Steamed Prawns With Beer

This is a very easy dish to cook; all you need to do is drink half of your beer and use the other half of the bottle to soak the prawns for about three to five minutes. But the amount of beer depends on how many prawns you are going to cook as the prawns must be just covered by beer.

Anyway, after three to five minutes soaking, put the pan on the heat and start cooking. Cooking time depends on the amount but normally, as a guide, for half a kilogram of prawns, it takes about 15 minutes. The prawns should come to the boil and then simmer for the remaining time on a lower heat.

Afterwards, you should have nice firm sweet prawn with a fainst hint of the beer. Dip in a simple paste of salt, pepper, lime amd chili.
Again, this recipe is from my good friend - Ly, who owns the very popular 86 Seafood Restaurant in Tran Phu St in Nha Trang.

Steamed Prawns In Coconut Juice

I think seafood a pretty popular choice for the most of the world's population. And for me prawns are the most special as we can cook it in so many ways. I usually cook seafood according to my best friend's recommendations; her family owns a well-known seafood restaurant in Nha Trang called Gio ("Wind") at 86 Tran Phu Street.

Yesterday, after a morning street food tour with my clients, I stopped by my regular seafood shop at the Nghi Tam market to buy some prawns for dinner. I decided to cook steamed prawns with coconut juice for dinner. This is one of my favorite dish and not very difficult to make, only needing a few minutes to cook. I got the recipe from my friend in Nha Trang. Let me know what you think.
Ingredients: Coconut juice, prawns, garlic
Boil the coconut juice, add the garlic (lightly mashed) and prawns for about 7 minutes.
Serve it with mixed salt, pepper, chili and lemon.
Don't forget to have a glass of white wine or beer when you enjoy this delicious and healthy prawn dish.

Banh Xeo

Last night, I looked up my Nha Trang food photos and my mouth was watering at the Banh Xeo (steamed rice pancake) photos. I decided to make it tonight for dinner. Huong, my cleaner, went to the market and got some prawns, pork, vegetables and squid and I went to buy rice flour, different kinds of herbs, beanshoots and some more pork.

It's nice to make something different for a change at home. It took 30 minutes to get everything ready and quite easy as the flour had instructions on the bag. I do know how to make this cake as I ate and saw it alot when I was in my city. The dipping sauce is the most important as it determines the taste of the whole dish. Ms Huong made a dipping sauce using the WildRice restaurant recipe. It tasted great but in Nha Trang we make it a little bit different, slightly fruitier with more pineapple and lemon. I will make this sauce next week when I have another go at Banh Xeo next week.

When I'd finished and had more than enough myself, I gave my landlord some cakes and he just loved them, as did my housemate and Huong. This was the first time she's ever made this cake, and even though she thought it was difficult to make, Huong said she's going to try it at home for her family.

It really is a great dish from the south of Vietnam.

Young Sticky Rice “Che”

It's taken such a long time for me to post any food recipes from my last work place even though I'd saved lots of them draft form. I will restart sharing food recipes with everyone and hope you guys can make it at home as good as in the restaurant. Today I want to share one of the most popular northern sweet dishes which is called young sticky rice “Che”. "Che" in Vietnamese means tea but in English it's like a sweet consomme.

People also use young sticky rice to make cakes and candy, to eat fresh or stir fried with seafood or meat as a main dish or mixed with flour to make a deep fried cake which is also really popular in Hanoi. Anyway, here is the recipe and hope you can follow it.

Ingredients:
Dry or fresh young sticky rice: 100g
White sugar: 150g
Vanilla: 5g
Starch: 50g

Method:
Put 500 ml of water into a pot; bring it to the boil then put dry young sticky rice in; simmer until dry young sticky rice is soft. Add sugar then stir lightly until sugar turns into liquid. Put starch in and stir until the mixture is thick. Turn off the gas and sprinkle vanilla on, then mix thoroughly.

This is such a great sweet for the winter because it's served hot, but you also can eat it with ice in hot weather. I prefer to eat it when it's hot then you can smell the great flavour from the young sticky rice. Enjoy!

Beef Salad With Carrot and Celery

Beef salad is one of my favorite cold salads which I make sometimes at home by myself. I am sure that you guys can make it as easily as I do. It's really healthy and easily prepared and very cheap for the ingredients which you can buy at any Asian market.

Ingredients:
Beef sirloin: 500g
Spring onion: 50g
Carrot: 150g
Celery: 100g
Onion: 150g
Garlic: 10 g
Red chilli: 50 g
Fish sauce: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 2 teaspoons
Lemon: 10 pcs
Fresh water: 2 teaspoons

How to make:
Put 3 litre of water into a saucepan then put beef sirloin in and bring to the boil, then simmer for two hours until cooked. After cooking cut the boiled beef into 4 cm long and 1 cm thin strips
Clean spring onion, carrot, celery & onion well then dry them before cutting them in to long and thin pieces (5 cm long).

