Vietnamese Street Food, Part 2 — Cơm Gà (Hội An style chicken rice)

During our recent trip to Vietnam, we took a few days in Hoi An, a little resort town on the central coast. The thousand-year-old town was a thriving trading port during the 15th to 19th centuries and still has a preserved ancient village in the center, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Hoi An’s buildings and streets reflect a unique blend of foreign and local influences due to the town’s constant contact with foreign traders. But over the years, merchant activity in Hoi An waned and it was known as somewhat of a backwater until the tourist industry saved the town. These days, Hoi An is a bit of a tourist trap, crawling with European backpackers. But in between the hundreds of tourist souvenir shops are little alleys packed with food stands where locals still come to eat. Because of Hoi An’s history as a port city, its food has a lot of influences from China and Japan. 

One particular dish I kept coming across was Cóm Gà — mint chicken salad with turmeric rice — which is one of the dishes Hoi An is most famous for. It tasted a lot like Chinese Hainan chicken rice, but with a Vietnamese flare. Cóm Gà is such a simple dish and yet it’s so refreshing and delicious. With the fresh herbs, it makes the perfect summer meal. And so this week I’d like to share with you my version of this simple chicken rice dish, which you can make with all the fresh herbs growing in your garden.

Ingredients:

For the chicken:
1 large chicken breast with skin and bone
1¹⁄₂ onion
1 inch chunk ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 scallions
2 tsp. salt
¹⁄₄ tsp. black pepper
1¹⁄₄ tsp. soy sauce
¹⁄₈ tsp. fish sauce
dash of sugar
handful of mint
¹⁄₂ lime

For the rice:
1 cup rice
1¹⁄₂ cup chicken broth
¹⁄₄ tsp. turmeric
¹⁄₄ tsp. salt

Toppings:
handful of basil
handful of cilantro
handful of bean sprouts
handful of perilla leaves (optional)
hot sauce

Direction:

Roast one whole onion directly over flame until all sides are charred. This will only take one to two minutes. Do the same with the ginger.

Peel both the onion and ginger. In a large pot, heat up 4 cups water with chicken breast, 2 scallions, ¹⁄₂ tsp. salt, ¹⁄₈ tsp. black pepper and the peeled onion and ginger.  Let it come to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breast. 

In the meantime, thinly slice up ¹⁄₂ onion and soak it in cold water; this will take away some of the spicy flavors and also keep it crunchy.  Set aside until needed. 

Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the broth and let it cool for 10 minutes so it will be easier to handle. Cook the rice in the chicken broth we’ve just made along with ¹⁄₂ tsp. salt and ¹⁄₄ tsp. turmeric. Keep the onion, ginger and scallion in the broth — this will make the rice even more flavorful.

Once the chicken is cooled enough to handle, shred it into thin strips. Mix in the soaked onion strips along with 1 clove of minced garlic, 1¹⁄₄ tsp. soy sauce, ¹⁄₈ tsp. fish sauce, dash of sugar, ¹⁄₂ tsp. salt, ¹⁄₈ tsp. black pepper and a handful of mint. You may adjust the salt and pepper to taste.

 Once the rice is cooked, top it off with the shredded chicken and a handful of fresh herbs, bean sprouts and a scoop of your favorite hot sauce, such as sambal. 

recipe for Bahn Mi http://thewayriceshouldbe.blogspot.com/2016/08/banh-mi.html

Bánh Mì

Last month, when my husband and I traveled back to Asia, we spent a good chunk of our journey in Vietnam. Vietnam is a stunningly beautiful country with scenic mountains and beaches, but our main objective was to sample the food. Traveling to such a far-off place where I can’t speak the language can be intimidating, but we were fortunate to have help from our chef friend Owen, who spends half the year managing a kitchen in the midcoast and the other half working in restaurants in Hanoi. So with his meticulously written itinerary, we set out to find his favorite restaurants and food stands from Hanoi to Da Nang. We were not disappointed! 

(Streets of Hanoi)

Vietnam has an incredibly rich culture with a long history of colonization that’s most visible in the country’s extraordinary French-style architecture as well as its cuisine. While it’s not as glamorous as sitting in a cafe in Paris, sitting and sweating on little plastic stools next to heavy Hanoi traffic in the humid 100-degree weather while eating the iconic Vietnamese sandwich (aka bánh mì) is, oddly enough, an extremely pleasurable experience. 

 (Bánh Mìat Bánh Mì 25 in Hanoi)

And in many ways, the Bánh Mì is a reflection of Vietnam’s complex cultural history — Chinese barbecue wrapped in a French baguette and piling it up with their own fresh ingredients. This is the first installment of my recipe series on how to make Vietnamese street food with local Maine ingredients.

