Archive for the 'Curry' Category

Mì Cà Ri Gà - Chicken Curry with Fresh Egg Noodles

Inspired by a killer bowl of lamb curry noodles I feasted on at the Bowrington Road Market in Hong Kong, this recipe adds a distinctly Chinese twist to my grandma’s classic chicken curry.

  • 5 chicken drum sticks
  • 3 large yams
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 tablespoons Vietnamese curry (brand: Con Voy)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 14 ounce cans of full-fat coconut milk
  • Salt
  • Fresh Chinese egg noodles

Peel and cut yams into large chunks approximately 1″ thick and 2″ in diameter; set aside. Chop onions; set aside. Heat oil in a large pot over moderate heat. Add the onions and sauté until slightly softened. Add a generous dash of salt and 2 tablespoons curry powder. Stir until fragrant; about 10 seconds.

Add chicken to pot and cook until the skin is seared and golden; approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add yams and coconut milk and cook on low heat for 2 hours with the lid on. Make sure the chicken and yams are submerged under the coconut milk. After 2 hours, salt to taste and serve with fresh egg noodles prepared according to directions on package.

Final Feast @ Bà Sáu’s

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The day before The Astronomer and I departed from Saigon for Hanoi, Ba Sau (my grandma’s younger sister) invited us over to her home in Phu Nhuan District for a final feast. Throughout our year in Vietnam, Ba Sau treated us to fabulous homemade eats, and this last lunch was no exception.

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Ba Sau and her daughters-in-law worked all morning to prepare this amazing spread. I had some of my best meals in Vietnam at Ba Sau’s lovely home. I fondly remember the time she made a special version of bo bia when my friend Liana came to visit and the time she prepared banh tet from scratch during Tet. Her generosity and mad kitchen skills are unparalleled.

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My Uncle Son’s (Son is his name) wife made xoi gac—sticky rice flavored subtly and colored intensely with gac fruit. The prune-looking garnish is actually a gac seed.

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Ba Sau made one of my all-time favorite dishes, thit kho—caramelized hunks of braised pork legs and hardboiled eggs. The layer of fat is pure lusciousness.

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Ba Sau’s ca ri ga—chicken curry—is the stuff dreams are made of. The rich, creamy and slightly spicy broth tastes amazing poured upon vermicelli noodles or dipped with a fresh baguette.

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The feast would not be complete without Ba Sau’s signature dish cha gio—Vietnamese egg rolls. Each cha gio is the length of one’s pinky finger and filled with a mixture of ground pork, spices (fish sauce, pepper, etc.) and taro root. The crisp and blistering golden skins are my favorite part. I asked my grandma back in the states why our family doesn’t make cha gio like Ba Sau’s and her reply was that it was just too labor-intensive.

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The mi xao gion—crisp noodles topped with a light gravy and chunks of vegetables (cauliflower, bok choy, carrots) and various meats (beef, squid, shrimp)—was also fabulous. My aunts kept on refilling my bowl everytime I finished a serving. I gladly gobbled up everything set before me.

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And last, but certainly not least, khổ qua nhoi thit—bitter melon stuffed with pork. True to its name, bitter melon is usually too bitter for my tastes, but Ba Sau’s rendition was surprisingly palatable. I didn’t quite get the exact details about how she extracted the bitter from the melon, but somehow, someway, the melon tasted slightly sweet and just a bit bitter. Ba Sau does wonders in the kitchen.

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Family—Cau Minh and Son (top), Di Phung and Mo (bottom, left), Cau Son and his wife. We left Saigon with full bellies and huge smiles upon our faces. I seriously cannot wait to get back to Saigon—Ba Sau’s hospitality is nothing short of five stars.

Goat Breath

Once you go goat, you can’t ever go back. I swear.

My gig at AsiaLIFE has given me the opportunity to sample a lot of foods that I wouldn’t normally seek out. Our latest issue features a great piece about the joys of eating goat at 304 Le Van Sy Street in Tan Binh District. Even though I wasn’t assigned the article, I tagged along with the writer and the photographer during their visit to see what goat was all about. Plus, it’s not everyday one has the chance to sample a brand new meat!

Before I delve into the food, it must be stated that THE shortest stools in Saigon are at the goat palace. Although I didn’t whip out a tape measure, I’m pretty sure the distance between the floor and my bum was six inches max. My legs were so sore by the end of the meal.

Our first course of the evening was grilled goat with okra. The meat was sliced into thin slivers and marinated lightly. After dredging the meat with some vegetable oil, we placed the raw goat onto the grill. The first few pieces were a bit leathery because we cooked ‘em for way too long. When it comes to goat, rare is best. Just 45 seconds on the grill yields tender morsels of meat. The texture of goat is very pork-like, which was deliciously familiar. A salty fermented tofu (chao) sauce pairs extremely well with this preparation.

Next, we tucked into an awesome goat curry served inside a clay pot, which turned out to be the best dish of the night. Hunks of potatoes, okra, eggplant and goat arrived submerged in a sweet, creamy, thick and slightly spicy curry broth. We sopped up the broth with many warm baguettes. The curry was so unbelievably good that the photog, writer and I made plans to return for more before finishing up the portion before us. What can I say? We’re a greedy group.

The final course of Goat Fest 2008 was rare goat salad accented with lemon leaves. I kind of over did it with the curry, so I was toast by the time this course arrived. The salad was really raw onion intensive, which doesn’t float my goat boat, but my dining companions scarfed it up with baguettes.

I had such a pleasant experience at 304 Le Van Sy that I returned a few weeks later with Hawk, Nina, The Astronomer and two visitors from New York.