Dipping sauce:
- Lemon: squeeze for juice. Put fish sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic and chili in a large mixing bowl; put 2 spoons of water in then stir well.
- Put beef meat & all prepared ingredients in above mixture; use chopsticks to mix all the ingredients.
- Serve cold.

Soft Shell Crab In Sweet and Sour Sauce

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry but I've been lazy and I've been travelling. Wishing you guys a great new year in 2007 with lots of luck, happiness and health. Today, I'm giving you one of the most popular dishes which appears many restaurants in Hanoi. It's called soft shell crab in sweet and sour sauce. This is a delicious dish which you can eat for either a main course or as a starter and it's also very easy to make it yourself at home. Please, take a good look the following recipe. Hope you guys can make it as good as in the restaurant. Sorry for the picture which I took without the sauce.

Ingredient:
Soft Shell crab: 400g
Egg: 1 egg
Sugar: 10g
Starch: 100g
Green pepper: 50 g
Tomato: 300g
Potato: 100 g
Carrot: 50g
Cooking oil: 200g
Chicken Powder: 2 teaspoon
Garlic: 5g

How to make:
- Wash crab thoroughly, drains well.
- Whisk the egg well also. Put crab in to this mixture then put it into starch until starch stick well onto the whole crab.
- Pour cooking oil into a pan bring to a boil, put prepared crab in fry until crab turn into brown color.

Sweet & sour sauce:
- Wash tomato thoroughly then chop finely
- Green pepper, tomato, carrot cut into small cubes (0.5 cm)
- Garlic chops finely.
- Pour cooking oil into a saucepan; bring to a boil, put garlic in and stir until garlic turn into brown color with nice smell. Pour prepared tomato in, put chicken powder & sugar in (enough for your taste)
- Put all prepared green pepper, potato, and carrot in; stir for 3 minutes then pour onto crab. Served hot.

Banana Flower Salad

Banana Flower Salad is one of the most popular cold salads throughout Viet Nam. This salad is not very difficult to prepare, and only needs about 15 minutes to prepare. Let's take a look at the recipe:

Ingredients:
200 g of banana flower
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 teaspoons of salt
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoons of chopped garlic
2 teaspoons of chopped chili
½ Cup of fresh basil
½ Cup of crushed peanuts
½ Lettuce
Mint & coriander to garnish

Shred the banana flower into thin strands in a food processor
Place in a mixing bowl and add the salt, sugar and lemon juice
Next add the garlic, chili and basil and continue mixing
Pluck off thin strips (1-2 CMS in length) and mix into the salad.
Arrange in a bowl with a little lettuce and garnish with mint & coriander.

Presenting the salad in a banana flower as in the top picture makes it look great, especially if it's a special occasion.

Prawn and Banana Fried Spring Rolls

This spring roll is one of the most popular choices at my workplace. See if you can make them at home.

Ingredients

Medium size prawns: 100g cut into half lengthwise
Ripe banana: 2 bananas cut into 8 pieces (first lengthwise then horizontally)
Sesame oil: 5 ml
Chicken powder: ¼ teaspoon
Cooking oil: 200 ml
Rice paper: 8 pieces

How to make:

Peel off the hard shell of the prawns; wash thoroughly then drain well
Pour a little cooking oil into a sauce pan; heat until hot; when the cooking oil reaches 80 degrees C, put prawns, sprinkle sesame, chicken powder in & stir in 5 minutes.
Place half a prawn and a piece of banana on a rice paper before rolling it into a roll.
Pour 200 ml cooking oil into a pan; heat until hot then put spring rolls in and fry until color of the “nem” turns brown. Serve hot

Super Chef

Whenever I come down to Saigon, I always enjoy eating whatever my sister, Hang, cooks. She cooks very well and she knows what I love. While I was there recently, she spoilt me. So many times, Hang made a quick visit to the market near her home, and thirty minutes later I'd have one of my favourites in front of me. Some of her best dishes are sweet and sour broth with Bong Lau fish, stir fried prawns with pork, steamed mixed vegetables and some eggplants. Sometimes she makes really good beef steak to eat with rice instead of French fries and salad.

She varies what she cooks very often, which impresses a lot because I can eat something delicious and different almost daily. My sister and I both love tennis and we play every night whenever I come down to Saigon. I join her club to play doubles which gives me a good chance to practice my doubles skills. Usually I only play singles in Hanoi.

Spending time with Hang was good fun as always. I love Ho Chi Minh City and I'm thinking about moving down here to live at the end of this year. Let’s see.

Grilled Tuna In Banana Leaves

Another day and another recipe from my colleagues at Wild Rice. This is one of the most popular main dishes at the restaurant. If you follow the recipe carefully, you can make your meal special.

