Ga Kho Gung (Chicken Braised in Caramel Sauce with Ginger)

I saw a wonderful recipe that appealed to me on the blog "Wandering Chopsticks" (this blog has some delicious Vietnamese recipes, she cooks other stuff too, and I love the background stories she shares. It's just a real honest genuine blog I enjoy) scrolling through her recipes I bumped into a recipe for "Ga Kho Gung" (Chicken braised in caramel sauce with ginger) I was a little unclear on how to make the caramel sauce and work with it so I saw a video on youtube that was helpful and prepared the chicken in a very similar way (practically same recipe different ratios) here's the video for those interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPP_e2qE32Q

Do not be intimidated by the caramel sauce, it's rather simply, some people buy it pre-made but it's not hard. There's different methods, I've seen some that melt the sugar directly into the pan, others add a little oil then the sugar into the pan, and other's add sugar and water to a cold pan then bring it to boil on high til water evaporates. I use that method (the water with sugar) because it's the same way I make my caramel for Flan (a type of spanish dessert) and I feel comfortable doing it that way.

Anyways in Vietnamese cuisine caramel sauce is used as a base for many braised meats or fish (any protien seems to be feautured in some form of caramel sauce) it really is comfort food, these sauces are not overly sweet they just have like I don't know hard to describe, it's like this strong savory caramel taste, slightly salty and isn't overly sugary. My favorite of these dishes in caramel sauce is "Thit Heo Kho Trung" (Vietnamese Caramelized Pork and Egg) everyone seems to have a different version of this dish but my favorite version regardless of how simple or whatever is the one my ex's mother use to prepare which had only garlic as it's aromatic (I loved it!) I'll share my attempt to recreate that dish another time. (I believe his mother would marinade pork belly cubes with fish sauce, brown sugar, tons of garlic then quickly brown it maybe, add coconut juice, some water. add hard boiled eggs and more fish sauce to taste) that's another story though.

If you learn to make the caramel sauce this may become one of your favorite quick go to dishes, it is EXTREMELY quick to prepare, you will have it ready within 30- 40 minutes no joke.

The version I'm presenting today is with onion, garlic and strongly flavored with ginger. But there is variations that omit the ginger and onion and just use a lot of finely minced lemongrass and red thai chilies (I love the latter) anyways well here goes. The recipe I'm sharing is from both the video and Wandering Chopsticks blog. Stuff like fish sauce, salt, and sugar can always be adjusted to taste, as well as teh amount of onion, garlic, ginger (however know that ginger is a main element of this recipe so don't skimp on it) These are the ratios I used and I loved it.

Ingredients for Caramel Sauce:
-3 tablespoons white sugar
-1/3 cup water

Main Ingredients:
-3 1/2 lbs. chicken bone in, washed, cut into bite size pieces, patted dry
-1 onion finely chopped
-6 cloves garlic finely chopped
-2 1/2 inches ginger root, peeled, cut into rounds then thinly julienned
-1 1/2 cups water
-3 tablespoons fish sauce (a good quality like 3 Crabs or Flying Lion)
-2 teaspoons salt (more to taste)
-3 tsp. white sugar
Ingredients for garnish (optional)
-1 large sprig of green onion/ scallion washed and chopped into small pieces

Directions:
(1) Have all your ingredients ready and on hand you DO NOT want to burn or ruin your caramel sauce, don't worry it is relatively simple not hard at all just be attentive. Put 3 tablespoons sugar in a pot, and add 1/3 cup water, bring to high heat and stir well with chop stick or sometype of stick it'll start bubbling vigorously
(2) Eventually the water will evaporate and it'll start darkening when it turns a dark golden brown (NOT BLACK) Keep an eye on it do not leave it alone during the whole process, if you burn your caramel sauce you ruin your dish (I've practiced a bit with Vietnamese dishes that use caramel sauce and have learned through trial and error) anyways when your caramel turns a golden dark brown like this
add your chicken all at once, ginger, garlic, onions, fish sauce, additional sugar and salt.
(3) Stir to coat everything in caramel, keep stirring about 2-4 minutes until chicken is no longer pink (just make sure it changed color like opaque)

(4) Add water 1 1/2 cups and bring to a strong boil, add black pepper, cover and simmer on medium low for atleast 20 minutes. I like to simmer it 40 minutes and get the meat real tender and infused with the flavors.
(5) Turn off heat and serve with steamed white rice. You may garnish with chopped scallions.

I don't know if this is authentic or not but I like to serve it with like any plain boiled vegetable or a simple sautee of leafy greens sauteed with a little oil, garlic, and a bit of salt.

