CHARGRILLED PORK ON RICE NOODLE SOUP

It has been unseasonably warm and sunny the past few days. Thank God for that. Of course, when the weather is like this, the first thing that comes to mind is firing up the barbie. Before you say not again, may I say that this is actually a comforting bowl of hot noodle soup. This is my take on the much loved Vietnamese noodle soup with flat rice noodles and aromatic chargrilled pork. 

I've recently seen Luke Nguyen's travel and cooking series on Veitnam and was so smitten by the whole country. Not only is the place endowed with natural beauty, they are also blessed with an abundant source of delicious, wholesome food. I was amazed at how they put so much love in their cooking. They treat their cooking as a true art form. Even street vendors cook each dish in the proper traditional way. Their food is so untouched by commercialism. 

I know that my dish would not stand up to the real Vietnamese noodle soup because their stock cooks for hours and hours. The stock has to be rich and well seasoned. I used pork neck bones and beef tendons and simmered them for a couple of hours to make a very tasty soup. Both can be bought frozen at the Oriental supermarket. I would have used beef bones but that is very difficult to find here. Onions and ginger were included to flavour the stock. A long simmer would reward you with the best soup ever.

I have used pork shoulder steaks for this recipe because that has a marbling of fat which makes the meat succulent and tender after grilling. A handful of herbs and crispy onions makes this dish to die for. Trust me.

The grilled pork can also be eaten on cold rice noodles  as bún thịt nướng. Follow my bun cha recipe but replace the pork patties with the chargrilled pork. This will also be nice in baguettes, banh mi style, with carrot and radish pickles. Of course, it can simply be eaten with rice.

Yield: 4 servings.

Ingredients for the chargrilled pork:

4 pork shoulder steaks

1 stalk lemon grass, chopped 

3 slices of ginger, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 red finger chilli, chopped

2 tbsps. light soy sauce

2 tbsps. fish sauce

3 tbsps. brown sugar

juice of half a lime or lemon

For the noodle soup:


300 gms. flat rice noodles
6 c. rich stock
coriander (cilantro)
spring onions
mint
crispy onions
lime or lemon wedges


Method:


Pound the chopped lemon grass in a mortar and pestle. Mix with the rest of the marinade ingredients for the chargrilled pork. Cut diagonal slashes on the surface of the pork steaks. Cut diagonal slashes on the other side going the opposite direction. Lay on a glass or plastic container and pour in the marinade. Leave for at least an hour. Chargrill on medium low heat for ten minutes on each side or until done. Let rest for ten minutes before cutting into strips.


To assemble the noodle soup:


Cook the rice noodles until al dente. This will cook further when you pour in the soup. Divide into four bowls. Pour in some of the soup (about 1 1/2 cups per person). Top with chargrilled pork, spring onions, mint and coriander. Tuck in a wedge of lime or lemon and sprinkle with the crispy onions. Serve at once with the dipping sauce.

Ingredients for the dipping sauce:

1/4 c. white wine vinegar

juice of 2 limes

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red finger chilli, chopped

1/4 c. of sugar

1/4 c. fish sauce

Combine all the ingredients together and serve with the noodle soup.

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SEAFOOD PAELLA

Paella has a wow factor in its presentation.  All the seafood arranged nicely on top of the rice never fails to impress and evoke anticipation of the tastes soon to be savoured. A well cooked paella never disappoints. Both the richly flavoured rice and the assortment of seafood provides well over the expected gustatory delights.

UBE MACAPUNO INIPIT

The Kulinarya Cooking Club's theme for the month is red, white, blue and yellow. These are the colours of the Philippine flag. We are paying homage not only to our flag and country but also to our national heroes. This month's great hosts are Ray of Wok with Ray, Oggi of I Can Do That, Chef Theodore Salonga of Chef by Day and Boyet of Reel and Grill.

CHOI SUM AND CHICKEN PANCAKES

Among Orientals, tokens of food are exchanged on any day for no reason. It is not the muffin or cookie kind but usually are homecooked food meant for a family meal. 

A dear Chinese neighbour gave me some choi sum pancakes one time and I immediately fell in love with it. She graciously shared her brief instructions after which she gave me a bunch of fresh choi sum. They supply Asian vegetables to the restaurants so they always had a few extras at home. 

VIETNAMESE FRIED SPRING ROLLS

It is quite ironic that I never got to know the cuisines of the other Southeast Asian countries until I moved away from the Philippnes and came to London. Being a melting pot of different cultures, the food here is so varied and interesting. 

