Kung Hei Fat Choy!

photo source here

The year of the Ox in Chinese New Year starts on January 26. Although we don't celebrate this festive Chinese holiday (maybe we should as I have a little Chinese in me, my dad is a quarter Chinese and my mom probably also has some Chinese ancestry), we have become much more aware of it when we lived in Hong Kong. We remember the tiny bonsai kumquat trees bursting with full-size orange fruits and hanging on the tiny trees were small red money envelopes. In the Philippines we associate the Chinese New Year with tikoy. Searching online for articles on tikoy I found this and this video from Penang, Malaysia. The Malaysians call their brown tikoy Tee Kuih, also pronounced tikoy. Many Asians celebrate Chinese New Year incuding the Vietnamese. At the Eden Vietnamese shopping center (featured last night in Anthony Bourdain's show) a lot of shops sell sweets and cakes for Chinese New Year where I bought a container, labeled New Year Candies, of candied winter melons that are exactly the same as our candied kondol which I haven't eaten in over 20 years. The candy is so very good and reminds me of my childhood. I also bought a piece of a very yummy cake stamped with Chinese Happy New Year characters, filled with sweetened yellow mungbean paste flavored with durian, and in the middle is a salted duck egg yolk, sort of a combination of hopia and mooncake. I forgot to take a photo of it...I will try to bake some today and if successful will post the photo and recipe, wish me luck.:D

Vietnamese candied winter melon and Filipino pandan tikoy

Banh Mi

homemade roast chicken banh mi

I went to the Vietnamese shopping center (a 3o+ minute drive) to look for plastic mooncake mold/press and to eat banh mi. Although there are several superb Vietnamese restaurants in and around my city, incredibly not one of them sells these sandwiches. I did not find the molds I wanted but was able to eat an 8-inch banh mi filled with Vietnamese ham, liver pate, and the usual pickled vegetables and trimmings. The sandwich was so delicious and I love the bread's crackly crisp crust and soft airy crumbs. I ate the whole thing before I realized I didn't take a single photo. I could get addicted to this sandwich that has all the flavors that we as Asians love: salty (fish sauce), sweet, spicy.

Yesterday I baked some Vietnamese style mini baguettes. I followed a recipe I found online. They don't look as pretty and they are not as airy as the restaurant's. I have to change something either with the ingredients or in the procedure. I also have to score the unbaked bread just on the surface and not as deep as in regular French baguette because the breads spread so much. They were very crisp though and the crumb very soft. I could buy the bread from the numerous bakeries at the center but they should be eaten the same day they are baked or the crust would lose its super crispiness which I think is what makes this sandwich so good.

Vietnamese Mini Baguettes

1 cup rice flour
1 cup pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups hot water, about 120°F
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1½ teaspoons sugar
1½ teaspoons salt
4 cups all purpose flour

• Mix the rice flour, pastry flour, instant yeast, and baking powder in a bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add the hot water and stir for 30 seconds. Add sugar and salt and mix for 1 minute. Cover with plastic film and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Remove plastic film and add 2 cups of flour, mix on low for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the flour, half cup at a time and mix on low for 2 minutes. Remove paddle and replace with dough hook. Knead on medium speed for 3 minutes. Cover with plastic and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Knead again for 2 minutes on low speed. Transfer into a bowl, cover with plastic film and let rise for 1 and a half hour, or until double in bulk.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, it will deflate by itself. Cut the dough in half, and then cut each half into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, and flatten a little. Cover the dough balls with plastic film and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Flatten the balls into a 6 inch oval with the palms of your hands. Deflate any gas bubbles in the dough by pinching them. Fold the dough in half lengthwise by bringing the far edge down over the near edge. Flatten the dough again into an oval with the palms of your hands. Press a trench along the central length of the oval with the side of one hand. Fold in half again lengthwise. This time seal the edges together with the heel of one hand, and roll the dough so the seal is on the bottom. Roll the dough back and forth with the palms of your hands into an 8 inch long roll. Place the rolls, seam side down, 1 ½ inches apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment or silpat. Cover with plastic film and let rise for 1 to 2 hours or until double in size.
• Preheat the oven to 425F. Slash the dough by running a razor blade or a sharp knife along the length of the baguette. Bake the bread for 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden in color, rotating the baking sheets after 10 minutes. Cool on a rack before serving. Best eaten the same day it’s baked.