Ingredients:
Tuna: 250g (1 slice)
Eggplant: 500 g
Okra: 20g
Garlic: 10g
Red chili: 1 chili (chopped finely) & 2 others for grilling
Chili paste: 2 teaspoon
Sugar: 1.5 teaspoon
Chicken powder: 1.5 teaspoon
White pepper: 1 teaspoon
Cooking oil: 2 teaspoon

Method:
- Cut eggplants into half horizontally, then cut into half lengthwise
- Put tuna, eggplant, okra, red chili, chili paste, garlic, prepared red chili, cooking oil, chicken powder, sugar, white pepper into a large mixing bowl, mix well then marinate for 15 minutes.
- Grill the eggplant, okra and tuna over a hot flame for 5-7 minutes on each side.

This dish is served with rice at the restaurant. But of course, it's always nice to order or prepare some vegetables or a salad, too.

Sauteed Prawns With Peanuts and Tamarind Sauce

This rich dish is one of the most popular on our menu at Wild Rice. Sweet, sour and nutty. Try the recipe.

Ingredients:
Medium size prawns: 100g
Tamarind paste: 50g
Sugar: 50g
Seasoning: 30g
Garlic: 10g
Cooking oil: 20g

Method:
+ To make the tamarind sauce:
* First: put one bowl of water in a pot; bring to a boil then put tamarind paste in; simmer until the sauce is watery then filter out all the tamarind seeds and fibre.
* Next: pour the above tamarind sauce; seasoning; sugar & chicken powder into a pot; bring to the boil until the sauce is thick. The sauce should have a sweet & sour taste.

+ To prepare the prawns:
- Wash prawns thoroughly.
- Put some water in a pot; bring to a boil then put prawns in. Boil for about 5 minutes.
- Put cooking oil into a saucepan; heat until very hot; put chopped garlic in and stir until it browns slightly; put prepared tamarind sauce & prawns in; mix well then sprinkle peanuts on top.

Serve hot.

Grilled Banana with Orange Sauce

This is the first dessert recipe I have posted from Wild Rice, but this is the most popular. It's a simple banana which you can buy easily, cooked a bit and drizzled with a yummy sauce. It's really good with a scoop of coconut ice cream on the side.

Brush some sugar and butter around the banana then grill it for few minutes till it’s yellow. Then soak it in brandy and set it alight to caramelize slightly. Before serving this dish, dust with cinnamon powder and tip the sauce over.

Sauce: Honey, yoghurt, orange juice mixed with some sugar syrup.

Stewed Beef With Pate and Green Pepper

Having bread in a Vietnamese main meal seems unusual but lots of people do now, especially with a dish like this one. Hanoians eat a similar dish called sot vang.

Ingredients:
Beef sirloin: 1kg
Garlic: 10 g
Pate: 150 g
Tomato paste: 150g
Green pepper: 30g
Chicken powder: 3 teaspoons
Starch powder: 3 teaspoons
Cooking oil

How to make: Put 3 litre of water into a saucepan then put the beef sirloin in and bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for 4 hours. Cut the boiled beef in to cubes (2.5 cm) Put some cooking oil into a sauce pan, put in garlic, stirring until the garlic turns brown. Put the prepared beef & other ingredients in, braise for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

This is another recipe from Wild Rice which is not something you would normally associate with Vietnamese cuisine but it's really good in the winter.

Green Papaya Salad

Green papaya salad is one of Vietnam's favorite salads which is not very difficult to make. This dish is really colourful, tasty and healthy - good for vegetarians as well.

Ingredients:

Green Papaya: 300g
Red chili: 4 chili
Coriander: 10g
Vietnamese mint(Rau răm): 10g
Peanut: 30g
Prawns: 100g
Fish sauce: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 2 teaspoons
Lemon: 1 lemon
Garlic: 10g

How to make:
Prawns: peel off the hard shell & the black line (poo tube!) on their backs, wash then drain well. Wash Rau ram thorougly; drain well also, then chop finely. Cut red chili into thin small slices. - Coriander: wash; drain.

Dressing: Squeeze lemon for juice. Put fish sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic and chili in a large mixing bowl; put 2 spoonfuls of water in, then stir well. Mix green papaya, Vietnamese mint, peanuts and chili together; add coriander and prawns near the top. Pour dressing over the top.

Fish In Clay Pot

If you want to try a really authentic Vietnamese dish, fish in clay pot is a good choice. This highly popular dish is a classic example of a recipe designed to make a little go a long way. In this case, the fish is seasoned in a highly sweet and salty sauce and should be eaten with steamed rice and stir-fried greens.

