Black bean squid stir fry and bong bong soup

Black bean squid stir fry

INGREDIENTS:
Squid
Red pepper
Garlic
Black bean
Oyster sauce
Coriander to garnish

Prepare the squid (use the tops left over from the previous recipe). Chop the garlic and red pepper into large chunks. Heat up oil in a pan, add the garlic and black bean. Add the squid and cook for about a minute. Then add the red pepper and cook for a minute or two. Add the oyster sauce and serve (with coriander on top).


Bong Bong soup

Roughly translated this is pig skin or crackling which is usually sold dried. You soak it in hot water until soft.

INGREDIENTS:

some small pieces of chicken/pork
Dried prawn
Carrots
Cauliflower
Shu Hao
Any leafy veg you have leftover
Salt
MSG
Nguoc mam

In a pan of water cook the meat. Then add the carrot to make a sweet stock. Once the carrot is slightly soft add the shu hao and pig skin. Cook until the shu hao is just soft (still slightly soft when you press a spoon on it) and then season. Then add the other vegetables.

BASICS: Nguoc mam

Tia To skewers and goi

Tia To skewers

INGREDIENTS:
sugar
onion
garlic
soya sauce
minced beef
tia to leaf

Put the minced beef into a bowl. Chop the onion and garlic finely and add to the bowl. Add the condiments and then mix together. Lay the leaves purple side up and spoon the meat onto the leaf. Roll the leaf and then pierce with a toothpick/skewer to secure. Set the oven to 200 degrees and place on a cooling rack (to allow the fat to drip from the meat) to cook. Cook for 15-20 minutes.


Cabbage Goi

There are many versions of Goi or Vietnamese salad but my mum manages to make it with whatever ingredients she has to hand. You need to make nguoc mam to put on top, like a dressing.

INGREDIENTS:

Pointed cabbage
Boiled chicken
Rao ram
nguoc mam

Finely chop the pointed cabbage so that it looks like very thin ribbons. Then roughly chop the rao ram into small pieces. You can omit the chicken if you like, but if you do add it, boil a chicken and shred it into think strips. Mix all the ingredients together and then add the nguoc mam at the last minute.