Stuffed Bitter Melon (Canh KHỔ Qua NHỒI GIÒ SỐNG)

Bitter melon is one of the Asian vegetables with tremendous health benefits, but as its name implies, it is quite bitter. However, the bitter melon sold in the markets here is not quite as bitter as the one in Vietnam. My mother used to trick us into eating this soup for our own benefit. Years ago, when my dad was still alive, he used to juice the bitter melon, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrot, and celery every day and drank this healthy juice to counter the effects of his diabetes.  I like this soup, but it is not convenient for me to have this soup often because I live quite far from a Vietnamese grocery. This healthy vegetable is not popular to a Westerner’s taste, so most of the American groceries do not carry this item in the store.  Because of its health benefits, I try to make this soup as often as I can. The easy and tasteful way to make this soup is by using the chicken paste (giò sống). It sells in most Vietnamese stores, or it is easy to make at home, too. I already posted this chicken paste recipe on my blog. My Western friends tasted this soup and they like it. They urged me to post this soup recipe and here it is.

Ingredients:
2 medium bitter melons
1/2 lb. chicken paste or pork paste
3 dry shitake mushrooms, soaked in water, drained and finely chopped
½ oz. vermicelli noodles, soaked in water and finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped white onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
6 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
Some fresh oyster mushrooms, sliced

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro

Hot cooked rice

Directions:
Cut bitter melon into 2 or 3 sections. Use a melon scoop to hollow out the center of the melon and discard.

 

 

In a mixing bowl, combine chicken paste, chopped shallot, garlic, onions, and vermicelli noodles and season with salt, pepper, cayenne, sugar, and soy sauce.

 

Stuff this mixture into each section of the melon.

Bring a pot of chicken broth to boil and drop stuffed melon into the boiling broth. Skim off any residue rising to the surface.

Add fresh mushrooms to the pot. If any filling is left over, make a small ball and drop into the boiling broth.

Seasoning the broth with some fish sauce or salt might be necessary. Simmer melon for 20 minutes.

Ladle the soup into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro. Serve with a bowl of cooked brown rice, and it is now a fantastic, healthy meal.

Vietnamese Eggrolls (Chả Giò Việt Nam)

The Vietnamese eggroll is the classic, deep-fried, crunchy eggroll, and it is a Vietnamese signature of our cuisine. It is very popular all over the world. Every Vietnamese restaurant or famous Vietnamese chef will have his or her own recipe. My recipe is quite fantastic, and the reason I am very proud to introduce this recipe is that it was my family's restaurant favorite dish back in Chicago. Food critics from the Chicago Tribune, the Sun Times, and other local publications complimented our egg roll dish. At that time, while I was a hostess in my restaurant, my mom always told me, “Do not give out our egg roll recipe in the interviews. Avoid saying all the ingredients in the recipe". It is quite funny now every time I think about my mom's concern that her recipe’s special ingredients would be broadcast to the whole world. There is nothing that can be kept secret anymore, and thanks to the internet and so many dedicated famous or unknown cooks, like me, the Vietnamese eggroll ingredients are now revealed. The only thing that I have added to my recipe is cooked seaweed, because it is healthy. I also use ground chicken instead of pork used in my mother’s recipe, which is just for my conscientiousness about healthier living. My mother is now 86 years old and quite healthy, but she does not know that I am finally sharing her secret recipe with the world as another way to contribute to the treasury of happy and healthy cooking.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground chicken
1 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped
1 lb. crab meat
1/2 lb. white cabbage
1/2 lb. taro, peeled
1/2 lb. jicama, peeled
1/2 lb. carrots, peeled
2 oz shallots
1 white onion, roughly chopped
1 bunch of scallions
1 head (6 cloves) of garlic
4 oz of cooked seaweed, roughly chopped
4 oz cellophane noodles, soaked in warm water, drained, and finely chopped
2 oz dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water and drained
2 eggs and 2 yolks
Seasoning with fish sauce, salt, sugar, and black pepper

Wrapping:
2 packages Menlo spring roll wrappers (about 60)
2 egg whites

Enough oil for deep frying

Garnish:
Fragrant herbs such as basil, cilantro, and mint
Lettuce, bean sprouts, and cucumber
Vietnamese dipping sauce

Directions:
In a food processor, combine white onions, garlic, shallots, carrots, jicama, cabbages, and taro and turn the machine on. Use the pulse button to control the texture of the vegetables. You do not want to turn them into a paste.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken, shrimp, crab meat, cellophane noodles, chopped scallions, seaweed, and the chopped vegetables. Add eggs, egg yolks, and the seasoning. Taste to your liking should be about 2 teaspoon to 2 tablespoon of the seasoning. Mix well.

 

 

On a countertop, place a wrapper in a diamond position.

 Put a tablespoon or more of the filling on the center and arrange quantity evenly to the left and right.

Begin by folding up the left and the right corners of the wrapper towards the center; then roll up closest corner of wrapper over the ingredients towards the farthest corner, but before rolling up completely, seal the farthest corner area of the wrapper with a small amount of egg white.

 

 

 

 

 Repeat preceding steps until all the stuffing is gone.

Deep-fry eggrolls over medium heat until golden brown or use a deep-fry cooker.

Serve with the plate of vegetables, fragrant herbs, and a dipping sauce.

Broiled Tuna with Avocado, Olives, and Capers Sauce

This is a fast dish for dinner. The avocado gives a creamy sauce to a dish and goes well with garlic, olive, and capers. This sauce is very simple to make and extremely fast when in hurry for a quick dinner. I like to use lemon oil for this dish, but olive oil will work.

