Hot and Sour Thai Soup Recipe

Tom Yum Thai soup has a unique taste. It's both spicy and sour and loaded with amazing flavors such as lemongrass, galangal, fresh kaffir limes leaves and coconut milk. For this version, I combined fresh water chestnuts, sugar snap peas, tamarind, red chili powder, baby squid and mackerel. You could also add shrimp or chicken. And of course, the soup is easy to make vegetarian as well.

Bo Xao Xa Ot Recipe (Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef)

Bún thịt bò xào xả ớt (chile lemongrass beef noodles) is one of my favorite Vietnamese "casual" everyday meals. I like the way lemongrass is used to spice things up in this Vietnamese classic. Tender, boneless stir-fried beef is cooked with fresh lemongrass, freshly chopped chile peppers and onions. The meat is served in a bowl filled with cold vermicelli rice noodles, roasted peanuts, fresh vegetables (usually cucumber and pickled carrots), fresh Vietnamese herbs and soy bean sprouts. The entire dish is drizzled with mixed herbed fish sauce as seasoning.

The cooking time is very fast, and call me crazy but I love the sound of the sizzling pan. I stir-fried the beef, but on hotter days, you could also thread the meat into skewers and grill them.

Note: Glossary of relevant Vietnamese cooking terms.

Bún = noodles

Thịt bò = beef

Thịt = meat

Xào = stir fry

Xả = lemongrass

Ớt = chile

Grilled Eggplant Salad with Lemongrass Vinaigrette + A Giveaway!

Even though eggplants are available all year-round, they reach their peak during the summer. I was at the store today, and the skin looked very shiny and pretty on the Japanese eggplants, so I picked up several. I made Indian eggplant dip, but since I still had a few leftover, I decided to have some fun with them. Since these were Japanese eggplants, I made an Asian salad flavored with lemongrass and Thai basil.

First, I salted the eggplants to extract moisture from the vegetables and reduce their bitterness. A quick trip to the grill, and the eggplants were ready to eat. To give the salad dressing an Asian twist, I used lemongrass, sugar cane vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and wasabi for a little heat. I added some crunch to the salad with crushed peanuts. How easy it that?

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Vietnamese Lemongrass and Chili Chicken Recipe (Ga Xao Xa Ot)

Lemongrass chicken (cơm gà xào xả ớt) is a very delicious and easy Vietnamese meat dish to prepare. To start with, the chicken pieces are marinated overnight to guarantee optimum tenderness. The next day, I prepare a mix of spices made of finely chopped lemongrass, sugar, chili and salt. The dish is completed by combining and sautéing the ingredients in a fry pan.

I love the fragrance and taste of lemongrass. It has hints of sweet lemon and a touch of ginger. It really adds a distinctive flavor, but this dish can easily be ruined if the lemongrass isn't ground properly into a fine, moist powder. It’s important to take time to thinly slice the stalks of lemongrass before grinding them.

In case you’re interested, growing lemongrass is very easy. All you need to do is trim it often. My husband Lulu planted 4 "bushes" of lemongrass a few years ago. I gathered 4 stalks from the garden and made both lemongrass tofu (tàu hủ xả ớt) and lemongrass chicken for dinner tonight. The plants are quite prolific, and if you use a lot of lemongrass in your cooking, it’s worth planting some in your garden.

Note: Glossary of relevant Vietnamese cooking terms.

Thịt gà = chicken

Thịt = meat

Cơm = rice

Xào = stir fry

Ớt = chile

Xả = lemongrass

Tàu hủ or Đậu hủ = tofu

Bun Bo Hue Recipe (Hue-Style Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

If you're familiar with phở, bún bò Huế is another beef rice noodle soup. The beef soup dish originated in the city of Huế, the old imperial capital of Vietnam. Like traditional phở bò, the broth of bún bò Huế is simmered with beef bones and Asian spices such as ginger, but the similarities pretty much end there. The real difference is that the broth is finished with lemongrass and red chiles.

I made a very basic soup with thinly sliced beef shanks, but some people are more adventurous and add pig knuckles, congealed pig blood called huyết (which I do not like), and serve shrimp paste on the side as a condiment. I garnished the soup with the commonly used bean sprouts, lime wedges, cilantro and raw sliced white onions, thinly sliced purple cabbage and shredded iceberg lettuce. Purple cabbage makes sense because it most closely resembles the texture of banana flowers, which are traditionally included in bún bò Huế. The taste is obviously different though.

Once the dish is prepared, everyone should roll up their sleeves and commence slurping down the bowl of beef broth in front of them. This is not a subtle dish; your taste buds will be bombarded with sweet, savory and spicy flavors. My mouth waters just thinking about it!