Something Cool for the Start of Summer

Lemongrass Chicken over Rice Vermicelli with Herbs

For my first foray into cooking this summer, I chose a dish with which I am more familiar.

I initially wanted to make the dish with pork. Plans changed when I waited until six to go looking for pork tenderloin. I found that Di Bruno Brothers was closed due to a power outage and Rittenhouse Square Market did not carry the cut. I didn't want to walk to a third store as it was getting late, so I bought my veggies and went home.

This dish has three parts:

RICE NOODLES WITH HERBS

I cooked the rice vermicelli noodles first, following the directions on the package, then fluffed them and set them out to dry a bit.


I then went to work on the vegetables. I used my hand-held julienner to cut a cucumber and carrot into strips, washed my bean sprouts, and washed and set out basil and mint. I used regular basil, because my produce store didn't have Thai basil. The best part of this process: the leftover center of the cucumber. Love those seeds...




I then put the peanuts in a bag and smacked them around. I think my neighbors probably hate me now, but I CRUSHED those peanuts.

I set it out for assembly on the table:

THE CHICKEN

The chicken was super easy. I cut it into little pieces, marinated in oyster sauce, fish sauce, and finely chopped lemongrass, and then stirfried it with vegetable oil, garlic, and red onion. The actual cooking time was about five minutes and the chicken was very moist and tasty. This chicken is definitely going into the rotation. It'd be great over rice.

THE DIPPING SAUCE (NUOC CHAM)

This sauce is the ubiquitous Vietnamese sauce that you can dump over everything. I mixed together fish sauce, warm water, sugar, 3 thai chili peppers and a fresh squeezed lime. I forgot the garlic! Oops....still tasted great.

We assembled all of the above and then ate! Yummy!

* * * * *

The recipes above are found in:
Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham.

Nuoc cham (the dipping sauce)

3 Thai bird chilies
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
5 tablespoons fish sauce

Cut chilies into ring, remove 1/3 of the chilies for garnish. Mix the remaining chilies, garlic and sugar with a mortar and pestle or chop them together. In a bowl, combine with water, lime, and fish sauce until sugar is dissolved. Add the rest of the chilies and carrots. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Rice Noodles with Fresh Herbs

2/3 lb. dried rice vermicelli (bun)
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cucumber in matchsticks
1/3 cup mint
1/3 cup basil

Cook the noodles, drain, fluff, and let sit for 30 minutes. Mix the other ingredients together in individual bowls for serving.

Lemongrass Beef
(I substituted chicken and it turned out well)

2/3 lb. beef sirloin or other meat
2 tablespoons minced lemongrass
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablspoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 red onion

Marinate the meat with the lemongrass, oyster sauce and fish sauce for 20 minutes. Heat oil in large skillet, add garlic. When fragrant (about 20 seconds), add red onion. After about 1 minute, add the meat and stir until the meat is cooked and the onion is soft.