Canh dau hu he (tofu chives soup)

As you know I haven’t been blogging much (well not at all) anymore, but I’d like to give you an update of what is going on. Since I stared running I’ve been able to lose 6 kilos in total! I’m still trying to get rid of the last couple of kilos, which are the hardest but I’m heading in the right direction. I’m on 58 right now and my goal is 55. I know it won’t make me happier, but it will for sure make me feel better about myself.

There is no secret in losing weight and unfortunately there is no easy way to do it either. It’s something everyone knows, but so it’s hard to follow. All you need is to eat less and to exercise more. Easier said then done for sure.

To loose the weight I had to cut back on carbs (only one carb meal a day, which for me is two sandwiches for lunch) and have as less carbs as possible for dinner. Sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less.

And I’m running at least twice a week for 45 minutes per run. If possible every other day would be even better, but with the Dutch weather that is not always possible. No running in the rain for me.

I eat a lot of veggies and salads and cut out most fried food. And I drink lots of water, at least 2 litters a day. No snacking…well ok every once a while in a blue moon…you’ve got to live a little right?

I just love soups and it’s something I can eat every day. I pack mine with lots of veggies and some kind of protein; minced pork, beef or chicken.

This is soup is inspired by some freshly grown Chinese chives. My mom grows them in their back yard and ask me to take some home. These plants are so strong, they keep coming back, even after the cold cold Dutch winters.

It’s one of the easiest and fastest soup you can make and not only that, it’s also sort of healthy for you. At least that’s what I think =)

You can make the stock with all kinds of meat, but I prefer pork. It’s what I grew up with so that’s what I’m using. My mom usually make it with thinly sliced pork, but since I had some pork ribs I used that.

For this soup you need:

-          some pork (ribs or whatever you have at hand)

-          salt, pepper

-          1 fresh tofu

-          handful Chinese chives

-          1 tomato (I didn’t had one, but if I had I would put it in)

-          2 beaten eggs

I cooked the pork ribs with some salt and pepper till tender. If I had a tomato I would quarter it and add that at this point. To have a clear broth I scooped the foam off a couple of times.

You can cut the tofu anyway you like (mine were square) and add it to the broth. Boil everything till the tofu is cooked.

I stirred in the eggs to get egg threads and just before I was ready to serve I added the chives.

All I had to do then was to boil it for a couple of seconds and it was dinner time.

For some extra flavour I sprinkled some spring onions on the top. I ate the soup just the way it is, but for those who love their carbs, you can also eat it with rice.

Enjoy!

Cha ca chien (fried fish cakes/balls)

I’ve been thinking about my blog in the back of my mind for weeks now and it feels a bit awkward to come back. I’ve been MIA for so long that it’s strange to pick up where I left. 

It was quite nice to not have the pressure of taking pictures of everything I made and to blog about it and I realized how much time I had for other things (mainly watching movies and reading books). I have a lot of respect for people who manage to blog on a frequent base and whose pictures blow me right out of the water. It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a blog. But it’s been a lot of fun as well. I just need to find that balance again between blogging, working and spare time. 

The other day I was trying to find a recipe online for “cha ca chien” (fried fish cakes/balls) and I couldn’t find any at all. Most recipes talk about “cha ca la vong” which is a traditional fish and dill dish. Although it’s quite nice, it wasn’t really what I was looking for. In fact it didn’t even come close!

I remembered that mom used to make it with a fish known as whiting. It’s a pretty inexpensive white fish, with not a very strong flavor of its own so it’s perfect for these fish cakes/balls since it can absorb all those nice flavors I add to it.