Ingredients:
Two 6 oz tuna fillets
2 tbs lemon oil
1 tsp salt and black pepper
Sauce:
1 avocado
1 tbs capers, drained
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp honey mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup green olives
1 tbs fresh thyme
1/4 cup lemon oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:
In a blender, add all the sauce ingredients and press start. Stop the machine when you see all the ingredients are well combined. Salt and pepper for your taste.

 

 

Preheat the broiler. Brush fish on both sides with lemon oil, salt, and pepper. I like to add some cayenne pepper because I like cayenne. Line the broiler pan with aluminum foil for easy cleaning and place fish on the pan. Broil fish for 5 to 7 minutes, turning fish over halfway through broiling time. Do not overcook the fish. Check fish with a fork to see when the fish is easy to flake (finished). Serve fish with sauce on top.

Foccacia Bread

Foccacia is a flat, rustic Italian herbs bread that can be good for a party or picnic.  It can be served as an appetizer with my cilantro dipping pesto or mushroom pâté. Today, I will make this bread using a bread machine. If you own a bread machine already, then it is a bread that is easy to make at home. I think freshly baked homemade bread has such a wonderful taste and is economical. It is also a perfect gift as a simple thank you to friends or family. Bread is another gift that can be brought to dinner at a friend’s house and baking the bread at home makes the gift even more special.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
3 tbs vegetable shortening
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbs milk powder
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
Topping:
2 tsp freshly chopped thyme or rosemary
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Place dough ingredients in bread machine pan. Select Dough setting and press start. Check your bread machine for functions. When dough has been kneaded and risen enough, the machine will make a sound. Turn off the machine, remove dough from the machine, and turn out dough onto a floured countertop.

Use a rolling pin to roll dough out into a large rectangle.

 

Oil a 13” x 9” jelly roll pan or pizza pan.  Roll dough around the rolling pin and transfer dough onto the jelly roll pan by unrolling it from the rolling pin. Using both hands, gently stretch and press dough to fit evenly into baking pan. With 2 fingers, poke holes all over the dough.

 Brush dough with olive oil. Sprinkle with chopped thyme, salt, and Parmesan cheese.

 Cover dough with a kitchen towel. Let dough rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°. Bake Foccacia bread for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool on wire rack. Serve warm or wrap in plastic. It will keep fresh at room temperature for a couple of days.

Baked Japanese Eggplant with Chicken

This recipe is common in the Vietnamese cuisine, especially in the Southern part of Vietnam. In poor families, the eggplant is grilled over an open flame and served with sweet and sour dipping sauce. Into additional creativity, this recipe can have added toppings, such as shrimp, crab, ground pork, or chicken.   Sometimes, I like to make this recipe with tofu as the topping for the Buddhist tradition. With a little imagination, this dark, purple vegetable is full of nutrition and can be very tasty.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 long Japanese eggplants (aubergine)
1 chicken breast, ground into small pieces
1 shallot, sliced and fried
1 garlic clove, minced
2 green onion, finely sliced, separate the white part
1/4 cup chopped cilantro 
Salt and pepper to taste

Vietnamese dipping sauce :
1 red hot chili, sliced
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

Directions:
Cut eggplant in half and brush with olive oil. Bake in a preheated oven set to 350° for 30 minutes or until the flesh is soft.  
In a sauté pan, fry the shallot until crispy and remove from oil.
In a sauté pan, add 1 tbs of shallot oil into the pan. Add ground chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook the chicken until no longer pink. Add onion, the white part. Season with salt and pepper. 
Pour the chicken on top of the eggplant and sprinkle with cilantro and fried shallot. Serve with rice and the Vietnamese dipping sauce. The Vietnamese dipping sauce can be added into the chicken at the end of the cooking time.

Tofu & Mushrooms Pâté

French pâté made with goose or chicken livers are well known. My family loves pâté and every time my sister, Mai, travels to Europe, she will come home with a lot of different kinds of pâté. However, another pâté that we like to have is vegetarian pâté, which is made with tofu and mushrooms. I prefer to have this pâté because it is healthier. My sister-in-law, Dung, made this pâté a long time ago, and I had a chance to taste it and know her recipe. Her recipe includes some cheese varieties, such as Parmesan and cream cheese. My pâté recipe is much simpler and without any cheese. I think my pâté recipe can be served to people with lactose intolerance. I also use assorted mushrooms to enhance the flavor of the pâté, but if these mushroom varieties are not easy to find, then just button mushrooms will work. In the morning, my pâté spread on a piece of toast is a good healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 lb. firm tofu, drained
1 lb. mushrooms, such as button, king oyster, shitake, enoki, etc.
1/2 cup roasted mixed nuts
2 tbs cocoa powder
4 tbs skim milk powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sugar
1 shallot, chopped
1 cup white onions, chopped
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 stick butter, sliced

Directions:
In a sauté pan, heat oil. Add chopped shallot and onions. Stir and cook until fragrant. Add mushrooms and cook until soft (about 10 minutes). Season with salt, soy sauce, and sugar.

In a mixing bowl, mash tofu. Add cocoa powder, milk powder, salt, and pepper.

Add cooked mushrooms into mashed tofu Mix well.

In a food processor, place the nuts and grind into small pieces and add all the tofu-mushroom mixture and process until it becomes a paste. Re-season again.

 

Overlapping the sides, line a baking dish with plastic wrap.

Pour the tofu paste into the baking dish.

 

 

 Cover the tofu with the overlapping plastic wrap. This method will prevent water from getting into the pâté when cooked.
Place a steamer over high heat and cook the pâté for 20 minutes.

Have a jar with lid ready. When the pâté is done and still hot, carefully scoop the pâté into the jar and place butter slices on top. Cover jar with lid and refrigerate.