Grilled Eggplant with Soy Sauce (Vietnamese Vegetarian
Version)

2 Asian eggplants (long and thin,
but not baby eggplants)
4 scallions, minced
2 tablespoons peanut oil
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce

Prick the eggplants in several places with a fork, then grill
over a charcoal or gas grill for about 20 minutes or until the
flesh is soft but before the skin burns.
Remove them from the
grill.

When they are cool enough to handle, peel them and cut them in
half lengthwise.
Put the scallions into a bowl.
Heat the oil in a
pan until very hot, then pour it over the scallions.
Drain them
immediately.
Sprinkle the scallions over the eggplants, then gently
pour the soy and fish sauces on top.

Grilled Prawns (Vietnam)

1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 pound jumbo shrimp or king prawns
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
Juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon peanut butter

Mix the onion and garlic with peanut oil.
Add the prawns and
toss to coat.
Leave to marinate for at least three hours or
overnight.

Grill the prawns or broil them for about 5 minutes, turning
once.
Whisk together the remaining ingredients to make the sauce
and pour it into a small sauce bowl, placed at the center of the
platter of prawns.

Serves 4.

Grilled Five-Spice Chicken

Source: Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table - Mai Pham

Makes 4 servings

1 (2 1/2 pound) whole chicken, preferably free range, rinsed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 tablespoon sea salt
4 whole star anise, lightly toasted in a dry pan for 3 minutes,
pounded or ground into a fine powder
1/2 cup Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)

Cut the chicken into 6 pieces and make 1 or 2 slashes in each
piece for faster cooking.
Trim and discard any excess fat.
Pat the
chicken dry.

In a bowl, combine the oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar,
turmeric, five-spice powder and salt.
Stir well to blend.
Add the
chicken pieces and turn several times to coat them evenly.
Marinate
in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Start a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill to moderate heat.
(You can also use a broiler.) Thirty minutes before cooking, add
the freshly toasted star anise powder to the marinated chicken,
turning so the meat is coated evenly.

Place the chicken, skin side up, on the grill.
Cook 10 minutes,
then turn over and grill until the chicken is cooked and the juices
run clear, another 10 minutes, depending on the thickness.
While
grilling, move the chicken pieces around so that they cook evenly.
Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve with the
dipping sauce.

Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce

Makes about 1/2 cup

1/2 clove garlic
1 fresh Thai bird chile
1 1/4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/6 cup soy sauce, preferably Chinese style
1 1/4 tablespoons fresh lime juice with pulp
1/8 cup water, or to taste

Place the garlic, chile and sugar in a mortar and pound into a
paste.
(You can also chop the garlic and chile by hand.) Transfer
to a small bowl and add the soy sauce, lime juice and water.
Stir
until well blended.
This sauce will keep up to 3 weeks if stored in
the refrigerator in a tight-lidded jar.

Thai Pork and Pineapple (Ma Ho)

“Ma Ho” means “galloping horses.”

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound lean ground pork
1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, minced
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
1 small pineapple, pared, cored and
cut into slices
Snipped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in wok or 10-inch skillet until hot.
Stir-fry garlic
until light brown.
Add pork; stir-fry until brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
Spoon off fat.
Add peppers, sugar and fish sauce; stir-fry 2
minutes.
Add peanuts and 2 tablespoons cilantro; stir-fry 1 minute.
Spoon pork mixture onto pineapple slices.
Sprinkle with
cilantro.

Serve with hot cooked rice.

Yields 4 servings.

Vietnamese Pork with Orange Juice and Cilantro

Source: Nothing Fancy by Diana Kennedy

1 (2 1/2 pound) loin of pork, center cut, trimmed
of most but not all the fat
20 small cloves garlic, peeled
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped cilantro stalks
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 bay leaves
4 whole allspice

Sauce
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fat skimmed from the pan juices
3 green onions, trimmed and finely
chopped, with most of the green parts
2 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Juice of 2 large oranges
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro stalks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and set the rack in the middle
of the oven.

