Tag Archives: nuoc mam

Pho Pasteur, Chinatown, Boston

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Vietnamese food is so aromatic, fresh and healthy and great for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At least once a month we go to Pho Pasteur for a fix and we have been going to Pho Pasteur (Le’s) for as long as we can remember with family and now with friends. Our parents would always order a Pho Tai, the aromatic thinly sliced beef with broth, rice noodles, spouts, and mint, but as of late we have been ordering vermicelli noodle bowls.

Two essentials in life: Tea and Sriracha

Goi Cuon (Vietnamese spring rolls) rice noodles, basil, chicken and lettuce $3.50

Sweet peanut dipping sauce with crushed peanuts on top

Bun Thit Heo Nuong Cha Gio (Grilled pork, vermicelli bowl with Egg Roll) $7.95 The combination of the fresh, thinly sliced cucumber, carrots with peanuts, vermicelli and marinated, grilled pork is so delicious.

Nuoc cham, lightly sweetened fish sauce dipping sauce

Cha Gio (egg roll)s with a crisp exterior, ground pork, carrots, rice vermicelli

A little spice from peppers for pho or the fish sauce.

Pho chay (Vegetarian pho with broccoli, baby corn, carrot, aromatic broth and sprouts)

My favorite shakes are Mango and Sinh To Trai Bo (Avocado Shake) for $3.75.

Buttery, icy avocado goodness with sweetened condensed milk

Pho Pasteur on Urbanspoon

Spicy Shrimp Sauté with Garlic Oil

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I love head-on shrimp. It’s all about sucking the heads and eating the body meat. There is a lot of rich flavor in the head and shells. Most people usually don’t buy shrimp with the head on. You don’t usually see it in most consumer markets sold that way. Why you ask? Primarily because when the shrimp are harvested, the heads contain the liver which easily breaks down and causes spoiling. To prevent this, a lot of fisheries remove the head or put them on ice. The further away you are from the sea, the less likely you’ll see a head-on shrimp!

Serves 1
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 stalk scallion, finely chopped (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp fish sauce
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp mirin
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp chili paste (more or less depending on your taste)
  • pepper to taste
  • 2 T vegetable cooking oil
Heat a sauté pan and add the cooking oil. Lightly fry the garlic until golden brown. Add the scallions if you choose to use them. Set aside for garnishing later. Pat the shrimp dry. Mix all the remaining ingredients and marinate the shrimp for 5-10 minutes. Sauté the shrimp until pink, about 3-5 minutes on high heat. Dress with garlic and scallion oil. Serve immediately.

Pad Thai

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Here’s a great pad thai recipe from Steamy Kitchen and RasaMalaysia that we made last night.
Serves 4
  • 1/4 C warm water + tamarind pulp the size of golf ball
  • 1/4 C fish sauce
  • 4 T palm sugar
  • 1 1/2 – 2 tsp paprika powder (if you like it hot, use 2 T)
  • 8 oz packaged Pad Thai noodles
  • 3 T cooking oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 lb. peeled and deveined raw shrimp
  • 1 T minced garlic
  • 1 C bean sprouts
  • 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
  • 1/2 C coarsely chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
  • 2 blocks fried tofu (cut into thin pieces)

Soak the rice noodles in hot water for about 15 minutes or until they soften. Drain and set aside. To make the pad thai sauce,Soak the tamarind pulp in warm water for 15 minutes to extract the juice. Squeeze the seeds and membrane of the tamarind pulp to get the juice.

Filter the tamarind juice for use and discard the residue. In a small sauce pan, heat up tamarind juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, and paprika powder. Lower the heat and let it simmer until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat when it’s done.

Heat up a wok and add oil. When the oil is very hot, add the minced garlic and do a few quick stirs. Add shrimp into the wok and stir until half-cooked and then add the fried tofu pieces, noodles and pad thai sauce into the wok and stir continuously. Push the noodles to one side and crack the eggs into the wok, break it up by stirring and wait for 10-15 seconds, and then stir in the noodles. Add bean sprouts and chives into the wok, stir for 1 minute, dish out, sprinkle some peanuts on top and serve with a wedge (or two wedges) of lime.

We served it with fried wonton wrapped shrimps and sticky-sweet chili glazed chicken wings.

Egg Rolls, Dipping Sauce and Carrot and Daikon Salad

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Egg Rolls

  • 2-3 pkgs (25 count) egg roll wrappers
  • 1 lb ground shrimp
  • 2 lbs ground pork
  • 2 large carrots shredded
  • 1 small cabbage shredded
  • 1 medium onion minced
  • 3 small packs vermicelli, soaked in water until soft and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 4 chicken boullion cubes
  • 1 T sesame oil
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 T fish sauce
  • 1 T sugar, or to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 egg beaten, use as eggwash

Preheat frying oil in a wok or preheat your fryer if using one. Mix all ingredients well in a large mixing bowl. Set mixing bowl on top of a dish towel on one end so that any excess liquid drains to one side. Make sure you keep the egg roll wrappers from drying out by covering them with a damp towel.

To assemble, lay down one egg roll wrapper and place about 4 T mixture on the lower center of the square. Shape mixture into an oblong shape. Fold the bottom corner up to cover the mixture.

Fold each left and right corner into the center.
Lightly trace the top corner with eggwash. Roll the oblong parcel towards the top and press down the side that had the eggwash firmly to seal. Repeat until you are out of wrappers or egg roll mixture.

Fry the egg rolls until golden brown. Be sure let them sit on some paper towels to absorb any excess oil that may drip off when they come out of the fryer.

Serve with dipping sauce, carrot and daikon salad, fresh mint, cilantro, sliced cucumbers, and fresh lettuce.

Dipping Sauce
  • 4 parts fish sauce
  • 4 parts semi-warm water
  • 2 parts sugar
  • 1 part white vinegar
  • 1 part lime juice
  • *note if you don’t have any limes, you can double the amount of vinegar
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and serve with some ground chili paste or minced garlic with finely sliced Thai chilies.

Carrot and Daikon Salad
  • 1 C grated carrots
  • 1 C grated daikon
  • 1 tsp white vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 5 T dipping sauce
  • 1/2 C water
  • pinch of salt
Combine all the ingredients and allow to sit overnight in the fridge before serving.