Recipe: Char Siu Pork (no red food coloring!)

No intro needed - here's my Char Siu pork recipe.

Ingredients
3 lb pork shoulder or pork butt (anything else will just be too dry)
1/2 cup ketchup (this is how we get the pork red without red food coloring)
1/4 cup mirin (sue me - I didn't use Chinese Shaoxing wine)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp of Chinese 5 spice
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients and let sit for the ingredients to "marry"
2. Slice the pork into 3 long strips
3. In a large ziplock bag or a flat dish, pour the marinade over the pork
4. Marinate overnight but I usually marinate for 2-3 days
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (I ALWAYS default to a convection oven setting)
6. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.  Place a metal rack on top of the sheet pan.  Pour water onto the sheet pan but make sure it is below the metal rack. 
7. Heat in oven for 20 minutes.  Flip the pork for another 20 minutes in the oven.
8. While the pork is in the oven, heat the marinade in a sauce pan until it thickens.  Set aside.
9. Remove the pork from the oven and turn on the broiler.
10.  Baste the pork and put under the broiler until the edges are charred/crisp to your desire. 

Let rest before slicing and serving.  Can be paired with rice, noodles, or in a Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich.

Bon appetit!

Recipe: Chili

One pot meals are the best.  They're easy, quick, and the clean up is a cinch.  It was recently gloomy in Southern California, which is the perfect weather for something stewy like chili.  I made do with what I had in the pantry.  Bon appetit  

Ingredients

1.5 lbs of ground beef/pork/turkey (your choosing)

4 oz of tomato paste

2 - 8 oz cans of diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 - 8 oz can of kidney beans

1 - 8 oz can of corn 

1 large shallot, diced

5 diced garlic 

1/4 cup fish sauce
1 tbsp maggi sauce

4 tbsp honey

2 tbsp of cocoa powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp oregano
Chicken stock

1. In a Dutch oven, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Sweat the onion and garlic.  

2. Add the ground protein and brown.

3. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken stock.

4. Add the cocoa powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, and kidney beans.

5. Simmer for 1.5 hours.

6. Add the honey, fish sauce, and maggi sauce.  ADJUST TO TASTE.  

Top with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Recipe: Xiu Mai - Vietnamese Meat Balls

Let me introduce you to the Vietnamese version of the Italian Meatball Sandwich: Banh Mi Xiu Mai.  Served with a French baguette, the Vietnamese meatball version makes up what it lacks in Italian seasoning with the staple Vietnamese nuoc mam (fish sauce).  Stamped with mom's approval, I share with you MY recipe for Xiu Mai.

Ingredients
1 lb ground pork
1 medium shallot, diced
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp honey
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp canola oil

Sauce
1 - 14.5 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste
2 cups shrimp stock
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 shallot, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp of olive oil

Garnish
French baguette
Pickled carrots
Pickled daikon
Cucumber cut into matchsticks
Cilantro


Directions for Meatballs
1. Combine the panko bread crumbs with the milk and let soak as you prepare the rest of the ingredients

2. Combine the ground pork, shallots, cornstarch, fish sauce, sugar, honey, garlic powder, and pepper.  Allow the mix to sit for 15 minutes for the ingredients to marry.

3.  Add the egg, olive oil, and soaked panko bread crumbs to the ground pork mix and combine.

4. Form the meatballs. (Tip: use an ice cream scoop for uniformity)

5. In a 9 inch skillet, heat 3 tbsp of canola oil and brown the meatballs.  Set meatballs aside.

Sauce
1. In the same skillet used to brown the meatballs, heat the olive oil.

2. Add the diced shallots and allow to cook for a minute.

3. Add the garlic.  Allow the shallots to sweat and soften

4. Add the fire roasted diced tomatoes and cook.

5. Add the tomato paste and cook.

6.  Add the fish sauce and sugar.  Stir to mix with the sauce.

7. Add the shrimp stock slowly.  Add more for a more watery sauce or less for a thicker sauce.  I found that adding 2 cups of stock formulated my ideal sauce consistency.

8. Add the meatballs to the sauce and increase the heat to a boil.  Reduce to simmer.

9. Cover the sauce and meatballs with a lid and allow to cook for half an hour.

Assembly
1. Slice the meatballs in half and place inside the French baguette.

2. Pour some of the tomato sauce over the meatballs

3. Garnish with the pickled vegetables and cilantro.

Bon appétit!

P.S: Who doesn't love a giveaway.  Click HERE for information about my current giveaway!

Recipe: Vietnamese Grilled Pork and Vermicelli - Bun Thit Nuong

Ingredients
3 lbs of pork butt or pork shoulder, sliced into 1/4 inch thick and 3 inches long
4 - 5 stalks of lemongrass, minced
3 shallots, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced (adjust to taste)
2 tbsp of honey (my mom swears by honey in marinade)
3 tbsp of fish sauce (I prefer Megachef, the blue bottle)
4 tbsp of sugar
2 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of pepper (I prefer white pepper)
1 tbsp of caramel sauce (nuoc mau)

1 package of vermicelli noodles.  I like to use the following brand:

Herbs
Tia to (red perilla leaves)
Hung lui (mint leaves)
Bean sprouts
Lettuce

Garnish
Cucumbers, diced into matchsticks
Pickled carrots
Pickled daikon
Roasted peanuts
Scallion oil
Fried shallots
Nuoc cham (dipping fish sauce)

1. Combine lemongrass, shallots, garlic, honey, fish sauce, sugar, sesame oil, pepper, and caramel sauce.  Marinate the pork over night (at the least 2 hours)

2. Traditionally, pork is grilled using a grill basket, which can be purchased at Chinese and Vietnamese markets.  However, if you don't have one, you can: grill indoors on a cast iron grill, place the pork under the oven broiler until cooked/charred, or cook the pork in a pan.  These indoor methods just won't yield the same smokey charred taste as the traditional outdoor grill method.

3.  Cook the vermicelli noodles according to the directions on the packaging.  Drain the noodles and let them dry completely!  It should be dry and on the sticky side.

4. In a bowl, place sliced up lettuce leaves, herbs, and bean sprouts.

5.  Put the vermicelli noodles on top of the vegetables.  Top the noodles with the pork.  Garnish with the pickled carrots, daikon, and cucumbers.  Drizzle the scallion oil over the garnish.  Garnish the scallion oil with the fried shallots (this dish is all about layers).  Finally, drizzle nuoc cham over the entire bowl to your desire.

Bon appetit!