Make 20 incisions all over the pork with the point of a sharp
knife and insert the cloves of garlic.
Season the meat with salt
and pepper to taste.
Set the meat on a rack in a roasting pan and
sprinkle the top thickly with the 1/3 cup chopped cilantro stalks.
Put the broth, bay leaves and allspice in the roasting pan, and
cover the pan tightly with foil so that no steam will escape.

Cook the meat until it is very tender but not falling apart, so
that you can slice it easily — about 3 1/2 to 4
hours.
Set the meat aside on a warm dish for about 15 minutes.
Slice the meat, cover with foil and keep warm in the oven.

Meanwhile, degrease the broth.
Put the butter and 1 tablespoon
of the skimmed fat in a saucepan and heat.
Add the onions and 1
tablespoon of the lime juice and fry gently until soft.
Add the
remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice plus the skimmed pan juices
(be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan well for all the scraps
adhering to it), cover the pan and cook the sauce for about 5
minutes.
Add the mustard, orange juice and the 1/4 cup chopped
cilantro stalks.
Cook, uncovered, for about 4 minutes longer.
Pour
some of the sauce over the meat and pass the rest in a separate
dish.

Makes 5 to 6 servings.

Vietnamese Rice Cake in Banana Leaf (Banh Chung)

2 cups sticky (glutinous) rice, preferably long-grain
1 drop green food coloring (optional)
1/4 cup dried split mung beans
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 ounces pork shoulder or butt or chicken thighs,
cut into 1/4-inch thick chunks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (15 x 17-inch) sheets plastic wrap plus extra
1 (15 x 17-inch sheet aluminum foil
2 (15-inch square) pieces banana leaf
Kitchen string

Place the sticky rice in a large bowl and cover with 3 inches of
water.
Stir in the food coloring, if using, and let the rice soak
overnight.
You should have about 4 cups of rice after soaking.

In a separate bowl, soak the mung beans for at least 4
hours.

Combine the shallots, fish sauce, black pepper and pork pieces
and let marinate for 30 minutes.

Just before cooking, drain the rice and the beans and leave them
in separate bowls.
Add the salt to the rice and stir to blend.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over moderate heat.
Add the pork
pieces and all the marinade and stir just until the meat is brown
around the edges, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove the pan from the
heat and set aside.

Using a steamer basket, steam the mung beans over simmering
water until they’re soft, about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat
and set aside.

To make the packet, neatly lay down the wrappers in this order:
one sheet of plastic wrap, the aluminum foil and two sheets of
banana leaves (one perpendicular to the other).
Place 1 cup of rice
in the center of the banana leaf, spreading it over a 5-inch-square
area.
Place half of the mung beans on top then add the pork pieces.
Cover again with the remaining mung beans and place 1 cup of rice
on top.

Bring the narrow sides of the wrappers together.
Fold the
gathered edges over twice, then flatten against the packet.
(You
now have two open ends.) Fold one end over and hold the packet
upright.
Add half of the remaining rice, tapping it and pushing it
down so the packet will be an even square.
Fold the ends (like
wrapping a gift box) and repeat on the other side.

Place the packet with the folded sides down in the center of the
remaining plastic sheet.
Wrap tightly so water will not seep into
the packet during cooking.
Tightly tie the packet with two parallel
strings in both directions (as in a tic-tac-toe pattern).

Fill a large stockpot with water.
Add the packet and bring to a
boil.
Reduce the heat to a low simmer.
Place a colander or
something heavy to keep the packet submerged in the water.
Cook,
uncovered, for 4 hours, adding more water as necessary.
Remove from
the heat and set aside to cool for 1 hour.

To serve, cut the packet (without unwrapping) into 1/2-inch
slices.
Remove the wrapping and arrange the slices on a serving
plate.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
If wrapped in plastic and
refrigerated, the cake will keep for 1 week.

Makes 1 large packet, or 4 servings.

PER SERVING: 450 calories, 18 g protein, 77 g carbohydrate,
12 g fat (3 g saturated), 34 mg cholesterol, 698 mg sodium, 6 g
fiber