Spicy Asian Chicken Wings Recipe

I’ve had a hankering for hot wings these days and it’s not even close to Super Bowl Sunday, the uber chicken wing event in America. At many of the hippest Asian restaurants these days, there is some version of chile-hot, savory-sweet chicken wings. From RockSugar PanAsian Kitchen in Los Angeles to Pok Pok in Portland, Oregon, to Momofuku in New York, Asian-style of chicken wings are on the appetizer menu. Naturally, I wanted to make my own.

Admittedly, I’m partial to the renditions that involve Southeast Asian ingredients, fish sauce, garlic, and chiles. Can you blame me?

When I had the wings at Pok Pok by Ich Truong and RockSugar by Mohan Ismail, I was hooked. Ich (“Ike”) claims that his version is from Vietnam and Mohan is a talented, smart Singaporean chef who monitors and delivers on tasty Asian food trends.  (Read more about Mohan Ismail and RockSugar in my post, ”Can Real Asian food be mainstreamed?” on MarkBittman.com)

It was hard to decide whose version was better as they were both addictive to eat. At RockSugar, my husband and I had minor squabble as to who should/would eat the last one. We also could figure out if this style of wings is Vietnamese or Thai or something else. Shed some light, if you happen to know.

My solution is to make spicy Asian chicken wings at home. That way, you can have as many as you want.

The hardest part of making the wings is to find the wings. They used to be at all the markets but I had to go to several places. Costco doesn’t have chicken wings anymore. I got mine at Whole Foods but there weren’t tons.

Chicken wings are also relatively expensive – between $3 and $5 per pound. When I asked a Whole Foods butcher why they’re pricey, he naively responded: “They weigh less than the legs and thighs.” I wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

When we talked a bit more about current chicken wing prices, we both realized thatchicken wings are like skirt steak and duck legs. No one cared about them and they were considered down-market. But now, they’re prized for grilling and confit.

Chicken wings used to be dirt cheap, considered nearly throwaway parts of the chicken.Amy Sherman (CookingwithAmy.com) remarked on Twitter that she used to rely on affordable chicken wings for her stock but that’s not the case anymore.

So once you find your wings, the process to making an Asian-style hot wing is darn easy with the recipe below. It’s not much of a secret. Lots of fish sauce, sugar and garlic equal a winning combination.

Then there’s the deep-frying, which yields the best crispy-chewy texture. It’s a relatively low-drama experience. Timid about frying? You can roast the wings (skip the rice flour coating) at 375F or 400F and then glaze them just as instructed in the step 6 of the chicken wing recipe below.

I like to go all out and get the oil going. Why not? Chicken wings are now a deluxe snack. Do the full Monty, my friends and enjoy with a beer or glass of refreshing rose or white wine. Or maybe a cocktail. If you have a tweak or personal rendition of spicy chicken wings, do share it below.

Spicy Asian Chicken Wings

I used regular rice flour from Thailand. You can use the rice flour sold at regular health food stores, if you like. Cornstarch is okay too.

Serves 4 as a snack

2 pounds chicken wings (exclude wing tips)

3 or 4 cloves garlic, pressed (generous 1 tablespoon)

3 tablespoon water

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Canola oil, for deep-frying

2/3 cup regular rice flour or cornstarch

1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce, homemade or purchased

1 tablespoon chopped scallion, green part only chopped cilantro and/or mint for garnish1. Split each chicken wing at the joint so that you have a drummette and a lower joint (the chicken’s forearm). Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the garlic and water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Position a mesh strainer over a bowl, and pour the garlic water through to strain. Press on the solids to extract as much garlic water as possible.

3. Add the fish sauce, light brown sugar, sugar and pepper. Stir to dissolve. Transfer to a zip top bag, add the chicken wings, and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Remove the chicken wings from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before frying to remove some of the chill. Drain the chicken wings from the marinade and blot dry with paper towel. Reserve the marinade! Have the rice flour ready in a small bowl.

5. Pour the oil to a depth of 1 1/2 inches into a saucepan, wok, or deep skillet. Heat to about 360°F.

Meanwhile, lightly dredge each wing in rice flour, patting off the excess. Put the reserved marinade and chile garlic sauce in a large skillet and set it on the stove.

Fry the wings in batches until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towel.

6. Heat the reserved marinade until bubbly and slightly syrupy. Add the freshly fried wings and stir, turn, and coat in the syrup, which will turn sticky as it reduces and clings to the wings. Add a splash of water if you want to dilute the glazy bits in the skillet and get them to coat the wings. There should be no liquid left when you’re done coating.

Transfer to a plate, sprinkle with the scallion, and enjoy hot.

Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe

I’ve posted several times about Vietnamese banh mi but realized that I’d never presented a full-fledged, master recipe,  nor have I provided some history about the popular Vietnamese snack.  First off, a bit about sandwiches themselves. Thank heavens for John Montagu (1718-1792), 4th Earl of Sandwich, who habitually sent for cold meat in between two slices of bread so that he wouldn’t have to break away from the gambling tables to eat. Little did he know how he’d impact global eating practices, let alone that of a small country like Vietnam!

There is essentially one sandwich in Vietnamese cooking and it is quite a tour de force. It started out very simply, with baguette smeared with liver pate and that was it. That’s how my mom knew it in the 1940s when she was growing up in Northern Vietnam. What we know today as banh mi is a light, crispy small baguette that is split and hollowed before it is invariably filled with homemade mayonnaise or butter (which I don’t like), sliced chili pepper, cilantro leaves, cucumber, a tangy-sweet daikon and carrot pickle (do chua), and a drizzle of soy sauce. The variation comes in when you choose what protein component(s) will be center stage. The classic version, banh mi thit nguoi—referred to as the “special” (dac biet) at Vietnamese delis, includes a smearing of housemade liver pâté and thin slices of various Vietnamese cold cuts. Other filling options include, but are not limited to, roasted chicken, grilled pork, crunchy julienned pork skin (bì), Chinese char siu pork, and tofu. This delicious, fanciful version was popularized by Southern Vietnamese, particularly those in Saigon, and is what we know abroad today and in most of Vietnam too.

In the early 1980s, these sandwiches occupied the food craze spotlight in the Vietnamese-American community. A sandwich war of sorts ensued in Little Saigon, California, where entrepreneurial deli owners posted banners advertising low prices ($1 or $1.25) and special offers like “Buy 2 Get 1 Free”. Word spread about who had the best deal and best product. There were light-hearted squabbles over which deli should have your loyalty. Our family, like other folks who can’t resist a good bargain, bought a dozen sandwiches at a time—veggies on the side so that the bread wouldn’t get soggy on the way home. After eating and analyzing a fair number of so-so sandwiches (you eventually get what you pay for), we started making them ourselves—the genesis of this banh mi recipe.

The Bread and Protein

Light crispy baguette (not the chewy rustic kind) is essential for encasing without overshadowing the other ingredients. Vietnamese baguette is commonly made with rice and wheat flour, which makes for an airy crumb. You can purchase the baguette at Vietnamese or Chinese markets, Vietnamese bakeries and delis, or make your own Vietnamese baguette. A Mexican bolillo roll works well too. So does regular baguette, though avoid sourdough and the overly crusty type.

The focal point may be leftover grilled or roasted meat, thin slices of Vietnamese steamed pâté (gio lua), or even seared tofu.  Yes, purchased chicken liver pate, even German braunschweiger, can be smeared into a banh mi! Because the daikon and carrot pickle can keep for days in the fridge, you can make banh mi whenever the spirit moves you.

Banh Mi Sandwich

For each sandwich:

1 petit baguette roll or a 7-inch section cut from a regular length baguette, purchased orhomemade

Mayonnaise, real (whole egg) or homemade mayonnaise

Maggi Seasoning sauce or soy sauce

Your choice of boldly-flavored meat or tofu, sliced and at room temperature

3 or 4 thin seeded cucumber strips, pickling or English variety preferred

2 or 3 cilantro sprigs, roughly chopped

3 or 4 thin jalapeño pepper slices

Everyday Daikon and Carrot Pickle (do chua)

1. Slit the bread lengthwise, and then use your fingers or a bread knife to hollow out the insides, making a trough in both halves. Discard the insides or save it for another use, such as breadcrumbs. If necessary, crisp up the bread in a toaster oven preheated to 325ºF, and then let it cool for a minute before proceeding.

2. Generously spreading the inside with mayonnaise. Drizzle in some Maggi Seasoning sauce or soy sauce. Start from the bottom portion of bread to layer in the remaining ingredients. (As with all sandwiches, you’ll eventually develop an order for layering the filling so as to maximize the interaction between flavors and textures.) Close the sandwich, cut it in half crosswise for easy eating, and enjoy.

Crispy Shrimp Coated with Green Rice Recipe (Tom Chien Com)

After getting the low down on Vietnamese young green rice (cốm), what can you do with the little flakes. One of the easiest ways to savor the rice is to use it like breadcrumbs (think panko) and use it to coat deep-fried shrimp. Look for the rice at Vietnamese markets abroad or bring some back with you when traveling to Vietnam.

