A Vietnamese Moment

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...