Category: Vietnamese

Vietnamese Recipes

During my 10day stop in Ho Chi Minh, I stayed at the Ngoc Thao Guesthouse in the backpacker area. The owners and everyone who worked there were very friendly and helpful with whatever we needed. They offered to prepare a typical Vietnamese meal for us where we would get to go shopping with them to the local food market, help them cook and then finally eat with them. The other time, one of the girls who works there, Tran, took me for breakfast to her favourite place which is actually a few tables set up in somebody’s house. Let me tell you, it was best Mi Quang I’ve had (see featured image of this post). I hope I can treat her to breakfast someday!

Back to recipes, there will be 3.

Sauteed Morning Glory – This one is dead easy but we really enjoyed it and decided to put it up lest I forget by the time my travels are over.

Braised chicken with ginger – This one was everyone’s favourite

Sour Fish soup – a light soup for those hot summer days

Happy cooking!

Chicken with ginger

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients

  • 200g Chicken with bone (Cut into 3cm squares)
  • 4cm Piece of Ginger (around 100gms), cut into fine julienne
  • 10 Clove of Garlic, finely chopped,
  • ½ large onion, sliced
  • 1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce
  • 3 Teaspoon of Chicken Powder/Stock
  • 3 Teaspoon of Sugar
  • Pinch of Ground Pepper
  • 2 green chillies, chopped (optional)
  • 4 sprigs of Spring Onion, chopped
  • 1tbspn sunflower oil

Method

  1. Caramelize sugar in water until brown.
  2. Marinade chicken with fish sauce, caramelized sugar sauce, chicken stock, green chillies and pepper.  Set aside for 30mins.
  3. Heat oil, on medium heat, in a pan. Saute garlic and onion until brown. Keep stirring as not to burn garlic.
  4. Add chicken mixture to pot and stir fry for around 10 minutes.
  5. Add 100ml water to the bowl with marinade, stir to gather remaining marinade and add to the pot.
  6. Cover and let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
  7. Add julienned ginger and cook till raw taste of ginger is gone and chicken is cooked through.
  8. Garnish with spring onion and serve with rice

Sour Fish Soup

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients

  • 4 – 5 Tamarind Pieces
  • 2 Okras
  • 10cm Taro Stem (can use Pak Choy as a substitute)
  • handful of fresh cilantro
  • handful of Buffalo Spinach
  • 1 Tomato
  • 2 Slices of Pineapple
  • 2 Cloves Garlic
  • Cooking Oil
  • 1 Slice of Mackerel
  • 3 Teaspoons of Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce
  • 3 Teaspoons of Chicken Powder/Stock

Method

  1. Mix tamarind and 50ml of warm water together to make tamarind juice
  2. Cut okra, taro stem, cilantro and buffalo spinach into 0.5cm pieces and set aside
  3. Cut tomato and pineapple into quarters and set aside
  4. Dice garlic as small as you can
  5. Add cooking oil and garlic into a pan and saute until garlic is golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside
  6. Add 400ml of water into a medium sized pot. Add in pineapple and tomato until the smell of pineapple is strong
  7. Add in fish and bring to the boil for 5 minutes. Remove fish and set aside.
  8. Add in 1 – 2 tablespoons of the tamarind juice into pot depending on the taste you want. Also add in sugar, fish sauce and chicken powder bring to the boil for 10 minutes
  9. Add in okra and taro stems bring to the boil for 5 minutes
  10. Remove from heat and add buffalo spinach, cilantro and garlic for garnish
  11. Serve warm with rice.

Sauteed Morning Glory

I don’t have the exact measurements for this so I’ll try and approximate but adjust the seasonings as per your liking.

  • Servings: 3
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

  • 500gms Morning Glory, stems only but leave some leaves on
  • 2tbspn sunflower oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • .5tspn sugar

Method

  1. Heat oil in a wok, on medium to high flame. Sautee garlic till golden.
  2. Add morning glory and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add salt and sugar. Add couple of tbspns of water and cover and let cook till stems are tender but still have a bite.