STIR FRIED SWEET AND SOUR PORK AND A TRIP TO CAMDEN MARKET

The previous weekend, we took a trip to London's Camden Market, just a few minutes away from our house. It is a very quirky, fun market and I thought you guys might be entertained by some photos. It is located in what used to be the intersection of the main trade routes in the 1800's. It became an arts and crafts market in the 70's and today houses anything and everything under the sun. Food, clothes, ethnic novelties, punk gear and antiques are all housed in this quirky labyrinth that used to house horse stables. There's also a canal where you can go on a scenic boat ride around London. There are a lot of stalls selling food from different countries, so come hungry.


(More photos of Camden Market here)

Lots of horse statues in this market that used to house horse stables.

English ladies hold up the gazebos that shelter park benches. Next to it are garish food stalls from different nationalities.

You can go on a scenic canal boat ride around London. The blue boat is actually a cruising restaurant. 

This part of the market houses antiques.

For the love of everything English. Antique silver and glassware and some hunting trophies.

Sad to say, Asian food is pretty generic at Camden market. There is no divide between Japanese, Chinese nor Thai cuisine. The iconic sweet and sour pork is one of the most popular fastfood item and it pretty much looks the same in every stall. I can't even say they look appetizing.


It used to be one of my favourite dishes as a child. I remember how properly cooked it was. Crisp, starch dusted cubes of pork with a sauce that has the correct balance of sweetness and tartness. It's come so far since commercialism took away all the goodness and changed it to an almost unrecognizable form. My children actually like this dish so I have to compromise. I sliced the pork thinly so I can quickly stir fry it instead of deep frying. The sauce has no thickener and is actually just a bit more than a glaze. Sweet and sour pork minus a litre of oil. Now that I'd happily eat.

Ingredients:


400 gms. pork, thinly sliced
3 tbsps. light soy sauce
1 tbsps. brown sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 tsps. corn flour
1 medium onion
2 stalks of spring onions
1/4 c. each of sweet green and red pepper, cut into squares
1/2 cup tinned pineapple tidbits or chunks
1/4 c. syrup from the tinned pineapple
1 tbsp. white wine or cider vinegar
2 tbsps. tomato ketchup
3 tbsps. honey
3 tbsps. cooking oil


Method:


Season the pork with 2 tbsps. of the light soy sauce, sesame oil and the corn flour. Mix very well then set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat up a wok until very hot. Add 2 tbsps. of the cooking oil and swirl around to coat the wok. Add the pork and stir fry for about 5 minutes or until the liquid that comes out of the pork is re-absorbed. Add the last tbsp. of oil and stir fry until the pork is glossy and dry. Add the vinegar, ketchup, pineapple syrup, honey, onions and peppers. Keep stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Keep the heat high. When the peppers and onions are half done (about 3 minutes), add 1/2 cup of water around the pork to deglaze the pan . Add the spring onions and the pineapple pieces. Simmer for 2 minutes then turn the heat off. Transfer to a serving dish.

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BUCO PANDAN CUPS

 In line with the trend for sweets to be spiked with salt, I am sharing a recipe for a fusion Asian dessert that is just that. This dessert is made with two of the most popular dessert ingredients in the Far East: coconut (in this case young coconut) and pandan or screwpine leaves. 

This is my take on a Philippine dessert which has pandan flavoured jelly and buco or young coconut meat dressed with sweet cream. I've taken the very same flavours but taken inspiration from the Thai dessert tako haew  (water chestnuts and coconut cream in a pandan cup). I have made the gel with coconut water, pandan essence and young coconut meat and topped it with sweet and salty coconut cream. It just makes sense to use a pandan leaf cup as a mold. I have also made some in shot glasses to make, errr, jello shots.

Prepare the pandan cups, if using, before you start:


Cut 7" lengths of pandan leaf. Make 4 slits on the bottom part (below the rib) 1 1/2" apart to make five sections (I used a cardboard template as a guide to make uniform sections). Alternately tuck in each section to make a small square cup. Tuck in the last flap as shown and staple the side to it together. prepare the filling.

Ingredients:


4 pandan leaves
1 440 gm. tin of young coconut meat in syrup
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsps. white sugar
1/4 c. plus 2 tbsps. corn flour dispersed in 1/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. coconut cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbsps. all purpose flour


Drain the young coconut and reserve the syrup. Snip the pandan leaves in into 1/2" wide pieces. Put the pandan leaves in a small saucepan. Measure the coconut syrup and top up with water to make two cups. Add to the pandan leaves in the saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes to make pandan essence. 