I used:
- 3 kilo whiting with everything on it (or any white fish with firm meat)
- 2 packages of backing powder (30 gram)
- 5-6 pieces of spring onion sliced
- 4 gloves of fresh garlic finely minced
- handful of dill finely chopped
- 2 chili peppers finely cubed (optional)
- 1,5 teaspoons of salt
- fresh grounded pepper
- 2 teaspoons of garlic powder
- enough oil for frying

I know 3 kilo is quite a lot, but I bought whole fishes so I had to chop the heads off, clean and debone them and pull the skin off so I ended up with maybe 1,5 kilo, maybe 2 fish filets at most. Now I remember why mom didn’t make it that often. It took me about 2 hours to prepare the fish and luckily I asked my fish guy to give me the biggest fishes he had! 

If handling a whole fish kinda grose you out you can use fish filet also. I don’t prepare a whole fish that often so it did grose me out a bit too. But I pulled myself together and got the job done.

I seasoned the fish with some salt, pepper and garlic powder and popped the bowl in the freezer. Don’t put too much salt since the fish meat is a bit salty already. I think the fish texture will be better if you grind the fish while it’s a bit frozen (not frozen solid). Before grinding the fish in a food processor I mixed in 2 packages of backing powder. This will help to make the fish light and chewy; just the way we like it.

After all the fish is made into paste the next step is to add all the other ingredients (spring onions, dill, chili peppers and fresh garlic) and to mix it all together with your hands.

There are 2 ways of making these cakes. You can make them into small patties and fry them or make little fish balls. Since we all love the chewy fried texture we decided to make balls. Before you touch the fish make sure you grease your hands with a bit of oil so the paste won’t stick. The easiest way to form balls is to hold some paste in one hand and gently squeeze some paste out and then use a spoon to scoop it off and drop it in the hot oil.

It takes a couple of minutes to fry them till they were golden brown. They make great snacks with some sweet and sour chilly dip and they will taste wonderful with some rice noodle, fresh green herbs and fish (dipping) sauce.

We at it with plain white rice and stir fired sugar snaps.

It was a lot of work, but totally worth it since you can freeze them and heat them up in the microwave for a couple of seconds before you eat them. But they were so good they didn’t make it to the freezer!

Sup mang cua (chicken crab asparagus soup)

I realize that it’s been quite some time since my last post. To be honest it’s been quite some time since I’ve been online and reading other people’s blogs as well. But today I tried to keep up with some of my regular blogger friends. I’ve been missing so many great recipes! But I’ll try my best to keep up from now on.

Remember I went to the clinic for a check to see if my eyes were suitable for lens implants? About 2 days after they called me and they had the lenses in stock. I am scheduled to have the first eye surgery next Wednesday. I’m exited but super scared as well. The other day I had to come back so they could make tiny small holes in my iris to prevent any pressure on my eyes. Of course I was scared, but everything went well and looking back it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I hope I can say this after Wednesday also. The second eye will be done on 9 December and I know I will be so relieved after that.

About a week ago I hit a nasty computer virus again. And again all the pictures I took were gone….*sigh*. I don’t know what the deal is with those viruses, but after hitting 2 after another it wasn’t much fun anymore. Luckily I already added the picture for this post in a draft. I’ve made this soup about 2 weeks ago. We normally eat it at special occasions but I just make it whenever I crave it. That’s one of the advantages of being the “chef” in the house.

For a big pot of soup I started boiling some chicken with some slices of ginger and salt. I used 3 chicken thighs and 2 legs and scooped all the foam out to get a clear broth.

In the meantime I shred 400 grams of crab sticks (imitation crab) and put it aside. Since it’s already cooked it will go in last.

When the chicken was nice and tender I took them out and shred them in pieces.

To the broth I added the juice of 4 small cans of white asparagus and the asparagus cut in 2-3cm pieces. Also the shredded chicken went back in.

After boiling it for a couple of minutes I added the crab sticks. Those are the white/pink “strings” you see in here. If you have fresh crab meat you can add that now. Make sure you taste the broth to see if it is to your liking and add salt if needed.

To make the soup thicker I used some potato starch. As far as I know this is the only starch that binds and stays clear so make sure you use this and not let’s say corn starch.