RECIPE

Crispy Shrimp Coated with Green Rice

Tôm Chiên Cốm

Serves 4 as a snack

1/2 pound shell-on medium or large shrimp

Salt

1 egg

31/2 tablespoons cornstarch or 5 tablespoon tapioca starch

½ cup green rice flakes (com dep, see photo of package)

Canola oil, for deep frying

Sriracha or Cholimex* hot chili sauce, for dipping

1. Peel the shrimp, leaving the shell on the last segment and the tail so that the shrimp is easy to manipulate during coating.

2. Devein the shrimp. For a nice presentation, butterfly the shrimp by cutting the back nearly all the way through (but not) and then pressing the shrimp open. You can opt to do a Japanese approach to straighten the shrimp out by making 3 or 4 shallow cuts in the inner curve of the shrimp body near the fatter end; press down on the shrimp and it will more or less lay straight, allowing you to dip and roll each one easily later. Or, just leave the shrimp as is.

3. To refresh the shrimp, toss them in a liberal amount of salt and then immediately rinse them with lots of cold water. Drain well and dry well with paper towel.

4. In a small bowl, combine the egg and cornstarch (or tapioca starch), beating with a fork to blend well. It will seem hard to accomplish but keep at it and eventually, everything will combine into a silky finish. Put half of the green rice flakes on plate and set aside. Nearby, have a plate and paper towel handy for draining the finished shrimp.

5. Use a saucepan, wok, or deep skillet to fry in. Pour in the oil to a depth of 11/2 and heat over medium-high heat to 325 to 350ºF on a deep-fry thermometer. If you don’t have a deep-fry thermometer, stick a dry bamboo chopstick into the oil; if after a few seconds, bubbles to the surface, the oil is ready.

6. Dip each shrimp into the egg batter, holding it suspended above the batter to allow excess batter to drip off. Immediately roll (or turn) the shrimp around in the flakes to coat. The flakes don’t need to cover every bit of shrimp; they will puff up a bit during frying. Slide the shrimp into oil and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, flipping midway to ensure even coating. The rice flakes will brown ever so lightly and that’s okay. They should keep most of their green coloring.

Fry as many shrimp as can comfortably fit into your cooking vessel. Transfer finished shrimp to the paper towel to cool and drain. Lightly sprinkle with salt and serve with the chile sauce as a dip.

Note:

Cholimex is an excellent chile sauce made in Vietnam. Terrific flavor. Buy a 6-pack when you’re in Vietnam and take it home in your suitcase! Bring bubble wrap so you can takeSaigon food souvenirs back with you.

To temper the Sriracha chile sauce, make this little sauce for dipping the shrimp. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons Sriracha hot chili sauce (Rooster/Huy Fong brand), 2 teaspoons water, and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar and serve.

Grilled Shrimp on Sugarcane (Chao Tom) Recipe

These fragrant grilled savory-sweet morsels are a classic Vietnamese appetizer/party food. Perfect for noshing with friends along with a cold beer or dry white wine. For chao tom, a garlicky shrimp paste is wrapped around a stick of sugarcane, briefly steamed to set the paste and shape, and then grilled to finish. Pieces of the shrimp are typically wrapped in lettuce with herbs and dipped in some nuoc cham dipping sauce. The delicate flavors of chao tom (how to pronounce chao tom) are a wonderful mouthful. And, the sugarcane stick functions both as a great skewer that doesn’t easily burn up and after the shrimp has been removed from the sugarcane, you can chew on the sugarcane for a chase of refreshing sweet sugarcane juice. How fun is that?

Chao tom is a central Vietnamese specialty (there are many kinds of chao from that region but this one is most popular in Vietnam) and you may have encountered it on restaurant menus. I’ve wanted to make it for months but couldn’t find readily available fresh sugarcane. Since it would be months before the Hmong farmers would be offering fresh sugarcane at our Saturday farmer’s market, I had to find alternatives.

At the Lions Chinese/Vietnamese market in San Jose, I found canned sugarcane, which turned out to work just fine. The sections of sugarcane are prepped and the flavor is quite nice for a canned product. Granted the canned sugarcane isn’t as soft as fresh, you can certainly chew on the canned version.

Stick options: Fennel fronds, cut canned sugarcane sticks, split lemongrass

What if you don’t have access to sugarcane at all? 

I’ve found that fresh lemongrass stalks are a nice stand in too. Choose big fat ones that are coming into the market now. Look for stalks that are a good 1 inch wide at its most bulbous part; I use only the lower 5 inches because it stays intact but you can use the up parts too. Another option for the chewable skewer is the fronds of fennel bulbs – the part that we regretfully have to discard. My thinking is that both lemongrass and fennel go well with shrimp, and are flavorful and sturdy, and I like to chew on them fresh but they’re too fibrous to swallow. They’re akin to sugarcane those regards. I tried all three types of sticks and the shrimp and they worked just fine. So you choose, you can make amazing chao tom with readily available ingredients! Enjoy.

