Golden Rice and Chicken with Hot Chili Dipping Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I am still baching it and spending as little time as possible in the kitchen. I'm on the prowl for easy-in, easy-out recipes and fortunately I had quite a few that I could pull from my recipe roster. Not all of them have universal appeal, but the recipe I'm sharing tonight is one that I think most of you will enjoy. It is a quick chicken and rice combo that has its roots in the kitchens of Vietnam. It takes all of 15 minutes to prepare but it packs a true flavor punch while still retaining a lightness that is perfect for spring and summer meals. The base of the dish is a turmeric-scented rice that is paired with herbed and shredded chicken. The dish is redolent with fragrant Thai basil and cilantro, each of which add tremendously to the flavor of the finished dish. A final squeeze of lemon adds the acid that is needed to give the dish balance. If I had to sum up this dish in a single word, "fresh" is what comes to mind. This is a perfect warm weather meal. It can be made with rotisserie chicken and that makes assembly of the dish especially fast and simple. The herb and chicken mixture can also be used to fill softened rice wrappers if you prefer not to use the jasmine rice. The ratio of water to rice in this dish is unexpected, but rice prepared in this manner retains some texture that adds interest to finished entree. If you prefer softer rice use the standard 2 to 1 ratio. I do hope you'll give this lovely dish a try. Here is how it is made.

Golden Rice and Chicken with Hot Chili Dipping Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Food and Wine magazine

Ingredients:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tablespoon oil
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
1 cup chicken broth
Salt
Ground pepper
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 small white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup torn Thai basil
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Lemon wedges
Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha chile sauce

Directions:
1) Combine garlic and oil in a small saucepan and cook over moderate heat until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add turmeric and rice and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove  pan from  heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff  rice, season with salt and pepper to taste and cover.
2) Combine  chicken with onion, basil, cilantro and 1 tablespoon  fresh lemon juice in a bowl and toss to mix well.  Transfer an equal portion of rice and chicken mixture to 4 individual serving plates.  In a small bowl, combine soy sauce and Sriracha. Serve with dipping sauce and lemon wedges. Yield: 4 servings.






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Hanoi Noodle Soup with Chicken, Baby Tatsoi and Bok Choy

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a wonderful soup for lunch or a light supper. I make it often because it comes together quickly and the ingredients I need to make it are readily available. While I live in a small city, the presence of a university assures there are ethnic markets for Asian, Indian and Hispanic ingredients. As a matter of fact, it's easier to buy those ingredients here, than it was when I lived on the Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel. Today's soup is a cross between Hawaiian Chicken Long Rice and Vietnamese pho, and if you enjoy either of those dishes, you'll love this soup. It starts with a good chicken broth that's given a flavor boost with the addition of aromatic vegetables and herbs. The broth is used to poach chicken and an assortment of Asian vegetables until they are tender but still retain their crunch. The vegetables used here are the leaves and stems of bok choy, or Chinese cabbage, and a vegetable called tatsoi, which is a member of the mustard family that has spinach-like leaves that have some tang. The tatsoi can be omitted if you are unable to find it. While the vegetables steam away, the rice noodles are soaked and briefly cooked. If you are unable to find fresh rice noodles, use the dry version and cook them according to package instructions. The soup is built in layers in bowls that are chock full of noodles and vegetables swimming in broth. This is good stuff and it is guaranteed to warm winter weary souls. You will want to add salt and pepper to the broth before ladling it into bowls, and, if you do not want to pass hot sauce at the table, add it, or pepper flakes, at this point as well. I hope you will try this soup. Not only is it delicious, it is also quite low in calories and I think you'll love the freshness of the vegetables that are used to make it. Here's the recipe.

Hanoi Noodle Soup with Chicken, Baby Tatsoi and Bok Choy...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite adapted from Saveur Magazine

Ingredients:
8 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (leaves), divided use
1/2 cup fresh mint (leaves), divided use
2 bone-in chicken breasts
1-1/2 pounds baby bok choy, chopped crosswise in 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 pound bahn pho (1/2-inch wide Vietnamese rice noodles)
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
4 ounces baby tatsoi (baby)
Optional: Tuong Ot Toi (Vietnamese hot sauce), Sriracha or hot pepper flakes


Directions:
1) In a medium stockpot, bring chicken stock to a simmer over medium heat. Add ginger, garlic, 1/4 cup each of the cilantro and mint leaves, and chicken. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook chicken. Remove chicken and allow to cool. Tear each breast into about 6 pieces, discard bones. Strain broth and return to pot over low heat.
2) Meanwhile, soak noodles in hot water until softened, about 5 to 10 minutes. Cook noodles in boiling water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water.
3) Add bok choy to broth and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
4) Divide noodles among six bowls. Add chicken pieces, scallions, remaining 1/4 cup each mint and cilantro, and tatsoi. Pour hot broth and bok choy over top. Serve with Tuong Ot Toi or Sriracha. Yield: 6 servings.