Ingredients:
Serves 2 - 3
3 table spoons of vegetable oil
Two cloves of minced garlic
½ teaspoon of minced ginger
400g of catfish cut through the cross section
4 tablespoons of caramel sauce
2 spring onions sliced thinly
1 thinly sliced chili

How to make:
Heat the vegetable oil in a clay pot or medium frypan over moderate heat. Add the garlic & ginger, stir until fragrant, & add the catfish pieces. Cook for two minutes, add the caramel sauce and stir gently for 1 minute until the fish absorbs the sauce. Add the fish sauce. Simmer uncovered until the sauce has slightly caramelized. Garnish with the spring onions chili.

Hanoi Fried Spring Rolls

Hanoi fried spring rolls are very popular and appear on almost every restaurant menu. Hanoians are very proud of their spring rolls. It's a perfect starter for whoever loves fried spring rolls. There are quite a few different recipes for fried spring rolls but I would like to give you the following recipe which includes pork rather than fish or something else.

Ingredients:
Onion: 200g (finely chopped)
Carrot: 150g (finely chopped)
Dry vermicelli: 30g
Earwood: 30g
Black mushroom: 30g
Minced pork: 300g
Crab meat: 500g
Egg : 02
Pepper, sugar: 1/10 teaspoon
Chicken powder ¼ teaspoon
Cooking oil: 200ml
Fish Sauce: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 teaspoon
Fresh Water: 03 teaspoon
Vinegar or fresh lime juice: 01 teaspoon
Fresh Chilli, garlic: 01 teaspoon
Square rice papper, Coconut milk.

How to make:
Soak dry vermicelli, earwood, black mushroom in water for 20 minutes. Then dry & finely chop. Put all the prepared ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix them well. Place some of the above prepared ingredients on a sheet of rice paper before rolling it into rolls. Put cooking oil into a pan, bring to a high heat, put spring rolls in & turn occasionally until the color of the “nem” turns light brown. Serve hot with herbs & dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce:

Lemon: squeeze for juice. Put fish sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic and chili in a large mixing bowl; add 2 spoonfuls of water in, then stir well.

If you follow this recipe, which is enough for four people, you will be enjoying the spring rolls we serve at WildRice.

Pan Fried Young Tofu

You might think that this is just normal tofu which people sell in the market. I can guarantee that this is one of the greatest vegetarian dishes that you could ever try. It takes time to make this tofu but it's worth it for special occasions. Check out the following recipe.

Ingredient:
Rice powder : 2 bowls
Green bean :300gr
Corn flour:1 bowl
Tofu :5 pieces
Black mushroom :300gr
Onion : 2
Water :20 bowls
Oyster sauce, soya sauce, Knorr powder, pepper, oil.

How to make:
Black mushroom, onion: chopped finely
Green bean : cooked then ground.
Put all together and mix up, cook until all the moisture has almost evaporated. Scoop out into a tray, divide them into small square pieces and store in the freezer. Take them out and deep fry, at first over a low heat after covering them lightly in flour. Turn the heat up slowly once they are browned slightly. Must be eaten hot and crispy with soya sauce(chili).

This is a really special vegetarian dish that everyone loves at Wild Rice, especially foreigners.

Fried Chicken Wings with Fish Sauce

This is a very popular dish which most Vietnamese people love.. It's also very easy to make, only taking about 15 minutes following this recipe:

Ingredients:
Chicken wings
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 spring onion
1/4 teaspoon dried chili
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chicken powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 spoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon suger
Corianders

Preparation:
Chicken wings wash and cut it to 2 or leave it as normal, peeled and chopped garlic, sliced onion, cut spring onion about 4 or 5 cm long.

Sauce:
Mixed up pepper, salt,chili and lemon.

How to make:
Soak chicken wings with salt, ground black pepper, chicken powder and leave it from 5 to 10 minutes then deep fried in cooking oil until it looks dark yellow. Take them out and drain. Heat two spoons of cooking oil in the fried pan, then adding all the ingredients and cooked chicken wings and mix them well for 3 minutes. Put them all on the plate and add a pinch of ground pepper and garnish with lettuce, tomatoes and coriander.

Green Mango Salad

Green Mango Salad is such a nice salad which can be prepared easily at home with the very simple recipe, which follows:

Peeling young mango skin, then slice finely, soak in salty water( not lots of salt) for a while. The spring onions and celery need to be chopped into 4cm lengths and the carrots sliced finely.

Dressing: 10 sugar, 8 fish sauce, 5 lime sauce. Chilli, garlic, coriander chopped finely. The dressing is best prepared in a blender

Add the dressing and only 5 minutes before serving the dish.

Prawns at Home

We bought some live prawns and I mixed them with some salt, sugar, fish sauce, chili, and lemongrass and soaked them for about 10 minutes. After that, I stir fried them on high in the wok until all the liquid was gone and they were a bit dark (that's the color from the sugar) which means they were done. They should be a little bit sweet, a little salty and I think you should squeeze some lemon on the prawns to make it even better. This is a common dish which most Vietnamese can do well.