Ingredients: 

(Serves 4 to 5 people)

For the BBQ pork:

1 lb. pork tenderloin 

2 tsp. minced ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tbsp. honey

4 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. oyster sauce 

¹⁄₄ tsp. black pepper

¹⁄₄ tsp. Chinese five spice 

1 Tbsp. red yeast rice (optional)

For the pickle:

2 carrots

1 kohlrabi 

1¹⁄₄ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

For the sweet mayonnaise: 

3 Tbsp. mayonnaise 

1 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. olive oil 

Toppings:

4 to 5 French baguette rolls

2 cucumbers 

2 scallions

1 jalapeño pepper

handful of cilantro

¹⁄₂ cup chicken liver pate

Directions:

To make a classic barbecue pork Bánh Mì, the barbecue marinade is very important. But luckily it’s really easy. I did not realize that the barbecue pork is actually a Vietnamese version of a Chinese char siu pork. Char siu pork is usually a bright pink color, traditionally dyed with red yeast rice, which is what I’m using in this recipe. While you can find red yeast rice at most Chinese grocery stores, it doesn’t add much flavor, so you can skip this step if you don’t have it. Most Chinese restaurants now use red food coloring to get the pink color anyway. 

To marinate the pork, mix all of the ingredients and cover. Let it marinate over night. 

Once the pork has marinated, roll it up and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Double the wrap and secure it with butcher’s twine or an elastic band.

Now steam the pork for an hour. If your pork is bigger, you’ll need to steam it for longer. Once the pork is cooked, keep it in the plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the pickles. Cut the carrots and kohlrabi into thin sticks. Toss them in a teaspoon of salt and let them sit for 30 minutes.  This will allow the carrots and kohlrabi to sweat out some water and make the pickles nice and crunchy. Traditionally the pickles are made with carrots and green papaya, but since green papayas are hard to get around here, I’ve found that kohlrabi makes a great substitute as it tastes really similar and has the same texture. 

After 30 minutes, rinse and drain the carrots and kohlrabi sticks and mix in the remaining ingredients. You may add in a few dried chili flakes to add some heat. Keep it in the refrigerator until you need to use it. 

One of the condiments in Bánh Mì is Vietnamese-style French mayonnaise. If you’ve tasted Asian mayonnaise before, you’ve probably noticed that it’s a lot lighter and sweeter than the mayonnaise here. You can find Asian mayonnaise in most Asian grocery stores or you can take regular mayonnaise and make it taste like Asian mayonnaise by whisking in honey and olive oil. 

Once the pork is chilled, unwrap it and slice it thinly.

Vietnamese baguettes are a little different from the classic French baguette. They have a unique, chewy texture and are a little less crusty. I’ll be sharing my Vietnamese baguette recipe in the column next time. 
   
To assemble, prepare fresh cucumber, jalapeños, scallions and cilantro along with the pork, pickles, mayonnaise and liver paté. Make sure to use a plain paté without any herbs in it. Vietnamese paté is made with chicken liver and minced pork and I will be sharing my recipe for it in the next few weeks, as well. 

Watching the Bánh Mì stand assembling the sandwich was one of my favorite part of buying the sandwich.

 (Bánh Mì stand in Hoi An)

Smear the sweet mayonnaise on one side of the bun and the paté on the other side.

 

Stuff the roll with all of the remaining ingredients and top it off with your favorite hot sauce. 

Maneuljjong bokkeum (Stir fried garlic scapes)

If you have planted garlic in your garden, then this is probably the time of year you harvest garlic scapes and make pesto out of them. If you are looking for more creative ways to use up your scapes, I have a really simple and delicious Korean garlic scape stir-fry recipe to share with you this week. For many of us who love Korean food, the best part is the tasty banchan (side dishes) that come with the meal. Maneuljjong is a pretty common banchan when you go to a Korean restaurant and is often made at home during the summer when the scapes are in season. Not only is it a great side dish for a summer meal, but it’s also easy to make.

Ingredients:25 garlic scapes
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. water
1¹⁄₂ tsp. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
¹⁄₄ tsp. sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:
Separate the stems and the scapes. Cut the scapes in half so they will cook evenly.

On medium-high heat, stir-fry the scapes with olive oil for two minutes until they are soft and translucent. 

 Now add in the stems and cook for another minute. 

Stir in the soy sauce, honey and water and turn the heat down to medium-low. Let it cook for two to three minutes until the liquid cooks down.

Remove from the heat and drizzle in the sesame oil. Garnish it with some sesame seeds and hot pepper flakes if you like a little heat.

These can be served both hot or cold, makes a great addition for a summer meal.