In a bowl I poured some broth, let that cool down a bit and then added some spoons of starch. Don’t add it straight into the hot broth otherwise you’ll get lumps. The starch always sinks to the bottom so you will have to mix it well before you add it to the soup.

I normally make sure the soup is boiling and with one hand I’m stirring the soup and with the other hand I slowly add the starch mixture. I keep stirring it till all the starch is in. You can instantly see the soup thicken. I cooked it for another couple of minutes and then it was time to eat.

I scooped some soup in a big bowl and added some coriander and spring onions on top. Just some grounded fresh pepper on top and it was time to dig in!

We all ate like 2 big bowls so there were barely any leftovers. Even with the imitation crab it was that good.

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I'm getting mentally ready for work tomorrow...

Sweet and sour bean sprouts

I had it all figured out; for dinner “thit kho” wrapped in rice paper with some sweet and sour bean sprouts. I bought a big piece of pork belly and put my thit kho together. It was a huge pot and it tasted so good I shared some with my parents and two sisters. At the end I only had enough for one meal; it wasn’t even enough to wrap it in rice paper so we ended up eating it with some rice. The thing that really made the whole meal was the sweet and sour bean sprouts. Funny how something so simple can lift the whole meal to a different level.

It was so easy to make. I cleaned the bean sprouts by removing some of the dark parts of the root. You can leave it as well, but it will look cleaner without. Then I boiled some water and added a bit of salt, some sugar and plain vinegar. It’s like making lemonade but then with vinegar.

Once the mixture is to my liking I poured it in a container right on top of the bean sprouts.

For some more flavor I added some thinly sliced onion.

Because I had too much vinegar I had enough to make some sweet and sour leeks as well. At first they were in a different container, but once there was room I added them to the bean sprouts.

Depending on how sour you make it, it takes a day or 2 to have picked bean sprouts. It keeps for about 5 days after the first day you start eating it.

 

It pairs great with some rice and thit kho. Here I made some fried rice with some left over thit kho. I enjoyed it so much I wish I could share it.

Stuffed bitter melon soup

Bitter melon; either you love it or hate it, there is nothing in between. Although I always thought it was a veggie it’s actually a fruit (Wikipedia) and it’s the only fruit I know of that has a bitter taste. There are several varieties, but the most common one is “China phenotype”.

When I was young I use to hate it. I just couldn’t get over the taste. The way I learned how to eat it, was to eat it together with some picked daikon root. It slightly concealed the bitterness and made it easier to swallow. Not that my mom really made me eat it, but the daikon did help me to get over it ‘mentally”. Once you get over that it’s pretty nice, even delicious once you get to love it.

It sounds weird, but these things make great salad. I will share the recipe next time I make it.

Anyway, this is my favorite way to eat it: 

Remember I made the stuffing for my “stuffed tofu” recipe and I froze half of it. Well I used this to stuff my bitter melon. I wassed them, cut them in pieces, scrapped all the seeds out and stuff them with the meat mixture.

I stuffed as much meat as I could, since I love lots of meat.

I cooked enough water to cover the melons and put them in when the water boiled. Because I like a clear broth I scooped out all the foam and fat. Then I seasoned the broth with some salt.

When the melons turn soft they are ready to eat, but I rarely eat them the same day. I found out that they are less bitter when you eat it the next day, or even 2 days later.

All they need now is a sprinkle of fresh chopped coriander and some spring onions.

I ate this soup with some plain white rice. The hubby and my sister didn’t touched it at all so it was all me. Had to eat it for 3 days…so I can now say that I will not have any bitter melons for the next coming months.

Chao ga (chicken congee/porridge)

Remember I told you I would keep that nice chicken broth? Well since I kept it outside I made sure I bring it to a boil for a couple of minutes every day. It would be better to store it in the fridge, but there’s simply no room. I understand that if I keep doing this long enough it would be referred as a “master stock”, one stock in which you continue to cook your chicken, pork etc. Well I’m not planning to keep it that long. In fact I already used half of the broth for my chao.

