medium heat add onions and cook until almost translucent, about 3-5 minutes.  2. In a small bowl, make a tumeric garlic ginger paste by mixing all 3 together. I used about 1 teaspoon of tumeric, you can use a little more or less. You can add a tiny bit of water if it looks dry.  3. Add tumeric paste to the pot and cook for additional 2-3 minutes. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  4. Add tomatoes. Can you

A very basic, simple porridge recipe for rainy days or sick days. Very minimal ingredients and very easy to make. Ratio:  1 cup of rice: 8-10 cups of water Ingredients  - 1 whole chicken - ginger  - salt - pepper  - sugar  - chicken bouillin - onions (about 2-3), can be white, yellow, or shallot onions  - rice 1. In a large stock pot, add water and bring to boil (almost enough to cover 1 whole chicken). Take about 1-1.5 cup rice (depending on how much you want) and place in cold water for 1 hour - after an hour, rinse the rice and set aside.   2. Add 2-3 onions, some ginger, and about 1 tablespoon of salt. Add chicken and bring to boil on medium heat. Remove scum. Once it boils, turn heat to low and cover - should be about 30-40 minutes depending on the size. I usually stick a chopstick in the chicken to make sure it's done. Skim the scum off the broth. 3. Remove chicken and strain broth. Rinse chicken under cold water and set aside. Season br

This cake is simply a slice of heaven in your mouth. My friend's boyfriend made this once for us and I was hooked. It's a recipe you definitely want to keep and pass down for generations to come. Recipe credits: https://thewoksoflife.com/pumpkin-tres-leches-cake/ Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake with Spiced Cream This pumpkin tres leches cake is a light sponge cake that gets soaked in a mixture of three milks. Our pumpkin tres leches cake is pumpkin-y and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice and topped with spiced whipped cream. Prep Time 20   mins Cook Time 35   mins Total Time 55   mins Course:  Dessert and Sweet Stuff Cuisine:  Latino Keyword:  pumpkin tres leches Servings:  24 Calories:  303 kcal Author:  Sarah Ingredients For the cake: 2   cups   flour 2   teaspoons   baking powder 2   teaspoons   baking soda ¼   teaspoon   salt 2   teaspoons   cinnamon ¼   teaspoon   nutmeg ¼   teaspoon   allspice ¼   teaspoon

My mom recently visited me in Chicago and asked what I wanted to eat. Immediately I had childhood cravings of her soy, which is a sweet sticky rice. It's a very simple sweet rice that requires minimal ingredients.  Yellow soy 1. Soak grains overnight. Place 1-2 cans of coconut juice in the refrigerator overnight to harden the juice.  2. Add mung bean. Add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of salt.  3. Scoop out the coconut juice into a small boil. You can also substitute in 1 fresh coconut. Add 2-3 soup lades of sugar to the boil and mix.  4. Add to taste the coconut and sugar combination.  Red soy Recipe pending ...  You can make the sticky rice less sweet and eat with a sugar, salt, peanut topping. My mom initially made the soy less sweet than I would have liked. She then created a sugar, salt, peanut topping mix and we used that as a dipping for the sweet sticky rice. It worked out well! 

Pho is the quintessential Vietnamese soup that every mom knows how to make. It simmers over hours to create a delicate broth. Surprisingly, it is very easy to make! Ingredients - pho seasoning bag (heat over skillet to wake up the aromatics) - rock candy sugar (about 1-2 inch chunk) - salt (about 1-2 tablespoons) - beef ox tail bones (about 2-3) - pork bones - fish sauce (optional) - ginger - 3-4 onions 1. Clean beef ox tail bones and pork bones. Submerge in cold water, add salt and vinegar. Rinse and exchange water. Do this twice. 2. Boil water, when it comes to a rolling boil - add bones. Parboil the impurities out for 2-3 minutes. Dump out the bones and water into a clean sink. 3. Wash bones again in cold water. Lightly scrub off the residues with your fingers. 4. Boil a pot of hot water, on high heat. Heat ginger and 4 onions over fire to make it more aromatic. Add 1 large ginger, 4 onions that have been grilled on the stove. 5. Add rock candy sugar. Add 1-2

This technique is a solid foundation for getting a clean, soup broth for any pork or beef bone-based broth. 1. In a large bowl, add raw bones and fill with cold water. Add salt and vinegar to clean and lightly scrub. 2. Rinse 1 additional time with cold water. 3. In a large stock pot, boil water. Add bones to the broth. Boil for about 2-3 minuets to remove the impurities. 4. Dump the bones and water into a clean sink and rinse the bones with cold water to remove any residue. Best to also lightly rub off the residue with your hands. 

Store bought meat has been handled in so many ways and by so many people. My cousin is obsessed with cleaning everything she buys from the grocery store before cooking with it. This tip can be done for any meat and seafood. 1. In a large bowl, add meat. Fill with cold water. Add salt and vinegar. 2. Mix the meat around in the salt and vinegar combination. 3. Rinse out the water and add more water in. You can repeat this with 1-2 cycles of water but no need to add salt and vinegar each time.

This is a very simple soup for busy week nights that takes less than 20 minutes to make with little ingredients. You can use any variation of box choy vegetables. Ingredients - salt - chicken builloin - fish sauce - moc - vegetables 1. Boil hot water 2. Add chicken bouillon, salt, and fish sauce to taste 3. Add moc 4. When moc is almost done, add vegetables.

This is a basic marinade for meat that my cousin taught me. I call it Australian beef stir fry because she's from Australia but it really is just a simple, basic marinade for beef stir fry. She used beef flank purchased at Costco, thinly sliced. The first time I sliced this, I accidentally did it WITH the grain which made it extra chewy. Be sure to slice it ACROSS the grain! It is a great stir fry base with any vegetables. I believe we used a box choy but can be substituted for broccoli or whatever you want. Sorry there are no good measurements, this is done to taste. We didn't use salt because of the chicken bouillon. Ingredients: - beef flank - maggi sauce (?2 tablespoons) - garlic powder (?1/2-1 tablespoon) - oyster sauce (?2-3 tablespoons) - fish sauce (just a few splashes) - olive oil (~1-2 tablespoons) - chicken bouillon (?1 tablespoon) 1. Slice beef flank across the grain. 2. Add oyster sauce, Maggi sauce, garlic powder, fish sauce, olive oil, and chic

This is one of my husband's favorite dishes that my cousin makes. He requests it almost every time he's in Chicago. It is a VERY simple recipe and warms up the stomach (and heart)! Moc is a pork-based meat paste that you can shape into meatballs. I use frozen ones that my mom sells at her store. Ingredients: - 3-4 onions (grilled on stove) - fish sauce - rock sugar - about a 1-2 inch chunk (and additional sugar at the end for tasting as needed) - salt (about 1-2 tablespoons) 1. Bring a pot of hot water to boil on high heat. Add parboiled (and cleaned meat) to the pot. 2. Add the onions, salt, and rock candy to the broth and let boil. Remove the bubbles that are created to purify the broth. 3. Once the broth is more clear, turn the heat to low-medium and simmer for 1.5 hours. 4. In a separate pot, boil about 2 large ladles of fish sauce. Add to the broth (a little at a time to season). 5. Add moc and re-season the broth as needed with salt and sugar. Enjoy ove