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Summer Rolls for Sunday Supper - Tablescape Thursday

Last weekend we were asked to stand in for friends at a function that was scheduled to overlap the dinner hour and extend well into the evening. No mention was made of food. It seemed probable that food would be served, but experience has taught me that probable is not always the sure thing we assume it to be. Rather than chance a long evening without food, I decided to make a late lunch that would carry us through the evening, whatever happened. I love to prepare Asian food on these occasions. It's light and easy to prepare but filling enough to make evenings with uncertain meals easier to handle. We have a low table in our living room that's used for a lot for meals. It has a view of the fireplace and with candles and flowers it's a great place for dinner for two. Fortunately, we both can still manage the ups and downs that are necessary to sit at a table 18 inches off the floor. We are, however, no longer taking bets as too how long that will continue. My primary china service is white, but I augment it with special pieces, usually from special places, that make our ethnic meals seem more authentic. The red-lined cups I've used here are part of a tea service given to me by a client who became a friend. The lids are used to hold dipping sauce while the cups usually hold the clear soup that begins our meals. The chargers are from an old employer's kitchen. That gorgeous geranium is from one of the window boxes we use to tart up the decks that surround our home. I know it's old-fashioned but I really want the food to be the focus of a meal with family and friends. I deliberately try to keep things understated and use small pops of color try to keep the table interesting. I'm really pleased with the simplicity of my Asian table. I was also pleased with the simplicity of the meal I prepared for us. My choices? Pho Bo, a Vietnamese soup, and summer rolls. My recipe for Pho Bo can be found here and the recipe for summer rolls and a simple dipping sauce appears below. In Vietnam these rolls are called goi cuon, or salad rolls. They are bundles of shrimp or chicken that are combined with rice noodles and fresh mint before being wrapped and rolled in a paper thin rice wrapper. I hope you'll try the homemade version of both. They are really fresh and lovely. They are also easy to make.

Summer Rolls...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients: 1/2 pound thin dried rice noodles
12 (8-inch) round rice paper sheets
2 cups tender lettuce leaves cut crosswise into 1-inch strips
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup frsh cilantro leaves
5 green onions, cut into 3-inch lengths, then cut lengthwise into thin strips
12 medium shrimp cooked, peeled and halved lengthwise or 1/3 pound shredded chicken
Dipping sauce

Directions:
1) Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Drop in rice noodles and remove from heat. Let stand 8 to 10 minutes, gently lifting and stirring noodles occasionally as they stand to separate the strands and cook them evenly. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again. Set aside.
2) Fill a large shallow bowl with hot water.
3) To make each roll: Place 1 sheet of rice paper into water and submerge it for about 15 seconds. Remove it carefully, draining off water. Place it on a work surface. On bottom third of sheet, place following ingredients in a horizontal row;
1/4 cup noodles, some lettuce strips, some mint leaves and some cilantro leaves. Sprinkle green onion slivers on top. Lift wrapper edge nearest to you and roll it up and over filling, tucking it in under them about halfway along wrapper and compressing everything gently in a cylindrical shape. Fold in sides as though making an envelope. Place a portion of chicken or 2 shrimp halves, pink side down, on rice sheet just above cylinder. Continue rolling wrapper and press seam to close it. If it is too dry to close, moisten it with a bit of water to seal. Set the roll on a platter, seam side down and continue to fill and roll wrappers until you have 8 to 10 rolls.
4) To serve, leave rolls whole or cut in half diagonally. Serve with a dipping sauce. Yield: 8 to 10 rolls.

Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce ot 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions:
1) Combine garlic, sugar and chili-garlic sauce in a small bowl or on a cutting board; mash to a paste.
2) Scrape into another small bowl. Add fish sauce, water and lime juice. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Transfer to small bowl/bowls for dipping. Unused sauce will keep for 1 week in refrigerator. Yield: 1/2 cup.

Recipe adapted from Quick and Easy Vietnamese by Nancy McDermott

This recipe is being linked to Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Fee Fi Pho Bo

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite - Like it or not, ready or not, we are celebrating a birthday today, and, as has become our habit, the day will begin with a wonderfully flavored pho - pronounced fuh - containing long life noodles. Pho is a an extraordinary rice-noodle soup that has its origins in Vietnam. I've come to love it. In Asia, noodles are served for birthdays and some holidays as a symbol of longevity; it's believed that a shortened life is the fate of those who cut their noodles into more manageable lengths. I don't plan to cut mine - I've worked really hard to get to this point and there's no reason to tempt fate. While it's a Vietnamese dish, varieties of pho are served for breakfast throughout Asia. The one requirement for an outstanding soup is a really well-flavored broth. If you have that and you know how to soften rice noodles you'll forever have a simple meal at your fingertips. I'd love to tell you I simmer my broth for hours, but that would be untrue. I doctor canned broth and make a soup that is as good as some I had in Asia. So, it will be pho for breakfast, a fresh salmon burger for lunch and dinner at King Estates - a beautiful chateau-like winery that sits on a hilltop in the Lorane Valley. It's going to be a wonderful day, even if it means I'm no longer twenty-one. Let's get breakfast out of the way.

Pho Bo ... From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 (14.5-oz.) cans low-sodium beef broth
2 (14.5-oz.) cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 3-inch piece peeled ginger, sliced in rounds and bruised
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
3 whole star anise
8 ounces medium rice noodles
1 pound tender steak, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 thin sliced jalapeno chile
3 scallions, white and tender green, cut crosswise on the bias
1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped peanuts
Lime wedges

Directions:
1) Place stock, garlic, ginger slices, fish sauce, sou sauce, sugar, cinnamon sticks and star anise in a 4 to 5 quart stockpot. Bring to a boil over medium heat; simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until flavors are blended. Strain. Keep warm over very low heat.
2) Meanwhile, prepare rice noodles per package instructions. I cover mine with boiling water and allow them to sit for 20 minutes before draining. Drain and place an equal portion in each of six 2-cup soup bowls.
3) Season steak with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet. When oil is hot, add a single layer of sliced steak to pan and sear until browned, about 1 minute per side. Remove and set aside. Continue with remaining slices.
4) Place an equal portion of beansprouts sliced jalapeno, scallions and meat on top of noodles in soup bowls. Ladle broth into each bowl; top with a portion of herbs and peanuts. Serve immediately with lime wedges. Yield: 6 servings.