If you have extra shrimp on hand

I bought a lot of shrimp this week to develop this recipe, and ended up making a slightly more Chinese version of the paste for Cantonese stuffed crab claws, a deep-fried dim sum favorite. The recipe is on Asiandumplingtips.com, the new site.

RECIPE

Grilled Shrimp on Sugarcane

Chạo Tôm

Traditionally, chao tom is made by pounding the ingredients with a mortar and pestle, but a food processor cuts down the work precipitously. The pork fat acts like tiny lardoons to enrich the mixture; you can cut the pork fat off a pork chop or use bacon, if you like. To make the fat easy to mince, boil it in water for 1 minute or so to firm up before cutting it. Canola oil is a fine substitute if you’re squeamish about the pork fat. When using palm sugar, remember to pound it to a fine texture with a mortar and pestle before measuring.

Makes 12 sticks, serving 4 to 6 as a snack or appetizer

Shrimp paste:

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (13 ounces net weight)

Salt

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons packed palm sugar or light brown sugar

Generous 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground preferred

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 cloves garlic, minced and crushed into a paste

2 tablespoons minced shallot

1 tablespoon minced pork fatback or 1tablespoon canola oil

1(20-ounce) can sugarcane, or 3 fat lemongrass stalks

1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil

1 small head soft leaf lettuce, such as red leaf, green leaf, or butter leaf

8 to 12 sprigs cilantro

8 to 12 sprigs mint

8 to 12 sprigs of other fresh herbs, such as red perilla (tia to) and Vietnamese balm (kinh gioi) (see Vietnamese herb primer for details)

3/4 cup Nuoc Cham dipping sauce

1. Refresh the shrimp by putting them in a colander and tossing them with a liberal amount of salt. Rinse immediately under lots of cold water and drain well. Blot dry with paper towel.

2. Coarsely chop the shrimp, then put them in a bowl. Add a generous 1/4 teaspoon of salt, the cornstarch, sugar, pepper, fish sauce, egg, garlic, and shallot. Transfer to a food processor and process just until a coarse paste forms. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the pork fatback, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 15 to 30 minutes. The mixture will stiffen as it sits.

3. Meanwhile,  cut 3 or 4 sections of sugarcane lengthwise into thin sticks, each between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in diameter. You need only 12 sugarcane sticks and will not use all the sugarcane in the can. Save the extras for another use; reserve some of the syrup for making the dipping sauce, if you like. (If using lemongrass, cut off 5 inch sections from the bottom, then quarter each one lengthwise. If using fennel fronds, cut off 5 inch sections about 1/3 inch in diameter; you may have to halve bigger pieces lengthwise.) Regardless of the type of stick that you’re using, blot it dry with paper towel and set aside.

4. Line a steamer tray with parchment paper and oil the parchment. Ready a pot of water for steaming.

Put the lettuce and herbs on a platter. Put the dipping sauce in a communal bowl. Set both at the table.

5. Have a bowl of water near where you’re working, along with the shrimp paste and sugarcane sticks. Wet one hand, then use the free hand to put 2 tablespoons of paste in the palm of your hand, spreading it out into circle about 2 1/2 inches wide and a good 1/4 inch thick. Center a sugarcane stick atop the paste (the ends of the stick will not be covered), then close your hand to make the paste adhere to the stick and surround it. Hold on to the sugarcane stick with your dry hand and turn the stick, all the while patting the paste with the wet hand to smooth out the surface. Set on the prepared steamer tray. Repeat to make 11 more. Put overflow sticks on a plate.

6. Steam the shrimp sticks over boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, until opaque, slightly puffed, and just cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside to cool. The shrimp sticks can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days; return them to room temperature for grilling.

7. Preheat a grill to medium-high. Meanwhile, rub some oil over each of the shrimp portion of each stick; this prevents sticking. Grill the shrimp sticks for 6 to 8 minutes, turning frequently, until the paste is sizzling and there’s some nice browning. Transfer to a serving plate and present with the lettuce, herbs, and dipping sauce.

To eat, cut each shrimp stick vertically in 3 places. The 4 narrow pieces of shrimp paste will be easy to remove. Wrap each in a small piece of lettuce with herbs and dip in the sauce. Chew on the sugarcane stick for some sweet juice.

Note:

You can set out rice paper and a bowl for soaking the rice paper. Have people construct rice paper rolls. Small corn-tortilla size rice paper work well for the little pieces of shrimp; or, break a larger, 8-inch-wide rice paper in half. You can also just put more of the shrimp into the rice paper for a big roll. Or, you can add some round rice noodles, bun, to the garnishes and wrap it up with the shrimp and herbs.

Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh Noodle Soup) Recipe

This is a recipe that’s been long over due. Ever since my book came out a year ago, I’ve been remiss that I couldn’t fit in a recipe for the southern Vietnamese favorite, hu tieu Nam Vangnoodle soup. It’s a Cambodian-Chinese concoction that the Vietnamese ‘borrowed’ and then made their own. Nam Vang is the Viet word for Phnom Penh, and the southern part of Vietnam has deep Khmer roots. When you’re in Saigon or elsewhere in the Mekong Delta region, there’s bound to be hu tieu noodle soup.

Compared to pho from the North, or bun bo Hue from the central region, hu tieu can be downright confusing because there are many versions of it. At its core, hu tieu(pronounced “hoo tee-u”) signals a Chinese-Southeast Asian style noodle soup made with a pork bone broth and no fish sauce. But that’s where simplicity ends. The noodles in a bowl of hu tieucan be chewy clear tapioca noodles, opaque white rice noodles like you’d use for pho noodle soup, or thin Chinese egg noodles (mi). The toppings cover a wide territory, and may include boneless pork, pork ribs, pork offal, shrimp, squid, wonton dumplings, fried garlic, fried shallot, and/or scallion. As usual, you pick and choose whatever you want. Hu tieu is the extreme have-it-your-way Vietnamese food experience. I’ve seen a ‘dry’ version too but have never tried it.

Given all the variations, locking down a classic approach to hu tieu is difficult. There isn’t one prevailing concept. Yep, Vietnamese cooking can be downright confusing. In fact, check this extensive Noodlepie blog posting on hu tieu noodle soup. If you read Vietnamese, peruse this hu tieu My Tho page on the Thanh Nien website. Note that they call out three versions of hu tieu – hu tieu Nam Vang, hu tieu Tau (Chinese hu tieu) and hu tieu My Tho(from My Tho, the capital of Tien Giang province in the Mekong Delta that’s famous for their rendition).

For me, the definitive bowl of hu tieu noodle soup is hu tieu Nam Vang. The Phnom Penh version that I was introduced to as a kid by our family friend Uncle Su, a wonderful Chinese-Vietnamese cook, has a deep, umami-filled broth made of pork bones, dried squid and dried shrimp. There’s a touch of golden rock sugar to give it sweetness and to round out the flavors. The toppings are similarly a surf-and-turf combination of cooked pork, sliced pork liver, poached shrimp, sautéed ground pork, fried garlic and caramelized shallot. But wait, there’s more! The essential garnishes are important here. Delectable hu tieu needs lots of pungent Chinese celery and Chinese chives (flat chives that have a slight garlicky bite); lettuce is also a common garnish but not my favorite for this noodle soup because there’s enough to distract already and it doesn’t add much.

However, I’m a freak for the Chinese celery (can Tau), which pops its intense raw flavor in the soup. (Chinese celery looks like gigantic Italian parsley but tastes like strong celery.) When it’s not readily available or not looking good at the Asian market, I substitute leafy celery tops, which is much stronger tasting than the fat ribs below. Most grocery stores have already trimmed that ‘unwanted’ portion of the celery plant, so hunt down a nice deep green bunch of celery at the farmers’ market. Celery tops can be tough so you may have to halve them lengthwise. In the bowl above, I used celery tops.

I also love using the chewy tapioca noodles for hu tieu. They’re fat, chewy, and fun to slurp on. To find them, you’ll have to head to a Vietnamese grocery store and look for packages of “Hu Tieu Dai” (chewy hu tieunoodles); despite what the label says, there’s no rice in the noodles, but rather tapioca. These noodles are not commonly stocked at Chinese markets. On the other hand, a medium-width flat rice noodle that’s like a fettucine or what you’d use for pad Thai works just fine.

There are many steps here so take your time and know that one batch feeds many people. If you’re hoarding it all to yourself, you can dole the bowls out over the course of 4 or 5 days. Just refrigerate the broth and toppings. Of course, you may also freeze the broth and meat toppings too.

For the squid and shrimp, head to a Chinese or Vietnamese market and check the refrigerated section for the dried shrimp. Dried squid, sold whole in plastic packages, is often near the dried mushroom, snacks, or dried shrimp.

Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang

Phnom Penh Noodle Soup with Pork, Shrimp, Garlic and Shallot

Makes 8 bowls

Broth:

6 pounds pork bones (neck, spine, or leg), in 2-inch pieces

5 quarts water

3 medium dried squid (2 ounces total), quickly rinsed

1/3 cup dried shrimp

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

1-inch chunk golden rock sugar (about 1 ounce)

2 tablespoons salt

1 1/4 pounds pork loin, skin-on leg, or boneless shoulder, 2 by 4-inch pieces

Bowls:

¾ to 1 pound pork liver

1/3 cup Crispy Caramelized Shallot (reserve the cooking oil for cooking the garlic)

Canola or other neutral oil

3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

½ pound ground pork, roughly chopped to loosen

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper, plus extra for garnish

Cooked pork from the broth simmering

1 ½ to 2 pounds dried tapioca stick noodles or dried fettucine-size flat rice noodles (bánh pho), cooked in boiling water until al dente (5 to 7 minutes for the tapioca; 3 to 4 minutes for the rice noodles), drained, and flushed with cold water (keep tapioca stick noodles in a bowl of water to prevent sticking)

16 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

Garnishes:

½ small bunch Chinese chives, cut into 1 ½-inch-long pieces (1 cup total)

1 small bunch Chinese celery, trimmed and cut into 1 ½-inch-long pieces (2 cups total)

2 cups bean sprouts (about 1/3 pound), picked over, washed, and drained well

2 or 3 hot Thai or serrano chiles, thinly sliced

2 or 3 limes, cut into wedges

Make the broth

1. In a stockpot (about 12-quart capacity) over high heat, bring the bones and water to a boil. Use a large spoon or ladle to skim any scum that rises to the top. Add the remaining ingredients. Once the broth returns to a boil, lower the heat to simmer for 1 hour.

At this point, the boneless pork meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. Press it and it should feel like the flesh at the base of your thumb. When it’s cooked to your liking, use tongs to transfer it to a bowl of cold water. Let the meat soak for 10 minutes to prevent it from drying up and turning dark. Drain the meat and let it cool before refrigerating. Throughout this time, the broth should have continued to simmer. In total, the broth should simmer for 2 hours before it’s done.

2. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer (or a coarse mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth) positioned over a large saucepan.

3. Use a ladle to skim as much fat from the top of the broth as you like. (Cool it and then refrigerate overnight to make this task easier; reheat before continuing.) Taste and adjust the flavor with additional salt and rock sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (Dilute with water if you’ve gone too far.) There should be about 4 quarts.

Prepare the toppings

4. While the broth simmers, poach the liver. Fill a saucepan halfway with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the liver and lower the heat to gently simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the liver feels firm, like the flesh at the base of your thumb. Remove from the water and put in a bowl of water for 10 minutes to prevent it from drying up and turning dark. Drain the liver and store with the cooked beef.

5. Prepare the Crispy Caramelized Shallots if you haven’t already, reserving the cooking oil in the skillet. Add extra oil so that there’s about 3 tablespoons total. Heat over medium-low heat and add the garlic. Gently sauté, stirring frequently, until golden. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the garlic to a ramekin or small bowl. Set aside to cool.

6. There should be a good 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet. If not, add a little extra. Heat over medium heat and add the pork, salt and pepper, stirring to break the pork up into small pieces. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. Transfer to a ramekin or small bowl. Set aside to cool. All of these toppings may be prepared in advance and refrigerated. Return to room temperature before assembling the bowls.

Assemble the bowls

7. Cut the pork and liver into thin slices, about 1/16 thick. For the best results, make sure they are cold. Have ready the shallot, garlic, ground pork, noodles, and shrimp for assembling the bowls. Arrange the garnishes on a plate or put them in small dishes and put on the table.

8. To ensure good timing, bring the broth to a simmer over medium heat while you are assembling the bowls. Add the shrimp and poach them for about 2 minutes, or until they have curled and turned orange. Remove from the broth and set aside.

9. At the same time, fill a large pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. For each bowl, place a portion of the noodles on a vertical-handle strainer (or mesh sieve) and dunk the noodles in the boiling water. As soon as they have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10 to 20 seconds), pull the strainer from the water, letting the water drain back into the pot. Empty the noodles into a bowl.

10. Top each bowl with sliced pork, liver and 2 shrimp. In the center add some cooked ground pork, fried garlic, and crispy caramelized shallot. Finish with a sprinkling of black pepper.

11. Raise the heat and bring the broth to a rolling boil. Do a final tasting and make any last-minute flavor adjustments. Ladle about 2 cups broth into each bowl, distributing the hot liquid evenly to warm all the ingredients. Serve immediately with the garnishes.

Mail Call: Western Ways with Asian Food?

Jack Vu emailed last week wanting to ask VWK reader to weigh in on this question: How do you incorporate Vietnamese food and ingredients into other non-Asian dishes?

As an example, Jack dips corn bread in nuoc cham dipping sauce instead of spreading it with butter. “Didn’t think I would like it but it turned out pretty good,” he wrote. Another thing that Jack does is combine lap xuong Chinese sausage with Italian sausage for topping pizza. I think he mentioned making banh mi pizza with his nephews too.