My sister and hubby weren’t feeling to hot today and there is nothing more comforting then chao. And nothing easier to make either.

When we were young and we were ill, my mom use to make just plain chao with rice and lots of water (nothing more then that) and we had to eat it with sugar. JUK! Still now I can’t have any sweet rice pie…just reminds me too much of ill people’s chao.

I still had some of yesterday’s rice left which is perfect for this. It all went in the pot after the broth boiled. I turned the fire low so the rice could soak up all that nice chicken broth and had time to fall apart.
If you don’t have any cooked rice you can just use uncooked rice. It just takes a bit longer. Bring the broth to a boil and add the rice. Stir every once a while so the rice doesn’t stick on the bottom. Remember a little bit of rice goes a long way when you make chao.

As I don’t like my chao too thick I had to add some more water and some salt. I like it well seasoned. When you can’t see the rice shape it’s done. With chao there is no overdone, just underdone. As long as you still see the rice shape you know it has to cook it a bit longer.

While the chao was simmering I had time to chop some spring onions and cilantro. We always use this combo of herbs on our chao.

From that whole chicken I cooked for my goi ga the other day, I only used the breasts and the drumsticks, so today I had the thighs and the wings left.

I made another batch of goi ga, but as you can see it doesn’t look as nice as the one made with breast and drumsticks.

Normally chao has beans sprouts as well, but I didn’t buy it. I wasn’t planning on making chao. In fact I wasn’t panning dinner at all today. To busy making daikon cake (recipe will follow) which is sitting in my fridge right now. I’m crossing my fingers that it will set enough to fry tomorrow.

The goi ga went really, really well with the chao. It will for sure cure anything!

Goi ga rau ram (Vietnamese chicken salad)

The other day I was craving goi ga (Vietnamese chicken salad). Partly because I have a very nice bunch of rau ram (Vietnamese mint/coriander) in my back yard that has to be eaten and partly because I love the sweet and sour onion slices I use for this salad.

My excuse for this salad was very much present in my yard. I actually grew these myself. I bought some rau ram and ate almost all the leaves. Then I soaked the stems in a jar till they developed roots. I’ve kept them in a jar for quite some time till I thought they had enough root so survive in the soil. If I knew they would love to be outside this much I would’ve put them out earlier. Before it gets too cold I’ll cut some off and start the process all over. I’ll try to see if I can grow them inside so I can still enjoy them in winter time.

These were getting plenty of sun and developed long strong smelling leaves! Only thing needed now is hot vit lon (duck eggs) or this chicken salad.

I know there are many recipes for this salad, but this is my one of my own. Just because it is so easy and the onions are really good in combination with the chicken and the rau ram. I hope you’ll give it a try.

For this salad I used:

-          one whole chicken (breast)

-          a couple of onions (I used 4 small ones)

-          vinegar

-          sugar

-          some rau ram leaves

-          nuoc mam gung (Vietnamese ginger fish sauce)

I started with slicing the onions in very thin half rings. In a big bowl I poured the vinegar and sugar and stirred till the sugar was dissolved. I wanted the mixture to be sweet and sour and depending on your own taste you can put more or less sugar. Then the onions went in. They have to marinate for at least half an hour so the loose that onion sharpness and suck this sweet and sour in.

I stirred it every couple of minutes to make sure every piece of onion got soaked. After half an hour they look like this; slightly less in volume but packed with flavor.

While the onion is marinating I started cooking the chicken. As I didn’t had any chicken breast I cooked a whole chicken in some ginger seasoned water till it was done. This broth can be used for some rice congee/porridge. Even for some chicken pho if you really crave it. I’m still thinking about what to turn it to. So many options and only one pot of broth.

I already had some nuoc mam that only needs an additional ginger to make ginger fish sauce. For this basic fish sauce you can go to this link. For nuoc mam gung you need to crush or grate some ginger and you’ll have ginger fish sauce.

