Vietnamese Barbecue Tacos

This recipe comes from the April issue of Southern Living.  I must admit that generally when I get any magazine the first thing I do is flip to the recipes.  I saw lots of great recipes in this one, but none of them flipped my wig enough to add it to my weekly meals.  My husband picked it up later and marked this recipe.  I put it on the weekly menu, but I was hesitant about it.  I thought the picture looked weird, and that the ingredients seemed like an odd combination.  However, I reasoned, I do love Asian food, and I love tacos, so I may as well try them.

After cooking the meat and getting excited by the amazing smell of the marinade, I knew I was going to love the meat.  But I still wasn't sure about the toppings and dipping sauce.  Luckily I have kids, so I put on a brave face and put a taco together to demonstrate to them how to eat it.  I piled on the toppings and dipped it in the sauce.  It was like an amazing explosion of deliciousness.  I was in heaven.  I forgot the kids and hastily finished my taco, reveling in every single bite.  And then I went for more.

So I hope that you'll give this a try, even if it seems unfamiliar.  I promise that the sauce, while it looks like it should be really spicy, really isn't.  And the toppings, while they seem like an odd combination, are actually amazing together.  Try it.  You'll like it.  You might just love it.

As a note, the meat need to marinate for at least 8 hours, so plan ahead accordingly.

Vietnamese Barbecue Tacos
Recipe by Southern Living Magazine, April 2012

Marinade/Meat Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds beef steak (strip steaks, flank steaks, tri-tip steaks, or any other nice piece of meat you can get your hands on.  I used sirloin.)
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbs grated fresh ginger (or 1 1/2 tsp ground dried ginger)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 medium-sized red onion, sliced

 Dipping Sauce Ingredients:1/2 cup water
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
3 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic, mined
1 Serrano or Thai chili pepper, seeded and sliced (if you want your dipping sauce spicy, you can leave the seeds)

Topping Ingredients:
Thinly sliced red cabbage
Matchstick-sized or coarsely grated carrots
Thinly sliced red onion (use the rest of the onion from above)
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped fresh mint
Thinly sliced cucumbers
Small (8-inch) flour tortillas

For the meat:  In a bowl combine fish sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, honey, sugar, oil, and pepper.  Stir well.  Pour into a ziplock bag and add onions.  Add meat.  Seal bag and refrigerate 8-24 hours.

For the dipping sauce: In a small bowl whisk together water, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, and garlic.  Stir in chili pepper.  Can be made ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.

To assemble:  Grill meat over medium-high heat for 3 minutes per side.  Turn heat to low and cook an additional 1-2 minutes per side, or until desired degree of doneness.  Cover with foil and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into thin strips across the grain. 

On a flour tortilla, place some meat and desired toppings.  Roll into taco and serve with dipping sauce.

Serves 6-8.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

This is another one of my favorite Thai recipes.  After tasting this recipe, you will forever be disappointed by the satay you eat in restaurants.  Sorry about that. 

A note about the ingredients:  you can easily find fish sauce and Thai red curry paste in the Asian Foods section of any grocery store.  Be sure you get the THAI curry paste, which is very different from Indian or other curries.  As for tamarind paste, you should read the note about it on my previous post.  If you absolutely cannot get tamarind paste, you can substitute lime juice, but it's not the same, so don't do that and then tell me you hate this recipe.  I personally think that it's worth it to spend a few hours hunting down the right ingredients, because it's just that good.  And once you have them, you can make this lots of times in the future, which I guarantee will make you happy.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Recipe adapted from "Thai" by Lesley Mackley

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips that are 1/4"-thick and 1"-wide
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, minced (about a teaspoon)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar

For the Peanut Sauce:
2 T smooth peanut butter
1 cup coconut cream or coconut milk
2 tsp red Thai curry paste
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs brown sugar

First make the marinade.  Combine oil, soy sauce, tamarind paste, lemon zest, garlic, cumin, coriander, lime juice, and brown sugar in a food processor or blender.  Blend to make a thin paste.  Transfer to a ziplock bag or a bowl and toss in the chicken, making sure everything gets well coated. Refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to 4. 

Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce.  In a small saucepan combine the peanut butter, coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar.  Heat over medium heat, stirring with a whisk, until sauce is warm and smooth.  Sauce can be set aside and reheated when ready to use.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and thread onto skewers.  Grill over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through.  You can also cook it under a broiler, though it will take a few more minutes. 

Serve with the warm peanut dipping sauce.
Makes 8 appetizer servings, or 4 main dish servings.

Pad Thai

Several years ago I traveled to Thailand, and as a Thai food lover, I was very excited to eat there.  The first thing I wanted to try was authentic Pad Thai.  I was very disappointed to hear that Pad Thai is actually not a traditional Thai dish, but rather something that was invented in China, and is the Chinese way of making Thai-style noodles.  I did eat a lot of other fantastic food on that trip, and I still love Pad Thai even though it's not officially Thai. 

This recipe is one I got several years ago online, and I've modified it over the years to make it easier to make while still retaining the flavor of real Pad Thai.  There are so many recipes out there for Pad Thai, and most of them are terrible, but I promise you this one is very very good. 

In most Thai dishes there are a few ingredients that really make it taste Thai.  This recipe utilizes three of those key ingredients, namely fish sauce, tamarind paste, and lime.  Fish sauce and lime are easy to come by in any grocery store; tamarind paste is a bit trickier.  I have found it in my local Wegman's grocery store, in the Asian food aisle.  I have found it at our Asian grocery store, H-Mart,  though it was very difficult to find because of the communication barrier.  Probably the easiest place to get it would be to go to an Indian or Middle Eastern or Asian market, a little store where it won't take you an hour to walk every aisle, and get it there. 

Once you have tamarind paste (it's also sometimes called tamarind concentrate, or tamarind juice, even though it's a thick paste (the thickness of peanut butter)), you can keep it practically forever in your refrigerator and it's used in LOTS of Thai recipes.  You can also thin it with water and make it into a juice, but I personally think it tastes terrible!  I guess it's an acquired taste.

So, without any more delays, here is the recipe for Pad Thai.  I hope you love it as much as I do.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:
1/2 lb dried thin (1/8" wide) rice noodles (also called "Oriental Style Noodles," gkuay dtiow in Thai, or ban pho in Vietnamese)
3 Tbs fish sauce
3 Tbs tamarind paste
2 Tbs brown sugar or palm sugar if you have that
4 tsp peanut oil (or you can use vegetable oil)
1/3 lb fresh shrimp, shelled, deveined and butterflied, OR 1/2 lb boneless chicken, cut into 1/2" cubes
3/4 cup firm pressed tofu, cut into thin strips about 1"x1/2"x1/4"
4-5 cloves garlic, minced (that's at least a tablespoon of minced garlic.  I usually put in 2 T)
1/2 medium onion, chopped, or 3 shallots, chopped
2 T soy sauce (if you can get dark sweet soy sauce it's better)
1 tsp ground dried red chilies, or 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 eggs
3 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 cup garlic chives, cut into 1-1/2" long pieces
2/3 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts (for garnish)
1 lime, cut into 4 or 8 wedges (for garnish)
Cilantro springs (for garnish)
4 green onions, root trimmed and top cut back until the onion is about 4-5" long (for garnish)

Soak the dried noodles in a large bowl of lukewarm water for about 40 minutes, until the noodles are limp but still firm to the touch.  While the noodles are soaking, combine fish sauce, tamarind paste, and brown sugar in a small bowl.  Prepare all other ingredients so they will be close at hand while cooking, as the cooking process goes very quickly.

When the noodles have softened, drain and set aside.  Prepare a large wok by heating over medium high heat until smoking.  Add 2 tsp oil and stir-fry the shrimp or chicken until cooked through.  Remove from pan and place in serving bowl.  Drizzle just a little bit of fish sauce over the meat.