I’ve been simmering on how to answer Jack’s provocative question. Asian cooks have learned to adapt and even appropriate Western ingredients for Asian dishes. A good example is how canned cream corn is used for a popular southern Chinese and Vietnamese soup. Another example is the Viet use of canned asparagus for the classic crab and asparagus soup. The banh mi sandwich embodies the use of a Western food for not just a Vietnamese dish but to create something completely new.

But what about using Asian foods or ingredients in Western ways? On the February 9, 2011 episode of Top Chef All-Stars, pho fondue was the winning dish. Not everything works, though. For example, I recently tried replacing anchovies with fish sauce in a Caesar dressing and it wasn’t great.

On the other hand, when Asian foods or ingredients are used as part of Western fare, some great things can emerge. Here are ideas from or based on past VWK posts:

• St. Paul sandwich (egg foo yung sandwich) – Quite good, like a fried egg banh mi!
• Crab Rangoon (fried wontons filled with cream cheese and crab) – I’m not quite sure what western dish this was supposed to be, but it has become an American classic. Also consider the Sriracha and crab Rangoon too.
• Grilled pizza with Vietnamese  beef jerky – Need I say more? It’s picture at the top.
• Serving a lamb shank version of bo kho (Viet stew with star anise, lemongrass, and tomato) atop polenta or risotto for a twist on osso buco
• Butterflied roast chicken with curry leaf – A divine use of Indian curry leaf.
• Spicy umami ketchup made with mam tom shrimp sauce – This is really good. I recently added Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) to umami ketchup for an instant bbq sauce.

Since I’ve answered Jack’s question, I’m very curious about your western ways with Asian food and ingredients. Don’t be bashful.

Refrigerator Gold: Leftovers Panfried Noodles

In Vietnamese, there’s a term called thanh toan, which means to take care of loose ends, settle the accounts per se. Every week, I have to thanh toan my refrigerator by using up all the bits of leftovers from prior meals and recipe testing. I don’t like to waste food and need to make space for new food too!

One of my favorite strategies for clearing out the fridge is to make panfried noodles with a stir-fried topping. Practically anything can go into the topping and the noodles are the carbs for the meal. Panfried noodles are an easy one-dish meal that my husband and I often make together. It’s a team cooking effort and we chat and sip wine as we prepare dinner.

Based on the leftovers panfried noodles tonight, this post outlines the master game plan that we’ve developed over the years. Follow it and tweak accordingly.

First, Rory and I mined the refrigerator and dug up a number of cooked and uncooked ingredients that needed to be redeployed as our panfried noodle dinner. We prepped and organized what you see in the above photo. From left to right, top to bottom:

1/4 cup canned bamboo shoots

1 package enoki mushroom

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1 large clove garlic, sliced

2/3 cup stirfried chicken with Chinese celery

2 Fresno chiles, thickly sliced

1 cup stir-fried beef

4 large shrimp, halved symmetrically so that they’d curl during cooking and go a longer

1 small grilled chicken thigh, sliced

To bulk up the veggies, I cut up 2 ribs of celery and 2 carrots.A pot of water was brought to a boil and I parboiled the carrots and celery for about 1 minute, until they turned bright in color and were tender crisp. A vertical strainer like the one used for noodle soup is fabulous for that task because you put the vegetables in there and then lift them out, saving the water in the pot for – guess what? Boiling the noodles!(Remember to get multiple uses out of one pot of water so you save time and resources.)

I used thick dried Chinese noodles. A part of my Asian pantry, they’re a type of Shandong style of wheat noodles that cook up to the size of large spaghetti. Look for them in white boxes at a Chinese market.  Once the water returned to a boil, Rory put 2 quarter-size bundles of the dried noodles into the pot.

Before the noodles were done, I scooped out a generous 1 cup of liquid from the pot of boiling noodles. That will be the broth for the stir-fry sauce. That ‘cheater’ stock was better than water because it was lightly seasoned by the vegetables and slightly thickened by the starches in the noodles.

When the noodles cooked through, Rory drained them (no rinsing) and I tossed them with a little salt and sesame oil. Then he panfried them in a 10-inch nonstick skillet with a little oil over medium-high heat.

“Get your stir-fry going,” he told me. Right – I seasoned my ‘cheater’ broth with these standard ingredients:

Light (regular) soy sauce

Oyster sauce

A little sugar

Salt

White pepper

Then I mixed 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water for the slurry that would thicken the stir-fry. I heated up the wok and swirled in about 2 tablespoons of oil. First went the aromatics: onion, garlic, chiles. When those were fragrant, about 1 minute, I added the celery, carrot, bamboo shoot, and enoki.

