Aromatic Lemongrass Patties

These were very very good! I used ground pork as I had some in the freezer and blended it with the other ingredients in the food processor.

I loved these on their own but I also followed the directions to make them into a salad, which I served over rice. Not very photogenic but very delicious!

I'll definitely make these again!!

Cellophane Noodle Salad with Oyster Mushrooms(Pg144) and Classic Vietnamese Spring Rolls(Pg274)

So, I Finally got my book in the mail! I guess that is what happens when you buy it on Amazon. Brian DID NOT like the salad. I was very weary at first, but I enjoyed it:) The spring rolls weren't stellar either, but that is probably my fault as well. The had to sit in the fridge for almost 4 hours and the oil wasn't hot enough and I pierced the paper... The meal was good in my opinion, but I only got a hang of rolling the spring rolls on the last couple. There is no such thing as rice paper that is too wet, but it is difficult to work with when it is not wet enough.

We also added more red pepper to the must-have table sauce(Pg 28)...Brian also added extra sugar. I think after some fine tuning these recipes will be delicious. I really enjoy how the book tells you to plate the dishes as well as how to make them :)

Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Rau Ram

I might be spelling that wrong. Sorry about that.



Another easy one for this week, but it was pretty tasty. This turned out to be filling, but a fairly light dish. Mel, you would like this one. I subbed sweet basil for the vietnamese corriender, but followed the recipe with everything else. I really loved the napa cabbage in this dish. It was crunchy, but not overwhelming. I really should use it more. My husband thought it was "too citrus-y". I told him that was the SOUR of the hot sour salty sweet so he needs to get used to it!

The Best Eggplant Dish Ever?

That's what it's called in the book anyway. It's quite good but I think the best eggplant dish I've ever had is The Imam Fainted(see my blog for recipe).

This would have been a perfect dish to use my mandolin. But as I keep it stored away I forget I have it. I sliced the eggplant a bit thicker than what they indicated and I didn't cook it down to mush. Maybe next time.

A Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet Sunday Brunch

We dove head first into the challenge this weekend and invited 6 of my husband's co-workers over for a Thai brunch. The menu included the following recipes from the book:

Grilled Chicken with Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce

Grilled Lemongrass Beef

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Balls

Aromatic Jasmine Rice


We also served a couple of sauces:
Vietnamese Must-Have Table Sauce
Vietnamese Peanut Sauce
Vietnamese Herb and Salad Plate


To supplement the meal we purchased some rice paper rollups (summer rolls) from our neighborhood Vietnamese Cafe.

This was a fabulous brunch. The beef skewers were the biggest hit, followed by the Grilled Chicken as a close second. We followed the Jasmine Rice method as told in the book and it turned out to be the best jasmine rice I had ever made - so light and fluffy. Of the sauces, the peanut sauce bowl was practically licked clean. Surprisingly, the herb and salad plate was nearly polished off. People would take the lettuce leaves, throw in some herbs and some sauce and roll it up like a lettuce wrap.

We had a pretty good game plan. We made the sauces and marinades the night before. When we got up this morning, we started marinating the meats and formed the pork meatballs. About 30 minutes before guests arrived we started grilling the chicken, then pork, then beef. We kept the chicken and pork warm in a low-heated oven. Everything turned out really wonderful ... all the recipes were great finds. What I should post is a picture of my new biceps ... since I purchased a mortar and pestle this weekend, I decided to get the full Thai experience and pounded all my pastes in the mortar (with the help of my husband) ... by the last sauce we decided to switch to the blender!

Starting off slow - Thai Fried Rice

My husband LOVES asian food, but for some reason he doesn't like thai food. He says it is too "spicy, limey, peanuty." We might have some problems on this challenge. Anyways, I decided to easy into this challenge with the basic fried rice. I followed the recipe for 2 servings, plus added a tomato and the fried eggs. It was pretty good, just your standard fried rice. I am thinking that I might have had too much rice and didn't get a good fried flavor.



I ate mine with the thai fish sauce with hot chilis. This of course, was too adventuresome for Mark. This sauce really brought this dish to the next level. Sure, it was a level filled with pain of burning lips and tounge and help, give me some crackers quick, but it was oh so good.



To round out the meal, and provide some cooling relief, I threw together the simple cucumber salad. This was a good basic cucumber salad, but I think I would like something more vinegary. I subbed balasmic vinegar for the black rice vinegar. Did not take a picture.

Just a note about recipes...I think all the regular participants have bought the book, so I will go ahead and make the command decision not to type out the recipes. However, if you are reading this blog and would like the recipe, just post a comment and we will try to type it in at that time.

A not so bold start ....

I decided to jump right into the Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet challenge but chose a simple salad recipe as my first attempt. Above is my attempt at Pomelo Salad. I subbed grapefruit for the pomelo and scallions for the shallots but stuck to the rest of the recipe. I thought this would be a simple recipe to start out with but it is actually a bit difficult because I didn't quite pull off the whole sour, salty, sweet combo. The salad takes a lot of balancing at the end and mine came out too sour ... due to the lime and probably grapefruit. In general, I really love fruit in salads so I think this has potential. Do try if it is on your list.


I paired the salad with a curry dish, which I found in a German cooking magazine called, Lecker. This is a new recipe and I was interested in it because I love curry dishes, but try to indulge in them sparingly as the coconut milk is pretty high in fat. This recipe uses a roux of flour, milk, and broth to get the creamy curry mixture instead of coconut milk. I would like to try this recipe again ... another one that has potential ... but I think I rushed it and half heartedly measured and ended up with a slightly runny curry. Here is my translation of the recipe:

Sesame Crusted Tofu with Vegetable Curry (although I had to sub turkey for Tofu)
1 small head of cauliflower
1/2 lb snow peas (I had to sub green beans)
2 t. vegetable bouillion
3/4 lb. tofu (or, I subbed turkey cutlets)
1 egg
2 T. soy sauce
salt/pepper
4 T. flour, divided
6-7 T. sesame seeds (use 1 t. black sesame seeds if you can find it)
1 med. onion
1 T. curry powder
1/2 c. milk
2 T. oil

Wash cauliflower and seperate into florets. Wash beans and trim. On the stovetop, dissolve the bouillion in 1/2 liter boiling water. Add the cauliflower and green beans to the broth and cook gently for 10 minutes. Take out the vegetables and save the veggie broth.

Cut the tofu into cubes ... or if using turkey, I cut each fillet into 3 smaller fillets. Combine the egg with the soy sauce in a shallow dish (for dredging) ... and season with pepper. Put 3 T. flour into another shallow dish for dredging. First, dredge your tofu cubes or turkey cutlets in flour, then the egg mixture, then sprinkle or dredge in your sesame seeds so they adhere well. I found sprinkling the seeds worked better than dredging. In a saute pan, with 2 T. oil cook your tofu or turkey until golden brown, 5-6 minutes. Remove from pan and continue below in the same saute pan.

Cut your onion into fine slices. In a saute pan with 1 T. oil, cook the onion until tender. Add 1 T. flour and the curry powder to the onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the vegetable broth and milk and cook for 5 minutes to thicken. Add the vegetables and tofu/meat back to the curry mixture and toss to combine. Serve with rice.