Chicken Lavash Soup Recipe (Tortilla Lime Soup)

As a child, Maman would always tell us kids not waste food; it's "tội chết" ("dreadfully sinful" in Vietnamese). Now that I'm an adult, I intend to follow in her footsteps and teach the same values to our future children. Whenever there are left-overs, I try to come up with creative ways to use them. Today, I had left-over chicken broth and roasted chicken, so I combined them to make a hearty chicken soup. I had whole wheat lavash on hand, so I decided to slice it into strips and use it as I would when making tortilla soup. The lavash also made a good thickening agent in the soup.

To the large pot of soup, I added left-over shredded roasted chicken, tomatoes, tomato paste for a little tartness, jalapeños for a little heat, lime juice, cumin, avocado and some edamame beans for texture. The lavash soup is a hearty, tasty dish that makes a complete meal that's a hit even with the kids. Well, at least the non-vegetarian kids in my house!

Banh Cuon Recipe (Steamed Rice Rolls)

Bánh cuốn is a Vietnamese specialty made with a very thin, steamed, loosely rolled, rice flour crêpe. The recipe is not that complicated but assembling the rice rolls can be delicate. Unlike French crêpe, the batter is made from combined rice flour, tapioca starch and corn starch, which makes bánh cuốn very flimsy and harder to manipulate. The first rice flour crêpe is never perfect, and I usually thin the batter with more water as I cook them, so they don't turn out too thick. The filling remains exposed since the rice roll is nearly transparent.

This time, I made a meat version with chicken. You could always make the rice flour crêpe with a vegetarian filling if you prefer. I tucked into each rice roll a filling of seasoned ground meat (I used chicken), wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, water  chestnuts and dried shallots. Typically, bánh cuốn is sprinkled with fried shallots (or onions) with nước chấm (fish sauce). I served shrimp cakes and fried taro cakes on the side along with mounds of steamed soy bean sprouts, combined with cilantro, Vietnamese mint (rau thơm), shredded cucumber, lettuce, lime wedges and green Thai chiles.

It's not the prettiest meal, but it's a flavorful, earthy (thanks to the mushrooms), light meal dish. If you want to improve the presentation and avoid tearing, drizzle the rice roll with a little oil and expose the smooth part of the bánh cuốn on top to hide the wrinkly side.

Sweet Mango Pickle Relish (Hot Dog Condiment)

The last time I served hot dogs, I made sure to put out a spread of relish, mustard and ketchup. But I also made a beet goat cheese sauce that tasted out of this world. Last night, we grilled smoked apple chicken sausages and I felt like preparing another unique condiment.

I settled on giving a tropical twist to ordinary relish. I mixed diced mangoes, red onions, jalapeño pepper and capers with the pickles. The sweetness and explosion of flavors from the mango and capers were an instant hit.

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

I'm a huge fan of fall-off the bone, super tender beef ribs. My trick is to marinate them overnight with (I used an Asian pear purée and ground papaya mixture) to tenderize the meat. The following day, I cooked them, wrapped in aluminum foil, for several hours in a slow cooker. Lastly, I smothered them in barbecue sauce and place them on a barbecue grill.

July 4th isn't the same without beef ribs. I don't make them that often because I find it quite time-consuming and the result is pretty meager for the amount of work. What I mean by that is that there is very little meat falling off the bone. What can I say, I'm very greedy when it comes to eating meat! Purists will probably think it's wrong to par-boil or steam the ribs in a slow cooker because flavors are lost. But the slow cooker method guarantees that they turn out very tender.

Ga Muoi Ot: Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe

As you may have noticed, I love sharing cooking tips. I recently told our family friend Cô Hoa that chicken salad tastes so much better if the chicken is boiled in fried-onion flavored broth. She invited us over to her house and we made a món ăn Miền Trung, "Central Vietnamese dish" in Vietnamese, called gà muối ớt (salt and chile chicken). The recipe is ultra simple. Cô Hoa assured me that all you need is the freshest chicken possible, ginger, a little chile and salt. Nothing more, thing less. The chicken is cooled to room temperature, then shredded and mixed with rau răm, a fragrant Vietnamese coriander.

You could either store the leftover chicken broth in the freezer for future use, or on the next day make cơm gà Hải Nam, which is a flavorful chicken rice. Nothing goes to waste!