When the vegetables heated through, I dumped in the proteins: shrimp, stir-fried chicken, grilled chicken, and beef. Lots of fast stirring action happened and the wok was rather full. When all the ingredients were hot, I poured in my cheater stock. I stirred the wok frequently until the mixture began to bubble, at which point, I tasted it – adding extra seasonings in the form of soy sauce and salt.

Finally, I added the cornstarch slurry and waited for things to thicken. By then, Rory had flipped the noodles pancake and fried the second side to a crisp. He slid the noodle pancake onto a platter and went to town cutting it into 8 wedges.

Then I came along with the wok of toppings and poured it all on top. Here’s what we could safely call our Sunday Night House Special Panfried Noodles:

At the table, I realized that I had under seasoned it a tad so I simply brought out the bottle of Maggi Seasoning Sauce. It was a tasty on-the-fly mountain noodles that nourished us at the end of a long day of work. Was it perfect? Maybe not but it perfectly fit the bill.

Following the basic framework for making panfried noodles enabled me to revive a bunch of odds and ends in the fridge. A delectable way to thanh toan and launch the new week.

Have a strategy for reusing leftover? Share your approach!

Sriracha and Crab Rangoon Wontons Recipe

Crab Rangoon are deep-fried wontons stuffed with a piquant cream cheese and crab filling. While it is not considered a classic in Asia, it is a popular item on all-you-can-eat Asian American buffet spreads and Chinese-American menus. Most often times, there’s just cream cheese in the wonton, which leaves me crabby. To get my fill of crab Rangoon, I make my own.

Last year on Asian Dumpling Tips (my other site), I remade the original version from Trader Vic’s, the Polynesian themed tiki lounge/restaurant that popularized the snack decades ago. The classic crab Rangoon recipe came from the 1968 Trader Vic’s cookbook, which I rediscovered on my bookshelf. In the process, I ended up finding out about the history of crab Rangoon, and pondered its place in the Asian dumpling repertoire. I think it does because it is a familiar preparation for many Asian Americans. Crab Rangoon is also darn tasty!

For a belated Chinese New Year’s pot luck last week, I decided to make Sriracha crab Rangoon. I don’t take credit for that modern rendition. Rather, it was based on Randy Clemens’s recipe in his newly released The Sriracha Cookbook: 50 “Rooster Sauce” Recipes that Pack a Punch. I offered Sriracha crab Rangoon alongside the classic rendition of crab Rangoon, as well as fried wontons stuffed with pork and shrimp (a filling from Asian Dumplings). What happened?

We ate them all up, fueled by a magnum of champagne that our generous host, Manresa restaurant sommelier Jeff Bareilles, was pouring. It was a marvelous way to launch the Year of the Rabbit/Cat.

Full disclosure: I endorsed Clemens’s book on its jacket cover. It’s a fun and informative book worth having if you’re a fan of the Southeast Asian chile sauce. And if you’ve followed the discussion on this site o n Sriracha, yes, Clemens includes discussion of the various brands, including some in my Vietnam vs Thailand vs America Sriracha taste off.

RECIPE

Sriracha and Crab Rangoon Wontons

Adapted from The Sriracha Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 2011) by Randy Clemens.

Makes 36 wontons, enough for 6 as a snack

Filling

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese or Tofutti cream cheese, at room temperature

2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha chile sauce

1/2 teaspoon light (regular) soy sauce

3 tablespoons finely chopped scallion

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

4 ounces well drained lump crab meat

Salt, to taste

36 wonton skins, homemade or purchased (see wonton skins buying tips, if needed)

Canola oil, for deep frying

Sriracha sauce, for dipping

1. To make the filling, in a bowl, combine the cream cheese and chile sauce. I tend to use the smaller quantity when using the Rooster (Huy Fong) brand.  Add the soy sauce, scallion, pepper, lemon zest, and crab meat. Use a fork to mix well. Taste and add salt, as needed. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes before using, or refrigerate up to a day in advance.

2. Fill each wonton skin with about 1 teaspoon of the filling. Center the filling, brush two adjoining sides with water, then fold to create a triangle, the shape that’s used in The Sriracha Cookbook. As you work, put the finished wontons on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet that’s been lightly dusted with cornstarch.

When done, loosely cover with a dishtowel to prevent drying. The wontons can also be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for several hours; let them sit at room temperature to remove the chill before frying.

3. Put a wire rack on a baking sheet and place next to the stove. Pour oil to a depth of 1 1/2 inches into a wok, deep skillet, or 5-quart Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat to about 325F on a deep-fry thermometer.

4. Working in batches of 4 to 6, slide the wontons into the hot oil and fry for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Use a skimmer to transfer to the rack to drain.

5. Arrange the wontons on a platter and serve hot or warm as finger food along with the sauce for dipp