Add another tsp oil to the wok, and swirl it around to coat the surface.  Wait 20 seconds or so until it is hot, then add the tofu, frying and turning for a few minutes until they begin to brown.  Add garlic and stir-fry for 15 seconds, then add onion and cook another 15 seconds.  Add soy sauce and ground chilies, stirring to combine everything.

Add the noodles in, and toss well with everything in the wok.  Cook for about 2 minutes, until noodles have softened and are nearly cooked.  Push the whole mass of everything up on the top sides of the wok so you have a free cooking surface at the very bottom.  Add the last tsp of oil to the bottom, wait for it to heat for a few seconds, then crack the eggs in that spot.  Scramble them as they cook, and when they're set, cut them up a bit with your spatula and mix them into the noodles.

Pour the tamarind mixture over the whole thing, stirring to make sure everything is evenly coated.  If the noodles are still too firm, you can add a little water (1-2T) and let them cook for a few more minutes.  You may need to add more tamarind, sugar, and fish sauce if you do this. 

When everything is cooked and well-mixed, toss in the meat, bean sprouts, chives, and half of the peanuts.  Stir just until the vegetables are partially wilted, then transfer to a serving dish.  Arrange green onions, lime wedges, and cilantro on top, and sprinkle with remaining peanuts. 

Serve immediately, squeezing some lime juice onto it before eating.
Makes 4 servings.

Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps

It's no secret that I love Thai food.  This recipe is similar to the lettuce wraps that you can order at PF Chang's, but is a Thai version instead of Chinese.  They're slightly different, but still delicious.  It makes enough to serve six adults as an appetizer, or a family of six as a main course if four of them are under the age of 7.  My kids love these!  They're a little spicy, a little sweet, and little tangy, all wrapped up in a crispy lettuce leaf.  Delicious!

A note on the chili peppers--they're potent!  Take extreme caution when cutting them, and don't touch your face until after you've scrubbed your hands with soap and water.

Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
1 T minced garlic
2 Thai chilies, seeded and finely chopped (it doesn't matter if they're red or green)
1 Tbs ground coriander*
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger root, or 1 tsp ground dried ginger
3 Tbs canola or vegetable oil
1 Tbs hot water
1 lb lean ground pork
Zest of 1 lime, and 1 T of lime juice
2 Tbs fish sauce
1 tsp soft light brown sugar
2 Tbs coarsely chopped fresh cilantro*
Crisp iceberg lettuce leaves, to serve

In a food processor or blender place the garlic, chilies, coriander, ginger, oil, and water.  Process until smooth.  Transfer to a wok or large non-stick skillet.  Heat and stir the mixture over medium heat for 4 minutes.  Increase heat to medium-high and add the ground pork.  Stir-fry for 3 minutes, or until most of the pink is gone.  Add lime zest and juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, and cilantro. Continue to cook until the pork is cooked through and is mostly dry.
Serve in lettuce cups.  Garnish with cilantro leaves if desired.
Serves 6 as an appetizer.

*Did you know that cilantro and coriander are the same plant?  Cilantro is the leaves and stems and coriander is the seeds and roots.  In many countries, they're all just called coriander.

Slow-Cooker Thai Chicken

I love to use my slow-cooker.  I try to use it once a week, and pick my busiest day for it so I don't have to worry about making dinner that night.  Tonight we were able to enjoy this deliciousness.  This recipe came from a friend who got it from a blog devoted to slow-cookers.  I thought it was pretty good, but I've since been tweaking the ingredients to more closely mimic real Thai food.  I think the result is perfect!  We serve it over rice, but you could also use rice noodles or linguine.

Slow-Cooker Thai Chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup shredded zucchini (I grate mine on a cheese grater)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin, long strips
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, divided
Chopped peanuts, for garnish
Shredded sweetened coconut, for garnish

Add garlic, peanut butter, broth, chicken, zucchini, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, red pepper, and red pepper flakes to slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. A half hour before you are going to serve, add in lime juice and 1/4 cup of cilantro. Serve over noodles and garnish with remaining cilantro, peanuts, and shredded coconut.