P.S. You guys need to try her "Bo Kho" it is very well spiced and rich!

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Be sure once the chicken comes to a boil in the beginning you taste for salt, like atleast add 3 tbsp. fish sauce and 2 tsp salt if your using 3 1/2 lbs chicken from the very beginning because since the chicken wasn't marinaded or anything you want to boil it with enough well sodium to make sure it penetrates it right from the beginning to ensure flavorful results :)

(2) I'm not an expert or anything in Vietnamese food, it is a little out of my comfort zone, so any form of constructive criticism, and suggestions are more than welcomed :)

*Yeah the pictures look kinda retarded :/ haven't gotten a new camera, and like my camera is pretty broken and like the screen doesn't display what I am taking a picture of so yeah.... but heck I'm still bloggin. Just bare with me and if you can't well too bad LOL. but hey much love and peace ha ha

Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Cà Ri Gà)

I've been craving Vietnamese Curry since I haven't had it in several months maybe even a year I've lost track of time. However it is one of my favorite dishes in Vietnamese cuisine.

So what makes Vietnamese curry "Vietnamese" and different from other cultures curries? In my opinion and from observing several cooks Vietnamese curries it's that they use a type of curry powder known as "Madras Curry Powder" they use a good quality fish sauce in their curries, as well as lemongrass in combination with onion, garlic, and ginger. And bring it all together with a touch of either half and half cream or coconut milk or whole milk. (I'm assuming using half and half cream or whole milk as an alternative to coconut milk sometimes is a french influence)

I am not an expert in Vietnamese cooking or anything, but have been exposed to a lot of it. The recipe I present today is a combination of Travis's aunts recipe (whom is Vietnamese) she made one of the best curries I had ever tasted using bone-in turkey meat I asked her for the recipe and she would grind all the aromatics (garlic, ginger, onion) and combine it with other stuff and use that paste to marinade meat, etc. and would use milk instead of coconut milk. The other influence in this recipe is his grandfather a wonderful humble cook, although he never shared his recipe when I would eat his curry I noticed a sweeter note in his (thus I added more sugar because I liked the sweeter note in his) and also added turmeric powder (because I noticed his curry had a stronger yellow tinge than other's and would even leave a yellow golden tinge on the serving bowl which I assume is the addition of turmeric) and the other influence was my taste, I love the fragrance of coconut milk so I used that, and although Travis's aunt uses sweet potato, and his grandpa uses a large taro I used potato and carrot in my curry because it's what I had and I assume it's not sacrilegious because I've seen it in some restaurants and in his mother's curry (I think)

So here's my recipe for it, give it a try, it turned out delicious, and as good as my fond memories of those awesome curries :D

Ingredients:
-3- 4 lbs. whole chicken
-2- 4 tablespoons fish sauce (see note at end of recipe for this)
-salt to taste
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 teaspoon ground black pepper
-3 tablespoons Madras Curry Powder
-2 teaspoons turmeric powder (gives nice color and touch in my opinion)
-1 whole onion chopped
-2 inches, peeled finely chopped fresh ginger root
-1/2 head garlic, peeled and chopped
-2 stalks lemongrass (you have two options you can either tie them or cut them in 3 large sections and add em to the stew I chose to finely mince the lower stalks, peeled first layer and finely chopped)
-1-4 thai chilies or other smaller spicy pepper minced (optional only if you like heat)
-4 regular potatoes (peeled cut into chunks)
-4 medium carrots (peeled cut into chunks)
-1 can good quality coconut milk or coconut cream (such as Chao Kho, or Mae Ploy or the first press of coconut milk that you make yourself at home about 2-3 cups) OR 2-3 cups half and half or whole milk

Garnish: -You may garnish with fresh cilantro or scallions

Directions:
(1) Clean chicken well, rinse well, several times, and then submerge in water with salt and vinegar or lime and rub well then rinse off twice (this is just how we clean it at home you don't have to but I recommend it) take to chopping board and cut into 2 inch pieces (yeah cut through bone too)
(2) Mix chicken well with fish sauce to taste, salt to taste (if needed), sugar, curry powder, and turmeric. Set aside wash hands.
(3) In food processor add chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and very very very finely minced lemon grass and process to a paste. Mix seasoned chicken with this paste, cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinade in refrigerator at least 2 hours (preferably over night)
(4) When ready to cook, heat a large pot over high heat, add oil, and quickly sear chicken all over (making sure to remove any excess marinade/ paste before throwing in hot oil) in batches if necessary when meat is browned all over remove and quickly add other batch of meat to brown (if you werent able to brown it all in one batch)

(5) Add more oil to pot and add the marinade paste leftover and cook scraping any brown bits (those lend flavor) until raw smell is gone/ fragrant. Toss chicken pack in,
add enough water to cover meat barely, bring to a boil, taste if it needs more salt, add salt to taste, remove any foam, and cover to simmer 25 minutes.