Note: The above is not the recipe I used for the mini baguettes, I made adjustments to the original to adapt to my kitchen temperature and humidity and the type of flour I use.

Next post: Vietnamese roasted or grilled chicken

Vietnamese style roast chicken with lemongrass, shallots,
garlic, sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: Left-over

leftover shredded chicken adobo sandwich

It's left-over this week at Lasang Pinoy, Sundays hosted by SPICES. There's plenty of tiny containers in my refrigerator to choose from but nothing beats "aged" adobo which tastes better after a few weeks in the refrigerator. I toasted the chicken flakes on a hot skillet until crispy and crusty and layered them with cream cheese, sliced tomatoes, and an egg omelet on dark rye bread. Weird combination, I know, but the sandwich is yummy. I washed it down with iced banaba tea.

Bangkok Dangerous And Tom Yam Gung

tom yam gung

Bangkok Dangerous B

I love watching cheesy Nicholas Cage movies on DVD. In Bangkok Dangerous Nicholas has a really weird dyed black hair that looks greasy and stringy (almost mangy), and at the beginning of the movie I thought his receding hairline has been painted on with black make-up or tar which makes the movie all the more cheesy. He plays an assassin named Joe who, in his supposed to be last assignment before retiring, grows a heart when he falls for a pretty deaf-mute Thai girl. He does not want to finish the fourth assassination job which results in an all out war with his employer. I know, lame premise but whatever...the movie is entertaining. It has enough action and a little gore (such as a severed arm) although pretty tame IMO. The directors, the Pang brothers, contrived to show what every tourist (including myself) must experience when in Bangkok: heavy traffic, floating market, giant golden Buddha, tuk-tuk, jewelry shops, and most importantly, spicy food. When Joe went on a date with the deaf-mute girl he starts sweating profusely while eating spicy Thai food, and was encouraged by the girl to take some Tom Yam Gung which is extremely spicy. She offered some basil or mint leaves to cool him off but then she kept giggling (silently) at his expense. The movie is full of cliches and unnecessary subplots but I really enjoyed it. Highly Recommended (to those who have low expectations and just want to be entertained).

After watching the movie I got hungry for Thai food. Tom Yam Gung is one of the easiest dishes to make and since I had the ingredients except for straw mushrooms which I substituted with fresh oyster mushrooms, I prepared it and in less than 20 minutes I was slurping spicy and sour prawn soup.

Tom Yam Gung
a little more than ½ pound medium prawns, shelled with tails on
2 stalks lemon grass, cut into 2 inch pieces and bruised
3 birds eye chili, sliced
6 cups water
1 small piece fresh galangal, sliced
2 tablespoons fish extract
½ cup lemon juice
1 cup straw mushrooms
coriander leaves, for garnish

• Boil the water in a saucepan, add lemongrass and galangal, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the prawns, chili, mushrooms, and the fish extract and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, taste, and add more fish sauce if needed. Transfer into a serving bowl and garnish with coriander. Note: the lemongrass and galangal are not meant to be eaten but to flavor the soup.

This simple sweetish spicy savory Thai chicken dish is one of our favorites, we never get tired of it. It is strange that we have never seen this dish in any Thai restaurants in my area or maybe I don't now its name in Thai.

Minced Chicken With Basil

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound minced chicken
1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons fish extract
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
80 Thai basil leaves
6 birds eye chili, sliced

• Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan and fry the garlic for 1 minute. Add the chicken and stir fry for 4 minutes. Add the soy sauce, fish extract, and sugar and mix thoroughly. Add the basil leaves and the chili. Stir fry for 5 minutes. Transfer into a serving dish.