Meanwhile cut up the coconut meat into small cubes. When the pandan essence is ready, strain it and measure 2 c. (you might have to top this up with water). Put back in the saucepan, add the coconut meat and bring back to a boil. Take off the heat for a minute and add in the corn flour slurry while vigorously stirring. Put back on the heat and simmer while still stirring until thickened. Add a few drops of yellow and green food colour to brighten the colour. Spoon into the prepared pandan cups or into ramekins or small glasses.


Put the coconut cream, salt, sugar and flour in a small saucepan. Whisk very well then turn on the heat on low. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Top the pandan gel with spoonfuls of this mixture. Leave to cool. Refrigerate before serving.

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CHICKEN STEAKS WITH GARLIC BALSAMIC DRIZZLE

The children go back to school this week. After thoroughly chilling out and enjoying the summer break, I have to snap back into the school time routine. 

Weeknight meals on school days tends to be rushed in our household. I bet it is in most. I have to quickly cook after the school run, serve the kids dinner ( technically it's called "tea" because we eat very early), then they have to do their school work. The dinner has to be planned so that I know exactly what to do and can get on with things pretty quickly. When my children were young they had their fair share of frozen crumbed food. Thankfully, their tastes have now matured (a little) and prefer real home made crumbed food, if they were to have it. 

Today, I've decided to make chicken steaks.  I always have bread crumbs in the freezer made with the end slices of loaves (whizzed in the food processor and stored in a zip lock bag). Everything's ready in a few minutes. A simple garlic balsamic drizzle serves as sauce. This really wakes up the taste of the chicken and is a welcome change from the red sauce that comes out of a squeeze bottle. I served it with boiled potatoes and a salad. 

Ingredients:

four chicken breasts
butter and olive oil for frying
flour
bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 c. milk


Marinade ingredients:

1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp.salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 sprig of thyme, chopped or 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. sugar

Method:

Marinate the chicken pieces in a mixture of all the marinade ingredients. Dredge lightly in all purpose flour. Beat the eggs and milk together. Dip the floured chicken pieces in the egg mixture before coating with breadcrumbs. Shake off excess. Heat up a pan and add 1 tbsp. each of butter and olive oil. Panfry the chicken, one at a time until just light brown. Drizzle with the glaze.

For the garlic balsamic glaze:

2 tbsps. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsps. brown sugar
2 tbsps. balsamic vinegar


Heat up the butter in a sauce pan and add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Take out out most of the garlic but leave about a teaspoonful in the pan. Continue to cook until golden and crisp. Take out of the pan and set aside. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer gently until syrupy. Drizzle on top of the chicken and sprinkle with the crispy garlic.

It is also nice on a crusty bread roll.

All rights reserved ©Adora's Box Copyright 2011 

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ASIAN BARBECUE CHICKEN WINGS

How much barbecued food do we get through in a barbecue season? No one knows for sure. Even here in sun deprived London we still do it no matter what. Sometimes though, things get out of hand. One day, I found my husband soaked and huddled under a parasol with intermittent lightning flashes in the background. Words were exchanged. Oh yeah. Words like "Is it nearly done?" and "Take care not to get the food wet". 


As the summer draws to a close, we try to take advantage of the last dry days to barbecue. The chosen sacrifice is chicken wings. I can't believe how small the chicken wings in the supermarket are nowadays. I hope they are not from chicks. I used an Asian style marinade on these chicken wings. Aside from the trinity of garlic, ginger and spring onions, I've added mango puree. I like fruit on barbecue marinades because it makes the meat sweet. A final glaze of soy sauce and honey seals the deal.

Ingredients:

20-25 chicken wings

Marinade ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp. chopped red chillies
1 tbsp. chopped ginger
2 stalks of spring onions, cut into rounds
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/3 c. mango puree
1 tbsp. brown sugar

Glaze ingredients:

3 tbsps. honey
2 tbsps. light soy sauce
2 tbsps. oil

Method:

Mix all of the marinade ingredients and puree in a food processor. 

Prepare the chicken wings by cutting off the wing tips and cleaning the wings very well. Make sure there are no feathers or stubbles left on them. 

Cut slits on the thick parts of the wings to let the marinade penetrate the meat. 

Mix the marinade with the meat and leave for at least an hour or overnight if you have time. 

Grill on the barbecue on low heat for 10-15 minutes on each side. 

Mix the glaze ingredients together and brush the wings. Cook for another 2 minutes on each side just to set the glaze. They are now done.

All rights reserved ©Adora's Box Copyright 2011.

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Thanks for dropping by. Please let me know what you think of this post.