Taste again and add more sugar or curry powder to taste (I added 1 more tablespoon in addition to the three I used to marinade chicken) and 1 extra tablespoon of sugar.

(6) After 25 minutes add carrot and potatoes
and simmer an additional 15- 20 minutes until carrot and potatoes are tender. Stir in coconut milk or whole milk or half and half cream (your choice, I like coconut milk because it's more fragrant. My ex's grandfather likes half and half cream, and one of his aunts used cow's milk so it's preference and personal taste at this point) WHen it comes back to a boil, turn off heat.

(7) Enjoy in a shallow bowl with some good french bread :)

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Use a good quality fish sauce, like a Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce. not a Filipino kind (which is good for Filipino food but it has a very harsh sharp taste) good brand of Thai opr Veitnamese fish sauce tend to have more complex taste, and lend a seafood taste like closer to shrimp or crab tasting, you can think of it as liquid crab, shrimp, and fish bouillon but it's tasty when used in moderation in a dish.

(2) Again if you do not want to finely chop lemongrass or buy it finely chopped, you can tie it a certain way or cut it into sections and boil it in the curry together with everything, then remov
it or leave it.

(3) You DO NOT have to use carrot and potatoes. Travis's grandpa uses a fragrant large taro root that comes vacuum packed and slightly freckled with purple, those taro roots are very fragrant and delicious. Another alternative is using a large orange fleshed sweet potato, which you cut into large chunks and sear in oil all over (not cooking it through) and adding it to stew to finish cooking. The searing is done to prevent it from falling apart or melting into stew, even if it's slightly. My favorite is using sweet potato but I only had potatoes and carrots on hand, I've seen versions at some potlucks using a combination of cassava, potato and large carrot which was interesting :)

(4) These curry recipes work well with goat, mutton, lamb, beef, and even rabbit any gamey meat lends itself well to this dish. Just adjust cooking times accordingly.

Lastly... I apologize for the terrible pictures (heck not really it's my blog :-P) but yeah the photos are kinda funky because my camera is so broken and busted (still I haven't bought a new one) so I can't even see what I'm taking a picture of I just have to guess and hope I got a snap-shot of what I'm suppose to (since the display screen is all cracked)

Basil Seed Drink (Nuoc Hot E)

This is a very impressive looking, yet extremely easy to make beverage. The first time I ever drank a basil seed drink was near the entrance of the Saigon Plaza on one of my trips to Chinatown, Los Angeles. The drink simply looked refreshing to me, and the little basil seeds made me think of tapioca pearl drinks called "Boba" that I really enjoy.

However, at the time, I had no idea that I was drinking a drink made of basil seeds up until last week, when my boyfriend, Travis, (whom is Vietnamese) talked to me about a drink that was made from basil seeds. When the basil seeds make contact with liquid, they make a gelatinous barrier around themselves. I was intrigued and Travis told me he would make it for me sometime at my house so my family could try it. He said, "They look like frog's eyes and taste like whatever you flavor the water!" Me being the foodie that I am went to go research this basil seed drink online and that's when I found out that what I had at the Saigon Plaza was a basil seed drink also popular in Thailand. So the day finally came and my boyfriend taught me how to make this delicious and easy to make basil seed drink. We decided to make a pictorial to share this with other fellow foodies :)

Ingredients:
-1 pitcher full of water (about 9 cups water)
-1/2 cup white cane sugar
-1/4 cup honey
-1 oz. or 1 Tablespoon or about 30 grams basil seeds (Sometimes misspelled "Basel seeds", you can use more or less depending on how thick you want your drink)
-1 teaspoon extract (Optional, it's your choice, we used vanilla but you can also use banana, pandan, or peppermint; it's a matter of personal taste)

Directions:
(1) Put room temperature water into a pitcher, stir in sugar, honey, extract and finally stir in the basil seeds until everything is well incorporated. Let it rest for about 15- 20 minutes. The fun part is seeing the seeds react to the water. It's a very entertaining drink to make with children when they get to see the seeds puff up. Cool in the fridge before serving.

P.S.
I'll be posting his mother's salad dressing recipe sometime soon as well. Next time he'll teach me how to make Boba so expect a post for that in the near future :D

Edited by: Travis Thi