In a big bowl I shredded the chicken (I used the breasts and the drumsticks) in big junks, added the sweet and sour onion (I squeezed them dry) and the rau ram. Last but not least I seasoned the salad with the ginger fish sauce. And that is all this salad needs.

We had it as a side dish with our stuffed tofu, green beans and rice and it didn’t really go well together. A better combo would be with some rice congee. So we ate our rice and snacked on this chicken salad after. I had a bit left and ate it the next day. It was even better so don’t through out any leftovers!

Dau hu nhoi thit (stuffed tofu in tomato sauce)

My family LOVES tofu and we often eat them crispy fried with some Maggi sauce. Just straight out of the pan, piping hot, dipped in Maggi and straight in our mouths. It is delicious! And so easy. One time this was all we eat for dinner and we were very happy about it. It’s quite filling so we didn’t have room for more food even if we wanted.

This dish is one of my boehoe’s favorite. He loves everything about it, maybe you do to after you made it. I always make it one day ahead so the tofu can suck in all those nice flavors.

I used:

- 2 big fresh tofu (not the silken tofu)

- onions

- garlic (fresh and powder)

- minced meat (half pork, half beef)

- dried wood ear mushrooms

- dried glass noodles

- tomatoes

- tomato paste

- bouillon cube

- sesame oil

- oyster sauce

- salt, pepper, sugar, Maggi sauce

I cut the tofu in about 1,5 cm and fried them till they were golden. Well actually my boehoe fried them. You can either use them right away or the next day. I prefer to use them the next day because the tofu is firmer then.

With a little knife I carefully made an incision, just enough to have room for the meat. I usually go all the way through till I hit the other side, but not slice it through.

Now it looks like a little tofu bag. I continued slicing all the fried tofu.

I just love wood ear mushrooms. They don’t particularly taste like anything and are the ugliest mushrooms I’ve ever seen, but I grew up with them. I love the little crunch it gives. I always soak them in hot water till they are soft. This takes a couple of minutes.

I chopped one big onion, a couple of clove of garlic and the wood ear mushrooms. Then I added the minced meat and the glass noodles which I soaked in warm water for a bit and cut them smaller with a scissor.  

Then I sprinkled some salt, lots of fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, some dashes of sesame oil and oyster sauce.

I dug in there to make sure everything was evenly mixed. I use this mixture for everything. It’s great in some puff pastry, it’s awesome stuffing for bitter melon and goes great with stuffed Chinese cabbage (will be next on the to make list).

While my hands were dirty I opened the tofu pouches and stuffed them with as much meat as I could. I just had to make sure the tofu holds up and not split.

In a non stick pan I added a bit of oil and started with browning the meat top on first. After the meat is nice and seared I flipped them on the tofu side. Then on the other side and they were done. Well almost done.

I remember the first time I made this, my boehoe asked if he could eat it and I was like what? It needs to be cooked in a tomato sauce first. That was quite strange for him as him mom always stops here. I guess you could’ve stop here, but then you’ll have to make sure the meat inside the tofu cooks proper. As I was still cooking them I only needed the meat to brown.

For my tomato sauce I used a mixture of fresh tomatoes (lots of them) and one little can of tomato paste, just to intensify the tomato flavor. I started with browning some onion and garlic. Then I added the tomatoes and one bouillon cube.

There is my tomato paste!

After the paste was mixed I added 3 cups of water, some salt, pepper, sugar and Maggi sauce. I like the flavor the Maggi sauce gives to the tomato mixture.

Then it was time for the stuffed tofu to take a dive…in this divine sauce.

The next day they simmered for another 30 minutes and they were ready. I normally top them with some spring onion and cilantro, but I didn’t have any spring onions left.

Today we ate it with some stir fried water spinach and plain white rice. The tofu soaked up all that nice sauce. We all started with 2 stuffed tofu, but that wasn’t enough.

 

My boehoe went back to snack on some more stuffed tofu, no rice, no veggies…can you blame him?

There’s still plenty for tomorrow's meal. So guess what’s on the menu then…one very happy boehoe!